Looking to Daytona

Pencil in March 11th, 2012 for McMurray's next win.

There is a reason why championship drivers aren't in the habit of helping other drivers win. Kyle should look into this.

On a simracing board I'm on, one of the posters uses a picture of a donkey superimposed with the Home Depot driving suit for their avatar. Apt, I think.

TNT tried their new "wide-open" package for the race. It was an improvement in that you didn't miss much racing, but we had to put up with Bill Webber, which makes it a wash. The most impressive guy on TV right now is Kyle Petty as an analyst. He's fantastic.

 

There's only one thing that McMurray did that has annoyed me and got me to actively root against him. In the 2005 spring Talladega race, Jeff Gordon was the class of the field. The only guy who had even a remote chance of running with him was Stewart. McMurray was running 2nd late in the race and instead of taking a chance and going for the win, he was perfectly content to run 2nd. He made 0 moves to try and win.

I have no respect for race car drivers who don't even make a move to try and win a race. He did make the right moves on Saturday. Perhaps my opinion of him will change. Just not quite yet.

 

That's weird, because I don't recall Brian Vickers whining about getting no help after his teammate beat him in the spring Talladega race last year. Busch has no room to complain unless he's helped Jeff Gordon win a race, and he hasn't done that.

What he needed to do was just shutup.

Vickers didn't take out 2 teammates, but 1. Dale Jr wasn't a teammate.

 

Brickyard

Due to a full day of yardwork on Saturday, I was wiped out and slept through most of the Brickyard. Other than Stewart-Harvick, and Earnhardt in front, I haven't a clue as to whether the rest of the race was good. I really thought Earnhardt would win, so when I woke up and saw he was 4th, and then he blew up, well, it was disappointing. :BangHead:

Earlier this year, I had some praise for Rusty because of some nice analysis he did during the Busch race at California. Now, he's approaching #1 on the list of worst analysts ever, a spot currently occupied by Buddy Baker. I counted 2 stupid things that Rusty said late in the race.

#1 - Tony Stewart ran a 53.29 while Harvick ran a 53.70. The next lap, Stewart ran a 53.80. 2 laps later, Jeff Gordon ran a 53.80 and was pronounced to be the fastest car on the track by Rusty. Uh, Rusty? Jeff just ran the 3rd fastest lap you gave. That doesn't make him the fastest car on the track.

#2 - While raving about Juan Montoya, Rusty said that it was amazing that he was running 2nd on a track he'd never been to before. Uh, Rusty? Juan Montoya won the 2000 Indianapolis 500.

Both times, I could almost envision Dr. Jerry Punch giving Rusty a sideways glance before turning back and continuing on as if Rusty said nothing.

I'm not sure what to make of the "seeing the air" stuff. I didn't find it especially interesting or compelling. It could be because of the analyst. I have a suspicion that Rusty Wallace is one of those guys who is a great driver because he has the instincts for it, but isn't one of those guys who will be a great analyst because he doesn't really know how to explain something so that we can understand it.

It was great to hear Dr. Punch again on Nascar. I think Andy Petree did Ok, but, again, I was asleep for most of the race, so it's hard to say. At least Andy didn't say anything stupid in the last 20 laps or so.

I've decided to elect myself as the President of the BaptistBoard Anybody But Stewart Fan Club (BBABS). I'm taking membership applications starting today. Scott, if you're lurking, I've already filled yours out for you and you're accepted. Anybody else want to join?

"This win is for the fans who have to put with all the BS."

You mean, all the BS that you cause, Tony? I love how Tony creates all the BS, then blames it on the media.

Looking forward to next week when Montoya moves Stewart aside and wins Watkins Glen, then we get to listen to Stewart whine about it. :thumbs:

 

I wasn't sure whether Harvick was mad at Stewart or not, then I found this quote.

Harvick is 100% right.

If it turns out in 08 like we've seen so far, the new car should resolve this kind of situation because it's not as sensitive to the air as the current car is.

 

:BangHead:

:BangHead:

This is also because Dale Jr blew up when he had a good car.

