Rev' Jim's RantsnRaves

How Carl Edwards Got Busted

2010-03-08T15:22:00.001-07:00

We cheered as Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya mixed it up at Homestead last November, eventually "adjusting each other's cars (in their own words)" out of the race. We applauded NASCAR afterward for deeming the incident the kind of racing the fans want to see, and later announcing that they would give the drivers more leeway in deciding how they wanted to race each other.

So, in some parts of the NASCAR world, there may be some confusion as to why Carl Edwards incurred the wrath of NASCAR officials when, late in the race, he blatantly turned Brad Keselowski's car, causing it to go airborne. NASCAR had Edwards park his car for the remainder of the race, and is now in the position of deciding what other penalties, if any, will be handed down to the #99 team.

Why the seeming reversal of NASCAR policy? It isn't really a reversal; NASCAR's policy is to allow bump drafting where they wouldn't previously, and to allow the type of beating and banging that thrills the crowd when two or more drivers are racing for position. Edwards wasn't racing for position--he was, in fact, more than one hundred and thirty laps behind Keselowski when he made an obvious move to purposefully cause Keselowski's car to spin at 190 miles per hour.

The result of the obvious retaliatory action was that Keselowski's car flipped over into the air and against the fence separating the fans from the track. Seven spectators were hit by fly debris from the accident. The action clearly could have caused a major disaster. Luckily, there were no serious injuries, and Keselowski walked away from the fearsome wreck.

NASCAR has given the drivers the freedom to use their own judgment when racing. With that freedom comes the responsibility to use good judgment. Edwards clearly showed a lack of good judgment in his timing and the manner in which he sought revenge. The drivers, given their freedom, should show professionalism and think about the consequences of their actions.

Putting the Edwards penalty aside, we got a reminder of how dangerous the elevated "wing" on the rear of the racecars can be. When air passes below the wing while the car is turned around, it creates as much lifting force as it provides downforce when the car is in its normal position. This can be very dangerous for both driver and spectator, as we saw at the Firecracker 400 last year, when it was Edwards' car that went airborne, and at Atlanta on Sunday. The traditional spoiler, to which NASCAR will return in April, does not allow air to pass under it when the car is reversed.

There are other advantages to the traditional spoiler--the spoiler provides downforce at all four wheels, and it allows for better side drafting on the straightaways than the wing does--but the main concern should be safety, and we feel that the return of the traditional spoiler can't come soon enough.

Danica Manias: The Deranged, The Dedicated, and the Delusional

2010-02-26T14:09:00.003-07:00

The trouble with writing anything about Danica these days is the possibility that--conscientiously or otherwise--we may be "milking" the Danica hype, or, in the very least, be accused of milking the hype. However, it is precisely because of that hype that we feel we must express our opinion, not only of Danica, but of her talent and of the over-the-top publicity that surrounds her.

There are three types of Danica fans: The Deranged--those who hate Danica so much for her television ads and Sports Illustrated photo shoots that they fail to see her talent; The Delusional are those who are enamored of Danica because of her Go Daddy ads and Sports Illustrated shoots that they, also, ignore or overlook her talent; The Dedicated are those fans to whom the photo shoots and television ads mean very little--it is her on track performance that is the most important.

It is true that nearly any racecar driver, male or female, has three groups of fans similar to those outlined here, but it is usually something besides bikini photos that polarizes the Deranged and the Delusional. There has been media frenzy around Curtis Turner, Junior Johnson, Richard Petty, Cal Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, and many others through racing history. The attention was well deserved, based upon their records on the track. There can even be a comparison made between the attention given to Turner and that given to Danica--Turner was as well known for his antics away from the track as he was for his racing ability. The point here, however, is that these are all men who succeeded exceptionally well in what is traditionally known as a men's sport.

Janet Guthrie gets the credit as the woman who broke barriers going into a "men's" sport. There were other women who raced in NASCAR before she did, but few of them ever finished a race on the lead lap, much less scored as high a finish as did Ms Guthrie. She is in the record books as finishing sixth at Bristol in 1970. That is, if we are not mistaken (feel free to correct us, it happens all the time) the best finish any woman has achieved in the Cup Series. Janet never raced a full season in NASCAR, but nobody, except for Richard Petty, was racing a full Cup season at the time. We can only surmise what Guthrie may have accomplished if she had gained more experience by participating in more than just a few races in each of the seven years she was active in NASCAR.

Lyn St James also met with some success as a woman in major league racing. Although her best finish in NASCAR was eleventh place, she proved that she was more than a back marker with a pretty face and could "mix it up with the boys" in any racing situation. She now operates a racing school for young women, where, in her words, the emphasis is more on "physical and emotional training and preparation for a racing career," rather than in actually driving in a race. Danica Patrick is an alumnus of St James' racing school.

Drag racing is very different from closed course racing, and a different set of skills are needed to react quickly within the the three seconds or so it takes to run a quarter mile. However, we would be remiss in not mentioning the success of Shirley Muldowny, a true pioneer in women's racing, and Ashley Force-Hood. We have no way of knowing if these very highly skilled racers could have the stamina to race on a closed course track, but with the instincts and reactions they have demonstrated in drag racing, they would probably also have some success in closed course racing if they chose to attempt it.

There are other women who have attempted to race in NASCAR and the IRL/CART/OWCCS, and there has been media hype around them as well, mainly because they are women participating in a field comprised mostly of men. Sarah Fisher, Erin Crocker-Evernham, Katherine Leggett, and Shawna Robinson have all made their marks as solo racecar drivers on closed courses.

Fisher has made a powerful statement for women in racing. She caught the attention of the racing world, when, in 2000, she finished third at Kentucky. From 2000 to 2002, she had three top five finishes and one pole in 31 races. In 2008, she attempted to enter NASCAR racing as a developmental driver for Richard Childress Racing, but lost backing before she even left what is now known as the NASCAR Whelen All American Series. She has returned, part time, to Indycar racing with her own team. Over ten years, she has competed in 76 IRL events, with 3 top fives, nine top ten finishes, one pole, and has led 39 laps.

Erin Crocker-Evernham was the first woman to win a WoO sprint car B-Main event, but her NASCAR career was somewhat lackluster and ended her embroiled in scandal. There was certainly a lot of hype around Crocker-Evernham, but it had nothing to do with her racing ability.

Katherine Leggett won two consecutive Atlantic (Open Wheel) Series championships, but faded after a mediocre season in the OWCCS, although there was some talk of her trying out for Formula 1. F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone remarked of Leggett, "We have nothing against women in racing as long as they wear white, to match the rest of the kitchen appliances."

When we hear such sexist garbage, we can understand the odds against women racers must stand, and we should understand why there is so much so-called "hype" surrounding them.

Shawna Robinson is a great example of being a victim of hype that backfired. She is a very talented driver who could not get the break she needed. After all, she is in the racing history books as the only woman to finish as high as second place in the ARCA series. She never backed down from a challenge on the track. We feel that she was not given enough time in the NASCAR Cup series to develop to her full potential.In 2003 after racing only 8 Cup series races, she went to race in the Truck Series. This is the unfortunate part of the story, concerning hype. Because of the sponsorship/ownership deal she had to agree to, in order to race, she was featured in an "all girl" race team. This venture in public relations ended up costing more money than it made, and made it very difficult for Robinson, a very capable driver in her own right, to find serious sponsorship or an owner who was willing to give her a well-deserved second chance. However, as much as some racing pundits would have us believe, it is not Danica's fault she is not racing, any more than it is Shawna's fault. If a sponsorship opportunity is given, a driver must take it if he or she wants to race. In Shawna's case, it was the unintended consequence of the All Girl Racing Team that resulted in her not being taken seriously enough by owners and sponsors to get the break she deserves.

Danica Patrick began racing go-carts at the age of five. At fourteen, she attended Lyn St James' Racing Acadamy. At eighteen, she was given the opportunity to race in Europe in the Formula 3 open wheel series. There, she showed the world that she could race with "the boys." Unfortunately, she met head on with the sexist European double standard when she drank with the boys after the race, and was fired from her job for being "too much of a party girl," and not "matching the rest of the kitchen appliances."

Returning to the United States, she was hired on a trial basis by Rahal-Letterman Racing Team, and passed the test. In 2005, she won the IRL Rookie Of The Year award. She qualified in fourth position for the Indianapolis 500 and finished in fourth place. That year, she had three poles, seven top ten and two top five finishes, and finished twelfth in the championship points. In 2006, she finished ninth in points, seventh in 2007, sixth in 2008--after she became the first (and only, so far)woman to post a solo victory in a major racing series, and fifth in 2009, ahead of her Andretti Racing team mates, including former Indy 500 winner and IRL Champion Tony Kanaan. It should also be noted that last year there was more competition in the points race due to the unification of the IRL and the OWCCS (Champcar Series). In 81 races over her five year career, she has started from pole position three times, led 110 laps, and has posted sixteen top five finishes. She finished third at the 2009 Indianapolis 500.

When we hear from Dave Despain and others who suffer from DDS (Danica Derangement Syndrome), we hear that Patrick is a mediocre driver who would have only driven in a few races if she wasn't an attractive woman. But, looking at her records, we can see that she earned her place in the IRL through her performance, not her looks. She had made her mark in racing long before she appeared in the 2008 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Despain's argument that Patrick is popular because of her appearance, rather than her ability, falls flat when we realize that there have only been fourteen race winners (out of more than forty drivers) in the IRL during the last five years, including Danica. She is a competitive driver among all racers, not just women.

And, we have to wonder, was Despain calling Lyn St James "ugly" on his show last Sunday, by implying that Danica's success was only because of she being an attractive woman? No wonder St James seemed uncomfortable on Wind Tunnel. No, Dave, you're not sexist, you are a misogynist.

Danica Patrick does not write the GoDaddy commercials, but appears in them as part of that all important sponsorship agreement. She also appears in commercials for her associate sponsors: Motorola, Boost Mobile, and Peak Performance. Yes, she does get a lot of exposure that way, and we are certain that the reason that she is a hot commodity in advertising is because she is attractive, but that is not what makes her competitive, and it is certainly is not why she is able to race every week. Danica performs on the track well enough to get the attention she receives as a racer.

Or perhaps there are those who think the reason the US Women's Olympic Ski Team won their medals is because they appeared in SI's 2010 Swimsuit issue? That is as ridiculous as claiming that Patrick is successful in racing she was in the 2008 and 2009 swimsuit issues. Sports Illustrated is a sports magazine, after all, and has long included sports stars in the swimsuit photo shoots. In previous swimsuit issues, there have been tennis stars, swimmers, gymnasts, skiers, and snowboarders featured in bikini photos. Danica Patrick is merely the first racecar driver to appear in such an issue. But that shouldn't take away from her racing ability.

Danica has shown that she is still learning, and improving every year in which she races. She may or may not win a race in NASCAR, but at the rate she is improving in the IRL, we feel that it is not a question of if, but when she will win the Indianapolis 500. What will the folks who suffer from DDS say then?

Topic for Discussion: Is Kasey Kahne only allowed to race because he is good looking?

Hip-Hip-Hooray!

2010-02-15T01:15:00.001-07:00

We won't be doing the "Live on Type Delay" this year. Because of our location, our only internet option is dial-up, and, because we live in a multi-unit residence with shared outgoing telephone lines, the times at which we may go on line are limited. If the "Live on Type Delay" isn't posted as quickly as possible after the checker flag, it loses its appeal, and the limitations posed on us make it impossible to post before midnight or the next day. Besides, without MRN in Colorado Springs, there is no point in just repeating what we see on television. But enough about me.

There was no disappointment in the Bud Shootout, the Gatorade Duels, the ARCA race, nor in the Nationwide race and the Truck race. It was all action, and the NASCAR drivers in all three series' put on a great show. This is what we can see when NASCAR backs off on the officiating that keeps the drivers from doing what they can to try to win. This is the closest we can get to the old school racing we remember without bringing back the old school drivers in their prime.

There will be those who will complain about the delays in the Daytona 500 for track repair, but there was really no helping that. The heavy rains in Florida last week and the cooler than normal temperatures combined to cause problems in the track surface--problems that could have provided more action than was necessary. If the pot holes hadn't been fixed, and somebody got seriously injured or killed because of it, we would have once again heard more outcries about lack of safety, which would have undone the progress NASCAR has made toward appeasing the fans.

The only problem I had, personally, was the quality of the TV coverage. What happened to the coverage through the field? Listening to DW and Larry MacRenolds reminisce about the old days gets old when it starts sounding like an old drunk repeating the same story over and over again, as if he forgot he already told the story, or perhaps you didn't hear it right the first time. There was a race going on, and it would have been nice to find out what was happening behind the leaders instead of "where did he come from?"

As it was we had to watch the ticker to figure out where our driver was, with no information as to why he was falling back, or moving up through the field, and how that was happening. And, most of the time, the ticker was of little use, because before we got the information we wanted, it would turn off for a caution or commercial.

Two years ago, I would never have missed ESPN coverage over that on Fox, but last year's ESPN coverage was an improvement over previous years, and definitly better than what we had for the Daytona 500 coverage. Perhaps it's time for DW to retire from the broadcast booth. Maybe he could get a show on Speed or Fox Sports where he can reminisce about the days when he was driving. Okay, he already has a show like that, but it really takes away from the race coverage when he is supposed to be calling the race. To be honest, I would rather listen to the cynical, dejected, and bitter Kyle Petty than the same old stories from Darrell Waltrip over and over again.

A crazy thought: Wouldn't it be fun if, instead of Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip, and Larry Mac in the booth, we had Mike Joy, a Kyle Busch fan, and a Dale Jr. fan instead? That should make the color commentary quite colorful.

Speaking of commercials, there were some good ones. There wasn't as much sponsor participation in the sense of the Super Bowl type commercials we have seen in the past during the 500. Budweiser and Coke stepped up, and their commercials were real winners. The Kasey Kahne pit stop Budweiser commercial was excellent, as was the Coke commercial with Tony Stewart breaking into the old Barry Manilow Coke jingle, "I'd Like to Teach The World To Sing."

Now we know that Stewart can sing better than Carl Edwards, which really isn't saying much.

And I got a kick, the first time it was shown, out of the idea of Kyle Busch driving a pink car with kittens, bunnies, ponies, and baby seals painted on it, and with "I love you" written on the wing. Maybe if Kyle had "I love you" written on the spoiler of his truck Saturday night, he wouldn't have angered so many drivers while he was driving as if he could he could make up nineteen laps.

You have to admit, Kyle did put on quite a show Saturday, whether you like him or hate him. Timothy Peters won that race in a very exciting finish that showed his very real talent from a driver without that much experience in the series. Peters prevailed over some very aggressive driving on the part of Todd Bodine, who has come to believe he is the only driver who deserves to win the truck race at Daytona. Bodine crossed the finish line in second place, sliding sideways.

Say what you will about restrictor-plate races, the finishing laps of the Daytona 500 were very good. Taking advantage of all three green/white/checker attempts NASCAR now allows, the drivers gave it everything they had. When, on the third try, they finally made it to the white flag lap, Greg Biffle pushed Jamie McMurray into the lead on the backstretch. McMurray, who had been running well the entire race, then got another boost from Clint Bowyer going into turn three.. Suddenly, seemingly "from out of nowhere," Dale Earnhardt, Jr. passed eight cars as if they were standing still, and was right behind McMurray, the leader, as the field entered the final turn. The crowd, who had stayed through it all, was on its feet, cheering wildly.

Jamie McMurray drove with everything he had, and crossed the finish line first, a car length and a half ahead of Earnhardt, Jr. It was a very emotional victory celebration for McMurray, who, at the end of last season, didn't even know if he had a ride for 2010. McMurray is arguably the most well liked driver in the Cup Series, and he showed that he deserved the second chance he was given by Earnhardt-Ganassi/Felix Sabates Racing and Bass Pro Shops, his sponsor. There wasn't a dry eye in the house, by the time the victory lane interview was over. And it was heartwarming to see Da Biff enthusiastically congratulating McMurray after the race, as it was to see him happy to be partly responsible for Jamie's victory.

And it was good to see Earnhardt, Jr performing well, once again, at Daytona. It was also good to see him do a post race interview without a lot of stammering and looking at his feet. Jr. is showing all the confidence in himself and his team he didn't show last year, and that new attitude makes a promise of good things happening for the 88 team this year.

Still, the Daytona 500, being a restrictor-plate race as it is, doesn't really give us an indication of what the rest of the season will be like. We can be reasonably certain that Stewart-Haas will be working on their restrictor-plate program, since, even after their performance in the Duels, they obviously didn't have the cars to perform competetively in the long race. We can also safely assume that Jeff Gordon will continue to try to prove that bump drafting isn't a good idea. But other than that, there is no telling what the season may be like for these teams. Will Jimmie Johnson once again amaze the world by winning a fifth consecutive championship, or will some other team finally figure out a way to beat him? We probably won't have any idea of that until October, but we will be watching.

At any rate, it promises to be a good season, with the new "let the drivers be drivers" approach NASCAR is taking. And we are looking forward to the return of the spoiler blade we will see, hopefully, by April. Let the games begin!

Hey, we almost made it through this entire post without mentioning Danica Patrick.

Oh, well.

The 48 Team And The Art Of Going In Circles

2009-11-21T14:37:00.003-07:00

The time Rev' Jim has to be on line is still very rare, but we can't let this NASCAR season end without a word or two.

At the time of this writing, it looks like Jimmie Johnson and the 48 team once again have the Cup Championship sewn up. Unless, of course, the driver or the team make a serious mistake during Sunday's season closer at Homestead. That, as most racing fans know, is not likely to happen.

"How," one might ask, "Can one driver be so dominant over the others that he wins the championship four consecutive seasons?"

Now, to be fair, the one who might ask that question would be one who is not familiar with NASCAR racing. In fact, the one who asked us that question is of the opinion that NASCAR racing is all about mashing the pedal and turning left. That would be the same as saying football is all about men standing in a field and knocking each other down, baseball is about standing around and adjusting hats and belts, or hockey is about skating in circles.

We might explain that, first of all, Jimmie Johnson and his team are not dominant in their sport in the same sense as teams such as the Dallas Cowboys, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Miami Dolphins, the Celtics, the Lakers, the Yankees, or the Bruins have been dominant in their respective sports. For example, our favorite driver, Tony Stewart, led the points for most of the regular season, a feat of which we, and the 14 team, have a right to be very proud, considering that this was Stewart's first season with a team that was entirely new to him. If they had been able to maintain the level of competition they showed in April through August for the rest of the season, Chase or not, they could have had the Championship sewn up at this point, rather than Johnson.

We must note here, that it would be easy to blame it on NASCAR's Chase points format, but that is how the championship is determined. Every team in the Sprint Cup Series bases its strategy and agenda for the season on that format. It is the same for each team. Even if there wasn't a Chase Championship format, the teams would still calculate their chances for the championship according to the points system. So, in the Zen of it all, the points format doesn't really make a difference.

They weren't able to maintain that level of competition, and that's the way the proverbial cookie crumbles like a mashed right rear fender. The 48 team, on the other hand, has been able to stay at the same level throughout the entire season, and then even step up their performance in the final stretch, when performance matters most. And this is where we try to explain that NASCAR, like the NFL, NHL, MLB, and NBA, is a team sport.

Of course, at the association of "team" and "NASCAR," a question mark visibly appears over the head of the person who is grilling us. "What," he asks, "does a team have to do with it?"

So, we explain that many races are won in the pits, and the pit crew has to be fit, physically and mentally, in order to provide a pit stop that is a "game breaker." The crew chief has to be able to make decisions that affect the performance of the team, the driver, and the car. Most of the time, the decisions are of the split second variety. Making decisions as to air pressure, wedge, and track bar adjustments take a knowledge of what the driver likes in the handling of his car, along with the knowledge of the time such adjustments would take in relationship to track position among the other teams in the field.

When it comes down to the nitty gritty, Chad Knaus, Johnson's Crew Chief, is NASCAR's equivalent of the internet's UberGeek. We never hear anything about his personal life, so we have to assume that everything Knaus does in his life has to do with making cars go faster. He lives, breathes, and eats racing. His first thoughts in the morning, and his final thoughts in the evening have to do with making a car go fast. Tighty whities or boxers? He probably wears speedos. (Note, if the reader chooses to dwell on that image, the author of this blog can not be held responsible for loss of sight in the mind's eye).

Knaus probably doesn't have a stove, oven, or a crock pot. Everything he eats is probably pre-prepared, as in fast food, or microwaved. Our point is that Knaus probably doesn't do anything that doesn't have to do with going fast. It is not unlikely that he has even trained his pit crew on how far out to pull a dented fender to make the aerodynamics of the car better than it was before the fender was dented.

"But," asks the person who is grilling us, "what does that have to do with one driver being so dominant?"

We sigh, not wishing to rehash what we just explained and press onward.

The crew chief is very important, but so is the chemistry between the crew chief and the driver. Jimmie Johnson has had only Knaus as his crew chief his entire Cup career. Granted, while Knaus was under suspension for the first part of last year, Darian Grubb--now Tony Stewart's crew chief--took the reins, but it was still the House of Knaus, and the team carried on as if it was still Chad on the pit box, sort of like automatic pilot. They did what they were trained to do, and continued the success of Johnson's team.

Chemistry between the driver and the crew chief means that there has to be communication that makes what the driver wants and what the driver gets identical. The 48 team definitely has that chemistry.

This is not to take away from Johnson's skills as a driver. The driver has to be precise, being able to put his car where he wants it in his line before another car takes that line. Beating another driver around the track means beating that driver in the turns--perhaps by out braking or out maneuvering the other car--and being quicker in reflexes, which also ties in to avoiding wrecks and contact, or other things that could increase the lap time unfavorably. Johnson is very good at that--the car is magic in his hands.

We can't say that Johnson is the best driver of all time. We can't even say he is absolutely the best out there, although he is one of the best. There are several drivers--the twelve who made the championship chase cut and a handful of others who didn't--who can always be considered to be championship contenders in any given year. The difference goes back to the team's performance, but it also means that a driver has to be good at every track. Each track on which the Cup series races is different in characteristics and dynamics, no matter how much alike they might look. Johnson understands this, and is equally good at finding his groove at all of them. This is how he takes advantage of having one of the best teams in NASCAR, and is what makes the 48 team a perennial champion.

The real question that should be asked is, "why watch the race if the championship is already in the bag?"

The answer is simple if you are a race fan. It is a race. We might be hoping that something similar to what befell the 48 team at Texas happens, and that Mark Martin leads the most laps and wins the race. But the main reason is we want to see if our favorite driver, no matter who it is, wins the race. That is why we watch any race. A victory by our favorite driver is as good as any old championship, as far as we are concerned. Or we could be watching it as witnesses to history in the making.

"But what does this have to do with mashing the gas pedal and driving in in circles?"

At this point, we answer, "I have no idea. How about them Broncos?"

Light 'em up!

2009-09-19T16:05:00.002-07:00

I seriously doubt that Jeff Gordon reads this blog, but something sure lit a fire in him. At Richmond, last Sunday, he and Denny Hamlin gave us a great of red hot wheel to wheel racing. He wasn't boring at all. That's the Jeff Gordon we want to see.

At the beginning of the season, listening to Gordon gave us the perception that he was ready to grab the bull by the horns and start racing to win again. But that fire we saw quickly dwindled, and suffocated under a blanket of, for the 24 team, mediocrity.

For the majority of teams in the Sprint Cup Series, Gordon's performance would be great, but this is the 24 team we are talking about. This is the team of one of the best drivers in the history of NASCAR, and we expect that desire to win to burn brightly.

Jeff Gordon must know that he will have to win some races in the Chase for the Championship. He should have learned that in 2007 when he gave away the Cup by finishing consistently in the top five while Jimmie Johnson finished consistently in Victory Lane. Now it is not just Johnson who will snag top five finishes and win races during the Championship season. We can be sure that Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, and possibly even Juan Pablo Montoya will each win at least one of the last ten races as well as post several top five finishes. Jeff Gordon needs to find the old fire that would make him unhappy with a second place finish if he is to achieve that fifth championship that has eluded him for so long.

That being said, here are my uneducated guesses for how I think the Championship points race will turn out:

Champion: Tony Stewart. I know, this is my heart talking, but my mind almost agrees. Stewart took a team that was barely making the top thirty five in points and turned it into a winner. He has mellowed when talking to the press, a necessity for a team owner, but he still has the fire and determination to win. After winning the qualifying season, so to speak, he will be hard to stop. Certainly, there has been some poor performance on the part of him and his team since Watkins Glen, but this is a team and a leader who will overcome those errors. I know this is a change of view from the beginning of the seasons, but I will now admit that all of my expectations from that time were wrong.

2. Jimmie Johnson. The other teams have caught up to what the 48 team has had for the last three seasons, and the competition is better. Besides, Jimmie hasn't been hitting as many cars lately, so it will be harder for Knaus to put the magic aerodynamics improving dent in the right place on the fender. I am only partly joking--many of the races Johnson has won have been won after he has had contact with one or more other cars early in the race. Yes, it's a crackpot conspiracy theory, but it does make you think. But Johnson will still be hard to stop. I think the points race will be close throughout the Chase.

3. Jeff Gordon. The new bridesmaid.

4. Mark Martin. He loves to win, but maybe he just isn't aggressive enough to be competitive with Johnson and Stewart. Still, we would be very happy to see him finally get a championship.

5. Juan Montoya. As mentioned before, this guy knows how to win championships. This team will come together during the Chase, and he will show us he knows how to win races as well. He has to remember, though, that "Shake" comes before "Bake."

6. Denny Hamlin. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition, and nobody expects Denny Hamlin. Yet the guy is a good racer, and Loudon, Dover, and Martinsville are all good tracks for him. He could keep the points among the top six very close.

7. Ryan Newman. A very competent racer, and he knows when to be aggressive and when not to be. He has been in the Chase before, and he knows how it works.

8. Carl Edwards. It's very difficult to understand why the Roush Magic isn't there this year, but still, they got two drivers in the Chase. Perhaps it's just that, as the teams get the hang of the Cup car, the competition becomes tighter, and things are evening out. Edwards has a strong will, proven by showing us that the only thing he can't do with a broken foot is a victory backflip. His determination will put him in the top ten at the end of the season.

9. Kasey Kahne. We would love to put him in the top five, but the way things are getting shaken up at RPM there may be some lack of concentration.

10 Brian Vickers. He has a lot of determination, and will likely finish in the top ten points position. He will make the Chase interesting, but it is not Red Bull's turn quite yet. They will learn a lot, and will be even stronger next year.

11. Yea, he made the Chase. I wish he would make the top ten, but he won't.

12 Kurt Busch. The same mechanical and emotional problems that have plagued him in the past will continue to plague him his year. Too bad.

So that is my take. As always, I am very interested in discussing this with other fans and maybe changing my mind. Remember, I don't intend to slam any driver or team. This is just for fun, so please don't bet on my picks. Thank you.

Revvin' and Rantin'

2009-09-12T14:55:00.003-07:00

As you may have noticed, I have been unable to post anything lately, due to lack of internet access. T'herefore, we will try to take care of several different subjects, including some photos from the 2009 Good Times Auto Show in Old Colorado City, while we have the opportunity.

As the NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase qualifying season winds down to its final race, there is still plenty of drama. Of Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin, Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Juan Montoya, Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch, two will not make the cut at Richmond Saturday night, so we know these nine drivers will be giving it their all. Carl Edwards could also be included in this group, but, no matter what happens with the other drivers, he can clinch his berth with a mid-pack finish or better.

We know that Kyle Busch will truly make it an all or nothing run for his team at Richmond, so we will have to say the driver with the toughest task in trying to make the Chase is Brian Vickers. He hasn't had a top five finish at Richmond in a Cup car,. and he almost needs to have bad luck happen to one or more of the other drivers who are currently in the top twelve in points. We would like to see him in the Chase, because we think he could bring some additional excitement to the championship season. At the same time we would hate to see any ot the drivers who are currently in the top twelve not make the cut, so we are, as usual, emotionally conflicted.

Tony Stewart's team's performance seems to have fallen off some since his victory at Watkins Glen. They may already be feeling the pressure of the Chase. We should remember that most of the members of Stewart's pit crew have never experienced being on a winning team prior to this year. They are still working out some kinks and some glitches, and hopefully they will get all of their bad stuff out of their system before the final ten races. We should also remember that we expected this to be a team building year for Stewart-Haas racing, and they have gone beyond all expectations. Most of us doubted that Stewart would make the Chase in his first year as a team owner, but those doubts have been dashed, as not only is Stewart in first place for the qualifying season, but his team mate Ryan Newman has a very good chance of making the Chase as well.

Jeff Gordon is boring. There, I said it. Certainly, he and his team have done well to stay in the top three in points throughout the season, but that is expected of the 24 team. We predicted that his fire would be back this season, but it seems to be smoldering. We also predicted that he would win the championship this year, which he still could very well do, but not while he is content with finishing in the top ten every race. Not when he is competing against the likes of Stewart and Johnson. He could step it up during the final ten races, and we hope he does. I have to say, however, that if he was not already locked into the Chase, I would rather see a more exciting driver in the final twelve.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr won't make the Chase, but we have seen some improvement since Lance McGrew came on board as his crew chief. It was fun watching him race with everything going good for him at Atlanta. Nobody rides the rim so close to the outside fence as well and skillfully as Earnhardt does, and it was fun to watch him do so at Atlanta. If he and his team continue to improve, we could see him back as a contender next year.

Atlanta showed us that these new cars can race wheel to wheel on an intermediate track, and they can race for the lead on the track, under green flag conditions. That was probably the best race we have seen on an intermediate track this year, as the Sprint Cup car is coming into its own. I have a feeling the performance of the car will continue to improve, and soon we will forget all about the aero cars. The only problem is parity. As predicted, the parity built into the CoT, CORN, or Sprint Cup Car (whichever one choses to call it), has resulted in separating the good drivers from the mediocre. There are no tweaks a crew chief could make to give Reed Sorenson or Elliott Sadler a chance to compete with a Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, or Jimmie Johnson.

Speaking of Reed Sorenson or Elliott Sadler, Richard Petty Motorsports will be merging with Yates Racing next year. As the tentative drivers' roster implies, the drivers for Petty-Yates will be Sadler, Kahne, Allmendinger, and Menard in Yates powered Fords, and Sorenson will be looking for a ride. This means that Kahne, who was a Ford man before he was a Dodge man, will be back in Ford, Sadler has an excellent lawyer, Allmendinger will get another chance to rise in the ranks with yet another manufacturer, and Menard's daddy is a great sponsor. We will think positively about Sorenson, who would be an excellent replacement for Brad Keselowski at JRM in the Nationwide Series, and we think that this would be an excellent opportunity for him to get that Nationwide Series Championship that so narrowly eluded him a few years ago.

Kahne, we might remember, was the subject of a lawsuit by Ford regarding his contract as a Ford driver, when he first went to Evernham as a Dodge driver. The merger also means that he will have driven for four different Cup Series teams without making a move from one team to another.

Sadler, we may remember, drove for Yates before he drove for Evernham. The number 44, driven by AJ Allmendinger, was once a Yates car number, and will be again. Ironic how things turn full circle, isn't it?

We can't close without remarking on the excellent finish at Bristol a few weeks ago. We got to see two excellent drivers race each other for the win, in a clean but intense battle. Mark Martin is a class act, and races the way he gets raced. If you race him clean, he will race you clean. So shame on those fans who would have rather seen a wreck at the end of the race than the exciting wheel to wheel racing it was.

One more thing. I will be keeping the double file restart poll up until the end of the season, so we can see every instance of the restart at every type of track. I do believe I have the poll set up so you can vote as many times as you like. I will think of an additional poll to put up in the meantime, possibly about the NASCAR wives. The criteria for this poll will include more than being eye candy, as in how involved the wife is in the driver's career. However, there will be a slot marked "other" so you can write in your favorite eye candy wife. Eva and Nicole will be included because of their near cat fight in the pits a couple of seasons ago.

Until I get a chance to get on line again, enjoy the races!

On Type Delay: The Carfax 400 at MIS

2009-08-17T04:51:00.006-07:00

This morning, I was awakened at 6:00 AM by the sound of engines and turbo chargers as classic cars, hot rods, street rods, and customized vehicles paraded down Colorado Avenue to enter the annual Good Times Auto Show. This open, just for fun, car show is an annual event that falls,intentionally, on the same weekend as the famous Woodward Dream Cruise in Michigan. Our little show in Old Colorado City gets more popular each year, and, as a result, gets more entries each year. There are no cash prizes, just ribbons and bragging rights. And the cars, as always, are beautiful.

I love car shows almost as much as I love racing, but this is supposed to be my weekly stream of conscious race review, so we shall get on with it.

We can almost be certain, at Michigan, to see the race turn into a fuel mileage race at some point. That is because the track has so many ways to get around it, cautions, and therefore double file restarts, are less likely to happen than at other tracks. But this does provide a different kind of excitement towards the end, as we, the fans can try to second guess what the teams will do.

The race begins well, though, and we have the excitement of the green flag and get to see several of the leaders vie for the honor of leading the first lap. Mark Martin wins that challenge, and takes the lead. Pole-sitter Brian Vickers, who is having a great weekend, falls back to fourth, but regains third place from Jimmie Johnson on lap four.

It wasn't supposed to rain in Michigan today, but there was a 10% chance of showers predicted. That ten percent becomes 100 percent over Michigan International Speedway, and the race is halted on lap nine. Good, I can go to the car show and take some morepictures.

I guess it's time to get new rechargeable batteries. The ones I have are getting old and I was only able to snap 11 photos before I got the low battery signal. Crap. So many neat cars and so short a battery life.

The race resumes under caution, after nineteen minutes, and the leaders stay out on the track. From Brad Keselowski, in twelfth place, on back, most of the teams pit. The green flag flies at the end of lap 11, with Mark Martin in the lead, followed by Kurt Busch, Brian Vickers, Jimmie Johnson, and Joey Logano. Martin gets a great restart. Vickers, on the other hand, doesn't and falls back several places. Martin gains some space in his lead, while behind him there is some great three wide racing going on. Jimmie Johnson passes Kurt Busch for second, and is gaining on the leader by lap 15. Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, and Matt Kenseth are all moving rapidly up through the field. Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin have an exciting race for the lead on laps 21 and 22, and Johnson comes out on top. This is what we like to see, green flag racing for a lead change. At Michigan, no less.

Green flag pit stops begin on lap 40, as Ryan Newman pulls into the pits, while Vickers passes Martin for second place. It seems that Vickers' car is weak at the beginning of the run, but is picking up well towards the end of a run. The green flag pit stops cycle through until lap 51, and the running order for the top five is Johnson, Martin, Hamlin, Vickers, and Logano. Then we get a caution on lap 52, after Robby Gordon's car blows a tire. That's too bad, because the leaders were pretty close together after the pit stops cycled through, and we were getting ready for some great green flag action for the lead. Paul Menard stays out, while the rest of the cars pit.

At the restart on lap 58, it's Menard, Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, David Ragan, and David Reutimann. Kenseth, Gordon, and Menard are three wide after they cross the start line, and Kenseth takes the lead. It looks like Kenseth is having a good day, and maybe, at his "house" in Michigan, Jack (Roush) is back.

However, Johnson is moving up quickly, passing Ragan and Gordon, and challenging Kenseth for the lead. Johnson passes Kenseth on lap 64, but Kenseth doesn't give up the lead very easily. Johnson's car proves to be faster as he seals the deal. By lap 74, he has a two and a half second lead over the second place Kenseth.

As green flag pit stops approach, the performance of Mark Martin's car seems to be improving. On lap 90, Martin is approaching Johnson's bumper, and is about to challenge him for the lead. It is also on lap 90 that Kevin Harvick and Paul Menard begin the pit cycle. Martin takes the lead by passing Jimmie Johnson on lap 95, but on lap 96, both Martin and Johnson pit.

After the pit stops cycle through, the top five running order is Johnson, Martin, Kenseth, Bowyer, and Vickers. Jeff Gordon moves into the top five on lap 104. Johnson and Martin are racing each other the entire time, and are nine seconds ahead of the pack by lap 106.

Is it just me, or does the lady on the Progressive Auto Insurance commercials seem slutty? I am a fan of slutty women, but I don't know what the message on these commercials is supposed to be. Is this Madison Ave's representation of the common woman, or of insurance agents? The street wise attitude and the heavy make up seem to imply that insurance agents, like politicians, are prostitutes. Just thinking in print, which is probably not a good idea.

There is a caution on lap 116 for debris. All the lead lap cars, except for the 55, pit again, as the end of race fuel strategy begins. Tony Stewart takes two tires and the lead out of the pits. Waltrip pits, and Stewart will lead the field to the green flag.

The restart is on lap 120, and it's Stewart, Johnson, Vickers, Martin, and Kenseth. Johnson gets a good start, and barely avoids passing Stewart illegally before the start/finish line. He does get the lead as Stewart falls back. Almost immediately, David Ragan and Kurt Busch make contact, and Busch's car hits the wall, suffering heavy damage. the race once again goes under caution.

In the "I didn't know that category," Sam Hornish, Jr gets black flagged for pitting twice for fuel under the last caution. That's a rule we don't hear about very often.

The race restarts on lap 126, with Johnson in the lead, followed by Stewart, Vickers, Martin, and Bowyer. Stewart gets the great start this time, and takes the lead in turn 1, but then gets passed by Johnson in turn 4. Stewart's car doesn't seem to be very good for Michigan, and I think the 14 team may be using this race for testing. In other words, they are taking a Mulligan. To reinforce that feeling, Martin passes Stewart for second on lap 129, and Kenseth is threatening to take third. Stewart loses a four-wide battle and falls back to sixth.

On lap 133, Ragan spins after being bumped by Hornish, and the caution comes out. Stewart, in sixth, and half the cars behind him pit. Green flag at lap 140, with Johnson in the lead. Martin, Kenseth, Vickers, and Jeff Gordon fill out the top five. Kyle Busch moves into the top five right after the restart, and Gordon also advances. Gordon takes second from Kenseth on lap 144, and there is a caution for rain on lap 146. This will be the "money stop" for much of the field on lap 149, as many teams take the gamble that they might be able to make their fuel last for 51 laps. Stewart stops for fuel only. The cars that will be in the top five at the restart all stayed out.

