NASCAR is back, part II

Let's not try to play now that you all of a sudden are objective on this matter.

I thought I made this pretty clear. I do not like Gordon. I think he is a whiner and a cry baby. Yet I would not say that I "hate" any driver. I just don't care for him, how he handles himself, his team, and pretty much everything that surrounds the 24 team. He is pretty much too "girly" for me.

You have every right to feel like that towards Junior. Ccr has every right to not like him and call him "Geek-boy". I have no problem with that.

I have stated before the main reason I like Junior is what happened with his father. I lost my father at about the same age that he lost his father and I cannot imagine having to go through that on a national stage. My heart went out to him, and since then I have been his fan. Maybe in your mind that is not a good reason to be his fan, but that does not really matter to me. Do I agree with him all the time? No. Do I feel like he does stupid stuff at times? Yes, but I do think he is growing up and getting better.

In reality are not all the drivers hypocrites, selfish and have ego problems? Do you not have to have some of that to be a good driver?

:laugh: I would prefer that he not talk most times. However, he is a cry baby because of what he does and says, not the sound of his voice.

:thumbs:

 

Whoops. Let me correct this. Jeff Gordon is Geek Boy, a moniker given to him by my wife. She makes fun of him all the time. BTW, this is pretty irrelevant to anything, but she thinks Geek Boy has gotten himself some hair plugs this year. Of course, she makes fun of most of the drivers, mostly because they don't compare favorably to me. :thumbsup:

Her best comments are about the Busch brothers and those ears. :laugh:

Dale Jr is my driver, although I don't root for him as hard as I did Dale Sr.

 

Sorry about that ccr. I must have misread your statement.

Nice name for Gordon btw.

 

Are you implying that the Busch brothers "drive by ear"?:tongue3:

 

Good call by the 8 team today.

FTR, someone on the 24 team choked... again. They're having more equipment failures than the other Hendrick teams. Whether Gordon wears out the equipment or doesn't know what he's doing or someone in the garage isn't doing their job, if this junk continues they'll be out. They were very fortunate to finish 16th and probably wouldn't have if it hadn't been for that last wreck.

 

I know this isn't going that much out on a limb, but the future 2006 champion won yesterday at Indianapolis. That is, unless Cheater Knauss finds a way to cost his driver more points. There was a question a couple of weeks ago about whether we would see the 400 point cutoff come into play this year and I think that question was answered yesterday. There will only be 10 drivers in the Chase, and I believe they will all be racing for 2nd.

I fell asleep not once yesterday, but twice. IMNSHO, Indianapolis is a terrible track for Cup racing. It always has been. There have been 2 good races at the Brickyard 400, not the {sponsornamedeleted} 400. The first one became a good race after Bodine wrecked his brother and the 1995 race was good, but only because of who won it. :thumbsup:

Bill Webber's hushed tones about Indianapolis got on my nerves. He gets on my nerves most of the time anyway, but the talking like he was on holy ground just got under my skin. Speaking of TV, can we get the TNT guys to stop asking the stupid question, "What would/does it mean to win/race here?" They sound like a bunch of nitwits asking that question.

Since I fell asleep, I have no idea how Jr finished 6th. Most of the race he languished back in the 20s and 30s, and then I found out much later that he finished 6th. Please tell me how this happened.

Quoting Steve Matchett on a similar situation at the Hungarian Grand Prix yesterday, "If I were that crewman, I would just walk away and keep on walking." There is a very real chance that Jeff will miss the Chase because of that failure. How would you like to be the crewman that caused Jeff to miss the Chase?

BTW, did anybody watch the Hungarian Grand Prix? What a weird race. Schumacher let a huge opportunity pass him by yesterday.

P.S. If you think I made that statement about Cheater Knauss just so I could say "Cheater Knauss" again, then you know me too well.

 

Sadly, I agree. He is having a great year and it does not appear that anyone can beat him this year for the cup.

There was a caution at lap 17 and all the leaders went to pit road to get tires. Junior gambled and stayed out and moved up to the front. Then he had to hold on for dear life as the guys with new tires came racing up behind him. As Scott said, it was a great call. He did a good job of being able to stay in 6th.

