Texas Notes
In my Nascar fantasy league, I had picked Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr. I had almost picked Jeff Burton instead of Jimmie. Rats.
:BangHead:
Anyway, on to my notes.
I did believe Jeff Gordon when he said he was more upset about losing than anything Jimmie did. Of course, he had a couple of weeks to think about that answer, and I don't remember what he said after losing 2 weeks ago.
Oh, and thanks to Chris Myers for pointing out that Tony Stewart was behind Jimmie and Jeff at the end of the interview.
It's not like we couldn't figure that one out for ourselves. I have to assume that he gets paid everytime he mentions a star. This just affirms my belief that Fox and TNT are more interested in promoting the stars rather than broadcasting a sporting event. Although, in the case of Nascar, sporting event may be going too far.
There was a time when Junior Johnson dominated Nascar. Presently, Hendricks Motorsports does. Is there some hand-wringing going on about this that I'm not aware of? If so, why? Do the hand-wringers not know their history? The Junior Johnson era came and went. The Petty Enterprises era came and went. The Darrell Waltrip era came and went. The Dale Earnhardt era came and went. This will happen to Hendrick. Count on it.
I find it hard to believe that Fox spends any time on McMurray. He's not McBetter, nor is he McWorse. He's McAverage. He doesn't McWin. He doesn't McRun upfront. When given the McChance to try and win at Talladega a couple of years ago, he McHelped somebody else win. The only notable thing he did was sit in Sterling Marlin's McCar 5 years ago and win at Charlotte. The only notable thing he does now is drive for Jack Roush. And if the Mc thing is McGood enough for McFox, it's McGood enough for McMe. :wavey:
McDonald's is really scraping the bottom of the barrel using David Faustino for their commercials. When did Bud Bundy become hip and cool?
On the Ricky Rudd wreck, you can tell this is real life and not a movie because Rudd's car didn't flip over. He hit Ragan's car perfectly for a flip. I was disappointed.
Speaking of Larry Mac knowing the exact temperature at last year's Texas race, Larry didn't have to Google that. He wrote it down last year. When he was a crew chief, he took more notes than anybody. Pages and pages of them. That practice is part of what made him a successful crew chief, and he continues his note-taking practice as a tator.
What is up with Kevin Harvick? He got 5 wins last year, won the Daytona 500, and has done zero since. Inquiring minds.
At least Harvick has won. The Evernham cars have been dreadful. I said this not long ago, but Kasey Kahne has easily been the most disappointing driver of 07 after 6 wins last year.
So, I fell asleep for a bit and Jeff Gordon was leading when I woke up. I think I need to go back to sleep again.
Charlie Sheen: "It's broadcast in 1080i, which means it's cool." Here's what Charlie should be saying.
"It's broadcast in 1080i, which I know nothing about, but I'm hauling away money in a truck from doing this commercial, so that's cool."
Mike Joy calls him Jimmie Gordon. Sounds like somebody's been using the Jack Johnson Memory System. Or was it the Joe Jackson Memory System?
When I can, I watch old races. A couple of weeks ago, ESPN Classic was showing the 1991 spring Martinsville race. Jerry Punch mentioned how fast a pit stop was when they changed 2 tires in 20 seconds. Today, the #8 crew rips of a 4-tire change in 13 seconds. Phenomenal.
Did you guys see the teeshirt that Kurt Busch wore after his stint at Wrigley Field? "Real Cubs Fan (I know the words)"
It's a little dig at Jeff Gordon because he forgot the words in his stint at Wrigley "Stadium". But, I thought that the words that all real Cubs fans knew were "Wait till next year."
Dale Jr did something today that nobody else did since the beginning of the race. Pass Jeff Gordon. It's taken them longer than I thought it would, but Dale and Tony Jr are getting back on the same page about their car.
One thing that I've never liked, and Buddy Baker made a regular habit of it, was when the announcers told us about what was happening in the announcers booth. Buddy would tell us when they got ice cream, or sandwiches, or when Eli Gold spilled his drink, or all manner of things that nobody cared about. I want to watch a race and listen to expert tator opinion and I don't care about the goings-on in the tators booth. So, Mike Joy tells us about the sandwiches and Dove bars and I yawn. I don't really care whether the tators just got food, ice cream, beer or strippers delivered to their booth.
Krista Voda just threw 3 baseball references into 1 sentence. Somewhere, Bill Webber is smiling proudly.
My wife just asked who Krista Voda knows to get her position on pit road. I don't know if she knows anybody, but I think she's earned her position, unlike the next to useless Jeanne Zelasko, who I'm convinced has pictures of somebody and that somebody let her be a pit road reporter.
I hope everybody texted Domino's to pick the next paint scheme that will be on the car when David Reutiman crashes it.
It's a good thing that they mandated that drive shaft tunnel on the COT, because it happens so often that the drive shaft comes off the car and flies into the windshield of another car or into the stands. Typically, when the drive shaft comes off, it pretty much lays right there where it came off. I have never seen the drive shaft take off like a rocket. I guess the drive shaft tunnel is a nice-to-have, but it solves a problem that didn't exist.
Actually, to answer the question, yes, we can get enough of Denny Hamlin. I've had enough of his commercials.
Does anybody know who the black guy (assumed rapper) is with Dale Jr in those Impala commercials where they swap cars? I don't know who he is, and I'm not going to take the time to figure it out. Is he a rapper? I have nothing disparaging to say, I'm just mildly curious.
My wife, who knows a tiny bit of Spanish, says that Boogity, Boogity, Boogity has to do with picking your nose.
On the JPM/Stewart wreck, I think Montoya just drove too hard into the corner. Jimmie Johnson said that the issue was that they were trying to figure out who is going before the other. This phenomenon has a name. We call it racing. Thanks, Jimmie.
When a car is spinning in front of you, and there's a lot of smoke, shouldn't you slow down there, Kyle? My wife said something about the spotter not saying anything, but the spin was right there in front of him. I don't really understand how Junior slows down but Kyle doesn't.
Any bets on how long "Drive" lasts? I'm setting the over/under at 6 weeks.
Right. Jeff Gordon won the race off pit road totally because of his pit road selection. It had nothing to do with the fact that his pit crew was just as fast as Mark Martin's pit crew, nosiree. The importance of pit road selection is overstated.
Dale Jr does seem very confident about his team. I haven't seem him show confidence in his team since the 2004 season.
Great racing by Burton and Kenseth. I really didn't think Burton was going to pass him.
On Wind Tunnel, I heard that Tony Stewart was talking about how much fun he's not having and that once he gets enough money, he'll retire. The questions are, #1, how much money is enough? #2, what other profession pays him like his current one does? #3, could he even do it, or, would he be like Mark Martin and keep racing? I've heard some say that the only way Dale Earnhardt was ever going to stop racing is when he died in the car. I think Tony is much the same.
BTW, the answer to #1 is "Just a little more."
Also on Wind Tunnel, an angry caller was mad at Kyle Busch for being an idiot. He insisted that it wasn't because Junior got wrecked, but that Nascar needs to do something about him. Nascar doesn't need to do anything. Rick Hendrick doesn't want him tearing up racecars, so I suspect that Hendrick Motorsports will take care of that situation just fine.
This was a pretty good race. Passes for the lead under green. Unexpected twists during the race. Good racing for the win. There wasn't much to dislike about this race.
