Live on Type Delay: The Southern 500

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.

Live on Type Delay: The O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 KM(Phoenix)

Pre-race thoughts: Dale Jr is sporting a nice beard. Although it is neatly trimmed, it doesn't seem to fit the Hendrick dress code. I wonder if Rick is going to make Junior hit the floor and give him fifty for appearing on television like that.

Not to belittle Jimmie Johnson's racing skills--he is a very good driver--but why haven't we heard Carl Edwards say, "A monkey could win in that (#48) car?"

I have a lot of respect for Jimmie Johnson, but what if he didn't have Chad Knaus as his crew chief? He makes a lot of mistakes, and often gets himself into accidents, penalties, and other situations that would keep other drivers out of a good finish. Knaus and the team 48 pit crew invariably make up for those mistakes. My guess is that Hideo Fukyama would be a household name if he had had Knaus as a crew chief.

Eddie Haskell Mr. Phony Carl Edwards is an exceptional driver, whether he's driving a Sprint Cup car, a Nationwide Series car, or a CTS truck. He's old school in the way he man-handles a car throughout the entire race, and he apparently is very good at saving fuel. Obviously, he is not one of my favorite drivers, but I hope the points race between between him and Jimmie Johnson tightens up after this race. I would rather see Johnson as the champion than Edwards, but what I'm really hoping for is that both of them have bad finishes this race, and Greg Biffle gets into the mix at Homestead, making it a three-way race for the Championship.

Just my thoughts, as deranged as they might be.

Jimmie Johnson drops to the bottom at the wave of the green flag, but Jamie McMurray gets around in turns three and four and leads the first lap. There is already a lot of action this early in the race, as Carl Edwards tries to advance his position from his fifteenth place start. But the cars are bunched up three-wide back there, and Edwards has to let up some.

Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex, Jr make contact with each other and the wall on lap sixteen, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of damage, and there is no caution, then, on lap twenty, Sam Hornish Jr and Elliott Sadler get into each other, causing minimal damage to the cars, but their spinning causes enough of a potential hazard that the first caution flag flies. Everyone pits.

Restart on lap 26, with Kurt Busch first, and the top five positions immediately get mixed up as everybody tries to gain the lead. Martin Truex, Jr's engine is seriously overheating and he has to go back into the pits, with a stalled engine. Truex seems to be out of the race as they take the car to the garage.

On lap thirty, Brian Vickers has the right front tire go down, and slams into the wall, bringing out the second caution. Kurt Busch was in the lead, Jimmie Johnson second, Ryan Newman third, Jamie McMurray fourth, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr is fifth. Nobody in the front of the field pits.

Restart on lap 36 and an immediate caution for debris. Then it starts raining, but just a sprinkling of drops. The race remains under caution, but the cars stay on the track and count off laps. Jet driers are also making laps. Now, on lap 43 we get a red flag.

If you have ever lived in the Southwest United States, especially the dryer areas, you would know that "20% chance of rain" means that it's going to rain.

Only Matt Kenseth has the kind of luck that would get him a flat tire under a red flag. He was in twentieth, but will have to restart in the back, after he pits under caution to change the tires.

The race restarts on lap 46. Johnson quickly tries to take the lead, but Dirty Kurty holds the top position. Again, lots of hard racing all around the track. Kyle Busch uses the top line to move into the top seven. Hamlin is racing Earnhardt hard to get into the top five, but Earnhardt is also moving up. Edwards is still trying to make progress, but the traffic is terrible. Kevin Harvick, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Tony Stewart are all up there around the 99 car.

Meanwhile, the relative positions in the top five are changing constantly. Earnhardt, Jr moves up into fourth, Newman falls back, as Hamlin also gains position. But Jeff Gordon is in the mix, and he ends up in fifth, as Newman drops to sixth. On lap 75, the running order is Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Jamie McMurray, Dale Earnhardt, Jr, and Jeff Gordon in that order in the top five. Newman falls way back as he has a tire going down, or suspension problems, or both.

