It was a reasonably entertaining race at Indy this week. More for the spectacle and history than for the exciting racing.
Stewart seemed to have the best car from the get-go, and continually drove to the front with ease. So there was little drama about who was going to win the race. Harvick got around him on a restart with about 20 laps to go, but everyone knew it was only a matter of time before Stewart recaptured the lead.
The winning pass happened with about 15 laps to go, and featured some unnecessary bumping. It would have been amusing had Stewart wrecked both the 29 and himself in the process, especially since there was absolutely no reason for it.
But alas, there was no wreck, and Stewart rode around unchallenged to win easily.
Stewart was his usual boorish self in the post race interview. Making some crazy out-of-the-blue attack on the "commentators" for not being suitably impressed by his lame fence climbing skills. The guy wins an elite Nascar race, and the first thing he does is bitch about getting credit for climbing a fence. Typical Stewart. Whenever you find yourself trying to find something redeeming about him, he opens his mouth and reminds you what a miserable guy he really is.
Montoya had a good race, finishing second. JPM seemed happy with that after the race.
ESPN's coverage was pretty good. Better than TNT and NBC, but what does that say. Their multi-colored squiggles that supposedly show the air flow around the cars was kind of ridiculous. It looked like they hired someone to doodle on the replay with Crayolas. Their camera work is good though.
Rusty was incomprehensible as always. It's amazing that someone who drove for so long could provide so little insight. His commentary usually consists of blurting out a confusing non-sequitor, right after his classic "I tell ya what..."
On the other hand, every time I see Dale Jarrett as a commentator, he has something interesting or amusing to say.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Monday, July 16, 2007
TNT blows up
Chicago was the last race of the year for TNT, and it couldn't come fast enough. Their coverage of Nascar is excruciating.
The prodcution of the race is often bad, as it was with the partner NBC. My favorite moments of any race would be when they would have the camera trained on one car for 5 minutes, showing no action, and I'd hear Wally Dallenbach talking about how he was watching some great racing action out the window of the booth. Action that I wish I could see too.
Kyle Petty sounds really good in the booth. He has the perfect mix of being informative, telling interesting stories, and knowing when to speak. Wally also does a good job.
The main problem with TNT is Bill Weber. I have no idea how this guy ever got a broadcasting job. He was reason enough to never watch "Countdown to Green", and then they promoted him to the main guy in the booth.
He sounds like he knows nothing about racing. He has horrible canned, pre-planned topics that he forces on the viewer at the worst possible moment. The most annoying aspect of Weber is how he forces a phony laugh at inapporpriate times. For example, they will show a replay of a car breaking loose around a corner, turning sideways, almost crashing and causing a horrific wreck, and then the driver miraculously saving it. Wally will say something like, "Whoa! That car was sideways coming off of turn 2!" And then you'll hear Bill Weber let out a crazy giggling cackle, as if it was really humorous that the car almost crashed into the wall at 180 mph.
Mercifully, ESPN/ABC have jumped back into Nascar, taking races away from NBC/TNT. Hopefully the next contract will pull the plug on TNT once and for all, or at least move Bill Weber on to something else.
The prodcution of the race is often bad, as it was with the partner NBC. My favorite moments of any race would be when they would have the camera trained on one car for 5 minutes, showing no action, and I'd hear Wally Dallenbach talking about how he was watching some great racing action out the window of the booth. Action that I wish I could see too.
Kyle Petty sounds really good in the booth. He has the perfect mix of being informative, telling interesting stories, and knowing when to speak. Wally also does a good job.
The main problem with TNT is Bill Weber. I have no idea how this guy ever got a broadcasting job. He was reason enough to never watch "Countdown to Green", and then they promoted him to the main guy in the booth.
He sounds like he knows nothing about racing. He has horrible canned, pre-planned topics that he forces on the viewer at the worst possible moment. The most annoying aspect of Weber is how he forces a phony laugh at inapporpriate times. For example, they will show a replay of a car breaking loose around a corner, turning sideways, almost crashing and causing a horrific wreck, and then the driver miraculously saving it. Wally will say something like, "Whoa! That car was sideways coming off of turn 2!" And then you'll hear Bill Weber let out a crazy giggling cackle, as if it was really humorous that the car almost crashed into the wall at 180 mph.
Mercifully, ESPN/ABC have jumped back into Nascar, taking races away from NBC/TNT. Hopefully the next contract will pull the plug on TNT once and for all, or at least move Bill Weber on to something else.