So the restart on lap 152 has Reutimann in the lead, followed by Hamlin, Logano, Earnhardt, Jr., and Truex, Jr. The crowd goes wild as Earnhardt, Jr takes the lead and holds it. Logano takes second from Logano. Logano is racing Earnhardt for the lead on lap 155. The race for the lead continues until lap 157, when David Stremme becomes the meat in an RCR sandwich, between Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton. Stremme spins and brings out the caution. The top fourteen cars stay out. The number fourteen team pits, trying to get the best they can out of a bad day.

The top five at the restart on lap 161 are Brian Vickers, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, and Jamie McMurray. Johnson takes the lead in turn one of lap 166. the top five cars are in fuel conservation mode. Jeff Gordon moves into the top five, and takes third from Martin on lap 171. He is also in fuel conservation mode. Dale Jr, however, is not, and is steadily moving up through the field. He passes Mark Martin for fifth on lap 181. The Booth Bunnies are now calling this Jr's race to win. I bet my Jr fan friends are excited.

On lap 182, Gordon is given the go ahead, by his crew chief Steve Letarte, to go for the win, even though they may be short on fuel. Jr takes fourth place from Carl Edwards on lap 190. Ten laps to go, and the top three are very worried about fuel.

Brian Vickers is pressuring Johnson for the lead. He could run them both out of fuel, but he doesn't seem to be worried. Meanwhile, Matt Kenseth, who started out having a good day, is falling way back. His car isn't running well at all on old tires. With four laps to go, Johnson still leads, but Vickers is not letting up on the pressure. Neither is Jr as he is closing in on the top three. With two laps to go, Johnson runs out of fuel and gives the lead to Vickers. This must be frustrating for Jimmie. I wonder if he is going to get whipped with a dipstick by a Scotsman.

One lap to go. Will Vickers make it? Earnhardt isn't gaining anything on Gordon, as Gordon is going for broke. Halfway through the lap, and we know there has to be nail biting in the #83 pit. The big gamble could pay off, and it does.

This is Brian Vickers' first win in Cup since his Talladega win in 2006, making it his first win in 100 races. This is also Toyota's first victory at Michigan, and Red Bull's first win in NASCAR Cup. Jeff Gordon finished second, Dale Jr third, Carl Edwards fourth, and Sam Hornish Jr overcame early set backs to finish fifth.

There was some pretty good racing in today's race, to go along with the usual fuel strategy drama. Vickers played his cards right in order to take the victory, even though it was a gamble.

In the near future, I will try to post some more pictures from the Good Times Auto Show.

On Type Delay: The Heluva Good at The Glen

2009-08-11T00:41:00.006-07:00

Back in the "old" days, when it came to road course racing, we could almost be sure to see the road course "ringers" in victory lane. Back in the sixties, Dan Gurney, for example, was the "King of the road," a sure winner at Riverside. Gurney's only NASCAR races were on road courses.Parnelli Jones and, before going full time in 2003, Robby Gordon were among other notable road course "ringers." It became a tradition for car owners and manufacturers in NASCAR to hire specialists for the road courses, as nobody expected drivers who ran most of their races on ovals to do well on road courses.

Although we still see teams that are outside the top twenty in points using "ringers" for road courses, those days are essentially gone. Today's top NASCAR drivers show the same kind of ability on road courses as they do on the ovals.

The ringers have the disadvantage of lack of experience in cars that weigh 3400 pounds and have engines capable of producing 800 horsepower. The cars most ringers race regularly weigh 600 to 1000 pounds less than the Cup cars. The open wheel specialists race cars that weigh half as much as the CoT.

Now, the Sprint Cup regulars have the advantage. Full time drivers like Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Marcos Ambrose, and Kasey Kahne will almost always outperform the part time ringers on road courses.

Well, enough of that, let's get on with the race.

Jimmie Johnson starts on the pole. He has yet to win a road course race in NASCAR, but that has never kept him from winning a Championship. He has made it clear that he is motivated to win today at Watkins Glen. Kurt Busch shares the front row, and soon passes Johnson for the lead. That number 2 car seems to have a lot of power, and Kurt Busch seems to be hitting his marks and braking points. There is almost a caution on lap 8 when Jeff Burton and Bobby Labonte make slight contact. Labonte spins, but is able to get his car going in the right direction again, avoiding the caution.

There is a caution on lap 17, due to debris on the track. Marcos Ambrose stays out, but most of everybody else pits. Tony Stewart calls for two spring rubbers and a wedge adjustment on both the left and right sides. He was obviously unhappy with the set up and had gained only one spot between the start of the race and the first caution. Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt, Jr, and Denny Hamlin are all ticketed for speeding on pit road, and have to start at the end of the longest line.

The restart is on lap 20, with Ambrose leading the field. Kasey Kahne is second, Reed Sorenson third, Kurt Busch, the first driver off of pit road is fourth, and Kyle Busch is fifth.

On lap 23, David Stremme goes into the grass at the "bus stop" chicane, and, as he tries to return to the track, makes contact with Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon. Gordon and Stremme are able to continue, but Harvick's car is wrecked, and he takes his car to the garage. David, I like you, but the pass in the grass only works if you have a set of skills similar to Kyle Busch's, and a car-set up that can handle it. Today, at least, you have neither. Anyway, the accident brings out a caution.

Restart on lap 26, with Marcos Ambrose in the lead, Kurt Busch second, Kyle Busch third, Jimmie Johnson fourth, and Boris Said fifth. Kurt Busch beats Ambrose for the lead, and then pits under green for fuel only on lap 29. Ambrose makes his first pit stop of the race, giving the lead to Jimmie Johnson. Tony Stewart has moved into the top five, apparently liking the changes made during the first caution. He is in third by lap 31.

Kyle Busch has been challenging Johnson for the lead since the restart, and passes him in turn 11 on lap 34. Tony Stewart takes second on lap 37, but Kyle Busch has a two second lead. On lap 41, the terrible luck that has been plaguing Dale Earnhardt, Jr all season, once again hits home as the brakes on the 88 car fail going into turn 10. Reed Sorenson happens to be on the outside of Earnhardt, and ends up in the gravel,as a result of contact, and Earnhardt hits the tire barrier. He is alright, as he exits the car, and Sorenson gets his car going and is able to rejoin this race. That was a scary moment, however, and once again the safety of the Cup car is demonstrated.

Restart on lap 45, with Kyle Busch in the lead, Tony Stewart is second, Johnson third, Biffle fourth, and Boris Said is fifth. Busch wins the restart, but Stewart catches him in the esses and passes him for the lead. Green flag pit stops begin as soon as the fuel window opens on lap 55. This is the money stop, no matter what else happens on the track. Everyone who gets fuel now, should be able to go to the end of the race. Tony Stewart and Juan Montoya, who is in second now, pit on lap 56, giving Kurt Busch the lead. Busch makes his final pit stop on lap 58. David Stremme has yet to pit, and takes the lead. Scott Speed is second, also going without pitting, Kyle Busch is third, Tony Stewart is fourth, and Marcos Ambrose is fifth. Busch, Stewart, and Ambrose have all made their final pit stop. Stremme pits on lap 60, and Scott Speed retains the lead until there is a huge accident on lap 61.

Kasey Kahne gets loose in turn 9 and bumps Sam Hornish,Jr. Hornish hits the tire barrier, and bounces back onto the track. At full speed, the 77 car looks like a whip as it collects the cars of Jeff Burton, and Jeff Gordon. Gordon's car goes head on into the rail. This accident is frightening even in slow motion, but all three drivers are able to exit their cars on their own. Hornish's car is completely wrecked, and Gordon's isn't much better. Burton's car also has heavy damage, and Jeff Burton is another driver who should be on the worst luck list for this season, as he has been involved in wrecks not of his own doing in the last five races. The race is red-flagged for clean up on lap 63. Clean up lasts nearly twenty minutes.

After the race resumes, under yellow, Scott Speed gives up the lead to make his final pit stop, giving Kyle Busch the point. Green flag on lap 67, with Tony Stewart second, Marcos Ambrose third, Greg Biffle fourth, and Montoya is fifth. Busch apparently feels that his car would be better starting in the outside lane, which turns out to be a mistake as Stewart gets by him in turn two. But Busch's car is very tight, and he has to lock his brakes up to make the turns. Ambrose takes second, and Biffle takes third in turn ten of lap 69. There is a caution on lap 71 as Elliott Sadler's tire falls apart after contact with Patrick Carpentier. None of the leaders pit, and they try to save as much fuel as they can during the caution period. We can hear Stewart shutting off his engine through the turns, and restarting it on the straight sections.

The broadcasters love this, as it adds more drama to the race. Do the leaders have enough fuel to finish the race? Their crew chiefs all report that it will be very close, some saying that they will be two laps short. This gives the end of the race another level of excitement.

Tony Stewart restarts the race on lap 73. Marcos Ambrose is second, and Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch, and Juan Montoya fill out the top five.

Carl Edwards gets into the top five on lap 74, and Kyle Busch passes Biffle for third. Edwards takes fourth from Biffle, and gets by Busch on lap 79, as Kyle gets loose in the esses.

With nine laps to go Stewart leads Ambrose by nearly two seconds. Ambrose tries to step things up a bit, while still conserving fuel. The booth bunnies are going out of their way to make Stewart fans nervous by talking about fuel and the possibility of running out of it. With six laps to go, Ambrose has caught up to Stewart, and the first two cars are two seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Ambrose can not quite catch the leader.

Stewart takes the white flag. All he has to do is get through this lap without running out of fuel, and he wins. He does win. This is his fifth victory in six years at Watkins Glen, and he now becomes the first NASCAR driver to have five wins at The Glen on his resume. Marcos Ambrose is second, Edwards third, Kyle Busch managed to hold onto fourth place, and Biffle takes fifth.

For some reason, the giant carton of Heluva Good Sour Cream Dip makes me want to go out and buy potato chips before I finish this post.

On Type Delay: Pennsylvania 500

2009-08-03T22:29:00.004-07:00

The return of the Old Spice Candy Apple Red: I love that paint job. That is the paint job Tony Stewart's Old Spice car had when he raced in the Nationwide Series last year. For Pocono, in the Sprint Cup Series, that paint job is back.

The race was postponed from Sunday due to weather and wet track conditions. Those conditions have been resolved, the "weepers" on the track have been drained, and we are ready to race on a Monday. There are a surprising number of people in the stands for a Monday. Apparently, a lot of race fans used a sick day to be here.

Because of an accident during Saturday's practice session, Tony Stewart had to go to a back up car and will start at the rear of the field. No problem for Stewart, considering what he did at Pocono in June.

However, as the cars hit the track, their set ups are for the cooler weather that was predicted for Sunday. Since the race was postponed, and the weather is much warmer, every car will seem like it has a missed set up. There will be a competition caution around lap 20.

Jeff Gordon leads the field to the green flag. Jimmie Johnson, who started on the outside in second position, races Gordon for the lead, and leads the first lap. By lap ten, Stewart has moved up to 29th position, but then he reports tire problems, and pits on lap 13, going a lap down. The caution flies at the end of lap 20. Stewart gets the free pass.

Denny Hamlin takes the lead out of the pits. He maintains the lead. Dale Earnhardt, Jr started 22nd and is running around positions twenty sixth and twenty seventh. He makes a scheduled green flag pit stop on lap 50, and then the caution comes out, because of debris from Paul Menard's blown tire. The 88 car gets caught in the pits at the wrong time and goes a lap down, but he can stay out after the wave around and get back on the lead lap. Stewart's car still needs a lot of work, as he can't seem to get past the thirty fourth spot before he starts losing ground again. His crew makes some major changes in the pits.

Hamlin maintains the lead at the restart. Then there is a caution for debris on lap, because a caution light fell apart and landed on the track. The leaders stay out, and the cars from thirteenth position on back pit for tires and much needed adjustments. Hamlin still leads after the restart.

Finally, Stewart is able to start moving up. He gets up to twenty seventh position, so the adjustments are beginning to go in the right direction. Adjustments seem to be working for Dale Earnhardt, Jr, as well, as he has moved up to seventeenth position.

Green flag pit stops begin on lap 82, with the cars that didn't pit on the previous caution. When the pit stops cycle through, Hamlin is back in the lead, but Stewart has yet to pit, and is running in fourth position. He pits, and as he is leaving the pits, the caution comes out on lap 96, due to a spin by Bobby Labonte. Stewart manages to make it out of the pits under caution and stays on the lead lap. This turns out to be very fortuitous for Smoke, as the leaders pit, and Stewart stays out and takes seventh position. Yes, it's lucky, but we will take that kind of luck.

Stewart has four new tires, while most of the cars that pitted among the leaders took two. Kasey Kahne stayed out and will lead the field to the green flag. There is a lot of beating and banging on this restart. At the halfway point, it's Kahne first, Reutimann second, Kenseth third, the Tasmanian Devil, Marcos Ambrose is fourth, and Kurt Busch is fifth.

On lap 106, Jimmie Johnson reports that his engine has dropped a cylinder. He pits, and the crew quickly replaces a spark plug wire that has come lose, He gets off of pit road ahead of the leaders, staying on the lead lap. However, a few laps later, the leader, Kasey Kahne, passes him and puts him a lap down. Johnson is still having engine problems.

Hamlin restarted ninth after the last caution and makes it up to third place by lap 111. Now the 48 car is having problems maintaining minimum speed. The 14 car of Tony Stewart restarted in seventh, fell back, picked up again and is now in tenth position. Denny Hamlin moves up to second on lap 121.

While we are viewing a television commercial, I just want to say that I like Pocono, and when I suggested that I would like to see Darlington as the longest track, it wasn't because of my preferences, but because I'm tired of hearing some fans and bloggers complaining about the lack of good racing at the longer tracks. I am enjoying this race so far, and having fun ignoring the clowns in the booth who insist that Stewart won't get better than a fifteenth place finish. A lot of people complain about clowns in the booth, but I think they are funny.

I would also like to enlighten my readers who may be wondering about the ending of the current Old Spice Swagger commercial with Tony Stewart. Back in his USAC days, Tony and his high school sweetheart, Krista, used to have to skip food in order to be able to pay for enough gas to get to the track at which Stewart was to race. Now, after Swagger, Tony has plenty of money and plenty of food.

Earnhardt, Jr is going sideways around every corner, and it is a nasty loose problem rather than productive drifting. But Junior is hanging in there staying away from serious damage from the walls. He is managing to stay around the twenty fifth position.

Green flag pit stops begin on lap 126 with Jamie McMurray. Kasey Kahne pits on lap 128. New leader Denny Hamlin pits on lap 131, as do Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman. Harvick stays out and gets a five point bonus for leading a lap, then pits on lap 134. Kahne retains the lead after the pit stops cycle through, and Johnson goes two laps down. After 136 laps, it's Kahne, Hamlin, Reutiman, Michael Waltrip, and Kurt Busch are in the top five, but Waltrip hasn't pitted yet, and, when he does, Jeff Gordon moves into the top five.

On lap 139, Denny Hamlin gets by Kasey Kahne for the lead. That's a green flag lead change without a caution being involved. Now the 48 team is speculating that they may be suffering from fuel contamination. If Darrell Waltrip were still racing, we might suspect what the problem is, but right now we have no idea.

David Ragan makes contact with the wall on lap 141 and brings out the caution. After the leaders pit, Hamlin comes off of pit road first, followed by Carl Edwards. I think these were two tire stops, but Kahne took four. Some cars stayed out, so the restart order will be Mark Martin first, Brian Vickers second, Jeff Burton third, Sam Hornish Jr is fourth, and Denny Hamlin is fifth. The restart was on lap 147. On lap 148, Jeff Gordon moves into the top five. Stewart and Newman are battling for twentieth spot, and we have no idea what happened there, because Johnson's engine problems were much more important.

Caution on lap 151, when Robby Gordon spins, and, with nowhere to go, David Stremme makes contact with him. The 48 car is the only car not on the lead lap so it gets the free pass. His team is still working on his engine in the pits. The previous pit stop, they changed the carbruator, and are now changing the spark plugs. We are reporting this because ESPN seems to believe that it is second in importance only to the commercials. The racing takes a distant third.

And, the reason I'm complaining is because Colorado Springs no longer has a radio station that carries the MRN play by play broadcasts, we have to rely on the television coverage, and ESPN makes it very difficult to consistently follow the race. At the same time I am complaining, I have to give ESPN credit for trying to cover all the racing throughout the field.

Restart on lap 153.Martin is first, Kurt Busch is second, Vickers is third. Kurt Busch takes the lead on lap 154.

Well, during the commercial, Robby Gordon tried to spin David Stremme by bumping his car into the rear end of Stremme's car. That doesn't work, so Gordon goes to pass Stremme high in turn two. Stremme apparently didn't care much for the bumping, and decides to show Gordon what it feels like. Gordon spins, and the caution flies. Both drivers get penalized five laps. Robby Gordon's penalty is for bumping a car under caution, Stremme's is for rough driving.

Commercial.

Restart on lap 160. Kurt Busch is first, Edwards second, Martin third, Gordon fourth, and Vickers is fifth.

Commercial.

During the commercial, Juan Montoya pits with 35 laps to go, and a caution comes out for debris. Montoya makes it out of the pits and stays on the lead lap. The leaders pit for what will be the final scheduled stop of the race, as fuel strategy should no longer be a factor. Great stops by teams that will gamble that there will be another caution by taking fuel only, and Earnhardt, Jr comes off of pit road first, followed by Tony Stewart, who gained seventeen positions in the pits.

Commercial.

The top five at the restart are unknown because we are not being told what it is. We can figure out that Sam Hornish Jr will restart third, Juan Montoya will restart fourth, Dale Jr is fifth and Stewart is sixth. Clint Bowyer, we are finally told, will lead the field to the restart with 31 laps to go, and Scott Speed is second. Hamlin took four tires and will restart back in seventeenth.

Wild stuff back in the field. Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Carl Edwards are having some funm racing among themselves for eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth while Hamlin moves into the top ten. Kyle Busch is in a race with guys fighting for twentieth, and that is fun to watch as well. Reutimann gets into some trouble with 27 laps to go and brings out the caution. Great wheel work by Ryan Newman to avoid trouble in that wreck.

Clint Bowyer last got fuel with forty two laps to go. The 33 team is going to go for it, as they tell Bowyer to stay out and conserve fuel. This strategy seems iffy to me.

Jimmy Johnson gets the free pass and is back on the lead lap. Kyle Busch picked up some damage during that last wild restart, and also, apparently made contact with the 00 car of Reutimann while it was spinning, and is sitting in the pits getting repairs.

Clint Bowyer leads the field to the restart with 21 laps to go. Montoya is second, Sam Hornish Jr is third, Kasey Kahne is fourth and Tony Stewart is fifth. The restart is wild, Kurt Busch gets by Stewart, and so does Denny Hamlin. Hamlin gets by Busch, and takes fifth. Cars are going four wide going into turn one, and, of course, there is a big crash involving Reed Sorenson, Joey Logano, David Ragan, and Bobby Labonte. The running order, under caution, with seventeen to go, has Bowyer in the lead, Hornish second, Kahne third, Montoya fourth, Hamlin fifth, and Kenseth is sixth. Hamlin seems to be the booth's favorite to win at this time.

Kurt Busch is lining up in seventh, and Tony Stewart seems to be in eighth. Brian Vickers will restart in ninth with fourteen laps to go. Earnhard, Jr will restart tenth.

At the restart, Kenseth makes a move around Kahne, Kurt Busch gets shuffled way back. Jimmie Johnson gains twelve positions in one lap. In the melee, Montoya and Kahne make contact, Kahne falls back and Montoya maintains well enough to move into third by the time the smoke clears. With thirteen laps to go, Hamlin is challenging Bowyer for the lead, and with ten laps to go Hamlin takes the lead. Montoya moves into second with nine laps to go. With eight to go, Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, and Jimmie Johnson are battling for tenth, while Tony Stewart passes Matt Kenseth for eighth. Mark Martin had a great restart a few laps previously, and is running in seventh. with 5 laps to go Kasey Kahne and Sam Hornish Jr are having a terrific battle for fourth, and Brian Vickers is about to take fifth. With four laps to go, Hamlin leads Montoya by nearly a second, Bowyer is still third, Hornish is fourth, and Kahne is fifth.

Three laps to go, and Gordon gets the eighth spot from Stewart. There is just too much good racing going on to watch it all, and this is mainly due to the double file restarts.

Hamlin takes the white flag, Montoya is second. Martin and Vickers are racing furiously for sixth place, one trying to stay in the top twelve, the other trying to make it into the top twelve. Hamlin wins. Montoya finishes second for his first top five finish of the season. Bowyer is third. Sam Hornish, Jr is fourth for his best finish ever in NASCAR. Kasey Kahne takes fifth, and Brian Vickers held of Mark Martin to take sixth. The top ten are filled out by Jeff Gordon, eighth, Kurt Busch, ninth, and Tony Stewart, tenth.

The number fourteen team did a great job of getting a bad car together and pulling a tenth place finish from what could have been a very bad day. The 48 team's day could have been worse, but it also could have been better. They finished thirteenth.

Denny Hamlin is very emotional, still in mourning over the death of his grandmother a few days ago. Hamlin did a great job being able to put aside a personal tragedy to concentrate on racing. Seriously, I need tissues.

My pick fives really sucked this week, but that is a different story, This was a pretty good race at Pocono, especially toward the end. The aggressive racing throughout the field continued long after the restarts, and the importance of making the cut for the Chase for the Championship is made very clear.

ESPN is getting much better at covering the racing throughout the field, although it is still a little jerky, lacking transition, but we feel they are very close to getting the hang of it. Just as the racing gets better, so will the coverage. Good job to all the drivers and to ESPN for providing us with a very good show.

A Different View

2009-08-02T22:25:00.003-07:00

"Major League Baseball players don't play in Triple A baseball games, so why do NASCAR Cup drivers compete in the Nationwide Series?"

That is one of the questions we see on various forums, blogs, and news journals pertaining to the participation of NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. There are several premises, however, in that question that are wrong.

The first flawed premise is the assumption that NASCAR is structured in the same way as professional baseball. It isn't. The teams in baseball are franchises of Major League Baseball, while the teams in NASCAR are, at all levels, fully and independently owned private businesses. The players and the team owners in baseball are employees of Major League Baseball, while the team owners and drivers in NASCAR are not employees of NASCAR.

Major League Baseball can regulate the manner in which new players are recruited, and how much they get paid. NASCAR can not. Major League Baseball teams can not put their players in pads and helmets and play football against the Pittsburgh Steelers. NASCAR team owners can build or own cars for ARCA, Rolex Grand Am, American Le Mans Series, Indy Racing League, or even USAC, if they wished, and put their "Sprint Cup" driver in any of those cars at any time.

One logical comparison, if one must be made, is that while baseball teams use their affiliated Triple A teams for training and remedial training of their players, and NASCAR team owners often use the Nationwide Series to give their drivers "seat time" on certain tracks. Another comparison is that professional baseball players work their way up through the ranks to play in Major League, in order to learn the rules and the style of play, while NASCAR drivers must also gain experience and learn the rules in order to get a license to race on the superspeedways.

The major flaw in the statement that opened this item is that "Major League baseball players don't play in Triple A games."

If one actually follows Major League Baseball, one would know that players are "sent down" to and "called up" from Triple A teams on a nearly weekly basis. So Major League players often do find themselves playing on a Triple A team.

If the NASCAR Nationwide Series were a Triple A team to the Sprint Cup Series, some of the comparisons may be viable, but it isn't. Minor League sports events are not broadcast live on national television. The closest comparison would be that the NASCAR Camping World East/West Series is the Triple A of NASCAR. The Camping World Truck Series, the Nationwide Series, and the Sprint Cup Series are all different organizations in the major leagues of NASCAR, that feature different types of racing. The Truck Series is the sprint racing division of the major leagues. The Nationwide Series is the challenge racing division, and the Sprint Cup Series is the endurance division. This is more akin to the Midget, Sprint, and Triple Crown divisions of USAC than it is to the different levels of baseball.

The only thing that NASCAR is concerned about who races in which series is whether or not they qualify for the event, or if the driver is licensed to drive in the event. A suspended driver who is suspended due to NASCAR drug policy, for instance, is not licensed to participate in a NASCAR event, though that driver may participate in racing sanctioned by a different sanctioning body, such as ARCA or USAC.

In other words, a driver is a Sprint Cup driver if he qualifies for a Sprint Cup race, a Nationwide driver if he qualifies for a race in that series, or a Camping World Truck Series driver, if he qualifies for a Truck Series race. There is, otherwise, no official designation for a driver to race in a particular series.

The Nationwide Series is a challenge series because it gives drivers a chance to challenge, that is, to see how they measure up against, more experienced drivers. That is how it works in theory, and it often works out that way in practice. Unfortunately, since it is mainly the sponsors who determine who drives what car in the series, it is not perfect, nor is it possible for any up and coming driver to make a name for him- or herself in the series. These days, in reality, a driver almost has to have already made his or her name elsewhere. But that is not because there are Cup Series regulars participating in the Nationwide Series. Cup Series regulars race in the Nationwide Series because of the sponsors.

In nearly every race since the former Busch Series began in 1982, there has been at least one full time Cup driver participating. It wouldn't really be a challenge series if there were not Cup drivers involved. Furthermore, it is not necessary for a driver to win races or championships in the Nationwide series in order to become a Cup series driver.

How many drivers are in the Cup Series because of their performance in the Nationwide or Busch Series? Not very many. Jimmie Johnson, the three consecutive time Sprint Cup Champion, had only one win and sixteen top ten finishes in the Nationwide Series, out of 72 races, before he became a full time Sprint Cup driver. Joey Logano never even raced a full season in the Nationwide Series before he became a full time Sprint Cup driver. In fact, the only drivers I can think of who are or will soon be full time Sprint Cup drivers solely because of their performance in the Nationwide or Busch Series are Martin Truex, Jr, Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers, Brad Keselowski (not yet full time, but soon will be), Dale Earnhardt, Jr (or is part of it because of his name?), and Matt Kenseth. With the exception of Jeff Gordon, who had three Busch Series wins and 25 top tens out of sixty-one races, there is no other driver currently in the Sprint Cup series who had what would be called a notable record in the Nationwide or Busch Series. I may have missed some, so feel free to correct me in the comment section.

A few weeks ago, Jenna Fryer--the NASCAR beat reporter and gossip columnist for the Associated Press--was on NASCAR Now's "Monday Round Table" and suggested that NASCAR do away with the Nationwide Series. This would create a similar situation to what we had before 1982. There probably would be sixty to eighty teams show up on qualifying day for the Sprint Cup races. Those that consistently fail to qualify would soon drop out of NASCAR competition entirely, due to lack of the funds necessary to have a car that would be able to qualify. For those teams, the Nationwide Series is a good thing, just as the Busch Series was in 1982.

For the record, I don't agree with Jenna Fryer's suggestion, and am only mentioning it for the purpose of discussion.

One might very well ask, "If the Nationwide Series is part of the NASCAR big leagues, then why doesn't it have the prestige of the Sprint Cup Series?"

And that is a good question, but my guess is that it isn't because it doesn't have as many fans as the Sprint Cup Series. If the same number of fans followed the Nationwide Series as do the Cup Series, the level of prestige would be about the same, as would be the level of sponsorship. At any rate, it would be even more difficult to achieve those levels without the participation of popular Sprint Cup drivers.

Think about this: would the victory by Brad Keselowski in Saturdays US Cellular 250 have been as important or exciting if Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards weren't in the race? There is no way to be sure, but probably not. It is generally better for a Nationwide driver to win against Kyle Busch than it is to win against Kurtus Davis.

The Nationwide Series could be better, of course. It could, for instance, race only at tracks that are one mile in length or shorter. This would likely change the perception of the series from "Cup Light" to a series that has it's own unique identity. But the question remains, "would people watch it?"

Dirty Mouth?

2009-07-27T23:39:00.007-07:00

Photo Credit: David Griffin/Nascar Scene

Allstate Insurance has announced they will not be renewing their contract to sponsor the Brickyard 400 next year. I can't blame them, because ESPN never once mentioned the name Allstate in association with the Brickyard 400. As old school race fans, we love the fact that it was referred to as the Brickyard 400 and not the Allstate 400, but the sponsor of a race at least deserves some mention, as in "The Brickyard 400 presented by Allstate Insurance."

This is not the first time ESPN has neglected a race sponsor. They did the same thing with MBNA at Dover a couple of years ago. If the race sponsor does not buy advertising on ESPN, then it is the broadcaster's prerogative to ignore that sponsor. But, one would think that there would be some common courtesy involved.

In the article featured on Chicago Tribune.com, Allstate did not mention ESPN:

"The contract was up and we're always reviewing our properties and how they perform," Allstate spokesman Raleigh Floyd said. "We enjoyed working with them, and the fans are probably the most loyal in sports, but our other sponsorships were just performing a little better."

Now, if only "Allstate Insurance" had been mentioned in association with the race, that would have shown the sponsorship to be performing a little better.

Allstate's departure opens the door to other sponsorship opportunities. After seeing Jimmie Johnson, his crew, his wife Chandra, and Miss Sprint Cup Monica Polumbo kissing the bricks, I imagined them all standing up afterwards with their lips coated with tire rubber, oil, and bits of speedy-dri, and thought "This would make a great Orbit commercial."

Think about it--Orbit would be making a big mistake to pass up this opportunity. They don't have to call it the "Clean Up Your Dirty Mouth 400" or anything like that. "Orbit Presents the Brickyard 400" would be just fine.

On Type Delay: The Brickyard 400

2009-07-26T22:12:00.007-07:00

Indianapolis Motor Speedway is so big, that even if the stands are only half full, there are still 125,000 fans attending. To put things in perspective, for Sunday's Brickyard 400,. the stands were only half full, but there were still enough fans in attendence to nearly double the amount of fans at a Chicago Cubs game.

Of course last year's NASCAR version of Formula 1's 2005 US Gran Prix "Tiregate" made many fans cold to stock car racing at IMS, or else there would have been a few more in the stands. Or maybe not. Due to the state of the economy at this time, many people who would have been there probably had other priorities, and just didn't have the money to attend.

At any rate, there is always a lot of pre-race hype whenever there is a race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which turned 100 this year. There is a lot of work for NASCAR and Goodyear to do to regain the confidence of race fans in that the disaster of last year can be left behind. And the tires were what all the pre-race hype was all about this year. Driver after driver, and many crew chiefs were interviewed on the subject, and all had high praise for what Goodyear has done to improve the tires. They even ventured that Goodyear's research on tire development because of last year's fiasco could improve racing overall.

It's cool that they are broadcasting the driver introductions. Dale Earnhardt, Jr gets the loudest cheers, followed by Bill Elliot and Tony Stewart. Jimmie Johnson gets cheered more loudly than does Jeff Gordon, who claims Indiana as his home state. Interesting. Near silence for Sam Hornish, Jr, who is an Indianapolis 500 winner and three time IRL champion. There don't seem to be many open wheel fans at IMS today.

So we put last year behind us as the race begins and before the first lap is finished, Robby Gordon spins out and the race is under caution. Elliott Sadler's car is smoking, and black flagged. Martin is officially scored as the race leader and restarts the field on lap five.

Martin's car gets a little loose on the restart, and Montoya passes him for the lead. Dale Earnhardt, Jr moves into second, but Martin regains that position a few laps later.

This is a good indication that the changes made on behalf of Junior a few weeks ago may be paying off. While Montoya checks out on the rest of the field, Junior is able to stay in or near the top five. This is the best we've seen the #88 car perform all season.

Green flag pit stops begin on lap 30. Everybody takes four tires and fuel. Kurt Busch has to return to the pits for a loose wheel, and falls back to 35th position, one lap down. After all the pits stops are completed, Montoya maintains the lead by a little over two seconds.

On lap 45, it looks like Denny Hamlin is out of the race, for all practical purposes, with a broken drive shaft.

On lap 59 the caution flies after Kyle Busch loses a right front tire and hits the wall. He takes his car to the garage. We are witnessing a tranformation in the works as Kyle is interviewed while they are working on his car. The kid is trying to improve his image, and if he keeps it up, he just may do that. It is always interesting to watch a driver mature before our eyes, and is just another good reason to be a NASCAR fan.

Restart on lap 63, with Montoya still in the lead. Mark Martin is second, followed by Brian Vickers, Greg Biffle, and Jimmie Johnson. Tony Stewart is sixth, and after the green flag waves, gets into a great race for fifth with Johnson that lasts for several laps. It's too bad we can't see that battle as it continues. It makes us wish TNT was still carrying the broadcast race coverage.

The battle for fifth between Stewart and Johnson continues until green flag pit stops begin on lap 90. After the pit stops cycle through, Montoya leads Martin by five and a half seconds. Brian Vickers is third, Jimmie Johnson is fourth, and Tony Stewart is fifth. Now a battle for third ensues between Vickers and Johnson. Stewart is playing it safe, holding his position and enjoying the view of the racing in front of him, as he saves fuel and his car.

Why do we want to watch a race that is basically a single file parade? My reason is that there is still a lot that can happen. Since the middle of the 1950's, NASCAR at the Grand National (Cup) level has been as much about endurance and stamina as it has been about racing, with all the 400 and 500 mile races on its schedule. Anything can happen. There could, for instance be another caution, and with the lead lap double file restart, the top positions could be shaken up. Or something else can happen, like the race leader getting a pass through penalty for speeding on pit road.

And that is what happens. Montoya enjoys a routine pit stop, which should be the last of the race, on lap 126, and gets cited for speeding on pit road. This means he will have to serve a pass through penalty. Although I'm not much for conspiracy theories, those fans who subscribe to the Hendrick Conspiracy will have a heyday with this. Does anyone actually use the word "heyday" anymore? And what does it actually mean?

Oh, my, on lap 128, Dale Earnhardt, Jr's engine literally explodes as he is making his entrance to the pits. This is very sad as Junior has been running mostly in the top seven all day, having a great race day. Now it appears that Teresa Earnhardt has had access to the Hendrick garage is has been sabotaging engines again, or maybe it's Tony Eury, Jr--who is still a Hendrick employee, but secretly still works for Teresa--has been doing her dirty work for her.

Okay, I'm just making things up, but the demise of Junior's engine will provide even more fodder for the conspiracy theorists. Junior says he might have let the clutch slip as he was down shifting and over-revved the engine.

It takes a while to clean up the oil spilled from the engine of the 88 car, and pit road is closed. The restart finally comes on lap 137. Mark Martin is in the lead, Johnson second, Greg Biffle is third, Tony Stewart fourth, and Brian Vickers is fifth. Montoya restarts in twelfth. Johnson quickly gets by Martin and takes the lead.

With four laps to go, Johnson is negotiating lapped traffic, and Martin is catching him. This could be a great finish. Martin will not let up, so Johnson can't let up. This final laps race was worth waiting for. With one lap to go Martin has caught Johnson several times, especially coming out of turn two, but Johnson has held him off every time. Martin has one more chance coming out of turn two of the final lap. Johnson holds on to the lead, and becomes the first driver to kiss the bricks two years in a row.

There was a great battle for third between Biffle and Stewart during that final lap, but we didn't get to see it because ESPN isn't TNT. Stewart prevailed and finished third, Biffle fourth--a great effort for his team. Brian Vickers was fifth, followed by Harvick, Kahne, Reutimann, Jeff Gordon, and Matt Kenseth. Montoya, who lost the race because of a tiny little mistake, finished eleventh. Denny Hamlin finished thirty-fifth, Kyle Busch thirty-eighth, and Kurt Busch finished twenty-seventh, all of whom were in the top twelve. The race for the cut for the Chase has been shaken up and is tighter than ever.

It wasn't the most exciting race in the world, but it held our attention. This was actually the first real race at IMS with the Sprint Cup car, or COT, as most people call it. I don't count last year, because we never got to see what the car would do on a long green flag run. This race was clean and green, for the most part, and we saw that the COT has the same problems with closing and passing as did the aero car. But we must remember that the Sprint Cup car is still a work in progress, and the racing may be better next year. Personally, I think the racing would be better if, aside from the road courses and the RP tracks, the longest track on which the Cup cars raced was Darlington, but we know that won't happen. Meanwhile, we must be patient.

Sprint Cup Off-Weeks Can Be Fun (Corrected)

2009-07-18T01:26:00.003-07:00

It's almost like being in the off-season without the angst. Instead of three months, over which withdrawal symptoms set in, it is, after all, only one week.

The activity on most of the NASCAR fans forums has died down a bit, without a Cup race about which to speculate. What talk there is, is about the Mayfield Saga, great soap opera material if there ever was any. It pits conspiracy theorists against rationalists, and leaves the rest of us wondering how it got to be this way. Monte Dutton wrote a very concise and clear assessment of the situation on NASCAR This Week, entitled "Stinking Contest." Dutton points out what the whole thing boils down to in very few words:

It seems like middle ground is impossible now. Either Mayfield is an addict in denial, or he's the target of a vast conspiracy. Either he's Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Basketball Diaries" or he's Cary Grant in "North by Northwest." Now it's in the lawyer's hands, and they're going to hurl words like haymakers.

Personally, I wonder if Mayfield had accepted NASCAR's terms first, then began his quest to clear his name later, it might have been easier on both him and NASCAR. But, if you know anything about Mayfield's history, that is not the way he rolls.

While we are on the NASCAR This Week page, let me draw your attention to the Guest Column, written by yours truly. While I don't think I really deserve to be on the same page as Monte Dutton, I can't help but to feel honored by being there. An opportunity for shameless self-promotion never escapes me, however.

Can you believe that Kyle Busch has done nothing to piss anybody off this week? Wait, the Nationwide race hasn't been run yet. It will be run at one of my favorite tracks, Gateway. This is a 1.25 mile track similar in shape to the beloved Darlington Raceway. Though Gateway is similar in shape, the banking is flatter, and turns one and two,at the narrow end are more like turn three and at Pocono than turns three and four at Darlington. It should make for an interesting race, with Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, and Reed Sorenson being the only Cup drivers in the mix. For those who can't wait for Kyle Busch to do something to send them off in a fit of rage, it is a must see.

The Truck Series is always fun. It is also easy to lose track of, since it doesn't run every week. Kentucky Motor Speedway is the venue, and the local fans are very loyal. This is probably the largest stand alone crowd the series will see on its schedule, and the drivers will certainly put on a good show.

