Nascar at Indy

If you've been following these silly notes I write, you know I recently moved to Nashville, TN. In fact, I have an apartment that's about 15 minutes from work. Really, I don't like it very much here. My wife's not here because she's back at home getting the house ready to sell. My kids aren't here because my wife's not here. I went and visited the first church on my list and it's pretty similar to the church we left. The only thing I really don't like is that the 1st worship service is at 8:15, which is too early, and the 2nd one is at 10:45, which is too late. But, I did make it back to my place in time for the race to start.

1:37 PM
Sorry, no update because I'm talking on the phone with my oldest boy.

1:57 PM
Agree with Andy Petree that there are going to be more problems. This is going to be a long race for cautions with the tire problems.

1:58 PM
I have to say, I like Rusty better now that I don't have to hear him as much.

(I'm writing this on Monday night and I'm watching ST:TNG as I write it. It's "Time's Arrow" and Whoopi Goldberg and her smugness has always annoyed me on this show. And the actor overacting as Samuel Clemens is very annoying too. Anyway.. sorry)

1:59 PM
With the continued problems we're seeing, I'd put good money down that they're going to be switching to the Pocono tires before the day is over.

2:20 PM
Really Brad? Do you mean that the best teams in the sport are handling the tire problems better than anybody else? What a revelation that is. It's good that Brad Daugherty's here to tell us things like that.

2:28 PM
Wow. DJ talking about 8 lap segments. Good grief.

2:29 PM
So far so good with the Dale Jarrett era on ESPN. The main thing I like most is the lack of fawning over drivers. I knew DJ wasn't going to do that.

2:33 PM
Good work by ESPN to keep up with the tire issue. I like how Steve Letarte isn't complaining about the tires, just telling Jeff that they have to deal with them.

2:34 PM
How is Dale Jr not on the lead lap now?

2:35 PM
DJ's right, I don't ever remember 8 lap segments due to tires.

2:37 PM
Thanks for the explanation, Andy, on why Jr wasn't the lucky dog.

2:42 PM
I don't remember if Andy said anything about Kyle Busch keeping just 2 tires or not, but when you have so many problems, it just seems smarter to me to keep 4 tires on it at all times.

2:45 PM
I think making it to the competition yellow has more to do with the drivers not running as hard than the tire situation getting any better.

2:52 PM
Ok, Shannon, maybe they're getting better, but that's still cord we're seeing on the 31's tires. Should I believe you or my lying eyes?

2:53 PM
Nice to see Alan Bestwick in the host's role rather than Brent Musberger. I like Musberger just fine, but Bestwick's been doing Nascar for years and is a much better choice. Since he knows that he knows what he's talking about, he has the confidence that Musberger never had.

2:55 PM
Nice piece about the tires turning to powder. Usually, the rubber turns into little balls, or marbles, that accumulate at the top of the track, not powder.

2:56 PM
The tire bills are going to be enormous today. $1,700 a set. My goodness. It's an old joke, but do you know how to make a small fortune in racing? Start with a large one. Obviously, tire bills are part of how you spend a fortune in racing.

3:04 PM
Yep, Johnson just brushed the wall. Won't hurt him though. If Kyle Busch can hit the wall 3 or 4 times and win Darlington, I doubt it will hurt Jimmie.

BTW, that's one of the things that annoys me about these cars. Kyle Busch shouldn't be able to treat the car like a pinball and hit the wall so many times and still be able to win the race. For all the talk about how good he's been, that Darlington win was an example of bad driving.

3:15 PM
Nice piece with Mike Helton. Good questions from all 3 guys.

3:17 PM
Brad Daugherty was complaining about the situation and was clearly disgusted about how it's not made it a good race and all that. I think we might have a decent race by the end of the day.

3:19 PM
ESPN just noticed what I said 3 minutes ago and now Junior's in 20th. ESPN, get out of my head!!

3:24 PM
Junior up to 13th in 5 minutes. Andy Petree thinks Junior's got something for Jimmie Johnson and I agree with him.

3:27 PM
If they switch to the Pocono tire, which is softer, I'm not seeing how that helps anybody. But, then again, there were no tire problems at Pocono and the main stretch at Pocono is longer than the straights at Indy, which should mean less stress on the tires.

3:32 PM
I think ESPN has found a role for Rusty. He's been pretty good and is 10 times better than he was in the booth last year. In fact, Rusty's been good enough that I don't see a need for Brad Daugherty to be on the broadcast anymore. Hear that, ESPN? No more Brad. No more Brad. Say it with me, everybody! No more Brad. No more Brad. *looks around and notices I'm the only one saying anything* ahem... sorry

BTW if the teams have 4 sets of tires and there are 58 laps to go, I don't think we'll see them go to the Pocono tire.

3:41 PM
For all of Daugherty's disgust about this race, there's something about requiring the drivers to show some discipline that I like. Since it requires discipline, you can be assured that Kyle Busch won't be winning today. He doesn't know what the words discipline and control mean.

3:42 PM
I wondered what that was that Jeff Burton hit. Anybody remember Dale Earnhardt hitting a seagull on the 2nd lap of the 1991 Daytona 500? The bird just exploded when Earnhardt hit it.

Here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkyntWOMkrY

And another: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxGsfpVyI5I

In the 2nd one, if you look closely at the shot from the front back, you'll see a piece of the seagull flying by after Earnhardt hit it.

3:57 PM
DJ knows a couple of things about having fast cars at Indy. In '97, he had a great battle with Jeff Gordon and was clearly better. In '98, DJ made up 4 laps after he ran out of gas and I think he would have won the race but ran out of laps.

4:01 PM
with 42 to go, it looks like the pace has picked up a bit.

Junior's up to 11th.

4:04 PM
It appears that Nascar's going to try to set it up for a 12 lap final run.

4:05 PM
Agree with DJ. Now's not the time for 2 tires.

4:15 PM
Not intending to use a phrase from DW, because he really wasn't much fun to listen to this year, but business is picking up.

4:19 PM
As I said about guys getting nailed by lugnuts, I never considered the glue on the lugnuts drying as an issue, but it's become one.

4:22 PM
Nascar closing pit road was precipitated by Martin Truex short pitting earlier in the race.

4:25 PM
For desperately wanting a race for the win, I have this fear that the driver who gets in front during the last run and gets clean air on the car is going to win.

4:32 PM
Yep, now's the time to go. They're getting into position for that final run.

4:45 PM
This is all about Johnson being in clean air.

That and great driving.

So, my prediction of a great race by the end of the day didn't come true. It wasn't that great of a race. Very curious to see what the story will be about the tires.

 

No, I don't agree with that.

For all his shortcomings as a baseball broadcaster, at least Joe played the game, and played it at a high level. Daugherty's never driven a race car. In fact, Daugherty's only qualifications to be a Nascar analyst are that he's owned a Busch and Truck team and that Richard Petty was his favorite driver. As an analyst, he brings nothing to the table and I remain convinced that he owns compromising pictures of somebody.