Chicago Race Report: Windy City snoozefest -or- How to fix boring racing...
This race was so boring that even Kyle Petty in the broadcast booth felt compelled to comment, "this hasn't been the most exciting race".
Tony Stewart led a single line parade of cars around the track for most of the day. No one ever came close to passing him, despite a few restarts at the end of the race. Matt Kenseth was able to get to his bumper briefly, but the old aero-push quickly dropped him further back.
Stewart did his patented fence climb after the victory. Patented, even though it was completely stolen from Helio Castroneves. And who cares, except Stewart often makes a big deal of how he "did it first" (in Nascar). What I wouldn't pay for a structurally unsound chain link fence one day.
The horrible racing action points out one of Nascar's recent problems. In recent years, Nascar had the bright idea to try to expand as much as possible, as fast as possible, into the far reaches of the US.
The thinking went something like this: Gee, we have thousands of potential race fans in Texas/Kansas/Chicago/California/Phoenix, let's build a giant track that will accomodate 100,000 fans. More fans = More popularity = More money.
So we had sellouts in Texas, then we got two races in Texas, bringing about 200,000 fans to the races. Nascar was gushing over how great this was. Similar stories in all the other tracks I mentioned including Chicago. All these tracks are large wide ovals.
In Nascar's obsession with stuffing paying fans into large oval tracks, they took races away from Rockingham, and a race away from Darlington.
Then, a funny thing happened. Nascar totally forgot about the TV viewers. The racing at those cookie cutter ovals is godawfully boring. There is rarely passing, rarely exciting action, it's mostly follow the leader races like Chicago this week. Any new viewers of Nascar who tuned in to watch the Chicago race would probably not be eager to ever watch another race. There are too many tracks like that on the schedule now.
The fans in attendence may enjoy their experience, but the fans watching on TV are extremely bored, and they are turning off the Nascar broadcasts in record numbers. Rockingham never drew large crowds, but the racing was awesome and unique to watch on TV. There was action, passing, tire strategy, all day long. Same with Darlington.
In today's climate, a track like Rockingham could never be built. Martinsville could never be built. Bristol, the shrine to Nascar action, could never be built. The formula for today's tracks is to find a giant city, and build 2 mile tri-oval near it.
Although you get 100,000 attending a race, you are turning off millions of TV viewers from watching these races on generic tracks. When I check the TV schedule and see the race is from Kansas, I start thinking of what else I could be doing that afternoon. When it's Bristol, Martinsville, or Darlington, I clear my calendar.
How to fix things? Take a race away from Texas. Take one or both away from Pocono. Any cookie cutter track can only handle one race a year, if that. Give a race back to Rockingham. Find other exciting tracks to run. Mandate that any new track have something interesting or unique about it, whether that is a short track, or progressive banking, anything.
The more fans you draw to TV broadcasts, the more fans will seek out a way to attend a race. Bore the TV audience, and you'll soon be left with 100,000 seat grandstands that are mostly empty.
Tony Stewart led a single line parade of cars around the track for most of the day. No one ever came close to passing him, despite a few restarts at the end of the race. Matt Kenseth was able to get to his bumper briefly, but the old aero-push quickly dropped him further back.
Stewart did his patented fence climb after the victory. Patented, even though it was completely stolen from Helio Castroneves. And who cares, except Stewart often makes a big deal of how he "did it first" (in Nascar). What I wouldn't pay for a structurally unsound chain link fence one day.
The horrible racing action points out one of Nascar's recent problems. In recent years, Nascar had the bright idea to try to expand as much as possible, as fast as possible, into the far reaches of the US.
The thinking went something like this: Gee, we have thousands of potential race fans in Texas/Kansas/Chicago/California/Phoenix, let's build a giant track that will accomodate 100,000 fans. More fans = More popularity = More money.
So we had sellouts in Texas, then we got two races in Texas, bringing about 200,000 fans to the races. Nascar was gushing over how great this was. Similar stories in all the other tracks I mentioned including Chicago. All these tracks are large wide ovals.
In Nascar's obsession with stuffing paying fans into large oval tracks, they took races away from Rockingham, and a race away from Darlington.
Then, a funny thing happened. Nascar totally forgot about the TV viewers. The racing at those cookie cutter ovals is godawfully boring. There is rarely passing, rarely exciting action, it's mostly follow the leader races like Chicago this week. Any new viewers of Nascar who tuned in to watch the Chicago race would probably not be eager to ever watch another race. There are too many tracks like that on the schedule now.