Kevin Harvick has let it be known that he wants out of the final year of his contract with Richard Childress Racing. The common feeling among sports writers is that he is looking for a seat with Stewart Haas Racing. That is not too far-fetched, as Tony Stewart and the Harvicks (aka Kevlana) have a long and tightly knit friendship. With GM pulling support from Kevin Harvick Incorporated, an association with SHR would give KHI better resources through their own association with Hendrick Motor Sports.

However, Stewart himself, though saying that SHR could field a third team, has not definitively said that they would field one in 2010. Childress has said that he will hold Harvick to his contract, and that Harvick's sponsor, Shell Pennzoil, is staying with RCR. Though this sounds similar to what J.D. Gibbs said about Stewart leaving last year, we are going to stick our neck out and say that Harvick going to SHR in 2010 ain't gonna happen. If we are wrong, then we are two for two on "important" silly season stuff, and we prove that we never learn.

Maybe, this weekend has given us a chance to get our writing chops back, and we can come out of our slump. There is always something to write about concerning NASCAR, and,though we usually like to find something about which nobody else is writing, we are sure to find many fun topics.

But whether we find something new to write about or not, we are going to have fun this weekend, and we hope that all our friends have fun as well. Even if Kyle doesn't piss us off.

On Type Delay: The Chicagoland Lifelock 500

2009-07-12T02:00:00.002-07:00

Every time there is a race at one of the intermediate tracks--the 1.5 or 2 mile tracks with relatively flat banking--I always hope that maybe, this time, we will see some racing for the lead. They always seem to allow the driver who takes the lead pull out way ahead of the rest of the field. On tracks that are nice and wide, like Chicagoland, there are few cautions that would tighten the field back up.

The characteristics that allow side by side racing for the lead don't seem to be the characteristics of these so-called "cookie cutter" tracks. It was difficult to pass for the lead with the aero-car that NASCAR Cup teams used until 2008. The hope was that the different aerodynamics and the parity built into what is now the Sprint Cup car would solve some of those problems. So far it hasn't, but we should remember that the new car is still a work in progress. That is why we hope that each race at a certain track would be better than the one before it.

The Team Red Bull Toyotas of Brian Vickers and Scott Speed are on the front row at the start of the race. Speed falls back, but Vickers takes the lead and opens a gap between himself and the rest of the field. Johnson quickly takes second, and begins to gain on Vickers. Vickers holds the lead for ten laps before Johnson passes him. Johnson soon has a two second lead over the rest of the field, and begins lapping cars by lap 30. There is a caution for debris around lap 39.

Mark Martin comes out of the pits first, and Johnson loses six positions on pit road. Brian Vickers comes out second. Restart on lap 44. He started in the fourteenth position, and it didn't seem to take him long at all to get to the front. Johnson's car is still pretty strong, and he gets back into third place in no time at all, a benefit of the double file restart. Other cars that seem strong are those of Brian Vickers, Paul Menard, Dale Earnhardt, Jr, Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne, Clint Bowyer, and Tony Stewart. Most of the others seem to be having handling problems of one sort or another. Kyle Busch has big problems as he hits brushes the wall and knocks the rear end of his car out of alignment. But his car is not the only car that meets the wall on the curving backstretch.

Green flag pit stops begin after lap 89, and after they cycle through, Martin retains the lead and continues to lap slower cars. There are a lot of problems on pit road, and many cars lose position, due to penalties and pit errors.

Caution for debris on lap 131. All the lead lap cars hit pit road. At the restart on lap 136, the top five are Mark Martin, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, and Tony Stewart.

On lap 165, the top five are Martin, Johnson, Kahne, Stewart, and Vickers. Hamlin takes fifth a few laps later, and Vickers falls back to seventh. Green flag pit stops begin on lap 185. Stewart almost hits AJ Allmendinger's car as he is leaving his pit box, and Allmendinger is enterint his, but disaster is barely avoided. When the pit stops cycle through, it's Martin, Johnson, Hamlin, Kahne, and Stewart in the top five. Kyle Busch's team reports that the 18 car has dropped a cylinder. He is having a very bad night.

Paint jobs that look very cool under the lights: the 24, 14, and 99 cars.

Caution for debris on lap 211. Everybody pits, and this might be within the window to make this the final pit stop. Martin barely beats Johnson off of pit road. Stewart's crew drops a lug nut and he falls back to fifteenth. At the restart on lap 215, it's Martin, Johnson, Hamlin, and Kahne in the top four.

On lap 219, Sam Hornish Jr hits the wall and brings out the caution. The top five at the restart are Martin, Johnson, Vickers, Hamlin, and Kahne at the restart with 44 laps to go.

Johnson beats Martin on the restart, and takes the lead. Further back in the field, Earnhardt, Jr slides up the track and makes contact with Menard. Paul Menard's car brushes the wall, cuts a tire, and turns hard left, collecting a couple of other cars, including the unfortunate #31 car of Jeff Burton, and bringing out the caution once again. Jeff Burton does not like the double file restart.

At the restart with 35 laps to go, Johnson takes the outside lane, and after racing with Martin for a quarter of a lap, pulls out ahead of the pack. Vickers moves into second. Martin is third, Hamlin is fourth, and Kahne is fifth. Keselowski, who started twenty-ninth, now moves into the top ten.

With 25 laps to go, it's Johnson, Vickers, Martin, Hamlin, Kahne, Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, and Brad Keselowski in the top ten. Caution with 21 to go after David Reutimann brushes the wall. Most of the cars on the lead lap from the eighth position on back pit. The restart is with 16 to go, with Johnson leading, followed by Vickers, Hamlin, Martin, Kahne and Bowyer. Vickers beats Johnson on the restart, Hamlin moves up and is racing wheel to wheel for the lead. This is exciting. Vickers gets a little into Hamlin, and Martin gets the opportunity to move by the leaders and takes the lead. Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch are having a battle for sixth that is taking casualties. Johnson gets into Busch and Busch retaliates, causing more damage to the 2 car than the 48 car. Newman and Stewart take advantage of the shanannigans and move into fifth and sixth.

With nine to go, the engine in Kyle Busch's car finally gives out, and the caution comes out once again. The restart with four to go has Mark Martin in the lead, Gordon second, Kahne third, Hamlin fourth, and Stewart fifth. Martin gets a great restart, and opens a gap on Gordon. Kahne races Gordon for second, takes it momentarily, then Gordon takes it back. Stewart moves into fourth. At the checkers, it's Martin, Jeff Gordon, Kahne, Stewart and Hamlin in the top five. Newman, Bowyer, Johnson, Edwards, and Juan Montoya fill out the top ten.

By finishing 1-2, in the same order they did at the Michigan Lifelock 400, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon get to split a $1,000,000 bonus. In addition, a lucky fan got a $1,000,000 check from Lifelock. I wish I had signed up for Lifelock. Now the fees will go up and I will never be able to afford them.

Mark Martin gets his fourth victory of the season. If he is in the top twelve in points after Richmond, in September, at this point in time he is the leader in Chase Bonus points, with 40. I'm starting to agree with the writers like Terry Blount who suggest that NASCAR needs to add yet another ten championship points for a win. That would eliminate the possibility that a driver with the most wins would miss the Chase. It is scary to think about the backlash that would come about if Martin doesn't make the Chase now. There would probably be riots.

Poll Results: Rude racing is acceptable

2009-07-04T22:01:00.003-07:00

The poll question was "Should the driver of a slow car in a race pull over to let faster traffic pass?"

67% of those who participated in the poll believe "No, he should make them race for their position"

33% of those who participated believe "Yes, they are going to pass him anyway."

As far as we can recall, NASCAR has never penalized a driver for ignoring the yellow cross on a blue flag that tells the driver to let the faster traffic pass. If a driver is one lap down, it makes no sense for that driver to risk giving up a free pass position to let the faster cars pass. By the same token, there is nothing wrong with a driver wanting to keep whatever position he has earned, no matter if he is on the lead lap or not.

When a driver is falling back because of an ill handling car or bad tires, our readers believe that the driver should make every other driver work to pass him. We may be wrong, but it seems there is no rule against a driver who wants to do everything he can to hold his position, it is merely a "gentleman's understanding" that makes a faster driver believe that there is an obligation for the slower traffic to yield to faster traffic. When a driver does not follow this gentleman's agreement, it often results in a flare up of tempers, and could even cause wrecks and retaliation on the track. That can make for a very interesting race, and/or create a post race altercation. That is the stuff that keeps us watching to see what happens next.

A big thanks to all our readers who participated in the poll. Feel free to participate in the new poll, and Rev Jim promises to try not to forget to publish the poll results in the future.

On Type Delay: The Firecracker 400 (AKA The Coke Zero 400)

2009-07-04T21:38:00.002-07:00

Even if we don't really like restrictor plate racing, we are drawn to the potential wreckfest with great anticipation. Even though much of the racing is out of the driver's hands, there is just something about it that makes it exciting. It's not the kind of racing we normally think of as racing, but that's exactly what it is--racing in an abnormal definition. Anything can happen, and that is why we watch, and have fun watching.

Besides, no matter what the sponsor's name is, this is the Firecracker 400, and it is on the Fourth of July for the first time in many years.

Jeff Gordon leads the first lap on the outside lane. With help from Denny Hamlin, Kurt Bush takes the lead by splitting the two lines on lap 3, leaving Jeff Gordon hung out to dry. Hamlin takes the lead on lap 5. There will be a lot of this throughout the race, so we will eventually lose track of every lead change.

Lap 10 and the cars are spread out in single file for the most part. This is normal for a night race at Daytona Early in the race, the drivers are working on figuring out what adjustments they need, or will need for the changing conditions. We won't be seeing a lot of aggression this early in the race. And on lap 13 just as we wrote that last sentence, Mark Martin and Matt Kenseth make contact, and Martin goes spinning into the infield. Montoya almost gets by without getting hit by Martin's car, but it was only almost, and Juan Pablo gets by with some damage to the rear end body work of his car. The leaders pit. Kurt Busch slides through his pit and loses time in the pits. Stewart gets out of the pits first, and lines up on the inside row. Restart on lap 17.

By lap 18, the drivers up front are again in single file. Kurt Busch, who restarted in 27th is already up to 19th, a result of the advantage given to position by the new double file restart. On lap 22 the top five are Stewart, Johnson, Hamlin, Jeff Burton, and Kenseth. The top six are pulling away from the rest of the field.

That Burger King commercial that they showed in the sub screen got me. I was thinking "Oh no, not now, not today," when Stewart was reporting a vibration and a car that had its handling going away, with Darrien Grubb trying to keep him calm and trying to keep him on the track for just five more laps. It takes the King, not King Richard, but creepy King Burger King--who just happens to be riding along in the car--to calm him down by giving him some french fries. It was a very clever commercial, and it reminded us how appropriate it is that Stewart's part time sponsor switched from Subway to Burger King. Tony Stewart is nothing if he isn't a burgers and fries guy.

Casey Mears spins out and hits the inside wall on lap 28, bringing out the second caution. The leaders pit and at the restart on lap 31, it's Stewart, Hamlin, Kenseth, Sadler and Johnson in the top 5. Hamlin takes the lead on lap 33, and then has to move down to block a hard charging Kyle Busch. On lap 34, it's Hamlin, Busch, Stewart, Kenseth, and Johnson in the top five. Things settle down again by lap 36, and the lead cars are once again in single file.

Stewart gets to the outside and around Kyle Busch on lap 45, and moves into second, then slingshots around Hamlin and takes the lead on lap 46 with not drafting help. This is one of the things we like about the Sprint Cup car--the cars can pass for the lead without help, by using the old school maneuver of draft and slingshot.

Hamlin tries to race Stewart side by side, gets hung out by himself, and falls back into line in the fourth position. Montoya gets lapped on lap 50. On lap 51, the top five are Stewart, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, and Kurt Busch, who seems to have recovered from his earlier pit snafu with some authority.

Bad news for Junior Nation, as Jr has fallen back to twenty-fourth, and is reporting some serious handling issues.

Matt Kenseth pits under the green, dropping out of third place, on lap 56. This turns out to be the old "pit just before the caution" strategy as the caution flies on lap 57after Sam Hornish, Jr brushes the wall and leaves debris on the track. Kenseth stays out while the rest of the field pits. The first five out of the pits are Stewart, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson, and Denny Hamlin. Kenseth will lead the restart on lap 61. Stewart starts to take the lead, but gets stuck by himself and drops back to fifth. But he hooks up again, finding the right place to be at the right time, and one lap later finds himself in third, behind Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch.

Now it's hard to listen to radio chatter without thinking it's just another ad. But Johnson is having some handling problems, but is managing to hang in among the top six.

On lap 72, with weather reported on its way, Kyle Busch moves up the track, allowing Stewart to pass below him, then Stewart takes the lead. On lap 73, Carl Edwards moves into the third position. Hamlin gets the lead back on lap 74. On lap 76, the top five are Hamlin, Stewart, Edwards, Kyle Busch, and Jimmie Johnson. On lap 77 there is a big wreck on the backstretch, involving Dale Jr, David Stremme, David Reutimann, Kasey Kahne, Michael Waltrip, Reed Sorenson, Brian Vickers, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, and Jeff Gordon, among others. There are actually thirteen cars involved. Joey Logano barely avoids the wreck. The leaders pit on lap 80, and Stewart's excellent pit crew and pit position get him off of pit road first, once again giving him the lead.

John Andretti stayed out, and is scored in the lead. He pits before the race goes green, and the restart is on lap 82, with Stewart first, followed by Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, and Kurt Busch. Hamlin takes the lead on lap 83.

On lap 89 the top five are Hamlin, Stewart, Kyle Busch, Edwards, and Jimmie Johnson. Jamie McMurray pits out of ninth position on lap 99. Caution on lap 102 as Reutimann cuts a front right tire and hits the wall. The leaders pit on lap 104. Stewart again gets off of pit road first. Johnson has some issues in the pits because he is too close to the wall. He was in fourth, and comes out in nineteenth. McMurray is scored in the lead, but he pits again. The top five at the restart will be Stewart, Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, and Jeff Burton. Stewart holds the lead, thanks to a very healthy push by Kyle Busch, and the top five on lap 109 are Stewart, Kyle Busch, Burton, David Ragan, and Matt Kenseth. Hamlin gets dropped back to 12th.

With 45 laps to go Hamlin has made it back into the top six or seven. Kyle Busch gets hung out, and Burton moves into second. Busch moves back into the field, breaking up the potential Roush train of Ragan, Kenseth, and Edwards, then moves back into third, with 42 laps to go. With 39 laps to go, David Ragan and Kurt Busch make contact while going four wide--at Daytona--and bring out a caution. The leaders all pit again with 38 laps to go.

Stewart comes off of pit road first, Edwards second, Kyle Busch third, after having to avoid Robby Gordon entering his pit. Jeff Burton comes out fourth, and Matt Kenseth is fifth. Things should be picking up some now. The restart will be with 35 to go. The weather that was coming has broken up, according to radio chatter between Bob Osborne and his driver Carl Edwards. Edwards takes the lead, after Kyle moves up to the outside, but Stewart also moves tho the outside and falls in line in third. Jeff Burton takes the lead with 33 to go, after Stewart drafts him and follows him into second. Now Stewart takes the lead with Kyle Busch behind him. Jeff Burton drops back, and gets involved in a race with Montoya, who has made it from being a lap down, to getting a free pass, and is now battling for a top five position. Johnson moves into fourth. Burton cuts a tire and has to pit. With 30 to go, the top five are Stewart, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, and Montoya. The top four cars are almost two seconds ahead of the rest of the pack.

With fifteen laps to go, the caution flies because, as far as we can tell, Kyle Busch suggested that there had to be another caution before the end of the race. Joking aside, there must have been debris, as the cleaning crew is on the track. This is going to be fun. Everybody pits. Off of pit road, it's Stewart, Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Johnson, and Kenseth. Wow.

It looks like Stewart will take the inside lane, which will put Hamlin behind him. Johnson is behind Busch. We love these "shootout style" restarts. 12 to go and the green flies. Hamlin pushes Stewart to a clear lead, then Johnson moves down behind Stewart and takes second. With ten to go, it's Stewart, Johnson, Hamlin, Kyle Busch, and Kenseth. With nine to go, Scott Speed, running in fifteenth, gets tangled with somebody and hits the wall. Logano once again does a good job avoiding the wreck. Caution. The top five are Stewart, Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Johnson, and Kenseth.

Now Stewart will have Busch behind him, and Hamlin, on the outside, will have Johnson behind him. We expect the Gibbs drivers to team up after the restart, and Johnson will help his technical team mate, Stewart. Just speculating here. Getting caught up in the excitement of the moment.

Being nerve-wracked is a rush, restart with five to go. Stewart gets the edge on the restart. Johnson gets down behind Busch, leaving Hamlin out, but Hamlin gets down in front of Johnson. So now it's Stewart, Busch, Hamlin, and Johnson in the top four, running nose to tail. Two to go. Right at the end of the lap, Kyle Busch gets around Stewart after a push from Hamlin on the outside, but Hamlin falls back, and Busch is on his own. Down the backstretch on the final lap, Johnson, running in third, catches up to Stewart, and starts pushing him. Stewart gets up behind Busch going through turn three. Stewart goes low, and Busch blocks, Stewart goes high, and Busch goes to block, and runs into Stewart's bumper. Kyle wrecks, Stewart wins, what a finish!

Johnson finishes second, Hamlin third, Edwards fourth, and Kurt Busch fifth. Marcose Ambrose, Brian Vickers, Matt Kenseth, Juan Montoya, and Elliott Sadler fill out the top ten.

Stewart doesn't like the way he won, but we feel that both Stewart and Busch were doing what they had to do to win. Stewart was already on Kyle Busch's right rear quarter panel when Busch moved up to block him. "I wanted to give him (Busch) a good finish...I apologize if I did something wrong, but I don't think I did," lamented Stewart in victory lane.

Indeed, Kyle Busch's wreck collected Kasey Kahne and Joey Logano, among others, so it was an ugly victory. But it was a victory, and, in the end, that's all that matters.

On Type Delay: Loudon I

2009-06-29T03:40:00.002-07:00

Often when I think of New Hampshire, I think of the beautiful mountains and countryside. I live in Colorado, and love it, so I must be a fan of beautiful mountains and countryside. After that, since I'm a racing fan, I think of New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The first think (sic) that comes to mind is how great it is that the New England race fans pack the seats at NHMS every time the NASCAR Cup series races there. Okay, maybe they didn't pack it this time--not everybody has the money to go to races these days--but it did seem as though there were nearly as many people on the concourse between the seats and the fence as there were empty seats in turn three.

There is also this predisposition to think of the races at New Hampshire as being a parade of cars going single file all the way around the track. But those days are over. The track at ~~Concord~~ Loudon seems to be one of those that somehow fits the new car better than it does the aero cars that were in use there before 2007. As a result, we have seen much more side by side racing and racing for the lead in the more recent races there than we have in the past.

Because qualifying was cancelled due to rain, the race starts with the cars in position according to owner points. That puts Tony Stewart on the pole, Jeff Gordon second, Jimmie Johnson third, and so on. Gordon gets an excellent start and takes the lead right off the bat. Kurt Busch, starting in fourth, also starts well, and he is battling Gordon at every turn--excellent racing from the get go. We are also seeing, thanks to the excellent camera coverage from TNT, lots of racing throughout the pack, with cars going three wide at times. Kurt Busch takes the lead on lap 7.

There are three incidents before the scheduled competition caution on lap 35, so we get to see three of the new double file restarts, and the competition caution is rescheduled for lap 45. Perhaps the fact that the double file restarts and the wave-around keep the cars closer together breeds more cautions, but it does produce some interesting racing, and it is fun to watch. No restrictor plates are necessary to keep the cars close together.

Things settle down, eventually, and we get a long green flag run. Even though cars get spread out to some extent, and cars begin to get lapped, the lapped traffic holds up the leaders. Jimmie Johnson, who took the lead on lap 50, does get held up and has Jeff Gordon on his tail.

But though Gordon races him for the lead, Johnson maintains position, until a caution for debris comes out on lap 152. Johnson stalls at the beginning of pit road, most of the leaders take two tires, and the top five at the restart on lap 158 are Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

It looks like Jr's new team is beginning to gel. He has a car he likes, and is competing well with the top drivers. He even gets a chance to take a look at the lead when Gordon and Kurt Busch bump shortly after the restart. Things are looking up for Jr Nation.

There is another caution on lap 169, after the front left wheel on Paul Menard's car locks up and he goes into the wall. The leaders stay out, and the restart at lap 174 is led by Jeff Gordon, followed by Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt, Jr, Tony Stewart, and Martin Truex, Jr. Jr gets a bad start, spinning his rear tires, the Truex checks up behind him, and Kyle Busch gives the haters something more to hate him for. Truex, McMurray, Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick, Casey Mears, Brian Vickers, and David Ragan all get caught up in the result. We'll let the haters draw their own conclusions, with the reminder that hate kills and doesn't make one look very smart. Anyway, the race is red flagged for cleanup.

The race returns to caution and pit road is open on lap 177. The leaders stay out, while Ryan Newman, Joey Logano, Casey Mears, and David Reutimann, among others stop. Casey Mears will make several pit stops for repairs and stay on the lead lap.

Jeff Gordon leads the restart on lap 180. Kurt Busch is second, Tony Stewart third, Jimmie Johnson fourth, and Dale Jr is fifth. As on every restart with Gordon first and Busch second, there is a battle for the lead, and Gordon once again prevails. There is another caution as Joey Logano cuts a tire on lap 182.

The restart is on lap 187, with Jeff Gordon still leading. The first four remain the same, but Mark Martin has moved up to fifth. Tony Stewart gets by Kurt Busch, as Busch gets loose. Jimmie Johnson gets caught up in Busch's bad fortune and loses five spots. Then we get another caution on lap 189 as Scott Speed goes into the wall. We are getting worried about rain, at this point. Green flag at lap 195, and the leaders are Gordon, Stewart, Kurt Busch, Sam Hornish, Jr, and Mark Martin.

We get to see some great racing for the lead as Stewart and Gordon battle it out. Racing doesn't get much better for fans than watching two of NASCAR's greatest drivers go wheel to wheel against each other. Stewart takes the lead on lap 196. The race goes on another long green flag run, as Stewart leads. Gordon nearly catches him a few times, but can't pass. him.

Green flag pit stops begin on lap 233, when Kyle Busch pits. The leaders all pit together on lap 235. Tony Stewart's crew gets hung up on the right front tire, causing him to lose a second or two in the pits. After the pit stops cycle through, Ryan Newman and Joey Logano have not pitted, putting Newman in the lead, and Logano second. Their crew chiefs are taking a gamble that the rain would come soon. That's the way it works--if you have a car that is not as good as those that have led most of the race, go for position and run the car until it rains or it runs out of gas.

Newman holds the lead until lap 263, when he runs out of fuel. Joey Logano takes the lead. Jeff Gordon has raced his way to second place, and Tony Stewart is in fifth. On lap 266, caution is called for rain. The race goes red as the track gets too wet on lap 273. The race is called, and Joey Logano gets his first Cup victory, and is now the youngest driver ever to win a race in the Cup series.

It is always good to see a rookie get his first win. Logano has come a long way since he was allowed to take the fender whiskers off of his car, and he did what he needed to win. Greg Zippadelli, his crew chief, should be proud. His gamble paid off.

The final top ten finishing order was Logano, Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, who ran a great race for Penske, David Reutimann, who also stayed out during that last green flag pit cycle, Tony Stewart, who was making a big move to the front when the rain came, Brad Keselowski, another driver who didn't pit when everyone else did, Kyle Busch, Sam Hornish, Jr, also driving for Penske and whom nobody thought would get this good, Jimmie Johnson, and Kasey Kahne. Tony Stewart retains the top spot in the standings, and the race to be in the top twelve is beginning to shape up.

Again, TNT's camera work was wonderful, and we wish the other networks could do what TNT has done in that department. The next race is July 4 at Daytona, where the double file restart should be interesting.

On Type Delay: Infinion (Sears Point)

2009-06-22T02:19:00.001-07:00

My good friend Debbie once told me that, back in 1996, while PPIR was under construction, she snuck her Kia into the facility and ran a few laps around the track. I believed her, because if there was an ultimate NASCAR fan, that was Debbie. When we went to races at Pike's Peak, she would sneak through the gate into the garage area and, once, into the pit area while the race was in progress. She always wanted to be as close to the action as possible. So yeah, if she said she drove her Kia around the track, she probably did.

If I could take a car of my own around any NASCAR track, my choice would be the 1972 Dodge Charger Special Edition R/T I used to have, and the track would be Sears Point (aka Infineon). I imagine the thrill of going up that hill to turn 2, whipping around turn 3a, and leaving my stomach behind as I race down the drop to turn 4 (there are turns 3, 5, and 6, but those bypass turns 4 and 7 and aren't used for NASCAR) . A touch on the brake, downshift, brake downshift and around the 90 degree right turn, then floor it to turn 7. Downshift again, around the sharp turn with the right wheels on the curb to get a straight exit to the esses of turns 8 and 9. Take some G's going around the short turn ten, but don't go in too hot, or you find yourself off the track, like Scott Speed did during qualifying. Another straightaway, then slow wa-a-y down for the 180 degree hairpin of turn 11. A short left turn and then across the start/finish line. What a thrill.

I get a thrill just watching the race. At the drop of the green flag, 43 colorful cars, sometimes going three wide into the first turn, and then trying to get in line before entering the narrow turn two--four stories higher than turn 1--is a sight of great beauty. One has to marvel at the skills of these drivers in avoiding wrecks before the first lap is finished.

The TNT broadcast crew sounded confused most of the time in trying to describe the racing action--probably more the fault of the producers who are constantly talking in their ear than the actual commentators--so I won't make the same mistake by trying to describe the racing action here. Suffice it to say that there is plenty of action on every lap, with cars spinning at one point or another, being pushed off the track by other cars, or just leaving the track on their own.There are cars going three wide where there should only be two, and somehow everybody gets around the track with little more than a few minor dents and dings. Formula 1 and Indy cars can't race like this, so this race is a grand tribute to bumpers and fenders.

The double file restarts, in place of what used to be all single file restarts on road courses, add greatly to the excitement, and we get to see re-creations of the initial green flag after every caution. The lack of the abilities of Webber, Petty, and Dallenbach to call a decent play by play is made up for by the excellent camera work and video technology for which TNT deserves glowing reviews. While watching the race leaders trying to gain advantage around turn four, we can see the trouble cars back in the pack are having back in turn two. It's about as close as one can get to being there while watching on television.

As we get to the meat of the matter, after the final pit stops have been completed and all the fuel strategy is over with, the cream rises to the top, and we get the thrill of seeing the best road course racers NASCAR has to offer compete against each other with no holds barred. Kasey Kahne, who has yet to finish in the top ten on a road course, takes the lead out of the final pit stop. Tony Stewart, who has proven himself a road course ace time after time restarts beside him, on the outside lane. Juan Pablo Montoya, who has proven himself to be of championship caliber on all sorts of tracks this year, is there, as is Jimmie Johnson, who has beaten and banged his way back to the front after a pit road speeding penalty. Denny Hamlin has proven himself a contender on this day by staying in or near the top five during the entire race. And Marcos Ambrose, who started the race in the very last position, has joined the fray.

Kahne gets a great restart, and Stewart has to fight hard to keep his position going around turn two, but he maintains. Montoya is wonderfully aggressive as he pokes the nose of his car under Johnson's and takes third. But Ambrose is just as aggressive, and looks very much like he is out to win. While we are watching this excellent road course racing, we get comic relief from the booth bunnies with a dialogue that could have come from a Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comic book.

"Jimmie Johnson is the cleanest driver in NASCAR"
"Yeah, he's clean."
"Real clean."
"Clean"
"He almost wrecked Ambrose, but that was clean"
"Yeah, it was clean."
"Yeah, the cleanest driver in NASCAR."

I don't think they even believed what they were saying, but apparently the TNT producers don't want the defending champ to be portrayed as someone who would do anything he can to win a race.

Another caution and another restart. Kahne prevails against Stewart again. Further back in the pack, Boris Said is acting like a spoiled brat throwing a temper tantrum, and wrecking any car that comes near him. It's Captain Saidhead, the Avenger of the Smashed Guitar, as he takes out Kyle Busch.

Caution again and yet another opportunity for one of those great double file restarts. Kahne once again beats Stewart through turn two, and Stewart once again has to hold off the determined Juan Pablo Montoya, and Montoya has the hard driving Aussie to contend with as Ambrose eventually takes third place from him. Kahne, who isn't known as a road course racer is having no trouble keeping the lead. The Freak Brothers note that both Kahne and Stewart were USAC dirt track aces, and therefore have no problem sliding around on old tires. They are, indeed, having the time of their lives, and Ambrose can match their speed, but can't catch them. Near the back of the field, Said takes out some more cars and we will have a green/white/checker finish, with yet another double file restart. Kahne gets the jump, Stewart maintains second. With less than two laps to go, three cars spin near the back of the pack, but if they can get moving again a caution can be avoided. They get moving, and Kahne takes the white flag. Stewart has nothing for Kahne, and Ambrose can do nothing but hold third place, so Kasey Kahne wins, and gains the first victory for a team bearing Richard Petty's name in ten years.

It is a great day for Kasey Kahne, a great day for Dodge--who can't and doesn't have to pay the support fees that allow the use of their name--and a great day for Richard Petty Motorsports, who recently had to lay off over a hundred employees due to lack of support fees from Dodge. I guess it was a good day for the comedy writers who run the production booth, as well, because we have never before heard such inane commentary.

NASCAR Cup only has two road course races on its schedule, but we have to say that the Cup Series provides us with the finest road course racing in motorsports. We got to see some of that at Infineon, Sunday, and we hope to see more in a few weeks at Watkins Glen. The double file restarts added even more to the excitement, and we have to say that we believe that is absolutely the best rule change NASCAR has made in recent years.

On to New Hampshire.

On Type Delay: The Lifelock 400

2009-06-15T02:45:00.010-07:00

First things first:

Kyle Busch goes too farSmack talk is smack talk, but it is neither good, nor a driver's place to criticize the fans of another driver, no matter how over the top they may be. It seems that Busch the Younger wants people to hate him, and eggs them on to do so. As Dale Jr, himself pointed out, it causes problems for other drivers and fans. How can a track promotor expect to sell out a race if nobody wants to sit in the front five rows for fear of getting hit by flying debris from angry Jr fans?

This should never have happened The Camping World Truck Series is without a defending champion, as Johnny Benson has lost his ride due to sponsorship issues. Kyle Busch offered his ride at Detroit to Benson, but his sponsor, Miccosukee Resort and Gaming, nixed the idea. To make matters worse, Benson was seriously injured in a wreck at New Berlin Speedway during a supermodifieds race, suffering several broken ribs and possibly a punctured lung. I don't understand, even during these hard economic times, why no one is willing to sponsor the reigning series champion--it really seems like a lost opportunity. One would think that TRD themselves would want to sponsor a driver who is among their top stars, at least until he could get a sponsor. It is another blow to the NASCAR series that often features the best flag to flag racing.

Best Sponsor Placement Carl Edwards has to be the best thing that has happened to any NASCAR sponsor since Michael Waltrip. He always seems to be able to fit a word for a sponsor into any topic of discussion. Talking about the unseasonal coolness of the weather during Saturday's Sprint Cup practice, Carl remarked, "It's probably because all those people driving their Ford Fusion Hybrids and helping global warming."

Now for the race.

Michigan International Speedway is similar to California AutoClub Speedway, except it is wider and allows even less opportunity for mishaps other than lapped traffic, than California. That means we will probably see some cautions for phantom debris, and long green flag runs.

Kyle Busch, starting on the outside of row one takes the lead. His lead lasts eight laps, then Jimmie Johnson passes him on the low side and assumes the lead. Pole sitter Brian Vickers falls back. Jeff Gordon, who had to start in the back for an engine change is rapidly moving toward the front, as is Mark Martin, who started 26th. Tony Stewart has moved into the top ten, and Kasey Kahne and Juan Montoya are looking strong in the top six. Green flag pit stops begin around lap 36. On lap 42, the top five are Johnson, Kahne, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, and Greg Biffle.

Johnson maintains the lead after the pit stops cycle through. Johnson is still leading when the first caution flies on lap 72. Restart on lap 77, after all the leaders pit, and it's Johnson, Biffle, Kahne, Montoya, and David Ragan in the top five.

The next green flag pit stops begin around lap 114, with Kasey Kahne giving up a top ten position to pit. Carl Edwards leads for one lap after the pit stops cycle through, but Jimmie Johnson regains the lead on lap 119. The top five are Johnson, Biffle, Montoya, Kahne and Stewart. The second caution, for debris, comes out on lap 121. Thirteen of the lead lap cars pit, including Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, and Kasey Kahne. Ryan Newman has been having troubles and is now a lap down.

Restart on lap 125, and the top five are Johnson, Biffle, Montoya, Stewart, and Hamlin. Mark Martin makes it to the top five on lap 127 and is now in fourth. He gets by Montoya on lap 130 for third. Just as the teams are preparing for green flag pit stops, David Stremme spins at the entrance of the pit road and hits the water barrels, bringing out the third caution of the race. These could be the last pit stops of the race. If they are, fuel conservation will be necessary. The restart is on lap 156, after Biffle gets out of the pits first.

The top five at the restart are Biffle, Hamlin, Johnson, Martin, and Jeff Gordon.

Lap 175 and the race slows down some as the lead drivers are told to save fuel. Some of them, including the leader, Biffle, have been saving since before the restart, so there really hasn't been a whole lot of action.

Now things start to get exciting with ten laps to go. Biffle still leads, Johnson has taken second from Hamlin, Martin is third, Hamlin is fourth, and Jeff Gordon is fifth. The question here is not who will race to the win, but who will have enough fuel to finish the race first.

Johnson seems to think he has enough fuel to race for the finish. He races Biffle for the lead beginning on lap 191 and completes the pass on lap 195. Biffle tries to get the lead back, then lets up to try to save fuel. The white flag flies, and Johnson runs out of fuel at the start/finish line. Now Biffle leads, with Martin in second and Gordon in third. But Biffle runs out of fuel with half a lap to go, and Martin takes the lead. Jeff Gordon is second, and they practically coast across the finish line. Martin wins his third race of the season, Jeff Gordon is second, Denny Hamlin is third, Carl Edwards fourth and Biffle is fifth. The top ten are filled out by Montoya, Stewart, Kurt Busch, Brian Vickers, and Clint Bowyer. Johnson finally crossed the finish line in position 22.

We don't expect a lot of action at the 2 mile intermediate tracks, and that makes it easy to write the On Type Delay post. We could actually go across the street to the corner store without missing anything important. The final ten laps were exciting in their own way, and we are happy to see Mark Martin once again in Victory Lane. He now leads the field in Chase bonus points, with thirty.

This race was 390 miles of not much happening. Perhaps NASCAR could rethink scheduling four races on these two mile long flat tracks that are more suited to manufacturers' testing than to auto racing?

Next week's race is at Sonoma on the road course formerly known as Sears Point. The new double file restarts should be very interesting, and there should be plenty of them. We can hardly wait!

Big Deal? I think not

2009-06-08T17:53:00.002-07:00

In NASCAR, something always seems to happen to make headlines, just in case the race wasn't exciting or interesting enough. In recent weeks, we have had the Jeremy Mayfield story, the Carl Long Saga, and, of course, there's always the What's Up With Junior ? story line.

This week also brought us plenty of good stories. Todd Bodine was the first Truck Series driver to win five times at TMS. The defending championsip team in the Truck Series has shut its doors, leaving the defending Champion, Johnny Benson, without a ride. NASCAR implemented the double file "shootout style" restart for the sake of the fans. Tony Stewart became the first owner/driver to win a points race in the Cup Series in over ten years. Stewart also became the first Cup driver to win a race at Pocono starting from the fourty-third position. Robby Gordon won the Baja 500 for the fourth time in his career. That isn't NASCAR news, but it does involve a NASCAR driver. Kyle Busch performed the best burn-out ever in his celebration of his Nashville victory. It had smoke, explosions, and flames.

But the big story of the week, the one that everyone wants to talk about, involves the smashing of an $800 guitar by Kyle Busch in Victory Lane. Gibson Guitars, Inc is ecstatic over it--they got over $300,000 in free advertising at the cost of one guitar. Sam Bass, a mediocre artist at best, stayed in the spotlight by changing his reaction to the act twice, and by getting commissioned by Kyle Busch to paint two new guitars.. Dave Despain set himself firmly in the ranks of propagandists like Chris Wallace, Bill O'Reilly, and Bob Beckel by telling only half the story, or, only the part of the story that served him best.

When Kyle Busch shouted over the radio, "everybody gets a piece of the guitar," as he ran the final lap of the race, we should have had a clue as to what was about to happen. Members of the #18 Nationwide Series crew had asked Busch, back in April, if they could have a piece of the guitar if he won it. He obliged them, and now each and every member of his crew has a signed piece of the trophy to commemorate their first Nashville victory. It wouldn't have been the same if it had been one of the replacement guitars that had been cut up, nor would it have been the same if Kyle had just taken the guitar to the shop and cut it up there, without the Victory Lane performance.

Bottom line is, no one should have been as apalled as they pretend to be. The artist, Sam Bass--who backed into notoriety by painting NASCAR themed pictures rather than Elvis on velvet or pictures of household pets playing cards or billiards--said at first that he was shocked, then that he understood that Kyle's action was actually a tribute to the guitar and to rock and roll, "as someone who appreciates rock and roll."

It is perfectly understandable that an artist would cringe at seeing his work destroyed, and, artists are supposed to be sensitive. On Monday, Bass claimed that, though he understood that the trophy was Kyle's and he could do what he wanted with it, he was appalled at seeing "his baby...destroyed seconds after it was awarded." As if the Nashville trophy is his life's work. Anybody who is familiar with Bass' paintings knows that he only has four basic drawings, on which he only has to change the colors of the cars or the uniform, and facial and hair features of the driver. So Bass isn't complaining about the commision he gets from Busch, nor is it going to be any matter of creativity for him to paint the new guitars. He's had plenty of practice at it, like Elvis on velvet.

The story may have been different if, as one caller on "Wind Tunnel" pointed out, it had been Dale Earnhardt, Jr who had smashed the guitar, it would have been the greatest victory celebration ever. But it was the much hated Kyle Busch who performed the dastardly deed, and that did not win him any fans, nor did he expect it to.