On lap 79, Johnson is able to catch Dirty Kurty Busch and is challenging for the lead. As we know, Dirty Kurty is very hard to pass, especially while he is in the lead. Johnson tries the inside, but can't get by. He tries the outside, and can't make it stick. Finally, on lap 82, he gets around the outside and takes the lead. McMurray has caught up to the front two and is looking to take second place. Dirty Kurty won't give up second very easily, either. There should be green flag pit stops coming up soon. That is always fun at Phoenix.

McMurray moved into second during the commercial. I had to turn off the radio, because the interference was really bad. I wish we had an FM station here to pick up the MRN and PRN broadcasts. One of our local Classic Rock stations has a big sponsorship from a NASCAR sports bar, and does a lot of NASCAR promotion, so I would hope they get the MRN/PRN contracts soon. I know a music station wouldn't normally carry sports, but this one is already carrying the Colorado College Hockey radio broadcasts, so a NASCAR race every week wouldn't hurt.

Green flag pit stops begin on lap 98. The top five are pitting on laps 100 through 103. Everyone is taking four tires. Travis Kvapil leads a lap while the leaders pit. Mark Martin has to come back into the pits for a missing lug nut. Remember, this is under green, so that has to hurt. Greg Biffle, who started in the back for a transmission change, leads a lap while pit stops continue. Biffle is out of sequence from the other leaders, as he pitted on lap 44. He pits on lap 109. Johnson retains the lead. Newman ground down the front sway bar, while he was making laps on a left front tire that was very low in air pressure, so he is back in the pits while his team tries to repair the damage.

After the green flag pit stops cycle through, it's Johnson, McMurray, Earnhardt, Jr, Jeff Gordon, and Kurt Busch in the top five. Carl Edwards has made it into tenth place. All the Hendrick cars are in the top six, as Casey Mears is running in sixth. Hamlin is still in seventh. There are 21 cars on the lead lap.

On lap 126, Kevin Harvick is running in eighth, and Carl Edwards has moved up to ninth, while Kasey Kahne fills out the top ten. Now Kyle Busch moves into tenth.

Caution on lap 141 for debris. The leaders all pit on lap 143, and Johnson leads, Dale Jr is second, Jeff Gordon is third, Jamie McMurray is fourth, and Dirty Kurty is fifth. The rest of the top ten is as last reported. Kyle Busch passes Edwards for ninth, shortly after the restart on lap 153. Greg Biffle is running twelfth, Tony Stewart is thirteenth, and Jeff Burton is fourteenth.

On lap 160, they are showing the view through the windshield of Jeff Burton's #31 car, and it looks just like Martinsville. That is how rough the racing is between tenth and fourteenth positions. We have a good race going between Carl and Kyle, and should we expect less? That would be a fun one to watch.

I'm getting a kick out of that new NAPA commercial with Michael Waltrip and Ron Capps. Capps isn't used to having to work for fifteen seconds. That, according to the commercial, is three times as long as his normal "five second work day." Funny! Ron Capps is one of the superstars of the NHRA drag racing series, for those who don't know.

Jeff Gordon reported something wrong with his engine earlier in the race, and on lap 173, he starts dropping back, as he has lost a cylinder. Tim Brewer gets to talk about broken valve springs for the first time since last year. I bet he is having a flashback. Last year, he got to talk about broken valve springs and bent valves every ten minutes.

Things have finally settled down back beyond ninth place, by lap 190. Tony Stewart is in tenth, Kyle Busch in eleventh, and Jeff Burton is in twelfth. Jeff Gordon has fallen back to seventeenth. Casey Mears is now in fifth place, Denny Hamlin is sixth, Kevin Harvick is seventh, Edwards is eighth, and Biffle is ninth.

