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March 30, 2007

Carl Pavano Named Yankees Opening Day Starter

Carl Pavano is being handed a golden opportunity to go from zero to hero, but will he make the most of it? Hard to believe, but after not having pitched in the majors since 2005 due to various injuries, "Glass Ass" as he was dubed by one fan, has been named the New York Yankees Opening Day starter. It's not because they want him on the mound on Monday of course since the Yankees have no clue what they're really going to get out of Pavano this season in spite of some positive signs during Spring Training that he might be able to contribute on the mound for the Yankees instead of as the butt of all the jokes in the clubhouse. Unfortunately, Andy Pettitte's back spasms, and Chien-Ming Wang's strained hamstring, means that Pavano will have to be pressed into duty since the other option would have been making Mike Mussina pitch on short rest. No reason to do that for a game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at the beginning of the season, even if it is Opening Day.

Many fans are predicting that Pavano will be a disaster, not just on Opening Day but in every start until he inevitably injures himself. I'm willing to give Pavano a chance to show that he can be a decent pitcher. It seems to me after having missed so much time, and there being so many questions about his mental make-up and talent, that Pavano might be extra-motivated to prove himself to his team, to the media and to the fans. Problem is will he be able to stay healthy for long enough to do that? If Pavano can keep himself from getting injured - maybe enclosing himself in a glass bubble when he's not on the mound would help - and he can pitch well enough to help the Yankees win more often than he puts them in a position where they might lose due to his pitching, then a lot of the past problems with him will be forgotten. Only time will tell how successful he'll be.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:26 PM | Comments (0)

March 29, 2007

Photo of the Day - Infrared Oregon

Oregon Coast. September, 2006.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:20 PM | Comments (0)

In the News: Michael Waltrip (3/29)

Lately it's not been too much fun to write these "In the News" entries on Michael Waltrip because most of the news and media coverage about Michael and Michael Waltrip Racing has been so negative. And after discussing it endlessly on Michael's forum and in a few other places, sometimes the last thing I want to do is rehash it again in this space. Which is why I've skipped discussing in depth some articles and other news items about Michael's efforts to get MWR on track. I would much rather focus on positive things in relation to Michael, but unfortunately there's not been much to get excited about lately. I also don't like sticking my head in the sand and pretending that Michael and MWR don't have a lot of challenges they need to overcome - the reality is that this season has been a disaster for them so far, and there's no way of sugar-coating it. I just really wish things were different for Michael - it makes me sad to think of all that he has to deal with. I hope as the season goes on, things improve for Michael and his teams, so that I have more positive and happy "In the News" entries.

Ty Norris, MWR's general manager, was on Sirius yesterday in the morning, and he talked at length about what MWR is doing to try to improve their performance and other topics. Before I get into too much of what Ty talked about, I have to say that MWR is very lucky to have him. He's a huge asset - not only is he knowledable about what it takes to make a successful race operation thanks to his days at DEI, but he's also very well-spoken and media savvy like Michael is. One would think that would be a requirement of all general managers considering how often they're called upon to speak to the media, but not all of them seem to be able to handle the media quite as smoothly as Ty does. In spite of being sick, Ty was great in this interview, and had a lot of interesting things to say.

I'm not going to be able to cover all of what Ty discussed or in the order that he talked about in, but I'll touch on a few things that jumped out at me. I've complained in this space a time or two about how some fans (and some in the media) jump to conclusions without having all the facts. As I've said before, I have no problems with speculation or rumors. But it's important to be able to differentiate between what's proven fact and what's not. Ty expressed some frustration for how hard it is to get information out to fans, and how some are very willing to speak for them (I assume he was talking about some in the media), only a lot of the information is inaccurate. For example, there's been a lot of speculation that NAPA plans on leaving MWR sooner rather than later - not true according to Ty who said that NAPA's been "awesome." Or the rumor that Nascar has been directly helping MWR build cars - also not true according to Ty.

One thing that's been bothering me and the rest of Michael's fans is the focus on poor performance of the MWR teams when the other Toyota organizations haven't done much better. Ty mentioned the same thing - overall all of Toyota's teams have to improve, not just MWR. He said that MWR prepared all of their drivers, sponsors and other personnel about how difficult this season could be. He feels that no one should be surprised that they - and the rest of the Toyota teams - are struggling. He's right. Only one of the Toyota teams existed as it is now last season. MWR and Red Bull Racing are completely new to fielding Cup teams full-time, and Toyota themselves are new to being in Cup. So there's bound to be a lot of challenges. However, to not have any Toyota teams in the top 35 in owner's points - I have to think that even if Toyota and their teams were trying to keep their expectations realistic, they thought that at least a couple of their teams would be in that all important top 35.

It appears that one problem for the Toyota Cup teams has been their unwillingness to work together and share information. It amazes me that Bill Davis Racing who are part of Toyota's truck series program, where that approach has worked so well, not only for BDR but for all the Toyota teams, wouldn't be on-board with working with the other Toyota teams in Cup, particularly given that it was going to be even challenging to be successful in Cup than in the Truck Series. Ty said that last May at the Charlotte 600, all the Toyota teams met and at that time he suggested that they start working together on some things since he saw how well that worked when he was with DEI, and they worked with Andy Petree and Richard Childress. However, a month after that meeting the cooperation between the Toyota teams ceased. Why? According to Ty, the teams felt that they were on target competitively, and that it wasn't necessary to work together! What a mistake that turned out to be! Recently, they've realized the error of their ways, probably with encouragement from Toyota, and all the Toyota organizations have started working together on a COT project, but I can't help but wonder if the performance of all the Toyota teams wouldn't have been better if they had continued working together last season right through now, sharing information and working towards a common goal - success for their manufacturer, and success for their individual teams on the track.

Ty said that a big problem for MWR, has been the loss of David Hyder and Bobby Kennedy, due to the Daytona mess. Both of them can still work in the shop, but that's not the same as being able to go to the track as it was expected they would. What MWR discovered is that unlike other organizations who have crew chiefs suspended and are able to quickly find someone to take their place from within the organization, MWR doesn't have that kind of depth. So MWR is going to address that problem - not only add depth in terms of personnel, but strengthen the competitive side of the organization overall. To that end, aside from I assume hiring more people, they're also working with Toyota on ways to effectively build better cars. I hope we see the results from that soon.

Of course Ty was asked whether there was anything new regarding the mystery substance found in the #55 car at Daytona. He said that there's nothing new, primarily because they can't move forward until they get an in-depth lab report from Nascar with an analysis of exactly what the substance was. So far all Ty's seen is a preliminary report in the form of a brief mention in a three-paragraph letter that said that the substance was something related to another substance. Again I have to ask - why the need for secrecy? Ty won't say what the substance mentioned in the letter was, and Nascar won't give them the lab report, why? 've discussed my thoughts about that previously so I won't get into it again, but I think it's ridiculous that even if Nascar isn't going to say publically what the substance is, that the team should be able to get a copy of that lab report. Ty said that they also don't have any of the substance to test themselves - apparently they tested everything in the hauler (and he had mentioned previously gone through everything in the shop) and everything checked out as it should. He said that they don't even know how the "sludge" got "throughout" the engine since Nascar also still has the car. So until Nascar hands over the car, a sample of the substance, the lab report, or someone comes forward to shed light on the substance and how it got into the car, they can't move forward with their investigation. It's looking like we'll never know more about what happened, and that's a shame for many reasons.

I've talked about how disappointed I am that Michael's no longer going to be doing Tradin' Paint on Speed. So far there's not been any further word from Michael or Speed about why he's off the show. But that hasn't stopped the rumor mill from churning. According to Jenna Fryer, who covers motorsports for the Associated Press, some in the garage area are speculating about various reasons why Michael might have been kicked off the show. I discount all that because Fryer has reported inaccurate information previously. But she does have a valid point regarding another reason why Michael might have been replaced on the show. Fryer points out that format of the show is Michael debating members of the media about current news in the sport. Well, this season Michael has been front and center in a lot of those news stories, which creates a conflict-of-interest. I think there could be something to her theory. Michael has never been shy about giving his opinions about anything, whether he's involved in it or not, but it seems to me that it puts him in a difficult and uncomfortabe position when he has to debate news that he's involved in. That surely effects the opinions that those he's debating with express, and given how much negativity has swirled around himself, MWR and Toyota this season, Michael has been put in the position where he constantly has to be on the defense.

This weekend the Trucks and Cup Series will race in Martinsville (the Busch Series has off). I really hope to see all three MWR cars in the show, but especially Michael!

Posted by silverdsl at 03:44 PM | Comments (0)

Brendan Gaughan on Diversity

That Brendan Gaughan has three African-American men as part of his pit crew shouldn't be news because it shouldn't be anything unusual. But it is newsworthy because of a continued lack of diversity in Nascar. That's not to say that there are no other minorities working in Nascar - there are. But there's still only one African-American, and no female drivers in Nascar's three highest series. There's still not a significant amount of minorities or women seen working on pit road. In an attempt to rectify the problem - or at least make it seem like they are - Nascar created the Drive for Diversity program. Brendan was asked about whether he hired three African-Americans because of that program. He said,

"It didn't have anything to do with it from my standpoint. I played at Georgetown. I'm offended almost that there needs to be a diversity program. I'm glad they have it. Before I get in trouble by saying that, I'm glad they have it. Because they need it. They need it. But to me, that weighs no factor in who I hire. I will hire a woman to go over the wall for me if she is the best woman for the job. I will hire a man for the job. I don't care. But for me, the diversity aspect had nothing to do with it other than I wanted the best people. So they happen to be black."

Often I don't agree with Brendan on a lot of topics, but this happens to be one that I'm in full agreement with him on. It's unfortunate that the culture in this sport is such that a diversity program is necessary, but it's good that they have one. Rides and other jobs with teams should be given to the person who is best for that role regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, or religion, but a diversity program helps ensure that the best people have opportunities and aren't overlooked.

As it turns out Brendan's crew members who are African-American will be the only African-Americans going over the pit wall this weekend during the truck race. Brendan was asked about whether others in the garage area share his attitudes, and Brendan declined to comment. That, as the reporter pointed out, is highly unusual. There isn't much that Brendan won't give an opinion on. And unfortunately that says a lot about what the attitude is in the garage area regarding diversity.

As a Jewish woman I sometimes wonder how accepted I would be in the garage area. There isn't much diversity regarding religious beliefs either, and at times some of my fellow fans close-minded beliefs regarding diversity and religion haven't made me feel too comfortable. I'd like to think it wouldn't be an issue, and that I'd be judged on the totality of who I am as a person, but unfortunately my experience has been that some (in general not just in Nascar) can't see past certain things. It makes me careful of who, and under what circumstances, I reveal that I'm Jewish to.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:24 PM | Comments (0)

No Penalties for the #16 Team

Nascar is expected to hold a press conference tomorrow to explain further, but apparently there will be no penalties handed out as a result of the #16 car failing post-race inspection after the race at Bristol for the rear quarterpanels being too low. Aside from the fact that Nascar apparently didn't discover any unapproved modifications that would cause the height issue, they also feel that the COT is a work in progress, and some loss of height might be expected after a race. Some fans are crying foul, and saying it's a pro-Roush conspiracy, but I think this was is the correct decision by Nascar. In the past Nascar has penalized teams, even for violations that might not have been deliberate, but when it's added into the mix that this was the first race run with the COT, and there's likely still some uncertainties about it, I can't really complain about Nascar being lenient here. Teams should be penalized when they're actually done something wrong, not when fans want them to be penalized.

Posted by silverdsl at 12:01 PM | Comments (0)

March 27, 2007

Random Thoughts On Nascar Happenings

*Larry MacReynolds speculates in his Fox Sports column that there won't be any penalties handed down for the #16 car failing post-race inspection after Bristol until next week because Nascar can't figure out the rear quarterpanels being too low is a performance enhancement. So they're apparently "confused." Well, they shouldn't have to figure out whether it's a performance enhancement - either it is or it isn't. Maybe if they can't figure out how the low quarterpanels would help improve the results on the track it means that the team wasn't deliberately trying to cheat. The way the column is written it sounds as if Nascar is hunting for some reason to hand out a penalty, and that's not fair.

*According to Jayski, Todd Bodine said this morning on Sirius that Germain Racing plans on fielding a Busch car for him in as many as 12 races this season, with the possibility of them also trying to qualify for 3-4 Cup races. At least until Toyota's Cup program improves, I think Germain is better off focusing on the Busch Series where there's far less problems making the field. On the Cup side the hard work Germain puts into building cars might go for nothing since it's hard enough for well-funded full-time teams to make the field each week, let alone a team that's only racing a handful of races.

*When Michael Waltrip entered into a deal to buy the #77's owner's points last season for the #55 car many fans freaked out. How dare Michael buy his way into the top 35 in owner's points, even though it was just for the first five races of the season, they said. Some fans also cried foul when Michael bought the #32 team's owner's points from Cal Well for the #00 this season even though it simply gave the team some owner's points that could be used in case of a rainout rather than locked them into any races. So why don't any fans seem to care that in spite of having only raced in two races this season, Ward Burton is just six points out of 35th place in the owner's points thanks to a deal Morgan-McClure Racing made with James Finch for the #09's owner's points they got for finishing in the top five at Daytona? Ward just needs one more good finish and he's in the top 35. If he sticks in the top 35, he's locked in for this season, and the first five races of next season. I have my doubts about whether the car will be good enough all season to stay in the top 35, but if he does it, wouldn't have this team also bought their way into the top 35 in owner's points, and on a bigger scale than Michael?

*Apparently Cal Wells is working with Robby Gordon Motorsports. Robby said (no link available),

“Cal’s been coming to work with us on race weekends and observing. He’s just trying to help me in any way he can with the experience that he has.”

I don't understand how this isn't a conflict of interest for Wells since he's listed as the owner of the #00 fielded by Michael Waltrip Racing. Of course that ownership is just on paper because of the purchase of the owner's points, but it doesn't sit quite right with me for Wells to help another team that competes directly against the team he "owns." Wells says that he's working on a deal with sponsors and an ownership group that would results in a two-car effort where would be the minority owner, but run the organization. Since he's working with Robby, one has to wonder if he's buying into Robby Gordon Motorsports. Fielding two cars is something that Robby wants to do, but his recent comments on XM seemed to indicate he didn't think that would be happening soon.

