Nascar at Darlington

You've been patiently waiting, and your patience is being rewarded. Let's go to Darlington.

6:09 PM
Darlington's one of my favorite tracks. Some of my favorite races have happened at Darlington, including the '93 and '94 spring race, the '91 Southern 500 and the '93 Southern 500, which had some of the best racing I've ever seen.

6:28 PM
My oldest son told me that the "Hit List" was favorite meals and I'm glad they had that segment. That's the kind of hard-hitting racing information that the Fox pre-race show gives you.

6:32 PM
Mike Joy announces that they're set an over/under on cautions, but, strangely, he doesn't want to tell us that number yet. I guess they don't want to be wrong, so they'll wait until we hit that number before saying what it is. That way, they can all pat themselves on the back about how clever they are.

I can say that I would have set the number at 8, but since the race will be over by the time everybody reads this, nobody will believe me. But, the guys who should be making predictions like this, and, really, are paid to make predictions like this, won't do it. They would rather tell us what happened rather than predict what will happen. Mike Joy might as well have said, "We think there are going to be cautions tonight." Would have been just as useful.

6:33 PM
I do like Junior's Mountain Dew car. In a bit of bad news for Junior and PepsiCo, I won't be buying a diecast replica of that car. Sorry, guys.

6:34 PM
Here's a difference between the Taters and a real driver. The Taters talk about Give and Take. Junior talks about how he has to avoid overdriving the car. I think I'm going with Junior's analysis. I'm surprised they haven't told us anything about racing the track. That's a favorite cliche here.

6:38 PM
The speedshots are one of the great things about Darlington. Such a little track and they go so fast.

6:39 PM
The Sadler/Stewart wreck is a classic example of overdriving. Sadler overdrove the corner and went into the wall.

6:43 PM
You know who was brilliant at the crossover move? That's right, Dale Earnhardt. He was the master at it. Some of the great racing I alluded to earlier was Earnhardt using the crossover move to pass.

6:46 PM
There was a time when the cars were bigger than they are today that the drivers wanted, even needed, to have a Darlington Stripe. The only way to get through the 4th turn, which is now turn 2, was to get a Darlington Stripe. It would have been nice if the Fox crew had pointed this out.

6:51 PM
Now they're calling Kyle Busch "Wild Thing"? That's just the first of many eye-rolls I'm sure are in store tonight.

7:25 PM
Kyle losing his brakes is what happens when you burn up the brakes driving so hard. The car may have smaller brakes, but it's not like he's not adjusted his driving style to compensate.

7:27 PM
This is the 4th night race at Darlington and Larry comments that he doesn't think we should be seeing the brake rotors glow this early in the race. Shouldn't Larry know by now what we should and shouldn't see at Darlington at night?

7:28 PM
I don't think they mentioned it at the top of the broadcast, but the last time Darlington was repaved was 1995. Just as then, the cars are much faster. It won't take long, as early as the next time they race here, that the tires will start to get chewed up just like they used to.

7:34 PM
Yes, I'm sure the paint job really helps the car run faster. *eye roll* PS. Don't want to use up all my smileys yet.

7:35 PM
There's a "race the track" sighting. It's the first time I've heard it tonight. My wife wonders why they don't just say, "Run slower to save your car for later in the race." I tell her it's because saying "race the track" makes you sound clever.

7:40 PM
Robby Gordon's had a rough week in that 7 car. That's an odd thing to say, isn't it? I mean, we already know by now that Robby Gordon drives the #7 car. Saying, "in the #7 car" is a bit redundant. I guess Larry has to be sure that we don't think he's talking about some other car he drives. We might just think that although he had a rough week in the 7, he had a good week in the 37, or whatever.

7:43 PM
I just noticed that Larry does this quite a bit. They had a frame around Jeff Burton's car in the pit and to the left of it, they showed the number 31. So, Larry says, "Jeff Burton, in the 31 car..." which is completely redundant since we just saw on the screen, and already know anyway, that Jeff Burton's driving the 31.

7:47 PM
Larry did it again. Greg Biffle in the 16. Kyle Busch in the 18. Did somebody get into the car after the race started? If not, then let's stop doing this.

7:48 PM
Kyle's finally figured out that he doesn't need to race Greg Biffle so hard. Oh, I see. He gave Biffle the lead after he almost wrecked him.

7:53 PM
Does anybody besides my wife think the phrase "whoa the car up" isn't clever? *counting heads* I see. Most of you. How about this? Say Yes if you think the phrase "Whoa the car up" is clever.

*crickets*

7:54 PM
"They always used to tell me to work my hands and not my mouth." Wouldn't hurt to follow that advice once in a while, ol' DW. :wavey:

7:55 PM
The debris caution looks like it was for a candy bar wrapper. Funny, I didn't think Jimmy Spencer was driving anymore.

8:14 PM
"Kyle Busch likes it on the apron. I saw him pass a few cars down there."

Yep, the President of the Kyle Busch Fan Club is fulfilling his duties tonight. Good job, Prez.

