Random Thoughts

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May 31, 2008

Not Looking Good For MWR at Dover so Far

Even when things aren't going so great my outlook as a Michael Waltrip fan tends to be optimistic but I can't say that's the case right now. With two of the three Michael Waltrip Racing cars in grave danger of falling out of the top 35 in owner's points they really needed to have fast cars this weekend at Dover but much to my disappointment all three MWR cars are among the slowest through the second practice. As positive as I try to be I'm also realistic - the odds of a good finish for the MWR teams isn't looking good right now which means it might take a miracle for Michael to stay in the top 35.

That's pretty upsetting to me, and if I'm upset Michael and his team must be ten times as distressed at the prospect of having to deal with being a go-or-go-home team again. If things don't go well this weekend and either or both of the Michaels drop out of the top 35 there's a variety of issues and scenarios that come into play none of which are good. I had really thought that MWR would rise to the challenge and be strong this weekend, as well as the next few because they are all good tracks for Michael. So it's disappointing that's not the case so far.

Hopefully things will turn out better than I'm expecting but right now I'm thinking it's a good thing I can't watch the race on Sunday.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:51 PM | Comments (0)

May 30, 2008

New Category: "Michael Waltrip Out Loud"

Even the most casual of readers who stops by this site would notice that I talk about Michael Waltrip in this space a lot. Naturally I also discuss Michael's XM show, "Michael Waltrip Out Loud" quite often - I love the show because it's both entertaining and informative. Michael and Tony Rizzuti, his co-host, make me laugh but I often learn something or think about things from a different perspective than I hadn't previously after I've listened to the show. On the forum on Michael's site myself and another fan do weekly recaps for those who don't have XM and I often discuss various things that Michael and Tony have brought up on the show over there. Since I've noticed a lot more traffic coming to this site via people searching specifically for "Michael Waltrip Out Loud" it would appear that there's enough interest in the show from outside the forum that I think I'm going to start doing an entry each week to give my thoughts each week on what they discussed on the show. As a result I've created a new category on this blog for "Michael Waltrip Out Loud" so that those who drop by looking for information on Michael's XM show can easily find what they're looking for.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:39 AM | Comments (0)

Michael Waltrip Out Loud (5/30)

Last night on "Michael Waltrip Out Loud" Michael talked about a variety of topics including the past weekend's race at Charlotte. Although he was disappointed with his own finish, he was happy about David Reutimann's top ten finish and felt that it was a sign that Michael Waltrip Racing was moving in the right direction. Some fans have wondered about the issues that Michael has continually complained about during races this season and whether it's a question of Michael needing to adjust to the COT and the way it handles and be less fussy about what how he wants his car to feel. I think there is some truth to the idea that Michael, like many other veteran drivers, is having some trouble getting used to the COT. However, Michael indicated last night that there's some issues across the board for all three MWR teams, specifically a front end issue, that has been a problem for all the MWR drivers, not just him.

Apparently it was only at Charlotte that David and Ryan Pemberton hit on something that worked really well and they were going to apply that to what they did at Pocono testing in the hope that it would help all three teams improve their performance. Michael certainly seemed to be having a good test - he was 6th fastest in the final test session - so hopefully they will see better results going forward. Michael expressed confidence in how the next few races would go for him and his team since Dover, Pocono, Sonoma and Michigan are all tracks that he has raced well at. Michael told me once that Pocono is his favorite track so I'm especially hoping for a good result for him there!

Something interesting that Michael talked about that happened off-the-track was the promotion he did for Coca-Cola with Yao Ming, the basketball player. Michael said that he doesn't often encounter people who are taller than he is but Ming is a full foot taller. So he found himself thinking about whether the way he felt when he was talking to Ming is the way people usually feel when they're around him. He said that he often wonders about people's mindset when they're talking to him and whether they're looking up his nose. I've often wondered how Michael feels about his height. Based on what others who are very tall have said there's some great things about being that tall but also a lot of bad things too since most everything is made for those who are shorter. I would think any issues about being tall are even more magnified in the garage area since so many of Michael's fellow drivers are so tiny - not only are many of them very short, much shorter than he is, but a lot of them are also very thin.

In terms of meeting Michael, when I've been around him I've wondered what he's thought when he's looked down at me since I'm more than two feet shorter than he is, plus I only weigh about 100 lbs. So I'm significantly smaller. When I'm around Michael I definitely feel like a tiny ant! Because I'm not that tall I often encounter people who are taller than I am and I don't usually feel small, but with Michael because he's not only big in stature, he's also big in personality and presence, I have felt very little. In all honesty, Michael wonders if people are looking up his nose (can't say I ever have!) with Michael and others who are that tall I sometimes wonder whether they're looking down my shirt - it's not that I show a lot of cleavage or anything but it's almost unavoidable from that vantage point to see down my shirt if I'm wearing any kind of a v-neck shirt!

There was also some discussion at the end of the show about the driver's meetings and how Michael always used to ask funny questions to make people laugh. He thought one of the funniest times was years ago when he hit water barrels at one track and water went everywhere so at the track the next week he saw there were more barrels so he asked during the driver's meeting whether those barrels had water in them too. But the meetings aren't as casual as they used to be - as time has gone on the driver's meetings have gotten more formal and serious. So Michael has to be more focused on finding out about the various rules for the track and everything else so there really isn't time to think of funny questions.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:28 AM | Comments (0)

May 29, 2008

Photo of the Day - Longwood Gardens

The white part of the flower looks more like tissue paper than flower pedals.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:36 PM | Comments (0)

Elliott Sadler Signs Multi-Year Contract Extension With Gillett-Evernham Motorsports

Today it was announced that Elliott Sadler has signed a multi-year contract extension with Gillett-Evernham Motorsports. I admit to being surprised by this announcement since Elliott has most definitely not lived up to the lofty expectations that some had for him the past few years and the results haven't been very good this season either. In all fairness to Elliott he can only do the most with the cars that he's been given and he might not have been given very competitive cars in recent times. However, I've been wondering this season whether GEM is fully satisfied with what they're getting from Elliott - apparently the answer is yes, they are. Elliott says that he's also very happy with GEM. he said,

“This is the place where I want to race. I think what we are building here is special and something other drivers and crew members envy.”

I'm sure some drivers and crew members would take working at GEM over their current teams. However, is being 25th in points really something to envy? That's certainly better than being 35th in points or worse, but it's not all that great either.

Of course these days a driver's personality and what they do off-the-track is just as important as what they do on the track. Tom Reddin, GEM's CEO said,

“In addition to being a great Sprint Cup driver, Elliott has a wonderful personality that attracts fans and sponsors who love working with him. We have enjoyed working with Elliott over the last year and a half and look forward to continuing our relationship.”

Which might very well be why GEM was willing to overlook that Elliott is 25th in points and hasn't come close to repeating the success he had in 2004 since then. It's very true that Elliott is a driver who has a terrific personality. He's very outgoing, friendly and funny. Elliott is extremely fan-friendly and represents his sponsors extremely well. Those are important qualities to teams and sponsors.

However, what's interesting to me is that there's been a bit of a backlash against Elliott from some of his fans. Some have come to think that he's fake, some are unhappy with the activities of his fan club and others have some issues with things that go on in his personal life. Of course there are fans of every driver who take issue with similar things in relation to their own favorite driver, and part of that might be that fans tend to get extra critical when the on-track performance isn't very good, but it seems like over the past year or two more and more of Elliott's fans have been vocal in expressing their displeasure about a variety of off-the-track issues that relate to him than with most other drivers. I wonder if GEM is aware of any of this? Maybe not since a lot of negativity in regards to those issues doesn't have too much to do with them and might be directed towards Elliott through his fan club. In addition, given that a lot of fans seem to prefer to be negative about everything and are never satisfied no matter what happens, it may be that GEM simply ignores those who have been less than positive about Elliott. Still, it's interesting that they cite how fans are attracted to him, when the past few years some seem to be turning away from him.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:55 PM | Comments (0)

In the News: Michael Waltrip (5/29)

A few weeks ago Microsoft Small Business became an associate sponsor on the #00 and this weekend at Dover they're going to be the primary sponsor on the car. I've seen some photos of what the car is going to look like and it's a very colorful paint scheme that's going to be very eye-catching! Michael McDowell has to feel pretty good about himself that a company whose brand is internationally known wants to be on the hood of his car! Michael Waltrip Racing must be pretty proud about this too - as I've said previously it makes them look good to be associated with a sponsor like this one.

Microsoft Small Business isn't just stopping with sponsoring the car, they're also going to have the Microsoft Across America Mobile Event Experience Truck at the track so that fans can learn more about the services that Microsoft Small Business offers. McD is also going to make an appearance for them in the fanzone this weekend. Most sponsors have their drivers do appearances for them at least but it's good to see that Microsoft Small Business is going to take thing a step further and have a presence in the fanzone as well. That's an indication that they're at least somewhat committed to this sponsorship and that they want to find ways to maximize their involvement with MWR and the sport to market to fans - some sponsors seem to do virtually nothing with their sponsorships outside of being on the car.

Last week McD and Ty Norris, MWR's Vice President and General Manager, took part in a Q&A with the media in relation to the Microsoft announcement. Ty had some interesting comments on McD and other topics. I've seen some fans be down on McD because the results haven't been very good for him so far but Ty said that MWR is very happy with him so far. This is an excerpt from the Q&A:

Norris: ...We thought he was a 35-year-old veteran so when we met him and he just turned 22, and it was his first year in stock cars, so that’s what attracted us to him. We wanted him in our camp, and we wanted him right away. We wanted to have him and get him signed up with our company long term. The issue that came up was typically that you go from ARCA to truck racing or Nationwide racing. You might dabble a little in Sprint or Nextel cup. The problem we had was that the only seat we had available was a Sprint Cup car so it was a bit unfair to take Michael from all the success that he’d had and he has never been in a series where he hasn’t dominated in. To take him straight from ARCA to a Sprint Cup car without the ability to run any Nationwide or truck races. What people have to remember is that we made the giant leap from ARCA to Sprint Cup without any Nationwide races or truck races. Michael, how many tracks have you been to that you’ve actually seen before?

McDowell: Two. Martinsville and Texas.

Norris: He’s actually seen those places. Not only have we taken him into a company that is in its only its second year, we’re taking him to tracks he’s never even seen before except for on a simulator. And expecting him to outrun guys that have been in the series a long time and have a lot of experience. If you look at all the factors, I think he’s been one of the stories of the year and runs like he can run.

Ty is exactly right. It's ridiculous for fans to think that MWR should get rid of McD when he has next to no experience not only in Nascar but on most of the tracks that the Cup Series race on. Of course that's one reason why a lot of fans think he shouldn't have been given the ride in the first place but as Ty indicated the opening that MWR had was in the Cup Series. While McD has made some mistakes which is to be expected for any rookie, he's also shown that he can hold his own against drivers with significantly more experience than he has. Although the results haven't been impressive, McD has raced well enough to keep the car in the top 35 in owner's points which is no easy feat these days.

If MWR has enough patience with McD given the talent that he has he could develop into a very good Cup driver. Many fans wrote off David Ragan after his rookie struggles but he's shown this season with over a year of Cup racing under his belt he can race competitively up front. I'm not sure we'll see David in Victory Lane this season but I'm pretty sure we will see him win some races over the course of his Cup career. The same could be true for McD.

Ty also talked about the progression that MWR had made since last season as well as the effects that the current state of the economy has had on organization and others. In terms of their progression Ty spoke about how they're still a young organization as compared to some of the more successful teams that have been around for years and about how they've achieved some of their goals such as getting all three of their cars into the top 35 this season. He said,

"We’ve improved by enormous percentages that some people from the grandstands can’t see because they weren’t here when we started. They weren’t here when we had to go to Daytona in 2007. They weren’t here when we went to Dover in 2007 compared to where we are today."

For the most part the only thing that fans have to go on is what they see at the track or through the media. That doesn't give a complete picture about what's really going on with the different teams. Some fans only see that the MWR cars aren't racing up front and think the worst but in reality MWR is an organization that is still growing and moving forward. The ways in which they've changed and advanced over the past year aren't always visible to the fans but they are there. MWR isn't the same organization they were at this time last season and a year from now they won't be the same organization they are now.

Some of Ty's most interesting comments were in relation to how the economy and other factors are effecting their operations. He said,

"I think I’d be naïve to think it hasn’t affected us in some way shape or form. Dominos last year on some of their core products went up so high, that Dominos saw a decrease in their sales about four or five straight quarters, which is something they haven’t seen in years. It made them scale back in their marketing dollars so that effected us. The price of petroleum, oil, and gasoline. You have to remember we move about 75 people a week and just in one line item, not budgeted, our fuel costs have increased $400,000 this year. When you start talking a $400,000 unexpected increase in expense. And you have a decrease in revenue because some of the sponsors were not able to maintain the marketing dollars they spend, the gap starts to widen in the wrong direction. As far as being able to be in front of new sponsors and new opportunities to go forward, a lot of people are waiting to see what happens in the upcoming election. There are probably six or seven teams that are all searching and talking to the same companies. So it’s not just the economy but it also rests on the election that I think has made it a very difficult time to be in the marketplace."

First of all that's a confirmation that contrary to what some fans believe Domino's didn't leave MWR because of performance issues, they left because they no longer had the budget to sponsor the car because of a decrease in sales. That's probably true for more than a few other current or potential sponsors in the garage area, that they're rethinking how their marketing money is going to be spent which may not be a good thing for some teams other than those at MWR. Ty's comment about how much more fuel is costing them is chilling - where are the smaller teams (including those in other series), some of which don't have a lot of sponsorship getting the money to pay for the rise in the cost of gas? How much longer are some of them going to be able to absorb the rise in costs not only for fuel but for other things? Even for some of the larger organizations it can't be easy to find the extra money particularly considering some of them are even bigger than MWR and are probably spending even more on fuel.

It's also interesting that some companies might be waiting to see how the election plays out before they make some of their decisions. Considering the election isn't until November it seems to me that this leaves some teams in a precarious position because they can't really wait that long to find out whether they have a sponsorship or not for the following season.

Ty ended on a positive note by saying that he felt that things were going in the right direction in terms of performance and that MWR was capable of winning more than one race before the end of the season, and how that might help them in terms of sponsorship. He said,

"Ultimately we have to get to where our performance on the track is respectable and its definitely turning in that direction so that’s made us happy. We sat on the outside pole at the Daytona 500 with Michael Waltrip and I think when we go who may forget, and they’ll be reminded how good Michael McDowell is in a road course park. I think we’ll really open some eyes. This is a little bit bold but my gut feeling says that Michael Waltrip Racing can win two races before Daytona. I think we can go to Sonoma and run well enough. I know Michael can take a good racecar and running up front. And I think we’ll go to Daytona and have a shot at winning that race as we did before. That would just be incredible game changes for us. The economy might loosen up if we win a couple races."

I'm really looking forward to Sonoma. Michael (Waltrip) didn't race there last season and I'm very much looking forward to seeing what he can do this year. He's a very underrated road course racer and if the car is decent he'll be able to get a solid finish there. McD from all reports is an outstanding road course racer and I agree with Ty that he may very well surprise a few people at Sonoma. The only MWR driver I'm not too sure about is David - he didn't race either road course race in Cup last year so we'll see how Sonoma works out for him this season. I know that a lot of fans including some MWR fans will think I'm insane but I have to say that after seeing Michael race up front at Talladega, I very much believe that given the right circumstances and a good car he absolutely does have a shot at winning Daytona and Talladega too. I'd say a few wins would definitely change a lot of things for MWR and their drivers!

Posted by silverdsl at 09:38 AM | Comments (0)

JR Motorsports Crew Members Penalized for Post-Race Incident

I wasn't able to watch the Nationwide race this past weekend so I didn't get to see what led to the kerfluffle between Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. or the ensuing shoving incident between Keselowski and Hamlin's crews. But Nascar has penalized three crew members from JR Motorsports for their roles in the post-race shoving match. The more severe penalty was given to Michael Sandlin, a one-race suspension plus a fine and being placed on probation through October for "failing to follow a NASCAR official’s directive and inappropriate contact with a NASCAR official." A second crew member, Jordan Allen, was fined and placed on probation for similar reasons. Tony Eury, Sr. the crew chief of the #88 was fined $1,500 and placed on probation until the end of June for being responsible for the actions of his crew members.

Nascar has said that they want to give the competitors more room to show emotion so they didn't penalize any of the three drivers even though they each bumped each other under caution. They've also looked the other way with other shoving matches this season between crew members so all of this would probably have faded away if not for the crew members having inappropriate contact with a Nascar official. That's something that wouldn't be tolerated under any circumstances in any sport. If a Nascar official tells a crew member - or even a driver - to do something they need to listen because they have the final authority. And no matter how angry a crew member might be they can't put their hands on an official which is what seems to have happened here. In baseball that's an automatic suspension. I agree with Nascar taking a strong stance here.

As for what sparked all of this it seems to have started with Keselowski and Hamlin taking exception to the way each was racing the other. Keselowski started things off by bumping Hamlin under caution to let him know that he didn't like the way Hamlin was racing him. So Hamlin retaliated by hitting him in the right fender. Junior was less than pleased to see Hamlin going after the car he owns so he proceeded to bump Hamlin - also under caution - to let him know not to mess with his driver. Having not seen any of this and only read about it, I could be wildly off-base, but my first reaction is to think that they all need to grow up. Drivers shouldn't be using their cars as weapons against each other to begin with but especially not under caution. I also think as much as it stinks to see one of his cars getting torn up Junior needs to let Keselowski fight his own battles, at least on the track.