 

I agree that Johnson is the likely winner of the chase this year. Kenseth is very consistent and could challenge him, but in a close race I think Johnson has the killer instinct to win which Kenseth seems to lack.

I have seen no one comment on this in print and I have seen the replay only once, so, is it my imagination or did Kasey Kahne try to wreck Tony Stewart, but miss his car and slam the wall?

 

swaim, I watched the replay of that a few times and I dont think Kahne was trying to wreck Stewart. I think he just got loose and ended up having a nasty crash in the wall. Thank goodness for the head/neck restraints on that one.

 

I meant to say this on Monday, and Ben Blake's column on Speedtv.com reminded me of it.

Does anybody think, as I do, that the Brickyard 400 is just another Nascar race?

I remember somebody on Sunday saying that Daytona and Indy are the most prestigious races on the schedule, and maybe Indy is prestigious, but I think Daytona far surpasses Indy on the Nascar schedule.

What do you think? Is Indy an important race, or just another Nascar race on the schedule?

 

I think Daytonna is way more prestigious than the Brickyard.

I have a soft spot for the race because being an Indiana boy the track is something special.

Also, it does seem that the drivers think the Brickyard is something pretty special.

 

Indianapolis speedway is prestigious because of its long history. The drivers definitely want to win there and I think the races there are very intense--not necessarily competitive, but intense.

NASCAR's history centers around Daytona International Speedway, not Indianapolis. Daytona is more prestigious and, for stock cars, the racing at Daytona is better.

 

I'm really bummed that Todd Parrot is leaving the Pettys to return to Yates. I know he has loyalties at Yates so I understand. Unfortunately, that is probably the end of the progress the 43 car has made this year. They may run as well as they have but I doubt they improve any more.

 

As much as I like Todd Parrot, it seems the teams on the move. comes up with new unname folks. They are known by the folks in NASCAR but not by the fans.

I'm from Fl., but I think Darlington is the best, it is more driver. But with that said, Daytona is number one.

 

Although I still think that the #48 will win the championship, I think Harvick should be considered as a legitimate contender for the Cup.

After going off course late, Dale Jr drove from 35th to 20th in the last 8 laps. I like that the driver could make those positions up, but I don't like that the driver was back in 35th in the first place. His finishes at the first races at Michigan, Bristol, California and Richmond were 3rd, 11th, 11th and 1st, an average of 7th. If the 7th place average finish is duplicated, he'll make it into the Chase.

For the 2nd year in a row, we will have a situation where drivers with no wins will make the Chase and drivers that have at least 1 win will miss it. I suspect that this will change for 2007. My guess is that the drivers making the Chase will include those in the Top 10, those within X points (probably remains at 400) and those who have at least 1 win.

 

And adding winners to the chase will be a good thing!

 

I always look forward to races at Michigan International Speedway.

I live about 20 miles SW of Brooklyn, MI, and have been at several races held there.

 

We haven't talked about MIS at all this week. Not sure why. But I'm not even posting about MIS myself today.

I've been going through some stuff I've missed lately and found a nice piece on thatsracin.com by Tom Higgins about Tony Stewart. I don't think anybody here thinks Tony Stewart is the greatest ever, and I'm not sure if anybody thinks he will be. Junior Johnson doesn't think much of Tony, and neither does Higgins. Here's a link to the column.

My favorite line: "Tony Stewart couldn't carry Dale Earnhardt's helmet to his car."

 

I read Higgin's column. He has retired from weekly reporting of NASCAR but has covered the sport since the early 60's at least. I always enjoy reading him. I must say that I was surprised to see him criticize a current driver so strongly. I agreed with what he said.

 

I thought the Bristol race was as pedestrian a race I've seen at Bristol.

I'm still not sure what Jeff Gordon was talking about in his post-race interview. Although, he was racing Scott Riggs, which would have made me nervous too. :smilewinkgrin:

After consecutive 43rd place finishes in July, Jr. got on his team, saying he was disappointed with them and his cars. Evidently, that worked, because they've run well ever since.

Kasey Kahne this year and Jeff Gordon last year are perfect examples of what needs to be fixed with the current Chase format. Gordon had 3 wins last year and missed out and Kasey has 4 wins this year and will probably be out. This is something that needs to be fixed. Drivers with multiple wins shouldn't be shutout in favor of drivers who have no wins.