Edwards finally gets around Kevin Harvick on lap 220, for seventh, just before a caution comes out for debris. All the lead lap cars pit. In Jimmie Johnson's pit, a tire carrier fumbles with tape he was going to add to the grill of Johnson's car, and the 48 team loses first place to Jamie McMurray, who beats Johnson out of the pits. Restart with 94 laps to go, and McMurray does not hold on to first place long at all. Johnson takes that position almost immediately. That was a pretty move. This time the driver saved the pit crew, rather than the usual other way around.

Uh-oh, Steve Letarte said "valve train." I guess that means we have to hear from Tim Brewer again? Maybe not. ESPN/ABC has shown some improvement over last year.

Jamie Little reports that Tony Stewart said he would vote for David Ragan as Driver of the Year, if he had a vote. Last year, Stewart accurately called Ragan "a dart without feathers." Driver of the Year would be a good call as well, because David Ragan has made that much improvement in one year.

I missed it somewhere, but McMurray lost second to Dirty Kurty somewhere, and now Dale Earnhardt, Jr is taking third from McMurray. Caution for debris with 51 laps to go and this will be the money stop. I actually wrote that before the guys on TV said it.

Johnson maintains the lead, coming off of pit road, and Carl Edwards moves up three positions into fourth place. I think Dirty Kurty is back in second place. Jamie McMurray is third, and Harvick will restart in fifth. Earnhardt, Jr lost several positions in the pits and will restart in sixth. Great save by Casey Mears in ninth position, as he nearly hits the wall. Hamlin makes a great move and gets into sixth, and Earnhardt gets to fifth. Harvick falls back to seventh. Jeff Gordon's engine lets go with 42 laps to go, and though there is a lot of smoke, the race stays green.

Big wreck. Casey Mears goes around, and all these other cars get involved, in the dog-leg on the back stretch. Johnny Sauter, Scott Speed. Scott Riggs, and David Gilliland are some of the other cars involved. The rear wheels of Gilliland's car ended up on the hood of Scott Speed's car. I want a picture of that. Marcos Ambrose was also involved while the traffic was trying to slow down. Red flag to clear up the wreckage. 39 laps to go in the race.

Maybe the Awesome Wreckage blog will have some good video of that wreck.

As the cars restart, Tony Stewart's #20 car had trouble starting. His fellow Hoosier and next year's team mate, Ryan Newman, gives him a push start, but he will restart in 17th. Caution with 28 laps to go, and Johnson stays out, but several cars pit for tires. The restart will see Johnson in first Kurt Busch in second, Jamie McMurray in third, Edwards in fourth, and Earnhardt Jr in fifth. Restart with 24 laps to go.

Kurt Busch gets right on the bumper of the 48 car at the restart, and Mark Martin looks like he is racing to get back on the lead lap. Another caution for debris with 21 laps to go.

It looks like everyone will stay out this time. They are showing videos of some of the action just before the caution, and I have to say, if anyone could get Jeff Burton mad, other than Kyle Busch, it would have to be Paul Menard. Yup.

Restart with fifteen laps to go, and Jimmie Johnson just takes off, and makes a big cushion between himself and second place Dirty Kurty Busch. McMurray is still in third, with Carl Edwards on his bumper, Dale Earnhardt, Jr is hanging in there in fifth. Now Harvick is racing The Bearded One for fifth, and he is going into the turns hot. So has Tony Stewart, and Allmendinger tries to get under Matt Kenseth, as Stewart is trying to get around the #17 on the outside. There is no room inside of Kenseth, so Allmendinger hits Kenseth, who hits Stewart, who spins and stalls. Stewart can't get his car restarted and goes a lap down. Allmendinger takes responsibility and feels terrible, according to his radio chatter. He ought to feel bad.

After all that mess It will be a green/white/checkered restart. Johnson is first, Kurt Busch second, McMurray third. After all that hard racing for fifth, Carl Edwards comes out of the mess in fourth, and Dale Jr is still fifth. Kevin Harvick is sixth. Kurt Busch makes a move to the inside of Johnson at the restart, but doesn't quite make it. Still racing hard on the white flag lap. He tries the outside and misses, but this race is going right down to the finish line. Johnson wins, Busch is second, McMurray third, Edwards fourth, Hamlin fifth, Earnhardt, Jr six, and it seems that everybody behind them wrecks. Matt Kenseth got some payback against the #10 car to remind AJ Allmendinger that he should feel terrible, and everyone gets caught up in the wreck.