Hamlin had a great line after the race. He said, "You throw a rock, I'm going to throw a concrete block back." While he's getting ripped by a lot of fans, I say good for him. If it's okay for Keselowski to race him hard and then bump him, then Hamlin should be able to do the same. Both drivers exchanged barbs in the media center after the race about the way they were racing each other. Hamlin felt that Keselowski breached racing etiquette, and Keselowski felt that as a Nationwide-only driver he has fewer laps than Hamlin each week to prove himself so he has to race as hard as he can on every lap. I'm really tired of drivers whining about how another driver raced them too hard or somehow broke racing etiquette. Whether a driver races both series or just one, I think they have the right to race each other, and especially if the other driver is racing that way. Racing isn't supposed to be easy and drivers shouldn't have to give in and let each other go by.

The fact that the crews got into a shoving match over it strikes me as a little ridiculous too. I understand what they were angry about is the bumping under caution and the retaliating and all but it seems to me since there were only damaged not wrecked races cars the drivers should have been left to settle it among themselves.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:36 AM | Comments (0)

Major Penalities for the Haas-CNC Racing Teams

Over the weekend Nascar confiscated both Haas-CNC Racing Cup cars because they were tipped off that the wing mounts on both cars were in violation of the rulebook. Yesterday the penalties were announced and it's clear that Nascar was very unhappy because the penalties are very harsh. Scott Riggs and Johnny Sauter were both penalized with a loss of 150 driver points, both cars lose 150 owner's points, crew chiefs Robert "Bootie" Barker and Derrick Jennings were suspended for six races and fined $100,000, the car chiefs of both teams were also suspended for six races and Nascar is going to keep both cars that they took away at Charlotte. Although Barker and others at Haas-CNC say that the wing mounts have been exactly the same on the car the entire season, there's some speculation that one reason the penalties are so severe is because a change was made after the car was inspected on Friday. Regardless the fact of the matter is that the wing mounts were in violation of the rules to the point where the cars might have gotten an aerodynamic advantage. Just because the team might have been doing it all year without being caught doesn't mean that it's okay now that they finally were caught.

Barker believes he knows who tattled on him to Nascar. He said,

"Some people recognized we were doing better and better in points and they would do anything they can to keep us off... I wish I could tell you some stuff. It would probably work against me until I know everything. The person I think that did it, and what we really did, it's pretty ... I've never done it. I'll put it that way."

Considering the #70 wasn't even in the top 35 in owner's points and didn't seem to be getting better, and Riggs hasn't exactly been impressive this season, I'm not sure I buy that someone viewed Haas-CNC as a threat. But regardless of what the motive was of the person who turned him into to Nascar, the bottom line is that if Barker didn't want someone to tell on him to Nascar then he should have made sure that his cars were within Nascar's specifications.

What may hurt these teams the most is the losing 150 owner's points per team. That drops the #70 which had been 39th in owner's points to 44th and the #66, which had been 26th to 34th. Riggs is now in an extremely precarious position since there's just a few points that separates him from 36th - one bad race and he could fall out of the top 35 all together. Given that he won't have his crew chief or his car chief, it's not out of the realm of possibility that Riggs may struggle this weekend, particularly since the team is going to have to deal with quite a few distractions given that there will likely be a lot of media asking them questions. As for the #70 team they are pretty much done in terms of the top 35, not that the chances of them getting back in were probably all that great anyway. Given that I don't think this car has much, if any, outside sponsorship I have to wonder if Haas will continue fielding this car since they don't have a permanent driver and they aren't really racing for much of anything at this point.

That Nascar is keeping both cars that they confiscated is no small matter either. Haas gets their cars from Hendrick Motorsports and I'm sure they pay quite a bit of money for them. So that means that they're going to have to get two more cars from HMS and I kind of doubt that HMS is going to give them a discount. Losing both the crew chiefs and the car chiefs is a big deal too since in the past usually when a crew chief has been suspended the car chief on the team just moves into the lead role until the suspension is over. Nascar's not going to let that happen with these teams, which is going to really make them scramble to find someone to take over the crew chief roles.

Some are questioning the severity of these penalties and whether they're fair in comparison to other penalties that have been handed out. Comparing what's been done before with similar rules violations is a good starting point as to how Nascar might handle an infraction, but there's a lot of variables that can come into play so just because Nascar did one thing in the past doesn't mean that they're going to do the same thing in the future since every situation is different. In addition, I doubt that Nascar is all that happy that they caught the #8 team at DEI for an infraction with the wing mounts last season, penalized them harshly, and now these teams have been busted for something very similar.

There's been signs this season that Nascar is sending a message that they're willing to penalize the teams quite severely for rules violations and that they're willing to escalate the penalties if the infractions continue. So far in the Camping World East Series there have been two finishes - including Peyton Seller's win - taken away for infractions found in post-race inspections, and yesterday Whelen modified driver Jimmy Blewett had his fifth place finish in the race at Stafford Motorspeed way taken away for a carburetor violation found in post-race inspection. My guess is that Nascar is testing the waters in the lower levels in relation to finishes being taken away and if the severity of the penalties they've been handing out in the higher levels doesn't get the message across that they're serious about not wanting teams to mess around with the COT one day we may see finishes being taken away on the upper levels too. For the biggest violations we could even see teams and drivers sent home for major infractions found in pre-race inspections. I would guess that we won't see any of that right away, nor would we see that for minor rules infractions - Nascar is going to be hesitant to go down that road since it would end up punishing not just the teams and drivers but also the sponsors and fans if teams weren't allowed to race or potentially got wins taken away. But it may very well happen one day if teams continue to do things that Nascar doesn't want them to do.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:45 AM | Comments (0)

May 28, 2008

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (5/28)

*Joey Lagano turned 18?! Wow, I hadn't heard! Yes, that was sarcasm. Lagano is the is hottest thing going in Nascar right now with many predicting that he could take over the #20 next season in Cup if Tony Stewart leaves Joe Gibbs Racing for another organization. Yes, he has a lot of talent, yes, he was extremely successful in the Camping World East Series last season and yes, he did win an ARCA race earlier this season. But his first ever Nationwide race is this weekend and he's only 18-years old. Seems to me it might be a little too soon to predict that he's ready to take over for a Cup Champion in one of the best rides in the series. There's a lot of pressure that goes along with all the hype that Lagano's getting so it'll be interesting to see how he deals with it. I'm kind of excited to see how he develops as a driver and see if he can race as well in the higher levels in Nascar as he has on lower levels.

*I was very happy to read that the owner of Pocono Raceway, Dr. Joe Mattioli say in no uncertain terms that the track won't be for sale anytime in the near future - at least 30 years. The track makes more money for the Mattioli family than they would get if they sold it. Although a lot of people don't like Pocono, it's a track that I've liked going to, not necessarily for the racing but for the overall experience and I've not been too happy with the recent rumors that Bruton Smith was going to try to buy it and then take a Cup race from that track and shift it to Kentucky Speedway. For the time being it appears that Pocono will be keeping both of it's Cup dates which is a good thing in my opinion for us fans in the Northeast. It's also a good thing for Michael Waltrip since Pocono is his favorite track.

*Although Dario Franchitti's ankle has healed enough for him to race in the Nationwide Series this weekend at Dover, Jeremy Mayfield will take his place in the #40 for the Cup race on Sunday. Franchitti plans on being back in the car at Pocono but I imagine Chip Ganassi Racing will wait until they see how his ankle responds after the Nationwide race before they make a final decision. In a lot of ways it really doesn't matter whether Franchitti is behind the wheel or not since he's not really racing for much of anything at this point other than experience that will hopefully make him into a successful Cup driver in the future. So the team can take their time and make sure that he's completely healed before he gets back in the #40 and races the longer Cup races.

*Robby Gordon's headed to Mexico to race in the Baja 500 this weekend so Matt Crafton is going to practice and qualify his Cup car for him. Gordon's won three times and will be inducted into the Carrera Cantina’s Hall of Fame which has to be kind of cool for him considering his father has also been inducted. Since someone else will be practicing and qualifying for him, Robby will likely have to start the Cup race from the back of the field which isn't a good thing for a team that has struggled of late to finish well - or finish races at all. However, Robby's average finish at Dover is 23.7 and he finished in the top ten at this race last season so he may end up doing better than expected - doing well at Baja would give him some good momentum for Dover.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:00 PM | Comments (0)

Nationwide Series in Trouble?

Based on what a number of owners have said recently Nascar's decision to change to a COT in the Nationwide Series could have serious repercussions that could cause a number of teams to shut down due to the costs involved. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. said recently that a big reason why he's considering moving his team to the Cup Series next season is because it's too expensive to switch over to the COT in the Nationwide Series. Monday night on This Week in Nascar Michael Waltrip expressed similar concerns saying that Michael Waltrip Racing doesn't make a profit in the Nationwide Series, that they only field a car for Aaron's to get exposure and for David Reutimann to get seat time so it might not make sense for them to spend millions of dollars to convert their cars to COTs. Todd Braun also indicated that the switch to COTs presents a financial challenge for Braun Racing that might force him to sell or merge with another organization.

Michael made a comment on TWiN that was a real shocker to me - the #99 car doesn't make a profit for MWR. That's in spite of it being a car that has been to Victory Lane multiple times through the years with Michael and David Reutimann, is fully sponsored and runs competitively almost every week. MWR fields the car for Aaron's for their marketing and advertising purposes and so that David can get extra seat time that helps him on the Cup side. If the #99 doesn't make a profit then that paints a very bleak picture about the financial status of many of the other teams in the garage area, particularly those that are small, don't have full sponsorship and don't run competitively every week. No wonder even Cup organizations like Richard Childress Racing have opted to scale back their Nationwide programs due to a lack of sponsorship - it simply doesn't seem to make sense for these teams to invest a lot of money into the series that they might not make back. That may only get worse given the costs of switching to the COT.

A couple of the owners have mentioned a figure of $3 million to switch over to the COT. I have to wonder how many teams have $3 million lying around. The start and park teams would be done for sure . Many of the smaller teams that are on shoestring budgets, even long-time Nationwide teams like Fitz Motorsports that have had some success in the past may have trouble finding the financial resources to make the switch. Solid teams like JR Motorsports and MWR could decide that it's a better use of the money to put it into their Cup programs where Michael said there's a greater chance of turning a profit over the long-term. Even the big Cup teams with a lot of financial resources may decide that that it's not a good use of money if they're not going to eventually make it back. So what teams are going to be left to race in the Nationwide Series?

I suspect a lot of fans won't care much about any of this since many fans think that the Nationwide Series has been ruined to the point where they don't bother to watch by the influx of Cup drivers who race in both series. But among other repercussions, the less teams there are in the Nationwide Series, the less opportunities there are for young drivers to develop - or really for any driver to get an opportunity to race - and it's already hard for drivers to find rides if they don't bring sponsorship with them or have the qualities that teams think will attract sponsors. If fans don't care much about the young drivers - another group that some feel are ruining racing - then they should care how less available rides will effect the veteran drivers that so many are fond of since some of those drivers have found rides in the Nationwide Series when they haven't been able to find another Cup ride.

With the young drivers of course the path that they take these days to a Cup ride varies a lot more than it used. No longer is it almost mandatory for a young driver to spend a few years in the Nationwide Series before they start racing Cup. However, some organizations still find that some of their young talent benefit from time spent in the Nationwide Series gaining experience and developing as drivers. There are also drivers like David Reutimann or David Ragan who have some Cup experience who find that the extra seat time that comes from racing Nationwide races as well helps them in Cup since they are still fairly new to the series. So less Nationwide rides means that teams would have to look for other ways to develop their young talent - a lot of teams are already utilizing the ARCA and Camping World East Series (I can't help but wonder if the rising costs and sponsorship issues in the Nationwide and Truck Series have anything do with that?). Some young drivers probably won't develop as quickly as they might if they were racing regularly in the Nationwide Series. Some drivers - young and old - just won't get opportunities at all.

I have to wonder how Nascar plans on addressing the concerns of the teams in the Series. It's possible that the costs of switching over to the COT will end up being less than what the teams believe it will be. In the long run it may end up saving them money. But Nascar needs to do a better job of convincing teams to be on-board with the COT and especially in making sure that it's worth their while financially and otherwise. Teams plan way in advance for each season and if Nascar waits too long they might that a lot of teams have already decided to leave the series.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:46 AM | Comments (0)

Robby Gordon Not Testing at Pocono?

Robby Gordon didn't participate yesterday in testing, nor did his team, and that strikes me as kind of odd. I know that Robby has an off-road race in Baja that he'll be taking part in but unless they show up today which seems unlikely, even if Robby couldn't test it seems strange to me that his team isn't there with another driver. Maybe they plan on using information from the Gillett-Evernham Motorsports teams since they have a partnership with that organization, but it seems to me that with how much Robby has struggled this season and how is team is among the many who are having a hard time getting a handle on the COT, that they need to do more testing not less.

It's not like Robby's stats at Pocono are all that impressive either - he had one top ten back when he was at Richard Childress Racing but his average finish at Pocono is 26th. (The excuse that a driver knows a track so well that he doesn't need to test there seems kind of lame regardless of their stats anyway - it's the car that's being tested for the most part in the hopes that the team will learn some information that will be useful to them when they race there.) So it seems to me that his team might want to do everything they can to be as competitive as possible at Pocono to help Robby's results be better than they have been in the past.

It's been said in the past that Robby is really an off-road racer who just happens to race Cup too and that his focus is really on his off-road efforts. But it seems to me that his Cup program helps to support the off-road side of Robby Gordon Motorsports. Some have insisted that the Cup and off-road programs at RGM are completely separate but Robby was pretty clear in relation to the Dakar mess in saying that what happens with one effects the other. At the very least racing Cup helps Robby get exposure that can be useful for his off-road efforts (and vice versa). So I don't really buy the excuse that the Cup program is an afterthought so it doesn't really matter if they show up to testing or not because the off-road stuff is more important. I think that they're both equally important, and I'd think that RGM would want both programs to be as strong as possible. Successful businesses are usually diverse businesses that don't depend on one thing for their success.

Not participating in the test just seems very strange to me. I believe every other team in Cup is testing these two days so everyone else seems to think there is something to be gained from this test. Maybe there's a cost issue at work in that the team thought that they could save some money by skipping this test or there's a personnel problem in that due some people recently leaving RGM on the Cup side including the general manager there wasn't anyone who could run this test. Robby will probably have a good excuse as to why they didn't test Pocono but I couldn't help but think of all the rumors the past few months and about whether Robby isn't investing in testing and other things in relation to his Cup team because there's some truth to the rumor that he might sell his team or merge it with another organization.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:45 AM | Comments (0)

May 27, 2008

Driver by Driver: Charlotte I

1. Kasey Kahne - After he won the All-Star Race you had to expect that Kasey would be a factor at the end of the race on Sunday as well. Kasey's last win in the Fall of 2006 also came at this track. Kasey is now 12th in points and I wouldn't be surprised to see him not only end up in Victory Lane again this season but also end up in the Chase which I think would surprise a few people given his struggles last season.

2. Greg Biffle - Great finish for Greg, particularly considering he really struggled with the handling of his car, particularly mid-race. But he and his team never gave up and they raced their way to a 2nd place finish - very well done!

3. Kyle Busch - In his last four races which included two wins, Kyle hasn't finished outside the top five. What's really impressive about this finish is that Kyle had to overcome alternator problems, front end damage and tire issues to finish this well. Kyle and former teammate Jeff Gordon exchanged words after the race because Kyle wasn't happy with the way Jeff was racing him - come on! If Kyle can race other drivers hard then then can race him hard. Every week at least one driver bitches and moans about how some other driver raced him and it's getting tiresome. They should also give each other respect and they need to use their heads and not be racing like it's the last lap on lap twenty, but when the laps are winding down they should be racing each other hard.

4. Jeff Gordon - Really didn't seem to have a very good car for much of the race and even spent some time a lap down. Was able to get the lucky dog and then use fuel mileage strategy to stay out when others had to pit for gas to get a top five. The first part of the season was so-so for the #24 team but they've got a top ten and two top fives over the last three races so it could be a sign they've figured some of their issues out.

5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Led 76 laps and fans got their hopes up that this would be the race that Junior would end up in Victory Lane. But once again it was not to be - a cut tire put Junior into the wall and matters were made worse when he was rear-ended by J.J. Yeley. However, the #88 team was able to make repairs and by staying out when other teams had to pit for gas enabled Junior to get a top five. That's what Championship teams do - make the best out of a bad situation.

6. Jeff Burton - Continues to race extremely well and prove that drivers over the age of 40 are capable of having success in Cup. Jeff's worst finish this season is 13th at Daytona.

7. Matt Kenseth - Battled handling issues for most of the race but was still able to finish in the top ten.

8. Elliott Sadler - A much needed top ten for Elliott, his best finish since he finished in the top ten at Daytona to start the season. It could be that Gillett-Evernham Motorsports as a whole is back on track and we'll be seeing both Kasey and Elliott racing up front each week, but I suspect we'll be seeing a lot more of Kasey contending for wins than Elliott.

9. Carl Edwards - Gambled on fuel and lost - Carl ran out of gas on the last lap but was still able to finish 9th.

10. David Reutimann - A career best finish in Cup for David - outstanding! This wasn't due to fuel mileage strategy either - David raced in the top ten for a significant portion of the race which was great to see. David and his crew chief Ryan Pemberton seem to be working really well together and hopefully this top ten is a sign of things to come for David and his team!

11. Bobby Labonte - Matches his previous best finish of the season which came at Daytona. Bobby struggled for the first part of this race, even losing a lap at one point. But he and his team didn't give up and thanks to getting the lucky dog, he was able to race his way to a top fifteen.

12. David Ragan - Another solid finish for David keeps him in the top fifteen in points overall. He's really come a long way since last year.

13. Sam Hornish Jr. - Best finish of the season for Sam but it wasn't enough to get him in the top 35 in owner's points. He raced well during the All-Star weekend too so it wasn't a surprise to see him do well in this race as well. However, for the most part his results this season haven't been very good so I'm not sure this is a sign that his season is going to turn around.