In the results of the ESPN NASCAR Now poll on Monday, seventeen percent of the respondents said they loved Kyle's VL performance, forty-seven percent said they hated it, and thirty-six percent said they didn't care. To be honest, I'm with that thirty-six percent. There are many more stories that don't deserve to be overshadowed by this one.

For example, did anybody see the significance in the car number that won the fourteenth Cup race of the season?

On Type Delay: The Pocono 500

2009-06-07T22:13:00.001-07:00

Countdown to Green would be a great name for a television program sponsored by General Electric or the Corn Growers Association, and hosted by Al Gore, but instead it is the name of the pre-race show on TNT. No "Digger" cartoon here, and the show is refreshingly mature. Probably boring for the kids though, but do kids watch pre-race shows anyway?

Bad luck at the start of the race for Denny Hamlin. His car just stopped, and stalls in the first turn of the race. As the cars come around to start the second lap, the caution comes out. Nobody pits this time, but after the restart, the race goes a couple of more laps, and Hamlin comes out and brings out another caution as his car stalls again. This time the leaders pit, and most take two tires. Tony Stewart takes four tires, and restarts in eighteenth, but the four tires gives him a better ability to gain more positions. While these would have been single file restarts, because there is nobody a lap or more down, now we get to see the double file restarts, and we have already seen the new rule in action twice.

Tony Stewart had to start at the back of the field after going to a back up car. He wrecked his primary during the first practice on Saturday, and had to forfeit the pole. But in 27 laps, he has made it to the top fifteen, and in 39 laps, has made it into the top ten.

There is some real action for the lead on lap 37 as Greg Biffle catches up to the leader, Jimmie Johnson. As Biffle and Johnson battle, Carl Edwards catches up with them, and lap 38 features some very interesting three way racing, as Edwards takes the lead. Who says Pocono is boring? Who says the Sprint Cup car can't make passes at speed, under green? Well, Monte Dutton has said that, as have many fans, but now it looks like something is being done by the teams to correct both problems.

Greg Biffle is exciting enough to watch by himself. He has been sliding sideways at every turn, but his car is fast. That is just the way Da Biff rolls, but his talent in that skill has been overshadowed by Kyle Busch, who takes that style a step further. Another thing interesting about this lead change is that Edwards and Biffle were able to race each other without bouncing off of each other, which, recently, had seemed to have been a habit whenever those two get together.

Green flag pit stops begin on lap 44, and cycle through until lap 49. Edwards retains the lead after the cycle. Edwards gains some distance on second place Greg Biffle, but that may be because we have come into the "save the car and see what we need" portion of the race.

So, not much happens during this stretch of the race, and we have green flag pit stops again, beginning on lap 76. Edwards has some trouble with the refueling, and they do not get all the fuel in his fuel cell. Still, after the pit stops cycle through, Edwards retains the lead. Stewart stays out while the other cars are pitting, and leads a lap before he pits. As the pit cycle ends, Stewart is still running in tenth.

Still not much happening at this point in the race. Ryan Newman's car has developed some intermittant ignition trouble, that may or not be a spark plug wire. His team will have to wait until the scheduled pit stop to check it out. Edwards gives up the lead on lap 102 for fuel and tires, and the other cars begin pit stops one or two laps later. Just as Jimmie Johnson, who has just passed the commitment line is caught entering the pits just as the caution comes out for debris in turn two. The pit road is closed, but Johnson pits anyway, and will have to restart at the back of the field. If things go as usual for the #48 team, this means another victory for Jimmie Johnson.

Before we can set the running order after the restart, we get a caution on lap 115 after Dale Earnhardt,Jr helps David Stremme find the wall. The top four cars stay out, while most of the other leaders pit. Ryan Newman gets caught speeding on pit road, and has to restart in the back of the field. Restart on lap 118 with Edwards first, Kenseth second, Martin third, and Stewart fourth.

This is where we like the new double file "shootout style" restarts. The fastest cars are up front racing the fastest cars. Stewart passes Martin on the restart, being on the outside of the second row. Kenseth, from the outside of the first row, passes Edwards and leads lap 119. Edwards moves back into the lead on lap 121, and Stewart moves into second a few laps later.

Johnson is really moving up through the field. He is back in the top ten after only three green flag laps. As green flag pit stops begin around lap 135 he is running in eighth. Edwards, Stewart, and Johnson all pit on lap 138, and Edwards gets out ahead of Stewart, while Kenseth leads a lap. After the stops cycle through, Edwards is more than a second ahead of Stewart, Kenseth is third, Biffle fourth, and Martin fifth. Kurt Busch, who has been running in or near the top five all day, has a water pump go out and has to go into the garage for repairs. When he finally returns to the track, after the water pump was replaced, he is scored seventeen laps down. Meanwhile, Newman's problems have been solved, and he is moving up toward the top ten.

With 43 laps to go, there is a caution for debris. Edwards was three seconds ahead of Stewart when the caution flew, but it was Edwards who reported the debris, so there is nothing imaginary about this one to tighten the field. This stop is barely within the fuel window, so we may see yet another fuel mileage race at Pocono, no surprise there. The restart here is sure to be exciting. Tony Stewart gets off of pit road first, and now we are getting some rain. Carl Edwards comes off second. The rain is a light rain, so the caution will continue. Jeff Gordon stayed out, hoping for rain. It wasn't supposed to rain at Long Pond today, so hopefully this will just be a short shower. Incidently, we just had a very short rain shower in Colorado Springs, as well.

If the race restarts, it will be Jeff Gordon first, Tony Stewart second, and Carl Edwards third. If the rain wins, it will be a victory for Gordon similar to his Pocono victory in 2007, and Smoke will once again finish second.

The rain stops and the track is dry. Stewart assumes the lead as Gordon pits. This will be good! And, yes it will be a fuel mileage race. Unless there is another caution, of course.

Stewart first, Edwards second. Kenseth third, and Biffle fourth at the restart with 35 laps to go. Stewart leads the lap. Biffle looses positions, and Kasey Kahne comes into the picture. If you hate commercials, and are a Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth, or Kasey Kahne fan, now is the time to really dispise them. The adreneline builds during the commercials, but so does the anxiety.

26 laps to go, and it's Stewart, Edwards, Kahne, Jimmie Johnson fourth, and in fuel conservation mode, and Clint Bowyer is fifth, also in fuel mileage mode. Kenseth, Biffle, Newman, Reutimann, and Martin Truex, Jr fill out the top ten. Kenseth is definitely short on fuel, Edwards could be four laps short, Reutimann has plenty of fuel, Newman has more fuel than Stewart, and just might make it, but Darien Grubb, Stewart's crew chief is hoping that his driver barely has enough fuel to make it. He is also hoping for a caution to be sure.

Crap, more commercials. Rev' Jim is wishing he had stocked up on Depends.

Quote of the race so far: "Michael (Waltrip)'s pit crew is fast. They had to dodge his car twice."

What we like about the TNT coverage is that they cover the cars further back. With fifteen laps to go, Biffle, Kyle Busch, Mark Martin, and Clint Bowyer pit for fuel and tires. Kenseth, Earnhardt, Jr, and more cars pit with thirteen laps to go.

On lap 191, Stewart goes to fuel conservation mode. Edwards is still second, Johnson is third, Reutimann is fourth, and Newman is fifth, as Kahne pitted for fuel during the commercial. We are coming up on the white flag lap and it's all or nothing for Stewart, while Johnson is gaining on him, having passed Edwards. Tony is in turn two, and Johnson and Edwards are barreling down on him, but Johnson is out of fuel. Around turn three, and Stewart floors it. He wins! Tony Stewart is the first owner driver to win a points race since Ricky Rudd did it at Martinsville in 1997, or 98, or somewhere around there. Heck, Smoke even saved enough fuel to perform a good victory celebration.

Another one for the record books: Smoke is the first driver ever to win a race at Pocono from the forty-third starting position. Previously, the starting position furthest back from which a victory was won at Pocono was twenty-ninth. Carl Edwards did that last year.

Carl Edwards was second, Reutimann is third, Jeff Gordon fourth, and Ryan Newman is fifth. Remember, Newman was running on seven cylinders early in the race. He pitted six times during green flag runs while his team figured out what was wrong with the engine, and changed a spark plug. His fifth place finish is a comeback story, and a tribute to a very good team. Other notable finishes were Marcos Ambrose, finishing sixth, and Sam Hornish, Jr finishing in tenth place.

We have written here before about how one of the great things about being a NASCAR fan is that when your driver wins a race, it feels like a major victory in any other sport. For us, today feels like we just won the Super Bowl. Now if you escuse me, I have to strip naked, paint a red number "14" on my chest, and go running down Colorado Avenue whooping and hollering.

Dover, Pocono, and more

2009-06-05T14:41:00.005-07:00

Just in case anyone missed the Live on Type Delay post from Dover, we had it written, but just couldn't post it in a timely fashion, due to internet connection issues. We will try to bring it back next week, unless our connection problems persist.

Last Sunday, we were treated to one of the best races of the season so far. There was plenty of side by side racing throughout the field, and lots of lead changes, with twelve different race leaders. There were some cut tires, and a few dents and dings, but there was a lot of green flag racing to keep things interesting. With nine laps to go we got to see one of the best finishes we have seen in a while. Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart took two tires each and restarted first and second, while Jimmie Johnson took four and restarted eighth. In three laps, Johnson had moved up to third, in time to see Tony Stewart take the lead from Da Biff. The rest of the race was a head to head match between two of NASCAR's finest drivers. Johnson obviously had the better running car, but Stewart did everything he could to hold him off. finally, with a little more than two laps to go, Johnson got around Stewart by going almost to the wall, and Stewart settles for second, and the championship points lead. It was some great, and classy, racing--the kind we wish we could see in every race.

From that we move on to a race that many NASCAR fans feel predisposed to not enjoy. Pocono is a 2.5 mile speedway with three turns and the longest straightaway of all race tracks. During green flag runs, the field tends to get spread out wide so, for much of the race, there is not much to watch except for a single file parade of cars. Not to say the track doesn't require some amazing driving skills--it certainly does, as each of the three turns is a completely different animal. The cars enter turn one at a high speed, after that long straightaway, then have to let up to exit the turn safely. Turn two, however, is probably the most treacherous of the three turns, and the short straightaway between one and two is used to try to get in position for the short and narrow turn. There is no three wide racing in turn two. Turn three is actually longer than turn one, but it is flat, flat, flat. The entry is wide and the exit is tight. This is the turn that makes the most of a driver's skill and experience. Reflexes and reaction have to be lightning fast, as the driver has to brake in the middle of the turn and position himself to exit at the highest speed possible, so to be up to speed at the entrance of that long straightaway. This is where the drivers used to shift into overdrive, but, in order to save wear and tear on the engines in 2007, NASCAR mandated a rear end gear that would negate the effects of overdrive. We feel that the "money saving" effects of the gear restriction took away some of the racing at Pocono.

Pocono has become a track at which strategy is as much a "chess match," as Tony Stewart calls it, as the restrictor plate races at Daytona and Talladega. Many of the recent races there have been won through fuel strategy and other decisions in the pits. For those fans who like wheel to wheel racing to the finish, this is not the kind of race for them.

We like to imagine the racing at Pocono would be better if the race was shorter. Strategies would be different, saving the engines would be of less concern, and the racing would be a little more aggressive if the race were a mere one hundred miles shorter. Speaking from our own standpoint, we feel that three hundred and fifty miles would be ideal for a race at Pocono. Since the track is likened to a road course, in terms of the driver's skills required, we feel it should be treated as a road course. A 350 mile race at Pocono would step things up a bit.

Sunday, we will get our first look at NASCAR's new double file restart rule. The lead lap cars start in the front, while the cars a lap down will restart behind them. There will be no more racing to get a lap back, but the lucky dawg position will still be in contention, and restarts should still be interesting in the sense that there will be lots of action from the front to the rear. Unburdened by lap traffic, the lead lap cars will be free to race each other for the lead and position. This could be exciting, or it could be a flop. We shall see.

Sunday's race will also mark the beginning of TNT's six week coverage of NASCAR's Sprint Cup. There are groans from the fans, who do not like the way the TNT booth bunnies comment on the race. Rev' Jim will be able to judge for himself this year, as this will be the first time he will have to listen to the television broadcast, as he doesn't have Sirius Satellite Radio, and MRN no longer has a broadcast outlet in Colorado Springs.

The upside of TNT's coverage is that network's technology. We have always been impressed by their moving and synchronized cameras, that give the television audience a view of the race that is about as good as television coverage can get. With TNT's camera magic, we actually get the sense of speed that we would get by being at the race. This is a feature which we enjoy, and look forward to with much enthusiasm.

In other news, Roger Penske has purchased the Saturn brand from Government Motors. His dealerships include Saturn, so it was his logic that if he bought the company, he could keep the dealerships in business and save 13,000 jobs. According to an article on Scene Daily.com:

Under the terms in the memorandum of understanding, Penske would obtain the rights to the brand as well as certain other Saturn assets. GM would continue production, on a contract basis, of the Saturn Aura, Vue and Outlook.

We have to wonder if there may be a Saturn in NASCAR's future, possibly replacing the Dodge brand?

This will be the second week in operation for the new Dale Earnhardt, Jr team, to which Rick Hendrick has allocated the best engineers he has, as well as veteran Crew Chief, Lance McGrew. We may see some improvement in the 88 team, or we may not. Although we feel that Junior is a top notch driver, we haven't seen him adapt to the new Sprint Cup car. We don't think any amount of brain trust can help him until he gets the hang of the characteristics of the new car. We think he is very capable of doing that, but that it will take some time. The new team will help, in improving the performance and the confidence of the driver, but it still may take a few weeks. As always, we could be wrong, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr could be the victor in Sunday's race.

The CC Shuffle

2009-05-31T11:16:00.001-07:00

There has been no news out of the Roush-Fenway camp that there are plans to swap out the crew chief for the 99 car, driven by Carl Edwards. It is likely that there will be no such news, even though Edwards is not living up to the expectations that he earned by being the winningest driver in the Sprint Cup Series last year. His crew chief, Bob Osborne, was switched to another team in 2007, and Edwards had a lackluster season that year, but with Osborne back in 2008, he had a stellar season. Deep in a twelve race slump this year, it is not expected that there will be any changes to the #99 team as far as the driver or the crew chief is concerned.

In NASCAR racing, it is somewhat difficult to put a finger on what may cause a slump in a team's performance. When there is a continuing slump some change has to be made, and often it is the crew chief. who takes the responsibility, whether he deserves it or not. Richard Childress Racing recently swapped the crew chiefs for the #29 and #07 teams, hoping to spark something, or at least learn something. It is too soon to see the effect of the swap, but, so far, it has had the effect of bogging down the performence of the entire RCR camp. However, the swap will help the organization to pinpoint where their problems are.

Dale Earnhardt Incorporated tried switching the entire teams between the #8 and the # 15 cars in 2006, and the result was a disaster. Dale Earnhardt, Jr had had an impressive record up to that point, but, even after the teams were switched back for 2007, he has failed to achieve the level of performance he had prior to the switch.

Part of the problem could be that Junior has yet to get the hang of the still new Cup car, or COT, as the media continues to call it. They have only been in that car for a year, and many drivers have had a hard time adjusting to the handling characteristics--good drivers such as Earnhardt, Jr, Kevin Harvick, and Matt Kenseth. In fact, it seems that the drivers who made the trasistion best are drivers who drove USAC sprint cars, excelled in the Truck Series, or began their careers in modifieds--cars that don't have the downforce of the ARCA, Nationwide, or the former Cup aero-cars. Earnhardt, Jr has always been a stock car driver, and always during a time when the downforce is measured in thousands of pounds, rather than the mere hundreds of the COT.

This is not to say that the crew chief isn't important. Jimmie Johnson without Chad Knaus would likely be David Stremme--a very talented driver who has a knack for being where the trouble is while running in the pack. Chad Knaus has been very instrumenal in getting Johnson out of that kind of trouble, repairing the damage and set backs, and giving him the opportunity to win three, maybe even four, consecutive championships.

We are not saying that Tony Eury, Jr is not a good crew chief. Perhaps with some experience in other parts of the Hendrick organization, he will, some day, be right up there with Knaus, Zippadelli, or Osborne. However, even though he had a lot of chemisty with his cousin, Dale, Jr, it just doesn't seem like the right kind of chemistry for success.

With Lance McGrew coming on board as crew chief for the #88 team there is a new hope among the fans of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. It is a fresh start, that may change Junior's perspective, and hopefully get him back on track. To add to that hope, Kyle Busch talked some smack on Junior at a press conference on Friday, Darrell Waltrip style. That publicity stunt fired up the rivalry, fired up the fans, and should fire up Junior. Kylr Busch wants Junior to prove him wrong. Dale Jr isn't only popular among the fans, he is also very well liked among the other drivers, including Busch. They want to see him back to his winning ways as much as his fans do. Perhaps he will respond to Busch's smackdown with a renewed "I'll show you" attitude.

We can't expect immediate results, but we should see some change in the momentum of the #88 team from negative to positive. NASCAR racing is a team effort, and with the excitement of a new "coach" and team support, we should see an attitude of renewed hope. The fans are encouraged, and, in the near future, we should see some encouraging performance from the sports most popular driver.

The Much Delayed Live on Type Delay: The World 600

2009-05-26T19:04:00.002-07:00

This item is being posted 24 hours after it was originally intended to be posted. We hope that the reader can find something enjoyable and/or interesting here, even though it is late.

There is a strong belief in Colorado that this is "God's Country." It must be, because whenever it rains in Colorado Springs, it seems like it rains wherever the Sprint Cup race is being held. It rained all day in Colorado Springs on Sunday, canceling much of the annual Territory Days celebration in Old Colorado City, and it rained all day in Charlotte North Carolina, postponing the World 600 until today. It snowed in in Colorado Springs while the Daytona 500 was running, as well, and that race got rain shortened, as did the race at Atlanta, on another rainy day in Colorado.

As NASCAR's longest race (in miles) begins in Charlotte today, periodic thunderstorms are forecast for Colorado Springs, just as they are in Charlotte. The outlook is not good for the race to run the full 600 miles, so we will likely see many teams racing for the 300 mile mark--the point at which the race would become official if rain were to stop the event early.

It does no good to complain about the weather. NASCAR will try to present the entire show, but the rain trumps everything.

Ryan Newman chose the outside lane to start the race, and gets a good jump on Kyle Busch at the drop of the green flag, but Busch gets by him on the third lap. Gordon started third and is falling back. We have a sprinkling of rain on lap 8 and the race goes under caution.

Kevin Harvick cuts a tire on lap 18, hits the wall, and the second caution of the race comes out. Kyle Busch leads the field at the restart on lap 22. There is some good racing going on back in the field, with constant change going on in the top five and top ten positions. Jimmie Johnson moves into the top five on lap 30. When the scheduled competition caution occurs after lap 40, all the lead lap cars, except for Tony Raines, pit. Several of the leaders take only two tires, and Johnson is the first out of the pits, and assumes the lead. After six laps, Kyle Busch regains the lead.

Again, we see some good racing for position in the top ten. But, on lap 70, the rain once again halts the race. This time, the rain is heavy enough to let NASCAR make the decision to display the red flag.

The booth bunnies are using the red flag time to present their "report cards" on the various teams involved in the Sprint Cup. Darrell Waltrip wants to lump Stewart-Haas Racing with Hendrick Motorsports in determining the grade, because SHR uses Hendrick engines and chassis. I don't remember him wanting to consider Haas CNC as part of Hendrick last year, when they were using Hendrick engines and chassis, but were running in the rear of the top thirty-five in points. The grading is based on uncertain criteria, so we don't really need to accept this segment as a legitimate critique. The good news is that, after next week's race at Dover, no more Digger, as NASCAR Sprint Cup coverage will be handed over to TNT, with it's superior camera technology and inferior reporting.

During green flag runs, there is a lot of good side by side racing, and there are actually green flag lead changes, as Brian Vickers passes Kyle Busch, Busch passes Vickers, and Vickers passes Busch. There is a moving tribute after lap 165, when the race is stopped for a Memorial Day moment of silence for those who have given everything they had for their country. The race is not restarted after that, due to rain.

During this rain delay, there is an incident on pit road in which Tony Stewart is explaining to David Reutimann why the #00 car has so many tire doughnuts on its left side--marks made from contact with other cars that nearly obliterate the white double-doughnuts that signify the car's number. It seems that Reutimann, who had been running in the top five for most of the recent race, was losing the handling in his car and was falling back. Rather than give the faster cars room to pass him, he made them race him in order to gain a position from him. Every driver who passed him thanked him for the challenge by giving him a nudge to the side panel as they passed, thus leaving the distinctive "doughnut" badge on the left side of his car. A younger, brasher Stewart would have put him in the wall, but Tony apparently decided it would be better to talk to him about it when he got the chance.

Stewart had no reason to believe that the race would be rain shortened, so he thought it was way too early to be racing like that, and using up his car to pass slower traffic. He talked to Reutimann, letting him know that there was plenty of time left in the race, and that Reutimann didn't need to be racing for position as he was falling back in the field at this point. That type of racing, Stewart said, was for the final laps of the race, after the car was set up to be competitive at the end.

The conversation seemed amiable enough, but a crew member on the 00 team decided he needed to get involved. "Billy Baddbutt," as Stewart and Fox Sports identified the crew member, took umbrage at the fact that Stewart was telling his driver how to race. He mocked Stewart by "kissing the ground he walked on."

That was as far as the conversation got, as we know it. Without being judgemental, we must note that Stewart received similar advice from his mentors and idols, AJ Foytt and Dale Earnhardt, and he has made it clear several times in the past that he would give advice to other drivers when he was in the position to do so. Some drivers, such as David Ragan, Denny Hamlin, and Greg Biffle, resented it at first, then, as time went on expressed their appreciation for Stewart's help. Time will tell if any of Stewart's advice affects Reutimann's career. For this race, as it turns out, David "Doughnuts" Reutimann didn't need Tony's advice.

When the race restarts on lap 180, the top five are Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, and Juan Pablo Montoya. Montoya looks strong, and pulls up to second place. He is gaining on Busch when the rain interferes again, and the caution flies again on lap 221. Most of the leaders pit, but Doughnuts stays out, and takes the lead. As the red flag stops the race on lap 228, the top five are David "Doughnuts" Reutimann, Ryan Newman, Robby Gordon, Carl Edwards, and Brian Vickers. The rain continues to fall, in Charlotte, and in Colorado Springs.

Several hours later, the race is called, and that is how it ends. David Reutimann gets his first Sprint Cup victory of his career. Newman is second, Gordon third, Edwards fourth, and Vickers fifth. It is also the first Cup victory for Michael Waltrip Racing, and for a Toyota team that is not associated with Joe Gibbs Racing.

A rain shortened race is always a disappointment, especially after all the hype and build up to the World 600. But it is a race, and the results are official. The teams that stayed out took a gamble, and it paid off. We knew it was only a matter of time before Reutimann won a race this season, and the time was now. Although we would have liked to have seen a wheel to wheel race to the finish, we must congratulate David "Doughnuts" Reutimann on his first Cup victory, and we must also congratulate Robby Gordon for his much needed top five finish.

What if the Championship were determined by race wins?

2009-05-23T15:58:00.003-07:00

What if NASCAR's schedule and Cup Championship consisted of thirty-six races where winning the race is the only way to gain Championship points? This suggestion has been discussed on the Internet since the season began this year, and has been taken up by some on-line journalists, such as ESPN.com's Terry Blount. The idea is that if winning was all that counted, the racing would be more intense, and there would be no reason to hang back to protect points standings.

But would the racing be better? How many teams that are presently participating at the Cup level afford to participate in an entire season of "Checkers or Wreckers?" Who would want to be in the lead on the last lap with a pack of hungry racers on his rear bumper? More importantly, how often would the winner of the race be determined by a penalty based on a judgement call by a race official?

The problem of teams entering just for the prize money would not be solved, unless the purse was "winner take all." If that were the case, there would be few teams willing to participate. The number of regulars in the field would likely shrink from the thirty-nine Cup regulars we have now, to twenty or fewer. The teams that are underfunded now, relative to "the big four," would be even more underfunded, and there would be no reason for them to compete if they don't have the equipment to win.

In NASCAR, part of the challenge to the driver in any race is in negotiating lapped traffic, and, with a field of twenty or so, the lapped traffic would be sparse, if not absent. The purse in a checkers or wreckers type race would have to be disbursed pretty much the same as it is now, if there was to be a full field.

There would be no guarantee of better racing in a checkers or wreckers race. In a 334 lap race, the first 270 laps would be the same chess game it is now, with the drivers and teams testing their cars, saving their engines and brakes, and finding the best set up for the final sprint to the finish. There would be no point in going all out in the early part of the race, and risking a blown engine, worn out brakes, or a broken gear box. We would likely see one car pulling an eight to ten second lead for most of the early race while the other teams half-heartedly battle for position, hoping for a caution, or maybe hoping that a team mate, with nothing to lose, will take out the leader while racing to stay on the lead lap. With no points at stake, lapped traffic would have no reason to continue in the race as the laps wind down, unless there is the chance that all the cars on the lead lap will wreck, of course.

That is one reason why a checkers or wreckers series would be more expensive for participants than it is now. Repairing a NASCAR racing car after a wreck is very expensive, and one thing an all or nothing situation will produce is plenty of wrecks. It would be safe to say that we would see plenty of situations in the final laps as we did at this year's All Star Challenge--where, with eight laps to go, Ryan Newman, Kyle Busch, and Jeff Gordon all went into a turn three abreast, and none came out with a car capable of winning the race. All three of them went into that turn with nothing to lose, and everything to gain. It was exciting, for sure, but it really wasn't great racing. It was, however, great and expensive demolition derby.

The leader with five laps to go would be very lucky to be the winner of the race, unless he was so far ahead of the field that nobody could reach him. That would be unlikely, as the cautions and restarts would be frequent, as drivers back in the field give it their all to get into a position where they, theoretically, at least, could catch the leader. That leader would have a big target on his rear bumper, and no driver will have second thoughts about using the chrome horn to get him loose, or move him up the track a little, when winning is all that matters. Of course, there is always the chance that the first car to cross the finish line will be black flagged for rough driving.

So where is the fine line between a legitimate bump and run and a bump and dump that earns a black flag? Any driver will tell the press and the race officials, "I didn't mean to wreck him," after he makes contact and takes the lead. When the winner of the race is determined by a judgement call by a race official, that is not better racing. If no contact at all is allowed, then we are back to the follow-the-leader type race that so many race fans claim to find "boring."

Another situation that would come out of a checkers or wreckers series would be that many top drivers would be absent from some of the races. In 1974, David Pearson only ran in nineteen of the thirty races, and finished the season third in points. He participated only in races where he knew he would have a good chance to win. We would see the same thing in a checkers or wreckers championship. Why risk a season or career ending injury at a track where the driver has had no success, when that driver knows he could win races at tracks at which he has excelled in the past? A driver who has a two or three race lead early in the season would be likely to skip a few races during the remainder of the season, racing only at those tracks where he feels he has a good chance of winning.

Aside from that, there is the possibility that the championship could be determined with several races left on the schedule. There would be no need for the champion who is six races ahead of everyone else to finish the season with five races to go. The rest of the field would be racing for a top ten position in the final standings, and drivers and teams who have no wins would only be there to act as blockers for a team mate, perhaps. For most race fans, the novelty of a demolition derby wore off by the time we graduated from high school, so, instead of an exciting finish to a season, we would likely see a big fizzle.

As with most of these bright ideas that get thrown around in cyberspace, it would be unlikely that such a series would be a success. In forums, blogs, and sports network sites, fans and journalists bemoaned the fact that Rockingham no longer had racing, but when ARCA brought a race to Rockingham, only about three thousand fans showed up initially, and then only 300 fans showed up for the second ARCA race there. And then there are the calls for NASCAR to make the Nationwide Series a replication of the ARCA Series, by banning Cup drivers from racing in that series, and re-defining the Nationwide Series as a ladder series for novice drivers only. We could see that as being a huge success among race fans.....yeah, right!

NASCAR Cup racing is a championship series that requires a test of both drivers and teams, in races of marathon proportion. In other words, the championship not only depends on a driver's skill, but on the skills of the mechanics, engineers, and pit crews on the team. Winning a race is not the only measure of these skills, though it is important. Winning could be, as Terry Blount suggests, be made more important by adding more points to the race winner's score, rather than creating an all or nothing competition. It might make for better competition if the award for winning were raised to 200 points, while keeping the remainder of the points awards the same as they are now. In addition, NASCAR could add an extra ten bonus points to the Chase standings, beyond the bonus points that are already in place for each regular season win. This would make it more difficult to protect points by settling for a top ten finish,and should create a more aggressive form of racing among the top teams. But it would still award consistency to a point, and still give an opportunity for the championship to be determined at the very end of the season. Most importantly, we would still see racing, rather than a series of wreckfests. If we want to see a wreckfest, we can always go to the demolition derby at our local track.

Pass the salt, please

2009-05-16T22:02:00.003-07:00

I was in denial at the end of the 2008 NASCAR season. I was among the many who couldn't believe that Tony Stewart would give up a successful career with Joe Gibbs Racing for anything other than retirement. When that concept finally sank in, I found myself among the many who thought it would take a long time for Stewart-Haas Racing to build to a level at which it could be competitive among the strong teams that run in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series.

I am happy to admit how wrong I was. Stewart's #14 team came out of the box strong, with three eighth-place finishes in the first four races. In the last six points races, Stewart has finished in the top five five times. He is currently second in the points standings, 29 points out of the lead.

Stewart's team mate Ryan Newman got off on a rocky start to the season, but has shown steady improvement over the last seven races, with three top fives in the last three points races.

It has become pretty much a given that SHR will see at least one victory in the near future, as both drivers from that team come closer to winning with each race. So we had to eat crow and develop a liking for consuming the proverbial dirty bird. There will be no complaints about it from this writer, anyway.

To date, Stewart-Haas Racing's finest hour was Saturday night's NASCAR Sprint Cup All Star Challenge. Ryan Newman's car developed serious suspension problems in the second segment, and it was only an act of generosity on segment leader Jimmie Johnson's part that kept him from going two laps down. Thanks to the "Lucky Dawg" free pass, Newman was able to start the third segment on the lead lap.His car had been repaired, and he was able to hold his own during that segment. Two laps into the final "Shootout" ten lap segment, Busch, Newman, and Gordon entered turn three, battling for the lead. Newman moved to the outside of Busch, and Gordon to the inside, putting the three cars side by side. The racing area seems to compress coming out of turn four, and where there were three cars, there was only room for two. Somebody would have to lift off of the accelerator, but who would do that when one million dollars was at stake? The answer was, nobody.

Kyle Busch, seeing Gordon drifting up the track, faces a choice--he could give Gordon room, which would mean drifting up into Newman, who is not in a position to give any more room since he is already against the wall. Running into Newman would likely be worse than running into Gordon, because running into Newman would likely result in both of them wrecking and giving Gordon the lead. Making contact with Gordon would be the better choice, because there would be more room to move.

Of course, this complicated thought process is not what goes through a driver's mind while such a situation is developing at 185 mph. Natural talent, experience, and skill combine to create an instinctive reaction that occurs faster than the speed of thought. If anything crossed the mind of any of the three drivers, it was "Somebody has to let up, and I'm going to be the one to make them do it."

Three gunfighters at the shootout, and all three of them go for their guns at the same instant. As Gordon moves up, Busch moves down, and the two make contact. The rebound knocks Busch into Newman, and both slap the outside wall, while Gordon spins through the infield. It almost looks as though Gordon is going to save it, but his car travels back up the track and nose-first into the wall, bringing out the caution.

After the clean up, the survivors line up according to the position they were in at the last completed lap. So, it is Kenseth first, Newman second, Kyle Busch third, and Tony Stewart fourth. But Newman recieved enough damage to his car from hitting the wall that he has to drop out of the race, while Kenseth and Busch battle for the lead. Stewart follows them warily as the laps count down. The chess game of playing the inner groove against the outer groove continues, until Kenseth finally gets the upper hand and clears Kyle Busch. Stewart makes his move, and gets past Busch while hugging the bottom, with five laps to go. It's another chess match, and Stewart gains on Kenseth, still taking the bottom. The lead changes twice during the lap, and Kenseth retains the lead out of turn four, but Stewart has the faster car, so Kenseth takes the line Stewart is using. Another lap counts down. To turn three again, and Kenseth can't hold his car on the bottom and keep his speed up at the same time. Stewart slips below him and takes the lead.

The final two laps seem to take forever, but Stewart leads them both and wins. Victory is sweet. It's only a non points race, but it feels like Smoke just won the championship. This is his first victory as an owner/driver. It is also the first All Star victory by an owner/driver since Geoffrey Bodine won in 1994. And, if I am not mistaken, it is the first victory ever for the Haas organization at the Cup level.

We should have known that Tony Stewart can do anything that people tell him he can't do. We should have seen that he is a good organization builder, and he knows how to get the right people and put them in the right place. But we had our lapse of faith and were proven wrong.

I am glad that I have the opportunity to admit I was wrong, and now I am happy to eat my words. Pass the salt, please.

Accidental Substance Abuse policy violations can't be excused

2009-05-09T23:58:00.006-07:00

After it was announced, Saturday, that Jeremy Mayfield--the owner and driver for the #41 Sprint Cup team--would be suspended indefinitely for violating NASCAR's Substance Abuse Policy, , Mayfield issued a statement that implied the violation may have been accidental:

“As both a team owner and a driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, I have immense respect for the enforcement policies NASCAR has in place. In my case, I believe that the combination of a prescribed medicine and an over the counter medicine reacted together and resulted in a positive drug test. My Doctor and I are working with both Dr. Black and NASCAR to resolve this matter."(AP newswire via Jayski's)

Although an accidental abuse of a substance can not be excused by NASCAR in dealing with its Substance Abuse policy, it goes to show how careful one must be when working in an environment that requires the person to avoid substances which could affect his or her ability to perform the duties required. A NASCAR driver or crew member under the influence of alcohol or other debilitating substance presents a danger to all other participants on the track. Furthermore, we expect that most experienced drivers, including Jeremy Mayfield, would not knowingly consume a substance that would impair their ability or reflexes on the track. There have been exceptions, such as Shane Hmiel, Taylor Walker, Aaron Fyke, and the late Kevin Grubb, and they are what brought us to the current NASCAR policy. I would not put Mayfield in that category, though we can't be certain that he isn't in the same category until we see what the conditions are for his reinstatement, if that information is released publicly.

Mayfield's error was allegedly in performing actions that many of us take as every day behavior.

If Jeff Gordon were taking medication for his back pain, would we expect him to race? If Matt Kenseth were to take an over the counter medication containing ephedrine, should he be allowed to race? What if Dale Earnhardt, Jr tested positive for marijuana, would NASCAR look the other way? Absolutely not, and if any if those drivers tested positive for any banned substances, they would certainly be suspended as well--no matter what their monetary value to NASCAR--wouldn't they?

Note that Mayfield did not deny use of a banned substance, nor did he criticize NASCAR's policy. He knows that NASCAR must stand by its policy, without prejudice or bias, and has agreed with the action taken against him. We do not know what the substance for which he tested positive is, nor do we know what his prescription contained, or how it may have reacted with an over the counter product, but we do know that there are many over the counter medications and other products that contain substances listed in the following overview of NASCAR's banned substances:

- Seven different amphetamines, including methamphetamine and PMA, a synthetic psychostimulant and hallucinogen.
- Three drugs classified under ephedrine.
- 13 different narcotics, including codeine and morphine.
- Ten different benzodiazepines and barbituates.
- Marijuana, cocaine, zolpidem, nitrites, chromates and drugs that can increase specific gravity. (from the Jayski's page cited above)

Ephedrine is found in many over-the-counter cold and flu medications. Ephedrine is also an ingredient in some sports or energy drinks.

Narcotics can be found in many prescription drugs used to treat pain, pneunoma or severe flu symptoms. It should also be noted, as researched by Snopes.com, that certain bakery goods can also result in positive results for opiates.

"Opiates (morphine and codeine) can be detected in urine for at least 48 hours after one eats food containing poppy seeds. As little as a single bagel covered with poppy seeds could produce a false positive for these drugs."

Be careful, Tony Stewart.

Nitrites, particularly sodium nitrite, can be found in Slim Jims, processed beef jerky, smoked meat products, and lunchmeats when used as a preservative and food coloring. In other words, Elliott Sadler could get banned from racing because of his love for bologna burgers. It's okay for Jeff Hammond to eat a bunch of Martinsville hot dogs, but we have noted that the drivers wisely avoid them.

As easy as it seems to accidentally commit a violation, the drug policy requires that a driver or crew member should not lead a life that contains elements that most of us take for granted. Jimmie Johnson should get banned for eating a Johnsonville Brat as easily as Mayfield could for taking asthma medication and smoking a cigarette afterward.

Live on Type Delay: The Southern 500

2009-05-09T21:57:00.003-07:00

NASCAR tried to upstage itself by announcing, just an hour before the race at Darlington, that Jeremy Mayfield and two of his crew members have been suspended indefinitely from participation in NASCAR due to a violation of NASCAR's substance abuse policy. We are currently researching this story, and it will follow in another post. But first, more important things--the race.

How can anyone not like the racing we see at Darlington? The unique layout of NASCAR's first superspeedway offers a tough challenge for the drivers, and great racing for the spectators. The Lady in Black is not Lady Luck, and even if she likes you, she will hurt you. Yes, she's a sadistic beyatch.

It's scary going into those first two turns from the green flag, because the cars are still two wide, and there is only room for one lane coming out of turn two. But the cars make it around the first lap safely, and the leaders are pole sitter Matt Kenseth, who took off like a rocket, Jeff Gordon, "Suddenly Sam" Hornish, Jr, Ryan Newman and Joey Logano. But, on lap three, Scott Speed, substituting for Joe Nemecheck in the 87 car, gets into Max Papis in turn one and brings out the caution.

Restart on lap seven, and it's a little safer now because the cars are in single file. Robby Gordon has a tire going down on lap 9, but can't make it into the pits and has to go around the track again, slowly. Still no caution.