This was another fun race, even though Johnson dominated. Dirty Kurty always throws some excitement into the mix when he is racing for first, or any position for that matter. There was no lack of action, except during the red flag. Although I feel bad for Matt Kenseth and my favorite driver, who has now fallen back to twelfth in points, I feel bad for AJ Allmendinger as well, because he knew it was a boneheaded move, but every driver out there has made that same mistake at one time or another.

Still one race to go, and I already know my NASCAR withdrawal this off-season is going to make for a difficult winter.

2008 regular season had its share of excitement and disappointment

NASCAR's regular season for 2008 ended with a great shootout between two of the best drivers in the sport. The entire season had its share of similar exciting moments, as well as some huge disappointments.

Dodge started out on a high note, with the Penske and Gillett-Evernham teams making a strong showing at the Daytona 500, resulting in a victory by Penske's #12 team and Ryan Newman. After that they sort of disappeared from the radar screen. Kasey Kahne and the GEM # 9 Dodge team had some brilliant moments, and it looked like Kahne could be a championship contender, but a late season string of bad luck over just a few short weeks virtually put that team out of the running.

Dario Franchitti seemed as though he was on the way to Rookie of The Year status, but an accident in which he broke his ankle, at Talladega, sidelined him for several weeks, and, though he had some promising runs when he returned, was unable to hold onto a sponsorship. Ganassi folded that team, financially unable to keep that team intact. Later in the season, Franchitti announced that he would be returning to the IRL.

Just prior to that, Reed Sorenson announced that he would be leaving Chip Ganassi racing to drive for Gillett-Evernham next season. This put another rookie contender, Patrick Carpentier, in a position where he may not have a ride next year. However, Gillett-Evernham has stated that if they can get full sponsorships for three of their cars next season, they will run four, which would include the popular Canadian. Gillett owns the Montreal Expos Major League Baseball team, and it is expected that he will be able to find sponsorship.

Silly Season has been the big story all season long. It began shortly after the third race of the season, at Las Vegas, when rumors sprang up that Tony Stewart's contract with Joe Gibbs Racing would be renegotiated, and that Stewart had received an offer from Haas/CNC Racing of half ownership of the team in return for leaving JGR and driving for them. These rumors turned out to be true, much to our consternation, but, in the end, we can't fault Smoke for taking what was to him the deal of a lifetime.

There were other rumors. Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex, Jr, Casey Mears, Bobby Labonte, Ryan Newman, and Mark Martin, among others, were all up for contract renewal. Which of these would stay with their teams, and which would go to other teams? Nobody was willing to talk until they saw what Stewart did. As it turned out, Harvick, Labonte, and Truex decided to stay with their respective teams. Mears would be going to RCR, and Martin to Hendrick, where he will return to full-time Cup racing as driver of the #5 car. And Newman, after expressing unhappiness with the performance of his Penske team after Daytona, will join Stewart at Stewart-Haas Racing next year.

The biggest disappointment of the season could be the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. After much anticipation of the race at the most venerable of all American racing venues, the tires that Goodyear provided for the race did not hold up to the racing surface. It became obvious that the tires were designed for a car with much more downforce than the Sprint Cup car has, and, instead of grinding in to the asphalt, as is expected of the rubber compound, the worn rubber simply powdered and blew away.