*Kenny Wallace is going to race Richard Childress Racing's #2 car in the Busch race at his hometown track in St. Louis in July. That car is likely to be one of the best cars that Kenny's raced in quite some time, and I would guess he's really looking forward to getting behind the wheel of it. This won't be the first time Kenny races for RCR. In 2002 he raced Kevin Harvick's #29 car when Kevin was suspended for a race. Kenny seems to be the go-to guy for teams who are in need of fill-in drivers, and I think it pays off for him to be so willing to step in when needed.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:47 PM | Comments (2)

March 26, 2007

Photo of the Day

Ogunquit, Maine, 2002.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:41 PM | Comments (0)

In the News: Michael Waltrip (3/26)

I could sit here and write a rather long entry with lot s of quotes detailing the plan that Michael Waltrip, Ty Norris and Toyota came up with to turn Michael Waltrip Racing's fortunes around, but there's been quite a bit of focus on that topic lately, and a lot of it has been negative in terms of how many think that this is a sign that Toyota is upset with MWR, and how this is a sign that they're going to fail and close up shop soon. Ridiculous. Any number of people from Toyota to four major sponsors, and a number of associate sponsors, to Michael himself, have too much money invested in MWR to give up after five races. What they're going to do is work hard to identify the problems and solve them. I think it's a positive that Toyota is so willing to lend a hand to MWR, and I'm glad they're doing it. Yes, ideally things wouldn't be so much of a struggle for MWR or the other Toyota teams, but it is what it is, and the teams just have to deal with and overcome the challenges that they face.

The car that Toyota helps MWR build will ultimately help Bill Davis Racing and Red Bull Racing since information will be shared among all three teams, and that's a good thing too because those teams need some help as well. My only concern is that Lee White from Toyota has talked about the car perhaps not being ready to race until Charlotte - well, what is MWR supposed to do until then? Hopefully find ways to improve on their own. Michael and David Reutimann missed racing at Bristol by a fraction of a second, and that's been the case with prior DNQs which means that they're not that far off. Hopefully a few tweaks here and there, and the MWR teams will be consistantly making races and eventually they'll be able to race well too.

There's also been a lot of speculation that NAPA was going to force Michael to step out from behind the wheel of the car in place of Bill Elliott and his six Champion's provisionals because they would guarantee that they'd race for six races. But based on Michael's comments tonight on Inside Nextel Cup in response to a viewer submitted question about whether he'd let anyone else qualify his car for him, it sounds very unlikely that Michael's getting out from behind the wheel anytime soon thankfully. Michael essentially said that it's not the driver(s) that's a problem, it's that the cars need to be faster, and that they're working on making that happen. I'm very glad that's the approach that MWR is going to take, looking for a long-term solution rather than a short-term bandaid fix which would come by putting Bill behind the wheel. Sure, they'd make the field for six races, but it wouldn't help make the cars any faster.

As noted Michael was on INC as usual tonight, however he's no longer going to be doing Tradin' Paint. Word came on Friday that he was "relieved of his duties" but it's unknown as to whether he asked to be replaced on the show so he could focus on his teams while he's at the track, or whether Speed made the decision on their own for some reason. Since there's been no further comment from anyone - Speed or Michael - since, it's likely we'll never know. Either way I'm extremely disappointed. I loved watching Michael on TP because I loved listening to him debate members of the media about current events in Nascar. I don't always agree with Michael, but he often makes me think about things from a different perspective that I might not have otherwise. So I really looked forward to watching each week. Apparently Speed intends on trying out a variety of drivers in Michael's place, but I suspect they'll have a hard time finding a driver as willing to be as candid in his opinions as Michael has been. It's also a shame for Michael's fans who go to races because it was an opportunity for fans to see him in person at the track when the show was taped.

But in addition to INC, Michael is going to continue as part of the broadcast team for the truck races for Speed. That will take him into the FOX booth this week because for the first time since 2000 a truck race will be broadcast on network TV - on FOX. I wonder if Michael has ever called a race on network TV before? Based on the article on truckseries.com it appears that DW may join Michael, Phil Parsons and Rick Allen in the booth as well. I'm not sure I'm thrilled about that because I think that might upset the strong dynamic between Michael, Phil and Rick, but I think it's pretty cool that Michael will get to be a part of the race broadcast on FOX. It should be a great race too!

Posted by silverdsl at 09:47 PM | Comments (0)

Driver by Driver: Bristol I

1. Kyle Busch - Kyle complained long and loud after the race about how much he hates the COT, and how hard it is to drive. To some fans this made him a leader in the garage area for being so outspoken, but I think it also makes him a whiner who doesn't know when to speak one's mind honestly, and when to dial it down a notch. In Victory Lane and in the post-race press conference might not be the best time to rip the COT quite as heavily as he did considering he just won with it.

2. Jeff Burton - Jeff has finished in the top five, four of the first five races to start the season. Although things are unlikely to go that well all season long, that's impressive. As I mentioned in an earlier entry, Kyle's lucky it was this Jeff behind him, and not another driver who would probably have been much more willing to put the bumper to Kyle to pass for the win.

3. Jeff Gordon - An impressive race for the #24 team. They started from the pole, but faded to as low as 27th during the race due to an ill-handling car. Unlike some teams who would have struggled to rebound if the handling of the car went away, this team never gave up, and Jeff was able to get back up front thanks to the hard work of crew chief Steve Letarte and the rest of the crew on pit road. With this finish Jeff takes over the top positions in the points. Some are talking Championship for Jeff this season, but I think it's way too early to know which teams will be the strongest at the end of the season.

4. Kevin Harvick - In the three races since he won the Daytona 500, Kevin's struggled with a variety of issues that's cost him good finishes. He needed this top five to get things back on track.

5. Greg Biffle - The good news is that Greg got a top five that he sorely needed since his previous best finish this season was 15th at Fontana. The bad news is that his car failed post-race inspection when it was found to be too low. Any resulting penalties could be extremely costly to this team.

6. Jeff Green - Needed a finish this good to stay in the top 35 in owner's points and keep himself locked into the next race at Martinsville. This was Jeff's best finish in Cup since 2002, his first full season in Cup, when he finished 5th at Talladega.

7. Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Junior's first top ten of the season, and he did it in spite of surely having a lot on his mind due the health issues his sister, Kelley, who he is extremely close to, is dealing with.

8. Clint Bowyer - Great day for Richard Childress Racing, with all three of their cars in the top ten.

9. Jamie McMurray - Second top ten this season for Jamie, and the third finish in the top 15 in a row. Maybe having Larry Carter as his crew chief will be the key to Jamie finding success in Cup after all.

10. Casey Mears - Best career finish at Bristol, and it wasn't easy. Got the lucky dog four times, and was even luckier that when he spun on lap 309, the car wasn't damaged. A poor finish at Bristol could have put him in danger of falling out of the top 35 in owner's points, but instead he moves up six places in the points standings.

11. Matt Kenseth - Spun Dale Jarrett because he got over-aggressive and was trying not to get lapped. DJ ended up wrecked, Matt ended up finishing 11th. Interestingly enough even some on the Roush forums are getting on Matt for his over-aggression at times. He's definitely not the nice-guy that everyone thinks he is all the time on the track, but what driver is?

12. Carl Edwards - Won the Busch race on Saturday, but couldn't do the same on Sunday. Considering he started 32nd, and battled a loose condition, this is a good finish for him.

13. David Stremme - Started 33rd, and was eventually able to race his way into the top ten, where it looked like he was on his way to his best finish in Cup. But he was forced to pit late for tires and that cost him some track position. Still a good race for Stremme, and the results continue to be much better in 2007 than they were at this time in 2006.

14. Denny Hamlin - Similar story for both Denny and his teammate Tony Stewart - at times in the race they looked like they had the car to beat, but both were eliminated for contention due to fuel pump issues. Luckily, Denny was still able to salvage a top 15.

15. Brian Vickers - Top finishing Toyota, and I think that'll likely be the case often. However, he needs to be able to qualify in for races, and that's not a guarantee.

16. Jimmie Johnson - Ran in the top ten for the first 300 or so laps, but towards the end of the race faded to the point where he was about to go a lap down until a caution saved him. Naturally a lot of fans thought that it was a fake caution thrown by Nascar to help him, but FOX showed that there was definitely some debris on the track. A flat tire with less than 20 laps to go made a long day even longer.

17. Mike Bliss - How is Mike suddenly able to get such good (for this team) finishes in a car that's previously been so terrible, not just this season, but the past few years?

18. Ward Burton - Solid finish for Ward, and thanks to the deal to buy the #09 team's owner's points from Daytona, he finds himself not that far out of the top 35 in owner's points.

19. Kasey Kahne - Had a tire going down, and then got into Clint Bowyer, which sent Kasey to the pits for three laps for repairs. Not a great finish, but it was still good enough to move the #9 into 34th in the owner's points standings, which means he's guaranteed to race at Martinsville. However, this team really needs to get on track. Kasey won six races last season and he's clearly a better driver than he's been able to show so far this season.

20. Kyle Petty - Another driver who is, and remains in the danger zone as far as the top 35 in owner's points goes.

21. Kenny Wallace - Two top 25 finishes in the two races he's been able to qualify in for.

22. Bobby Labonte - A pit road penalty and a late race spin made for a tough day for Bobby.

23. Dave Blaney - Blaney qualified 7th, but wasn't able to make that translate into success during the race, and he now finds himself outside the top 35 in owner's points. The #22 has been the best Toyota consistantly on qualifying day every time out this season, but the team now has no margin for error.

24. Tony Raines

25. Regan Smith - He was penalized for pitting outside his pit box, but for his first Cup start, a top 25 isn't a bad result.

26. David Ragan - An ugly day for David. He spun once himself, and then was sent through the spin cycle by Mike Bliss, Kasey Kahne, and Juan Pablo Montoya, three more times. I'd imagine that those drivers didn't have much patience when it came to getting around a rookie driver who was laps down.

27. Elliott Sadler - Just as they were talking on the TV broadcast about how Elliott had a strong car, and how much he wanted to win this race, when he discovered that he had a loose wheel, which made him have to come in for two green flag pit stops, thus putting him laps down.

28. Ken Schrader - This team, and both it's drivers - Ken and Jon Wood - are in trouble, as they're now outside the top 35 in owner's points, so they aren't guaranteed a spot starting with next weekend's race. Based on what was said on Ken's fan forum, he made the same error repeatedly during the race - overshot his pit box, which forced his crew to have to push him back to pit him. The final time the crew started working on the car outside the pit box before the crew chief could tell them to push the car back, and that resulted in a penalty, which cost Ken positions. That can't happen with a team that's fighting for a spot in the top 35 in points. I don't see them getting back in either - the team has shown no signs of improving their performance, and with no margin for error, more mistakes could cost them qualifying in for races.

29. Kurt Busch - Started 42nd but was actually able to make his way up front and led some laps, but the handling went away on his car. Even worse was a mistake on pit road which led to being laps down. Not a good result on a track where Kurt usually does well.

30. Sterling Marlin - Never had a good car.

31. Scott Riggs - A blown tire ruined his day.

32. Juan Montoya - Spun on lap 147 after contact with Tony Raines, then had trouble re-firing the car, which led to him going three laps down, then had a problem with a wheel late in the race.

33. Robby Gordon - Maybe Robby shouldn't have been so quick to boast about being 16th in points last week in his XM interview. This week he's 21st. If I understand correctly Robby had quite a few issues during the race, including being penalized on pit road, and poor communication with his crew chief. It's interesting because the way his fans were describing his issues with his crew chief, that he has trouble giving up control to his crew chief, and letting him call the shots, is very similar to some of the problems that Michael Waltrip's seemed to have at times with his crew chiefs. Both Michael and Robby are driver-owners, so I wonder if they struggle to be in the driver-only role, because they're used to being in complete control over decisions as owners all other times. Or it could just be because both have strong personalities.

34. Jeremy Mayfield - Was able to qualify for his first race of the season but a blown tire led to a poor finish.

35. Tony Stewart - Led the most laps, and for quite a while it looked like he would win this race easily. However, a fuel pump issue put him behind the wall - Tony must have been pretty upset as he rode around for the rest of the race 23 laps down.

36. J.J. Yeley - All three Gibbs cars had mechanical issues in this race. J.J. spent 29 laps in the garage getting the problem on the #18 fixed.

37. Martin Truex Jr. - Got into the wall on lap 309, then got run into by Ryan Newman.

38. Ricky Rudd - Had handling problems, then got caught in a wreck.

39. Ryan Newman - Got caught in the lap 309 incident with Martin Truex, Jr.

40. A J Allmendinger - Qualified for his first race this season, but it ended badly when he got into the wall.

41. David Gilliland - Was an innocent victim in the Dale Jarrett-Matt Kenseth incident.

42. Dale Jarrett - Was was very angry with Matt Kenseth for wrecking him less than 50 laps into the race.

43. Reed Sorenson - Spun with help from Kevin Harvick.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:08 PM | Comments (0)

March 25, 2007

Photo of the Day - Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct, Hainsburg, New Jersey, 2006.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:11 PM | Comments (0)

Random Thoughts on Bristol

*Leading up to this race it was all doom and gloom about the Car of Tomorrow from fans and drivers. The car's ugly, the racing is going to suck. No doubt there were some drivers unhappy about the handling of the COT, but the racing didn't seem all that much different this weekend to me than it usually is at Bristol. In fact, I thought this race seemed to have much better racing than we've seen for the past couple of races. The COT hasn't gotten any easier on the eyes, but as time goes on I think most will get used to the way it looks. And as I've said before the COT is safer for the drivers so that's a huge positive. My opinion might change once if a lot of drivers are extremely negative about the COT now that they've raced it, but after one race it doesn't seem to be the disaster that some were predicting it was going to be.

*That said, it's not a good sign that the race winner, Kyle Busch, apparently had negative comments about the COT in Victory Lane, going so far as to say that it "sucks," if what I've been hearing is accurate. I respect Kyle's right to his opinions, but I don't think that VL is the appropriate place for those kind of remarks. Kyle's name is now in Nascar's history book as the first winner of a COT race, and he held off some exceptional drivers, including Jeff Burton and Jeff Gordon to get that win. It would be nice if he celebrated the win first, then ripped the COT later if that's how he really feels. Perhaps I'll be more understanding after I've seen word-for-word what he said, and if he expands on his feelings in his post-race press conference.