14. Kevin Harvick - I'm not sure whether it's just bad luck or a bit of a slump but Kevin and his team have cooled off considerably from how they started the season.

15. Mark Martin - Like so many other drivers Mark had to deal with handling issues that had his car alternately too loose then too tight. Overall, Mark continues to race well for a driver who's only racing part-time.

16. Kurt Busch - While not a horrible finish, finishing 16th has to be a big disappointment considering he led 64 laps in this race. In fact he was leading the race when a blown tire put him in the wall. Kurt received additional damage in a lap 223 incident on a restart. Considering all the damage to the car finishing 16th is pretty good.

17. Dave Blaney - Dave was able to race up front for quite a bit of the race but unlike other teams whose cars got better after the sun went down, Dave's car got worse. He's probably lucky he was able to finish this well. Dave's in the top 35 at the moment but I wonder if he's going to be able to stick there.

18. Tony Stewart - Heartbreak for Tony - a flat tire with just three laps to go while he was leading the race stole what seemed like a sure win from him. On a re-start on lap 305 Tony caused a wreck by either spinning his tires or brake-checking the field which resulted in any number of cars getting together when they couldn't check up in time.

19. Regan Smith - Regan's been racing better the last four races than he did to start the season so he may continue to improve as he gets more experience.

20. A.J. Allmendinger - Although this is Allemendinger's best finish of the season and it's not a bad finish by any means, I expected him to finish better considering how well his teammate was able to race and that Allmendinger won the Sprint Showdown the weekend before.

21. Ryan Newman - Was racing in the top ten but a penalty for speeding on pit road put him back in the field and then he got damage during the wreck that occurred on a restart.

22. Reed Sorenson - Top finishing Ganassi car which isn't very good.

23. Jamie McMurray - The results continue to be so-so for Jamie. Finishing 23rd isn't horrible but he's going to have to start racing a lot better on a more consistent basis if he wants to keep his ride.

24. Denny Hamlin - Cut a tire on the very same lap that his teammate, Tony Stewart did.

25. Clint Bowyer - Overheating issues due to debris on the front grill forced Clint to pit under green on lap 18 and he was never able to get back the two laps he lost.

26. Travis Kvapil - Had to go to a back-up car after a practice incident and never had a good car at any point in this race.

27. Michael Waltrip - The problems continue for Michael and the #55 team to the point where they're in grave danger of dropping out of the top 35 in owner's points again. Unfortunately there might not be a quick solution either. Michael's team struggles to give him a car that he can race with so Michael had to battle handling issues all night that left him racing not to wreck instead of racing for position. A lot of fans thought that Bobby Kennedy taking over as crew chief would be the magic fix to all the problems for the #55 team but I knew that was unlikely. The only difference now from when Paul Andrews was crew chief is that Michael yells less over his radio.

28. Scott Riggs - Had to race with a back-up car after both Haas-CNC cars were seized by Nascar for having a problem with the rear wings. There will likely be major penalties for both teams.

29. Casey Mears - Battled a loose condition all race long.

30. Juan Montoya - Got spun on lap 168 after contact with Patrick Carpentier but didn't hit anything. Juan continues to voice his displeasure over losing his crew chief and from the sounds of it he's pretty unhappy in general with Ganassi, which has led to speculation he could end up racing for another team next year.

31. Sterling Marlin - In his second race in his return to the #40 Sterling improves his finish by a couple of positions but no matter the driver it doesn't appear that the results are going to be very good for this team.

32. Michael McDowell - Spun on lap 193.

33. Ken Schrader

34. Martin Truex Jr.- Got the most damage in the big pile-up on the last re-start.

35. Johnny Sauter - Johnny had to race in a back-up due to his primary car being impounded by Nascar, just like with his teammate. This team was in bad shape in terms of the top 35 to begin with but they're likely to lose 100 point as well which will mean that they have no chance of racing their way back into the top 35.

36. Kyle Petty - A shock problem caused issues for Kyle from the start and he lost laps when his team made repairs.

37. Patrick Carpentier - Was involved in an incident and lost an engine. That's his second blown engine in a row. But the results have been pretty poor even without the blown engine. I wonder how much patience GEM is going to have with Patrick?

38. J.J. Yeley - Terrible race for J.J. Not only did he run into the back of Dale Earnhardt, Jr., he also wrecked again later in the race. I have a feeling there's going to be a driver change with this team at some point, maybe before the end of the season.

39. Jimmie Johnson - Lost an engine but over his last four races the results haven't been all that great for Jimmie and his team. Thanks to his win at Phoenix and three other top fives Jimmie is 9th in points but if he and his team continue to struggle and have mechanical woes I'm not sure he's going to be defending his Championship at the end of the season.

40. David Gilliland - Got damage in the Brian Vickers wreck.

41. Paul Menard - Had engine woes.

42. Brian Vickers - Brian led 64 laps and looked like he might have the car to beat for the win but on lap 185 the entire wheel from his car came off for unknown reasons which put him in the wall. The tire ended up bouncing off the track and into the infield where it hit a camper - it's a lucky thing there were no injuries.

43. Robby Gordon - Lost an engine. Robby's finished well exactly twice this season. His fans are fond of picking on Michael Waltrip for how bad he is as an owner and driver but Michael and Robby are actually dealing with many of the same issues this season. Robby has some tracks where he's done well in the past coming up but with the way things have been going for him this season I'm not expecting much.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:13 AM | Comments (0)

May 26, 2008

Photo of the Day - Longwood Gardens

Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA, May, 2008.

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

On Starting and Parking

Over on hotlap.com there's a thread criticizing a team for showing up for the Nationwide race without anything in their pits for an obvious pre-planned start and park. It's kind of astonishing that this team is singled out to be ripped for starting and parking when that site is currently running a fundraiser for Morgan Shepherd's tire bills, Shepherd being a notorious start and parker for years, who has only stopped doing so now that it's in vogue for the garage area to pay his tire bills for him. Maybe some of the other start and park teams might be able to run a few complete races before retiring to the garage with mystery "handling" issues if someone was paying their tire and other bills for them too.

I really dislike start and parking and I especially dislike it when teams that can run a full race get sent home and then a start and park team that does make it parks it after just a few laps. I also don't think that starting and parking is more acceptable for one team over another because they have more of a crew or more equipment than another team. Parking the car after just a few laps for what's likely fake reasons is still parking it. That said, as much as I dislike the practice I also understand that teams need to do whatever they feel they need to do to survive and particularly in these difficult economic times. The fact of the matter is that starting and parking brings in money, and it helps these teams continue to operate. Some would say that teams like this should just give it up and fold if they're not going to make a real effort, but who is the judge and jury as to what a real effort is? If Nascar allows these teams to show up then it's their right to play the game and collect their money.

On a related note Carl Long accepted a start and park ride this past weekend which his fans were less than thrilled with. For a driver who has had next to no success in Nascar it's always seemed to me that Long has had some of the more devoted fans there are, but like many fans they don't care for start and parks too much. So when Long did a start and park this weekend some were open about their displeasure on his forum. Instead of ignoring the comments or posting a simple explanation of why he accepted the ride, Long (through his wife) ripped his fans.

It's completely ridiculous for him to rip into fans who have supported virtually every move he's made to this point. The fact of the matter is that without fans a driver, team and sponsor are nothing. I find it extremely distressing at times myself some of the negativity and criticism that's directed towards the drivers and I don't have my life invested in what's happening on the track so I imagine it must be overwhelming at times for the drivers. However, the fans are part of the reason why a driver is on the track. The support of the fans is essential to a driver and team because fans buy the merchandise, support the sponsors, cheer for their favorite drivers at the track, etc... A driver like Long doesn't have a huge fanbase to begin with, the last thing he can afford is to chase those fans that he does have away. There also needs to be some respect and understanding for the fact that the fans aren't always going to agree with everything that a driver does. That's a completely unrealistic expectation if Long thinks that his fans need to be in support of everything. Long said that what his fans said on his forum will chase sponsors away but what he doesn't realize is that attacking his own fans will damage him far more than any comment by a fan.

I can understand where Long's frustration is coming from though. He mentioned in his post the need to pay bills and support his family - financial worries can really take a toll. Problem is that these days everyone is feeling the financial strain. It's hard for fans to feel sorry for drivers when they complain about issues relating to paying bills when Long's Nationwide finish even after the percentage his team takes might add up to more than some fans make in a month. But that's why as much as I don't like starting and parking, my attitude has definitely softened on it as time has gone on because I understand that these teams and the people that work for them are doing what they feel they have to do whether it's to keep their business going, keep their dreams of racing alive, spread the word about their message like Shepherd or just pay their bills and support their family like Long.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:59 PM | Comments (0)

May 25, 2008

Donny Lia Wins at Mansfield!

An absolutely incredible win for Long Island native Donny Lia at Mansfield!! On the last lap he moved David Starr out of the way to pass for the lead and went on to win the first truck race of his career! What's amazing about Lia winning is that he only has eight Truck races worth of experience under his belt, his ride came together last-minute since the ride he thought he was going to have fell apart just prior to the start of the season and he wasn't even allowed to race at Daytona because Nascar wouldn't give him the necessary approvals. It really says something to me about Lia that as a rookie he wasn't afraid to race veterans like Starr and Todd Bodine very hard and aggressively because he knew he had a chance to win.

Some fans seem to think Lia should be run out of Nascar for bumping Starr but that's what happens on short tracks, and it's not like Starr ended up wrecked. I'm sure I'd be upset if it was one of my favorite drivers who was bumped out of the lead by Lia but I want to see hard racing and especially on the last lap of the race! It makes for an exciting finish for sure!

Posted by silverdsl at 05:21 PM | Comments (0)

May 23, 2008

In the News: Michael Waltrip (5/23)

Toyota and Michael Waltrip Racing are going to partner to offer an apprenticeship for a diversity graduate of Toyota's Technician Training and Education Network (T-TEN) program. The apprenticeship will be at MWR in a technical position and will last a year. Michael said,

"This unique program is another way Toyota has made NASCAR a better place since entering the sport. Diversity is an important initiative for everyone involved in NASCAR and I am honored that Toyota wanted to partner with Michael Waltrip Racing. So many talented technicians want to be involved with a NASCAR team and this is an unprecedented way to open the door. I can't wait to meet the winner and put his or her skills to work on my race cars."

Diversity is something that I feel strongly about, not just in Nascar, but in general. Diversity in people and opinions makes this world a better place. But what bothers me sometimes as I've said in this space before is that sometimes I feel as if some of my fellow fans aren't particularly open to diversity whether it comes to race, religion, nationality, part of the country where someone comes from or even when it comes to differences of opinion. So I applaud Michael for not just saying that he supports diversity, but also directly doing something to support a diversity initiative. If more teams and others in the garage area do things to give opportunities to qualified and deserving people it will make a difference.

As I mentioned in a previous entry, Josh Wise will be in the #22 car for Fitz Motorsports this weekend in the Nationwide race. He was on XM the other day and he said that MWR had sponsorship in place for him to race most of the Nationwide races this season in a second car but at the last minute the sponsorship fell through. With the way the economy is it's definitely not easy to find a replacement sponsor last-minute so that left Josh without a ride. Although MWR has been using him for testing and trying to keep him as involved as possible, I had been worried that without a ride for him MWR might let him go to another organization which would be a real loss since I think Josh has a bright future.

However, Michael made it clear that Josh very much still fits into their plans and that they hope to find sponsorship for him for a Nationwide ride for next season. Michael said,

“We think Josh is a star of the future, and we’ve invested a lot in where we’ve gotten him to now, and we would love for him to race more Nationwide races – it’s just funding. Sponsorships are tight, and we’re focused on getting him a sponsor for 2009, so he can race all the Nationwide races.”

I'm so happy that MWR is going to try to get him in a full-time Nationwide ride next season! I met Josh last year and I was very impressed with his attitude, and based on his results in ARCA he's also very talented. One day I really hope he'll be in a MWR Cup car - just like Michael himself and Michael McDowell, he's a sponsor's dream!

Michael was just on Trackside - he was great as always!

Posted by silverdsl at 06:58 PM | Comments (0)

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (5/23)

*After Bruton Smith announced that he was going to buy Kentucky Speedway yesterday speculation was that the track would get a Cup race as early as next season. However, Nascar said definitively today that there will not be a Cup race at that track next season. Apparently by the time SMI completes the deal to purchase the track it will be long after Nascar finalizes the schedule for next season. So while there is some talk that there will be some shuffling around of dates for some of the SMI tracks for the Fall of next year, it will be 2010 at the earliest before there's a Cup race in Kentucky. I think it's inevitable that Kentucky will get a Cup race and unfortunately it will likely be at the expense of one of the tracks in the Northeast, either New Hampshire or Pocono. It's sometimes hard for those of us in the Northeast to be fans of this sport without traveling great distances so it wouldn't be a good thing for us to lose a race in this part of the country.

*Turns out the reason why Chip Ganassi Racing terminated Juan Pablo Montoya's crew chief Jimmy Elledge is because he got into an argument with competition director Steve Hmiel at the All-Star Race last weekend. Chip Ganassi said,

"We had an employee step over the line, and I'm sorry it happened because I like Jimmy personally, but it had to be done. I know Juan is upset and he comes out on the short end of this deal. I apologize for that, but unfortunately it was unavoidable collateral damage."

Just exactly how did Elledge step over the line? Employees do get into disagreements with their employers at times - just how bad was this argument? Was it really so bad that he had to lose his job and that JPM has to suffer as a result? JPM was among the slowest cars during qualifying yesterday so that doesn't bode well for how things are going to go for him with his third crew chief of the season. I can completely understand why JPM is so upset - it sounds like Ganassi is in turmoil as an organization, and that until everything is resolved that's not going to have a good effect on performance.

*Speaking of Ganassi, turns out they're one of many organizations who has a driver who will be a free agent at the end of this season. Reed Sorenson is in the final year of his contract and I suspect he may not be back at Ganassi. The results for him in Cup so far have not been impressive, though that may partially have to do with the quality of the cars he's racing, plus the need for him to mature as a driver given that he's just 22. Since Sorenson is just 31st in the points right now if he doesn't show any improvement he may have trouble finding a quality ride if he leaves Ganassi given how many other talented drivers are available for teams to choose from.

*The feud between A.J. Allmendinger and Elliott Sadler continues with Sadler saying that he has no intention of talking to Allmendinger even though he's left a message of apology for Sadler. Grow up! Sadler is far from perfect and he's made plenty of mistakes on the track himself. Maybe this is what Nascar wants, since they want the drivers to show more emotion but I think Sadler is showing how immature he is right now. At the very least if he wants to hold a grudge against Allmendinger keep a lid on it a little more. I'm sure there are drivers who are still upset with each other for one thing or another but after a couple of days they usually still aren't talking about it.

Posted by silverdsl at 06:31 PM | Comments (0)

May 22, 2008

Sadler Still Upset With Allmendinger

Even though A.J. Allmendinger immediately apologized and took full responsibility for wrecking Elliott Sadler during the Sprint Showdown last weekend, Elliott is still angry about what happened. Elliott said,

"I'm very upset about that still. There's a big difference between 43 race car drivers, about spinning out under somebody and taking them out, which is always an accident, and just absolutely running in the back of somebody. There's a big difference in doing that. It's the difference between an accident and doing something intentionally."

Maybe I'm misunderstanding but is Elliott saying that he thinks that A.J. intentionally wrecked him? A.J. made a mistake. It was a costly mistake for Elliott and his team but it was an accidental mistake all the same. If Elliott thinks that there was intent behind what A.J. did, did Elliott intentionally wreck Tony Stewart at Darlington?

I understand that drivers are going to be upset and frustrated at wrecking and that they're going to get angry with their fellow competitors. However, Elliott's anger seems out of proportion to what happened, particularly in light of him being in A.J.'s shoes just the week before. The other thing is that it was a non-point race. All the drivers are very competitive so wrecking in a non-points race is still going to bother them but to the point where Elliott is still upset days later and even after A.J. has extended an apology? Seems extreme to me.

I suppose I just don't understand a racer's mentality but I have to wonder once more as I did in a prior entry as to whether there's something else going on here that fans don't know about. Michael Waltrip was also hard on A.J. on This Week in Nascar. Is there an issue with A.J. in that he's rubbed his fellow competitors the wrong way on- or off-the-track? Or is there an issue in general with the way some drivers are racing that has some of their fellow drivers upset and that's being reflected in Elliott and Michael's comments? After all, Michael also had harsh words for Casey Mears after Casey wrecked him at Richmond.

Perhaps the issue with A.J. at least is that he's still fairly new, not just to Cup but to Nascar overall, and since he missed a lot of races last year and was removed from the car for a while this year he hasn't yet earned the respect of his fellow drivers to the point where they're willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Meanwhile with Tony and Elliott who have raced against each other for years, there's more understanding and respect there.

It just seems curious to me that Elliott is still so angry, but perhaps he and A.J. will speak in person this weekend and Elliott will be able to forgive him.

Posted by silverdsl at 02:55 PM | Comments (0)

Juan Pablo Montoya Unhappy about Crew Chief Change

There had been some speculation that Jimmy Elledge parted ways with Chip Ganassi Racing because he and Juan Pablo Montoya didn't get along and Elledge didn't want to work him him any more. But it appears that Elledge didn't leave voluntarily and Montoya wanted him to stay as his crew chief, so much so that he went to management and asked them not to change his crew chief. However, the move was made anyway, against his wishes. Montoya said,

"I wasn't really part of it, so, I am pretty frustrated. They told me 'We are thinking of getting rid of Jimmy' and I said 'Don't do it.' Next thing I knew, they did. That's what happened. You are going to have to ask somebody else about it, because I wasn't involved in this."