The fans in attendence may enjoy their experience, but the fans watching on TV are extremely bored, and they are turning off the Nascar broadcasts in record numbers. Rockingham never drew large crowds, but the racing was awesome and unique to watch on TV. There was action, passing, tire strategy, all day long. Same with Darlington.
In today's climate, a track like Rockingham could never be built. Martinsville could never be built. Bristol, the shrine to Nascar action, could never be built. The formula for today's tracks is to find a giant city, and build 2 mile tri-oval near it.
Although you get 100,000 attending a race, you are turning off millions of TV viewers from watching these races on generic tracks. When I check the TV schedule and see the race is from Kansas, I start thinking of what else I could be doing that afternoon. When it's Bristol, Martinsville, or Darlington, I clear my calendar.
How to fix things? Take a race away from Texas. Take one or both away from Pocono. Any cookie cutter track can only handle one race a year, if that. Give a race back to Rockingham. Find other exciting tracks to run. Mandate that any new track have something interesting or unique about it, whether that is a short track, or progressive banking, anything.
The more fans you draw to TV broadcasts, the more fans will seek out a way to attend a race. Bore the TV audience, and you'll soon be left with 100,000 seat grandstands that are mostly empty.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Daytona Race Report: Kyle and Tony, with teammates like them, who needs enemies?
Great race last night. Lots of exciting action, and cars could actually pass now and then. Jamie McMurray somehow got through a sea of Hendrick cars to nip Kyle Busch by 3 inches at the finish line.
After the race, Kyle Busch was his usual classless self. He loves to get on TV and make some rude and inappropriate attack on something. Winning the first Car of Tomorrow race, the first thing out of his mouth was how his car sucked, and how much he hated it, managing to disrespect Nascar, his crew, and Hendrick in the process.
Last night, his first comment was how he didn't have any teammates out there. Busch, Gordon, and Johnson were running all over the top 5 for the last 20 laps of the race. At times, everyone got in a different line. I'm not sure what Busch was whining about, unless he expected Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson to push him for the last 20 laps so he could win.
Busch certainly was in no hurry to help Gordon or Johnson, he looked like he was driving in the every man for himself school. And that's fine. But for him to backstab his teammates after the race, as if they somehow didn't help him enough is just bush league. Or "Busch league", since Kyle Busch has made a name for himself by being a selfish, whiny, immature baby.
Luckily for Busch, he's entrenched in the Chase, otherwise I have no doubt that Hendrick would dump him right now. No one needs a cancer like Busch in their garage. It will be interesting to see if Busch continues to cause trouble, how much Hendrick can take. Junior can't come fast enough.
Another great "teammate" is Tony Stewart. Early in the race, when no one should be risking a wreck, Tantrum Tony closed on teammate Denny "My Pit Crew Sucks" Hamlin and ran right into him in the corner. Both cars crashed bad enough to ruin their nights.
In the interviewed, Tony blasted Hamlin for "stopping" in the corner. Uh, right Tony. Hamlin is driving all by himself through a corner, you plow into him from behind, and it's Hamlin's fault. Stewart is always quick to cry about it being too early to race stupid, yet Tony wrecked two Gibbs cars for no reason at the beginning of a 400 mile restrictor race.
Since nothing is ever Tony's fault, he had to be sure to blast his teammate on national TV right after.
If any two drivers deserved each other as teammates, it would be Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch.
After the race, Kyle Busch was his usual classless self. He loves to get on TV and make some rude and inappropriate attack on something. Winning the first Car of Tomorrow race, the first thing out of his mouth was how his car sucked, and how much he hated it, managing to disrespect Nascar, his crew, and Hendrick in the process.
Last night, his first comment was how he didn't have any teammates out there. Busch, Gordon, and Johnson were running all over the top 5 for the last 20 laps of the race. At times, everyone got in a different line. I'm not sure what Busch was whining about, unless he expected Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson to push him for the last 20 laps so he could win.
Busch certainly was in no hurry to help Gordon or Johnson, he looked like he was driving in the every man for himself school. And that's fine. But for him to backstab his teammates after the race, as if they somehow didn't help him enough is just bush league. Or "Busch league", since Kyle Busch has made a name for himself by being a selfish, whiny, immature baby.