*Kyle's pretty lucky that Jeff Burton was behind him. Another driver probably would have bumped Kyle out of the way for the win, but Jeff's not that kind of driver, and said so after the race.

"I could have used the bumper to move him out of the way and win the race, but I didn't want to,. I can lay in bed [Sunday night] and wonder 'What if?' but that's what I chose to do. If you can't pass him without knocking him out of the way, do the best you can. He's driven me clean, and that's what I did with him."

A lot of other drivers wouldn't have raced Kyle so cleanly, especially since he's gotten himself into trouble more than a few times by not seeming to have too much respect for the other drivers he's racing against at times. And especially when going for the win, the attitude of many drivers is anything goes. But not Jeff, and that's what makes him so classy and such a popular driver. He gets respect because he gives respect. A lot of fans would've been pretty happy if Jeff had spun Kyle to win because they can't stand Kyle, but as much as I also don't like Kyle, I'd rather see a clean end to the race, rather than a controversial one.

*Joe Gibbs Racing has to be pretty upset with the way today's race went. Two of their drivers appeared to have dominating cars at different points in the race, but after Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin both led many laps, both fell victim to the same mechanical issue - a problem with the fuel pump. That's the kind of thing where you wonder if they got faulty parts from the manufacturer or the part, or whether it was installed incorrectly when the car was being put together in the shop. Or it could just be random, coincidental, bad luck. Regardless, I'm sure Gibbs is going to take a close look at how they can prevent that from happening. I would expect that with how strong both cars were this weekend, that both drivers will be a factor at Martinsville as well.

*Hard to believe that it was yet another disasterous weekend for Michael Waltrip Racing. When are things going to go their way? It's bad enough that Michael and David Reutimann didn't qualify for today's race, but then Dale Jarrett gets run over and wrecked by Matt Kenseth, who was trying not to get lapped, just 43 laps into the race. boy was DJ hot! I never thought I'd hear him curse out another driver, but understandably so - the damage was so bad that DJ couldn't return to the track, and that wreck cost him a spot in the top 35 in owner's points. That also means that not a single Toyota is locked into the field for next week's race at Martinsville. Michael has to be about ready to tear his hair out - nothing seems to be going right for any of his teams. And I'm sure it's killing him to be at the track and not be racing. He was on DJ's radio offering to go out and race the #44 if they were able to get it back on the track if DJ didn't want to. Things are a mess for the MWR teams, and little better for the other Toyota teams, and I really hope that things improve soon.

*Robby Gordon didn't have a sponsor yet again. He said in an interview on XM last week that financially he was set for this season, but he also said that a lack of sponsorship for some races could have some effects on the team. I would guess that means without the funding from sponsorship to cover every race there's a possiblity that it could effect the team's ability to field competitive cars at times. Some of his fans think that Robby's certain to attract sponsorship no problem, but he dropped out of the top 20 in points after today's race, and the amount of exposure he gets his sponsors isn't anywhere near what some of the bigger teams are able to get, so it may not be as easy as some think to find replacement sponsors for those that he's lost.

He also seemed to indicate that his plans to expand to a second Cup team are on hold. That makes sense. For one thing, if he can't find sponsorship for one car for a full season, where's he going to find sponsorship for a second team? In addition, Robby also said that with all the struggles that teams outside the top 35 in points have, no quality drivers are going to be interested in going to his team since it would be a new one with no owner's points, they're going to want to go to a team that's guaranteed to race, at least for the first five races of the following season. If Robby's efforts to grow Robby Gordon Motorsports have hit a roadblock, that's not a good thing. Robby may be able to survive now as a one-car team, but I think it's going to be difficult for him to have the kind of success he'd like if he can't expand to a multi-car operation on the Cup level.

Posted by silverdsl at 06:56 PM | Comments (0)

March 22, 2007

It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)

I've had this Duke Ellington song running through my head since last night...

What good is melody, what good is music
If it ain't possessin' something sweet
It ain't the melody, it ain't the music
There's something else that makes the tune complete

It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing
It don't mean a thing, all you got to do is sing
It makes no diff'rence if it's sweet or hot
Just give that rhythm ev'rything you got
It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing

Posted by silverdsl at 09:42 AM | Comments (0)

March 21, 2007

#36 Team to Fold?

Already the vultures are starting to circle around the Toyota teams. First it was rumors about NAPA leaving the #55 team, or Michael Waltrip stepping out of the car to put BIll Elliott and his Champion's provisionals in. Now there's a rumor circulating that the #36 team might shut down, as soon as prior to this weekend's race at Bristol. Based on the fact that the source of the rumor came from a radio appearance by a crew member from the #15 team, who is likely just repeating some speculation he heard in the garage area, I'm doubtful that there's any truth to this rumor (yet), particularly since Bill Davis Racing has already released pre-race notes for the #36, and the quotes within sound a lot like a team that's pressing on, not giving up.

That said, from the start I've thought there's something off about the sponsor of the #36, 360OTC. I assume that BDR checked them out throughly before entering into a deal with them, but there's some things that strike me as a bit odd. For one thing, it's almost impossible to find any information about 360OTC, their products, their parent company Rockford-Montgomery, or their ad agency that they have some sort of a close connection to ASG, that doesn't relate to their sponsorships in Nascar, WWE or World of Outlaws. In addition, based on what's being said, 360OTC is having trouble getting their product into stores - if they aren't selling any product, how are they going to be able to fullfil their sponsorship obligations. Also, the much-hyped 360OTC blimp, mysteriously turned into a 360OTC/Ginn Resorts blimp, with a paint scheme that favors Ginn, a sponsor and owner of a competing team. In addition, although it's still early in the season, there's been very little or no marketing by 360OTC that utilizes the driver of the #36, Jeremy Mayfield, and fans have been complaining that so far there's been no merchandise available, not even at the track for 360OTC and Jeremy. Even in Atlanta, where 360OTC is based, according to fans who were there, Jeremy didn't do any appearances (at least ones that were open to the public) to represent the sponsor. While there could be very reasonable explanations for all those things, and the sponsor has zero issues, I can't help but wonder if there's anything that Jeremy and BDR should be worried about in relation to this sponsor. So I can't say I'd be surprised if this team needs to look for additional sponsorship at some point down the road.

I've already discussed how I think NAPA is going to stick with Michael, and how I don't think Michael is going to step out of the #55. But there's some fans who are convinced that Michael is going to put Bill Elliott in the #55 because of his Champion's provisional. I think that doesn't make much sense. For one thing, as I've said previously NAPA's sponsorship of the #55 is closely tied in to Michael, and all of their marketing, advertising and promotions are built around him. That makes it hard to substitute another driver, even if it's just for a few races to get exposure for NAPA. But beyond that, Michael, MWR and NAPA have to look for long-term solutions to their issues, not the short-term solution of putting Bill behind the wheel which would get them into five or six races, then they'd be facing the same problem of not being guaranteed a spot. MWR's problems extend across all their teams, not just to the #55, and they need to find a legitamite way to improve performance and qualify for races, for every race, not just an artificial way for six races. I also think the exposure that NAPA would get for six races would be completely overshadowed by the negative backlash that they'd get from agreeing to a plan to put a driver into their car simply for his Champion's provisional. That looks really bad.

Unfortunately there's a lot of people who would like to see the Toyota teams, and some of the individuals involved in their Cup efforts fail. There's a lot of people in the garage area who likely feel threatened by Toyota coming into the Cup Series. In addition, as I said in a recent entry, some fans seem to get more enjoyment from the misfortune of drivers and teams they can't stand than they do from celebrating the successes of the drivers and teams they like. So that's likely feeding a lot of the negative rumors regarding the Toyota teams. Thing is, I think four races into the season is way too early to write off any team as being doomed, particularly teams with big organizations that are well-funded and have manufacturer support.

ETA: I don't know where the truth lies, and anything posted on a message board needs to be taken with a major grain of salt, because there's no way of knowing how much is accurate. Anyone can say anything, and there's often no way of proving whether they're telling the truth or not. However, a fan of Jeremy's did some research and found some interesting things about 360OTC that raises even more questions as to whether they'll follow through on their committments to BDR. It's possible that this person connected dots where none should be connected, but if there's any truth there, BDR may need to look into a backup plan for sponsorship for the #36, as well as for Tyler Walker's truck.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:35 PM | Comments (0)

March 19, 2007

Photo of the Day - Aruba

Aruba, September, 2005.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:25 PM | Comments (0)

In the News: Michael Waltrip (3/19)

It was a weekend to forget for Michael Waltrip and Michael Waltrip Racing this weekend at Atlanta, but what else is new lately? Michael can't seem to catch a break, even when's he's just racing for fun like he was in the Busch race. First, he failed to qualify for Sunday's Cup race. Then A.J. Allmendinger in a MWR truck wrecked in Friday night's truck race while he had a good run going. On Saturday, in Braun Racing's #32 car, Michael lasted less than 40 laps before he got into the wall and wrecked, then when he came back on the track a tire blew and he wrecked again, ending his day. I had so hoped that Michael would be able to get a good finish in that race to make him feel better about himself. At least David Reutimann was able to race his way to a top 15 in that race. On Sunday, the results were pretty poor for Michael's teams. David got into a wreck with Greg Biffle and finished 40th, and Dale Jarrett didn't finish much better in 36th. To day the season's been dismal so far for MWR (and the rest of the Toyota teams) is an understatement.

But Michael isn't going to stand pat and hope that things improve on their own. He's reached out to Toyota and asked them for help. He said,

"They gave us credibility and wind tunnel time and technical support. Now we're stepping back and saying we need some help to implement the assets you're bringing to our team. We don't think we're doing a good job of implementing and taking advantage of all the wonderful technological help [they] can offer us. They're reassessing how that will go forward."

To that end, apparently Michael and Toyota have come up with a plan that will hopefully improve the performance of the MWR teams. In addition, Lee White, from Toyota Racing Development is going to MWR today to help. He said,

"I don't see it as a disaster so much as I see it as an opportunity for us to go ahead and do something that we've been kind of held away from doing up until now. Charlotte is probably a realistic goal to see something that might be able to be delivered to the race track and it may not be the car, it may be the process that comes with the car.''

Apparently some of TRD's engineers are going to help MWR build a car that will be able to perform better, not by building the car themselves, but by helping the personnel at MWR with the process of how they should be building the car and utilizing Toyota's technology. The question is - what happens between now and Charlotte in May? Do the MWR teams continue to miss races? In addition, apparently MWR is the first Toyota Cup team to ask for help from the manufacturer - what are Red Bull Racing and Bill Davis Racing going to do to address their problems?

Michael's not just stopping with getting help from Toyota. He's also hiring more personnel, and from the sounds of it making other internal changes. One of the people he hired is Derrick Finley, who was most recently Jeremy Mayfield's crew chief at BDR, before he was replaced by Tommy Baldwin, Jr. Of course Finley didn't just not work out as Jeremy's crew chief, he also didn't last as Michael's crew chief last season either. Because of that I have to admit I'm surprised that Michael hired Derrick. I'm sure he's a very knowledgable engineer, but the communication between Derrick and Michael, at least from the outside listening in, was horrible. I really hope Derrick sticks to engineering, and they don't try to revisit him as crew chief of the #55, because I don't see a second go-around going any better than the first try.

Of course Michael doesn't want to improve the performance of his teams just for himself, but also because the MWR sponsors are getting restless. However, he said that none of them have indicated that they want to leave, and that although NAPA wants to see their car in races, they've been especially supportive. He said that they told him,

"We're with you, we love you, we appreciate you, but doggone, eventually you've got to do something good."

Some have speculated that Michael's about to be forced out as driver of the #55 or that NAPA is going to leave MWR all together. I doubt that. For one thing, it's likely that there's very specific language in the contract between NAPA and MWR that details specifically when the agreement between them can be terminated early, and it's likely not easy. Beyond that, NAPA has a significant amount of marketing, PR, advertising, commercials, merchandising, and promotions built around Michael as driver of the #55. I don't think it's too likely that they'd throw all that away right now, this early in the season, and especially when Michael's continuing to get them exposure in various ways. I also ask, who replaces Michael? Who's available that would get better results? The only driver that I can think of who doesn't have a ride who has Cup experience and might fit in with NAPA's marketing campaign is Steve Park, and I don't see them wanting to go that route considering he's not raced Cup since 2003, and the results his last few years in Cup weren't very good. In addition, it's only four races into the season - things could still turn around. Not only that but I hope NAPA and the rest of the MWR sponsors went into this season with their eyes wide-open knowing that missing races was a possibility.

There's also been some criticism of Michael for continuing to do a lot of media appearances, including starting his own XM show this week. Some feel that he should be using that time to focus on making his team better. Well, for one thing the reason Michael hired Ty Norris and 200 other people at MWR is so that they could take on some of the responsibility for running the organization. Although Michael has to make the final decisions and be as involved as possible, there's no way that he can turn things around by himself. In addition, when Michael does Inside Nextel Cup, Tradin' Paint, the truck broadcasts, or his XM show he's helping to get his sponsors exposure. Without Micheal's appearances on those shows, his sponsors would get even less exposure and would be even more unhappy, so Michael's actually helping his organization with his media work. I also can't imagine that there's much that Michael's going to be able to do to help his team at 7 p.m. on a Tuesday night when he's going to be doing his XM show since that's after business hours. And there's also the matter of how Michael has contractual obligations to Speed and XM that he has to fullfill. Furthermore, and perhaps just as important at this point, is that when Michael does these shows it's an escape for him. He said,

"I'm actually several people. I can drive in the HOV lane all by myself. TV guy Mike, he understands that the people tuning into the race, they don't want to know what my problems are. They want to be entertained. I leave all that behind me. The only negative thing is when I get back to my motor home it's all back there waiting on me."

I think it's absolutely essential that Michael has things that he can do to escape the pressure, and what's surely at times crushing disappointment, about how poorly the season's gone so far. There's only so much one person can take, and I don't think it's good for Michael's state-of-mind to have to deal with all these issues every waking minute.