Lap 17, and Jeff Gordon passes on the inside of Kenseth, at the end of the backstretch, and takes the lead. Caution during the commercial, of course, on lap 21 when Michael Waltrip spins himself. Several of the leaders pit, but Jimmie Johnson, who started way back in position 43 after going to a back up car stays out and takes the lead. David "Cinderella" Gilliland also stays out and is in second. Nope, Gilliland is having trouble and takes his car to the garage. Ryan Newman is the first car out of the pits and will restart second. Restart on lap 24, and Ryan Newman takes the lead.

Shouldn't that be "Cinderello" Gilliland, or maybe "Cinderell" or "Cinderlou?"

Trouble in turn two again, as many cars racing for position further back in the field become too many cars in the same spot, on lap 30. Brian Vickers barely avoids disaster when he gets bumped by Casey Mears. Mears doesn't escape as there is an accordian effect behind him and he collects Denny Hamlin and AJ Allmendinger. David Stremme manages to get by without a scratch. Mears to the garage, Hamlin and Allmendinger stay out.

Carl Edwards needed something very badly for his car, and makes two pit stops while pit road is closed. His car must be bad, as in not good, but he is willing to take the penalty of starting at the back of the longest line.

Restart on lap 37. Newman brings the field to the green flag, followed by Johnson, Kahne, Biffle, and Kenseth Jeff Gordon finds his way to the top five, passing Kenseth for fifth on lap 40, then moves into fourth after passing Greg Biffle on lap 46.

We see a great battle for the lead on lap 47, as Johnson threatens Newman's position and brings Kahne along with him. But Newman holds the lead. Brian Vickers is moving up, but then seems to have a tire going down, and starts falling back again.

Kasey Kahne takes the lead on lap 71. Johnson has to pit on lap 75--while the race is still under green--because he stayed out during the caution on lap 30, and needs fuel.

Scary visual on lap 77 as Michael Waltrip's car literally detonates. Flames everywhere, but the fire is under the car, and Waltrip gets his car safely to his pit and exits the car--safely. Since everyone is safe we can say how cool it was to see a car blow up in a night race. Wow.

The clean up takes a while, and the pits aren't open until lap 82. Restart will be on lap 85 with Kasey Kahne in the lead and Martin Truex, Jr second. Tony Stewart has made his way up from his eighteenth position starting spot, and is in sixth, racing his team mate Ryan Newman for fifth. Johnson restarted on the end of the lead lap, which was in front of the leaders, and falls a lap down as Kahne passes him.

Martin Truex, Jr has been trying several times for the lead and finally passes Kahne on lap 116. Jeff Gordon, meanwhile, has reported a vibration and pits, going a lap down. Tony Stewart has moved into third. then gets passed by Biffle on lap 117. On lap 118, Sam Hornish, Jr spins, but doesn't hit anything. The caution comes out anyway, and Johnson gets the free pass.

All the lead lap cars pit, and Bobby Labonte stays out to lead a lap. Biffle is the first off of pit road, and Tony Stewart gains two spots in the pits and comes off second. Truex, Kenseth, and Kahne follow them. Restart on lap 124. Biffle gets a good start and takes off like a rocket. By lap 138, Biffle has increased his lead margin to 6.2 seconds.

Kasey Kahne passes Stewart for second on lap 142, but he is still wa-a-a-ay behind Biffle. I think we should forget about the lead for now, as, by lap 150, Biffle leads the field by eight seconds. Wow again. And, as similar as his style is to Kyle Busch's, he's doing it without hitting the walls.

Lap 160, and that lead is gone, because the caution comes out after David Ragan turns Denny Hamlin around while passing him. Again Biffle takes the lead from the pits, but Tony Stewart's team gains him another spot, and he exits in second. Restart on lap 165 with Da Biff in the lead, Stewart second, Kahne third, Truex fourth, and Jamie McMurray fifth. Mark Martin had to come back to pit road for a missing lug nut. Elliott Sadler got the free pass and is back on the lead lap.

All through this race we have been seeing some good side by side racing throughout the pack, but haven't been able to keep up with it. Ryan Newman has raced his way back into the top five by lap 167. Further back, David Ragan and Denny Hamlin are still causing problems for each other. Temper, temper.

Harvick has made his way up to eleventh, and Brad Keselowski is running twelth.

David Ragan spins as he bumps Jimmie Johnson, and brings out the caution on lap 185. Brian Vickers, who, on lap 118 was almost two laps down, gets the free pass and is now on the lead lap.
All the lead lap cars pit, and the first thirteen off of pit road only took two tires. At the restart, on lap 190, the top five are Biffle, Truex, McMurray, Kyle Busch, and David Reutimann. They make it six laps before Ragan wrecks again. This time a cut tire put him into the wall. David Stremme gets the free pass, then gets held a lap for speeding on pit road.

At the restart on lap 201, it's Biffle, Truex, McMurray, Kyle Busch, and Reutimann. These restarts are getting scary, as there are two lines of cars going all the way around the track for a lap or two, and, as mentioned before, the Lady in Black does not have room for two lines of cars in her turns.

On lap 205, Kasey Kahne and David Stremme make contact, and Kahne has to pit with a cut tire. On 208, Logano is trying to break into the top five, racing Reutimann for that spot. On lap 213, Jeff Gordon beats Bobby Labonte in the race to be the first car one lap down. Just in time, too, because the caution comes out on lap 214, after Kurt Busch hits the wall and spins. More tire strategy shuffles the top ten. At the restart on lap 220, the order is Martin Truex, Jr, Kyle Busch, Jamie McMurray, Elliott Sadler, and Tony Stewart.

On lap 222, AJ Allmendinger and Clint Bowyer hit each other, and Bowyer spins to the inside wall, then to the outside, smashing up his car pretty well. It kind of has that AMC Gremlin look to it.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr, who has stayed on the lead lap through the race so far, has to start at the tail end of the lead lap because of a tire rolling out of the pit box violation.

Green flag on lap 226, and it's Truex, Kyle Busch, McMurray, Stewart, and Sadler in the top five. Then there is a bottleneck in turn 2 on lap 228, as Reutimann gets into the wall and loses something off of his car. He slows quickly, and the field somehow misses him as he tries to get to pit road. He can't get there, but there is no caution.

Greg Biffle races his way back into the top five on lap 238, passing Sadler for the fifth position. His car still looks like the best car in the field. The next caution is for debris on lap 249.The field again gets shuffled due to tire strategy. Biffle retakes the lead off of pit road, followed by Logano, Newman, Kenseth, and Martin. Restart on lap 253.

On lap 257, weird. See lap 228. This time Reutimann makes pit road safely. No caution.

Last year's winner will not win this year. Kyle Busch cuts a tire on lap 273 and hits the wall in turn 1. The race stays green, but Kyle has to take his car to the garage, as he has no brakes. But we get a caution on lap 275, when Jamie McMurray cuts a tire and hits the wall.

Joey Logano is the first car out of the pits, and will lead the race to the restart. On lap 281, it's Logano, Newman, Stewart, Jeff Gordon, and Martin Truex, Jr. On lap 283, Greg Biffle clips Carl Edwards in the rear, Edwards gets into the wall, can't make it to the pits, and the caution once again comes out. Edwards then incurs a one lap penalty for making a u-turn into the pits.

Joey Logano held on to the lead, and the front five on lap 287 are Logano, Newman, Stewart, Gordon, and Truex. After the restart, Biffle is moving up to sixth. Hornish makes contact with Martin on lap 290, and spins the entire way down the front stretch. But he saves it, and there is no caution. On lap 291, Biffle passes Truex, and Da Biff is fifth.

But not for long. On lap 295, Da Biff spins and hits the wall in turn four, bringing out the caution. I think it was psycic energy from Carl Edwards that caused it. Caution, and everyone but Kenseth and Truex pits. As the green flag waves at the end of lap 300, its Truex, Kenseth, Stewart, Harvick, and Jeff Gordon in the top five.

Stewart passes Kenseth for second, on lap 302, and Logano is racing Martin for sixth. He takes that position on lap 304. Nice pass. Student passes mentor. And here comes Jimmie Johnson. Again, we wonder, how does that guy have such a terrible time early in the race, and still be among the leaders toward the end of the race? Amazing. It must be magic.

Logano gets by Harvick on lap 309 and is back in the top five. Harvick falls back to eighth, Mark Martin moves up to sixth, and Johnson to seventh. On lap 316, Jeff Gordon has moved up to third. On lap 317, Hornish hits the wall, ending a good day, but the caution has yet to fly. Then, we get a caution for debris on lap 319.

More two-tire stops. Mark Martin, Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Elliott Sadler, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr all stay out. Green flag after lap 325. The top five are Martin, Johnson, Newman, Keselowski, and Hamlin. Tony Stewart has the first car out that took tires, and is in eighth.

On lap 327, Stewart has moved into fifth, and into third by lap 333. Jimmie Johnson is challenging Mark Martin for the lead, but can not close the deal. Caution on lap 342 when Dale Earnhardt, Jr spins. Restart on lap 250, with Martin first, Johnson second, Stewart third, Newman fourth, and Jeff Gordon is fifth. There is some fuel concern among the Martin and Johnson teams, but there may have been enough laps under caution to keep their mileage up enough to finish the race.

Mark makes a clean break on the restart and pulls ahead. Johnson gets up to his bumper a few times, then falls back. Both of the top two drivers are pulling ahead of Stewart, who is in third. The restart was single file, as it was with less than twenty laps to go, and there have been no position changes in the top ten. The laps count down, and once again we begin to feel excited for the old man of the current NASCAR Cup field. White flag, and Martin is still in the lead by a full two seconds. Halfway through the final lap, the leader realizes that he has nothing to sweat, even if he does run out of fuel.

Mark Martin holds off Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart to win the race, his second this year, and his first at Darlington. Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon fill out the top five. The old Cheez cutter--his sponsor for this race was Cheez-it--still has it in him. How 'bout that?

There are lots of noteable finishes to this race. The fact that Johnson made it all the way up to a second place, after starting fourty-third and having a terrible time in the first part of the race is like old news--it happens all the time. Stewart-Haas finished third and fourth, which is still pretty good after the low expectations we had for this team, before the season began. It was Stewart's best Cup finish at Darlington. Brad Keselowski showed that his Talladega win may not have been a fluke, by finishing seventh, and Joey Logano got a top ten finish at Darlington, after leading laps, by finishing ninth.

There was not a dull moment in today's race, something that makes us continue to wonder--why two dull races at California every year and only one great one at Darlington? Maybe we are blessed in a way, because if there were more races like this one, we would be spoiled, and all the other races would seem dull. Strange logic? Maybe, but the Darlington International Speedway is a strange place. And, by the way, it is a full moon, after all.

Revvin' and Ramblin'

2009-05-06T00:20:00.004-07:00

When the Busch (now Nationwide) Series was running at PPIR, I used to like to get there early, as in at the opening of the gates. I would either catch a ride with my dear friend Debra (still dear, but now, sadly departed) or with someone I knew who worked at the track. One year I hitch-hiked and caught a ride with the team engineer from the Brewer Motorsports racing team. Anyway, I would get there early, and savor the experience of being there while things were relatively quiet, and I had the entire facility to myself, with the exception of a few others who practiced a similar race day ritual. I would walk along the catch fence, studying the track from every angle, going to the infield and visiting the garage area, when that was allowed, and walking the perimeter of the infield, and along the fence separating the pit area from the public. Then I would go to the top of the grandstands and take the whole thing in. I would have a big smile on my face, as I would declare to myself, "I love this place!"

I imagine that if I lived near the Darlington Speedway, in South Carolina, I would have a similar ritual. I love the place, even though I have never been there. There has never been a race there that wasn't exciting.

Even last year--which was the first race with the new Sprint Cup car at Darlington--when none of the teams had a car that their driver was happy with, it was exciting to watch Kyle Busch race by himself, bouncing off the wall in every turn. He not only had the expected Darlington Stripe off of turn two--he was bouncing off the walls in turn four. He won, because--even though the car wasn't set up well for Darlington--he got the most out of the car he could get. He had no idea of how to do it the "right way."

Nobody had a good car at Darlington last year--because nobody really knew what they needed to run at Darlington. Jeff Gordon had yet to get a handle on the new car, and Tony Stewart, who was driving for Joe Gibbs at the time, probably had one of the better cars--and was essentially taken out of the race early on, having been trapped by Elliott Sadler's Smoke Magnet. The only driver who had a chance to catch Kyle was Carl Edwards, and all he could do was watch Busch bounce off the walls as he continued to broaden the lead.

We have good reason to believe that this year, the situation will be different. First of all, over the last few races, it seems that Elliott has removed the Smoke magnet from his car. Jeff Gordon seems to have gotten a handle on his car, as have several other top drivers. There are guys like David Ragan, David Reutimann, Marcos Ambrose, and Sam Hornish, Jr., who seem poised to win their first race, and will likely give the usual suspects some competition in the race to get up front and be there for the most important lap.

All that being said, if I were to try to write a preview--which I won't since I always seemed to jinx the drivers whenever I did--my five drivers to watch would be as follows:

Jeff Gordon--Stating the obvious here. Jeff has found the handle on the car, and can race even while he is in serious pain and get a good finish anywhere. He knows how to drive smart, and he has five Darlington wins to prove it.

Kyle Busch--If he can't win it the way he did last year, he'll figure out another way to do it. The boy is a lot smarter than people give him credit for.

Tony Stewart--He is ready to get his first win as an owner-driver. He will be careful most of the race, and take the opportunity when it comes. He has yet to win at Darlington, which would add sweetness to the first victory for his own team. Out of sixteen starts, he has 8 top ten finishes including two top fives. He has finished out of the top twenty only two times--one thirty-sixth place due to a race ending crash after lap 225, and last years twenty-first place finish after his very bad start to the race.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr--I am not mentioning him just to get more hits this time. Last year, with all the "crappy" cars, he managed a fifth place finish. He has a knack for Darlington, and it is really fun to watch him race there. Fans who underate him, fail to notice that he is one of the best car control drivers there are, and Jr. can show us how that works at Darlington. He just needs to be patient, and if he can find that patience, he will be very likely to get a very good finish. It would be a good win for his cousin Tony Eury, Jr as well.

Matt Kenseth--If patience is what it takes to win at Darlington, Kenseth is the epitome of patience. He drives a lot like the all time Darlington winner, David Pearson, and perhaps that legacy will pay off. I know I promised my friend Babs that I wouldn't pick him to win in my previews, but, remember, this is not a real preview, this is only a "if I were writing a preview" preview.

So, I'm very excited in looking forward to Saturday night. Part of the anticipation is after the great race at Richmond last week, and part of it is that it is the second race in a row at a track for which I feel genuine affection. Hang on to your hats, this should be good!

Live on Type Delay: The Crown Royal Presents the Russ Friedman 400

2009-05-02T20:28:00.002-07:00

Call me sentimental. I have never been to a race at Richmond, but it has always been part of my NASCAR experience. I remember reading about the action on the dirt track back when I was growing up, and the writers made that action seem very exciting. I could see legends being made there.

Even after its reconfiguration to a .75 mile paved track, Richmond is still a legend maker. In my opinion, it features some of the best pure racing in NASCAR today. It is a short track with plenty of room to pass. Every position has to be hard fought for, however, and to win at Richmond, a driver has to be on top of his game. Being a short track, the leader will quickly encounter lapped traffic, and most of the racing takes place in traffic. No mistakes are forgivable on pit road, and it is a true challenge to be successful at this track.

It has been raining most of the day, but the track is mostly dry, and it is time to start the engines.

After a few caution laps to dry the track, Brian Vickers takes the point for the green flag, which officially begins lap three. Jeff Gordon, starting on the outside of the front row, makes a move to pass, and, after a lap long battle leads the first green flag lap. Vickers, however, retakes the lead, and leads until Dave Blaney loses control of his car and hits the wall, bringing out the caution on lap 9.

The race restarts on lap 13, with the top five being Vickers, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex, Jr, and Mark Martin. Displaying his restart skill, Kyle Busch immediately moves from eleventh to seventh. Jeff Gordon retakes the lead on lap 23 and immediately begins pulling out on the field. On lap 44, Gordon encounters the tail end of the lead lap and begins lapping cars. This allows Denny Hamlin, who has taken second, to begin closing on the leader.

Kurt Busch is riding a rocket and has moved into the top five on lap 55. He takes fourth from Brian Vickers on that lap, with his brother Kyle right behind him. Gordon is held up by lapped traffic for several laps, and on lap 61, Hamlin is right on his bumper. It takes Hamlin twenty more laps to actually take the lead, but, when he does so, it is a textbook perfect pass on the bottom.

Green flag pit stops begin around lap 91. There will be a lot of adjustments done now, as the set ups that were made from Friday's practice weren't meant for a green track. As the pits cycle through, Ryan Newman, who has been running in the top ten for most of the race leads a lap, and pits on lap 102. After the leaders have cycled through their pit stops, the top five are now Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Mark Martin, Kyle Busch, and Jeff Gordon.

Kyle Busch is on a roll. He takes third form the old kid, Mark Martin, on lap 114. And, we get a caution as Jeremy Mayfield's car literally loses it's suspension and hits the wall. Or, it may have been a cut tire. Anyway, the caution flew just as America's Driver, Dale Earnhardt, Jr, was about to be lapped, so Jr. gets saved, and remains on the lead lap.

We were beginning to worry we wouldn't have a chance to mention Dale Earnhardt, Jr at all, during the first half of the race.

All the lead lap cars pit, and Jimmie Johnson is penalized for too fast on pit road, while Clint Bowyer takes the lead coming out of the pits. Restart on lap 121, and the top five are Bowyer, Hamlin, Newman, Kurt Busch, and Mark Martin. Denny Hamlin retakes the lead on lap 124, and, while Bowyer and Newman are battling for second, pulls away from the field.

Newman finally wins that battle on lap 129, and takes second, while Kurt Busch passes Bowyer for third. Kurt Busch passes Newman for second on lap 30, and his brother, Kyle, follows him for third. There are 22 cars on the lead lap, with Juan Pablo Montoya in the 22nd position. Dale Earnhardt, Jr has moved up to nineteenth, and Reed Sorenson is the first car a lap down in twenty-third.

Kasey Kahne, who was struggling with his car in 34th place, finally loses any handle he had on his car and spins into the infield. Caution on lap 150.

Denny Hamlin leads the restart on lap 154, followed by Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Mark Martin, and Ryan Newman. Greg Biffle fights to stay on the lead lap, but gets passed by the leader on lap 157, as Hamlin feels pressure from Kyle Busch, who feels pressure from his brother, Kurt.

Tempers are flying back in the pack, and the rubbin' and racin' and beatin' and bangin' have begun. On lap 160, David Reutimann and Juan Montoya get together. AJ Allmendinger is unhappy with David Stremme as Stremme and Sam Hornish are racing each other for thirteenth, and make it three wide going into a turn. Allmendinger is a lap down, so he is already frustrated. A few laps later, Stremme hits Edwards, who is trying to pinch him into the wall, Edwards hits McMurray, and the Roush team mates spin into the infield, bringing out a caution. Stremme gets a bad rap for this, but I have to agree with DW on this one, Stremme really had no choice but to drive through the 99 car, or crash himself into the wall.

Restart on lap 174, with the top five being Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Martin, and Tony Stewart, who stayed out during the caution. On lap 174, the Kyle and Kurt show continues as the brothers continue their battle for second. Kurt the Klown finally gets around his brother on lap 177.

There is more action further back on lap 180 as Jimmie Johnson, having braking issues, rear ends Joey Logano, and while the cars are getting bounced around, Stremme puts Kenseth into the wall. No caution, and again, Stremme was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Remember, this writer really likes Matt Kenseth, and would love to call it Stremme's fault, but it really wasn't . It looked very much like it was a chain reaction. We stay impartial as we can, but our fingers hurt from exercising restraint.

Still green on lap 183 as Mark Martin passes Kyle Busch for third, and Ryan Newman follows through and takes fourth. Jimmie Johnson spins on lap 191, with no brakes at all, and the caution flies.

Hamlin leads the field to the green on lap 196, followed by Kurt Busch, Mark Martin, Kyle Busch, and Martin Truex, Jr. Jimmie Johnson is black flagged for not restarting in the correct position.

Caution on lap 211, as Dale Earnhardt, Jr gets into the side of Jeff Burton in turn 4 and spins him. All the lead lap cars pit. Martin Truex, Jr takes two tires and the lead off of pit road. He restarts in first on lap 217, with Ryan Newman second, Denny Hamlin third, Sam Hornish, Jr fourth, and Mark Martin fifth.

On lap 218, Newman and Truex are side by side racing for the lead. Truex maintains for a while, while the bumping and beating and banging continue behind the leaders.

Ryan Newman continues to challenge Truex for the lead, and finally takes it on lap 236. Rain is coming, and the action picks up even more, as Denny Hamlin, who really, really, really wants this race moves into second on lap 239.

Newman tries desperately to hold the lead, and does a pretty good job of it until lap 249, when Hamlin passes him on the bottom of the track.

Hamlin continues to lap cars, while increasing his lead over Ryan Newman. As Mark Martin passes Truex for third, then Kurt Busch passes him for fourth, Hamlin is lapping Dale Earnhardt, Jr, David Ragan, and Carl Edwards. Jeff Gordon has found something in his car and has used it to move back into the top five.

Caution on lap 273 for debris. This is very close to the money stop. The cars should have enough fuel to make it to the end of the race if it is shortened by rain, or might have enough fuel if it goes all the way. Race leader Hamlin loses the lead to Ryan Newman, after Hamlin's crew has lug nut troubles during the pit stop.

Newman will lead the field to the restart on lap 278, followed by Jeff Gordon, who had a great stop, Mark Martin, Kyle Busch, and Kurt Busch.

On lap 281 Kyle Busch passes Mark Martin for third in a pretty good race, while Kurt Busch falls back to seventh. By lap 283, Denny Hamlin has overcome his pit road woes and has moved into sixth.

This is not a tame race. It was never meant to be. Things happen. What happens next is Joey Logano hits Greg Biffle on lap 285, and spins him. Caution flies again. The green flag comes out again on lap 290, but doesn't last long, as Kevin Harvick makes contact with another car--it's hard to see which one--and cuts a tire, hitting the wall in one of those crashes that lasts the entire backstretch before he finally hits something.

Restart on lap 299, with Newman in the lead, Kyle Busch second, Jeff Gordon--in a car he doesn't like--is third, Mark Martin fourth, and Truex fifth. Kyle Busch makes another great restart move and passes Newman for the lead. Ryan doesn't give up, though, and sticks to the bottom lane, regaining the lead on lap 302. Sam Hornish Jr slides into Marcos Ambrose on lap 306, and another caution comes out.

Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Jamie McMurray, Sam Hornish, Jr, Robby Gordon, and David Stremme stay out while the other lead lap cars pit. Jeff Gordon inherits the lead, while Robby Gordon gives up fifth to pit. Restart on lap 317 with Jeff Gordon in the lead, Edwards second, McMurray third, Hornish fourth, and Stremme fifth.

It is especially true in short track racing that "cautions breed cautions," but the cars have been bunched up the entire race, and we have been seeing three and four wide racing. There is lots of contact, and nobody will come out of this unscathed. This is exciting and the Wow meter is pegged.

The inevitable happens on lap 325, David Stremme gets bumped by Bobby Labonte, after the cars in front of them check up. Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson are caught up in the chain reaction, and the caution comes out again. None of the leaders pit. Jimmie Johnson takes his car to the garage.

The top five cars on the restart, on lap 335, are Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, McMurray, Hornish, and Hamlin. Allmendinger, starting on the inside, locks up his brakes going into turn three, and Gordon barely escapes disaster. Hornish falls back to seventh, while Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin move into the top five. On lap 345, Bobby Labonte, who is not on the lead lap, spins after being bumped by Kurt The Klown, spins and brings out caution number fourteen. Some cars pit, but most of the lead lap cars stay out, including the top five.

The restart is on lap 351, with Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Jamie McMurray, and Denny Hamlin in the top five. Kyle Busch moves to the outside at the drop of the green and takes second, immediately challenging Gordon for the lead. This battle goes on for the entire lap, and Busch takes the lead on lap 352. The next caution comes out on lap 356, as Reutimann and Vickers get into it and spin.

The restart is on lap 362, with Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Jamie McMurray, Carl Edwards, and Denny Hamlin in the top five.

This is obviously the Big Restart. Behind the top four, Stewart, Burton, Newman, and Hamlin are four wide trying to get into the top five. After the smoke clears, Smoke and Burton have cleared the mess, and Burton moves up into second, with Stewart behind him on lap 273. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch has increased his lead to over three seconds. Burton and Stewart have fresher tires than the leader, and seem to be gaining on him. Stewart feels that he has a better chance of catching Kyle, and takes second place from Burton. Kyle has a 2.7 second lead over Stewart with thirteen laps to go.

Burton and Stewart race each other some more on lap 291, but Stewart stays in second, and Kyle is still increasing his lead. Nothing will change the outcome, now, except for maybe a caution flag.

There is no caution flag. Kyle Busch takes the checkers 2.75 seconds ahead of Stewart. Burton hangs in for third, Ryan Newman comes in fourth, and Mark Martin is fifth. Sam Hornish, Jr, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Gordon, Casey Mears, and Juan Pablo Montoya fill out the top ten. With all the racing and the cautions, with the free passes, the race ended with 26 cars on the lead lap, with Carl Edwards in twenty-sixth. Dale Earnhardt, Jr finished as the first car one lap down, never having had a chance to "get back" at Kyle Busch for last year, as his fans wanted to see. And Kyle Busch got cheered for winning this race, his second victory this weekend. Well, this is his twenty-fourth birthday. Happy Birthday, young man.

The joy of NASCAR Cup level short track racing has not been diminished. Every driver was a hero in his own right. Many of the cars that finished in the top ten were involved in crashes earlier in the race. Now that is short track racing at its best.

While the Fortress Burns

2009-05-02T04:08:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, our esteemed and hard-working United States House of Representatives to the Congress began investigation the important and economically stimulating issue of championship playoffs for college football. It shouldn't be long now, before they turn their attention to NASCAR. I'm sure Congress will make sure they mold NASCAR into a pastime that is fair, ecologically friendly, and politically correct. The following is some examples of legislation we may expect Congress to pass concerning NASCAR:

All vehicles participating in each event will produce a fuel mileage of no less than 50 miles per gallon.

The top speed of any vehicle participating in each event shall not exceed 55 miles per hour.

Any participant who is female, African-American, Hispanic, Homosexual, or an undocumented immigrant shall be awarded, at the start of any event, a 20 lap lead over any other participants.

For safety purposes, spectators shall be separated from the track by a 200 foot tall, 20 foot thick reinforced concrete wall.

In order to ensure that citizens who earn less than $40,000 per year do not mis-spend their income, the following excise taxes will be levied:

1. On the price of admission to all NASCAR events a 200,000 percent excise tax will be levied.

2. On the price of all souvenirs and collectibles, a 1,000,000 percent excise tax will be levied.

The revenue collected from this tax will be allocated to funds covering a 200 percent salary increase for all members of Congress, thus returning the investment of the taxpayers to the people.

There will be a 100 percent tax on all winnings awarded from each event. Members of Congress and the Executive Branch of the United States Government shall be exempt from this tax. Revenues from this tax will be allocated to the campaign funds of all political candidates who represent the Democratic or Republican parties.

The minimum wage for all pit crew members shall be no less than $500 per hour, or an equivalent salary.

The Federal Income Tax on the wages and salaries of pit crew members shall be levied at 95%, under the "New Millionaires" tax rate.

All vehicles used in NASCAR events shall be converted to operate on wind energy by the year 2013.

I'm sure Congress will do to NASCAR what it thinks is best for every American and undocumented immigrant. The above suggestions should give them a good start.

David Poole will be missed

2009-04-28T22:42:00.005-07:00

David Poole was an important element in satisfying our fix for daily NASCAR news. He was the NASCAR writer for the Charlotte Observer, as well as an active participant on That's Racing.com. He also hosted the Sirius Satellite Radio program The Morning Drive.

He made himself accessible to his readers and fans, often participating in the That's Racing fan forums, and presenting his views in his own blog "Life in The Turn Lane," allowing comments even from those who strongly disagreed with him and were wont to insult him. We feel that a piece of our passion for the sport is missing with his passing. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his friends and family.

For more information, please read the item on NASCAR.Com

Image credit: The Charlotte Observer

Live on Type Delay: The Aaron's 499

2009-04-26T13:32:00.006-07:00

Love it or not, restrictor-plate racing is here to stay. Certainly, we don't see the racing at Talladega as being the same thing as we see at the 1.5 mile intermediate tracks, which isn't the same as what we see at the short tracks, which isn't the same as we see on road courses, which isn't the same as we see at Talladega and Daytona (thank-you "Scooters" Scooters, by the way, is no relation to Digger).

Indeed, to many of us mashing the pedal and waiting for something to happen isn't even what many of us consider racing. It really is racing, however, of the sort that requires a different set of skills from both the drivers and their teams, and in that sense, it is a facet in the myriad of accomplishments the drivers and their teams have to master in order to be the best at what they do.

What we can usually expect is anything. The restrictor-plates cause the cars to run at nearly 200 mph while only inches apart. The slightest driver error, the most minute mechanical fail, or any other element that could cause the car to get out of line could result in a very big wreck.

Note, to save time for those who may not want to read the entire post, there is some text in bold script to mark the highlights.

The green flag waves, and Juan Pablo Montoya leads the field to the start. Before the first lap is complete the cars are going three wide as they form lines. Montoya leads the first lap with his team mate Martin Truex, Jr. in his draft. Dale Earnhardt, Jr takes the lead on lap 5, with drafting help from Denny Hamlin. Then, on lap 8, shortly after Montoya has retaken the lead, only to be passed by David Ragan, that wreck we mentioned before the race started happens.

Jeff Gordon tries to move down to avoid David Gilliland, who is making a fourth lane on the outside. At the same time Matt Kenseth is moving up to avoid a car that is moving up on his inside. The two make contact, and many, many cars are unable to avoid the accident.

Gordon, Gilliland, Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, Mark Martin, Kurt Busch, AJ Allmendinger, Scott Riggs, Brian Vickers, Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Jamie McMurray, and Casey Mears are all involved in the wreck. We think that Digger may possibly have been a casualty, as we haven't seen him yet. No matter, there have to be a lot of fans out there who are as disappointed and frusterated as the drivers with the "Big One" happening so early in the race.

The race restarts on lap 14. Some of the cars that were involved in the wreck were able to make some repairs during the caution and join the restart. Because of the nature of the type of racing, where the lead and the top five positions are usually in a constant state of flux, it is almost pointless to list the top five at the green, but Joey Logano is on the point. He is soon overtaken by Martin Truex, Jr., who is overtaken by Juan Montoya on lap 18, who is overtaken by Kurt Busch--who was, remember, involved in that wreck. Denny Hamlin takes the lead on lap 20.

It's futile to try to keep up with the lead changes and try to watch the race, so while Live on Type Delay tries to catch up with the action, we will try to stick with the most significant events.

Jeff Burton leads on lap 24, and then reports alternator problems, and Kurt Busch retakes the lead on lap 27, and we get a caution for debris on lap 28. Kyle Busch takes the lead out of the pits and the restart is on lap 34, with Elliott Sadler in second, Michael Waltrip third, Matt Kenseth--another crash survivor--in fourth, and Martin Truex, Jr in fifth.

Lap 42 features a heroic and terrific save by Michael Waltrip, as he cuts in front of Marcos Ambrose, who taps Waltrip's behind in a show of man love for his team mate and boss. Waltrip misses the outside wall, then shoots into the infield and misses the inside wall as well. With a show of some uncharacteristically great driving, Waltrip hits nothing, and his car comes out unscathed.

On lap 46 Kyle Busch leads the field at the restart, followed by Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson, Casey Mears--who recovered nicely from the Big One--and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Jeff Burton's crew changed his alternator, and he is scored two laps down. Joonyer takes the lead on lap 48, and Matt Kenseth takes the lead on lap 50. Kevin Harvick returned to the race on lap 49, but returns to the pits on lap 54, being unable to maintain a reasonable speed. Dale Jr retakes the lead on lap 53, and by lap 57 everyone has settled into single file behind him. That relatively safe condition lasts only a short while, however, as Kurt Busch loses control and takes an excursion through the infield that is very similar to the one taken by Waltrip earlier. The caution flies on lap 60.

The restart is on lap 64, with Martin Truex, Jr leading, Sadler second, Dale Jr third, and Kyle Busch fourth. Those four cars break away from the field, and the field is mostly single file. Hamlin and Kenthis--DW has taken elocution lessons from Rusty Wallace, and has learned not to call Matt Kenseth "Kensis"--form a line of four cars on the inside.

Hamlin takes the lead on lap 75, then loses it as Montoya moves out of his draft, and gets bumped to the lead by Dale Earnhardt, Jr on lap 77. Earnhardt, Hamlin, and Montoya all trade the lead,.with Hamlin prevailing on lap 80. On lap 82, while the field is going four wide, Dale Jr and Brad Keselowski avoid disaster, as both fall below the yellow line, trying to avoid each other. Jr makes it back in the same general position he held, but Keselowski falls to the rear of the pack. On lap 83 Sam "How 'Bout That?" Hornish takes the lead. How 'bout that?

On lap 86, there is a caution for debris on the backstretch. Paul Menard takes the lead by staying out while everyone else pits, and leads the restart on lap 88. He is followed by Denny Hamlin, Elliott Sadler, Joey Logano, and David Reutimann. Hamlin takes the lead on the next lap.

At the halfway point, things have settled down a bit. Jeff Burton got the free pass on the last caution and is now only one lap down. Since he is the only car one lap down, the next caution will put him back on the lead lap. On lap 103 the top five are Hamlin, Reutimann, Stremme, Vickers, and Sorenson. There are 33 cars on the lead lap, with Carl Edwards and John Andretti bringing up the rear of the field. 49 laps back, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon are racing for the 37th position.

On lap 111, the inside line is formed by Dale Jr, Jeff Burton, and Matt Kensis, Kenthis, or Kenseth. Jr takes the lead with Burton in his draft. They gain a gap on the rest of the field. On lap 114, disaster is narrowly avoided by Reed Sorenson as he cuts a tire and makes it safely to the pits, with no accidents and no caution. Martin Truex, Jr takes the lead. Joey Logano momentarily takes the lead on lap 117, but Truex gets it back. Vickers gets the lead on lap 121, and it looks like we may have a green flag pit cycle for the first time in the race. Caution on lap 124, and Burton is back on the lead lap. He raced his way back to that lap, so Paul Menard gets a lap back.

Kyle Busch gets out of the pits ahead of Jimmie Johnson, while Carl Edwards leads a lap by staying out. Jeremy Mayfield also stays out and is in second. Hey, we almost forgot the #41 car was in the race, but there he is and he has stayed on the lead lap the entire time, so far. Those guys pit, and on lap 127, Kyle Busch leads the field at the restart, followed by Jimmie Johnson, Martin Truex, Jr, Dale Earnhardt, Jr, and Brian Vickers.

Man it is fun to watch The Most Hated Driver in the lead at a restrictor plate race. He is constantly moving up and down the track to keep the others behind him. Then they settle into three wide. Michael Waltrip has made it into fifth. Kyle Busch is on the inside line, and Denny Hamlin is on the outside, with David Ragan in the middle. Busch thrills us with some more three-wide driving, and Keselowski pushes Elliott Sadler into the lead on lap 134. That three wide racing that Kyle Busch does by himself never seems to work out well in the long run. At some point, he has to let someone by, as he is elsewhere.

Kurt Busch takes the lead on lap 137, Denny Hamlin on lap 140, Casey Mears on lap 141. Jeff Burton--who, remember, was three laps down after electrical problems--takes the lead on lap 143, with help from Dale Jr, then Jr passes him in the middle and takes the lead. Kurt Busch momentarily takes the lead, but Jr gets it back as a caution for debris flies on lap 146.

During what could be "The Money Stop," there were several different strategies in play. The restart is on lap 150, with Kurt Busch in the lead, Sam Hornish, Jr. second, Casey Mears third, Montoya fourth, and--check this out--Da Biff is fifth.

On lap 151, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr move the inside line from mid-pack to the front, and on lap 154, Dale Earnhardt, Jr pushes Kyle Busch to the lead. Did you see that, Junior Nation? Don't panic, Jr knows what he is doing.

On lap 157, as if to let the tension and expectations grow slowly, the entire field is in single file. The top five is Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt, Jr, Jimmie Johnson, and Brian Vickers.

Kenseth is making a move on lap 168, on the inside, with Dale Earnhardt, Jr in his draft. He takes the lead on lap 169, then Kyle gets it back, much to his detriment. You know how Jeff Burton would never spin someone on purpose? Kyle must have really made him mad, as he spins from a bump by Burton. It took a long time for him to spin--he almost saved it, while Truex spun while the cars in front of him checked up, but, Busch finally spun out in turn three, bringing out the caution on lap 172.

Kenseth leads the restart on lap 175, with Earnhardt, Jr second, Burton third, Kurt Busch fourth, and Joey Logano. On lap 177, Denny Hamlin pushes Ryan Newman to the front of the field. They speed into the lead, and build a gap. As we know, gaps close quickly in restrictor plate racing.

Just when you think things might be over, it isn't. In the fashion of a classic horror film, action in the midfield of the pack results in Denny Hamlin making contact with Juan Montoya, Montoya making contact with Robby Gordon, and the Big One--Part Deaux happens. Jimmie Johnson's car is one of the ones that gets taken out of the race because of the wreck. "It sucks racing here," the disappointed reigning champion declares. For him, certainly, he had a chance to take the points lead, and that chance got brutally taken away.

The most important restart in the race comes with four laps to go. We have to stop typing to watch. We will stop to groan as Tony Stewart's #14 car, trying to restart in eighth, fails to restart.

With two laps to go, it is almost exactly like the finish of yesterday's race, with Newman leading and Jr pushing him around the track. But on turn one of the white flag lap, Carl Edwards, with Brad Keselowski's help takes the lead on the outside. Newman and Jr can't catch them. Going into the tri-oval, Keselowski fakes to the outside, and Edwards moves up to block. Keselowski takes the inside, and is moving forward as Edwards tries to come back to the inside. Keselowski is already there, and Edwards makes contact with the '09 car with his left rear quarter panel. This sends Edwards spinning and airborne. The flying #99 car flies across the hood of Newman's car, taking all the body work off the front of the #39. Edwards car hits the catchfence, spewing debris in all directions, and falls back to the track.