Luckily for Busch, he's entrenched in the Chase, otherwise I have no doubt that Hendrick would dump him right now. No one needs a cancer like Busch in their garage. It will be interesting to see if Busch continues to cause trouble, how much Hendrick can take. Junior can't come fast enough.
Another great "teammate" is Tony Stewart. Early in the race, when no one should be risking a wreck, Tantrum Tony closed on teammate Denny "My Pit Crew Sucks" Hamlin and ran right into him in the corner. Both cars crashed bad enough to ruin their nights.
In the interviewed, Tony blasted Hamlin for "stopping" in the corner. Uh, right Tony. Hamlin is driving all by himself through a corner, you plow into him from behind, and it's Hamlin's fault. Stewart is always quick to cry about it being too early to race stupid, yet Tony wrecked two Gibbs cars for no reason at the beginning of a 400 mile restrictor race.
Since nothing is ever Tony's fault, he had to be sure to blast his teammate on national TV right after.
If any two drivers deserved each other as teammates, it would be Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Daytona Busch Report: Steven Wallace Is an Idiot
The race was boring, follow the leader. Kyle Busch led most of the way and no one came close to making a run at him. That's a bad omen for the racing tonight.
One of the few accidents was, predictably, Steven Wallace. This kid tears up Daddy Rusty's race car week after week, usually destroying other more skilled drivers' cars in the process.
In his post-crash interview, Wallace gave his usual incoherent, bizarre, obnoxious, and clueless interpretation of events. He said that he cut a tire down when he ran into the wall, then he strangely added, I'm paraphrasing here, "I had been seeing everyone else brush the wall, Junior brushed it, then I when I hit it, it cut a tire down." Uh, ok Stevie, so you thought it was ok to hit the wall at Daytona, because you saw Junior do it? You're smart!
Seriously, this kid speaks as if Rusty dropped him on his head one time too many. At least Rusty speaks clearly when he spouts his confusing and rambling nonsense. The younger Wallace has the same befuddlement about using the English language, but he delivers his gibberish in a childlike, mush-mouthed babble.
Stevie continued his defense of his horrible driving skills by concluding, more paraphrasing, "Well, you know what they say, at Daytona you either run up front, run at the back, or you wreck." He's learned the cliche that you're supposed to say after you get caught up in someone else's wreck, except Wallace was in a wreck of his own making. Again.
Everything about Steven Wallace screams, "I'm a profoundly ignornant spoiled brat with questionable driving skills. It sure is fun to have my rich daddy provide an endless stream of quality race cars for me to wreck each week."
One of the few accidents was, predictably, Steven Wallace. This kid tears up Daddy Rusty's race car week after week, usually destroying other more skilled drivers' cars in the process.
In his post-crash interview, Wallace gave his usual incoherent, bizarre, obnoxious, and clueless interpretation of events. He said that he cut a tire down when he ran into the wall, then he strangely added, I'm paraphrasing here, "I had been seeing everyone else brush the wall, Junior brushed it, then I when I hit it, it cut a tire down." Uh, ok Stevie, so you thought it was ok to hit the wall at Daytona, because you saw Junior do it? You're smart!
Seriously, this kid speaks as if Rusty dropped him on his head one time too many. At least Rusty speaks clearly when he spouts his confusing and rambling nonsense. The younger Wallace has the same befuddlement about using the English language, but he delivers his gibberish in a childlike, mush-mouthed babble.
Stevie continued his defense of his horrible driving skills by concluding, more paraphrasing, "Well, you know what they say, at Daytona you either run up front, run at the back, or you wreck." He's learned the cliche that you're supposed to say after you get caught up in someone else's wreck, except Wallace was in a wreck of his own making. Again.
Everything about Steven Wallace screams, "I'm a profoundly ignornant spoiled brat with questionable driving skills. It sure is fun to have my rich daddy provide an endless stream of quality race cars for me to wreck each week."
Friday, July 6, 2007
Daytona: Qualifying Stupidity
Nascar butchered Cup qualifying today, and they should be ashamed of themselves.
53 cars showed up to qualify, spending a huge amount of money trying to get into the race tomorrow. Qualifying for the "go or go homers" was kind of exciting, as they battled each other for every 1/100th of a second.
Fan favorite Boris Said had an awesome run to put himself first, and possibly on the pole. Michael Waltrip had a rare great qualifying effort, and it looked like he would also get his NAPA car into the show for a change.
Then...The rains came. Who could have predicted that Florida would experience pop up late day thunderstorms? Well, practically everyone.