There was one piece of good news for Michael this past week. In spite of the problems that the #55 team is having, they got a vote of confidence from Klaussner's, who expanded their sponsorship of the #55 for their Klaussner Home Furnishings brand. Previously Klaussner's had been featured as a decal on the window post, but now their decal will be much larger, and on the rear deck lid. Jeff Davis, Klaussner's senior vice president of marketing said,

"Michael and the No. 55 car offer a great opportunity to showcase the new Klaussner brand initiatives to the NASCAR fan base."

It's great to see a sponsor not have any hesitation in upping their sponsorship of the #55 car. Klaussner's didn't wait to see if the performance improved. They went right ahead, and that has to make Michael good that they have confidence in him, and still believe that he can get them the exposure they want.

Bristol and the Car of Tomorrow looms large for MWR and all the Cup teams this coming weekend. I hope that Michael will be able to qualify in for the Cup race, and that the COT will level the playing field, but I'm prepared that things may continue to be a struggle for MWR. But hopefully there will be some success for Michael and MWR with Toyota's help soon.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:14 PM | Comments (0)

Driver by Driver: Atlanta I

1. Jimmie Johnson - With a win two weeks in a row, the #48 team is showing that they aren't going to take it easy after winning the Championship last season. Tony Stewart was angry with Jimmie after the race, feeling like Jimmie didn't give him enough room and pinched him into the wall when he passed him for the win. Jimmie was apologetic after the race, and admitted that maybe he should have given Tony more room, but that he hadn't done it intentionally. To me it looked like it was just one of those racin' deals - at least Tony didn't end up getting wrecked.

2. Tony Stewart - Tony said that he intended on talking to Jimmie to find out what he was thinking regarding the incident between them. I suspect after they've talked, this incident will be more of a big deal to the fans, then to the drivers themselves.

3. Matt Kenseth - Matt's certainly starting off the season right, with his third top five finish in the first four races, one of which was a win. This is another team like the #48 that always seems to be on their game.

4. Jeff Burton - For a guy who finished in the top five, Jeff wasn't too happy after the race because a fuel system problem prevented the team from getting fuel into the car as quickly as they needed to, which meant that Jeff lost spots on pit road. In spite of the problem, Jeff picked up his third top five of the season, and hasn't finished worse than 15th - nice way to start the season.

5. Juan Montoya - It took Juan just four races to get his first top five in Cup, and that comes just two weeks after winning his first Busch race. Some had predicted that Juan would struggle in Nascar, and that it would be quite some time before we saw any positive results from him, but I'm thinking that some may need to revise their predictions. I think there's a good chance he'll be in Victory Lane before the season's over.

6. Clint Bowyer - Clint had a very strong weekend in Atlanta, and not just in Cup. On Friday night he finished 5th in the truck race, and he finished 6th in both the Busch and Cup races.

7. Carl Edwards - Second top ten in a row for Carl vaults him into the top ten in points.

8. Martin Truex Jr. - Martin's seemed to have a good car and be able to race well in every race so far, but mostly due to bad luck, the results don't show that. However, this week he got his first top ten of the season, and if his cars continue to be strong it won't be the last one. A definite difference from last season.

9. Reed Sorenson - The results hadn't been anything to write home about for Reed in the first three races this season, but a top ten is a big improvement.

10. Mark Martin - Looks like there's going to be a new points leader after next week since Mark is sticking to his guns, and insisting that he's not going to race at Bristol as planned, in spite of how well his season has gone so far. I think it's unfortunate that he's not going to continue to race, at least until he sees whether he's able to keep the points lead, but he's talked about how much he's enjoyed not having to worry about the points, so it appears he doesn't want the stress and pressure that comes with trying to stay in the hunt for the Chase.

11. Kurt Busch - Might have finished better but got busted for speeding on pit road and was penalized.

12. Jeff Gordon - Had a great car, and led 30 laps, so it looked like he would contend for the win early on, but some problems in the pits with a crush panel caused him to go a lap down at one point, and kept him from finishing any better than 12th. All things considered it could have been a lot worse considering the issues, so Jeff's probably pretty happy with this finish. In the first four races, this is Jeff's worst finish.

13. David Stremme - Although David hasn't finished in the top ten yet this season, he's not finished outside the top 20 this season so far either, which is a big improvment over how he started last season.

14. Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Another driver who looked like he was going to contend for the win, but he faded. Seems like after every race Junior has a complaint, and this race was no different. Junior blamed his crew chief, Tony Eury, Jr. and his team for screwing up the handling of his car in the last 100 laps of the race. Of course it's always someone else's fault - he's not to blame for entering pit road when it was closed, he's not to blame for not getting a better finish - when will Junior take any kind of responsiblity for the finishes? It's true that a driver can only do so much with the cars that they're given, but he's also the one out there on the track racing.

15. Jamie McMurray - 15th isn't bad, but when are those great finishes going to start coming for Jamie, as some were predicting would happen now that Larry Carter's his crew chief. It's still very early, but so far his season has started out in a very similar way to last season - a mixed bag.

16. Bobby Labonte - Not a bad finish for Bobby. His season has started significantly better than it did last season.

17. Joe Nemechek - The team thought they were setting themselves up for a better finish because they thought they were going to be able to stay out if the race stayed green, when others would have to pit for fuel, but a late caution ruined that plan.

18. Elliott Sadler - The finishes haven't been terrible, but they haven't been all that great either for Elliott since he started off the season by finishing 6th at Daytona. Both last week and this week he qualified in the top five, but that didn't translate into strong finishes.

19. Denny Hamlin - Denny struggled during this race to where he was in 35th at one point, but he was able to race his way to a top 20 finish.

20. Robby Gordon - An agreement was reached between Robby and Nascar that allowed him to keep Motorola on his car, by having the sponsorship be associated with their digital music players instead of their wireless services. Why couldn't they have done that in the first place? Oh yeah, it would have brought much less media attention. As for the race itself, apparently a bad set of tires on one run made things difficult for Robby.

21. Mike Bliss - This team is barely able to qualify in for races, but they finally make it into a race, and Mike races his way to a top 25 finish, beating a lot of better funded and more successful teams. This is the best finish for this team since August of last season with Kevin Lepage, when he finished 21st at Bristol. The team should be very happy with this finish.

22. J.J. Yeley - Had a poor handling car for most of the race, and then having to come back in after a pit stop due to a loose lugnut made things worse.

23. Ryan Newman - Won the pole, then had to start from the back of the field due to an engine change. Also, got hit with a penalty for speeding on pit road like his teammate, Kurt Busch.

24. Sterling Marlin - Finally had a clean race where he wasn't involved in any incidents, and there were no mechanical issues. Not a great finish, but I'm sure he'll take it.

25. Kevin Harvick - Since winning the Daytona 500, the results haven't been too great for Kevin, due to a variety of issues. This week engine problems developed towards the end of the race - he's probably lucky he was able to finish this race at all.

26. Ricky Rudd - The results continue to be unimpressive for Ricky in the #88. So far this season has started much worse for him, than for Jarrett last season in the #88. Of course Robert Yates Racing had a lot of issues to solve in the organization from last season, and Ricky may also still be adjusting to racing Cup full-time again, after having raced in just one race last season.

27. Dave Blaney - Top finishing Toyota. Never had a good car at any point.

28. Casey Mears - The expectations for Casey going to Hendrick Motorports were pretty high but so far the results have been pretty unimpressive. Casey may still be adjusting to being with a new team, but I have to admit I'm a little surprised that his season hasn't started better.

29. Johnny Sauter - Not a great finish by any means, but it was a clean race for Johnny, and he's continuing to do what he need to do to lock himself into the top 35 in owner's points.

30. David Gilliland - Had an ill-handling car all race long.

31. Paul Menard - Paul missed one race, but in spite of that he's just one spot out of the top 35 in owner's points. The results will have to get better for him to get into the top 35 and stay there though.

32. Kyle Busch - A loose wheel early in the race ruined his day.

33. David Ragan - David said after the race that he struggled with giving up a lot of spots after restarts. He has so little experience in Cup that it's not suprising that he's going to have problems like that.

34. Kyle Petty

35. Jeff Green

36. Dale Jarrett - Yet another poor finish for DJ. Of course some of that is due to the car not being very good, but he could help himself by not getting busted for speeding on pit road, something that happened twice.

37. Ken Schrader - This team looks like they could be in trouble as far as the top 35 in owner's points goes. If they're not locked in, that would put a lot of pressure on Jon Wood for those races he'll be in the car for.

38. Tony Raines - Had an ill-handling car, and was also penalized for speeding on pit road.

39. Kasey Kahne - Was an innocent victim of the lap 230 incident between David Reutimann and Greg Biffle. Kasey's had awful luck the past three races - he's been caught in two wrecks, and had a blown engine once.

40. David Reutimann - Poor David. Three races, three wrecks, two of them the result of tangling with Greg Biffle. In this particular incident Greg came up just as David came down a little, and that didn't work out very well. I don't think either driver was really at fault, though Greg didn't see things that way.

41. Greg Biffle - After the race Greg was upset, thinking that possibly David deliberately got into him as payback for the incident at Fontana. I was listening to David's radio during and after the race, and he sounded genuinely perplexed as to exactly how the wreck occured. He even asked his team to tell him honestly if he was at fault. After he reviews a tape of the incident, I would hope that Greg would change his mind about thinking it was intentional, particularly since it was partially caused by him moving up the track towards David.

42. Brian Vickers - Had to start from the back due to an engine change, then got wrecked in the David Reutimann/Greg Biffle incident.

43. Scott Riggs - Lost an engine.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:12 AM | Comments (0)

March 16, 2007

Steve Park on XM

A couple of weeks ago I emailed Claire B. Lang from XM about Steve Park, wondering whether she'd consider having him on her show so that his fans could find out what he's been up to while he's waiting for a ride to surface. She replied by saying that she had been thinking of him herself, and that she would see what she could find out. So I figured when I heard the news that Steve would be in Atlanta this weekend, that Claire would have him on her show, because she's very good about answering questions fans pose to her or getting guests on her show that fans request. And Claire did indeed have Steve on her show - from the sounds of it I wasn't the only one who's been asking about him, so I think she made a lot of people very happy by doing an interview with Steve.

Unfortunately, what Steve said in the interview probably wasn't what a lot of people wanted to hear - he doesn't have a ride, nor does he have any kind of sponsorship lined up, though he's aggressively pursuing both, which is what brought him to Atlanta, so he could network in the garage area. I had hoped to be surprised and find out that Steve was in Atlanta because he was finalizing a deal for a ride, but I can't help but be realistic so I expected that he would say that he doesn't have anything right now. I'm just glad that he's in Atlanta, talking to people, making himself visible, and making sure he's not forgotten. He also mentioned that he thought he would lose a lot of fans by not racing, but that he saw a lot of his fans at the track, so that's a good thing too because if he's down about his situation - and he did say that being at the track and not racing is very difficult - seeing that he still has fan support is something that'll make him feel good about himself.

One thing that Steve mentioned was that he thought he had a deal for a ride at Daytona (and presumably beyond), but that it fell apart a month before. Because he didn't give any details about the specifics of that ride, there's really not much that can be said, other than that it's unfortunate that deals keep falling apart for Steve, but not entirely unexpected because in this sport what seems like a sure thing one day, often falls apart the next day. Just ask Robby Gordon - his sponsorship deals are falling apart left and right for him, good thing he owns his own team! Steve said that he's looking for a ride in either the Truck or Busch Series, but unfortunately at the moment it's not looking like there's much available. But maybe by reminding people that he's around and looking for a ride, if down the road there's a driver change or a new team is formed, he'll be considered.

In a certain corner of the internet, someone gave me a really hard time (pretty much attacked me) for contacting Claire. Somehow this person got the idea that Steve wouldn't want to give an interview to Claire, and doesn't want fans or the media to keep "bothering" him with the same questions over and over again. Of course showing interest in what Steve is up to is fans and others showing that they care and still support him.. Anyone with any kind of common sense knows that there's no negatives about a fan contacting Claire with a positive email or call about Steve. First of all, she encourages fans to contact her, but it's also a way for fans to show their support for the drivers that they like. Beyond that, there's no negatives about Steve being on XM - it gets him exposure and it's a further way for Steve to let it be known that his services are available for this season and beyond. I didn't think it was likely that Steve would turn down an interview with Claire, particularly since she's been extremely positive and supportive of him the past couple of years. What really cracked me up is that when Steve was thanking his fans for their support, he specifically thanked those fans who had emailed and called Claire about him. Yeah, I really did wrong. *rolls eyes*

Posted by silverdsl at 06:19 PM | Comments (0)

More Sponsor Trouble for Robby Gordon

Looks like Robby Gordon's lost his third sponsor in two weeks. Last week he was unable to finalize a deal to have Monster Energy Drink on his Cup car, something that was rumored to have been due to a conflict with Red Bull, who is a track sponsor at Las Vegas. In addition, he apparently lost the Harrah's sponsorship due to changes within that organization. Now, Robby's been forced by Nascar to remove Motorola decals from his car because of a conflict with Sprint-Nextel, the second such conflict with Sprint-Nextel to make news today. Apparently Robby thought that the Motorola deal would be okay because Motorola has dealings with Sprint-Nextel, but the deal came about through Verizon, a competitor to Sprint-Nextel, which makes their logo on Robby's car a no-no. Robby said,

“It’s going to have an effect on our race team. I didn’t anticipate anything like this, I can promise you that.”

He didn't anticipate that there might be a conflict between Motorola and Sprint-Nextel? I guess maybe he assumed it would be okay because they have business dealings together, but it seems to me with the problems that Cingular's having, that it should have crossed his mind that Nascar might raise some objections. What was interesting is that Claire B. Lang on XM said that there's some speculation that Robby knew that the Motorola sponsorship would be a problem, and he didn't pull the decals sooner because he wanted the publicity that comes with pulling them off the car in the middle of the garage. Robby denied that. He said that he submitted an entry form to Nascar weeks ago with Motorola listed as the sponsor of the car so they had the opportunity to raise an objection then. First of all, I kind of doubt that the person who handles the entry forms is the same person who is familiar with the Sprint-Nextel contract to know that there's a conflict. By the time it came to someone's attention with Nascar it might not have been until the car was in the garage. But beyond that, it's Robby's car and his sponsor - it's his responsiblity to make sure that there's not going to be any issues, so maybe he should have made a point of checking things out throughly with Nasar when a possible deal with Motorola first came up.