On one hand Montoya is still only in his second season in Cup so maybe there are some things about what qualities are best in a Cup crew chief that Ganassi knows better than he does. However, Montoya certainly isn't new to racing - far from it. Clearly, it's also something he felt strongly about since he's not being shy about making sure it's known that he wanted to keep Elledge but he was overruled. It surprises me that Ganassi didn't take Montoya's opinion into account when making this change. It's important for a driver to feel comfortable with his crew chief and it's also important for them to gel and learn to work together well - that's going to be really impossible for Montoya to do with his crew chiefs if there's going to be constant changes.

Posted by silverdsl at 02:41 PM | Comments (0)

May 21, 2008

In the News: Michael Waltrip Racing (5/21)

Michael McDowell won't have a blank car this weekend at the Coca-Cola 600 - Aaron's has signed on to be the primary sponsor of the #00 for another race. It makes sense that Aaron's would want to sponsor the car for this race too since this race is one of the ones that gets the most attention all season. I suspect if the #00 doesn't have a sponsor for Indy, they'll be on the car for that race too since that's another opportunity for a lot of exposure. Unfortunately Aaron's probably doesn't have the budget to sponsor the #00 full-time especially since they're sponsoring David Reutimann in the #99 in the Nationwide Series but it's good to see them continue to sponsor McD for some races. McD has a lot of testing that he'll be doing over the next few weeks and hopefully that will pay off in good results during the races. Since he has a lot of road course experience, though in other series, I suspect he may surprise a few people with how he does at those tracks later in the season.

Yesterday Michael Waltrip did a taping of Michael Waltrip Out Loud, his XM show, in front of an audience of about 125 people at Raceworld. I dearly wish I was there for that! I love the XM show to begin with but I also hear that everyone was given a very delicious lunch from a local BBQ, and that overall it was a very fun time ! I really wish I lived closer to North Carolina so I could be in attendance for events like that!

Michael had McD and Josh Wise on the show as guests and I was happy to learn that it was said during the taping that Josh will be racing this weekend in Fitz Motorsports's #22 Nationwide car. Since Mike Bliss left the team and they lost sponsorship, the #22 has seemed to fall off in terms of performance but given how long it's been since Josh has been behind the wheel of a car for anything other than testing I'm just happy that he'll be racing! Michael Waltrip Racing had hoped to field a second Nationwide car for him this season but there was no sponsorship to make it possible which left Josh on the sidelines. MWR has tried to use him for testing and keep him involved as much as possible since I think he still fits into their long-term plans, but if he's going to continue to develop as a driver they really need to have him be racing. So I'm glad he'll be racing the #22.

It won't be the last time we see Josh in the Nationwide Series this season either. There's three weekends coming up where the Nationwide Series and Cup Series will be at different tracks, which makes for a lot of traveling for those drivers who are racing Cup full-time while also racing for the Championship in the Nationwide Series. David is one of those drivers and he said,

"There are three weekends in a row where the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series are at different tracks. The first weekend in June, Nationwide is at Nashville while Cup is at Pocono. The next week Nationwide is at Kentucky and Cup is at Michigan. The tough one is the third weekend when Cup is at Infineon while Nationwide is at Milwaukee."

Josh will practice and qualify the #99 for David those three weekends and presumably also be on standby in case there's any weather or other issues that prevent him from getting from the Cup track to where the Nationwide race is. I have to admit that as much as I adore David and would like to see him win the Nationwide championship this season, I wouldn't be so upset if Josh had to race the #99 in his place. It would be great to see what Josh could do in a competitive car!

Although I'm not optimistic about the quality of the racing we'll see at Charlotte this weekend in the Coca-Cola 600 based on what we saw in the All-Star Race, Michael has had good results at Charlotte so if his car is right he's very capable of racing up front. In the spring race in 2004 he finished 2nd and just last year in the fall race he finished 10th. Michael said he loves racing at Charlotte,

“All the drivers, including myself, love to go to Lowe’s Motor Speedway to race. It’s not only in our backyard, but mainly because it is a great track. It’s a fun track to drive. You can race from the bottom to the top. I can’t wait to see how the 600 plays out. There are some definite and different grooves you will see working in throughout the race.”

So hopefully we'll see a good result for Michael! Apparently he had a competitive car for the Sprint Shootout but they made a lot of changes that turned out to be the wrong ones so Michael feels that he and his team learned a lot that will help them this weekend. In addition, the #44 team was able to race competitively during the Shootout, and ultimately David finished 6th so the plan is for all three MWR cars to start practice with the same set-up that David had during the Shootout and then go from there. Hopefully that plan will work out for Michael and his teams - they really need some strong results to stay in the top 35 in owner's points.

Michael will also be making some appearances on Friday during the Speed Street festival in downtown Charlotte. First he will be a guest on a live airing of Trackside on Speed and then he'll be taking part in a Q&A session with Dale Jarrett and Jeff Burton at the Coca-Cola stage. The Speed Street festival is enormously popular with fans so I expect both of these appearances as well as those of all the other drivers to be very heavily attended.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:11 PM | Comments (0)

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (5/21)

*Humpy Wheeler, president of Lowe’s Motor Speedway and Speedway Motorsports Inc. will be retiring after the Coca-Cola 600 this weekend. He'll be far from idle in his retirement though. Wheeler will be writing a book, doing a show on Speed, being chair of the Charlotte Regional Partnership and lecturing on motorsports management at Belmont Abbey College. He may end up needing to retire from retirement!

*Rumor had it that UPS was on the verge of a deal to sponsor Carl Edwards next season but while Edwards will have a new primary sponsor in 2009, it won't be UPS. AFLAC announced today that they signed a multi-year deal to become the primary sponsor on the #99 starting next season. AFLAC is currently an associate (and occasionally primary) sponsor of the #99 and I guess they were so happy with Edwards that they decided that the asking price to step up to the next level of sponsorship - reportedly $25 million or more - was worth it. There's now two big questions that need to be answered - where are Office Depot and UPS going to end up? Part of the rumors that made the rounds previously could still be true since UPS could still end up on another Roush-Fenway Motorsports car or perhaps they end up staying at Michael Waltrip Racing. Office Depot could also end up at MWR since it's been rumors that they're talking to that organization about sponsoring the #00. My feeling is that UPS will end up elsewhere, though I hope I'm wrong about that, but maybe Office Depot will at least decide to partner with MWR.

*Juan Pablo Montoya isn't the only driver who will have a new crew chief this weekend - Kevin Buskirk will be replacing Doug Richert as crew chief for Regan Smith and the #1 car. I can't say I'm entirely surprised. Smith is just 33rd in points and has only showed enough improvement so far this season to squeak into the top 35 in owner's points. Regardless of whether Richert left on his own or whether he was forced out, I can see why a change was made. Like Jimmy Elledge, Richert will likely be getting a lot of phone calls from teams who are interested in hiring him.

*Jeremy Mayfield didn't just sit around after he parted ways with Haas-CNC Racing. Instead he went on a 12-day trip to Iraq where he spoke with troops at a variety of bases each day. Much to his surprise while in Iraq Mayfield encountered not only quite a few Nascar fans among the troops but also quite a few who are fans of him. Mayfield might be making an appearance at the race track soon - Jayski has an "I heard" item that Mayfield may race the #40 in place of Dario Franchitti at Dover. Franchitti had hoped to be back behind the wheel by this weekend, so it doesn't bode well for the way his ankle is healing if Chip Ganassi Racing is talking to drivers about Dover.

*Not only will Morgan Shepherd have his tire bill paid for this week - by Dale Jarrett - he will also have a new car from Kevin and Delana Harvick. That should keep Shepherd from returning to starting and parking for at least one more week. The question is - who is going to pay his tire bill for the next race and the one after that and on into the future to enable him to continue to run full races?

Posted by silverdsl at 02:01 PM | Comments (0)

Marc Davis Loses Second Place Finish Due to Rules Violation

Second race in the Camping World East Series schedule, second race that Nascar has found violations on a car that has resulted in the team losing their finish. During post-race inspection after the combination East and West Series race at Iowa Speedway on Sunday, Nascar found multiple violations on the #18 driven by Marc Davis, which is fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing. Earlier this season several Cup and Nationwide teams were busted for violations similar to what this team was caught doing but apparently for some reason they thought they could get away with it in this series. From the official release:

The No. 18 car was found to be in violation of Sections 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4-Q (car, car parts, components and/or equipment used do not conform to NASCAR rules); 20C-8.4C (lubrication oil reservoir tank cover was not in place on the top of the lubrication oil reservoir tank encasement) and 20C-2.1O (any device or duct work that permits air to pass from one area of the interior of the car to another, or to the outside of the car, will not be permitted.

The part about the oil tank cover not being in place sounds just like what Carl Edwards and his team were penalized for after Las Vegas, the difference being that Nascar allowed Edwards to keep his finish, which in his case was a win. Although Nascar showed a willingness to take finishes away in this series when they did so with Peyton Sellers, it seems to me they've also shown that they will penalize teams more severely at times for the same infraction if they feel that teams aren't getting the message that they can't be messing around with certain things.

I'm sure the team will claim that these violations happened accidentally and that there was no attempt on their part to deliberately cheat. That may very well be the case because it's hard to believe that a team would take the chance at being caught after Nascar came down so hard on Sellers team. That should have told every team in the garage that Nascar is going to be checking over the cars very carefully and that they'll be taking harsh measures to be sure that the teams stay in compliance of the rule book.

I wonder if there will be more penalties to follow such as the crew chief getting suspended for a few races or whether Nascar will decide that in this case losing the 2nd place finish is penalty enough?

What this means is that all the other drivers who finished behind Davis move up one finishing spot so Steve Park ends up with a 7th place finish which I'm sure will make him happy.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:30 PM | Comments (0)

May 20, 2008

Jimmy Elledge and Chip Ganassi Racing Part Ways

Juan Pablo Montoya is going to be getting used to his third crew chief of the season this weekend at the Coca-Cola 600. Effective immediately Brian Pattie will replace Jimmy Elledge as crew chief of the #42 at Chip Ganassi Racing. Elledge is leaving Ganassi completely and given that he's very well thought of in the garage area one I would think that he'll be in demand by quite a few teams. Some of the Junior fans are speculating that he'll end up at JR Motorsports given that he's married to Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, who is the general manager. It does make some sense if there's any truth to the rumors that JR Motorsports is looking to expand into the Cup Series that they'll need experienced crew chiefs but I'm not sure they'd look to hire someone this soon.

There are no details to indicate whether Elledge left by choice or whether he was forced out but that may become known in the days that follow. It's possible he didn't gel with Montoya or maybe Ganassi wanted the results to improve more than they did when Elledge became his crew chief. The goal may be to make performance better by changing crew chiefs but when there's constant changes it's hard for a driver, crew chief and team to develop a rapport and good communication.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:25 PM | Comments (0)

Record Ratings for All-Star Race

Turns out it's not just the Truck Series broadcasts that are experiencing a ratings boost - the ratings for this past weekend's All-Star Race set a record for Speed and were up 6% from the All-Star broadcast last year. That's kind of a bad thing because it may mean that the voices of the countless fans who have indicated that they felt that racing was extremely poor and the race overall was a snoozefest won't be heart. This morning on Sirius someone brought up that all the fans who are complaining are those who think that the only exciting racing is that which features lots of wrecks. That's just not the case. Personally I watch to see good, hard racing and given the risks of the sport that still exist I don't enjoy wrecks and I'd be perfectly fine if there were none. Most of the others who are unhappy with the All-Star race would also be just fine as long as the racing is good - when a driver checks out from the rest of the field and no one can catch up to race him for the lead fans aren't going to be too happy about it.

The problem with Saturday night's race is that with only a few exceptions there was very little passing and that makes for uninteresting racing. Things got even worse after Kyle Busch's engine blew and he was done for the night because the race lost one of it's most aggressive drivers who could have put on a show for the fans since he's willing to make moves that some other drivers aren't. Too bad he wasn't around at the end of the race because say what you will about Kyle he certainly knows how to keep things interesting.

Posted by silverdsl at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)

Truck Series Ratings Up

This entry is really just so I can find this article again if needed but so far this season the ratings for Truck Series broadcasts on Speed are up 18% compared to what they were last year. I make note of this because a number of fans who hate Michael Waltrip are fond of saying that they refuse to watch Truck Series broadcasts because Michael is in the booth, and that everyone they know has stopped watching too so Michael is ruining the Truck Series and driving fans away. Given the increase in viewers since last year this is clearly false, though one doesn't really need to see the press release from Speed to know that theory is utterly ridiculous - I'd say a much bigger issue for the series and its teams rather than who is in the broadcast booth are the rising costs and sponsor woes.

On a related note, Steve Byrnes complimented Michael last night for how great he is in the booth for those truck races and I completely agree. There is never going to be a broadcaster who every single fan likes since every fan is going to have different preferences in terms of who and what they like in terms of a broadcast team. For me, I love what Michael brings to the booth - his love for the sport and the series really comes through. The series needs more people who are as enthusiastic about the teams, the drivers and the racing as Michael is.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:29 AM | Comments (0)

A.J. Allmendinger vs. Elliott Sadler

Although the All-Star Weekend was mostly devoid of excitement there was one incident during the Sprint Showdown that I had forgot about until it came up on last night's This Week in Nascar. A.J. Allmendinger accidentally got into Elliott Sadler and put him into the wall and out of the race. Of course that was a huge disappointment for Elliott since he started on the pole and was in contention to win the fan vote which would have advanced him into the All-Star Race if he wasn't able to race his way in. Not much has gone right for Elliott not only this season but for the past few seasons so he and his team surely had high hopes for what Saturday night might bring. But A.J.'s mistake dashed all those hopes and Elliott wasn't too happy about it.

A.J. later took full responsibility for the incident saying,

"I don’t know if I can really defend myself. It was my fault -- I slid up in to him. I didn’t mean to do it. We’d been loose throughout the whole race to start. I was tucked under Brian (Vickers) to try to get him by and get around Elliott (Sadler) clean. I basically passed him right as that yellow came out. I was so close to Brian that the nose just took off on me and I was out of throttle the whole time just trying to miss him. I don’t want to race like that. I don’t want to be known to race like that. There’s no defense. I messed up. I’ll apologize to him but I know right now that doesn’t mean anything. I don’t want to be known for that. We’ll talk later. There’s no defense there that was my fault."

But I have to wonder if he would still have been so willing to extend an apology to Elliott if he knew what Elliott had said about him. After he got out of his car Elliott lashed out at A.J. He said, "If you take a look at the replay you can tell what happened. The 84 [Allmendinger] just took us out. There's a reason why he gets taken out of that racecar it seems like every other week. It's a shame." More than a few people felt that Elliott's comments were overly harsh and I tend to agree. I understand that Elliott had just gotten out of his car, hadn't yet talked to A.J. and was both extremely angry and disappointed at the way things had turned out. Still, I don't really like it when the drivers throw insults around about each other. It's to be expected that there are going to be times when drivers don't think too kindly of each other either because of an incident on the track or because they just don't like each other. However, I think that their harshest comments for each other should be made privately, not publically.

That's particularly true for Elliott who was in A.J.'s shoes just a couple of weeks ago at Darlington when he wrecked Tony Stewart at Darlington due to a mistake he made. So if there's anyone who should be understanding that sometimes mistakes happen that result in wrecked race cars it's Elliott. He did exactly what A.J. did - take responsibility and apologize and all was quickly forgiven between him and Tony. I wonder if he'll be able to forgive A.J. as easily as Tony was able to forgive him?

What was interesting to me is that A.J.'s mistake must have been a pretty glaring error in judgment, which may be one reason why Elliott was so upset about it. I seem to remember Michael Waltrip commenting about it on Saturday night over his radio during the race and when Steve Brynes brought up how harsh Elliott's comments about A.J. were last night on TWiN, Michael again was critical of A.J. and his mistake. Still, the reality is that every driver from a rookie with just a few races under his belt to the most experienced veteran is going to make mistakes sometimes. I suspect it's easier for those in the garage area to have tolerance for those drivers who have been around a long time making mistakes then for relative newcomers like A.J. So A.J. may have some work to do to earn the respect of his fellow competitors - I still don't think his mistake or that he needs to earn respect makes it acceptable to insult him though.

Elliott made reference to A.J. being removed from his car for Mike Skinner for a few races, but he could end up on the sidelines himself if his results don't improve sooner rather than later. Since finishing 6th at the Daytona 500 Elliott hasn't finished in the top ten and he's only finished in the top fifteen twice which had put him 28th in points which isn't very good. Since 2004 when he won two races and finished 9th in points, the results for Elliott have spiraled downhill at an almost alarming rate to the point where last season he only had two top tens and an average finish of 25th. Of course a lot of that is due to the quality of the cars that he was given to race at both Yates Racing and Gillett-Evernham Motorsports - if a car is bad there's only so much a driver can do with it. However Elliott's teammate Kasey Kahne has seemed to make some gains since last season in presumably the same or similar equipment so that doesn't look too good for Elliott. The saving grace for Elliott is that he still remains very popular with the fans and he's extremely marketable, which has to make his sponsors happy even if the results aren't as good as they might like. So that might make GEM have more patience with him than they might with some other drivers.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:16 AM | Comments (0)

May 19, 2008

Curious Comments by Kasey Kahne

There continues to be a lot of suspicion by fans regarding the result of the fan vote which saw Kasey Kahne voted into the All-Star race. I'm not one for conspiracy theories myself but even I have some questions regarding the fan vote and even more so after some comments from Kasey from after the race that Claire B. Lang played on her XM show. Kasey talked about how at first he didn't really do too much to try to get the fans to vote for him but then he saw that Jim Beam had a campaign going to get fans to vote for Robby Gordon and that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was asking his fans to vote for Elliott Sadler, he started to get worried. So he said he turned things over to his sponsor Budweiser who took care of things and "made it happen" in terms of the fan vote. Kasey went on to credit Budweiser for "making it happen" two more times.

