More excitement sure to come!

This is the final weekend of the 2007 NASCAR season, but there is still much excitement to be had.
Homestead is a 1.5 mile high banked track, and has been home to some very exciting races in the past, no matter what the championship points situation has been. But, we have a very close championship race going down to the wire in tonight's Craftsman Truck Series race. Those who follow the CTS know that every race looks like a championsip race, with all the drivers going for every bit of real estate they can get. Everybody who is on the track is going for the win, and they are constantly racing hard throughout the field. This is the purest form of racing among the NASCAR major leagues, and if it isn't enough for these guys to be beatin' and bangin' at 170 mph, we have a drama going on between the points leaders that can not be matched anywhere else. The guantlet has been thrown, neither Hornaday, nor Skinner can count on team mates, and it is going to be one heck of a battle. We don't even have to pick a winner to enjoy this race, it will be a great show on its own.
So, some of us may not be interested in the last ever Busch series race, or the last ever Nextel Cup series race, but a love for the competition NASCAR brings to the track will keep the rest of us watching.
Even if it may seem so, it is not a guarantee that being a Cup driver in the NASCAR Busch Series means victory. Jason Leffler has been consistant, and already has one victory this year, while Brad Keselowski has been living up to the expectations of Jr Motorsports by finishing well in the last several races. These two drivers, at least, are worth watching. We may also want to watch newcomers Michael McDowell, who already has an impressive resume in his young career, and Jeremy Clements, who, though he has had some incredibly bad luck in the series so far, is highly regarded by others in the NBS. In addition, those of us who are curious will continue to watch as Dario Franchitti, Sam Hornish Jr, and Jaques Villeneuve continue to learn in their new adventures.
Putting aside Sunday's Cup race, for now, at least, there is also some more exciting news.
First, there has been talk about a racing series featuring some of the greatest drivers from the past. That talk has come to fruition, and, on May 18, 2008, the OLD SCHOOL RACING CHALLANGE Tour will begin, featuring such drivers as David Pearson, Harry Gant, and Dave Marcis. Details can be found on their website, as well as a tentative schedule. The tour begins at Concord Speedway, and we should see some very interesting racing!
ARCA is also taking some big steps for next year. They will be using the hand-me-downs from the Nextel Cup teams, as that series converts completely to the Formula NASCAR car. This will give all the ARCA teams new equipment to work with, for better or for worse, and we should see some good high-horsepower racing in the minor leagues. In addition to having the Carolina 500 at Rockingham next year, the series will add a road course to the schedule at a brand new 2.6 mile course near Millville, NJ. Indeed, ARCA/Remax is becoming a very exciting racing series, and will grow like NASCAR did in the early 1950's.
So, on to Cup qualifying today, which will be another post.

Sunday Thoughts--Honoring the Vets and Kyle Busch

First, and foremost, Happy Veteran's Day to all who have served their country, and in remembrance of those who have given the ultimate sacrifice, you are Honored.

Some day, Kyle Busch will be forgiven for being Kurt's brother. The man is one lean, mean, racing machine, who's accomplishments in his relatively short racing career have already been notable and numerous. Those who have listened to his Victory Lane interviews after the CTS and NBS races at Phoenix may have noticed that his enthusiasm and anticipation for his late model race in Las Vegas was as great, if not greater than, his emotions after winning two tough races. We at Rev'Jim's have been critical of his racing style in the past, but, now that he has learned and matured, we can see that he has put his talent to good use, and is among the most notable drivers of the Cup series.
No matter who the fan's favorite driver is, that fan knows that his or her favorite has a passion for helping those in need. I'm not talking about the publicized contributions to Victory Junction Gang Camp, relief to the victims of Katrina and the California wildfires, which are very worthy, but expected. I mean the behind-the-scenes encounters, such as the ones many of us Stewart fans find about our own favorite driver. Kyle Busch is no exception; here is a very heart warming and touching story about the Schrub and a behind-the-scenes personal encounter of his own. It is rather lengthy, but it is a good read.
Even though I'll be pulling for my favorite driver, it will be exciting to see if the Schrub can pull a triple sweep at Phoenix this weekend. If he does, we'll be seeing history in the making.
For those who are curious, Kyle Busch finished 18th in the Fall Classic at the Bullring at LVMS, retiring from the competition after a late-race accident involving himself and Shelby Thompson while battling for second. The full race results and coverage can be found here.
Another Kyle, Kyle Petty, described Petty Enterprises' move as being bittersweet. He knows that the move was necessary to try to improve the teams performance, but RPE at Level Cross is the only home he has known.
"I was leaving Dallas on a motorcycle, when (the announcement of the move)came out," Petty told John Roberts on Tradin' Paint, "So I didn't know about it until I got home.
"It's like the story of the kid who goes to school and comes home to find that his parents have moved."
The move is, indeed, big news, for Petty Enterprises has been at Level Cross, NC since 1949, and has always been a family and friends operation. The change, though necessary in the larger scheme of competition, is just another arrow in the heart of racing traditionalists.
Today's race should be a good one. I'm fired up. LET'S GO RACIN'