8:14 PM
It was a great save by Greg Biffle, no doubt. Let's not pretend that there aren't other drivers who could have saved the car like he did.

And gassing it to get out of trouble? I had a guy who used to race motorcycles tell me, "When in doubt, gas it."

They all do what Biffle did. It was a great save, but it's not like he and he alone was the only one capable of saving that car.

8:16 PM
You're right, DW, the drivers would be in some serious trouble without their cool box. Imagine driving this track without air conditioning. Oh, that's right, they used to do exactly that. Except they did it during the day. Under a blazing hot sun. With high humidity. For 500 miles.

Air conditioning in racecars begs the question. Are these drivers turning into wusses?

8:19 PM
The hit by Junior in turn 2 didn't look so bad until we saw it from Jeff Gordon's view. The old car would be completely ruined with a hit like that. This car doesn't seem to mind so much.

8:35 PM 5/10/2008
You're right, DW, you don't talk much about Jamie McMurray. I wonder why that is. Hmmmm *thinking thinking* Maybe it's because he isn't very good and runs up front by accident? I don't know. Just a thought.

8:42 PM
Thanks to Jeff Hammond for another useless segment telling us about radio communication stuff that we've known about for years.

8:43 PM
Speaking of Labor Day and how Nascar won't be at Darlington, Booo! Boooo!

8:58 PM
I have no idea what Greg Biffle means by "can't keep the wheels tight". Is he talking about the lugnuts, because I didn't think that's what put him out. If anybody has a translation for that, I'd like to hear it.

9:06 PM
With 115 laps to go, DW thinks he's just become a prophet. At the beginning of the race, DW said that Junior would have to beat Jeff Gordon to win and with 115 laps to go and Jeff leading and Junior 2nd, DW thinks he's just become a prophet. Remember that over/under number on cautions for the race and how they wouldn't tell us what that number is? Yeah, these guys aren't as smart as they think they are. Neither is your faithful correspondent, but I'm not paid to be smart. Wait, that didn't come out right.

9:08 PM
Hooray! Finally something useful. Jeff Hammond showed us the asphalt before it was repaved. BTW, after repaving in 1995, the track looked just like it does now. If, after this race, fans are worried that Darlington isn't "right", never fear. A year from now, the track "Too Tough to Tame" will be chewing up tires just like it used to.

9:42 PM
I've never seen a car as beat up as Kyle's is win at Darlington.

9:45 PM
With all the love for Greg Biffle's save, where's the love for Kasey Kahne's save? It's every bit as impressive as Biffle's was.

9:50 PM
It didn't take long for me to hate the Friday's commercials advertising their $6 menu. Raise your hand if you want to eat a $6 steak.

9:55 PM
You know what the #1 thing that was added to Toyota's effort by bringing on Joe Gibbs Racing? Good drivers and good teams.

10:09 PM
Yet another race run up front without winning for Dale Earnhardt Jr. In the #88 car of course.

10:09 PM
Here we go with the Kyle Busch Love Fest from the Kyle Busch Fan Club.

10:10 PM
I wish I remembered Larry saying that whoever got Kyle Busch would be the big winner of the driver changes, but I have serious doubts that he actually said that. BTW, they never did tell us their over/under on cautions tonight.

10:12 PM
If they play "Wild Thing" for Kyle Busch next Saturday, I think I might shove an icepick in my ear. Would be less annoying.

10:13 PM
Mike Joy: "Kyle Busch in Victory Lane. How about that?" *getting dizzy from my eyes rolling around in my head so much*

The weekly Kyle Busch Lovefest is nauseating.


PS. Before I posted this, I went back and looked through the postings I've made this year. If Larry McReynolds actually said that whoever got Kyle Busch would win the driver swap, I didn't make a note of it, and that sounds like something I would have made a note about. I conclude that he didn't say it during a race broadcast that I've seen, but that's not to say he didn't actually say it. I'm curious if anybody remembers if/when Larry actually made that statement.

 

Really? Huh. Obviously, this is the difference between someone who's followed it closely for years and somebody who hasn't followed it as closely. I think I stand corrected about why they show things like that. I don't mind that. Thanks, Gayla.

I really don't have a huge problem with Kyle Busch. My driver was a guy who was notorious for bumping people out of the way, so it would be highly hypocritical for me to slam Kyle for that, and I don't. The rest of the hype about Kyle Busch "is smoke-filled coffeehouse crap."

My problem is with the weekly Kyle Busch Lovefest. He's not the GRDAT. He's a race car driver who's having a nice run right now. No more. No less. The Fox Kyle Busch Fan Club wants to talk about how great he is and how he does things nobody else does and blah blah blah. First, let's let him "hang some banners in the gym", so to speak, before we imply he's the greatest. Second, what does Kyle do that nobody else does? I'd like to know, because I don't see what he does that's different from say, Carl Edwards.

We love to take the BooYah network to task for the overhype, but, in this case, the Fox guys are just as bad as ESPN is in this regard. I don't know about anybody else, but I'm ready for TNT's coverage and the sanity of one Wally Dallenbach. If there's anybody that's not going to buy into the hype, it's Wally.