Of course the loss of sponsorship can have a major impact on a team. For one thing continual problems like this are probably a little disruptive to the team. But beyond that sponsorship money allows a team to have the financial means for the resources to be competitive. Robby has other sponsors, but if he can't find sponsorship to replace what he's lost, his organization's ability to be as solid as they've been could be in jeopardy.

Posted by silverdsl at 05:50 PM | Comments (0)

AT&T Suing Nascar

Cingular's been a long-time sponsor of Richard Childress Racing's #31 car driven by Jeff Burton. When Sprint-Nextel signed on as sponsor of the Cup Series, Cingular and Alltel were both allowed to stay on as sponsors of their respective cars even though they're both competitors to Sprint-Nextel, provided that they stay with their existing teams. Only problem is that now due to a merger, the Cingular name is disappearing, to be replaced by AT&T, after a merger of the two companies, and Nascar refuses to allow them to put the AT&T logos on the car, citing clauses in the Sprint-Nextel deal. After a few months of negotiations led no where, AT&T decided that their only recourse since they want to continue sponsoring the car is filing suit in court against Nascar. AT&T's spokesman, Clay Owen, said,

“We went through our contract with Richard Childress Racing. There were two clauses written in. “The first said we could not increase our brand position on the vehicle, and we have not since we continue to be the primary sponsor. The second is that we could not move to a different team. We have been faithful to both points. It says nothing about us changing the name.”

On one hand it seems pretty ridiculous for Nascar to bar a company from essentially continuing their sponsorship because they're undergoing a name change. However, from Nascar's point-of-view, it seems to me that agreeing to this would set a precidence in which companies that are competitors to series sponsors, can get around exclusivity deals by entering into business deals with existing sponsors. It's the same company in a way because it's still Cingular, but it's not fully the same company, because they're combining with another company. Makes things very confusing, and very difficult, and somewhat unfair, for RCR and Jeff.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:14 PM | Comments (0)

March 15, 2007

Michael Waltrip Gets His Own XM Show!

When I read that Michael Waltrip was getting his own XM show starting this Tuesday, I nearly jumped out of my seat and started dancing around the room with excitment! I had suspected that this might be in the works when Michael said (on XM naturally) when leading a tour through Waltrip Race World during the off-season that they had an XM radio room. I'm so thrilled that it's actually going to happen! The show, which will be called "Michael Waltrip Out Loud," will air every Tuesday, from 7-7:30 p.m. Michael said,

“My XM show will be fun. I love that I have the opportunity to talk about the sport I am so passionate about. There is also a whole world of athletes and entertainers who love this sport and I think it will be great to have them as guests and get their feelings as well.”

Just like Curt Schilling's blog is a great way for him to talk about his opinions at length, Michael's XM show will be perfect for him to also share his thoughts and opinions. If there's one thing that Michael is exceptional at, it's talking. Yeah, some think he talks too much. But in reality Michael is a highly intelligent person, who has a lot of outstanding insights into the sport to share. And let's not forget, Michael's extremely funny too, so I expect this show to be extremely entertaining. Michael will have a half hour to talk about pretty much anything he wants. He can vent about the things that are bothering him, he can talk about the things that are going well at Michael Waltrip Racing, he can bring on some of his friends as guests, and of course it's one more way that he can showcase his sponsors. Speaking of which, it was also announced today that XM will be the sponsor of David Reutimann's #99 car for the Chicagoland race in July.

All in all, I think this is going to be an awesome show, not only for those of us who are fans of Michael's to listen to, but I think it's going to be a great experience for him as well, something that he might really enjoy.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:16 PM | Comments (0)

Steve Park Will be in Atlanta

To do what no one knows. But according to his website, Steve Park will be at the track in Atlanta Friday through Sunday. Maybe he's going to network in the garage area. Maybe he has a lead on a new ride or is working on a deal. Maybe he's gotten involved in some sort of Nascar related business that doesn't involve actually racing until he finds another ride. Maybe he found out that some of his fans were going to be there and decided he would go to see them. Maybe he missed being at the track. I'm just glad that he's going to be there. I had started to wonder when the next time Steve would be seen or heard from - more than a few people had started using "dropped from the face of the earth" and "disappearing act - again" when discussing Steve over the past few months. So even if he doesn't have anything going on in terms of finding another ride, I think it's a very good thing that he's doing something to keep himself visible in the garage area because that way he won't be forgotten about by teams who might be looking for a driver now or in the future, by sponsors who might be looking for new opportunities, and even by fans, who as passionate as they might be about a driver, still need to hear from that driver once in a while.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:07 PM | Comments (0)

March 14, 2007

On Fan Hate

Dave Moody from Sirius wrote a great commentary on his blog about fans who hate drivers, and how much it both perplexes and bothers him. Increasingly I'm also becoming more and more disturbed by how many fans in Nascar, but in other seem to take find bashing drivers they don't like, ripping into fans who have the "wrong" opinions, or being negative about every single aspect of the sport, a tremendous amount of fun. These fans seem to get more enjoyment out of bashing other fans, drivers, and the sport, more than they do from cheering and supporting the drivers they like. Of course this isn't just a problem in Nascar. In all the other major sports as well, there's a segment of fans who seem to feed off negativity, and look for every opportunity they can to boo players and tear them apart for not living up to their lofty standards for performance.

I don't expect fans to like every driver - I know I certainly don't. And regardless of whether I like a driver or not, if I don't agree with something they say or do, I'll make my feelings known, sometimes in a strong way. However, I don't hate anyone, and I never bash drivers. Of course it's at this point where if certain people were to come across this they'll say - well, what about what you've said about Steve Park. Sorry, thinking that Steve's website could be better, or that I found the habit he got into of making announcements about announcements that never amounted to anything frustrating, isn't bashing Steve. That's having an opinion. A bash is when someone says that driver X sucks or that driver Y has no talent. It's laughable sometimes what some fans think - just exactly how have some drivers lasted in Nascar for 15 or 20 years, and won races, without any talent? Unfortunately, it seems that some fans let their dislike of a driver - or of the sport - cloud logical thinking.

Moody also touched upon how some fans love to spin conspiracy theories. To a degree I can understand why it happens because Nascar, and sometimes the teams and drivers, tend to be closed-mouthed on the details and explanations for certain things. Everyone - from drivers, to sponsors, to owners, to those that run the sport - are trying to spin things to suit their own agenda. What happens is that fans end up with a lot of unanswered questions, things that don't make sense, and sometimes few facts. So that leads to conspiracy theories being spun to explain why their favorite driver was done wrong in their eyes, or why a driver they dislike seemed to get perferenital treatment. And to be clear, I don't think there's anything wrong with speculation or coming up with theories. It's part of human nature. It's when fans take things too far and come up with complex conspiracy theories that involve everyone in the garage area agreeing to "get" a certain driver or help another driver succeed that it becomes ridiculous.

Equally ridiculous is when fans (over-)analyze quotes, photos or video to justify their theories. As I mentioned above it's true that there's a lot of PR spin in the sport. So I can understand that fans aren't always sure what to believe. But the degree to which some fans pick things apart for hidden meanings and interpret them to prove their line of thinking is laughable. What's really disturbing is that even when there's not a single shread of real proof other than reading into things, there's fans who talk about their theories like it's a done deal that it's true. I think I touched on it in a prior entry, but it's really troubling how many fans think they know exactly what happened with the #55 car, however, the reality is that other than the fact that there was a foreign substance in the car that didn't belong, there's not much else that's known for sure such as what exactly the substance is, how it got there, who put it there, or who had knowledge of it. That's not stopped any number of fans to leaping to all sorts of conclusions that they insist is the "truth," but they have no way of supporting with actual fact. It's scary what passes for fact for some people these days.

I also find it hard to figure out those fans who constantly complain about every aspect of the sport, yet continue watching every race. To hear some talk, there's not a single good thing about Nascar or the drivers. If the sport is so bad, and someone gets no enjoyment out of it, why go through the suffering that comes with watching? Again, it seems to me that some people feed off of negativity, and it's fun to them to find fault in the drivers and the sport. I definitely don't agree with everything that Nascar, the teams or drivers do. But I also think there's plenty of good things that happen in the sport. Some races are boring, some are exciting, some are a mix of both, but overall there's so much about this sport that I love, so much that interests me, and keeps me watching. Maybe secretly it's the same for some of the negative-nellie fans, but they just can't admit it.

Let's also talk about fans intolerance for each other. Unfortunately a lot of fans seem to think that other fans who don't see the world as they do, or have different opinions are unintelligent. Or that they're bad fans. Or bad people. It's disturbing how quick others are sometimes to dismiss opinions that don't agree with theirs as being unworthy. Once some fans make up their minds about what they think are the correct opinions or way to view things, they become so close-minded that they won't consider anything - even facts - from an opposing viewpoint. Recently I was accused of "speaking from both sides of my mouth" or some other nonsense, because I don't always stick to one opinion, and because I see both the positives and negatives about the drivers that I like. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Of course I have some core values, beliefs and opinions, but it's very important to me to have an open mind. I like to read as much as possible about the things that interest me, and as I come across new information, my opinion might change on some things. I think that's a good thing, but unfortunately some seem to view evolving opinions, growing as a person, and gaining knowledge as a negative. I also try to be as objective and realistic as possible, though of course like any other fans I have my moments when I look at my favorite drivers in a more favorable light than others might. But in general, I'm not going to bury my head in the sand and ignore reality. To some fans even the hint of any negativity in relation to a driver such as recognizing that Jeremy Mayfield failing to qualify for three races in a row isn't a good thing, or that Steve Park's career is stalled at the moment, means that the person pointing out those things is a bad fan.

I really can't understand how grown adults can't tolerate each other, and ignore the people and opinions that bother them. But I guess to some when they hate another person's opinions or the drivers they like, they think it gives them liscense to treat the other person as poorly as they'd like. Some seem to think they're defending their driver's honor or being a "true" or a "real" fan, as if there is any such thing, as I've talked about in this space before. What utter nonsense it is, when one fan rips into another fan for having the "wrong" opinion, when that opinion isn't even remotely a bash or an insult, simply that it's an opinion that some don't want to have to hear or see. The funny thing is that the small percentage of fans who engage in that kind of behavior don't discredit the fan they're attacking like they seem to want to, they usually just make themselves look like an asshat.

What happened to human decency? For people having compassion, tolerance and understanding for each other? I'm constantly amazed by the things that I see and hear about. Fans harassing other fans not just verbally, but sometimes physically as well. Fans wishing ill fortune on drivers. Fans cheering when drivers wreck. Drivers have been seriously injured and died while racing. There's been a lot of safety advances over the past few years, but this sport remains dangerous, and there's no guarantee that a driver is going to walk away without a scratch. Where does it end? Will fans one day cheer when a driver wrecks and gets hurt - or worse? I'd like to think that day will never come, but it seems that some fan's hatred knows no bounds.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:30 AM | Comments (0)

March 13, 2007

Photo of the Day - Pug

Bailey the pug. April, 2006.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:05 PM | Comments (0)

In the News: Michael Waltrip (3/13)

There's no official press release from Braun Racing yet, so it's all speculation as to how this came about, but the entry list for the Nicorette 300 on Saturday in Atlanta has been updated to show that Michael Waltrip will race the #32 for Braun Racing with Camping World as a sponsor. I suppose this is all about Michael being a Toyota driver and Braun being a Toyota organization that was in need of a driver. As happy as I am that Michael will be racing on Saturday, I have to admit I think it's a shame for John Andretti because it seems as if his tenure at Braun Racing is likely over after just one race. All involved parties have been very closed-mouthed about what exactly happened, but Andretti went from having a full-time ride with ppc Racing, to a part-time ride when that organization merged with Braun, to no Busch ride at all. Braun had said that there were sponsorship issues, but since Camping World, Andretti's sponsor is still a Braun sponsor (and also a sponsor of Andretti's in Cup), it doesn't seem like that's likely the reason. Instead it may have to do with Toyota not being all that happy that Andretti is racing a Dodge in Cup. But regardless of how that all played out, I'm thrilled that Michael will be racing on Saturday!

I have to say though, I went over to John Andretti's fan forum to see their reaction to this bit of news, and predictably they were upset. I can understand that. I'm upset whenever things don't work out well for one of my drivers too. However, I think it's really unlikely that this is about getting Michael more seat time as some fans seem to think. After more than 20 years of racing on all three of Nascar's highest levels, Michael doesn't need to get any more seat time. What Michael needs are Cup cars that have enough speed for him to qualify for races. It's that simple. One thing that pains me is that fans assume that Michael's issues this season are due to a lack of talent - that's not true. Nor is lack of talent a problem for any of the other Toyota drivers who are having problems qualifying for races. It's unfortunate that some fans dismiss how poor equipment hinders a driver's ability to get good results, just like competitive equipment enables drivers to be able to race up front.

Michael also expressed his concerns over the weekend about Michael Waltrip Racing's problems so far. He said,

"Our cars are not running right. It's just real disappointing. I'm really concerned about why we aren't any better than we are, but we are going to work. I know how to do this - not just as the driver, but as the owner. I know how to connect with people and get them to understand my goal and my vision. I'm not going to give up. Hopefully people will understand that this is just the start."

It's definitely disappointing. And they definitely have a lot of work to do to improve. I'm also glad to hear that he's not going to give up. Actually, it would be ridiculous for them to give up. Yes, they've gotten off to a terrible start, but there's still plenty of races left this season, not to mention MWR is in this for the long-haul. They're not just planning on racing this season or next, but for years into the future. Unfortunately, there's a lot of people who don't understand that this is just the beginning of Michael's journey as an owner. There are many who think that just because things have been dreadful for MWR so far this season, that things will always be a disaster for MWR. Hardly. Just look at Ginn Racing. Last season as MB2 Motorsports, the organization struggled, but this season they're significantly improved. Not every strong team is guaranteed to be dominant forever, and not every bad team is necessarily non-competitive forever either. Michael even said himself,

"You cannot define the future by what we are doing here today. This isn't who we are. This isn't who we are going to be defined as."

Michael also displayed his "no quit" attitude that Ty Norris made mention of in an article a while back. He said,

"We've dug ourselves a hole this year, but it's not over. You just have to remember that my career has been defined with a lot of trials and tribulations. I have had a lot of highs and a lot of lows, and they have all made me a stronger person. A stronger person is what you need to be when things like this happen."