:BangHead:

:tonofbricks:

 

The only saving grace for Junior was that Newman exited the race early as well. AFAIC, the 2008 season can't get here fast enough to get Junior out of DEI.

 

Nascar on ESPN

After 2 races, it's time to give ESPN their lumps and their kudos for selecting their Nascar team.

Suzy Kolber - I try not to watch pre-race stuff. I find that my eyes roll around quite a bit and most of it's boring fluff. But, despite that, and despite the fact that she doesn't seem to know too much about racing, I think she does pretty well. As the host, or hostess, her job is traffic cop, throwing it to other people, seguing to segments, etc. I didn't find myself rolling my eyes too much at her, not like I did with Chris Myers, or that guy on TNT. I'll give her a B, which puts her ahead of everybody else in that in-race host role.

Brad Daugherty - Who had the brilliant idea of putting Brad Daugherty on the Nascar team? Just because he used to own a car and thinks Richard Petty is great doesn't mean he knows anything about racing. Here's what he contributed today (paraphrased).

"Kurt Busch is fast."
"Kurt Busch is incredibly fast."
"Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are going to have fun in the Chase."
"Kurt Busch is really fast."

This and other comments provided absolutely nothing. I don't particularly care for Jeff Hammond in this role, but at least Jeff knows something about racing. I didn't hear Daugherty say it, but here's what Robin Miller (auto racing writer for SpeedTV) noted from last week.

Daugherty gets an F. He contributes nothing.

Dr. Jerry Punch - I'm glad that Dr. Punch is back on Nascar, but he was always better as a pit reporter, and I always thought of him as sort of, um, stilted, I guess, when it comes to play-by-play. It would help if he wasn't getting stepped on by Rusty Wallace. More on Rusty later. I think the good doctor gets a B+, mostly because I think he'll get better.

Andy Petree - Andy was a great crew chief. He won 2 championships with Earnhardt and his innovative rear-camber led to Mr. September winning 4 in a row in 1991. Andy knows what he's talking about and he's able to deliver it well. Give him an A.

Tim Brewer - The explanation, and demonstration, of what coil binding is was fantastic. He gets an A+ for that all by itself.

Rusty Wallace - *groan* What a train wreck. On the caution with 62 to go, Andy Petree says, "They're now in the window where everybody can make it on 1 more stop, so I expect we'll see them all on pit road." Rusty Wallace says, "Hey, if they come in now, they can make it on one more stop." Way to keep up there, Rusty.

When Kyle Busch can't get to pit road because somebody (Reutiman I think) is there, Dr. Punch points it out. In the next breath, Rusty says the same thing.

Rusty also took it upon himself to do the play-by-play at times, such as when he took over during the Newman-whoever battle late in the race. Rusty was a great driver, but he's a bad analyst. The instincts that made him a great driver do not equip him to be a good analyst. Plus, his taking over play-by-play during the Newman battle noted above suggests that he doesn't think anybody else can do a better job than he can. I wonder if this is why Jeremy Mayfield and Ryan Newman both used to complain about him being a poor teammate? Hmm...

Rusty makes me long for the days of Buddy Baker. Rusty get a D and if he doesn't improve, I'm going have to figure out how to tune him out. Rusty is about to displace Buddy as worst analyst, if he hasn't already.

Ways to improve the telecast
Remove Brad Daugherty immediately. Entice Dale Jarrett to get out of the car and take over that role. I saw DJ on some Busch race recently, and he was good. He should definitely be on TV when he gets tired of enduring seasons like this one.

Remove Rusty Wallace immediately. Pay Wally Dallenbach whatever it will take to get him in that booth.

I was skeptical of Wally "Fallingback" when NBC/TNT first took over, but he's turned out to be a great analyst. In fact, when Kyle Petty was in there with Wally for a couple of races, those 2 were the best analyst combo since Ned and Benny.

Something has to change. Bad announcing teams can make sporting events totally unwatchable, such as the awful Sunday night football team of Theisman, Patrick and Paul whatshisname. I know it's only been 2 races, but that's enough to call for a change.