Not playing nice

After watching the Craftsman Truck Series race at Phoenix last night, I realized that the Cup guys will not race like that. The CTS is unique among the major leagues of NASCAR in that these guys do not worry about how many points their team mate has.
Johnny Benson, who was in sixth place in the points, going into the race, and his team mate, points leader Mike Skinner, presented an excellent scenario emphasizing this point. At the end of the race, restarted with seven laps to go after a debris caution, there were several battles going on around the track. Kyle Busch was holding off Mike Bliss, who was doing some incredibly hard racing with Ron Hornaday without displaying his knack for poor sportsmanship, while back in the field Skinner and Benson were running seventh and eighth, respectively. Shortly after the very aggressive Hornaday passed and cleared the very aggressive Mike Bliss, Benson made the unbelievable move of passing his team mate. "What the h---," Skinner probably thought, My team mate is stealing four points from me!?!"
My thought is, why not? Because Kyle Busch was kind enough not to play favorites, and won the race himself, Hornaday would not get the winner's bonus points and Skinner would maintain his 29 point lead. What difference would four points make? Benson could find better use for them, those four points would move him up a notch in the points standings. This is CTS racing, boys, and it's every man for himself. There are, as Skinner lamented post-race, no team mates when every driver is out to get what he needs.

“I guess we’re not a team,” Skinner said. “I’m not in too good of mood right now. It’s better than being 29 points behind.
“We’re just one team, the No. 5 team. I don’t know how many teams we’re going to have to race against in Homestead.”

The CTS is the closest of the major leagues of NASCAR to the Saturday night circle burners that are still a passion of mine. All that was needed was a bar across the street from the track, where a spirited fist fight between the two "team mates" would have taken place.
Now, for Sunday, I was going to pick Jeff Gordon to win. His experience and history at Phoenix provide him what he needs to overcome Chad Knaus' genius. But then I saw this headline at That's Racin'.com:

Hendrick aiming for 1-2-3 sweep of season standings
By JENNA FRYER - The Associated Press
AVONDALE, Ariz. – With 17 wins by its four drivers, Hendrick Motorsports has clearly been the most dominant team in NASCAR this season.
Now, if Kyle Busch can close the year with two strong runs, he could give the organization a clean sweep of the Nextel Cup standings.

Now, because HMS teams do follow team orders--witness how two weeks in a row, Kyle dutifully followed the advice passed to him by both his crew chief and his boss, not to race Jimmie or Jeff, even though he couldn't be fired because he already has been--this means that Kyle Busch has to win at Phoenix. And, because he is 158 points ahead of Busch, Clint Bowyer has to have problems, which could happen, but not likely with the way his Chase has been going. But, without making any accusations, which I sincerely feel would be unwarrented, Hendrick Motorsports seems to get what it wants during the Chase, and it would be no surprise if Kyle Busch were to win at PIR, while Jimmie and Jeff stay far enough back to keep Bowyer from gaining much ground, if any, on Kyle.
And this plan leaves little room for my favorite driver.