It's very true that Michael hasn't had things easy throughout his career. Spending years and years in Cup without ever having won a race. Losing one of his closest friends when he finally does win a race. Racing non-competitive cars, and being written off as over-rated and un-talented. But Michael's survived it all. That speaks to his strength as a person that he's survived in Nascar for this long. And it's that strength that will help him - and his organization - get though the challenges that face them now.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:40 PM | Comments (0)

Update on Riley-D'Hondt Motorsports

Last season after Eddie D'Hondt was fired from Robert Yates Racing, he announced plans to form Riley-D'Hondt Motorsports to field Cup and Busch teams. At the time I remember thinking his plans seemed like they might be a bit overambitioius as a new organization - two Busch teams and two Cup teams - since there was less than a year before the 2007 season started, and it's no easy matter these days securing sponsors and putting together a competitive team. Not surprisingly the start of the 2007 came and went without Riley-D'Hondt entering a car in either Busch or Cup, and I was starting to wonder whether we'd ever see them on the track. Now comes word that they plan on fielding a Busch car later this season, likely with David Green behind the wheel, and that they will enter a car in the two road course Cup races for Marc Goossens. Why haven't we seen them sooner? A lack of sponsorship of course, something they expect to finalize soon. D'Hondt said,

"I'm almost glad that we haven't [started], but to do this right ... you've really got to have all of your stuff well researched and well staffed. It's almost a blessing that we're not starting out early, and we take this year to get the race shop properly prepared and not rushed. And quite frankly, we had to get the financing. That's the biggest part of it."

He's probably very right that it's a good thing that the team isn't going to make it's debut until later in the season. They'll be better off making sure they have all the pieces in place to be as competitive as possible, than rushing to get a car on the track that can't compete. That's especially true on the Cup side, where there's so few spots available, and so many good teams who show up each week. It's also important to make sure that they have solid sponsorship in place so they have enough funding to enable them to be competitive.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:21 PM | Comments (0)

Random Thoughts on Random Thoughts

*Why couldn't I be this lucky when I was eight-years old? Eight-year old twins in Arkansas found a 2.5 carat diamond at Crater of Diamonds State Park,where visitors are encouraged to look for diamonds in the park. As a collector of gems and minerals myself, it definitely sounds like my kind of place! The diamond that the twins found is thought to be worth thousands of dollars - I wonder if they'll get to keep it, or whether their parents will sell it for them?

*Word is that Gary Sheffield's first choice was to go to the Boston Red Sox during the off-season. No wonder the New York Yankees excercised their option on his contract and then traded him to the Detroit Tigers. Both Sheffield and David Ortiz talk about how Sheffield didn't get credit and how his contributions weren't thought to be "good enough." Basically that nonsense boils down to Sheffield's usual complaint about not being respected enough by the Yankees. Sheffield earned something like $13 million a season, but I guess he was expecting that the Yankees name the stadium after him, or have him carried out on the field in a gold cart or something. The more Sheffield runs his mouth, the more I'm glad the Yankees got rid of him!

*I can't believe it took Curt Schilling until now to start doing a blog. What a perfect outlet for him to get all his thoughts down, in detail and at length. For a few years Schilling has posted on the Red Sox fan forum, Sons of Sam Horn, and occassionally on the New York Yankees fan forum my husband and I run, NYYFans.com. Although many, including some Red Sox fans think he talks too much, I've always found Schilling's opinions, particularly when they're on the game of baseball in general as opposed to just about the Red Sox or Yankees to be pretty interesting. There aren't that many players who are as willing as Schilling is to share their insights on baseball directly with the fans, and I'm glad that Schilling is willing to put up with the criticism he takes from fans who not only don't agree with his opinions, but believe he should have no right to express them. Thus far, Schilling's blog has been well-written and pretty interesting.

*Viacom is suing YouTube, and their coporate owner, Google, for more than $1 billion for damages due to copyright infringement. I've often wondered why YouTube doesn't face more lawsuits like this - there's a huge amount of material posted on YouTube that's copyrighted to someone else. I enjoy watching YouTube videos as much as anyone else, but I can see the site going the way of Napster. I can't see how YouTube could win a copyright infringement lawsuit.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:34 PM | Comments (0)

March 12, 2007

Photo of the Day - Multnomah Falls

Multnomah Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon. September, 2006.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:03 PM | Comments (0)

Robby Gordon Having Sponsorship Problems?

There's a lot of rumors circulating about why Robby Gordon didn't have a sponsor for Sunday's race, and very little concrete information as to why. What is known is that Robby was supposed to have Monster, an energy drink, on his car. So close was the deal to being done that Robby's driver's suit was in a Monster scheme, the crew was decked out in Monster gear, and there were Monster decals at the track ready to be put on the car. That never happened. Robby said simply,

"Monster sponsors my off-road car and they sponsor other vehicles that we run," Gordon said. "We were close to having our deal done here, it's just not 100 percent done today. I expect in the future to have a deal done."

But there may be more to the story than just that the deal couldn't be completed in time for Sunday's race. According to some reports on Robby's Nascar. message board and other forums, Red Bull became aware of Robby's deal with Monster, and since they had a deal with Las Vegas Motor Speedway to be the exclusive energy drink of the race weekend, they were able to bar Monster from sponsoring the #7. That does make some sense. I can see where Red Bull wouldn't want a competitor's drink on the track, particularly since their own cars failed to make the race. However, message board rumors are notoriously unreliable. Anyone can say anything, at any time, and there's often no way of confirming what's fact, and what's fiction. If there is any truth to Red Bull preventing Monster from being on Robby's car, I think that's bad news for this deal actually happening for Robby, because there may be other track that Red Bull has a deal with, and Monster wouldn't be able to sponsor his car at those races either.

Mike Mulhern claims in today's column that Robby has additional sponsorship woes. He said that due to Harrah's going private in a $17 billion dollar deal, they'll be dropping their sponsorship of the #7. That doesn't entirely make sense since Robby did an appearance for Harrah's in Las Vegas, but it's possible that Harrah's will still be a sponsor for the short-term, but down the road they may discontinue their sponsorship.

Losing two sponsorship deals could spell disaster for Robby. It could have a negative effect on his efforts to be competitive this season. A lack of financial means handcuffs many teams. But also Robby has talked about his desire to expand to a second Cup team, and soon. If he can't find sponsorship for his own car, that might make it difficult for find sponsorship for another team. Robby has done a great job of finding and keeping sponsors, much better than many other small teams. However, a lot of that happened while John Story was general manager, and Story's now with DEI. Presumably someone's taken his place, but he seemed to have been a big part of Robby Gordon Motorsports getting to where they are. It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out for Robby. It may end up that he finalizes the deal with Monster, and doesn't lose the Harrah's sponsorship, but if he does things could be tough for Robby.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:07 PM | Comments (0)

Driver by Driver: Las Vegas

1. Jimmie Johnson - Jimmie and the #48 team obviously have this track figured out, reconfigurations or not. This is the third year in a row that Jimmie has won this race, much to the dismay of many fans. What's particularly impressive about this win is that Jimmie had to overcome a miscue by his team on pit road involving a tire getting away. But he was able to overcome the penalty and go on to win.

2. Jeff Gordon - Maybe I should change that to Hendrick Motorsports has this track figured out. Great start to the season for Jeff - a top ten at Daytona, and in the two races that have followed he's finished second in both. He also led 111 laps in this race, so if not for his teammate he might have been in Victory Lane.

3. Denny Hamlin - After an impressive rookie season, we haven't heard much from Denny yet this season, probably because this is the first race he's finished inside the top ten, let alone the top five.

4. Matt Kenseth - The momentum from his win in California carried over to this weekend which resulted in a solid top five for Matt.

5. Mark Martin - Mark continues his strong start to the season, which keeps him in the points lead. He also continues to insist that no matter what he's stepping out of the car. I wonder if he's going to end up regretting that decision if he sticks to it?

6. Carl Edwards - Good race for Carl, following two races where he wasn't able to finish inside the top 20.

7. Tony Stewart - I wonder if Tony changed his mind about this track after racing his way to a top ten finish? Last week Tony complained loudly about how terrible the race was going to be, and as it turned out while there was a rash of early incidents, things settled down for most of the rest of the race. Tony's not the only driver who expressed concerns about the track, but he was one of the most vocal about it. I would have liked to have seen him wait until after the race was actually run before giving his opinion on how horrible the new configuration of the track is.

8. Ryan Newman - Solid finish for Ryan. There's a lot of people questioning whether he'll ever recapture his fine form of the past where he won numerous poles and at least one race each season. It's important for him to show that last season was an abberation.

9. Kyle Busch - Third Hendrick car in the top ten. Kyle's lucky because on lap 117 he spun, but he managed to keep it off of the wall, and the damage was minor. I expect to see either he or his brother Kurt in Victory Lane at this track before too long - as Las Vegas natives, they're both even more motivated than usual to win at this track.

10. Jamie McMurray - This is Jamie's first top ten since Watkins Glen in August of last year.

11. Dale Earnhardt Jr. - A big mental error cost Junior a top five. Under caution, with just a few laps to go in the race, Junior followed Jeff Burton to pit road - only problem was that pit road was still closed. On the restart, Junior was penalized by having to start at the tail end of the longest line, which luckily for him was only 13 cars, since that's how many were on the lead lap. Instead of accepting responsiblity for his mistake, Junior apparently got on his radio and ripped into his crew chief, Tony Eury, Jr. Yes, good communciation between the driver and his team is important - someone should have told Junior that pit road was still closed. But ultimately Junior is responsible for checking the lights to see whether pit road is open or closed instead of blindly following another driver. It would have been more productive for him to acknowledge his mistake, and then calmly ask his team to let him know whether pit road is open or closed to be sure that kind of thing doesn't happen again. j

12. Martin Truex Jr. - A much needed solid finish for Martin.

13. Bobby Labonte - Rebounds from a so-so first two races with a top 15.

14. Elliott Sadler - At times Elliott was able to race up front, and he even led 17 laps, but a tight condition developed in the second half of the race, and he struggled to finish even this well.

15. Jeff Burton - Jeff led four laps, and looked to have a good car, but battery problems caused him to have to come in for some work on pit road, which prevented him from finished as well as he might have without the problem.

16. Greg Biffle - Not a terrible finish, but the past two seasons he's had top ten finishes at this track, so this race was probably disappointing to him.

17. Robby Gordon - Robby, Robby, Robby. I have no idea what he was thinking by making the move that he did so early in the race. It didn't work out so badly for him because he ended up with a top 20, but Casey Mears and Ward Burton ended up with ruined race cars on lap 9. Mears was extremely angry after the incident saying,

"It amazes me. Every time I think Robby can't do anything any more stupid than he's already done, he one-ups himself. It's so early in the race. The tires are some of the hardest tires to drive we've had all year. It's such a long race and he puts us three-wide going into Turn 1. It's ridiculous. He's trying to pull something off in the first opening laps when it means nothing. I guess he's trying to be a hero, you know?"

It amazes me too. Robby has a tremendous amount of talent behind the wheel, but he's never really been able to show it fully, one reason being that he's contstantly tripping himself up by making these kinds of mistakes, or letting his emotions get to him on the track. You'd think that when other drivers openly rip into him - and sometimes not even when they're involved in an incident with him - that he'd get the message. I think his unwillingness to change his approach on the track has cost him better results.

18. J.J. Yeley - A top 20 might not seem so hot, but Yeley's gotten finishes of 12th, 13th, and now 18th to start the season, so if he can get consistantly decent results he'll finish well in the points. He might have finished better if not for a lugnut problem during a pit stop that cost him time.

19. David Stremme - The results haven't been amazing or anything, but so far David's started the 2007 season better than the 2006 season, so he should be happy about that.

20. Tony Raines - So far Raines is picking up right about where he left off last season. Which isn't horrible, but isn't great either. Eventually this team is probably going to want to see some consistantly better results, so they may look to make a driver change at some point if Raines doesn't get them the results they want. Only thing is that it's going to be hard for a one-car team to be ultra-competitive with any driver.

21. David Gilliland

22. Juan Montoya - I didn't see this during the race broadcast, but after the race Juan said that his fenders were damaged when he tangled with David Gilliland, and after that his car was ill-handling.

23. Scott Riggs

24. Kenny Wallace - Was able to qualify in for his first race of the season, in three tries. A top 25 is a good finish for this team. I think this team intends on trying to qualify for every race this season, but it's going to be tough to make many of them.

25. Jeff Green

26. Kurt Busch - This had to be a disappointing finish for Kurt considering it's his hometown track. Apparently his car was down on power for much of the race.

27. Kevin Harvick - His car was extremely loose, and repeated changes never did much to make it any better.

28. Kyle Petty

29. Jon Wood - Probably not the finished he wanted for his first Cup race, but he finished without being involved in any incidents, on a tough track that even experienced drivers were having trouble with.

30. Ricky Rudd - There's been a lot of talk by some fans about what a mistake it was for Dale Jarrett to leave Yates in light of how much MWR is struggling, and how much better Rudd's doing in the #88. In reality so far Rudd's not been doing all that great himself with his best finish so far being 26th at Daytona. In addition, after qualifying on the front row for Daytona, the qualifying results have been pretty bad for Rudd.

31. Reed Sorenson - Was doing okay for the first part of the race, but a gear problem, then a speeding on pit road penalty ruined his day.

32. Paul Menard - Got some damage from a spin on lap 173.

33. Dale Jarrett - Had a ill-handling car all day, one reason being that a mistake was made on the pressures of his tires. The car got better once they realized what the issue was, but it was too late to salvage a decent finish.

34. Sterling Marlin - Heartbreak for Sterling! He was in the top ten for the majority of the day until his engine blew late in the race.

35. Kasey Kahne - Sustained major damage to the rear of his car when he spun on lap 251.

36. Clint Bowyer - Also fell victim to a spin, only his came on lap 226.

37. David Ragan - Brought out the first caution on lap 2 with a spin. With how little experience he has in Cup, it's probably to be expected that he had some trouble on this track.

38. Joe Nemechek - An incident with Clint Bowyer put him in the wall early in the race.

39. Johnny Sauter - When car meets wall it rarely works out well as Johnny can attest to.

40. Casey Mears - Good wrecked by Robby Gordon on lap 9.

41. Aric Almirola - Spun on lap 40. With all the changes seems like this is a very challenging race for a driver to make his Cup debut like Aric and Jon Wood did.