Naturally one would assume that Kasey is referring to some sort of high-profile campaign to encourage fans to vote for Kasey like Jim Beam did for Robby. That would be an incorrect assumption. Claire also had the Brand Manager for Budweiser on her show and asked him about what kind of a campaign they did to get votes for Kasey. According to the Budweiser representative they did nothing to encourage fans to vote and no campaign of any kind. He actually said that - Budweiser did nothing. So I have to ask just exactly what was Kasey referring to when he said that Budweiser "made it happen" if they didn't do any kind of campaign to get fans to vote for him?

Posted by silverdsl at 08:56 PM | Comments (0)

Some Thoughts on All-Star Weekend

Because I really hate to be one of those fans who complains a lot I'm going to start with the things I liked from the All- Star weekend. Friday night's truck was great! I always love seeing a driver win for the first time and that was the case for Matt Crafton, who won his first truck race in his 178th attempt. What was outstanding was the way that things worked out the two drivers battling for the win at the end of the race - Crafton and Chad McCumbee - were both looking for their first win so if Crafton hadn't been able to hang on there likely still would have been a first time winner in Victory Lane.

It was an eventful night for Ron Hornaday, who accidentally wrecked Kyle Busch, and then got wrecked himself by Todd Bodine. Hornaday immediately became a hero to many for wrecking Busch, even though he did so completely accidentally. Unfortunately for Hornaday even though he was able to race his way up front even after the incident with Busch, he made another mistake and cut Bodine off which resulted in Bodine turning him. Hornaday was furious at Bodine afterwards, but hopefully he'll calm down after he sees a replay and talks to Bodine, who was apologetic and upset after the race for wrecking Hornaday. Nascar penalized Bodine for aggressive driving but I can't say that it was that obvious to me that there was intent behind what Bodine did. Johnny Benson was also penalized towards the end of the race for jumping the restart, a call that seemed extremely questionable considering race leader Erik Darnell had trouble getting his truck going.

Other than the truck race, something I liked was how they paid tribute to Dale Jarrett, who was making his last Cup start ever (at least until some team makes him an offer he can't refuse to get him in a car for his Champion's provisional). Some fans have complained that there wasn't enough done for DJ, but considering he had also been honored during his last points start at Bristol, I have no problem with what they did prior to the All-Star race. Granted, I've never been a big fan of DJ's so if I was maybe I would have felt that what was done was lacking, but I think DJ got a good amount of attention considering there was quite a bit of other things going on that night. It was a nice touch the way DJ was introduced last during the driver's introductions so the fans could salute him at length with a standing ovation and it was great to see him finally drive the truck.

So now that I talked about the things that I liked, I have to talk about what I didn't like. As per usual TV managed to ignore more than a few drivers who took part in the All-Star festivities. I completely understand that some drivers are more popular than others so more attention is going to be given to the drivers that TV thinks their audience wants to hear about. So it doesn't bother me if they talk a lot about certain drivers. However, it would be nice if occasionally other drivers were mentioned as well - did they ever mention Carl Long even once? Yes, he was in the Sprint Showdown, as was Tony Raines, Reed Sorenson, Kyle Petty, Regan Smith and Scott Riggs, all of whom I don't remember being mentioned at all. David Poole said this morning on Sirius, I guess in response to a caller's complaint along these lines that he doesn't care about who's racing in 23rd. Well, I have news for him - a lot of fans do! Whether their driver is in 1st or 43rd, fans most definitely care about what's going on with their favorite drivers.

That said, one other thing that bugs me (and this is more of a general complaint rather than related solely to the All-Star race) is when fans complain about how their driver doesn't get any coverage in the media and then they don't do anything about it. As noted above the media is going to give the most coverage to the drivers and teams that they think their audience wants to hear about. So it's essential for fans to let the media know how much they want to hear about their favorite drivers. Of course fans need to be realistic that the amount of coverage that a driver like Paul Menard is going to get is going to be far less than what Tony Stewart gets, and they also need to realize that there are some constraints in terms of time and space, particularly on busy news days for those in the media. But fans need to make their voices heard by emailing, writing letters by snail mail and calling various media outlets to let those in the media know how much support a particular driver has. That doesn't mean that they should whine and complain every week when their driver doesn't get any coverage during a broadcast, but letting those in the media know that they're a fan of a particular driver, or thanking them when they give attention to a driver or team can make a difference. Claire B. Lang from XM for one very much caters to what her listeners want and will seek out particular drivers or talk about them on-the-air when fans call or email her about them.

My biggest issue with the All-Star festivities wasn't the coverage, it was with the racing. I thought the All-Star Race (and the Sprint Showdown) stunk. It wasn't just that Michael Waltrip didn't have a good night, I though the majority of the racing for most of the night was pretty boring, so much so that I didn't watch much of the final segment of the All-Star race and I almost always watch every lap of every race that I'm home for no matter what. maybe part of the problem is that the All-Star festivities were hyped and built up for weeks ahead of time, but it seemed like the racing was really lacking. Sure, Kasey Kahne was able to race his way to the front of the field and a few others were able to make some forward progress at times but for most of the night it seemed like passing was very difficult and when there's very little passing it makes for uninteresting racing. That's not a good sign for what fans can expect in the Coca-Cola 600 next weekend. Hopefully that it'll be a points race will make for better and harder racing but it was said that we'd see that this past weekend because the drivers didn't have to worry about points so they could go all out. If that was all-out racing, I shutter to think what conservative racing would have been like.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:34 AM | Comments (0)

May 18, 2008

Photo of the Day

Posted by silverdsl at 09:50 PM | Comments (0)

Not a Very Good All-Star Weekend for Michael Waltrip

As I mentioned in the previous entry Steve Park had a great weekend in Iowa, but Michael Waltrip had a terrible night in Charlotte. The #55 was bad, so bad that Michael said over his radio that during the Sprint Showdown was the hardest he's ever raced a car. What was so awful about that is that Michael wasn't racing for position, he was racing that hard just to hold on and not wreck because of how loose the car was. That meant that Michael was non-competitive the entire race, so much so that he said that he was embarrassed by how bad the car was.

Unfortunately, as much as I like to try to put a positive spin on things I have to agree with his assessment. Michael Waltrip Racing shouldn't be getting beat by some of the teams that they got beat by on Saturday night. Although they're a much improved organization since last season when they were struggling to even make races let alone race competitively, they may not be so lucky to have all three teams in the top 35 in owner's points if the results don't start improving soon. I have no doubt that everyone at MWR is working very hard to get more competitive which is no easy task given the level of competition in the Cup Series right now. But it has to happen sooner rather than later. The cars can't keep being this bad to the point where Michael and his drivers can't race with them - it's not good in terms of the sponsors, and the poor finishes are starting to wear on some fans too. Even Dale Jarrett's car during the All-Star race, his last Cup start ever (assuming some other team doesn't make him an offer he can't refuse for his Champion's provisional), was completely non-competitive, something DJ said after the race he expected.

Of course drivers say things they don't always mean over their radios during races but Michael said something that really got my attention. At one point when he was talking about how bad the car was and all he said something along the lines of how no matter what he does it's always wrong. I assume he was talking about in relation to the cars, but it could have been more of a general statement too - I'll never know. I felt bad for him when I heard him say that because at times I've felt that way and it's not a good feeling. More than a few fans felt that Bobby Kennedy becoming Michael's crew chief would be the magic solution to all of the problems but the car was as bad last night as any time with Paul Andrews, and while Michael didn't yell any, he was no less upset about what was going on with his car. Overall, Michael sounded really miserable and I can understand why. It has to be incredibly frustrating as a driver and as an owner to do all these things to try to improve the performance of the cars and have it not make any difference.

Although the outcome on Saturday night wasn't very good I hope that they learned some things that will help them during the Coca-Cola 600 next weekend. I was less than impressed with the quality of the racing on Saturday night in both the Showdown and the All-Star race itself which doesn't bode well for what the 600 is going to be like but less than exciting racing will be a lot more tolerable if Michael has a semi-decent car that he can actually race with.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:06 PM | Comments (0)

Steve Park Finishes 10th in Iowa!

Steve Park started today's combination Camping World East and West Series race in the top ten and that's where he finished as well. I didn't get to watch the race because I don't have HDNet but from what I understand Steve had a strong car throughout the race and he even led some laps. If I understand right there was a problem on pit road that led to Steve having to restart at the back and he was able to race his way back up front which is awesome. No driver is truly satisfied unless they win, but I hope Steve is happy with his second top ten in a row.

Brian Ickler, a driver I honestly know nothing about ended up winning the race. Claire B. Lang has been doing a great job of covering the Camping World Series on her XM show so hopefully she'll interview him sometime this week. Kasey Kahne fresh off his All-Star win finished third. I didn't see the race so I don't know how much they actually focused on him but from what was said they talked about him quite extensively which displeased some. However, part of the reason Kasey was there was to draw fans both to the track and presumably to the broadcast. It has to be expected that he's going to get a lot of attention. The other thing of interest is that nine out of the top ten finishers in the race were East Series drivers - might just be coincidence but I wonder if there's a reason for that - maybe there are more Cup backed teams in the East Series which forces the East Series teams to field more competitive cars in general? No idea, but that was interesting to see in the results.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:54 PM | Comments (0)

Not a Fan of the Fan Vote

Now that the fan voting for the All-Star Race is over I can say what I really think about it - I don't like it. Don't get me wrong, I voted like crazy for Michael Waltrip and I encouraged others quite enthusiastically to do the same. Aside from knowing how much Michael would have wanted to be voted in it would have looked good to NAPA if he had been voted in, plus made a statement in general not only to Michael's sponsors but also the media, Nascar, and other fans about what kind of fan support he has. I'll also vote just as much for Michael for next year's All-Star Race and for anything else where Michael needs his fans to show how much they support him. But that doesn't mean that I like the fan vote.

Unlike some fans who think that only "deserving" drivers should be in the All-Star race on the basis of their accomplishments or having raced their way in, I have no problem with the concept of fans voting for their favorite driver to get in. It's a non-points race and why shouldn't the fans have some sort of say in what happens? I just question sometimes whether the fans have as much say as they think they do and what else does on with the fan voting.

I'm not thrilled with what that voting's turned into. Is it really a reflection of which driver is the favorite with the fans or which fanbase does the best job of voting? And do all those votes that are cast really matter or is the outcome predetermined? On Friday it was announced that 250, 000 votes had been cast but just between the Robby Gordon and Michael Waltrip fans there were probably that many or more votes and that doesn't account for votes from other fanbases. I also have to wonder how Kenny Wallace was top five in voting? Kenny is a popular driver but I didn't come across a single person who said they were voting for him. In fact more people talked about voting for Carl Long (who has a very devoted fanbase) than Kenny. I'm not one for conspiracy theories, in fact I hate them, but more than a few fans are wondering whether Kasey Kahne was going to get the fan vote no matter what because of his sponsor and because he's a "star" driver.

I imagine some will say that it's just sour grapes because my driver didn't win, but I've detailed some of my issues with internet polls and fan voting in this space before. Unfortunately though as time goes on the more they seem to be taken seriously as a true measure of what fans think or who they support which is why I continue to vote for Michael so ardently in them. I'm just not sure the final result is always a true reflection of the totality of how fans feel about things.

Posted by silverdsl at 12:26 PM | Comments (0)

May 16, 2008

JR Motorsports to Field Cup Car in 2009?

It wasn't long ago that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was saying that he had no plans to field a Cup team at JR Motorsports but I've always thought that his plans would change sooner rather than later. The reality is that Cup is where the money's at and if a team has the resources to make it happen they're almost always looking at trying their hand at racing Cup. So I'm not surprised to find out that due to the costs that will be associated with the Nationwide Series move to a COT, that Junior is considering moving his Nationwide team to Cup, perhaps as soon as next season if he can find a sponsor and the right driver. I really doubt there will be any problem finding a sponsor - companies will likely fall all over themselves to be associated with Junior in the Cup Series, even if it's only through JR Motorsports. Partnering with Junior by becoming a sponsor at JR Motorsports is a great way for a sponsor to get a significant amount of exposure but the price tag would likely be a lot less than if they sponsored him directly at Hendrick Motorsports.

With Martin Truex, Jr.'s future at DEI in question, there have been rumors that HMS is going to release Casey Mears and Truex will take his place in the #5. So the same people floating that rumor will likely start whispering that Truex is a lock for JR Motorsports's possible Cup ride next season. However, Junior was quick to try to nip talk like that in the bud today saying,

“Why would he want to come drive for me? He’s in good stuff now and he’s going to have great opportunities with other people. I would never do that to him. The first year coming out of the box we’re going to struggle like hell. C’mon. I’d be at the bottom of that list, along with Haas (Haas-CNC Racing). … No way would I even do that to Martin, even if he wanted to.”

Give me a break. JR Motorsports might experience some struggles as a new team trying to break into Cup, particularly without owner's points but it's likely that they would get a significant amount of support from HMS and would probably have the financial resources to overcome some of the competition issues that have made getting a foothold in Cup difficult for other new teams. In addition, if Truex is the driver that whatever sponsor ends up on the car wants and the right fit overall, I find it hard to believe that Junior wouldn't give the ride to him because he doesn't want him to have to deal with the challenges that a new team brings.

Also, what's the deal with the comment about Haas-CNC Racing? Perhaps it refers to how they also get equipment and some support from HMS but they've had their own struggles to deal with as well. In fact the #70 is outside the top 35 in owner's points. However, Scott Riggs in the #66 is in 25th in points - not great by any means but considering that Haas isn't one of the powerhouse organizations it's not horrible either. And certainly not bottom of the list.

In relation to the financial issues in the Nationwide Series Junior said,

“It would cost the same amount of money as it does in the Busch (now Nationwide) Series. It’s harder to get (Nationwide) sponsorship and the COT program is going to be too expensive for me to justify creating a whole new program with COT stuff, so I’d just as soon go into the Cup Series.”

That doesn't bode well for the future of the Nationwide Series that the costs of the COT are going to be so expensive that even a well-funded organization like JR Motorsports feels it's too much. Particularly when one considers the immense costs of fielding a competitive Cup car. If JR Motorsports, who has a partnership with HMS on the Nationwide side, can't field a team once the Nationwide Series goes to COTs how are even smaller and less-funded teams going to be able to do it?

Posted by silverdsl at 04:35 PM | Comments (0)

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (5/16)

*Ever since George Gillett came on-board at Gillett-Evernham Motorsports there's been a lot of speculation as to just exactly what Ray Evernham's role at GEM still is and whether he even has any ownership in the company that bears his name anymore. Turns out he does indeed still own part of GEM, though Gillett is the majority owner with 80%. Evernham says that there's an agreement that he will remain a part of the company for at least five years, with a position on the board, a say in decisions that are made and a role in the shop. He cited financial reasons for why he sold so much of the company to Gillett. He said, “I would much rather be part of a team that’s going forward, than be a 100 percent owner of something that’s going to go out of business some day.” Which is a very wise way of looking at things. I'm sure it wasn't easy to make the decisions to give up so much control and ownership in his company, but ultimately Gillett might be able to make GEM a better company since he has a significant amount of financial resources than if Evernham tried to do it on his own. Although Michael Waltrip supposedly still retains a 50% ownership stake in Michael Waltrip Racing, I believe his reasons for bringing on Rob Kauffman were very much the same.

*Jared Turner wrote an opinion piece on scenedaily.com that I agree with completely - Nascar needs to pick one format for the All-Star race and stick with it. I've long since stopped trying to figure out each year how many segments the race is going to be or how many laps in total it is. If they really must run segments and invert the field I wish they'd just break the race in half with two segments and one invert, then let the chips fall where they may. I'd rather just see the drivers race instead of all these breaks and manipulations.

*It seems to have escaped the attention of all but a couple of bloggers but Andy Santerre Motorsports - or more specifically crew chief, H.A. Sellers, was allowed to file an appeal in relation to the penalties handed down by Nascar in the Camping World East Series after the winning car of Peyton Sellers (H.A.'s brother) was found to have an illegal shock on in during a post-race inspection. It had been said that the penalties couldn't be appealed but that must have only been in relation to the win being taken away. Unfortunately for the team though Sellers lost the appeal and he'll have to serve his three-race suspension.

*Bobby Labonte gave an interview on XM yesterday in which he seemed to indicate that as had been reported recently he was close to re-signing with Petty Enterprises. He also made similar comments to others in the media. He expects to be able to announce something within two to three weeks. Of course anything can happen in this sport and what seems like a sure thing one day can fall apart the next, but I'm guessing that he will in fact stay at PE. Claire B. Lang asked Labonte why he wasn't asked to participate in the burnout competition - gee, I'm thinking the answer's pretty obvious - he's too old (even though he's only in his 40's which really isn't old at all). Even though drivers like Ron Hornaday (not eligible because he's a Truck Series driver) can do a pretty mean burnout, the perception is that doing burnouts is something that the young drivers do. In fact some of the older veteran drivers seem to look down on burnouts as if it were beneath them. I just think it's a fun thing that the fans seem to love.

*Another guest that Claire B. Lang had on her show was Greg Biffle who tried to play down his comments after the Darlington race in which he expressed some anger over how it seemed like every week his cars were falling apart. Biffle claims that it was just frustration and that it doesn't mean that he wants to leave Roush-Fenway Racing for another team. In fact, Biffle says that he doubts he'll be somewhere else after 2008 and that he's not talking with other teams. First of all, every time a driver says that they're not talking to other teams it makes me laugh. That doesn't mean that they're not listening to offers. Most drivers have clauses in their contracts that prohibit them with speaking with other teams. However, many of them getting around that by having a business manager, agent or other associate act as the go-between. So a driver can say in all honesty that they aren't talking with other teams even if there's been some communication. Also, as I said in relation to Bobby Labonte, what seems like the most solid deals can fall apart at the last minute. Until the ink is dried on the contract (and sometimes after that) things can change very quickly. So just because Biffle says now he'll be at Roush next season doesn't mean when 2009 rolls around he actually will be there.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:54 AM | Comments (0)

A Few Yankees Thoughts

I don't often talk about the Yankees or baseball in this space these days, one reason being that the majority of my visitors are more interested in racing so I decided to focus on that, but also because time constraints don't make it possible for me to do an entry about everything I'm thinking about. In fact, while I used to post on a bunch of different baseball forums these days other than with the Roger Clemens mess where I was really horked off about it, I can't remember the last time I posted on a baseball forum that wasn't NYYFans.com, and even there I don't get to post as much as I'd like. But I'm still watching the games, as painful as it is right now with the Yankees in last place.