Although the #24 team of Jeff Gordon has had some great moments this season, and the team is in the Chase for the Championship, the performance of that team has been somewhat lackluster, especially in view of their success last season. Poor pit stops, run ins with team mate Jimmie Johnson on the track, and completely missed set ups have plagued the team, and we have not seen Gordon, who is arguably the most gifted and talented active driver in the series, show much of his full potential. We don't think he is out of his prime, but if he could turn things around, we would be better convinced that it isn't time for him to retire. Before any Gordon fans get angry at that statement, consider that I often wish my favorite driver, Tony Stewart, would retire so I can pick a new one. However, as long as he is racing, no matter what make of car he is racing or team he is with, we will stick with him. We expect Jeff Gordon fans to feel the same.

The performance of the new car in its first full season in NASCAR has been good at some tracks, but not so good at others, most notably the intermediate tracks. This could also be attributed to the lack of compatibility between the tire and the car. The car seems racy when the contenders are running side by side back in the pack, but it cannot complete a pass on another car that is running in clean air. We hope that NASCAR, who has left it to the teams to figure out how to race the car, will give a little more leeway to the teams in creating different aerodynamic configurations for the car, though that won't solve all the problems. Goodyear definitely needs to come up with a new tire design.

Aside from silly season, the failure of the Dodge teams, and the disappointment in the racing at some tracks, the biggest story of the regular season was most likely the crash between Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt, Jr while Junior was leading the first race of the year at Richmond. Busch tried to pass Junior on the bottom of the track, went into a turn too hot and slid up into Junior's car, spinning Junior and costing him the race. This permanently traumatized millions of race fans, and they will probably never get over it without professional help, even after Junior got revenge in the final race of the regular season. That just goes to show how emotionally involving racing is to the fan. That is what NASCAR racing does to all of us, no matter who our favorite driver might be.

All in all, there have been good races and bad races, moments of brilliance and stupidity, times of celebration and bitter disappointment. NASCAR has made a lot of changes since we first began watching it in the early 1960's, but in the end, it is still NASCAR racing, and is still the only motorports racing series that offers to the fan all that NASCAR has.

Trust is the key to happiness in racing

Those of you who are still regular readers of this blog have stuck with me while I've been going through emotional ups and downs over my favorite driver's impending "doom."

I hope that my readers understand that, in reality, I am not that emotionally unstable over Tony Stewart's move at the end of this season, when he leaves Joe Gibbs Racing and moves on to his own team, Stewart-Haas Racing. My purpose is to entertain, and broadcasting my feelings in the way it has been done on this blog is mainly to provide what we hope is entertainment.

In reality, though we still have some misgivings, we are looking forward to seeing how Smoke handles this new challenge. We don't expect immediate success, but we trust Stewart's competitive instincts, and his strong desire to be a winner, so we have to believe that he will turn his new team into a winning operation.

As you may have read in Sunday's "Live on Type Delay," we read comments on Trent Cherry's blog that discussed the possibility that Hendrick Motorsports would lease Haas CNC and Stewart-Haas racing with equipment not equal to that which HMS uses themselves. That is the thinking of football fans, not racing fans.

Racing is about trust. Every week, every driver's well being is dependent on the competition being good enough so as not to mess up his own chances to finish the race well. That would include the equipment the competition is using. Each team knows that there is less of a chance of being taken out by another car due to equipment malfunction or failure if the equipment is as good as their own. Any team leasing equipment to another team may not be able to control the other team's driving abilities, or the attitude of the team itself, but at least they can ensure that it would not be the equipment that causes a bad accident involving their own drivers.

Something else to consider is enterprise. HMS, for example, receives income from Haas in exchange for the equipment Haas CNC uses. If they are dissatisfied with the equipment they could always go to someone else, or, being owned by Haas Automation, they could easily build their own equipment. Haas does, after all, sell test equipment and high tech suspension components to most of the other teams in NASCAR. Is there anyone who would accuse them of selling substandard equipment? They could make Scott Riggs unbeatable with so much power, but, in order to sell equipment to the other teams, they have to be trusted.

So, we are looking forward to next season already, with eager anticipation that Smoke will succeed. Ryan Newman seems to believe Stewart-Haas will succeed as well, as the announcement that he will be joining Smoke next season has been made official. And all that is because of trust.