42. Dave Blaney - Got caught up in the Nemechek/Bowyer incident. Blaney's been the best Toyota on qualifying day, and he's had some good runs, but he's been the victim of bad luck in every race so far.

43. Ward Burton - Was finally able to qualify for a race, and ended up wrecked before ten laps were even completed. I doubt he's thinking too fondly of Robby Gordon right now.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:37 AM | Comments (0)

March 11, 2007

Photo of the Day - Beach

Outer Banks, North Carolina, July, 2003. Sure would be nice to be at the beach right about now!

Posted by silverdsl at 10:11 PM | Comments (0)

March 10, 2007

David Hyder Returns to Work at Michael Waltrip Racing

It's hard to know whether David Hyder was allowed to come back to work at Michael Waltrip Racing because they truly believe his claims of innocence regarding the mystery substance, as Michael seemed to imply last week in his XM interview, or whether there would be legal implications to firing him without proof of wrong-doing as the ESPN.com article indicates. But it seems like they're trying to make the best of a bad situation by putting Hyder back to work on the #55. Ty Norris said,

"We're trying to figure out how to utilize his talent and experience without him being a traveling crew chief until we get all the answers we're looking for. The real world lives in 'innocent until proven guilty.' We have no more proof of his innocence and no more proof of his guilt. He is standing strong to his initial statements that he was not involved."

I have to wonder what effect Hyder's return to the shop is going to have on the other MWR employees. If Michael and Ty have questions about his involvement with the substance getting into the car - or how it happened without him knowing about it - you can be sure that others do as well. And if Hyder truly is innocent, he may be looking twice of some of those around him, wondering if they did something behind his back. How well can people who have suspicions about each other work well together? Especially considering this wasn't a small incident - this will have an impact on MWR for a long time to come. However in some ways MWR is probably playing things smart by not firing Hyder. Aside from the legal implications, when he's working for them, they can probably control how much, if anything, he says to the media.

Unfortunately for Hyder it sounds like his career in Nascar at the track is pretty much finished considering sources say that Hyder might be suspended not just for this season, but for years. On one hand I can understand that because messing with the fuel is a huge no-no. However, last season a crew member for Richard Childress Racing was suspended indefinitely for physicallly attacking Kevin Harvick. That crew member was allowed to come back this season. As bad as cheating is for the sport, I have some major issues with physical violence as well. Seems to me that something that involves something that someone could possibly be arrested for should have stronger consequences in terms of whether that person can return to the track, than someone who was potentially trying to improve the performance of the car - as much of a no-no in Nascar's eyes as that might be, it's not something that someone could get arrested for.

Ty Norris said that they need Nascar and other parties to turn over evidence so they can fully investigate, but so far they've not received anything. He said,

"It's not even about reinstating people. "It's about trying to understand what happened, how it happened, so we can determine who had access to it. Right now, we're just on the outside looking in on this investigation."

Which leads me to believe it's unlikely the answers will ever be known as to who did this and why. Nascar said their investigation is closed and that the only thing that's important is that a substance was there that didn't belong. All other specifics, including exactly what the substance is are irrelevant. I don't agree with that, and I think Nascar's reluctance to say what the substance is, or turn evidence back over to the team begs a lot of questions, primarily why? Are they afraid of what might be revealed by a full investigation?

There's been some debate about whether MWR knows what the substance is or not. According to Ty, they don't.

"We don't know what it was, we don't know what it was intended to do and we don't know where it was entered into the system."

That's a huge problerm that not only does MWR not know what the substance is, they don't know what it was supposed to do and how it got into the car. If Nascar gave the team back the confiscated car, MWR could get some of those answers. I have to wonder why Nascar isn't willing to do that. Again, I have to wonder - is there something Nascar doesn't want the team, the media, or the general public to know?

Really a situation that continues to trouble me. There are way too many unanswered questions for my comfort.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:37 AM | Comments (0)

Not a Very Good Showing for Toyota at Las Vegas

Qualifying was yesterday for Sunday's Cup race at Las Vegas, and five out of the seven Toyota teams failed to qualify for the race. It was worse than that - Dale Jarrett was also slow as molasses and had to take yet another Champion's provisional to make the race. Across the board, other than Dave Blaney's #22, the Toyotas were pretty putrid. I'm not sure exactly what happened either. During practice it seemed like David Reutimann had a fairly decent car, but once it came time to qualify all the speed went away. Even Michael Waltrip seemed to have a car that might have a shot at making it in, but by the time qualifying came around, the car was so incredibly ill-handling that Michael had to fight to control it, ultimately losing the battle and wrecking.

Finding out that Michael hadn't qualified for the race was really depressing to me. I know how sad and disappointed Michael must be, not only that he failed to make the race, but also that David wasn't able to qualify in. There's no chance that Michael's going to be able to get into the top 35 in points, but I think they were thinking that they'd get David and DJ in, so they would be locked in each week. Missing a race is going to make it hard for that to be possible for David. It's to be expected that there's going to be struggles for such a new team and manufacturer, but with so many talented personnel working at Michael Waltrip Racing, and Toyota having such a strong program, I had thought that things wouldn't be quite this difficult. Although some fans seem insistant on thinking that his teams missing races is a sign that Michael is a failure as an owner, one only need to look at the other Toyota teams to see that it doesn't appear to be an individual team issue - Red Bull Racing and Bill Davis Racing have their own issues too.

Before the season started, most were picking BDR to be the best of the Toyota teams since they're an established organization that's been to Victory Lane in Cup. I wasn't convinced of that because of how many problems Michael had when he got his cars and personnel from BDR. It just seemed like issues like the constant mechanical woes, that sometimes appeared to be the result of things that could have been prevented, might be something that would take some time to improve on. Jeremy Mayfield was bit by the exact same issue yesterday. According to a post on the 360otc.com forum, after qualifying they discovered a loose or detached wire in the engine that led to Jeremy being down a cylinder. No way could he qualify in for a race when he's down on horsepower. Of course mistakes are going to happen, but when they have no margin for error, it seems to me that all the wires, plug, screws, blots and every other part should not only be double-checked, but triple-checked to make sure its right. It's also curious to me that Blaney is able to do so well, but his teammate, Jeremy is struggling so much. BDR should be able to field two teams that are at least semi-decent, but thus far that's not working out so well for them.

What's also puzzling to me is how Brian Vickers can get a top ten at California, and then doesn't have a car good enogh to qualify in for a race this week. That the car was so good at California indicates that RBR is capable of building competitive cars, but what happened this week? It's not good that the momentum didn't carry over for the #83 team to Las Vegas. It's got to be incredibly difficult for A.J. Allmendinger to have failed to qualify for this third race in a row, particularly since he missed by such a small margin this week. I can't imagine how he's ever going to develop as a Cup driver if he's not going to get any experience in actual races.

Of course it's still very early in the season. As time goes on all three teams may strengthen and start to have an easier time qualifying for races. But my concern is that things will continue to go wrong for these teams, the missed races will pile up, morale will suffer, and they might struggle to improve. I hope that Toyota is working closely with these teams on ways to make the cars better. Once DJ's provisionals run out, there could be a scenario in which the only Toyota driver that races regularly is Dave Blaney - and that's if he's able to stick in the top 35 in owner's points. I also think these teams need to make sure that they don't trip themselves up. It was a loose wire for the #36 team, and the #55 team lost a lot of time in practice because they failed inspection the first time due to the car not meeting some of the required templates. Those things are going occasionally with every team, but it can't happen often with these teams because a small mistake can end up being very costly when they're not guaranteed a spot.

I didn't expect that the Toyotas would be outstanding immediately. I think it's a tall order for new teams and a new manufacturer to be racing up front and winning races right away. But I did expect at least some of these teams would be top 25 teams and be able to lock themselves into the top 35 in owner's points. Now it's looking like next season is going to start very much like this season where the majority of Toyota teams aren't guaranteed a spot in each week's race, and they'll always be struggling to catch up even in terms of practice since the teams outside the top 35 in owner's points have such a long wait to get through inspection. Really an unfortuanate situation that makes me sad for Michael and his drivers - I hope things start to improve for them soon.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:59 AM | Comments (0)

March 08, 2007

Photo of the Day - From Above

Somewhere over Georgia or Florida, July, 2006.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:18 PM | Comments (0)

You've Got Questions, I've Got Answers

Some answers to questions that led people to this blog...

*Paul Menard races for DEI, and his family's company, Menard's is a sponsor at DEI.

*Michael Waltrip has ran in several marathons, including the Las Vegas marathon to raise money for the Victory Junction Gang Camp via Operation Marathon, and most recently the Victory Junction Run, a half marathon that also benefited the VJGC.

*There's many beautiful places in Las Vegas, depending on what you consider beautiful. I loved taking photos of all the cool casinos, and the view of the strip with all the lights and glitter is amazing at night. But some of the most beautiful parts of the Las Vegas area are outside the city, in the wilderness. Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire State Park are both beautiful.

*I don't know what drivers might be having affairs with other drivers wives, nor do I care.

*Kasey Kahne does have a website which can be found at www.kaseykahne.com.

*I can't say I've ever seen satan at the Paulinskill Viaduct, but if I do you can be sure I'll do an entry about it.

*Brett Griffin is Elliott Sadler's close friend, business manager and spotter. I understand he also helps with Elliott's fan club and sometimes does some PR work for Elliott as well.

*Dale Earnhardt Jr's sister's name is Kelley and I believe she does have a "spot" at infieldparking.com.

*According to Nascar the illegal substance in the #55 car wasn't a liquid, it was a gel, but no one knows exactly what it was because Nascar's not telling.

*The results of the meetings this year between Junior and DEI are a lot of meaningless statements that don't shed any light as to whether or not Junior's going to re-sign with DEI or not.

*If I were getting married in Ogunquit, weather permitting, I'd want to get married on Marginal Way, preferrably near the flat rock I love so much.

*David Smith, is the former crew chief for Dale Earnhardt, who left Richard Childress Racing when he found out that the #07 car would be sponsored by Jack Daniels. That was because he stopped drinking when he found God and had told Richard Childress that he would work there as long there were no liquor, dirty magazine or gambling sponsors.

*Yes, Michael Waltrip might use a gel-like substance. Perhaps gel in his hair?

*Chris Crumley was a tire-changer for the #8 team as of last season. I can't say I know for sure that he's back this season, though I'd think any changes to the Bud crew would have gotten some media attention.

*There was a lot of initial speculation that sterno was the substance found in the #55 car, but most have since discounted that.

*I'm sure Buffy Waltrip does wear skirts, but likely not too often at the track.

*Michael Waltrip Racing is based in North Carolina. When Waltrip Race World is completed, all the MWR teams and personnel will be housed there.

*I've heard that Elliott Sadler's girlfriend is a schoolteacher from his hometown, but I know nothing else about her.

*It's a good question as to what Steve Park is doing in 2007. It's one that leads many people to my blog, but unfortunately I can't provide the answer to that question.

*No, Mike Mussina is not a female.

*Yes, Bobby Kennedy is Michael Waltrip Racing's Director of Competition, and unfortunately he's suspended indefinitely due to the foreign substance mess.

*Frank Kerr is David Reutimann's crew chief.

*I think Waltrip Race World is going to be pretty awesome when it's completed.

*I'm sorry, I can't tell Scott Pruett to stop whining because I'm not affiliated with him.

*I have no drunken granny photos.

*I believe in Steve Park's abilities behind the wheel too, and I have no doubt that if he was given a competitive car he could race up front and win.

*David Reutimann's definitely not Jewish, since he always wears a cross or has one on his car. His faith is very important to him.

*Michael and Darrell Waltrip raced each other with parade floats in a Toyota commericial.

Corey Lidle is the New York Yankees player who died in a plane crash last year.

*Yeah, I'd like to know more about 360otc too.

*I have no clue what Shane Hmiel is up to these days but he won't be back racing in Nascar that's for sure.

*I don't know a thing about Junior's girlfriend. I continue to be amazed by the crazy conclusions that some are jumping to on the basis of some photos.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:37 PM | Comments (0)

I've been wanting and wanting to post some stuff all day, but I'm so busy it's been a no-go. Maybe later or tomorrow.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:20 PM | Comments (0)

March 06, 2007

Photo of the Day - Ogunquit Sunrise

Ogunquit, Maine, July, 2005.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:08 PM | Comments (0)

In the News: Michael Waltrip (3/6)

Michael Waltrip and Dale Jarrett were at Kentucky Speedway this past Friday for a one-day test that they hoped would improve Michael Waltrip Racing's overall performance this season. Michael said,

"It's not time to panic yet, it almost is. We're going to make a few subtle changes and ramp up everything we do. Hopefully, we'll show some steady improvement. We haven't done a good job at the racetrack,"

Some dismiss a few poor starts at the beginning of the season, and it's true that a team can bounce back from a tough couple of races, but I think it's really important for teams not to get too far behind to start the season, particularly for new teams that have to race their way into the top 35 in owner's points as all the Michael Waltrip Racing teams have to. Of course thanks to the penalties at Daytona, the #55 team likely has no chance of doing that, but overall MWR does need to improve their performance. That's no easy feat because they first have to qualify into the races, then work on getting strong finishes, but hopefully last week's test will help them get to where they need to be to have fast and competitive cars for qualifying and on race day.

Michael also said that the Daytona foreign substance incident and missing the race at California was definitely not the ideal way to start the season. However, he has no plans of giving up.

"People that hadn't lost 462 races in a row like I did, they might've quit. We're not going to quit."

Of course Michael doesn't have much choice but to go on considering how many obligations he has to sponsors and others. But I also think that it's very true that racing for so long without winning any Cup races taught Michael some lessons about perserverance. He didn't quit no matter how many people wrote him off, and eventually he ended up in Victory Lane, not just once but four times in Cup, and two of those wins were in Nascar's most presitigious race, the Daytona 500. So he knows that if he keeps battling, keeps working hard to make his teams better, eventually they'll overcome the obstacles in their way and have success.

Michael took a break from golfing yesterday to give an interview to Claire B. Lang on XM. It was both extremely interesting and extremely sad to listen to. Interesting because of some of the things that Michael said, but sad because of how hurt and down Michael sounded.