The stupidity of starting Cup qualifying at 4 PM, right before a scheduled 7:30 PM Busch race is mind boggling. With that schedule, even a 2 hour rain delay means that qualifying would have to be scrapped, and that is exactly what happened.
So Boris Said's time was washed out, he goes home. Waltrip goes home. The field is set by points, where the rich get richer.
Nascar should have started qualifying at Noon or 1 PM, to give plenty of time to get it in before the evening Busch race. The 4 PM time was bowing to the almighty TV gods, not taking into account any sort of plan for a weather delay, or the fact that there would be a huge field trying to qualify.
In the end, TV viewers were robbed of any drama. Fans are robbed of seeing deserving drivers like Said get into the race. Race teams are robbed of time, money, and sponsorship by spending huge resources on their speedway cars, then not even getting a chance to get into the race.
Nascar needs to take qualifying more seriously, today was a fiasco.
53 cars showed up to qualify, spending a huge amount of money trying to get into the race tomorrow. Qualifying for the "go or go homers" was kind of exciting, as they battled each other for every 1/100th of a second.
Fan favorite Boris Said had an awesome run to put himself first, and possibly on the pole. Michael Waltrip had a rare great qualifying effort, and it looked like he would also get his NAPA car into the show for a change.
Then...The rains came. Who could have predicted that Florida would experience pop up late day thunderstorms? Well, practically everyone.
The stupidity of starting Cup qualifying at 4 PM, right before a scheduled 7:30 PM Busch race is mind boggling. With that schedule, even a 2 hour rain delay means that qualifying would have to be scrapped, and that is exactly what happened.
So Boris Said's time was washed out, he goes home. Waltrip goes home. The field is set by points, where the rich get richer.
Nascar should have started qualifying at Noon or 1 PM, to give plenty of time to get it in before the evening Busch race. The 4 PM time was bowing to the almighty TV gods, not taking into account any sort of plan for a weather delay, or the fact that there would be a huge field trying to qualify.
In the end, TV viewers were robbed of any drama. Fans are robbed of seeing deserving drivers like Said get into the race. Race teams are robbed of time, money, and sponsorship by spending huge resources on their speedway cars, then not even getting a chance to get into the race.
Nascar needs to take qualifying more seriously, today was a fiasco.
Cheating is good
Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are the latest teams to get caught in the inspection drag net on the "Car of Tomorrow". They are losing their crew chiefs for 10 races.
The Daytona 500 brought the topic of cheating to the forefront again, after Michael Waltrip was caught with one of the more blantant attempts at cheating in recent years.
My question is, what exactly is "cheating"? According to everything I read, Gordon's car fit the Car of Tomorrow templates, but Nascar didn't like how the nose looked on the car, so they considered it a violation. Nascar is the judge, jury, and executioner, so they were given the same penalty that Tony Eury Jr. was given earlier this year for playing around with Junior's spoiler.
I've heard some media reports that the nose on Gordon's car was no big deal, and others that said that it was a blatant attempt to get around the rules. Either way, it seems confusing.
Or maybe it's not confusing. Maybe Nascar is finally saying that it doesn't want crew chiefs doing anything to the Car of Tomorrow. Any sort of improvement or tweaking within the specified templates will be considered cheating.
Is that a good thing? If that's the new rule, then what exactly can crew chiefs do to the car's body? Nothing? Are they left to only deal with the engine package? Nascar already mandates springs and gear now, so it's getting to the point where I'm wondering what's left.
Not to mention that Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Toyota all fit the same template now. The only difference is the shape of the front grill. How long before that is mandated too?
It seems like Nascar is headed to a point where they supply the exact same cars to every team, the only difference will be the engine, and the decal that says "Chevy" or "Toyota".
Personally, I like the idea of stock car racing, not IROC racing where all the cars are identical.
And I like that crew chiefs try to find obscure, innovative, or sneaky ways within the rules to gain an advantage. If two competing cars fit the template, but one crew chief has discovered a slight edge by tweaking the nose, why shouldn't he get to enjoy that advantage?
For all the screaming about cheating, I think fans are going to be sorry when Nascar gets to that day where nothing can be done to improve the car's. So be careful what you wish for.
The Daytona 500 brought the topic of cheating to the forefront again, after Michael Waltrip was caught with one of the more blantant attempts at cheating in recent years.