What I really think

Bruton Smith doesn't make the schedules, or sanction races. Likewise, Brian France gives the final approval to the schedule and sanctioning, but only after hearing recommendations and suggestions from the various NASCAR officers, ie. Mike Helton, John Darby, and their staffs.
They certainly won't listen to me, but I believe the best way for NASCAR to reach the entire country would be to have one race at each of thirty six tracks over the course of the season. No return trips. I know that a lot of Bristol and NHIS fans would disagree with me, but wouldn't it be better to see something different each and every week during the season? Wouldn't it be a better gauge of the driver's ability if he or she had to race at thirty six different tracks, rather than the same tracks twice a season. We don't need two races at California, or Texas, or Atlanta. If Bruton Smith sticks to his promises, Lowe's will be gone, possibly replaced by a 1 mile or shorter track.
Just think--that will leave room for Gateway, Memphis, and, possibly, another road course race at Salt Lake City. Maybe a dirt race or two could be included. Fewer Cookie Cutters will make the season more interesting.
That's all I can say for now, I must head off to my tomato dodging lessons.

Facing the Facts--Again

There are three absolutes we NASCAR fans have to accept after this weekend:
1) NHIS (now NHMS) will be reconfigured
2) Kentucky Speedway will never get a Cup date
3) Jimmie Johnson is the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Champion.
Now, you may argue about #3, but after Sunday's Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, Johnson seems unstoppable. Sure, Jeff Gordon is only thirty points behind, but how can you stop a guy who seems as though he is going to win no matter what.
Each time Matt Kenseth took the lead during the race, he checked out on the rest of the field. Except for when the #48 team decided it was time to go.
During the caution with 37 laps to go, Kenseth's #17 team took two tires for track position, while the #48 team took for. After the restart, Kenseth again took the lead and took off like a rocket. Speaking of Rockets, Ryan Newman was soon running in second place. We all know how hungry he was for a win. But with 11 laps to go, Johnson passed Newman as if he wasn't there. And with nine laps to go he had caught Kenseth.
And boys 'n' girls, did that race peg the wow meter! For nine laps, the #17 and #48 raced as hard as we have ever seen a race. They were taking the turns as if they were on a dirt track, going sideways like winged sprints, and side by side at that.
At one point, Johnson got Kenseth real loose, but Kenseth is better than good, because he saved it and held the lead. But every time we thought it was over, and that Johnson wouldn't be able to pass Kenseth, he came back again, even stronger. Finally, with two laps left to go, Johnson passed Kenseth and cleared him. That, folks, was the fat lady singing.
So, I ask, if a driver as great as Matt Kenseth can't beat Johnson in a race like that, how in the world could a driver as great as Gordon do it.
Johnson is destined to win the championship. Do you want proof? Except for my kind of sort of pick of Greg Biffle at Kansas, every pick I have made this season until now has resulted in disaster for the driver I picked. This time, I picked Johnson, a driver of whom I am not a fan, though I like him, and he broke the curse. Now, how is anybody going to beat a driver like that?
Update: Paul McMahon, the driver of the TSR #20 who was involved in a horrific accident at the WoO Finals earlier this weekend, was held in a hospital in Charlotte for observation and released. He is okay.

The Weekend so far...