Thankfully, Edwards isn't hurt, and he gets out of his car and runs across the finish line to finish the race. But Keselowski is the winner, the eighth driver in NASCAR history to get his first career victory at Talladega.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr finished second, after an incredibly good race, and Newman managed to get his wrecked car across the finish line in third. Marcos Ambrose finished fourth, and Scott Speed got his first Sprint Cup top five finish in fifth. Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle, Brian Vickers, Joey Logano, and Jeff Burton round out the top ten.

Kyle Busch negates any good will he may have gained recently by bumping Keselowski while he is performing his victory celebration. He couldn't find Jeff Burton, so he went for the first black painted car he could find. Actually, according to the Fox Sports Booth Bunnies, Keselowski drove up to Kyle's car in celebration and got bumped. I was busy typing, and didn't see what happened, so I will leave it up to the reader to decide what happened, if it is really that important.

This was truley a unique race with an amazing finish. There was no way we could have guessed the outcome of the race until the final 100 feet. Wow.

Update: Reports are that 8 fans in the grandstands were injured by flying debris, but none were seriously injured.

Kyle Busch was minding his own business on the cool down lap, when the victorious Keselowski spun into him while doing donuts.

And Digger seems to be okay.

Can't get enough of The Kid

2009-04-21T05:03:00.002-07:00

Mark Martin deserves every bit of the respect and accolades he has recieved. Even though he has not won a single championship in the top tiers of NASCAR racing, he has truly earned the title of "Legend." It is always good to see a legend in action, and especially good when that legend wins a race.

Martin's first full time Cup season was in 1983, when he raced for car owner Bud Reeder, alternating between Pontiacs and Buicks. For most of the season, his sponsor was Apache Stove, but, after having to sponsor his car at Dover that year, he picked up Jolly Rancher as a sponsor. He had 8 top tens out of 30 races, with 2 of those being in the top 5. After 1983, he raced limited schedules in Cup with various owners, including Morgan-McClure. In 1987, Martin completed only 83 laps at Charlotte, in the Cup series, but raced full time in the Busch series for Bruce Lawmaster. In 27 races he had 3 wins, 5 top fives, and 13 top tens. His Cup career probably would have been finished had his performance in the Busch Series--as well as his performance in the ASA--not caught the attention of Jack Roush.

In 1988, his first full Cup season with Roush, he had 10 top ten finishes, with three top fives and one pole. He won his first Cup victory in 1989, at Rockhingham. Since then , he has won a total of 36 Cup races, including last Saturday's race. Add to that his record setting 48 victories in the Nationwide aka Busch series and his 7 wins in the truck series, and he as a total of 91 wins in the top tier divisions of NASCAR. That is legendary by any definition.

On Saturday, April 18, 2009 Mark Martin became the oldest man to win a race in a major racing series. We can be sure that won't stop him from winning more.

Stats via Racing Reference.info

The Racing Weekend in Review--NASCAR Phoenix Weekend

2009-04-19T12:42:00.006-07:00

The NASCAR racing all took place on Friday and Saturday last weekend, but that didn't mean the racing weekend was over.

The new rules in Formula 1 are turning things upside down. With a new car design, new tire design, and a slower top speed, all the teams in the world's most prestigious racing series have to start from square one. Gone is the dominance by team Ferrari and team McClaren/Mercedes. Now we see the start up team of Brawn Racing--created from the ashes of Team Honda, and racing with Mercedes power--and their driver Jenson Button dominating. I remember many F-1 fans claiming that Button wasn't good enough to be racing in Formula One.

Early Sunday morning, when most of us were asleep, the Bejing Gran Prix was run in wet weather in China. Sebastion Vettle, who surprised everyone in his first win last year with Toro Rosso, took the victory. This was the first victory for Team Red Bull, the "big brother" of Toro Rosso, which is. of course, Italian for "Red Bull."

Mark Webber, Vettle's Red Bull team mate, finished second. Points leader Jenson Button finished third, keeping his podium percentage at 100%.

Add to that, the Formula One "COT" if that is what we may call it, has put the racing more in the hands of the drivers. Hmmm, that sounds familiar.

Yesterday the ALMS Gran Prix was held at Long Beach, California. ESPN/ABC decided to broadcast the race today. Although we already knew that racing legend Gil de Ferran won the race--his first since coming out of retirement--we had to watch anyway. ALMS can give us some of the most exciting street course racing there is, and Saturday's race on Sunday was no exception. With around sixteen laps to go, Boris Said, driving a Corvette in the GT 2 class, was blind-sided by a BMW driver trying to make a heroic, but ill-advised pass on the inside, after Said had already made his commitment. Both cars spun, but continued the race. With six laps to go, Said's Corvette burst into flames. Boris exited the car safely, but the race ended under caution.

Team Corvette, running their final US race in the GT 1 class, took the awesome and dominating C6.R to victory one last time. Although they will still have a presence in the GT-2 class of ALMS, and will race in GT 1 at Le Mans, this feels like the beginning of the end for the last American factory team in motorsports.

Many race fans claim outrage that NASCAR dropped Rockingham from its schedule nine years ago, and that the new Sprint Cup car has ruined racing as they knew it. So, one would expect that when Andy Hillenberg bought the race track at Rockingham, and landed the ARCA Carolina 200 as the main attraction, that these disgruntled fans would flock to that track to watch the aero-cars race. One would think that they would congregate to watch racing untainted by the competition, publicity, and high dollar sponsorships that they complain about in NASCAR. One would apparently be wrong. Less than 10,000 people showed up for last years event, and there were only about a thousand this year. If there was an ARCA race today at PPIR, I bet there would be at least 20,000 people there. I could almost guarantee it.

Anyway, most of the young ARCA stars from last year have moved up to the NASCAR developmental programs, or elswhere. Michael Annett and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr have moved to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and Annett is still making a good showing in the Rolex Grand American Series. Justin Allgiaer is the new Next Great Racer in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. We did see Ken Schrader dominate most of the race, until he ran out of fuel with less than one lap to go.

All of the cautions during the race came in the first 100 laps, and apparantly that was just sorting out the chaff, because the final 100 laps were caution free, which actually caused more problems than Schrader running out of gas. Tires aren't supposed to last that long, especially at Rockingham.

The drivers who hung in there, so to speak, for that final 100 laps were race winner Sean Caisse, Up and coming NASCAR Star and fourteen time AMA Supercross champion Ricky Carmichael--who had tire problems in the closing laps of the race, and finished three laps down--and Brian Ickler, who is Kyle Busch's developmental driver. Ickler stayed on the lead lap for most of the race, but tire and fuel problems forced him to make a pit stop late in the race, after he was lapped. Only six cars finished on the lead lap.

If there isn't more enthusiasm for this race in South Carolina, I don't think it will be there much longer, and race fans will once again lose Rockingham. This time the only fingers they can point will be at themselves.

The street course at Long Beach, CA is the oldest active street course in the USA, at the age of 35. Sunday marked the first time the IRL held a race there. It also marked the return of Helio Castroneves to racing, after he was acquitted of six counts related to tax evasion. Claiming that he was out of shape and out of practiced, he still managed to finish seventh in the difficult race.

Risky pit strategy and full course cautions combined to help Dario Franchitti take the victory, as well as earning Danica a fourth place, after starting at the back of the field. It was almost as if their teams could predict the full course cautions, because the strategy of "pitting just before the caution" worked. It was an interesting race, and watching the long, low slung racing machines go around the infamous hairpin nose to tail was fascinating. We knew that was a recipe for disaster if one of the leading cars were to slip up, and at one point of the race, it did happen, collecting 5 cars whose drivers were unable to avoid the big one.

Also interesting was watching Danica hold her own against road ace Will Power (love that name!). Street racing has not been a strong point for Danica, but she has obviously been practicing. She actually gained time on Power, in some of the most difficult parts of the course. A great racer never stops learning, and although she is not yet a great racer, Danica Patrick will not stop learning. Say what you will about the temperamental, titillating, and tiny bundle of eye candy, but, if Danica continues to improve her racing skills, she will one day be an IRL Champion.

Before we finish this post, we have to remark some more on Saturday night's Subway Fresh Fit 500 from PIR. Night racing is fun to watch, and the drivers, for the most part, like it. It provides a challenge for the crew chiefs in keeping up the car set up with the changing track conditions. The racing always seems better at night.

However, we would not recommend that NASCAR add even more night races to the schedule. For one thing, the folks on the East Coast can not, or perhaps should not, stay up that late. Night racing in NASCAR is fun as long as it remains somewhat of a novelty in the top series. Otherwise, we may find that too much of a good thing is just too much.

Besides Mark Martin's outstanding domination of the race, Tony Stewart, David Reutimann, and Sam Hornish, Jr all had notable performances. Tony Stewart finished in the runner up spot, scoring his third consecutive top five finish, and making his top ten score 6 out of 8 races. This is with a team we believed would be slow in building to success, but, so for, Smoke has proven us wrong. We are very happy that we have been proven wrong.

David Reutimann is showing up these days as "The Franchise" for MWR. That nickname is more than just a lark. Racing for a team that is definitely thought of as an underdog, he has 2 top tens and one top five so far this season. He finished eighth Saturday, and currently sits ninth in the points standings.

In the "Where did that guy come from?" category, Sam Hornish, Jr finished ninth, scoring his first top ten in his Sprint Cup career. Hornish, a three time IRL series Champion, reportedly turned down a chance to return to the IRL in favor of continuing his education in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. His learning curve has risen much slower than AJ Allmendinger's, but he has been plugging along, learning little by little. Who knows? Along with Allmendinger, Gilliland, Martin, Stewart, and Smith, he could become one of the feel good stories of the year.

And with all the turmoil in our world, we can use as many feel good stories as we can get.

Live on Type Delay: The Subway Fresh Fit race at Phoenix

2009-04-18T20:45:00.001-07:00

The Digger cartoons are already running repeats. Perhaps they need a sponsor. We would suggest Riddex. Digger would be a great spokesrodent for a pest control company.

The guy who doesn't need a sponsor now is AJ Allmendinger. His ride is now sponsored to the Fall Richmond race. We have confidence that if Allmendinger makes it into the top twelve by then, sponsorship will be no problem.

Things are tough for up and coming drivers these days. Drivers like Joey Logano and Aric Almirola do not have the luxury of testing at NASCAR sanctioned tracks, as have others before them. Almirola's Earnhardt/Ganassi Incorporated ride has been suspended indefinitely, due to lack of sponsorship. Rumors are flying that Joey Logano may not finish the season in the JGR #20 car. Both of these drivers have a lot of potential--they just need a chance to get acclimated to the Sprint Cup level of competition.

JGR has insisted that they are sticking with Logano, and that his ride is safe. In fact, things are looking up for "Sliced Bread," as he gained his second career Nationwide Series race last week at Nashville, in impressive fashion.

Today's economic atmosphere in NASCAR would be a great reason to advocate that the Nationwide Series regulars stay in that series for a minimum of four years. Of course, that would be up to the teams owners, and not NASCAR. NASCAR's official description of the NNS is "A series in which up and coming NASCAR stars of the future match up against veteran NASCAR stars from the Sprint Cup Series."

Oh yeah, the race has started.

Mark Martin starts on the pole, with Kyle Busch on the outside. Right behind them are Kurt Busch in third, and Jeff Gordon in fourth, while Brian Vickers and Tony Stewart are in row three. Martin gets a good jump on the start and holds the lead.

By lap 37 Kyle Busch has fallen back to eighth place, while Mark Martin has led every lap. On lap 42, Tony Stewart threads the needle between the lapped Elliott Sadler and the third placed #24 car. This move requires a lot of trust, and this time it pays off, as Sadler moves up the track to give him room, and Gordon lets him by. DW remarks that Jeff Gordon wouldn't put a bumper into Stewart at this point of the race, forgetting that he said, during the Martinsville race three weeks ago, "Gordon doesn't race other drivers that way."

Caution on lap 54, as Sterling Marlin hits the wall and damages the right side of his car. Everybody pits, except Michael Waltrip stays out to lead a lap and get five points.

The restart is on lap 61, with Martin in first, Kurt Busch second, Denny Hamlin in third, Tony Stewart fourth, and Jeff Gordon is fifth. Stewart gets third from Hamlin a few laps later, but almost loses control of his car in doing so. He saves it, and pulls in line in front of his former team mate. Jimmie Johnson enters the top ten on lap 66, and is on the move. Six laps later, he is in eighth place. Martin Truex, Jr, who started in the 26th position, moves into ninth place on lap 78.

Kurt Busch is creeping up on the race leader, Mark Martin, on lap 92, and Tony Stewart joins the fray. Martin does some great blocking, forgetting that his fans believe that he doesn't race that way, and holds the lead, while Stewart takes second on lap 95. Kurt Busch takes second back on lap 102, and there is a caution for debris. Bobby Labonte stays out to gain 5 ponts for leading a lap, and Kurt Busch gets out of the pits first to take the lead. Martin will restart in second. Greg Biffle moves up to third, Denny Hamlin is fourth, and Jimmie Johnson is fifth, and Jeff Gordon is sixth. Tony Stewart will restart in seventh, having had a little trouble during the tire change in the pits. Restart is on lap 109.

The graphics going into the commercial, with Kurt Busch in the lead, plays up the "class clown" image Dirty Kurty has made for himself. Whether that is the real Kyle Busch or not, we really don't know. It just seems forced sometimes. It seems forced most of the time. But it's okay for one to reinvent one's self, and more power to him.

On lap 112, we have some wild stuff going on in a race for eleventh position, with Martin Truex, Jr, Kasey Kahne, and Johnny Montoya going three wide through lapped traffic. Exciting stuff there. Meanwhile Dale Earnhardt, Jr is having handling problems with his car and is losing positions. But the sun is setting, and handling characteristics are going to change. We will not give up on Jr, yet.

Stewart moves back into the top five on lap 124, and the top five are now Kurt Busch first, Mark Martin second, Greg Biffle third, Jimmie Johnson fourth, and Tony Stewart fifth.

Mark Martin is closing in on race leader Kurt Busch, but then, on lap 138, we get a caution as David Stremme loses it in turn two, and spins into the infield. Some drivers, especially the ones with the initials "D E J" really needed this caution.

Jimmie Johnson loses eight positions in the pits. That is uncharacteristic for the 48 team, but we are certain they will recover.

Kurt Busch and Mark Martin want no changes, Tony Stewart gets air pressure adjustments, Martin Truex Jr takes two tires only and gets off the pit road in second. Restart on lap 144 with Kurt Busch in first, Truex, second, Mark Martin third, David Reutimann fourth, and Tony Stewart fifth.

On lap 150, Jeff Gordon's car has developed a tire rub under the left front fender, after contact with Denny Hamlin. His prayers are answered on lap 152, as AJ Allmendinger spins and hits the wall.

Restart on lap 156, with Kurt Busch first, Mark Martin second, Martin Truex, Jr third, Tony Stewart fourth, and David Reutimann in fifth. Stewart takes third from Truex on lap 165. Kyle Busch has moved into the top 5, and takes fourth. On lap 167, Michael Waltrip gets loose in turn four, and collects Robby Gordon, who hits the wall and brings out a caution. Dale Earnhardt, Jr stays out and takes the lead. He will restart in the lead. Of the cars that pit, Mark Martin takes four tires, most of the others take two.

Green flag on lap 171, with Dale Earnhardt, Jr in the lead, Marcos Ambrose second, Jeff Gordon third, David Stremme fourth, and Bobby Labonte fifth. These cars stayed out during the caution. Lots of action going on. Kyle Busch takes third from Jeff Gordon, then second from Ambrose. Gordon takes third from Ambrose, and Earnhardt, Jr increases his lead to three seconds. Tony Stewart has the fastest lap time on lap 189 and has moved into fourth. On lap 212, Stewart battles Kyle Busch for second, and takes that position after a short, but exciting contest. Mark Martin takes third on lap 214. The Booth Bunnies say this is because Stewart and Martin have fresher tires than Kyle does. I thought Stewart only took two that last pit stop, but what do I or the NASCAR.com lap by lap reporter know?

The "Toyota Driver Seeker" commercial still makes me laugh, no matter how many times I have seen it. So does the Tony Stewart Old Spice commercial. My mind must be turning to mush. The aliens are winning.

Wow the live leaderboard on NASCAR.com has finally loaded. Those of you who may, like Rev' Jim, be stuck with a dial up connection know what an accomplishment this is. I started loading it at the beginning of the race. I had to refresh the page several times, and finally, two hours and one minute later, it is updating. Yaaaaaay!

Meanwhile Tony Stewart has been cutting steadily into Dale Jr's lead, and is about to become NASCAR's most hated driver, at least for now. The fans will get over it and go back to hating Kyle Busch before the race is over. By lap 219, Stewart is three-tenths of a second behind the leader, and Driver 88 is reporting that he has used up his tires.

Still we finally get to see some of Junior's ability as he holds off the hard-charging Stewart for several laps. Stewart begins the pass for the lead on lap 218, and finally closes the deal on lap 220. Mark Martin takes second right after that, and Jr begins the green flag pit cycle by pitting on lap 226.

On lap 230, it is Stewart first, Martin second, Kurt Busch third, Reutimann fourth, and Biffle fifth.

Greg Biffle gives up fifth to pit with 76 laps to go, and Jeff Gordon has to enter the pits again because of a penalty due to missing lug nut. Again, this is something very uncharacteristic for that crew.

Oh fun, just before they pit, Martin is racing Stewart for the lead. We know this is for funsies, as both cars will pit soon, but we know these guys have a mutual admiration for each other, and it is fun to watch them race, even though both cars are wildly loose.

Stewart and Martin both pit on lap 242. Johnson takes the lead, then pits on the next lap, letting Vickers lead a lap. With the green flag pit stops completed, on lap 246, it is Earnhardt, Jr, back in the lead, but with not enough fuel to make it to the end of the race. Don't worry, there will likely be a caution.

Greg Biffle is four seconds behind Jr in second, Mark Martin third, Tony Stewart fourth, and Kyle Busch is fifth, with Kurty The Klown, his brother, right behind him. On lap 251, Martin takes second, then takes the lead on lap 257. Tony Stewart has moved into third. Greg Biffle is fourth, and Kurty The Klown has moved into fifth, while Kyle, the other Busch, is in sixth. In the seventh position, Jimmie Johnson is running identical in time with the leader. Dale Jr has developed handling trouble, and is now running in eighth.

Tony Stewart has moved into second by lap 267, Kurt Busch is third, Kyle is fourth, and Da Biff is fifth. It still sounds funny when it is spoken out loud.No one can say "Da Biff is Fifth" twice real fast, let alone three times. The Rev' says "Da Biff ith fifth" on the first try.

Talk about being good on long runs, Mark Martin has posted the fastest times on laps 275, 276, and 277. He was two seconds ahead of Stewart on lap 274, and is now three and a half seconds ahead.

On lap 280, Reutimann has the fastest car, and has passed Da Biff for fifth. This is shaping up to be a great finish. Lap 282 and Jimmie Johnson is on the move in sixth.

If either Mark Martin or Tony Stewart wins this race, we will have tears in our eyes. It would be Mark's first win since 2005, or it would be Stewart's first win as an owner/driver, at the same track Alan Kulwicki got his first win as an owner/driver.

Caution with twelve laps to go, while Martin had a four second lead over Sterwart. Dale Jr, having been lapped by the leader on lap 297, loses control with the help of Casey Mears. I can't wait to hear the conspiracy rumors on this one.

All the leaders pit, and Mark Martin exits the pit road barely ahead of Kyle Busch, but the younger Busch got caught speeding exiting the pits, and has to serve a penalty.

Ryan Newman stayed out and will lead at the restart. There is some controversy about why he didn't pit. Did he have radio problems, or did he pretend to have radio problems? Anyway, restart with six laps to go is Newman first, Martin second, Stewart third. What a great restart by Martin. He passes Newman as if he is standing still, and immediately gains five car lengths on Stewart. Johnson moves into the top five, and takes fourth with three laps to go. Tony Stewart and Mark Martin are running at the exact same speed as Martin takes the white flag. Stewart will not catch Martin. I am crying, Martin wins, Stewart second, Mark Martin is third, Jimmie Johnson, who almost caught third place, and Da Biff ith Fifth.

Wow, a historic moment, and a great race for the old man. For some, life begins at fifty. Or maybe The Kid is only twenty five years old for the second time around.

Live on Type Delay: The Samsung 500

2009-04-05T17:58:00.001-07:00

Texas Motor Speedway is a fast track with wide progressively banked turns, a long, sweeping frontstretch, and a shorter backstretch. It has been both loved and loathed by racers, and has a history of surprises. It is one of only two tracks on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit at which Jeff Gordon has never won. There just seems to be some kind of jinx for him. If he starts well he ends up poorly. If he starts poorly, he ends up poorly. This is not a Cup car characteristic, because Gordon had the same problem at Texas with the aero-car.

It should be noted that TMS is also where Dale Earnhardt, Jr got both his first Nationwide Series win and his first Cup Series win. That wasn't last year, though, because Carl Edwards won both Sprint Cup TMS races in 2008.

Jeff Gordon starts on the front row, outside of David Reutimann. They both get a good start and race for the lead all the way around the first lap. Gordon gets the edge on the first lap, but only leads for about ten laps until Reutimann passes him back. Jeff's car seems to be fading. Reutimann leads all the way to the time green flag pit stops begin on lap 51.

After the pit stops cycle through, Matt Kenseth has the lead, with Reutimann in second and Tony Stewart in third. Stewart battles hard with Reutinann, and takes second place, but Reutimann doesn't give up easily and races him back. But Stewart races him back again, and gets second place back. By lap 75, he is gaining on Kenseth, who had stretched his lead to almost three seconds, while lapping a lot of cars. By lap 83, Stewart has closed that gap to seven-tenths of a second. During the commercial, Stewart takes the lead, which proves this isn't the WWE, where the action seems to pause during the commercials. There is a caution on lap 98 for debris blown on to the racing surface by the high winds that are prevailing in Texas.

Matt Kenseth retakes the lead during the pit stops, Greg Biffle comes out second, and Tony Stewart is third. David Reutimann stays in the top five and will restart in fourth on lap 105, while last year's broom man at TMS, Carl Edwards comes out fifth. Just behind him is another Roush-Fenway driver, David Ragan, and Jeff Gordon has hung in there in seventh.

At the restart, Kenseth, Biffle, and Stewart all get on a good start, but only Kenseth gets away, as the other two get boxed in by the lapped traffic, where the drivers are racing to hold their positions. Kyle Busch shows that he still has a lot to learn as he bumps another driver in retaliation for something or other, and puts himself against the wall, cutting a tire. He makes it around, without bringing out a caution, but goes nearly two laps down, having to pit because of his own bad judgement.

Greg Biffle takes the lead during a commercial, around lap 117 or 118. By lap 122, Jeff Gordon has moved up into fourth. He takes third from Stewart during yet another commercial, somewhere around lap 138. During that last commercial, we noticed that Mom and Dad Ask.com have reconciled and are back together closer than ever. You may have noticed that Mom was nowhere around the family, after Las Vegas, when Dad, the Kid, and Gramps took off in an RV. It turns out that Mom had traveled to Atlanta alone, where she was seern on television in the background while Bobby Labonte was conducting a post race interview. She had a small part in the commercials during Bristol and Martinsville, but seemed to still be in the background. We are happy, for the sake of Gramps and the Kid, to see Mom and Dad Ask.com together again. We really miss having the MRN/PRN radio broadcasts here.

Green flag pit stops begin during another commercial, around lap 152, and Da Biff pits on lap 154. Oh my, speeding penalty for Kyle Busch during green flag stops. This could be bad, but it isn't, because Elliott Sadler spins out right in front of him, bringing out a caution. And David Reutimann picked up a penalty, as well, for pitting outside of the pit box, and taking that penalty puts him a lap down.

On lap 161, it's Biffle, Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and David Ragan in the top five. Kurt Busch has moved into sixth. By lap 179, Da Biff has a lead of three and a half seconds over second place, Matt Kenseth.

Tony Stewart takes second from Kenseth with about 135 laps to go, and the green flag pit stops begin with Kenseth with 130 laps to go. After the pit stops cycle through, Da Biff is back in the lead, Kenseth is second, Stewart third, and Jeff Gordon is fourth. Then there is another caution during another commercial, as the engine in the car of Marcos Ambrose gives up the ghost, or oil, as it is.

Jeff Gordon stayed out during the caution, while the leaders pitted again, and so did Mark Martin, so they hold positions one and two at the restart. Kenseth and Ragan are third and fourth, and Tony Stewart is fifth, being the first three out of the pits during the caution. Gordon gets a good restart and broadens his lead.

Sam Hornish spins with 101 laps to go and brings out the caution, and it was not during the commercial. The 96 car gets caught up in the action and forces Bobby Labonte to take that car to the garage. The leaders stay out this time, but several cars, from eighth on back, pit.

You know what there is not to like about high definition television broadcasts? When the signal power drops for any reason, we get a message that says, "Bad Signal" and a blue screen, instead of a fuzzy picture of the action. Or, in this case, a Fox Television Network logo. Speaking of which, Foxes do burrow, at least to dig a den. Why couldn't they have a fox ground cam instead of a gopher cam. Foxes are the foxes of the animal kingdom. Gophers aren't cute, they are ugly little rats.

There was an interesting effect of the sun reflecting off the windshields of the cars from one camera angle. It really looked like all the cars had the old fashioned radio antennas cars used to have, except they were on the drivers' side.

Caution again during the commercial, with 83 laps to go. Robby Gordon's engine blew up, the second Toyota to do so. Dale Earnhardt, Jr, who was in eleventh place, takes the lead by taking two tires during the caution. It is still early to say if this will become a fuel strategy race, as there will be too many laps to go without a fuel stop, unless you are Carl Edwards, who last year went 94 laps without a stop for fuel. It doesn't matter, "Jooooooonyer!" will restart in the lead!

The restart is with 76 laps to go. Brian Vickers is second, also having taken only two tires, Jeff Gordon is third, Edwards fourth, and Stewart is fifth. On turn one, Kyle busch on the inside lane is trying to get one of his laps back, gets into the sta-dri, and into Jr, probably endangering himself to the possibility of being hated to death, but he does get one of his laps back. This gives Gordon the lead, and Jr drops back to seventh before he recovers. With 67 laps to go, Edwards has moved into second, and Tony Stewart is third.

Great racing between the 48 and the 88 for sixth place with 61 laps to go. Jr and Johnson keep changing positions racing each other high and low. Johnson seems to have the advantage on the straightaways, but Jr beats him in the corners. This is fun, the two drivers have two completely different styles, and they are battling hard.

With 51 laps to go, it's Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, and David Ragan in the top five. Johnson is now in sixth, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr is seventh, but Da Biff is on the run and overtakes the most popular driver. Biffle likely won't be hated to death for that, but we do remember when "the Bug-eyed Monster" was one of the least popular drivers.

Now, with 42 laps to go, Ragan has to make a green flag pit stop with an over-heated engine. Also, bad news for Junior Nation as Dale Earnhardt, Jr gets too close to the wall while trying to make a run on Da Biff. He has to pit for repairs, losing a lap.

Meanwhile, Carl Edwards has taken the lead from Jeff Gordon with 40 laps to go. With 36 laps to go, Stewart takes second from Gordon. With 31 laps to go, David Stremme, running in twelfth spins in turn four while trying to get to the pits with a flat tire, and brings out the caution. Still, we get to see some of Stremme's oft overlooked skill as he makes a great save.

Jeff Gordon gets out of the pits first, Tony Stewart second, and Jimmie Johnson third, while Carl Edwards apparently had some trouble and does not exit the pits among the top ten. This should be one heck of a restart with 26 laps to go. Gordon gets a clean start and keeps the lead, while Johnson is racing Stewart for second. Matt Kenseth is fourth, and Da Biff is fifth. Da Biff is fifth. Say that out loud, it sounds wierd. Now try it without lisping the "s" in "is"

With seven laps to go, Jeff Gordon is far enough ahead of Johnson that it is almost safe to say he might win this race. The Booth Bunnies have already given him the race. But with four laps to go, lapped traffic named Max Papis, who really is lovable, has slowed Gordon down, and Johnson has closed the gap to half a second. Biffle is still charging and passes Stewart for third. White flag, Gordon holds the lead through more lapped traffic, and wins his first ever victory at TMS, and his first points race win since October of 2007. What a special moment. Seriously.

In spite of all the side trips we took during our recounting of this event, this was one of the better races we have seen on a 1.5 mile track. That was a big difference from the first Texas race last year, which was a 500 mile snooze fest because no one could pass anybody. We hope to see the racing keep getting better as the teams finally grow into the Sprint Cup car. Jeff Gordon was one of the last of the top drivers to get the hang of this car, but it was worth the wait.

A Capitalist Pig's View on Why NASCAR Sponsorship is a Good Thing

2009-04-03T22:58:00.002-07:00

It is disturbing that there are some good teams with good drivers in NASCAR that are still unsponsored for the season. Disturbing because it seems to be due to a reluctance to invest money in what is an efficient, and effective, marketing system. The reason for such reluctance is that, in this day and age, investing money in a form of entertainment is looked down upon by the mob mentality that our society has acquired which makes us think that we know best how to run and market a business. Money is now evil, and making money is even worse. Now we have the equivalent of Hitler's Brown Shirters storming AIG shouting "Death to the Rich"

Granted, there should never have been a bailout, but isn't it silly to complain about 18 million dollars when we should be worried about getting back the 180 billion that we shouldn't have had to pay in the first place? Put that in perspective--18 million dollars to 180 billion is the same as one penny to 1000 dollars. If you can't pay the people who are capable of rebuilding the business to a point where it can pay us back, how do you expect to get the money back? Bear with me, I will tie this into NASCAR eventually.

Before you call me a "NASCAR shill" or a "Capitalist pig," you must first understand that, due to a debilitating condition, I am unable to work, and make less than $15,000 a year. Ironically, this has helped me to understand the importance of having a job and making money in the overall view of the economy. It also helps me to understand the importance of those who sign the paychecks, and do the marketing.

So, yes, you may call me a "Capitalist pig." It is true that con artists like Bernie Madoff, and bad players in the banking and financial industries who ran their businesses into the ground for their own personal gain, play a big role in the current economic crisis, but they make up a very small percentage of the people who keep the capital flowing. The person who makes over $500,000 a year is at least as important as the person who makes $9.00 an hour in making and keeping the economy healthy.

There was some backlash over GM's participation in motor sports, particularly in NASCAR, while they were accepting a bailout of taxpayer money. Why should taxpayers' money go to supporting the already wealthy Brian France, when there are over a hundred thousand North American jobs at stake? First of all, the premise that the money, between six and seven million dollars per car, goes to NASCAR is wrong. The money goes to the Chevrolet teams--Earnhardt/Ganassi Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, and Richard Childress Racing. Since GM is in the process of restructuring, the high return for a relatively low annual payout is a good idea. Ninety-eight million dollars buys hundreds of hours a year of brand publicity for nine months. It costs more than fifty million dollars for one thirty second commercial during the Super Bowl, and over $100,000 for each fifteen second spot during any prime time program on any given night. The NASCAR route is the most efficient way of getting the brand out to the public. Now that the Federal Government is in charge of General Motors, even they--who have yet to figure out that if they don't build the Camero, they have to pay back the tens of thousands of buyers who pre-ordered it--understand that.

Okay, I got a little off track. What I was trying to illustrate was the advantages per advertising dollar a sponsorship of AJ Allmendinger, for example, would present. Allmendinger gets mentioned several times during a race, and often during the NASCAR news and entertainment programs such as Trackside and NASCAR Now That is about seven hours a week of advertising for thirty-six weeks, reaching at least 50 million potential customers, a great bargain as advertising dollars go. Instead of "AJ Allmendinger, who needs a sponsor to compete for the entire season," the message could be "AJ Allmendinger, driving the Food City car..."

I am purposefully using Food City as an example, because if they can shell out the estimated $47 million it costs to sponsor one race, they can certainly afford $10 million for 26 weeks of sponsorship for a potential NASCAR champion. Especially when the team has the Petty name tacked to it.

It is not corporate greed that requires sponsorship, it is the need to pay the workers on the teams, and the workers who make the parts the teams need. When these workers get paid, they can go to Best Buy, or Target, or Walmart, or even The Gap, and pay money that eventually gets to the employees of those companies. With that money in their pockets, these employees can go to Safeway, Food City, Best Buy, or Walmart, or maybe even be able to buy tickets to go to a race. That's how the economy is supposed to work, and it has nothing to do with corporate greed or government interference.

I'm not pretending to be an economist, but this is just common sense. Surely there is a need to spend three million dollars in advertising for nine fifteen second spots on each of four networks every night, in order to reach a wider market, but to me, common sense says that it is a much more effective use of the money to sponsor a team in NASCAR.

NASCAR was founded as a marketing tool. If Bill France hadn't thought of it, someone else, like Bruton Smith, would have. It is still, today, an effective marketing tool, not only because it puts the best "tin top" drivers in the world in competition with each other, bringing the entire show on a nationwide tour, but it gives every sponsor the advantage of a partnership, of sorts, with every other sponsor. This is the "Business to Business (B2B)" model developed by Bill France, Jr. These businesses offer discounts and other perks to each other by association in NASCAR. They help each other out.

Then there is Action Sports, the collectable souvenir business owned jointly by ISC (NASCAR) and SMI (Bruton Smith). I know there are some who grumble that every retro paint scheme is just another deal to make and sell another diecast car. Even though these car models are made in China, the paint, detailing and packaging is done in the United States. This means more circulation of capital in the economy. But the real reason for special paint schemes is for the sponsor, and that is where the attention goes. That is the idea of the special paint--to draw attention to the sponsor. It doesn't hurt to have the sponsor's name on the diecast, though. .

Again, this is not corporate greed, it is running a business the smart way. Running business the smart way avoids loss of jobs, bankruptcy, and government interference. This is why it is so hard for me to understand, even in tough economic times, why more businesses do not take advantage of the benefits of sponsorship.

Tony Stewart is a smart man. Rather than trying to get one or two sponsors to cover the two cars in his team for the entire season, he offered joint sponsorship, which is less costly to the sponsor, while being more beneficial to the team. Perhaps this is what could work out for the teams that are hurting, such as Yates and Petty. Granted, they have probably already tried that, but just haven't had the offer accepted for a satisfactory arrangement.

I know I sound like a NASCAR shill, and I expect to be called that by some, but the point of this post is not so much to sell NASCAR as it is to note how strange it is that the smartest way to get the brand name out to the public is being ignored. I would, if I were in such a position, be trying to sell drivers such as Johnny Benson, the current reigning champion in the Truck Series, Todd Bodine, a former Trucks champion, and Allmendinger, the fastest rising star in the Sprint Cup Series, to the potential sponsors. There is no reason why these drivers shouldn't already have sponsorship for the entire season. Perhaps it is the way the teams are going about trying to get sponsors, or maybe potential sponsors just don't appreciate the value of a sponsorship, but either way somebody needs to think of something.

Postscript: There are exceptions to every rule, however, and GM wasn't running business the smart way. They were building cars they couldn't sell, and spending money they didn't have to spend. They offered outrageous legacy plans to their employees that couldn't be covered by any amount of money they could make. . The worst, and the least smartest thing they did was ask the government for money, rather than going the more traditional route of bankruptcy and restructuring. But that is a different subject for a different blog.

Live on Type Delay: The Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500

2009-03-29T16:10:00.005-07:00

Martinsville is not only the shortest track on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Circuit, it is the oldest. Though NASCAR's premier series has been racing there since 1956, the track was built in 1947, and home to many a stock car race. And it has been home to only stock car and NASCAR racing. This is the little paper clip, as opposed to the big paper clip at New Hampshire, so called because of it's shape, with long straightaways and tight turns. The speeds vary from close to 120 mph at the end of the straightaway to a little under 40 mph in the center of the turn. This tells us a little about how the cars have to be set up for this track. Overall, we can see that Martinsville is proof that the cars don't have to be fast to give us good racing.

Jeff Gordon takes the point at the beginning, due to a rain-out for qualifying, and is just about to lap the field when Michael Waltrip spins and brings out the caution on lap 22 or so. Before that, although Gordon checked out on the field, there was plenty of racing for position among the cars second place and back. Enough to make us wonder if the drivers may be trying too hard, too soon.

Scott Speed and Robby Gordon are the only cars that stay out, while everyone else gets tires. Speed leads the restart, and Robby Gordon falls back. After a few laps Jeff Gordon, retakes the lead from Speed, and the scheduled competition caution flies at lap 40. Nothing much changes here, and Jeff Gordon continues to lead. The rest of the top five continues to change often, but it is mostly the drivers we expect to do well at Martinsville--Stewart, Johnson, and Hamlin--who are providing the most action.

Friends and readers, we have entered an alternate reality. According to whoever writes the Aflac trivia questions--and at the expense of Mike Joy, who had to read the information-- Brian Vickers' only win came at Martinsville in 2006. Those of us who believe that his first win came at Talladega in 2006 now have to adapt to the environs of a different universe.

Robby Gordon spins and brings out the caution on lap 76. Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth incur penalties during the pit stops and have to restart at the back of the field. Only Matt doesn't fall back to the tail end by the time the green flag flies, and has to take a drive through penalty, which puts him a lap down. When Kyle Busch spins out and collects Scott Speed, on lap 122, "Kensiss," as Darrell Waltrip likes to call him, is no longer the first car a lap down, as Jeff Gordon has lapped David Stremme just before the caution flies.

When the lap count reaches the mid 130's, we get to see the first real racing for the lead. Denny Hamlin has caught Gordon and is letting him know he is there. In a superb show of driving skill, Hamlin drives into the turns harder, nearly hitting the rear of Gordon's car at every corner, while Gordon remains steadfast. He has rediscovered his ability to control what goes on on the track, and does not let Hamlin's harrassment unsettle him. It takes several laps before Hamlin finally takes the lead.

During this long run, several cars have had to pit for right-front tire problems. This isn't Goodyear's fault, but is due to the fact that the brakes get so hot at Martinsville, they melt the bead on the tires, and the air blows out through the broken bead.

During this long run, Stewart moves as far up as second place. Smoke has fun making contact with other cars, but Jeff doesn't, unless he is the one initiating the contact. In a great nostalgic moment, Gordon whines, "If he hits me one more time, I'll knock his head off."