My question is, what exactly is "cheating"? According to everything I read, Gordon's car fit the Car of Tomorrow templates, but Nascar didn't like how the nose looked on the car, so they considered it a violation. Nascar is the judge, jury, and executioner, so they were given the same penalty that Tony Eury Jr. was given earlier this year for playing around with Junior's spoiler.
I've heard some media reports that the nose on Gordon's car was no big deal, and others that said that it was a blatant attempt to get around the rules. Either way, it seems confusing.
Or maybe it's not confusing. Maybe Nascar is finally saying that it doesn't want crew chiefs doing anything to the Car of Tomorrow. Any sort of improvement or tweaking within the specified templates will be considered cheating.
Is that a good thing? If that's the new rule, then what exactly can crew chiefs do to the car's body? Nothing? Are they left to only deal with the engine package? Nascar already mandates springs and gear now, so it's getting to the point where I'm wondering what's left.
Not to mention that Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Toyota all fit the same template now. The only difference is the shape of the front grill. How long before that is mandated too?
It seems like Nascar is headed to a point where they supply the exact same cars to every team, the only difference will be the engine, and the decal that says "Chevy" or "Toyota".
Personally, I like the idea of stock car racing, not IROC racing where all the cars are identical.
And I like that crew chiefs try to find obscure, innovative, or sneaky ways within the rules to gain an advantage. If two competing cars fit the template, but one crew chief has discovered a slight edge by tweaking the nose, why shouldn't he get to enjoy that advantage?
For all the screaming about cheating, I think fans are going to be sorry when Nascar gets to that day where nothing can be done to improve the car's. So be careful what you wish for.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Junior in '08
There's been a lot of crazy talk about Junior's move to Hendrick. The most asinine comment I heard was that this was somehow a "sell-out" by Junior. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I'm not a Junior fan. I root against him actually, just because he already has a huge following. But, even though I don't root for him, he seems like a great guy who has his priorities straight. The power struggle with DEI points out more than ever that his head is screwed on right.
Junior is the most popular driver by far. No one, not even Gordon, is close. He is the face of Nascar, let alone DEI. He has contended for championships at DEI. Lately, Teresa Earnhardt is running DEI like it is a glorified souvenir store. They are losing ground every week to fellow Chevy shops like Hendrick, Childress, and Gibbs.
Junior was obviously upset by that, and wanted DEI run like a championship race team. He also realized that DEI/Teresa was making huge money off of him, and he was not even getting championship equipment in return.
DEI survived Dale Sr.'s death only due to the emergence of Junior. What has Teresa done for DEI? Nothing. Junior had enough, and wanted controling interest of DEI this time. Makes sense, since he is 99% of DEI.
For some bizarre reason, Teresa said no. As if she is more important to DEI than Junior. It's crazy greed, arrogance, foolishness, or all three. If Junior re-signed with DEI, he'd be nothing more than a guy generating souvenir sales, and driving around in a top 10 car at best. Meanwhile, Teresa lines her pockets from wherever she is on race day. The beach maybe? Who owes who? Does Junior owe Teresa anything at this point? Or does she owe him for keeping DEI afloat as she remains an "absentee owner"?
Junior going to Hendrick was never about selling out, or money. The money would have been the same at DEI. Junior made it clear that he has had enough of being a cash cow for Teresa, who cares nothing about winning. Junior wants to win, period. If DEI/Teresa refuses to give him that chance, then he's going somewhere else.
It was a tough, smart decision, that I have great admiration for.
So, I hope DEI (including Junior) does terrible in 2007, and when Junior drives for Hendrick in 2008, I'll be rooting for him to win the championship. The best scenario would be for DEI to take such a nose dive that Teresa sells it off, takes her ill-gotten cash, and goes off to tan somewhere.
I'm not a Junior fan. I root against him actually, just because he already has a huge following. But, even though I don't root for him, he seems like a great guy who has his priorities straight. The power struggle with DEI points out more than ever that his head is screwed on right.
Junior is the most popular driver by far. No one, not even Gordon, is close. He is the face of Nascar, let alone DEI. He has contended for championships at DEI. Lately, Teresa Earnhardt is running DEI like it is a glorified souvenir store. They are losing ground every week to fellow Chevy shops like Hendrick, Childress, and Gibbs.
Junior was obviously upset by that, and wanted DEI run like a championship race team. He also realized that DEI/Teresa was making huge money off of him, and he was not even getting championship equipment in return.