The main event hasn't even happened yet, and we have already seen some great racing this weekend, as well as some big news.
The Craftsman Truck Series race, Friday night, lived up to everything for which it was billed. There was plenty of action, the points lead changed again, this time drastically, and we got to see some good racing from both the veterans and the up-and-comers. The drama was definitely there. Mike Skinner now has a comfortable 57 points lead, in spite of narrowly escaping disaster in the closing laps of the race. Chad McCumbee made a bonsai move and tood the lead, but it caused some problems behind him, bringing out a caution. When he spun his tires on the restart, then tried to block--a rookie mistake--there was a big pile up behind him that included the points frontrunners, Skinner and Hornaday. Mike Skinner's damage was relatively minor, and he managed to get the necessary repairs done, and finish third, while Ron Hornaday's damage was serious, and his crew worked heroically to get his truck back on the track in time to get an eighteenth place finish. That's the kind of drama the CTS brings us on a regular basis, and that is why we think that CTS is "the Bomb." The big news in the CTS is that Jack Sprague will be joining Ron Hornaday as team mates for Kevin Harvick Incorperated in 2008. Now that's a powerhouse.
The Busch Series race also had its moments. Smoke led most of the race in a car that looked like it couldn't be beat. Well, the paint scheme could, but that's a different story. An early crash involving Mike Bliss, Jeremy Clements, and the #27 car, resulted in some very bad pit stops. Schrub's crew wasn't ready, and the delays and flub ups forced him to take two tires when he wanted four. Smoke's pit stop was also slow. Somehow, a few laps into green, Kyle Busch was in the lead, which didn't last for long, because Smoke moved up quickly on four fresh tires and easily retook the lead.
Stewart subsequently checked out, and began passing lapped traffic, until he ran into the back of Kyle Krisiloff's car. It was a racing incident, Smoke took the brunt of the damage, and had to pit to repair a hole in the "headlight area." This put him quite far back in the field. He made up positions until he got to seventh place, then apparently decided he had used as much of the car as he could, finishing in that position.
It seems that everybody who took the lead checked out. In the end, there were only 14 drivers on the lead lap, as Kevin Harvick took the checkers, with a petulant, but persistant, Schrub in second.
The big news in the NBS: Brad Keselowski finished highest among the Busch regulars-- which is good, because he is only part time--with a sixth place finish. He is showing that he deserves the recognition he has received from his boss at JMS. Bigger news: Michael McDowell ran his first Busch race for MWR. Even Bigger news: ESPN ignored the fact completely. Well, not that much bigger. Par for the course, actually.
Oh yeah, there was something about Carl Edwards winning the NBS Championship.
The winner so far this weekend: Dirt racing fans who watch Speed TV. Thanks to Bruton Smith, Speed TV, Humpy Wheeler, and WoO for such a great presentation of a great sport. I could actually smell the mud and taste the dirt in my beer. The Big News from WoO--Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) will have a powerhouse next year with Donny Schatz and Kraig Kinser on the same team.
On a serious note: Paul McMahan, current driver of the #20 TSR winged sprint car was injured by a freak accident involving the drive shaft of the car. Our thoughts and prayers are with him for a quick and complete recovery.
So now, we are primed for the Dickies 500. Here's to another great race.

On To Texas

My little sister, who was born in Fort Worth and lives in TexArkana, pronounces it "Teyaxes," which gives her a really cute drawl indiginous to that part of the country. I just thought I'd say that because it has nothing to do with Sunday's Dickies 500.
Nor does the fact that Bruton Smith has purchased New Hampshire International Speedway have anything to do with Sunday's race. Burton owns TMS, AMS, LVMS, LMS, Bristol, and one or two others I can't think of right now, and he wants to add a second race to Vegas. Personally, I don't think that Smith will pull a race from New Hampshire to move to Vegas, as long as that race sells out. With the races at Atlanta and Texas failing to sell out, he may try to move either the second race at Atlanta or Texas to Las Vegas in 2009.
As far as Loudon (NHIS) goes, we know he is going to reconfigure it. Which is fine by me, because, as much as I like the tracks that are 1 mile or less, NHIS has the worst racing of these. It is like two 1/4 mile drag strips with turnarounds at each end. Not that we would want to see him configure it to another 1.5 mile tri- or quad-oval, but maybe shorten the straightaways and widen the turns so it would be more like Milwaukee or Nashville. Mr Smith, if you are reading this (fat chance!) please consider my suggestion.
That being said, the closest I have come to accuracy in my predictions was at Kansas, after I picked Greg Biffle to be the non-chaser most likely to win the race, and he did. In one of the strangest finishes ever. Otherwise, everything I have predicted results in the opposite taking place.
Since my favorite driver can not logically be considered to be "in the Chase," we could say that the pressure is off, and he can get back to having fun, and maybe even throw a wrench into the works and win one. But that is not my pick.
With my terrible record of picking the winner, I will predict that Jimmie Johnson will win the race with Jeff Gordon close on his bumper. In fact, it should be a near tie. Of course, this is just in hopes that the points between the top three stay close until the very last race at Homestead.
So here's looking forward to a wild, entertaining, and, possibly, very wierd race at TMS. Yeehaw!