Yes, the old Jeff Gordon is back, and it is good. It is good for the fans, and it is good for the bloggers, but it is especially good for the bloggers who are fans. We can make fun of Jeff, while at the same time admiring his very impressive ability as a driver.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr has moved into the top five during this long run. The much maligned Tony Eury, Jr, Earnardt's Crew Chief, has done an excellent job of changing the 88 car to match the conditions. The Juniors are definitely in this race.

We have had so much fun watching this race, we have forgotten to write about it, so we move ahead to lap 320-something. At Martinsville, lapped traffic plays a big role when the leaders catch it. Passing is not easy as it is, and the drivers of the lapped cars are not only fighting for position, they do not want to give up another lap all that easily. When there are two cars like Hamlin's and Jeff Gordon's battling for the lead, the lapped traffic provides a huge challenge. Jeff picks the traffic, bumps Hamlin and takes the lead. Hamlin returns the favor, and retakes the lead. While this racing has gone on, Johnson has made it up to third. The most recent Dominator of Martinsville challenges his team mate, Gordon, and takes second. Now a caution for debris flies.

The debris turns out to be a beer can. At track like Martinsville, where fans cherish the right to be able to bring in their own coolers and beer, it is not good to throw a beer can, especially while the race is in progress, and Kyle Busch is nowhere near the lead.

Even though Johnson has won six of the last eight races at Martinsville, this is really the House of Hamlin. Aside from the Dale Jr fans, the majority of the fans in the stands are more than likely there for Denny Hamlin. Martinsville is as much Hamlin's home turf as Las Vegas is home to the Busch brothers. So, whether the can was thrown by a disgruntled Gordon fan, or just someone who hates Toyotas, it was probably easy for security to feret out the can thrower and escort that person off the premises (Pssst, it's the guy wearing the #24 cap and the "~~Toyota~~" t-shirt).

The next caution is brought out by a car that has hit the wall and is unable to get in position to enter the pits by the time it gets to turn four. This takes the fuel mileage factor out of the equation, as everybody stops for tires and fuel. They are good to go for fuel until the end.

Jimmie Johnson takes the lead out of the pits, and Hamlin will restart in second. With less than fifty laps to go, the cream has risen to the top, as they say, and the top three are Johnson, Hamlin, and Stewart. Hamlin sticks right to Johnson's tail at the restart, and takes the lead in turns one and two, driving hard into the corner.

A few more cautions later, which happened so quickly we were unable to keep up with them, and we get another great restart with just a little over twenty laps to go. This time it's Hamlin, Johnson, and Stewart in the top three. Hamlin makes a clean restart, and gets away from Johnson, as Kyle Busch, laps down and aiding his team mate, stays on the inside of Johnson to prevent him from catching the leader on the inside.

But Johnson isn't finished. With fifteen laps to go, Johnson catches Hamlin and gives him the ol' chrome horn. Both cars get loose and go up the track, but third placed Stewart is just a little too far back to take advantage of the situation. Johnson strongarms his way to the lead. It was a bad day turned good for Johnson, and he easily runs the final laps to take his first checkered flag of the season, giving him wins in five of the last six races at Martinsville.

Hamlin holds on for second, Tony Stewart posts his best finish so far in third, Jeff Gordon is fourth, and Clint Bowyer is fifth. Ryan Newman makes his boss' day by finishing sixth, Mark Martin is seventh, and Dale Jr is eighth, putting all six Hendrick cars in the top eight.

Martinsville is fun for the race fan. We loved watching the cars battling for the top ten, and the great battles and passes for the lead. While the Sprint Cup car has yet to give us as exciting a race at the 1.5 mile venues, it seems to be made for the short tracks, where it has made the racing better than it was with the former car. Virginia is for lovers, they say, and we love Martinsville.

Meanwhile, as soon as I get on line and post this, I will look up the answer to the "Ask.com question of the day." The question was "Which Cup driver has had their only win at Martinsville?" I'm going to guess Casey Mears, but if the answer is "Brian Vickers," I'm going to check myself in to the nearest mental health facility for treatment and therapy.

Live on Type Delay: The Food City 500--after the fact

2009-03-23T04:17:00.001-07:00

Bristol Motor Speedway has been a part of NASCAR history since 1961, and has been one of the biggest challenges for the drivers. Theoretically a short track, at a little more than a half mile in length, its high banks allow higher speeds than would be seen at a normal short track. Until its reconfiguration two years ago, those higher speeds would be at single file along the inside line, with the only method of passing being the fabled "chrome horn."

The reconfiguration was made on the theory that fans would rather see side by side racing, and the track became a multiple-grooved venue where the drivers could find a racing line either on the outside and the inside, or even in the middle. The prospect of three wide racing at the Roman Colosseum of NASCAR racing was exciting.

Now instead of one line of frustrated drivers having to spin other drivers and getting spun, we have two lines of such action. As the drivers and teams get a handle on the Sprint Cup car, which was reconfigured around the same time as Bristol, it actually makes the racing at the "World's Fastest Half-Mile" more difficult.

It is also difficult to write a play-by-play for Bristol, as things happen so quickly that there is no keeping up with the action while we are typing it. The laps roll by so quickly, at fifteen seconds, that we can mention a driver's name, and by the time we're finished typing it, something changes. Without help from the radio broadcast--PRN and MRN no longer have an on air venue in Colorado Springs--we are stuck with what we see on the television broadcast.

After Dave Blaney crashed early in the race, there was little for demolition derby fans to get excited about. Not to say there wasn't any beating and banging--there was plenty of that. At Bristol, as at any short track, the leaders often have to battle lapped traffic. So the air was filled with the cacophony of chrome horns.

Saturday, Kyle Busch looked like a sure winner in the Nationwide Series race, He dominated the race, never giving up the lead for more than a few laps. Late in the race, during what would be the final caution period, his pit crew let a tire roll out of the box as Busch was leaving his pit, incurring a penalty which gave the lead to Kevin Harvick and put Kyle at the end of the longest line. Harvick was Happy as he won his first race as an owner/driver, while Busch managed to work his way to a sixth place finish, and was very unhappy.

Today, in a different car with a different pit crew, Kyle Busch is, once again, dominating. As the laps wind down, there is little competition for him. Denny Hamlin is behind him, and behind him is Jimmie Johnson.

Although he is known as a short track ace, Jimmie Johnson has never won a race at Bristol. True to the form of a champion, a top ten finish isn't good enough. Today, Johnson looks good. If it was anybody else but Kyle Busch in the lead with less than ten laps left, Jimmie Johnson would be smelling victory.

Jeff Gordon's car doesn't look so good--it's bouncing and sliding all over the place, but he has skill, and he has been showing off that skill in every race so far this season. He has done the best he could with a car that obviously doesn't handle well, and that is pretty darn good as he is running in fourth at the end of the race.

Kasey Kahne has managed to fend off disaster, and will finish where he started--fifth place, while pole winner Mark Martin finishes in sixth.

So we get a GWC finish after Joey Logano's engine lets go. From similar situations in the past, we know that if Kyle is leading the race at this point, the only way to catch him is on the restart. Nothing doing, Kyle wins, mimes drinking a beer from a can thrown to--or at--him, and celebrates by doing a Polish victory lap the right way, without the clowning for which his brother is known.

Dale Jr performed well with a fourteenth place finish--well, because he went down a lap three times during the race, and managed to stay in position to get the free pass three times. Of course we are going to hear more criticism of his crew chief, Tony Eury, Jr, but Dale Earnhardt, Jr, as always straight spoken and honest, tells us that what the media reports (about Eury's suitability as crew chief) is nothing like reality.

Racing is never boring. If the fans don't like it, that probably means the race is a challenge, and therefore exciting, for the drivers. When we can imagine ourselves being in the driver's seat, we can get much more out of the race. We feel the urgency of Ryan Newman, Marcos Ambrose or Juan Pablo Montoya to finish high enough to ensure a starting spot in the next race, and we feel the relief as they did just that. We are in Denny Hamlin's head as he is planning on how to catch and pass his teammate to win a race that has become very important to him personally, and feel his disappointment as he sees the #18 car disappear into the distance with one lap to go.

Kyle Busch should make racing better overall, as the other drivers and teams figure out what they need to beat him. More drivers, Jeff Gordon in particular, and taking up his practice of never being happy with the car, to make his team perform better and work to make the car better. Whether the fans like Kyle Busch or not, he is good for the sport.

Rev' Jim's favorite races are at the short tracks, and this was no exception. It was short track racing, with side by side contests all around the track and all through the race. That's Bristol, and That's racing.

Waiting for more

2009-03-20T23:06:00.001-07:00

Not long ago, the NASCAR season began with a bang for one week, a fizzle for the next, and then a week off. Now we get a bang, a fizzle, an "okay" race, and a race of uplifting competition before having the week off. Where the old schedule wouldn't even give us enough time in which to build anticipation, the new schedule lets the the anticipation for the next race build, and then lets us down. The big difference now is that we take the week off in anticipation of a race at one of the favorite venues of the NASCAR fan--Bristol Motor Speedway. Bristol seems to make waiting a week so much more worth it.

Another advantage to the schedule the way it is now, is that it gave the teams enough practical experience to see what they needed for the races that will follow, and to use the non-racing week for adjustments, repairs, testing, and promoting for sponsorship. All of these elements are important to each team in increasing their ability to be highly competitive for the rest of the season.

As fans of the sport we used the off week to take a retrospective look at the season so far.

Our assessment is "not bad."

Daytona Speed Weeks gave us our first look at what racing would be like without the testing. We also saw several new teams for the first time, as economic compression created the opportunity for legendary crew chief Tommy Baldwin and drivers Jeremy Mayfield and Joe Nemecheck to form their own teams.

Baldwin and his driver Scott Riggs thrilled us as they raced their way into the lineup for the Daytona 500. Jeremy Mayfield, with a team that was less than three weeks old, also raised some eyebrows. Then Matt Kenseth, who had not won a race all season last year, took the checkers and the trophy at the 500.

It wouldn't be the Daytona 500 if it didn't have controversy, and this year's was no different. We learned that the difference between controversy and a racing incident is the name of the driver involved. The name of the driver in this case was Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

That was a big enough name to overshadow whatever happened the next week at California. As always, the California race didn't do much to thrill the fans who were watching it on television. The Auto Club Speedway is a driver's track, and it takes a lot of skill and experience to come out on top. For much of the race, Jeff Gordon showed us that his skill and experience still counts for something, and Tony Stewart, with his new Stewart-Haas Racing #14 team, proved that he has enough skill and talent to make something out of a former back-marker team. But the driver who had the most skill and talent on this day was, once again, Matt Kenseth. He became the first driver in NASCAR's modern history to win each of the first two races of the season in one series.

Kyle Busch, who was born and raised in the Las Vegas, New Mexico area, had yet to win a NASCAR race at LVMS. He changed that in week three of the season by winning two, and becoming the first NASCAR driver in history to win two races in two different series at the same venue on the same weekend. This history making feat was largely ignored as everyone was still talking about Daytona and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

However, even though Kyle Busch dominated at Las Vegas, we could still get a look at what the other teams were up to, as there was some very good racing behind the leader for the entire event.

And finally, an exciting race that had plenty of controversy at Atlanta, when a crew member from Marcos Ambrose's team chased a runaway tire to within seventy-five feet of the racing surface. Granted, NASCAR would have thrown a caution flag eventually, to pick up the tire, but the crewman put himself in a very dangerous place, where cars going 180 mph or more often make side trips. This caused a caution to fly while many of the competitors were making their green flag pit stops, thus putting all but six of them at least a lap behind the leaders.

In the long run, the incident didn't have an effect on the outcome of the race. Due to the free passes that occur due to cautions, there were about the same number of cars on the lead lap as the end of the race neared, as there would have been if the race had been run entirely under a green flag. And Busch won again, but this time it was Kyle's older brother, Kurt, who took the checkers. The new "class clown" of NASCAR, who has decided to do something different in celebration of every victory he claims, celebrated this time by driving around the track with his car in reverse gear.

So, that's the season so far. Jeff Gordon is looking strong, and we still feel this could be his year. Tony Stewart surprised many of us by making some strong showings with a team that seemed like it needed a lot of work to become competitive, and we can only assume that a lot of work was done.

Speaking of needing work, the rookies, Scott Speed and Joey Logano, both need some of that. However, we still feel they will both be quick learners,. though it might help Logano if his car had fender whiskers attached.

It is still too early to make an assessment of anything or anyone, but we do know that this season is going to keep getting better. Bristol is always unique and fun, and Martinsville, a favorite of short track fans like the Rev', follows. One thing we know for sure is that anything can, and probably will, happen

Live on Type Delay: The Kobalt Tools 500

2009-03-08T15:34:00.001-07:00

After the thrill we saw at Atlanta Motor Speedway during the truck race, the Sprint Cup series Kobalt Tools 500 may be a let down. Long green flag periods, and varying track conditions may cause the field to become spread out, and diminish the number of cars that stay on the lead lap. But, even if it is half as good as the truck race was, it will still be racing, and it will still be good.

Mark Martin leads the field to the green flag, and then begins to gain some distance away from the field, then, on turn one of the third lap, a caution comes out because Reed Sorenson hits the wall.

At the restart, it's Martin, Kurt Busch, McMurray, and Biffle in the top four. Kurt Busch gains the advantage at the green, and takes the lead before the lap is over. Jamie McMurray is looking racey and also challenges for the lead, but he can't get past Martin, who prevails in second. Lap 12, and there is another caution as Bobby Labonte gets "so-o-o-o loose," and spins out.

Most of the leaders pit, and there are varying strategies. Ryan Newman's #39 team gets off of pit road first after taking two tires, while the rest of the field took four. After the restart on lap 15, Kurt Busch soon takes the lead and begins checking out on the field. Denny Hamlin has moved into second, but is a good five seconds back by lap 37. Dale Earnhardt, Jr and Carl Edwards are the two drivers on the move. Jr has moved up from his starting position in the twentieth spot, and is fighting Kyle Busch for tenth. Carl Edwards is in the top five, after starting twenty-ninth.

The Other Busch, Kurt, is lapping cars and seven seconds ahead of the field on lap 46. Out of the race at this early point are Travis Kvapil (#28--engine), Mike Bliss, and Reed Sorenson. By lap 51, there are only 21 cars on the lead lap.

The green flag pit stops begin around lap 60. The 66 car of Dave Blaney is now out of the race due to engine problems. Most of the drivers are still talking about loose, so there are plenty of adjustments. As Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards pit, a crew member from Marcos Ambrose's team chases a tire to within seventy feet of the racing surface, and brings out a caution.

This changes things, as the only cars that are on the lead lap are the six leaders who have yet to pit. That includes the 99 car of Edwards, who is waved through pit road by his crew as the caution comes out. The restart is on lap 73, with Jimmie Johnson first, Bowyer second, Truex, Jr third, Edwards fourth, and The Other Busch formerly known as Dirty Kurty is fifth. There are eight cars--those that had been exiting the pits at the time of the caution--in front of the leaders at the tail end of the lead lap.

Oh well, it's early, things could change. With the "slick" track and tires, we could see some more cautions, which would put more cars on the lead lap. After the correction, there are actually eleven cars on the lead lap.

On lap 81, Carl Edwards goes high on the track and gets around Jimmie Johnson for the lead. Clint Bowyer runs up to second.

Lap 83 and the 87 car of Joe Nemecheck leaves the race. At lap 84, Kurt Busch gets around Jimmie Johnson for third.

Now we are getting some pretty good racing as Dale Earnhardt, Jr is fighting race leader Carl Edwards to stay on the lead lap. After some tough racing, Edwards completes the pass and now there are nine cars on the lead lap. Things don't look good for Stewart-Haas racing this week as the #14 car of Tony Stewart goes two laps down.

Caution on lap 104 as Bobby Labonte's engine lets go and he spins. Robby Gordon gets penalized for leaving the pit with equipment--the gas can--still attached. Kurt Busch took the lead just before the caution, but the leaders all pit. Dale Jr gets the free pass.

Rev' Jim is happy to be able to mention Dale Earnhardt, Jr often today. It is good for traffic. We offer a hearty "Welcome Back" to Jr Nation.

The restart on lap 128 almost looks like a Daytona restart, as Montoya gets stuck in the middle lane and falls back. Brian Vickers gets a pit road speeding penalty and has to start at the tail end of the longest line.

The restart order was Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson, and Denny Hamlin. Kurt Busch checks out on the field, but Edwards gains some ground back.

Mike Bliss is listed as the only car out of the race. Apparently the engine problems of Labonte, Kvapil, and Nemecheck were not fatal. Sorenson's car was repaired after the early race wreck, and he is back in the race. As of lap 120, there are still ten cars on the lead lap.

Does this remind anybody of the "Good old days" when the leaders would be several laps ahead of the field at the halfway point?

By the way, Dale Earnhardt Jr is still on the lead lap in ninth position. Brian Vickers is at the tail end of the lead lap in tenth.

Now we are told that Nemecheck's problem was brake trouble, not engine trouble.

Speaking about trouble, Dale Earnhardt, Jr is reporting that he is feeling a vibration, possibly brake trouble, and has fallen back to tenth on lap 125. Kasey Kahne is the first car one lap down. AJ Allmendinger is running in eighteenth and is the first car two laps down.

A caution would be good right now. Maybe Sam Hornish, Jr will bring it out. He certainly has his hands full with a car that can only stay up to speed if it looks like it is wrecking. To use an old Tony Stewart phrase, Hornish is wrecking, he just hasn't hit anything yet.

By lap 142, lap times have fallen as the handling of all 42 cars has fallen off. Kurt Busch is leading the field by nine seconds. Montoya is the first car to pit in the upcoming green flag pit cycle, on lap 143. The top five on lap 145 are Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, and an alternating fifth position as Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon are battling it out. Dale Earnhardt Jr is still on the lead lap in tenth. But Kurt Busch puts him a lap down on lap 153.

The news has come in that the pit crew member who chased the tire almost all the way to the race track, and forced the caution that screwed up the race, has been suspended for the remainder of the race. We would like to see him fined, hung, crucified, drawn and quartered, and then shot, for being too stupid to exist. Sure, he meant well but we all know the old saying about good intentions.

Caution on lap 156 for fluid in turn 2. David Stremme and Robby Gordon get caught in the pits, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr gets the free pass.

The top five cars off of pit road are Kurt Busch, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards. Dale Earnhardt, Jr is the last car on the lead lap in tenth.

Restart on lap 163 and look at Jeff Gordon go! He moves into second, and may be threatening Kurt The Other Busch for the lead. Dale Earnhardt, Jr is still on the lead lap in tenth.

Dave Blaney is now listed as the last car still in the race, 88 laps down in forty-first place.

And here comes The Gordon. Great stuff, he gets to the inside of Kurt The Other, and the lead is changing back in fourth. It seems as if the #2 Dodge has a little more power on the straightaways, but Gordon is catching him in the turns. But Gordon gets loose, and backs off, and Busch retains the lead.

On lap 177, the leaders are Kurt The Other Busch in first, followed by Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Mark Martin, and Jimmie Johnson. Dale Earnhardt, Jr is still in tenth and on the lead lap, putting all four Hendrick drivers on the lead lap and in the top ten.

Lap 179 and the #47 car of Marcos Ambrose loses oil onto the track and brings out the sixth caution of the day. Kasey Kahne gets the free pass and there will now be eleven cars on the lead lap. The top five cars at the time of the caution are Busch, Gordon, Edwards, Martin, and Johnson.

Coming out of the pits, on lap 189, it is Martin Truex, Jr who comes out first, Kurt Busch is second, Jimmie Johnson third, Jeff Gordon fourth, Mark Martin is fifth. Then Truex pits, and that changes to Busch, Johnson, Gordon, Martin and Brian Vickers. Dale Earnhardt, Jr will restart in ninth, and Kasey Kahne once again got the free pass, and is restarting in eleventh.

Restart was on lap 192. Tony Stewart gains a lap back on lap 198 by racing his way back, and is now only one lap down. On lap 202, Sam Hornish cuts a tire and finally hits the wall. On his way down the track, he collects Bill Elliott, and the caution comes out. This answers the prayers of the #14 team, which was short on fuel, and proves that Tony's continuing friendship with Joe Gibbs could be a very good thing.

The leaders pit on lap 204, and Jeff Gordon barely wins the race off of the pit road. Kurt Busch is second, Jimmie Johnson third, Mark Martin fourth, and Clint Bowyer is fifth. Dale Earnhardt, Jr comes out in ninth, and Matt Kenseth gets the free pass and is now in twelfth at the back of the lead lap. Restart on lap 209.

Three and four wide in the front five rows at the restart. What a blast! It straightens out by turn three, without any wrecks. On lap 213, the top five are Gordon, Kurt Busch, Johnson, Martin, and Bowyer. In turn two, on lap 214, Mark Martin's right rear tire explodes, and the eighth caution comes out. Kevin Harvick gets the free pass. The restart on lap 222 will be with Jeff Gordon in first, followed by Johnson, Bowyer, Hamlin, and Kurt The Other. Biffle gets a one lap penalty due to pitting outside the box.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr is in tenth, and Ryan Newman is now the first car one lap down in thirteenth. He can't get by the 24 to gain a lap, because that car is looking very good right now. On lap 225, the running order is Gordon, Johnson, Hamlin, TOB (Kurt The Other Busch), and Bowyer. Kevin Harvick has moved up to eleventh, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr has fallen back to twelfth. Stewart has taken thirteenth place from his team mate, Ryan Newman, and is now the first car one lap down.

During the commercial, Kurt Busch raced his way into second place, and he is followed by Johnson, Hamlin and Edwards, 82 laps to go. The Gordon's lead has been stretched to over two seconds.

But with 75 to go, TOBusch has caught The Gordon and retaken the lead. On lap 251, as we break for yet another television commercial, the top five are Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, and Brian Vickers. Vickers takes fourth from Johnson on lap 254. Dale Earnhardt, Jr is the last car on the lead lap and is in twelfth. Ryan Newman reports that he has a cylinder down in his motor.

Vickers is now on the move, on lap 258, and we get a caution for debris in turn four, off of Robby Gordon's car as he scraped the wall. This puts Smoke back on the lead lap. Way to go #14 team! Yes, The Revvin Jim is biased. We can't help it, we are race fans.

The leaders pit on lap 260, and TOB comes off in first, Jimmie Johnson came out second, but gets caught for speeding on pit road, and will have to restart at the tail end of the longest line. This means Brian Vickers is second, Bowyer third, Jeff Gordon fourth, and Carl Edwards is fifth. Restart on lap 266.On lap 267 , there is a big wreck, as Ragan gets knocked into Scott Speed by Greg Biffle. Speed hits the wall and rebounds down the track, Biffle wrecks, and several cars have to mow the infield grass to avoid the carnage. Neither Dale Earnhardt, Jr, nor Tony Stewart were involved in the wreck, and we breathe a sigh of relief.

By the way, the leaders will refuel barely within the theoretical fuel window, though it may still be a stretch. This will make things interesting. Pit road is open with 54 laps to go. Apparently expecting everyone to have to pit again, Kurt "TOB" Busch, Brian Vickers, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Gordon, and Carl Edwards stay out. Kasey Kahne and Denny Hamlin also stay out, so Kevin Harvick and the rest of the lead lap behind him pit, and hold positions eight through fourteen. Jeff Burton got the free pass, and there are no more cars one lap down. There are a lot of cars two laps down and further back.

At the green on lap 276, the top five are Busch, Vickers, Gordon, Bowyer, and Edwards. Jr falls back to fourteenth after handling problems create a close call between him and Aric Almirola. Almirola is three laps down in twenty-fifth.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr is still okay and on the lead lap. We are now able to say that this race is better than the one at California, two weeks ago. The handling problems that everyone has experienced have made it exciting. At lap 285, there are no more or less cars on the lead lap than there would normally be at this point in any Atlanta Motor Speedway Sprint Cup race. Because The Other Busch, Brian Vickers, and Denny Hamlin have been running so well this race, it is not about the same ol' same ol'. In fact, on lap 296, Kasey Kahne has won his multi-lap battle with Matt Kenseth and has moved into fifth. Denny Hamlin has dropped back to fourteenth. Dale Earnhardt, Jr is in thirteenth.

If this race goes green to the finish, somebody is going to run out of fuel.

Jamie McMurray is the first car not on the lead lap, two laps down and in fifteenth. That doesn't matter now, there are only seventeen laps to go. There are no more lucky dogs.

Here comes Vickers again, as TOB, the race leader has to pick his way through lapped traffic. Vickers is gaining down the back stretch and in turn three. We will have a race to the finish.

With this race marking the end of the first four weeks of the new season, there will be a one week break, and the next race, the one determining the new top thirty-five owners points standings. will be at Bristol. This will give us plenty to anticipate. If we can get close finish at Atlanta, before the break, that one week break will seem too long.

There is lots of debris coming off of Robby Gordon's car on lap 322. I mean the car looks like it is falling to pieces. There is a caution. All the lead lap cars pit.

Carl Edwards comes off of pit road first, after taking two tires. There will two laps to go when the race restarts in overtime. The order is now Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, Truex, and Harvick. At the restart, Kurt Busch goes high and takes the lead foorm Edwards. Jeff Gordon makes a run on the leader, but it looks like the #2 car is too fast. Kurt "The Other Busch" Busch takes the checkers. Gordon is second, Edwards is third, Kevin Harvick raced his way to fourth, and Brian Vickers is fifth. They are followed by Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, and Tony Stewart, who has now finished eighth in three of the first four races of the season. Jimmie Johnson was ninth, and Jr was tenth. Martin Truex, Jr, that is. Truex's kidney stone was eleventh. Just kidding, and that is not that funny, it is painful. A lot of credit should go to Truex Jr who has obviously gone through a lot of pain over the last few days.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr finished eleventh, and Matt Kenseth finished twelfth, the last position on the lead lap.

Always creative, sometimes not for the best, Kurt Busch makes his victory lap in reverse

So, we take a week off, and look forward to the next race. It's Bristol, Baby!

Interesting stats about this post: Dale Earnhardt, Jr was mentioned 19 times. The winner's brother was only mentioned once, and that was just now. Just thought that might be of note. It is our final note.

And this is only the beginning

2009-03-07T20:10:00.006-07:00

It is about this time of the year that the Rev' starts raving about the truck series, and this year is no exception. In spite of the new pit rules in the Camping World Truck Series (CWTS)--as well as the economic situation that is leaving some of the best teams and drivers unsponsored--the trucks continue to offer us some of the best racing on television.

Atlanta is always a good race, no matter which series is racing there, and the trucks lived up to the reputation. As was the case at California, Kyle Busch held the pole position, but, contrary to the California race, he did not dominate from the start.

Kevin Harvick was feeling quite racey from the start, and he quickly took the lead. From then on, the racing for the lead never stopped. In fact, from the lead all the way back to fifteenth, the racing never stopped, and we certainly got our share of the beatin' and bangin' we expect from the Truck Series.

The new NASCAR requirement for the double pit stops receives a B- from Rev' Jim. We do have to admit, that it does add some drama during long green runs, as strategy comes into play. A stop for tires early in the fuel run, for example, may produce an advantage for a team that is looking to improve handling, and to be able to make one stop for fuel only during the caution, when and if it comes. Most teams will wait until the almost inevitable caution, and pit twice during that period.

The problem we see in this is that it takes a factor away from the racing and gives it to pit strategy. Pit strategy is fine for the longer Sprint Cup races, but, during the relatively short Truck races, it just doesn't seem to fit. Pit strategy in the Truck races should only be about who can get four tires and fuel the fastest.

However, when the racing on track is as good as it was at Atlanta, Saturday afternoon, we can forget what the pit road rules put into play.

They mixed it up for the entire 200 miles. Newcomers Ricky Carmichael, JR Fitzpatrick, and Max Papis, along with relatively new drivers like Colin Braun, Brian Scott, and Timothy Peters, race fender to fender with former champions like Hornaday, Todd Bodine, Johnny Benson, and Mike Skinner. Grizzled veterans like Terry Cook and Matt Crafton are out to show the world that their racing days aren't over, and they mix it up throughout the race as well. Still, after every restart--even though other drivers get a chance to lead for a little while--it always seems to come down to Harvick and Busch fighting for the lead.

Late in the race, with eight laps to go, Kyle Busch fell back to ninth place at the restart, having lost second and third gear. It looked like the race to the checkers would be between Harvick and Bodine.

But Kyle Busch wasn't out of the race. Lugging his engine in fourth gear, he slowly built up speed, and was challenging Harvick for second with four laps to go. Not letting off the gas for anything, Busch soon passed Harvick and raced Bodine, passing him with three to go and with Harvick on his rear bumper.

Harvick momentarily took the lead, but Busch got it back almost immediately, keeping his accelerator floored even as he was turned nearly sideways. The battle for first never let up, going into the final turn and all the way to the finish line. For the first time this year, we got the kind of finish we like to see in the truck series.

And Kyle Busch won his second Truck Series race in a row, by less than a half a second. Once again, we have to appreciate the driving ability of this young man from Las Vegas, Nevada. We could be seeing greatness in the making. Most of the fans in the stands at Atlanta Motor Speedway could have been thinking the same thing as they gave Busch a rousing and enthusiastic ovation. We couldn't see any beer cans or seat cushions being thrown. Times have changed.

The truck series season is only now beginning. Daytona didn't really count, because superspeedway racing really doesn't fit well with the trucks, and California, well, enough has been said about that. In two weeks, things will really heat up at Martinsville. Short track racing is what the Truck Series is all about.

Live on Type Delay: The Shelby 427

2009-03-01T18:40:00.000-07:00

Due to technical difficulties, and the fact that we were nowhere near a race track, television, radio, or a computer at the start of the race, we were unable to report directly the first 64 laps of the Shelby 427, from Las Vegas Nevada. It could have been worse--we could have been in Las Vegas, New Mexico, where none of the above exists.

KKKX., the local station that carries the race broadcasts for Colorado Springs, does not have a contract with SMI's Performance Radio Network this year. Perhaps a sign of the times, but it taught us the important lesson that one can be anywhere and still be able to catch a NASCAR Sprint Cup race broadcast anywhere.

So the Rev thanked his friend for the wonderful morning and the enjoyable excursion, apologized for having to get home so abrubtly, fumbled for his keys, and finally got inside his apartment and got the television on.

It seems that, by lap 64, Jimmie Johnson--who had started in first position after the Pole winner, Kyle Busch had to start in the back--pretty much dominated the race. Matt Kenseth, a contender to make history as the first driver to win the first three races of the season, lost his engine after only seven laps. It was there one moment, then it was gone. A careful search found the engine, but it had blown up.

Around lap 74, another Roush-Fenway Ford, driven by David Ragan, loses its engine, and Ragan is out of the race. This brings out the fourth caution of the race. Greg Biffle takes the lead on the restart, and begins to check out on the field, while Jeff Gordon moves up through the field and takes a commanding second.

Engine woes continue as Mark Martin's Hendrick Motorsports car slips out of gear, and the engine over-revs and expires. This brings out another caution, around lap 124, and we wonder if maybe everyone should have changed their engines and started in the back of the field. Jimmie Johnson once again leads at the restart, then, seven laps later, Regan Smith spins out, bringing out another caution.

The restart on lap 142 has Jimmie Johnson on in the lead, Jeff Gordon second, Before we can type another word, Aric Almirola hits the wall and is out of the race. We have another caution.

At the restart on lap 149, It's Johnson, Gordon, Biffle, Stewart, and Kyle Busch. Jeff Gordon takes the lead in turn four, and it begins to look like a race. We have mentioned this before--racing seems to get more exciting overall when The Gordon is on top of his game.

Lap 160 puts Gordon at the 20,000 mark for laps led. What an amazing career.

The race has a relatively long green flag run--a full seven laps, before another caution comes out when Michael Waltrip gets up in the marbles on the outer edge of the track and spins. All the lead cars pit. Restarting in the lead, after pit road strategies will be Jeff Burton. He is followed by Bobby Labonte, and Brian Vickers. Burton holds the lead for one lap, and Denny Hamlin spins out in turn two after getting too high up the track.

At the restart, it's Burton, Labonte, Vickers, Biffle, and Gordon. Johnson, restarting in sixth, moves up quickly and takes third before the lap is over. He doesn't stop there, and passes Labonte for second. At the commercial break, it's Burton, Johnson, Labonte, Biffle, and Jeff Gordon in the top five.

Does the light go off when the refrigerator door is closed? Does the race continue during the commercials? We have no way of knowing for certain.

With 84 laps to go, we begin to see the pit strategies for finishing races come into play, as Ryan Newman pits, reporting a vibration. Two laps later, Tony Stewart pits for two tires and fuel, giving up tenth place, and also reporting a vibration. With 71 laps to go, the other cars on the lead lap have yet to pit.

Hey, isn't it cool to see the Cat car leading the race? It's number 31, rather than 22, but it still gives us a nostalgic feeling. We wonder what Ward Burton, who made the Cat car famous, is doing now? Enlightenment! We just realized that it isn't just the Cat car, it is another Burton driving it.

Stewart has to pit again with 65 laps to go, as his earlier vibration problem had not been repaired. Jeff Gordon has to abort his pit stop, as Jimmie Johnson pits and skids through his pit box. A caution flies as Gordon's left front tire blows. Stewart gets a penalty for pit road speed. All kinds of doo-doo is happening all at once. Wow!

Burton comes off of the pit road first, Carl Edwards is second, Bobbie Labonte is third, but Edwards had to come back to the pits because of a missing lug nut. So, at the restart, it will be Burton, Labonte, Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers, and David Reutimann in the top five with 58 laps to go. Kyle Busch and Jeff Burton race hard, but cleanly for the lead, and with 57 laps to go, the younger Busch takes the lead.

Busch wisely lets Johnson race his way back to the lead lap. The 48 car seems like it is the fastest on the track. Just as we were beginning to think that Joey Logano might need fender whiskers on his car, after consistantly brushing the wall in practice, we realize that the young rookie is doing very well this race and is now in the top ten. How many people out there remember fender whiskers? That was one of my childhood obsessions, for some reason.

38 laps to go, and we know that every crew chief on pit row is figuring out fuel mileage numbers at this point. Some of the leaders are going to have to stop for fuel before the race is over.

Jeff Gordon, who brought out the most recent caution with a cut tire, had to make several pit stops during that caution. He is now back in the top ten. Carl Edwards is now in fifth, with 30 laps to go. He came back from having to pit twice.

Debris in the backstretch brings out a caution. There will be no fuel strategy now, as everyone will fuel. There will be tire strategy.

Clint Bowyer didn't pit, so now the #33 car is in the lead. Kyle Busch, who is never happy with his car--something his Crew Chief, Steve Addington has credited to that team's success--takes two tires, fuel, and a chassis adjustment, and exits the pits third, after being beaten out by Jeff Burton and Jeff Gordon. Restart with 21 laps to go.

Bowyer holds the lead, Kyle Busch makes a risky move and gets by Jeff Gordon. It isn't long before he is challenging Burton for second, but Burton hasn't given up the race. This is the kind of racing for which we watch NASCAR--three cars racing for the lead.

Making a very Earnhardt-like bumper tap, Busch takes the lead, keys his mike, and quotes the words made famous by Burns and Allen, "Say good-night Gracie."

The proper response from Bowyer should have been "Good-night Gracie," but, if he did say something, we don't think those were the words he used. Now we get another caution as Paul Menard finally wrecks.

Why do TV commentators keep on talking even when they have nothing to say? Why does Rev' Jim keep typing when he has nothing to write? More mysteries of Nature.

We are anticipating a big finish here. And it is being delayed as NASCAR decides to make sure the sta-dri, which isn't really sta-dri these days, is swept off of the track.

The restart will be with seven laps to go. Kyle is first, Burton is second, and Bowyer is third. If Kyle Busch makes this restart stick the race is his. He makes it stick, but the race isn't his yet. Jimmie Johnson has gotten up into the absorbant formally known as sta-dri and gets rear-ended by the wall. The green flag comes with three laps to go.

Busch makes the restart stick. Bowyer and Burton are racing hard for second. One lap to go and Carl Edwards, runnning in fifth, sees his engine blow up. Bowyer passes Burton for second.

Kyle Busch has been the first driver to win the pole position and the race in a Cup race at Las Vegas. He now holds the record for winning the race from the highest numbered starting position. If that sounds like a paradox, it is, but it actually happened, which justifies the rumors that Kyle is from Area 51. Most importantly, he has won at home, in front of a very supportive crowd.

It wasn't a great race--too many accidents, penalties and wierd things happening, but it was a good race. It did have its great moments, with some great racing, which is something we haven't seen at the so-called Cookie Cutter tracks and the Sprint Cup car. It was at least as good as we had anticipated. If we don't stop writing, we might even convince ourselves that it was a great race after all. It was certainly entertaining, which is a good thing for most race fans.

Say good-night, Gracie.

How not to win at NASCAR fantasy games

2009-02-28T00:14:00.005-07:00

The Rev loves NASCAR racing and loves to play as many NASCAR fantasy games as he can remember to enter each week, but he is not very good at it. We offer this item as a general "What not to do" guide for fantasy racing, compiled from personal ~~failure~~ experience.

Our reader may have noticed that Rev' Jim's RantsnRaves discontinued posting our weekly race previews during last season. This wasn't because we were lazy, but because we were so disappointed in how consistently wrong we were it was becoming embarrassing. Here are some of the methods of picking drivers for our weekly pick five/six/ten games that we have used (or not) to achieve such great mediocrity:

The Favorite Driver Method: Certainly our favorite driver has to be a good driver. If we keep picking him every week, he has to win and pay off sometime, right? Using this method, our pick five picks for the Shelby 427 at Las Vega Motor Speedway this weekend would be as follows:

Tony Stewart
Matt Kenseth
Elliott Sadler
David Stremme
Kyle Busch

Considering the track, this may actually be a good pick, if we are lucky.

The He Looks Good Method: This is similar to the "Favorite Driver" method, except it is based on the driver's appearance. It utilizes the same principle as "Dierks Bentley is a country music singer" or "Bruce Springsteen kicked a$$ at the Super Bowl Half-time." For example, Bentley sings a mixed style of Southern Rock/Popular Rock music with a barely discernible twang.But he looks good and we like country music, so he must be a country music singer. Or, as in the other example, Bruce Springsteen's half-time show consisted of him shouting out the lyrics to some of his greatest hits in a flat monotone--which, frankly, was very depressing to some of us who remembered seeing him perform when he was at his peak. But, he looked good, so his show was a smashing success.