DEI survived Dale Sr.'s death only due to the emergence of Junior. What has Teresa done for DEI? Nothing. Junior had enough, and wanted controling interest of DEI this time. Makes sense, since he is 99% of DEI.
For some bizarre reason, Teresa said no. As if she is more important to DEI than Junior. It's crazy greed, arrogance, foolishness, or all three. If Junior re-signed with DEI, he'd be nothing more than a guy generating souvenir sales, and driving around in a top 10 car at best. Meanwhile, Teresa lines her pockets from wherever she is on race day. The beach maybe? Who owes who? Does Junior owe Teresa anything at this point? Or does she owe him for keeping DEI afloat as she remains an "absentee owner"?
Junior going to Hendrick was never about selling out, or money. The money would have been the same at DEI. Junior made it clear that he has had enough of being a cash cow for Teresa, who cares nothing about winning. Junior wants to win, period. If DEI/Teresa refuses to give him that chance, then he's going somewhere else.
It was a tough, smart decision, that I have great admiration for.
So, I hope DEI (including Junior) does terrible in 2007, and when Junior drives for Hendrick in 2008, I'll be rooting for him to win the championship. The best scenario would be for DEI to take such a nose dive that Teresa sells it off, takes her ill-gotten cash, and goes off to tan somewhere.
Monday, July 2, 2007
New Hampshire Race Report
Kind of a boring race this weekend. I don't know if it was the Car of Tomorrow, or the usual issue with the one-groove flat speedway, but the racing seemed non-existant. The cars seemed mostly to fall into line, and it looked like one of those classic "aero-push" races where cars couldn't close on the car they were chasing.
Most cars last pitted with somewhere around 40 laps to go. Truex was the class of the field, but he came out of the pits in 2nd place. Gordon came out 3rd, and the surprise leader was Denny Hamlin, gambling on 2 tires.
I was expecting some good racing at that point, figuring that Truex would be all over Hamlin, but lap after lap, they maintained the same running order: Hamlin-Truex-Gordon. And no one was even coming close to making a move.
Gordon managed to finally get around Truex with less than 10 laps left, but then couldn't get to Hamlin fast enough. Hamlin bobbled a couple times on the last lap, allowing Gordon to pull to his rear bumper, but that was about it.
So the finish was mildly exciting, but not enough racing action to justify the day.
Driver notes:
Hamlin - Good to see him get a win, although he came across as somewhat of an ass in recent weeks, blaming his pit crew on national TV.
Gordon - Ho hum, more points. In spite of his large point lead (less after the -100 deduction for that nose), it will all vanish when the Chase starts. I have a feeling Gordon is already spending all his time preparing for those 10 final races.
Truex - Glad he didn't win. Teresa Earnhardt and DEI are the bad guys in the Junior fiasco, and I'm rooting for DEI to go down the drain, at least until Teresa sells it off. Truex will re-sign at DEI, and maybe Kyle Busch will too. You can have him.
Jeff Green & Johnny Sauter - How did these two clowns get in the top 35? Sauter caused at least one wreck, as he does every race.
Most cars last pitted with somewhere around 40 laps to go. Truex was the class of the field, but he came out of the pits in 2nd place. Gordon came out 3rd, and the surprise leader was Denny Hamlin, gambling on 2 tires.
I was expecting some good racing at that point, figuring that Truex would be all over Hamlin, but lap after lap, they maintained the same running order: Hamlin-Truex-Gordon. And no one was even coming close to making a move.
Gordon managed to finally get around Truex with less than 10 laps left, but then couldn't get to Hamlin fast enough. Hamlin bobbled a couple times on the last lap, allowing Gordon to pull to his rear bumper, but that was about it.
So the finish was mildly exciting, but not enough racing action to justify the day.
Driver notes:
Hamlin - Good to see him get a win, although he came across as somewhat of an ass in recent weeks, blaming his pit crew on national TV.
Gordon - Ho hum, more points. In spite of his large point lead (less after the -100 deduction for that nose), it will all vanish when the Chase starts. I have a feeling Gordon is already spending all his time preparing for those 10 final races.
Truex - Glad he didn't win. Teresa Earnhardt and DEI are the bad guys in the Junior fiasco, and I'm rooting for DEI to go down the drain, at least until Teresa sells it off. Truex will re-sign at DEI, and maybe Kyle Busch will too. You can have him.
Jeff Green & Johnny Sauter - How did these two clowns get in the top 35? Sauter caused at least one wreck, as he does every race.
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