This morning someone on NYYFans posted an opinion piece someone from MSNBC had written about the return of the Bronx Zoo. While I don't agree with this writer that Hank Steinbrenner is a fool, I have to say that I agree that I wish that he would put a sock in it. From the start Hank has rubbed me the wrong way and I find that I don't really care for him too much. Of course many of my fellow fans love him and the way he mouths off. I question how any of that is actually productive. Joe Girardi and the players know they need to win games. They just need to go out and do it without Hank creating any distractions.

I also agree with the writer that Joba Chamberlain's antics on the mound could cause a problem for the Yankees. If the Yankees were in first place and crushing the competition I might feel differently, but with how much they're struggling I'm not entirely comfortable with Joba's fist-pumps and all. That's not to say he shouldn't be enthusiastic or excited - I do like it when players show emotion, just that maybe dialing it down for a while would be a wise idea, particularly since there's a lot of attention being paid to what he's doing. Joba is also far from a veteran - sometimes there's more tolerance for what veterans do as compared to players who have just a year or two of experience.

It's the Subway Series this weekend - what a snoozer this series has turned into. Much of the excitement has faded thanks to how often they now play each other, plus both teams aren't exactly playing their best baseball ever. Seems like it's also really early in the season for these teams to be playing each other. In the past fans got very worked up over a series like this but to me at least the Mets are just one more team that the Yankees will be playing. Of course I still hope that the Yankees sweep the series, though the way this season had gone I don't really expect that to happen.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:03 AM | Comments (0)

May 14, 2008

Photo of the Day - Oregon

Crater Lake National Park, Oregon, 2006. Wish I knew which mountains those were in the distance.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:50 PM | Comments (0)

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (5/14)

*"Humpy" Wheeler's one of the best promoters in the sport and a very creative man. Each year he makes quite a spectacle of the All-Star race including when he makes his pick for who the winner is going to be. This season was no different - Wheeler utilized dogs, yes, dogs to help him make his pick which ended up being Carl Edwards. As much as I appreciate what Wheeler is trying to do in terms of trying to bring attention to the events at his track sometimes it would be nice if the focus was on racing instead of showmanship.

*That said, the Victory Challenge prior to the All-Star race featuring Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson competing to see who can do the best burnout should be fun. The best part is that $10,000 will be donated to the winner's designated charity. The drivers won't be using their own cars - I don't think too many teams would sign off on that - instead they'll be using cars from the Richard Petty Driving Experience.

*One change I wish they'd make to the All-Star weekend is for there to be some way for Truck and Nationwide drivers to participate in the All-Star festivities. There is a truck race on Friday night which should feature some good, hard racing, but drivers from that series don't take part in the actual All-Star race at all. Of course a lot of fans couldn't care less about the Truck and Nationwide drivers but there are many fans who do who would love to see their favorite drivers from those series participating in some sort of All-Star non-points race.

*Since they didn't have a sponsor and Dario Francitti is still recovering from a broken ankle, Chip Ganassi Racing opted to withdraw the #40 from the Sprint Showdown rather than put another driver behind the wheel. There is sponsorship for the #40 for the Coca-Cola 600 so it will return to the track them but I have to wonder if Francitti is slow in healing whether the team will opt not to field the car in future races where there's no sponsorship even if it means losing owner's points.

*The other day I wondered why Steve Park's East Series team only shook down the #35 car for ten laps and then packed up and left testing at New Hampshire. Apparently Steve was on Sirius today and said that the car is so good that all they wanted to do was make sure there were no vibrations or anything else amiss with the car, and that they didn't think they could learn anything from testing. Usually teams want to do more testing not less, and that was definitely the case for every other East Series team that went to the test. the team might be completely dialed in for this weekend's race at Iowa Speedway but what about later in the season when they race at NHIS?

Posted by silverdsl at 06:02 PM | Comments (0)

May 13, 2008

Photo of the Day

Posted by silverdsl at 10:31 PM | Comments (0)

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (5/13)

*Even though Ken Schrader doesn't have a full-time Cup ride he's still a very popular man in the Cup garage. He's raced for BAM Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing and Haas-CNC Racing, and in two weeks he'll be attempting to qualify the #33 for Richard Childress Racing into the field for the Coca-Cola 600. Although Scott Wimmer hasn't had much luck getting the #33 into races lately so the car probably isn't as competitive as the other RCR cars, it's likely still going to be one of the better cars that Ken has raced lately. It would be good to see him make the race in that car. That Ken is in demand by so many different teams is a sign of how respected he is. Even though the results haven't been too impressive for him in Cup in recent years, since Ken is an experienced veteran he can still probably offer a team a lot of useful feedback.

*No one seems to notice or care what's going on with the small teams and non-star drivers but Tony Raines is returning to the track this weekend for the Sprint Showdown in the #08 car. Jeff Green will once again race the #34 in place of John Andretti who is busy with duties related to his Indy 500 ride. BAM Racing is also returning to the track, with Chad McCumbee behind the wheel - I wonder if they found some sponsorship? Maybe someone in the media will make the effort to find out whether this signals that they'll be racing some points races sooner than they thought they would when they announced they 'd be suspending operations a while back. Michael McDowell won't be racing this weekend since David Reutimann will be in the #00 in his place since Dale Jarrett will be racing his final Cup race in the #44.

*Jayski has an item today that relates to Kyle Busch. Apparently people have been asking Jay whether Kyle is going to get fined for giving the finger to a member of Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s crew who was jeering him during driver introductions. Jay said that Nascar is unlikely to fine Kyle because it didn't end up on the TV broadcast and I agree - why would Nascar do something about a gesture that probably not many people saw and no one would have known anything about if it wasn't written about in an article after the race? In addition, Nascar says that they're giving the drivers more room to show personality and that they're backing away from penalizing drivers for things like this that they might have cracked down on in the past. So it's really not too likely that they're going to do anything about it. Of course everyone is focusing on Kyle giving the finger but what about the crew member who jeered Kyle? That's not exactly professional behavior and it only causes more ill will between the teams.

*This past weekend Greg Biffle expressed a lot of frustration over how often parts fail or fall off his cars and the speculation is that in spite of how he's said that he would like to return to Roush-Fenway Racing, he's seriously considering his options with other teams. I've thought for a while that a chance might be beneficial to Greg, and given his age he would be better off making that change now instead of waiting for a few more years, particularly since it appears that there might be some quality rides available for next season and that might not be the case in the future.

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

Vote for Michael Waltrip for the All-Star Race!

Just a reminder to all my fellow Michael Waltrip fans who might drop by this space that the All-Star Race is Saturday night and unlike years past Michael is no longer guaranteed a spot because he won it. So he needs our help to make the race - please vote for Michael for the All-Star race as much as you can! Voting can be done online here: http://www.nascar.com/promos/allstar/vote/ or if you're a sprint customer, texting "NASCAR" to 7777. Not only is racing in the All-Star race important to Michael, it's important for his sponsors as well. Getting the fan vote for the All-Star Race would get NAPA Auto Parts a lot of exposure and send them a message about how big Michael's fan base is!

Posted by silverdsl at 12:29 PM | Comments (0)

May 12, 2008

Photo of the Day - Driftwood Beach

Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, Georgia, 2006.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:24 PM | Comments (0)

Steve Park and the #35 Team Test at Loudon...

...for just ten laps. Apparently the #35 team came to testing just to shake down the car. According to eastseries.com they tested for ten laps on old tires then packed the car up and left. Some other teams did the same with one car, presumably the car they might be using at Iowa, but also had a second car there to do additional testing with. For so few laps it almost doesn't seem worth it to show up, either for Steve or for his team.

I wish that the #35 team had tested more today. I assume they had a plan and good reasons why they didn't feel they needed to make use of more of the day to test. Presumably they think they have a good enough car to be competitive at this race later in the season and Steve certainly knows how to get around the track at Loudon. However, there's more than a few Cup backed teams these days so it seems as if the more they can learn from testing the better. In addition, Eric Holmes, who raced for this team last season, was on XM just a week or two ago repeated his comments about how he left the team due to how non-competitive they were. In fact, his comments were along the lines of how the team didn't have their act together. Of course things may be completely different this season and they may have made changes to make themselves into a better team, but it doesn't fill me with confidence to hear a driver who worked with them recently make comments like that about them publically.

There's also the item I came across in someone's blog (the wonder of Google alerts) about how Steve was apparently in the shop her husband works in down in North Carolina looking for parts for the car. It's great that Steve wants to do whatever he can to help his team get more competitive but it doesn't bode well that the driver has to go looking for parts for the car himself. Of course on lower levels that kind of thing probably happens on a regular basis, but I wouldn't have expected that Steve would have to go out to buy parts for the car himself in the East Series. I have no doubt that the team works hard but it's difficult for independent teams on any level that don't have a huge amount of financial resources to be competitive regardless of how talented their driver may be.

Even though Steve wasn't on the track too much at testing today he did speak with some in the media about racing in the East Series. He said,

"There's a handful of experienced guys and then there's all these young guys that have great race teams. How else are they going to get better than by beating some of the guys with the experience -- and then getting the experience from that? It's great for the series to see that."

It's definitely great for the series and exactly the point of a developmental series that young drivers get experience racing which will hopefully help them move on to higher levels in Nascar.

Racing in this series against drivers he's not familiar with is a challenge. Steve said,

"I tell my spotter, you've got to keep me informed about who these people are, and not in a bad way. I just don't know. There's a lot of young guys and a lot of young racers. I get up in the top-5, or top-6 or top-7 and then you catch a car and tell the spotter to remind me who he is and what his experience level is according to how I can race that person. I don't want to put myself in trouble, and I don't want to put them in trouble, either."

Of course the other drivers he's racing against aren't familiar with his racing style either. In fact given the age of some of the drivers he's racing against some of them might not even remember much, if anything, about when he was winning races in Cup. So they're probably all trying to figure out what he's all about just like he's trying to figure out what they're all about. In addition, while most of the young drivers have less overall experience in racing than Steve the majority of them have raced more over the past few years than Steve has.

Steve also talked about how the reason he wants to race in the East Series is to win races.

"If you wake up in the morning and go to a race track and think to yourself no matter what happens and no matter how the stars align you're still not surrounded by the people that can win a race -- then you're playing a game you're never going to win. It's like playing solitaire -- you just know you're never going win at it. It's like, 'What's the point?'"

I guess Steve hasn't played much solitaire so he doesn't know that it's possible to win - I used to love to play solitaire and other one-person card games when I had nothing better to do so I know that if the cards fall right and a player uses good strategy games of solitaire as challenging as they may be can be won. In some ways similar to racing. So that's a pretty bad analogy - personally I'd say that what looks like a bad hand of cards could turn into a winning game if one has patience and sees how everything plays out. But it's true that without the right mix of people and the right equipment it's hard to win races. Only time will tell whether Steve has surrounded himself in this series with people who can get him back into Victory Lane.

Posted by silverdsl at 06:41 PM | Comments (0)

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (5/12)

*Although Chip Ganassi Racing had hoped that Dario Franchitti would be back behind the wheel of the #40 by Charlotte, it doesn't sound like that's going to happen. Apparently Franchitti's ankle, which he broke in a Nationwide race at Talladega is still swollen and painful. Sterling Marlin will probably race the #40 again, as he did at Darlington, if Franchitti is still unable to race it. Given the struggles that this team has had this season a veteran like Marlin can probably give them some helpful feedback, particularly since he's familiar with the organization having raced the #40 for 7 or 8 years until he was replaced by David Stremme in 2006. However, it's not good for Franchitti to be sitting out since he needs all the seat time he can get if he wants to be successful in Cup. It's good for them to be cautious with Franchitti and not rush him back but I have to wonder if he misses a lot of time whether it might derail his Nascar plans.

*As long as the sponsors approve as had been rumored earlier in the season Terry Labonte will become a teammate to his brother Bobby at Petty Enterprises when he gets behind the wheel of the #45 for five races. Chad McCumbee will race the #45 for an additional two races. I'm sure the team will talk about how they wanted a veteran to give them feedback to help improve the results but the reality is that it's likely mostly about Labonte's Champion's provisional which is why they were considering swapping owner's points between the #43 and #45 until Nascar said they weren't going to allow mid-season points swaps. Regardless of why PE might want Labonte to race for them, I'm sure both brothers will enjoy being teammates.

*No one seems to have noticed that while the #34 team was at Darlington attempting to get into Saturday night's Cup race their regular driver, John Andretti, wasn't with the team. That's because Andretti was trying to find a ride for the Indy 500, something he was ultimately successful in doing. Jeff Green took Andretti's place behind the wheel of the #34 but he didn't fare any better than Andretti has for most of the season in getting the #34 into the race. Although only two cars were going to go home after qualifying on Friday, the #34 was one of those that failed to make the race. I have to wonder how much longer this team can afford to keep attempting races with so little to show for it considering they're such a small team that probably doesn't have much financial resources.

*Maybe Tony Stewart learned something after the controversy over his harsh remarks about Goodyear following the Atlanta race. This weekend Tony won the Nationwide race at Darlington and made sure to compliment Goodyear on how good the tire were. He also said, "I'm the first one to tell them when they screw up and I want to be the first one to tell them when they do a good job, too." That's the way it should be. While I still think his comments in March were excessive, I think Tony should be commended for speaking up to say something positive about Goodyear when it's warranted. Sometimes people just say what they don't like as opposed to what they do like and both are important.

Posted by silverdsl at 02:01 PM | Comments (0)

May 11, 2008

Some Thoughts on Darlington

Due to some unexpected family issues I couldn't watch any of the Cup race at Darlington last night like I planned but I still have a couple of thoughts...

*Kyle Busch won last night and he may very well be the best driver in the series right now. Not Dale Earnhardt, Jr., though he's also having a outstanding season, but Kyle. Get over it. I am so sick of the whining about how Kyle's not deserving of the attention he's getting or how he's not really that talented or how he deserves to get his face kicked in. Last night Kyle over came pit problems, scrapping the wall, having a car that wasn't to his liking and having to come from behind to get his second win in three races, his third win this season in Cup overall. He is deserving of every second of attention and all the accolades that are being showered on him. I don't like that Kyle is a jackass at times but I also respect the tremendous talent that he has. The more fans complain bitterly about how they're going to stop watching until Kyle stops doing so well or how Nascar is being paid off by Toyota to "let" Kyle win, the more I hope Kyle keeps winning to spite those people who hate him so much. I have no problem with fans disliking Kyle or wishing that other drivers would win, but the attitudes that some fans have towards Kyle is immature and ridiculous. As I've said before it's sad to me that it's become acceptable among some fans to wish injury or ill fortune on a driver just because they are disliked. And just exactly why is Joe Gibbs going to sit down with Kyle and tell him to change his attitude when Kyle is winning races and getting his sponsors so much exposure with that attitude? Joe Gibbs doesn't tell Tony Stewart to put a sock in it when he says controversial things, why would he tell Kyle to dial it down?

*Apparently Kyle had some hard words for his team during the race about the car and some fans took offense at that. Drivers should treat their teams with respect but the reality is that quite a few drivers get on their crews in the heat of the moment for bad pit stops or other issues during races over their radios. In fact Greg Biffle ripped his team after the race, saying that there's always a problem every week, after a loose wheel ruined what could have been a great race for him considering he started on the pole. Why is it okay for Greg or other drivers to make comments about their teams but not Kyle? In fact I actually think it's a little more acceptable for Kyle or other drivers who are very successful to be demanding of their teams because they know with a good car and strong pit stops they can contend for wins.

*A year ago fans were ripping David Ragan as a lousy driver who would never be a success in Cup. Well, after his second top five in three races David would be in the Chase if the regular season ended now. Of course there's still plenty of racing left but the fact of the matter is that David is looking like a driver who belongs in the Cup series. So much for the idea that it was a huge mistake for Roush to give a driver with so little experience a good Cup ride. David is showing why Roush had so much confidence in him and I hope he continues to develop into a solid Cup driver.

*In comparison with the way some races have turned out for the Michael Waltrip Racing teams this season, last night wasn't bad. At times David Reutimann was able to race in the top ten and apparently both he and Michael had cars that were among the fastest on the track at points. Ultimately David finished 19th, Michael 24th and Michael McDowell 28th. Not great, but all three cars finished the race and maintained a spot in the top 35 in owner's points. If they build on last night and gradually the results improve they will be in good shape. McD was actually the Raybestos Rookie of the Race which was good for him. Some would say that finishing 28th is pretty poor but I think it's not bad for a driver with so little Cup experience Darlington is a tough track but McD brought the car home in one piece and ended up as the top finishing rookie too.

*With all the controversy over Kyle Busch winning another race did anyone notice that Travis Kvapil and Dave Blaney both finished in the top ten? I believe Dave's great finish puts him in the top 35 in owner's points and knocks Sam Hornish, Jr. out which makes things interesting. It's a very bad sign about the state of things as far as sponsorship goes that Travis can be in the top 20 in points and be capable of racing competitively yet he still doesn't have a full-time primary sponsor.