Using this principle, the top five (for some fans) should be:

Kasey Kahne
Dale Earnhardt, Jr
Jeff Gordon
Elliott Sadler
Bobby Labonte

The Reverse Jinx Method:

This one always works for The Rev when he wants to score very low for a certain week. It is based on the premise that whoever you pick in your pick five, will have some kind of mechanical failure, accident, or penalty that will put him out of the race. This method should only be used if you want to see one or more of your favorite drivers have a better chance at winning, due to the fact that the least favorite drivers you picked didn't finish the race, and you really don't care about your fantasy racing results. Using this method, Rev' Jim's picks this week would be:

Carl Edwards
Paul Menard
Jimmie Johnson
Michael Waltrip
Joe Nemecheck

Of course, as always, when you expect the reverse jinx factor to come into play, it doesn't, so this could be exactly the way the top five turns out Sunday.

The Thinking Man's Method:

This is the most widely used method. You read what the "experts" think (Rev' Jim is a fanatical fan, not an expert), study the stats for each driver at the particular venue; find a trend in a driver's luck and experience that may prove favorable to his at the track in question; and try to form your own opinion based on what everybody else is saying. Using this method, The Rev's picks would be:

Jimmie Johnson
Matt Kenseth
Tony Stewart
Kyle Busch
Carl Edwards.

Note, this method hardly ever works for The Rev, and is the method he was using last year before he quit featuring the weekly race previews.

Last, but not least, The Astrological Predictions Method:
Clance' McClannahan makes astrological predictions on her blog "The Church of the Great Oval. Whether you believe Astrology or not, her predictions are often eerily accurate. Rev' Jim has not, however, posted his picks based on Clance's predictions for fear of the reverse jinx factor setting in and really screwing up the Multiverse. Instead we will follow the advice she gives, as quoted from this post at COTGO:

"Fantasy players, just close your eyes and pick a driver this week
It's anyone's dance in Vegas"

Here are some fun free weekly NASCAR fantasy games in which The Rev participates:

Driving Cash Racing--pays the winners at the end of the season. Not a big purse, but what do you want for free? Pick one driver in each of the top three series--Sprint Cup, Nationwide, and Camping World Truck Series--who you think will win each race. Even if your driver doesn't win but leads the most laps, you will get a good score.

One and Done Pick one driver to win each week, and score the driver's points for that race. Once you pick a driver, you may not use him for the rest of the game segment. Simple and fun, just like Steve and Charlie, the owners of the blog. Great prizes, especially for a free game. Heck, the prizes are better than some games you have to pay to join.

NASCAR Challenge (Facebook url, but also available on Myspace) A pick five game. Choose your line-up. You may keep the same line-up or change it every week. No declared prizes, for bragging rights and fun.

NASCAR Tipping A pick 6 game on Facebook. For bragging rights only, but lots of fun.

Whether you play or not, this weekend should give us some great racing. The track is fast, the tires are good, for once, and there are 43 drivers who are out to win. Enjoy the races and good luck!

Live on Type Delay: 2009 Auto Club 500

2009-02-22T19:54:00.002-07:00

Nine miles from the famed Irwindale Speedway, near Los Angeles California, is the Auto Club Raceway in Panoma. Realizing you are at the wrong track, you continue east on I 210 until for another nineteen miles, and you find Auto Club Speedway. That is where today's NASCAR Sprint Cup race takes place.

The Star Spangled Banner was not sung by an Adam Sandler impersonater, as was the case at Daytona, and everyone agrees that we must put Daytona behind us and move forward. It is green flag time in California, and that flag is waved by an enthusiastic and pretty young Brunette woman.

Pole winner Brian Vickers had to go to the back of the field due to an engine change after qualifying, so Jamie McMurray starts on the pole. He doesn't stay there long, as Jimmie Johnson leaps into the lead. Five laps later Johnson has gained one second on the rest of the field, Kyle Busch has moved from tenth to fifth position, Brian Vickers has moved up to thirty-fourth, and it is raining, so the caution flag flies.

Ryan Newman, who was Rev' Jim's pick to win this race, has to pit to replace the transponder he uses for team communications, then has to pit again because the end plate for his spoiler has fallen off. The light sprinkle, and the caution, continues until twenty-two laps are complete.

At the restart, Johnson does not get away so easily, as McMurray stays on his tail. Kyle Busch takes fourth place from his brother, Kurt, but Kurt gets it back. Now Greg Biffle takes fifth from Kyle Busch, and the top five now runs with Johnson in the lead, McMurray second, Jeff Gordon third, Kurt Busch fourth and Biffle fifth. On the next lap, Kurt Busch challenges Gordon for third, then takes that spot and gets second place from McMurray.

Thank you Darrell Waltrip for giving us a very good explanation as to why restrictor plates would be not good for racing at California. He saw the truck and Nationwide series races yesterday, too.

But the cars are pretty much spread out now, anyway, as the drivers and crew chiefs figure out what they need to do to make their cars more competitive.

Ask.com, sponsor for Bobby Labonte is making their driver the new Kasey Kahne, featuring a desparate housewife who seems to have quite a bit of a "thing" for Labonte. We even get a glimpse into the blonde's filthy mind as she admits to having a "dream about a seven post machine and Bobby Labonte."

It doesn't seem as though Ask.com offers links to porn sites, as their commercial suggests they might. That will have to be investigated in the near future.

The top five remain Johnson, Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, Greg Biffle, and Jamie McMurray. Kyle Busch lurks in sixth, and we get another sprinkle caution on lap 43.

Kurt Busch takes the lead from the pit stops, and restarts in first on lap 48. Johnson is second, Jeff Gordon is third, Greg Biffle fourth, and McMurray fifth. Johnson retakes the lead before the lap is over. David Ragan has moved up to sixth, and Tony Stewart to seventh.

Jeff Gordon is racing Kurt Busch hard for second, going into the turns low while Busch goes high. This race for position will continue for a while. There is excitement further back in the field as Vickers is steadily making his way to the front. Matt Kenseth has made is way to the front and is now in fifth place. Four Roush cars--Biffle, Kenseth, McMurray, and Ragan--in the top ten at California. Why doesn't that seem unusual?

On lap 71, Jeff Gordon's persistence pays off, and he finally gets by Kurt Busch, while Johnson, the leader seems to be falling off some. Gordon gains on Johnson and cuts the two second lead in half. As they negotiate lapped traffic, Gordon is right behind Johnson and challenging for the lead. Jeff is using the entire track now, and literally runs between the wall and the grass. This is the wild driving Jeff Gordon of the good ol' days, and it is exciting. He takes the lead on lap 79.

Now all five of the Roush-Fenway cars are in the top ten, as Carl Edwards joins the party. Edwards has been moving up steadily through the field, from his starting spot of thirty-fifth. Again, no surprise.

Tony Stewart is happy with his car and is running steadily in sixth place.

Green flag pit stops begin on lap 83. Johnson pits on lap 85, and Gordon gives up the lead to pit on lap 86 and asked for no adjustments. He knows his car the way it is, and loves it. Biffle gets five bonus points for leading a lap and pits on lap 88. Edwards leads a lap and pits, so, with 90 laps gone, Jeff Gordon retakes the lead.

After the pit stops cycle through, its Jeff Gordon ahead of Jimmie Johnson by two seconds. Greg Biffle is third, Kurt Busch is fourth, and Matt Kenseth is fifth. Tony Stewart is still hangin' in sixth, enjoying the ride. Biffle passes Johnson for second, and Kenseth takes fourth from Dirty Kurty Busch. Meanwhile, we are still having visions of that woman and a seven post shaker rig.

Digger is multiplying, as we now see several animated gophers at the same time. Don't look, kids, bad things could happen.

Those of us who watch South Park know that cute animated wild animals can be much more dangerous than they appear.

Lap 111 and Jeff Gordon is more than two seconds ahead of Biffle. Johnson is still holding third, unchallenged. Kenseth is fourth, and Kurt Busch is fifth. Tony Stewart, in sixth is more than five seconds behind that group, followed by the other Busch, Carl Edwards, Jamie McMurray, and Mark Martin.

At lap 126, as the time for pit stops approaches, Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch are battling for seventh. They are racing as racers, something that is always exciting to see, especially among racers of this quality. They are racing cleanly, but with no sign of giving the other an inch.

Carl prevails on lap 129 and takes seventh, as many more cars begin to pit under the green flag. Jeff Gordon gives up the lead with 123 laps to go, and Biffle pits with him this time. Biffle takes the lead out of the pits, and holds the lead while the pit stops cycle through. It's a whole new ballgame, but the same old Jack Roush show at California.

116 laps to go, and Jeff Gordon is catching Biffle, as Biffle works his way through lapped traffic, and that lapped traffic is fighting hard to stay on the lead lap. Johnson is still in third, but way back, Matt Kenseth is fourth, Kurt Busch is fifth, and the other Busch has made it back to sixth, past Stewart, who is in seventh. We believe that Carl Edwards must have lost some time in the pits.

Now we get a caution for rain and the back runners on the lead lap--Juan Pablo Montoya, David Stremme, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr breathe sighs of relief as they are now able to stay on the lead lap. All the leaders pit. Now Matt Kenseth is the first off of the pit lane.

Blogger's note. There are probably some fans out there who think this race is "boring." Writing the play by play as the race unfolds makes it fun, and the race is anything but "boring." The lesson here is to get as involved in the race as you can, just as many of you would watching the Super Bowl or the college basketball playoffs that pre-empt so many of our favorite programs.

148 laps into the race, we are still under caution. There has been some attrition due to mechanical problems, but all the cars that started are still on the track. There have been no accidents, and it's been a clean race so far.

Matt Kenseth leads the field to the restart, Greg Biffle is second, Jeff Gordon is third, Kurt Busch fourth, and Jimmie Johnson is fifth. Kasey Kahne drives the first car one lap down and is in front of the inside lane. As the green flag waves, Kenseth drops to the bottom and maintains the lead, while Gordon makes a move on Biffle, and takes second place. Johnson is now back in form, and quickly makes his way up to challenge Biffle for third, takes it, and is now racing his team mate and mentor, Darth, er, Jeff Gordon. Jeff races him hard, and maintains second for a lap or two, then on the next lap, with 94 to go, Johson goes high and passes Gordon.

Now Kyle Busch is still lurking in sixth, and is stealthfully sneaking up on the top five. Tony Stewart has fallen back to tenth.

As the predictable engine problems begin for some of the teams, another caution flies for rain, and the leaders pit again. Tony Stewart stays out and takes the lead. Here we go with the fuel strategy again, coupled with the uncertainty of finishing the 500 miles due to rain. Kenseth is, once again the first off of pit road.

Juan Pablo Montoya and Mark Martin also stayed out during the pit stops. Earnhardt, Jr was one of the cars reporting engine problems, and changing the spark plug wires didn't seem to fix anything.

Now, with two to go until restart, Stewart, Montoya, Martin, and the other cars that stayed out earlier pit, and Kenseth gets the lead back.

At the restart with 71 laps to go, it's Kenseth, Johnson, Gordon, Kurt Busch and Greg Biffle. Kyle Busch restarts in sixth and quickly takes fifth place form Biffle, but Da Biff just as quickly takes that position back, then grabs fourth place from Kurt Busch for good measure.

62 laps to go, and Biffle is about to take third from Johnson. The Busch brothers are racing for fifth, and the younger Busch takes it. Fun stuff there.

With 55 laps to go, Jeff Gordon is seriously racing Kenseth for the lead, and Biffle is in their as well. With 54 to go, Gordon takes the lead on the inside,but Kenseth doesn't give it up that easily, and passes Gordon high. Then Gordon goes high and retakes the lead, and holds it, while Biffle takes second from Kenseth. Three seconds back, Kyle Busch is racing Jimmie Johnson hard, and this is some great racing. Johnson is driving the heck out of his car, nearly going sideways in the turns and holding his spot. Busch goes low, then high, and takes fourth.

Meanwhile, Mark Martin's engine finally gives out. Bad luck for other drivers, too, as Kevin Harvick's streak of finishing races is ended when the right front tire on the 29 car blows, and he hits the wall, bringing out a caution. Dale Jr takes his car to the garage as his engine has expired.

Kenseth takes the lead again coming out of the pits. David Stremme leads a lap while the others pit. With one lap to restart, Stremme pits.

With 33 laps to go, Kenseth restarts in the lead, with Jeff Gordon second, Kyle Busch third, Denny Hamlin fourth, and Kurt Busch fifth. Matt gets another great restart, but Gordon is right on his tail. If Kenseth wins the race, it will be attributed to his pit stops and restarts, as well as his overall driving expertise. Or because Gordon couldn't pass him.

With 19 laps to go, Gordon is making a move. He pulls up along side Kenseth, but Kenseth holds on for the lap. Gordon tries again, going high, but coming out of turn four, he gives up ground, and Kenseth increases his lead to nearly a second. Nobody else in this race matters--third placed Kyle Busch is four seconds behind them, and everyone else is way behind Busch.

We have to remark that it was great watching Gordon and Kenseth racing for the lead. We also have to admit that Auto Club California Speedway is for the experienced driver, because that is who has performed the best today.

Gordon isn't finished yet. With six laps to go he is gaining on Kenseth. This could be a very exciting finish. With four to go, lapped cars may make it more interesting. But now it looks as though Gordon has used up his tires, as he is falling back again.

Matt Kenseth takes the white flag, and it looks like he will make it two in a row. Great work for the Daytona 500 driver. This is one way to prove that he wasn't just lucky to win the 500.

Jeff Gordon finished second, Kyle Busch third, Greg Biffle fourth. Kurt Busch finished fifth, followed by Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, Jimmy Johnson, and Brian Vickers.

California doesn't feature the greatest racing in the world, but it does offer a challenge to the drivers, and when there is racing, it is good racing. We had fun covering this race today, and it was anything but boring.

Even though they don't sponsor us, we would like to thank Ask.com and Budweiser for some very entertaining commercials.

Anything but that

2009-02-22T01:07:00.004-07:00

Kyle Busch has achieved what no other driver in the upper tier of NASCAR has done--that is to win two races in the same day. He didn't just win them, he dominated, leading ninety-five of 100 laps in the Camping World Truck Series (CWTS) race, and most of the laps in the Nationwide Series race as well, leading all but seven of the 150 laps around the 2 mile long "D"-oval.

The Nationwide race featured plenty of racing behind the leader, so there was some action in racing for position. The only threat to Busch's lead, however came at the restart with sixteen laps to go. Carl Edwards had beaten Kyle Busch out of the pits, and restarted in the lead. Busch, however had the faster car, and before the lap was over, he had given Edwards a sound of his chrome horn and retaken the lead. It was bye bye Busch after that, and Carl, fell all the way back to sixth place. As Kyle extended his lead, Kevin Harvick took second, and Carl Edwards made his way back to fourth. That is as far as he got. Joey Logano was running in third, and wasn't about to give that spot up. That race for third was one of the most exciting battles of the race, with Edwards making a move, and Logano countering it like a professional with many more years of experience than he has. Logano was soon able to put Edwards behind him and focus his sights on Harvick, providing us with even more racing excitement. Kevin Harvick held his spot, though, as Kyle Busch crossed the finish line nearly four seconds ahead of the combatants.

The truck race, earlier in the day did not have much to offer as far as excitement. Kyle Busch took a huge lead from the start and never lost it. Driving a truck that was set up so perfectly that Gabi DeCarlo--competing in her first truck race--could have won in it, the race was a Sunday drive for Busch, while the field became strung out so far that nobody was challenged for position by anyone.

Which brings us to our rant. If NASCAR has to make changes in the series that usually features the most exciting racing among the top three divisions, why do they want to change it to make it less exciting. The tapered spacers that have been required in all trucks in all races since last year, may make the racing safer and save fuel, but on long tracks like the Auto Club (California) Speedway, it limits what drivers can do during the race. To make matters worse, the rear end gear required by NASCAR for the race was high enough to hamper the ability of the trucks to close on other trucks and be able to race them properly. Racing should be about racing, not how long the trucks can go around the track without crashing.

The effect of the spacer is hardly noticeable in short track races, but not good at all on a long track like California. It is hard enough for the Sprint Cup cars to keep up with each other, so making the trucks so that they can't race is a very bad idea.

One suggestion would be to not have the trucks race at Auto Club. Nobody was there to watch the race, anyway, so why not move it to a smaller venue, nearby. Perhaps nearby Irwindale would be an idea date for the trucks for the second race of the year. After all, the series got its start on the short tracks, and the series seems to race best on short tracks. It may even be easier to sell tickets to the smaller venue, while the truck series as it should be promoted.

Another suggestion would be to allow lower gearing while switching to a smaller engine, without the spacers. The speeds would be below the danger limit for the trucks, as NASCAR sees it, and they would have a better ability to close on each other, and thus, race each other. The problem with this would be that none of the manufacturers want to admit to having a smaller engine that would be appropriate for NASCAR style racing, and the switch could mean added expenses for some teams.

But why has NASCAR turned away from competition in the truck series? With the economic downturn of late, the organization is worried that the field of entrants would be too small, because of expenses, so, they decided to forget about competition, forget about promoting the series as "racing the way it ought to be," and try to "help" the teams to better afford the costs of racing.

One way they saw fit to do so was to limit the number of over-the-wall pit crew members to five, and to limit each pit stop to be for either tires or fuel, but not both. In practice, as seen during the Stater Brothers 200 truck race, Saturday, it is hard to see how this saves teams much money at all. In fact, as we have seen in many of NASCAR's money saving schemes, it may end up costing the teams more money.

When faced with a "tires or fuel" situation at a point in the race where position is crucial, most teams will go with fuel only. The tires could be worn, and ready to blow, but it is better to take that chance, in the mind of the competitive racer, than to run out of fuel while leading the second-to-last lap. We could easily see an increase in late race accidents, thus creating added costs to the teams in repairing wrecked equipment.

The pit rule also creates a situation in which added opportunities for pit road accidents occur. We saw this during Saturday's race, as three trucks got tangled up on the second stop of a caution period. To increase the number of pit stops for each team during a single caution increases the risks of having pit road incidents.

In response to the announcement of the new rules, veteran truck racer/team principal Rick Crawford had this to say, "If it doesn't save me $250,000 there is no point to the rule."

He is right, there is no point to the new pit stop rule. The teams are already limited to three sets of tires--including practice, qualifying, and the race--per event. That was a money saving scheme. Furthermore, the amount of fuel a team uses during each event is going to remain the same, even if the number of fuel pit stops are limited. Although there may be some fans who would find a gigantic crash near the end of the race due to bad tires exciting, it really doesn't mean that the racing would be better.

What NASCAR does need to do is promote the Truck Series as a unique series featuring the best in short track racing. They should limit the venues to tracks that are 1.25 miles or less in length, with the exception, perhaps, of Darlington. A way could be found to bring in more fans, and thus, more revenue. They could also bring in some more sponsors for a higher purse--admittedly difficult in these times, but possible--to make the race more attractive to more participants. They could do anything but what they have done to make the racing less exciting. It would probably be better for the teams in the long run.

Live on Type Delay: The Daytona 500

2009-02-15T16:59:00.001-07:00

The Daytona 500 is touted as the biggest race of the year for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Indeed, it kicks off the season, it shows us what the teams have, and what they've been doing during the off-season, and it does have a prestigious history. And after two weeks of preliminaries and media hype, it's Day has arrived.

A few unimportant questions about the pre-race programming, first. Do we really need a "Digger" weekly animated series? What is "country" about "country music" these days? Was the guy singing the "Star Spangled Banner" trying to sound like Adam Sandler?

Anyway, it hasn't rained yet, the cars are rolling off of pit road, and the crowd is going wild. So is Rev Jim. The thrills are about to begin.

One more question before the start, though. Does anybody get the impression that they are going to "let" Mark Martin win? I would certainly hate to be the Kyle Busch who takes away the win if Mark is leading in turn four of lap 199.

Martin Truex, Jr, from the pole, led the first lap, with Jeff Gordon in second, running around the track in the inside lane. On lap 2, Mark Martin takes the lead, passing on the outside with help from Kyle Busch. By Lap 5, Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth have both moved up nearly twenty positions, after starting in the back of the field, and Kyle Busch soon takes the lead.

On lap 8, Aric Almirola spins out, and the first caution of the day flies. On the restart, it's Kyle Busch, Mark Martin, Bobby Labonte, Dale Earnhardt, Jr, and Carl Edwards in the top 5. The green flag flies on lap eleven.

Since we are stuck with TV only this week, it's commercial break time. The AFLAC commercial wasn't too bad, but the UPS ad with David Regan driving the car into the building and riding the elevator, in the car, was awesome.

Two minutes of racing and another commercial break.

Competition caution on lap 25 to check tires. The restart is on lap 30 with Kyle Busch, Dale Jr, Carl Edwards, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon in the top five. Edwards falters at the restart, Gordon moves all the way up to third, and Johnson moves into the top five. The field splits into two rows, with Tony Stewart, who had restarted in ninth, after starting the race in the rear of the field, leading Carl Edwards on the inside, and everyone else on the outside, with Kyle Busch still leading.

Wow lap 35 and we have already had a lot of racing. Earnhardt is now leading the outside line, but drops back a little. The inside line consists of race leader Kyle Busch, and the rest of the top three Jeff Burton, and Matt Kenseth. Earnhardt is in fourth place, racing on the outside with help from Jeff Gordon.

Lap 39 now, and Earnhardt and Busch are racing wheel to wheel, with Kenseth behind Busch, and Denny Hamlin behind Junior. Exciting stuff going on. Does Dale Jr have the lead for lap 40? It was close, but Kyle Busch is scored with the lead. Now on lap 41, Busch moves up in front of Earnhardt, Jr, to give the outside line a try, but Kenseth is moving up, so Busch moves back down.

Busch is the wild one, so far. He moves up the track and down, switching lanes as each line becomes faster than the other. This is crazy, but it sure is fun to watch.

Finally, on lap 45, Kyle Busch and Dale Jr pull away from the rest of the pack, with Busch in first, and Jr in second. A few car lengths behind them, Tony Stewart has taken third place, leading the rest of the pack.

With Stewart in the lead of the rest of the pack, they catch Jr and Kyle on lap 50 and fall into single file. On lap 52 it's Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Carl Edwards, and Jeff Gordon. Now things seem to have settled down a bit. Lap 54, and the front four have checked out on the rest of the field, and Tony Stewart follows Jr on the outside, as he takes the lead from Busch, and then Stewart drops down to the bottom in front of Busch and takes the lead from Jr. Caution, as Travis Kvapil hits the wall. It looks like Kvapil is going to the garage. Sam Hornish pits, his car is overheating and tajpe and debris are removed. Pit stops on lap 56, and the cleanup crew is on the track.

The running order has changed in the pits. Jr missed his pit stall on the first try, and had to take another lap and return to the pit lane. Hornish takes the lead, having exited the pits while the rest of the field was entering. Stewart is second, being the first one out of the pits after Hornish, Kyle Busch is third, followed by Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards. Hornish had to drop back, and Stewart takes the lead, running on the outside. Kyle Busch is threatening on the inside line. Allmendinger moves up to third, behind Gordon. Allmendinger falls back. Jamie McMurray and Denny Hamlin have hooked up on the outside, and McMurray moves into third.

Lap 56 and everybody is two by two. Gordon leads the outside line, while Stewart maintains the lead on the inside. Gordon makes a move on the outside in turn four, with help from Kyle Busch, but Stewart, with Hamlin right behind him, maintains the lead. The next lap features nearly identical action, and neither Gordon not Stewart show any sign of giving up the race for the lead. Now both the radio and television have simultanious commercial breaks.

Normally, we would expect the race to be tame at this point. If the action continues the way it has been, this could be a long post. When the commercial is over, Gordon has the lead, Kyle Busch is second, Jamie McMurray is third, Denny Hamlin in fourth, and Stewart fifth, in single file. Then Stewart tries to lead a charge in the inside lane, but doesn't have enough drafting help, and falls back to seventh. These guys are racing as though it was only three laps to go, and we are still 25 laps away from the halfway point. Ryan Newman had to pit for a loose wheel. Good idea to pit before something bad happened.

The front four have moved ahead of the rest of the field, with Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, and Jamie McMurray in the top four. Caution, as Joey Logano and Scott Speed contact each other on lap 88, just beyond the exit of turn four. It has been a horrible week for Joey, but we cut him slack, as this is his first superspeedway race in a Sprint Cup car. For that matter, it's Speed's first superspeedway race in a Sprint Cup car. Now, as they return from the commercial and show the replay, it looks like Scott Speed had brushed the wall and rebounded into Logano, which shot the kid down the track and into the inside wall.

Simultaneous commercials again, and the radio broadcast seems to be fading, which is why we were TV only at the beginning of the race.

Kyle Busch left the pits first, and takes the lead. Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Jamie McMurray, and Matt Kenseth will follow him to the restart at lap 86.

Busch and Gordon momentarily step out by a few lengths, and the top five are single file, as Stewart tries to lead a charge on the inside lane, further back. Three wide now, and it is hard to tell who is where.

By lap 89, Gordon has fallen back to fourth, and they are going three wide for that position. That's nothing, around Jimmie Johnson, back around twelfth place, they are going four wide through the trioval. They settle down a bit, then four wide again coming out of turn 2. Johnson almost loses it, and makes a great save.

After everything gets somewhat sorted out, on lap 92, the top five are Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, AJ Allmendinger, Matt Kenseth, and Martin Truex, Jr.

Lap 95, and Gordon has led a charge to second place. We have to be wondering now, if this race is so wild before half way, what will the last lap be like? Lap 97 is when Gordon tries to take the lead, but Busch blocks him and maintains the lead, followed by Gordon, Hamlin, Edwards, and Stewart.

Stewart takes fourth from Edwards at the halfway mark. Things still haven't settled down behind them. On lap 102, that wild bunch is now racing for fifth. Simultanious commercials again, so we miss whatever action ensues from that.

On lap 109, the front twelve are in single file. Kyle Busch is still leading, followed by Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, Jamie McMurray, and Jeff Gordon. Dale Earnhardt, Jr is challenging Gordon for fifth. Now the top four make some distance ahead of the field. Jr and Gordon are still racing, Gordon gets hung out, and Earnhardt, Jr takes his position. Gordon continues to fall back. Gordon seems to be having problems, and takes to the pits on lap 114. Jimmie Johnson also pits, so if Gordon needs drafting help, it is on its way. Both the 24 and the 48 cars seem to be having handling problems.

Hornish, Jr pits with steam issuing heavily from under the hood. Juan Pablo Montoya, and Brian Vickers also make green flag pit stops, now.

David Stremme's right rear tire went flat, and his right rear quarter panel has been destroyed, and the fifth caution comes out, on lap 118. The tire exploded while Stremme was in front of a very heavily populated group of cars, and, miracalously, everybody gets by him without incident.

Oh, man, Dale Earnhardt, Jr has to take a penalty for working on the car while the tires were outside the box. At Daytona, all four wheels have to be inside the line of the pit box, before the car can be serviced, and Junior had the front right tire barely over the line. They are being held in the pits by NASCAR. It wasn't Kyle Busch's fault. Just thought that should be mentioned.

After the pits, Elliott Sadler is first, his teammate Reed Sorenson is second, Kyle Busch is third, Matt Kenseth is fourth. After the restart, Vickers falls in line on the inside lane, in front of Dale Jr, because both of them are trying to race back to the lead lap. Jr has to drop down below the yellow line to avoid Vickers, then, as he comes onto the track, he runs into the back of Vickers, Vickers shoots up the track, and IT'S THE BIG ONE, ELIZABETH!

Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Scott Speed, Jamie McMurray, and Carl Edwards all take damage. There are cars spinning in the infield everywhere. Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson, and Robby Gordon were also involved in the carnage. .

Hamlin's, Johnson's, Junior's, and Edward's teams are able to effect repairs in the pits, so they are still in the race, so to speak. Just watch, this will probably turn into a victory for the #48 team.

Now it looks as though there will be a rain delay. Only a short delay, and restart after 132 laps. Sadler in the lead, Sorenson is second, then Kenseth, Burton and Allmendinger. Dale Earnhardt, Jr starts in 31st place, the first car one lap down.

On lap 139, Paul Menard (surprised?) makes contact with Jeff Burton, and then richochet's off of several cars like a pinball caught between bumpers, and another caution comes out. Hey, Dale Jr fans, Junior gets the free pass. McMurray's team has completed repairs, and the #26 car is back on the track.

Elliott Sadler is in the lead and wishing for rain. Matt Kenseth is second. While the caution is still out, however, more cars pit.

Restart with 58 cars to go, and the top five are now Sadler, Kenseth, Sorenson, Allmendinger, and Stewart. I believe, with one more pit stop neccessary, they should be setting up for the finish. I was wrong. Matt "Kensiss" Kenseth hooks up with Kevin "Out of Nowhere" Harvick to challenge for the lead. Kensiss takes the lead with Harvick right behind him, and another caution flies as Almirola and Hornish make contact further back in the field, and Almirola careens into the infield. Those cars were packed close, and it could have been much worse, but somehow, mass carnage was avoided. Johnson gets the free pass.

It is irritating when DW says "Kensiss" for "Kenseth." It is just as bad as Rusty saying "Kennifs."

52 laps is still outside the pit window, barely, so nobody on the lead lap pits. The Fox crew is attributing that strategy to the possibility of rain, as well, and now it is raining. The top five are now Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, AJ Allmendinger, Clint Bowyer, and Elliott Sadler. If the race restarts, it is still anybody's race.

The red flag is being displayed. Rain delay. It is still early, we may get to see the race continue.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr, interview. He is not happy. He has had a very bad day. Even Jeff Burton is mad at him.

The race has been called, and Matt Kenseth is the winner! It is always good to see another first time winner at the 500. We would have liked to see a shootout to the end, but Nature didn't agree.

It was an adrenaline-pumping race anyway, and perhaps we couldn't have taken any more excitement, so Nature was just looking after us. The Daytona 500 has always had some very wild moments, but this was one of the wildest.

Somehow, because the race was called early, we still feel robbed. Congratulations to Matt Kenseth, and his crew. We should also offer congratulations to AJ Allmendinger for his third place finish, and to Tony Stewart for getting a top ten finish (eighth) in his first points race as an owner/driver.

A fallen Star

2009-02-15T00:58:00.004-07:00

Matt Hawkins lost his life Friday after an incident involving the accidental discharge of a firearm. He was a true rising star, with a loving family, friends, and the respect of racers much older than he. He was 21 years of age.

The following is republished from April 19, 2008, in tribute to this young man who was lost to this world way too soon.

That Kid From Canton, Georgia
Imagine you're a young racecar driver, earning your way up through the stock car ranks.
You began your racing career at the age of four, riding four-wheeler atvs in competition on the dirt tracks of Georgia. From there, you worked your way up through very successful seasons in go-cart racing, winning the Kart-World National championship. At the age of fourteen, you were the Legends cars champion. From there it was on to super late models, again making your mark on the regional level, and winning the Southern All Stars Championship. In the nineteenth year of your life, you are starting to get national attention, as you finish your rookie year in the USAR Hooters Pro Cup series in the top ten in points.
Now you've made it to what is arguably the "make or break" series, the ARCA/Remax. Your competition includes nine time series champion Frank Kimmel, the near-legendary Bobby Gerhart, and several drivers around to your own age whose resumes are as impressive and lengthy as your own. Michael Annet, who saw victory lane in what was only his second ARCA race, less than a year ago, was the winner at Daytona earlier this year, and has yet to finish a race outside the top ten. Scott Speed, being carefully developed on his way to being a NASCAR Sprint Cup star, has big money backing him and is a former Formula One driver. Justin Allgaier has won two of the first three races of the season and is the series leader, and the favorite to win this race. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr, comes from a prestigious racing family, and has the talent and strong backing to carry on the family tradition.
But you are not daunted by any of this. Your name is Matt Hawkins, and you came to win.
Hawkins did exactly what he needed to do in his very first ARCA/Remax Series race, which took place today in Iowa. He stayed on the lead lap and took care of his car. Matt Carter led most of the race at the 7/8 mile oval (which made me melancholy for PPIR, by the way), but his car was used up by the time the race reached its closing laps, and Matt Hawkins overtook him for the lead, after racing fender to fender with him for several laps. Polesitter Justin Allgaier was breathing down his neck in the final three laps, after coming back twice from pit stop mishaps in the last part of the race, but Hawkins held the lead and took the checkers by less than one second.
He was emotional about winning his very first ARCA race, but he held his composure like a pro.
To put things in perspective, at the age of 20 he has sixteen years of racing experience, one more year than Jeff Gordon had when he was 20. Would anyone disagree with me if I predicted that the Kid from Canton will soon be Cup material?
Photo Credit: Matt Hawkins Web Site.

Duel of Dreams

2009-02-13T02:20:00.001-07:00

Thirty-seven days ago, legendary NASCAR crew chief Tommy Baldwin saw an opportunity and siezed it. Team owner Bill Davis had liquidated his interest in the team that bore his name, and left behind a Toyota racing chassis or two and a seasoned race team. Baldwin decided the time was right to have another go at fielding his own team. He had a sponsor, and his driver would be Scott Riggs, who was displaced by the Stewart-Haas deal.

Jeremy Mayfield had gone all of 2008 without a ride. He was left out of the unprecedented silly season action that took place throughout all of 2008 and the first month of 2009. With 23 days to go until the Daytona 500, Mayfield decided to take the bull by the horns and start his own team. He gathered what he could of the recently unemployed victims of cutbacks from other teams, squared his shoulders, and entered the fray.

AJ Allmendinger had a ride, then he didn't, then he did, and then things became unsure. Nobody in the garage area can argue that the former Champ car star isn't Cup material. Even the King, Richard Petty, has declared that Allmendinger "gets it."

Allmendinger's agreement to drive for Richard Petty Motorsports didn't even become official until February 2, when it was announced that he would drive the #44 car for RPM for at least eight races, with hopes that a full sponsorship would come with whatever successes the team can produce. Making the starting lineup for the Daytona 500 would be an important success, but AJ would have to race his way in.

The Daytona 500 is the only race on the Cup schedule that has preliminary qualifying races. The Gatorade Duels are two 150 mile races that place the drivers in their starting grid positions (outside the front row, which is determined by time trials) and give those who didn't qualify on time a chance to race their way into the race. After the top 35 cars in owners points,. and the four drivers who qualified on time filled the grid to 39 drivers, there were still fourteen drivers who had to race for the final four spots in the field. It would take not only skill to overcome the odds of missing the race, but also some luck and a lot of guts and determination.

In the first race of the Duels, Tony Stewart and Bill Elliott were the "Go or Go Homers" who had guaranteed themselves a spot in the Big Show on qualifying time. If one or both of them were to finish the race ahead of the other go or go homers, then one or two other drivers would be moved in on their times. Scott Riggs was not one of the drivers who would have made the race in that manner--he had no way to the Big Show other than racing his way in.

The #36 Tommy Baldwin team for which Riggs was driving had no regular team members. All of the pit crew and support team were working without pay. Joe Nemecheck was in a similar situation, racing in the #87 Toyota with his own team, and just as determined as Riggs to make the show.

Nemecheck did have a better chance of making the race if both Elliott and Stewart finished in the transfer positions, but Elliott fell back and out of the race for transmission failure, and the rest of the race was pretty much between Nemecheck and Riggs for that final transfer position. Nemecheck had a decent car, and though Riggs would progress as far toward the front as fifth place, at times, he almost always fell back, putting Nemecheck in the transfer position.

At one point during the race, Tony Stewart, who had no actual team mates with whom to partner in the first Duel, dropped back to team with Riggs, perhaps as a gesture of thanks for putting the car that is now Ryan Newman's #39 in the top 35 in owner points. Perhaps it was to make up for replacing him as a driver on the new Stewart-Haas team, or a combination of the two. At any rate, Stewart helped Riggs get back toward the front of the field, where he needed to be. With four laps to go, Riggs restarted in fifth, but fell back toward Nemecheck's car, which was showing improvement after adjustments. Nemecheck found himself poised to pass Riggs in the final laps, but Jamie McMurray, driving to the left of Nemecheck, got loose going into turn one and caused Nemecheck to falter and fall off the pace. Riggs finished in eighth place, giving him, and Tommy Baldwin, his team owner, a spot on Sunday's starting grid.

Tony Stewart's second place finish gave Ragan Smith, who would drive the Furniture Row car in the second Duel, a starting position on qualifying time for Sunday's race. Nemecheck was left hoping and praying that Smith or Travis Kvapil would finish in a transfer position in the second race.

The second Duel was even more dramatic for the go or go homers. Jeremy Mayfield had put his team together using the former BDR "sister" Toyota to the one that Riggs drove in the first Duel. Like Baldwin's team, the crew that had prepared his car and worked his pit were unpaid volunteers from among those who had been laid off from other teams. Mayfield's jack man, working in Kirk Shelmerdine's pit during the first duel, was involved in a pit road accident and had to be taken to the hospital.

Mike Wallace, by all accounts, is one of the hardest drivers to pass in a restrictor plate race, and Boris Said looked like he had one of the transfer spots sewn up, running towards the front for much of the second race. But Said had tire issues later in the race, and the transfer positions were opened to anyone. During pit stops under what would be the final caution of the race, Mayfield's Crew Chief, Tony Furr made the gutsy call of changing two tires rather than four. Mayfield restarted with eight laps to go in the top five, and fell back no further than ninth, giving him a spot on the Daytona 500 grid.

AJ Allmendinger didn't have a deal until February 2, when he signed with Richard Petty Motorsports to drive the #44 car, which, at the time of this writing, is sponsored for only eight races this season. It was very important for Allmendinger to make the Big Show, in hopes of being able to attract more sponsorship in these difficult economic times. But his team could not seem to get the car to handle well, and Allmendinger had troubles for most of the race. Toward the end of the race, his RPM team mates, Reed Sorenson and Elliott Sadler, dropped back in a magnanimous show of teamwork to pick up the #44 car in the draft and help him towards the front, past a hard driving Mike Wallace. A relieved Allmendinger finished tenth, just behind Mayfield, thus making the starting grid for Sunday's Daytona 500.

For Nemecheck, Said, and Wallace, it was unfortunate heartbreak to not make the show in which they have been mainstays in the past. But for Riggs, Mayfield, and Allmendinger, it was the kind of stuff of which dreams are made.