Although Michael has said that he wouldn't have anything else to say about the incident at Daytona until there was something new to report, for some reason he decided to speak at length - and from the heart - to Claire. Before I get into what Michael said, I have to discuss one thing. There's quite a few people who believe that Michael has been faking how hurt and upset he is to gain sympathy. I think that's ridiculous. Regardless of how much Michael might have known about what was going on with his team - and I don't think he knew anything - he's going to be upset about having things go so badly to start the season, when he had such high hopes for his organization. Teams, drivers, and sponsors all do damage control, that's a given. But I think there's only so much that can be faked - the hurt and sadness was pretty evident in Michael's voice yesterday.

I think one of the things that jumped out at me the most other than how sad he was, is what Michael said about David Hyder. A lot of fans have felt that Michael has thrown David under the bus and blamed him for what happened. I haven't gotten that impression - in fact I've thought all along that Michael has been quick to say what he did yesterday, that MWR has no proof of who was responsible. Michael said that David hasn't been fired - and that he hasn't been blamed either. He even went so far as to say that he can't believe that David would do anything like that. Michael talked to a number of people who also vouched for David, including Eddie Wood, Ken Schrader and Kyle Petty. But unfortunately unlike in the real world, where it's innocent until proven guilty, in Nascar, penalties are handed down without someone's guilt necessarily being proven.

Of course that begs the question, if David didn't put the foreign substance into the #55, then who did? Unfortunately no one, including MWR knows the answer to that. Michael said many times that all they have is lots of questions. Which makes it hard for them to fully move on, even though they'd like to because they really don't know what happened. Michael said that he wants to get answers to all the questions so badly, and I really hope he's able to. I think the unknown - who, how, and maybe most importantly, why, is the worst. Michael probably spends a lot of time speculating about a lot of different scenarios, some of which are probably pretty upsetting.

The part that made me the saddest is that Michael said that while he's upbeat on Inside Nextel Cup or at the track because he understands his responsibilities, presumably to fans and sponsors, it's really that bad, I think meaning that inside he's far from upbeat. It's hard to hear Michael admit that things really are bad. What also got me is that Michael said that while he hopes that MWR will be able to recover, it's not written in stone that they will be. That would be Michael's dreams crumbling to pieces - I can't imagine how anyone could think that possiblity wouldn't be upsetting to Michael, particularly considering how hard he's worked to get to this point. If MWR failed, that would be devestating to Michael, not just to his career, but to him personally. All because someone(s) took it upon themselves to do something that Michael said wasn't innovative, wasn't smart, was just ridiculous to do. It really shows the tremendous ripple effect that one incident can have. Not just with the points being taken away which are bad enough, but Bobby Kennedy being suspended has a huge negative effect on all three teams since he's MWR's director of competition.

Something else that made me sad for Michael is that he said that by going through this he's found out who his friend are, who he thought his friends were, and it's confirmed who isn't his friends. He also said that some have chosen to kick him when he's down. That's certainly true. It's really bothered me to read and hear Michael be ripped to shreds, not just as a driver and an owner, but also as a person. This even though, at least for the fans and likely for the media as well, no one really knows the truth of what happend with this situation. It's fine to speculate - I certainly do plenty of that. But there's so many who are talking as if it's a done deal that they know for sure that Michael is guilty of wrong-doing in relation to this incident. And that's impossible unless someone was with the team at the shop or at Daytona and had inside knowledge of the scheme to put the foreign substance in the #55. No one, other than perhaps the person or persons who was involved knows the facts behind the who, how and why - but that sure isn't stopping a lot of people from jumping to a lot of conclusions.

Michael said that he wasn't looking for sympathy, that he was just looking for answers. But I can't help but feel sorry for him. I've said it before in this space and I'll say it again - some people think that Michael doesn't care about the results on the track, that racing is less important to him than trying to mention his sponsors names as often as possible. That's not true - Michael is every bit as competitive and wants to win races just as much as any other driver on the track. Missing races hurts him because he loves to race. Racing is a part of who he is. So to see his dreams of being a successful driver and owner take a major hit when they've barely gotten off the ground makes me so sad. I dearly want Michael to be successful and even more importantly happy. I hope one day soon he not only finds the answers he's looking for, but that when he's smiling he's smiling on the inside, not just on the outside.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:23 PM | Comments (0)

A few Random Items Not Worthy of Their Own Entry

*Mark Martin continues to insist that he has no plans to run the full Cup schedule, and that he's enjoying not having to worry about points. I can see how that would make racing a lot more enjoyable because some of the pressure to get a good points finish is gone. However, I have to wonder if he's going to change his mind about not stepping out of the car when the reality of it hits him in the face? I especially have to wonder if he's still leading the points - how easy would it be for him to throw that away?

*Jon Wood will be making his first Cup start this weekend in the #21, that Ken Schrader has raced in the first two races of the season. Schrader is entered in a second Wood Brothers/ JTG car, the #47, but he's not guaranteed a spot in the race due to a lack of owner points. It's hard to predict whether Schrader's going to be able to qualify for this race or not. The competition is very stiff for a small amount of available spots, and the #21 hasn't exactly lit the track on fire recently, so I don't know how fast a second car's going to be. However, Schrader's a very solid veteran driver who knows how to get the most out of his cars so hopefully he'll be able to make the show.

*According to Jayski, Ward Burton's going to have a special State Water Heaters U.S. Air Force on his car for the Coca-Cola 600 in May. That's if he has a car fast enough to qualify in for the 600. Unfortunately, Burton's missed the first two races, and I think the #4 team is going to continue to struggle to make races all season long. It's pretty sad to see Burton in this position instead of in a quality ride, but he had to expect these kinds of problems when he agreed to take the ride.

*The penalties assessed by Nascar to the #17 and #9 teams were upheld by the appeals committee yesterday. I didn't expect anything different. Both teams had appealed the deduction of points from their drivers as unfair in comparision to what had been done previously, but the committee said that Nascar had warned teams prior to the season that penalties would be escalating.

Posted by silverdsl at 02:58 PM | Comments (0)

March 05, 2007

Random Thoughts on the Busch Race in Mexico

*One thing no owner wants to see is one of his drivers wrecking another of his drivers, only that's exactly what happened in the Busch race in Mexico on Sunday. Perhaps it was impatience because he had to race his way back from being back in the field due to a problem on pit road, or maybe it was over-aggressive driving, or just a simple mistake, but Juan Pablo Montoya ensured that his first Nascar win would be a controversial one by wrecking his teammate, Scott Pruett with just eight laps to go. Many fans, and some of Montoya's fellow drivers - including Pruett - aren't reacting very well to the incident.

In general I think it's every man for himself on the track, and that drivers have to do what they need to do if they think it will give them a chance to win. However, I also think that there should be enough respect between teammates that they're careful about how they race each other. Yes, sometimes mistakes are going to be made that lead to wrecks, but this incident looked pretty bad for Montoyta. He had an outstanding car, and it's almost certain that he could have gotten around Pruett for the win cleanly in a few more laps. But he didn't. Instead he wrecked his teammate. According to Chip Ganassi the only team orders that he gives his drivers are that they shouldn't wreck each other - I wonder whether he'll have anything to say to Montoya about that incident? I wouldn't think an owner who thinks he's going to see his cars finish 1-2 is going to be too pleased to have one wrecked by the other, and have to smooth things over between the two drivers.

*ESPN2 focused on Montoya to such a degree during the race that other drivers went virtually unmentioned unless they were leading. Its to be expected that there would be a lot of attention given to Montoya given where the series was racing, that there were likely extra people tuned in just to see him, and that he was a dominant force throughout the race. But all the fans who tuned in who weren't Montoya fans - and there were plenty - were pretty unhappy with ESPN2's coverage. Regardless of who my favorite driver is and how often they're mentioned, I think it makes for a more interesting race when we hear as much as possible about a variety of drivers throughout the field. But to ESPN2 it was like most of the field didn't exist, even drivers who were up front for most of the day.

*David Reutimann did much better than I expected in this race. I had figured that with him being sick with the flu, not having any road course experience, and having to start at the back due to the team having to make an engine change, he might struggle. I'm very happy to say that I was wrong about that! David made slow but steady progress through the field all race long, ultimately finishing 12th. A top 15 is an awesome finish for a driver with no experience on that kind of track! David is now also 8th in the Busch Series points. Of course it's very early in the season so things can change quickly, but I'm happy to see him in the top ten in points - I definitely think he could contend for the Busch Championship this season. David also said after the race that he's completely recovered from the aches and pains he suffered in the wreck during the Cup race at Fontana - that's also a very good thing!

*I can't recall him being mentioned a single time during the broadcast, although maybe I just missed it, but Jason Leffler finished 6th. That's that highest finish by a Busch series regular who isn't a Cup driver or a road course specialist, and that's also the highest finishing Toyota. Seems like the Toyotas are doing fairly well in the Busch Series so far, which is interesting considering that series had seemed like an afterthought for the manufacturer.

*Another driver with a solid finish was Brent Sherman, who ends up in the top ten in driver points after this race. Again, as the season goes on he may be unable to maintain his early success, but it's possible that Brent has a little more talent than some gave him credit for after the disaster his brief stint in the #49 Cup car was.

*Supposedly Nascar plans on keeping this race on the schedule for the Busch Series next season as well in spite of there being no signed contract yet to do so. I have to wonder though. The logisitics in getting teams and personnel to Mexico are immense because there's a tremendous amount of paperwork that goes along with crossing the border. Nascar might wait to see what the ticket sales ended up being, as well as the ratings from the broadcast, before they committ to racing there for a fourth year in a row.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:57 PM | Comments (0)

March 02, 2007

Random Thoughts on COT Testing, Busch in Mexico, and More

*With Car fo Tomorrow testing in Bristol, and the Busch Series heading to Mexico, the teams have remained busy even though there's no Cup race this weekend. Still, there hasn't been too much of interest in the news as far as Nascar goes. I always have a hard time drawing too many conclusions from the results from test sessions, and the majority of drivers will say that they had a good test session in which they got a lot accomplished even if they were near the bottom of the speed charts. And so far there's not been much news from Mexico, unless some teams having some issues flying into Mexico can be considered big news. Planes get delayed and diverted all the time, I'm not sure why that was big news to some.

*The one item of interest from testing was that Michael Waltrip Racing's suspended team members, David Hyder and Bobby Kennedy, weren't allowed to attend testing, even though suspended crew chiefs from other teams were allowed to attend. On one hand it seems pretty unfair to allow suspended members from some teams but not from others to attend testing, but on the other hand, the rules violation that the #55 team was busted for was huge - messing with the fuel is one of the biggest no-no's that any team can do. So I can understand why Nascar is taking a harder stance. I just wish it was with a different team than MWR. Not having Bobby Kennedy at testing hurts not just the #55 team, but the #00 and #44 teams as well. Of course Kennedy can stay in touch via cell phone, IM, and email, but it's not the same as actually being there to oversee what the teams are doing at testing. His suspension will likely have an effect - and not a very good one - on MWR for a long time to come, even if he's allowed to return at some point this season. According to Nascar, MWR can apply for reinstatement for Hyder and Kennedy, but from the sounds of it they won't be allowed back for quite some time unless some new information surfaces that indicates that neither one had a role in the mystery substance getting into the #55.

*Unfortunately I suspect David Reutimann is going to have a tough weekend in Mexico. In addition to the bumps and bruises he suffered in the wreck at Fontana, he's got the flu, so he's definitely not feeling anywhere near 100%. On top of that the race in Mexico is on a road course and David's only road course experience is when he attended the Bondurant Racing School in Arizona during the off-season to get some training on racing road courses. David seems to race well on any kind of track, but rookies sometimes have trouble on road courses since they're so different from the usual type of track that the drivers race on. His car owner, MIchael Waltrip, is an excellent road course racer, so hopefully David's also been able to pick up some tips from him. I'd love to see David finish well in Mexico, but I'm expecting he might struggle a little due to the challenges of the track and the way he's feeling.

*Aric Almirola is going to try to qualify for his first Cup race ever next week in Las Vegas. With how many good cars are competing for just a few spots each week, making this race might be a tall order for Almirola, even though he's a talented driver and Joe Gibbs Racing will likely give him a solid car. Seems to me that a lot of teams could have a similar problem. In the past teams have put young drivers that they eventually want to put in a Cup car full-time, in a car for a partial schedule to get them experience racing Cup. However, it's going to be a lot harder to do with so many teams racing for so few open spots at every race. So how are young drivers supposed to get Cup experience if they're only sporatically able to qualify for races? That could set up a situation where more teams are forced to put drivers with very little Cup experience into rides full-time.

*Joe Piette Jr. is a rear tire changer for the #12 team, and he wears contact lenses. During Sunday's race a lug nut flew up and hit him in the eye, but luckily he wasn't injured. However, his contact lens fell out. A Nascar official ended up finding it somewhere, and Piette then washed it off and put it back into his eye so he could continue to change tires on the pit stops that followed. I'm astonished, first that the official was even able to find the contact lens, but also that Piette put it back in his eye! Yes, he cleaned it off, but It's not like it fell into the sink, or even on the floor of his bathroom, it fell in the pit where there's all sorts of dirt, chemicals and other grime. Piette is lucky that his eye wasn't injured by the lug nut, but he's probably also lucky that he didn't do any damage by putting his contact lens back in.

*Last season's Rookie of the Year in the Busch Series, Danny O'Quinn, finally found a ride, though it's only a part-time one. Roush-Fenway Racing, to whom he's still under contract, gave Mac Hill Motorsports permission to field a Busch car for O'Quinn in a few races. In addition, Roush-Fenway will also put O'Quinn in the #17 Busch car for two races. It's good for O'Quinn that he'll be on the track racing this season, but racing a few races here and there is a far cry from a full-time ride. It's still amazing to me that he was ROY, but no one has a full-time ride for him, including the organization he's under contract to.

*Michael Waltrip said that he was going to spend his off-weekend golfing the whole time. I really hope he's able to do that. While he's golfing he can just have fun, and hopefully not have to think about all the woes so far this season for his teams. Then maybe he'll be in a good mindset for the next few race weekends. Michael could definitely use things going his way starting in Las Vegas!

Posted by silverdsl at 02:57 PM | Comments (0)