Posted by silverdsl at 06:13 PM | Comments (0)

May 10, 2008

Morgan Shepherd Finishes 16th in the Nationwide Race at Darlington

I didn't get to watch yesterday's Nationwide race (nor will I get to watch tonight's race live), but in looking at the results I saw that Morgan Shepherd finished 16th. That's his second top twenty in three races and his third race in a row in which he raced until the end of the race instead of just parking it due to "mechanical" issue after just a few laps as has been his pattern for quite a few years. The reason Morgan's not been parking it is because the new "in" thing to do is give him money for his tire bill which apparently makes it possible for him to race the entire race. Suddenly everyone seems to be jumping on the "let's help Morgan" bandwagon, I guess because Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart are doing it so everyone is following their lead, but I can't help wonder, why now? I understand why they're helping him - because of his faith and because he's a well-liked old-school driver who has been around forever. But with how long Morgan's been starting and parking there were plenty of opportunities to help him in the past in such a way that would have made it possible for him to finish races. Yet people are only doing so in a significant way now.

I have to wonder what other small, struggling teams think of all of this? There are other teams who start and park, who might not have to just like Morgan - is someone going to have a fundraiser to pay those team's tire bills too? I would guess not since Morgan is the only one who is trying to spread the word about his faith as opposed to help a sponsor move product or market themselves. I also wonder how long this is going to continue. I can't imagine that Morgan will get his tire bills paid for by others forever. So is he just going to revert back to starting and parking then?

I suppose I'm running the risk of someone thinking that I'm dogging Morgan which would be unpopular right now - amazing how sentiment about a driver can change so quickly. But that's not the case - I've always thought even though I've never liked that he starts and parks that he's deserving of more respect from fans that he's gotten since he accomplished plenty throughout his career in Nascar. However, I'm just curious as to the timing of why everyone is rushing to help Morgan now and where it's going to lead.

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

May 09, 2008

Photo of the Day

Aruba, 2005.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:49 PM | Comments (0)

Anything Else to Talk About?

Yes, I realize there have been even more Michael Waltrip related entries than usual. I always have a lot to say about Michael but usually there are entries about a variety of other happenings in the sport to balance things out a little. Thing is that I already discussed the Junior/Kyle Busch kerfuffle and while some fans seem to think that it was an international incident, to me it was just one of those racing things. Sure, maybe Kyle could have raced Junior more carefully but they were racing for the win at the end of the race and sometimes when there's hard racing things don't work out. It happens but life goes on. Beyond that there isn't a heck of a lot going on otherwise. I suppose I could have talked about the Charlotte test but really what was there to talk about? As with every test all the teams talk in positive terms about what they accomplished but it's hard to really know where they stand in comparison to other teams since every team has a different agenda at testing and they might be testing things that they couldn't use on race day.

This weekend the Nationwide and Cup series are in Darlington. Qualifying is later on tonight. It's expected that the Cup race could be a wreckfest but hopefully that won't be the case.

Posted by silverdsl at 02:04 PM | Comments (0)

May 08, 2008

Have I Mentioned Lately How Much I Love Michael Waltrip Out Loud on XM?

One of the Nascar-related highlights for me each week is listening to Michael Waltrip Out Loud every Thursday night at 7 p.m. on XM channel 144. Yes, my fellow Michael Waltrip fans, I've come to enjoy this show even more than the Monday night show on Speed! You see there is no other show where Michael has free reign to talk about what's on his mind more than this one! Along with Tony Rizutti, his co-host, each week Michael not only informs listeners, he entertains them too. The past few weeks I've only been able to listen sporadically due to having to work at some events but when I listened last night it reminded me of just how awesome I think this show is!

The best part of this show is that it offers listeners a peak into Michael's world. Michael doesn't just review what happened to him in each race, he also talks about other news in the sport, what's happening at Michael Waltrip Racing, and pretty much anything that comes to mind that's going on around him. On one of the first shows last year Michael told a story about how Ken Schrader and Kenny Wallace came to check on him in his motorcoach because they were worried about him since things weren't going too well for him. That's the kind of story that fans couldn't hear anywhere else. Of course Michael is also on This Week in Nascar and is in the booth for Truck races but there is no other place where Michael can talk at length as much as he can on this show not only about what's going on in racing or with his teams, but also about some of his other loves like golf and music.

What I think I like the most about this show is how much I've learned or been challenged to think about in a way I might not have before. I'm very opinionated when it comes to Nascar but I also like to keep an open mind and consider things from a variety of viewpoints. Michael is not only a driver, but he's also an owner and someone who has been involved in the sport for more than 20-years so he has a tremendous amount of knowledge about every aspect of the sport. He's also not afraid to give his honest opinion about things, something that I like a lot. So when something happens during a race or in the sport in general, whether it relates to Michael and MWR directly or not, I look forward to hearing what Michael thinks about it. Although I'm often on the same page as him and agree with many of his opinions, sometimes I don't agree. But that's okay because it still makes me consider a different opinion than mine which I like doing.

Two shows really stick out in my mind. One was in June of last year when Aric Almirola was removed halfway thought a Nationwide race for Denny Hamlin, a race that Denny went on to win. I had thought that it wasn't quite right for Joe Gibbs Racing to yank Aric from the car and I understood why he was upset. But Michael and Tony had a different way of looking at things, from that of the team. From an owner's point-of-view Michael felt that Aric's attitude was very poor and that he should have stayed around to celebrate the win. They both felt his attitude was so bad that it might prevent him from getting rides with other teams in the future. I had never considered things from that perspective and it gave me an entirely new insight into that incident.

Another great show was one from earlier this season in which Dr. Eric Warren, MWR's technical director was on to discuss bump stops. That was a really eye-opening discussion that I learned a lot from. I knew in general what a bump stop was but I had never given them much thought. I had no idea that Nascar doesn't regulate them much and that a similar situation has developed like what happened with springs when teams were doing coil binding. The larger, well-funded teams have the resources to go out and get bump stops made out of all sorts of exotic materials and do research to get them right with a large budget. However, not every team can afford to do what the bigger teams are doing, and in the case of MWR they're still in the learning stages when it comes to bump stops, presumably since they're still such a new team. A lot of fans have expressed frustration that the cars haven't been better for the MWR teams this season but after listening to Dr. Warren I could get a sense why because MWR is still figuring things out in terms of the bump stops (and likely in other areas as well).

Of course another thing that's great about this show is that there's usually an email question of the week that's been submitted by a fan that Michael answers. It's always fun to hear what other fans are wondering about and what Michael's response is. A few of mine have been answered including one on last night's show in relation to Michael's run-in with Casey Mears at Richmond. I had asked how a driver goes about making amends after an incident like that and Michael said that they just work things out and he and Casey will be fine. Michael then went on to say that these days drivers will actually sometimes just text each other an apology after a wreck or incident. That totally blew my mind! Of course everyone uses text messages these days but it seems to me that if a driver is really sincere about apologizing and explaining themselves the least they could do is make a phone all or even better speak with the other person face-to-face! The drivers don't have much time given all their commitments so a text message is probably an easier way of doing things but it just seems like the easy way out. I like to send emails to the show (michaelwaltripoutloud@xmradio.com) every week or so, not necessarily always with a question, but with some sort of comment, just so they know that I'm listening.

It's not just racing they talk about either which is one reason I think the show is so good. A lot of times they'll review the big sports stories of the weekend outside of racing, and frequently get going on a shared love - golf. Once they get started talking about golf it seems like it's hard for them to stop! I admit that I don't know much about golf, though I sometimes enjoy watching. What's interesting to me more than the games is the courses themselves so I enjoy when Michael talks about specific courses they've played on. One of Michael's other big loves is music so they'll talk music sometimes. But what's really great is that the show opens and closes with a songs that either relate to the race just past or coming up or are songs that Michael really likes. Since I also love music I enjoy that as well and especially since I've discovered some songs I hadn't ever heard before that way. Last year they played "Please Come to Boston" by Dave Loggins and it's now on my big list of favorite songs - I can't believe I had never heard that song before since it's exactly the type of song that I love! Naturally since Michael has a terrific sense of humor there's lots of laughing and joking around as well.

What really makes this show work is the great rapport between Michael and Tony. They know each other well since Tony at one time was Michael and NAPA's PR rep so they've worked together a lot and it seems like they're good friends as well. Tony does a great job of asking Michael questions and guiding him through discussions. On TWiN sometimes I feel like Michael is kept on a short leash and isn't always given the freedom to say as much as he might like, but on this show it's not a problem - he can say pretty much whatever he wants and the show is better for it. The conversation flows freely, so freely that I think they could easily fill an hour long show!

This is truly an outstanding show! There aren't all that many shows, on TV or otherwise, besides racing that I make sure to listen to every week but this is one that's a can't miss for me! I really look forward to listening each week and now that things have gotten quieter at work hopefully I won't be missing too many more in the future.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:22 PM | Comments (0)

Michael Waltrip Out Loud (5/8)

Unfortunately I was distracted for most of the time that I was listening to this week's show but I sure am glad that I was paying attention to the email question this week! That's because the question which happened to be my question! I was kind of afraid to ask this question because it related to the incident at Richmond with Casey Mears, but then I figured if Tony thought Michael wouldn't want to answer he just wouldn't use it. I asked after there's an incident like that how drivers make amends with each other. But first before getting to the question Tony mentioned that I was from Hempstead (where is where the university I work at is). So Michael wanted to know if they grow a lot of pot there (hemp)! As for the answer to my question Michael said that they just work it out, that he and Casey won't have a problem. How soon they talk depends on the severity of the incident. Apparently it used to be that they were dependent on calling each other, now they can't use the excuse of not being able to reach someone since they all have cell phones and all. Now drivers actually text each other to say that they're sorry. It kind of boggles my mind that these days some drivers don't even bother to apologize face-to-face or via a phone call. Of course the drivers are super-busy so I understand why they might just text, but it seems to me that it would be hard to tell if an apology is sincere or not if it's just a short text message.

So then it came up about how everyone should vote for Michael for the All-Star race. He said that someone should come up with a program to vote for him for the next seven days. So they said that the lady from *** (the university here I work) (me) could probably come up with something since I'm collegiate (in reality clueless about computer programming! ). Michael again pondered whether Hempstead is the home of medicinal marijuana and Tony said that he didn't know but *** (my university) is there.

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

Office Depot to Michael Waltrip Racing?

Jayski has an "I heard" rumor today that says:

Office Depot to MWR? Hearing Office Depot, currently the sponsor for #99-Carl Edwards, is considering a move to Michael Waltrip Racing with driver #00-Michael McDowell. UPS has been rumored as a possible sponsor for Edwards and Roush Racing in 2009.(5-8-2008)

Of course given that there's no source that rumor could be completely false but frequently there's some grain of truth to the rumors that Jayski reports, so I would guess that at the very least Office Depot is looking around and one of the teams they're talking to is Michael Waltrip Racing. Getting a sponsor like Office Depot for the #00 would be wonderful news! Actually any news related to sponsorship for the #00, or the #44 for that matter, is great news! If Office Depot was interested in being the primary sponsor of the #00 for the full season that would be the best scenario but even a partial sponsorship or associate sponsorship would be good to because it would be more than what they have now.

Some fans seem shocked that Office Depot would consider leaving Carl Edwards and Roush-Fenway Racing for Michael McDowell and MWR but it's really not that outrageous. For one thing Roush is supposedly asking for $25 million or more from companies to sponsor the #99. That's a lot of money, particularly with the way the economy is right now, and I'd guess that it would cost a lot less to sponsor the #00. In addition, although Carl is a much more experienced driver who has won a lot, McD is a dynamic, media savvy, young driver with a great attitude just like Carl. Plus, McD has a lot of potential - he could very well develop into as good of a driver as Carl over time.

In addition, Office Depot would be able to associate themselves with Michael, who has a knack for getting his sponsors exposure. I'm quite sure that any sponsorship deal would involve incorporating Office Depot into Raceworld somehow and that's something that other teams can't offer. In addition, there may be other creative packages that MWR could put together for Office Depot. In fact, last week on "Michael Waltrip Out Loud" Michael talked about how MWR would work with sponsors to find a package that fit their budget in and met their marketing and sales goals. That kind of flexibility is essential these days with how hard it is to keep and find sponsors and especially for an organization like MWR where the on-track results haven't been that strong yet since they're still developing.

Some fans have expressed surprise that a major sponsor might be interested in McD over David Reutimann who is more experienced and thought to be a better driver than McD. Unfortunately for David in spite of his obvious talent behind the wheel there's some factors that work against him, his age for one. Sponsors often want to be associated with younger drivers and given that they're with Carl currently, that's likely true for Office Depot. In addition, as much as I can't stand bringing in the driver's appearance into anything because I think it should be irrelevant, a lot of people don't share my beliefs. The fact is that David's "beak" which is why he has the nickname "Beak" and his overall goofy look may not be as appealing to Office Depot as McD who is very attractive and polished looking. David really needs to be paired with a different kind of sponsor - like UPS who is sponsoring him currently - that is a better fit for a veteran driver.

Hope this happens for McD and MWR!

Posted by silverdsl at 04:06 PM | Comments (0)

Is There Really Favoritism Show Towards Some Drivers by the TV Broadcasters?

Yesterday on XM much of Claire B. Lang's show, "Dialed In," was devoted to taking fan calls about how more than a few fans believe that there is favoritism or a bias shown to some drivers by those in the TV booth during the various race broadcasts. Much of the discontent among fans is due to all the attention that's being given to Kyle Busch lately, but it's also come up in relation to the way ESPN covers Steven Wallace in the Nationwide Series and about how some fans feel that Darrell Waltrip, doesn't objectively talk about his brother, Michael.

There are times when I share the concern that some fans have in relation to potential bias on the part of those in the booth. Almost all of those who work for the various networks seem to have some sort of tie to a driver, team, manufacturer or sponsor. DW is Michael's brother, Rusty Wallace is Steven's father, Phil Parsons is on the board of Michael Waltrip Racing, Jeff Hammonds is one of the owners of Red Horse Racing, Kenny Wallace races for Jay Robinson Racing and Michael for his own organization, Dale Jarrett just retired from MWR, the list goes on and on. I've wondered at times about the appropriateness of certain broadcasters talking about drivers or teams they have an business or personal interest in. However, I think for the most part as long as those interests are disclosed so that the audiences is aware then it's not much of an issue, especially since in general I don't usually see the same issues that a lot of other fans seem to see in relation to supposed favoritism being shown towards some drivers and teams.

That Kyle Busch is getting a lot of attention seems to be the biggest bone of contention right now for fans. But the reality is that he deserves that attention since he's won multiple races in all three of Nascar's highest series this season. In addition, he's been involved in quite a bit of controversy. I don't like Kyle much myself but even I can recognize that he has a tremendous amount of talent, the way he races creates excitement and that what he's doing is worthy of being talked about. The greater wrong in my opinion would be if the media ignored Kyle because he isn't very popular with fans.

Some fans have even convinced themselves that DW or others are getting paid by Toyota or have a Nascar directive to talk about Kyle so much. Because some fans don't like Kyle and can't acknowledge his ability behind the wheel they seem to think that no one else should either so they have to come up with ridiculous conspiracy theories about how the broadcasters are forces to talk about Kyle when they don't want to. But they are going to talk about anything that impacts the action on the track or is otherwise a storyline or newsworthy and Kyle is definitely that.

Both DW and Rusty are in a particularly bad position when it comes to them commenting on their relatives. If they are as critical as fans want they run the risk of hurting the feelings of people they care about, but if they avoid saying anything bad about Steven or DW some fans are upset. So they're pretty much screwed either way. I find that at times DW makes subtle negative remarks about Michael and that may be his way of playing to those who feel he shows favoritism to his brother. Or it may be what he truly thinks. Problem is unless he's either completely bashing Michael or ignoring him, some fans are going to be unhappy no matter what he says.

The thing is that there's also a bias that exists on the part of the fans that influences how they perceive what the broadcasters say. A fan called into Claire's show yesterday and said that DW talks too much about his "no-talent, field-filler" brother. Well, obviously that fan doesn't like Michael and has a bias against him so no matter what DW says about Michael that's unacceptable to him. Also, no one is going to like it when something bad is said about a driver they like so to some fans that comes across as a broadcaster being biased against that driver when in reality it might simply be a broadcaster giving an opinion. There is no way that the coverage is always going to be positive for every driver all the time - but some fans seem to expect that.

I agree with those fans who aren't happy about how the TV broadcasts sometimes seem to focus on the same drivers over and over again and don't always do a good job of informing the audience about what's going on throughout the field, though I don't think it's because of any kind of favoritism being shown to certain drivers. It's a problem for fans because it's hard to know what's happening with their favorite drivers but also for sponsors because they aren't getting much exposure unless they're with certain teams that are guaranteed to almost always get coverage. The solution I have to the problem of my favorite drivers not getting talked about much is that I use Trackpass to listen to the radio communication of the drivers that I like - usually Michael's - so I always know what's happening with them. Of course that isn't possible for everyone, but it definitely enhances my enjoyment of the races and makes me feel more informed.

That said, I think fans have to be reasonable in their expectations It's okay to wish that a wider variety of drivers and teams were discussed more regularly but also understand that the TV broadcast is always going to give the most attention to those drivers who are racing up front and therefore have the best chance to win, as well as the most popular drivers. It's also hard to talk about what's happening at every point in the race for every team and driver, particularly if there isn't anything of note going on with those teams. There may also be directions given to the broadcast team by producers or limitations due to time. Some Steve Park fans are upset that an interview that Steve did with Speed at Greenville-Pickens wasn't used during the broadcast of the race yesterday. But apparently the race was condensed into an hour which really isn't a lot of time so Speed isn't going to be able to use every piece of footage they got that day.

I guess I'm just not bothered by a lot of the same things as many of my fellow fans when it comes to the broadcasts of the races, but what else is new - it often seems like I'm not on the same page in terms of my opinions as many other fans.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:40 AM | Comments (1)

On Michael Waltrip and the Lack of a Richmond Interview

One driver who has never shied away from speaking to the media is Michael Waltrip. Although I'm not sure that Michael enjoys dealing with the media any more than any other driver does, he recognizes it's an opportunity to get his sponsors exposure and "speak" to the fans. He's also very good at it which is why he's a regular on This Week in Nascar, the Truck Series broadcasts and has his own XM show. However, even Michael is going to have times when he can't or won't speak with the media. Last weekend after Michael retaliated against Casey Mears and got parked for it, there was no interview with him on FOX during their broadcast. Michael did give a comment to a reporter from Nascar Scene that night, discussed it on TWiN, answered questions from reporters about it during testing at Charlotte and will presumably also talk about it on the XM show this evening. However, that's apparently still not good enough for some.

John Daly, from The Daly Planet wrote a column in which as the discussion evolved in the comments section he implied that Michael refused an interview with FOX. Daly feels that Michael as a high-profile driver, car owner and media personality owed it to fans and everyone else to give an interview to explain himself to FOX since it was a national broadcast, and the implication is that by not doing so he did something wrong. I've seen that same sentiment echoed by a number of fans as well. This in spite of the fact that neither Daly, nor anyone else, can seem to come up with anything to show that Michael was available to be interviewed, that he actually refused an interview request or that FOX was even interested in speaking with him.

In fact, based on what two people who were working members of the media that night have said Michael couldn't have given an interview to FOX even if he wanted to. For one thing, Nascar had him in virtual lockdown in their hauler from immediately following the incident when they summoned him to after the race when they got done talking to him. I suppose Michael might have refused an interview on the way to the Nascar hauler but can you blame him? Aside from the fact that he would still be trying to gain control of his emotions at that point, he can't exactly tell Nascar to wait on him because he has to give interviews. Once he was with Nascar he can't tell them to shove off so he can go speak with FOX. By the time he was released from Nascar's version of jail, based on what these people have said those that had waited around for Michael to get a comment from him had left to chase some even bigger stories - Denny Hamlin intentionally bringing out a caution and the Dale Earnhardt, Jr. - Kyle Busch incident. In addition, it's not like Michael refused to speak at all that night - Nascar Scene got a quote from him. If FOX wanted to speak with him, and I'm not sure that they truly did in light of what other storylines they had to follow, where were they went he was talking to the reporter from Nascar Scene?

Some seem to think that Michael or his public relations representative should have chased down FOX but let's get real. It's hard for teams and drivers to get coverage under normal circumstances let alone during a limited post-race show when there were other major stories. Beyond that once a race ends the drivers and team members are all in a rush to leave the track as quickly as possible. Michael isn't going to want to hang around any longer than he has to, and especially not to give interviews on a negative topic, particularly one that was a little embarrassing for him.

It should be noted that I do think that drivers should speak with the media even about negative news. The fact is that when drivers give interviews to the media that's their way of speaking to the fans. Many fans don't get to the track and don't get the opportunity to speak with the drivers themselves. So their only way of knowing what the drivers have to say or what they're thinking is through the media. The drivers also have a responsibility to their sponsors to get them exposure via interviews and media appearances. Plus, Nascar requires top finishing drivers to speak with the media. In the past I haven't been too thrilled with Tony Stewart for shirking his responsibilities to the media, nor do I care for his adversarial attitude at times. But that's not what Michael did on Saturday. He spoke with at least one reporter, then gave more extensive comments during the week.

It's really hard for me to see what Michael did that was wrong on Saturday in relation to the lack of an interview, particularly when not all the circumstances in relation to whether he spoke with FOX or not was in his control. What's ironic to me is that once Michael did comment at length on TWiN a lot of fans were upset about that too. Some weren't happy with what he said about Casey (he was perhaps a little harsh but that was how he felt at the time) and others felt that he should have been more apologetic (I thought he made it clear that he was embarrassed and knew that he did something wrong). So even when he does comment some people are still unhappy. I think the problem is for some is that he didn't say exactly what they thought he should but the reality is that Michael has his own point-of-view and opinions and he has to say what he's thinking, not what will please the fans or others.

It's been said to me before that no matter what Michael does, and for that matter all the other drivers, no matter how well intentioned they might be, no matter how many good explanations there are, there are still going to be people who find fault and get upset. Don't get me wrong, fans shouldn't be expected to agree with or like everything that a driver says or does. They also should have the right to express their opinions both positive and negative - I certainly do in this space, and I realize at times that I'm too critical of Steve Park for some people's tastes. It just seems sometimes that there's such a focus on the negative, almost to the point where some are looking for any excuse to rip into a driver for some perceived wrong. To some fans nothing lives up to their lofty standards and no matter what a driver does it's wrong. How frustrating that must be for the drivers sometimes.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:11 AM | Comments (0)

May 07, 2008

In the News: Michael Waltrip (5/7)

Michael Waltrip makes his 700th Cup start this weekend at Darlington. I think that's quite an accomplishment and something to be proud of but Michael doesn't seem to think so. He said,

"It’s not something I am necessarily going to celebrate. I would have liked to have had more than four Sprint Cup victories by now. At the same time, I am thankful to be able to show up every week and do what I love to do. So I think I have mixed emotions because I will be a little bit sad about not putting up more numbers than I have, but glad that I have the ability to do what I do."

That's better than his comment of a month or two ago in which he made similar comments only he seemed sadder and more negative about it. The fact of the matter is that there are drivers who don't even get to 100 Cup starts. There are drivers who don't even make one Cup start. There are driver who race for years and never win. But not only has he won four times, but two of those wins are Daytona 500 wins - the most prestigious race that Nascar has each season. Michael has made his mark on the sport not only by being a winning driver but also by helping usher Toyota into the Cup Series. Although things have been a struggle for him the past few years, there is much for him to be proud of, including making his 700th start. This is a difficult sport to be a part of - weak people don't last long. Michael has raced Cup for 24-years and the reason he's lasted is not only because of his talents on and off the track but because of his strong will and determination. Michael is just as competitive as any other driver so of course he would like to have won more but he's not done yet - had his engine not blown at Talladega he might have had another win there. Hopefully Michael will visit Victory Lane a few more times as he races his way towards even more starts.

Another thing that Michael is doing this weekend is paying tribute to Max Helton, a good friend of his who helped found Motor Racing Outreach in 1988, and died of brain cancer in March. Michael designed a special paint scheme for the #00 which will honor him. Michael said,

“Max was a really special person in my life. I cherished the time I spent with him and the positive influence he had on me. We will miss him, but we will never forget him.”

Sometimes I feel bad for Michael because it seems that in recent years he's lost a lot of people who he's been close to and/or have had a lot of influence on him as a person and as a driver. That's difficult for anyone but based on some of Michael's comments I get the sense that he doesn't have a wide circle of really close friends who he trusts completely (and no wonder considering some of what goes on).

The #00 will also have decals that pay tribute to other special people - Mothers - in honor of Mother's Day. One decal o the back of the car will say "I love you Mom." Michael said,

"We put a special note on McDowell’s car to all the mothers watching the race on Saturday. Our mom is an important part of our lives. I love the fact that we are racing on Saturday, so that we can spend Mother’s Day with her at home on Sunday.”

I think it's really sweet of Michael to put a message on the back of the car like that. His mother is very important to him and one person who definitely seems close to.

There will be another special decal on the car, this one designed by the driver of the #00, Michael McDowell, in honor of his own mother who passed away from pancreatic cancer a few years ago. McD said,

“I wanted to pay tribute to my mom. In addition to MW’s ‘Love You Mom’ decal, I’m also running one I designed to honor my mom. She had such a positive impact on my life. Everybody that knew her loved her. She was just a happy person. I miss seeing her smiling face, but I know she’s with me every day. My wife Jami and I want to wish all the mother’s a Happy Mother’s Day.”

It's really great that the Michael's want to pay tribute to not only their own Moms, but all the Moms who might be watching!

Posted by silverdsl at 03:19 PM | Comments (0)

May 05, 2008

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (5/5)

*There's a lot of wild rumors floating around about where various drivers and sponsors are going to end up. One of the drivers who is very much in the rumor mill is Martin Truex, Jr. and I find his situation to be kind of confusing. For one thing DEI announced recently that they had picked up Truex's option for 2009 which would seem to indicate that he's locked up for next season. Not so fast according to Truex who said at Dale Earnhardt Day that he and DEI still have a lot of things to work out. Does DEI really have an option on him? Does he have an "out" clause? Rumors have connected him to a fourth team for Penske Racing which doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me since it seems to me going to a brand-new team at an organization that hasn't yet gotten their third team to be competitive, let alone a fourth team, might not be an upgrade over DEI. In addition, there are rumors that Truex's sponsor at DEI, Bass Pro Shops is going to sponsor Tony Stewart wherever he ends up but I thought that Bass Pro's deal with DEI also went through 2009 - if so how are they going to get out of their deal with DEI? Usually there's some grain of truth, particularly when the same rumor is floated repeatedly, but it's really not clear to me how Truex or his sponsor are going to be available to other organizations. Then again, contracts in this sport don't seem to mean much.

*Naturally some of the wildest rumors about where drivers and sponsors are going to end up are originating with Mike Mulhern of the Winston-Salem Journal who no one seems to take seriously anymore. I've ranted on more than one occasion about how much fiction ends up in his columns so I won't get into it in too much depth now but I suspect some of the drivers and teams who are looking to make some changes might be feeding him some material for their own purposes. It seems like he will print just about anything no matter how crazy it is. http://www.kevnharvick.com

*When Joe Gibbs Racing switched to Toyota a representative from GM was on XM and indicated that manufacturer would do everything they could when Tony Stewart's contract ran out to lure him back to a Chevy team. That might be what's happening now even before his deal with JGR is up. However, Toyota says that they aren't going to get involved with negotiations between Tony and JGR to get him to stay. I ask - why not? If GM is going to use their money, power and influence to make a deal sweeter for Tony to go to one of their teams, why wouldn't Toyota do the same to get Tony to stay? Tony is one of the best drivers in the sport currently and it seems to me that Toyota would want to do everything they can to help keep him affiliated with them.

*According to ESPN.com sources say that Bobby Labonte has signed a deal to remain at Petty Enterprises which would explain why Richard Childress said last week that he's still talking to three or four drivers in relation to the fourth team that he's going to field next season. It had been reported that it was a done deal that Labonte was going to RCR but it appears that might have been the case. I'd have to think that if Labonte re-signs with PE that they have some sponsorship to replace General Mills. Jayski has an "I heard' rumor that CAT could be in the running to sponsor Labonte at PE. If there's any truth to that Bill Davis Racing is probably in serious trouble as far as their Cup operations go. It's one thing to have a partial sponsorship or only one car sponsored but it seems to me that it would be very hard for BDR to field a car without any sponsorship at all - that certainly didn't work out for them with the #27. But like with Bass Pro Shops and DEI, the question would be how CAT would get out of their current deal since supposedly they recently re-signed a multi-year deal with BDR.

*It's great how Morgan Shepherd is getting help from fellow competitors like Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart which is encouraging others to also help him. But I wonder why now? Shepherd has been starting and parking in the Nationwide Series for years so it's not like he just ran out of the money for tires or a pit crew this season. So why is it suddenly the "in" thing to do to help him now? Also there are other tiny teams that are also struggling to make a go of it in Nationwide, why Shepherd as opposed to other drivers and teams? Maybe it's because of the message on his car and possibly the drivers feel like they're doing good by helping him because of it, but again, Morgan has been racing with the same message for a long time. It'll be interesting to see how long it is before he goes back to starting and parking because I can't imagine that he'll be able to get his tire bills and other needs paid for every weekend.

*The Kyle Busch - Dale Earnhardt, Jr. saga continues. Junior seems far less upset about what happened than his fans, saying that he understands that it was just hard racing. Which is exactly what it was. Until they checkered flag waves every driver has the right to race hard for the win even if it happens to be Junior that they're racing against. Both Junior and Kyle said today at testing that they'll talk about it and move on, but part of me wonders just exactly what there is to talk about if they both have an understanding that it was hard racing and neither one of them really did anything wrong.

Posted by silverdsl at 02:26 PM | Comments (0)

May 04, 2008

Photo of the Day - Spaceship Earth

Spaceship Earth, Epcot, Walt Disney World.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:17 PM | Comments (0)

A Few More Thoughts on the Michael Waltrip - Casey Mears Incident

The incident between Michael Waltrip and Casey Mears from last night's race that resulted in Michael getting parked is naturally being talked about in a variety of places, though not as much as might be expected, probably because it's been completely overshadowed by Junior getting wrecked by Kyle Busch. On one forum someone who said that they're a long-time fan of Michael said that this incident disappointed them so much that they're going to find a new favorite driver. I literally laughed out loud when I read that. Now I fully understand how a fan's feelings towards their favorite athletes can change - I'm not the same kind of Tino Martinez or Steve Park fan as I was in the past although I still like them both. But this fan's breaking point with Michael is when he retaliates against another driver, something countless drivers have done in the past and will do in the future? After the mess at Daytona and Michael's accident last season and partgate this year, this fan is going to abandon Michael because he got angry and lashed out? Good luck on finding a driver who doesn't ever get frustrated or angry and never lets their emotions get the best of them!

The other thing is that I have to admit that as much as I'm disappointed in Michael for what he did, there's actually a small part of me that liked it. Someone else brought this up on Michael's forum and until I read how they felt I don't think I could really acknowledge it was how I felt too. Seeing Michael react like that is a reflection of the competitive fire that burns in him and that he still feels the emotion and his love of racing. A lot of fans think that Michael doesn't care about racing or results and that he only cares about plugging his sponsors but that couldn't be further from the truth. In reality Michael has the desire to race up front and win just like any other driver but it's really hard to do that when the cars he's been racing the past few years are far from competitive. So I liked seeing that display of emotion because it told me how much he still cares and feels the passion to race just as much as ever. That doesn't mean I think it's right what Michael did - my preference would be for him to keep himself under control. But I want to feel like the drivers that I like care about what happens on the track - Michael most certainly does.

Someone on Michael's forum brought up how NAPA and Michael's other sponsors feel about this incident. Of course sponsors would prefer that exposure comes via positive reasons, but the fact of the matter is that NAPA probably got more exposure from that incident and the resulting media attention than if Michael had finished the race cleanly without getting himself into trouble. In the past sponsors have said that they don't mind so much when their drivers act out, as long as it's not a regular thing because of the exposure they get - that is certainly true of Jim Beam with Robby Gordon . The old saying is that there's no such thing as bad publicity and in a lot of cases that's very true. I would think especially when it comes to something that is an accepted part of the sport such as drivers showing emotion. NAPA and other sponsors have to realize that this kind of thing may happen from time to time. That said of course Michael has to be careful and especially right now when he's trying to convince NAPA to re-sign, but I'm not sure NAPPA is going to complain too much about their logos getting some additional airtime they wouldn't have otherwise.

I just want things to start getting better for Michael. Being locked into races is a good thing but the results need to get better. That would do a lot to help Michael's mindset and reduce his frustration level. Michael, his team and everyone at Michael Waltrip Racing just need some luck to be on their side.

Posted by silverdsl at 06:59 PM | Comments (0)

Kyle Busch vs. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Yet again I find myself in the vast minority when it comes to Kyle Busch. It definitely stinks for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. that he got wrecked when he was so close to breaking a long winless streak, but I'm finding it hard to view Kyle as public enemy number one like most other fans. I want to see hard racing and I particularly want to see hard racing for the lead over the last few laps of the race. In the past fans have complained about how boring the racing has been and how uninteresting it is when a driver pulls away from the field and dominates at the end of the race. So last night we had two drivers battling each other to take the lead - to me that was pretty exciting. Unfortunately one problem with hard racing is that sometimes it doesn't work out well for one or both drivers, and that's what happened last night.

More than a few fans believe that Kyle intentionally wrecked Junior and I suppose that's possible, though Kyle denies it. It may very well be that he just got loose or made a mistake. I didn't really see anything that looked blatant to me, though most fans seem to assume these days that Kyle sets out to deliberately wreck every driver on the track. Would there be this much controversy over what happened last night if it had been different drivers who were involved? I tend to think not. There will always be some fans who will find reason to get upset about just about anything, but whenever Junior is involved, well, I pity the poor driver who his fans think did him wrong. It just wasn't Junior's night last night but eventually that win will come for him and there won't be anything or anyone who will be able to prevent it from happening.

What was troubling to me was that Denny Hamlin appeared to deliberately bring out a caution at the end of the race, maybe as a way to close up the field and put Kyle, his teammate, in a position to be racing Junior for the win there. Where's the outrage about that? Even Nascar thought he deliberately drew a caution and penalized him two laps. To me that's as bad as anything else because Denny was making a deliberate outcome to manipulate the outcome of the race.

Posted by silverdsl at 06:45 PM | Comments (0)

Michael Waltrip Parked at Richmond

I didn't get to watch last night's race at Richmond live and it's a good thing because I would have been beside myself over the incident between Casey Mears and Michael Waltrip on lap 354 that led to Nascar parking Michael for the rest of the race. As much as a fan of Michael's as I am, I can't argue with Nascar's decision to park him. I completely understand Michael's anger and frustration but that doesn't make it acceptable for him to use his car as a weapon to retaliate against Casey. When drivers do that it bothers me so I'm pretty disappointed that Michael lost control of his emotions to the point where he lashed out at Casey like that. At least after he got done getting a tongue-lashing from Nascar Michael stepped up to admit that what he did was wrong unlike some drivers who are unable to take responsibility and admit that they made a mistake. Michael said, "I got run into the wall and then for a split second I lost my cool and hit him back. You can’t do that, so I got parked.”

Of course it was longer than a second that he lost his cool since he pushed Casey for a considerable distance down the track. Michael is emotional and he has a temper which sometimes gets the best of him. There was infamous Lake Speed incident from years ago, when he did the same thing he did to Casey to Todd Bodine in 2004 at Darlington, and the tangle with Jeff Green in 2005 at Martinsville that got him parked for two laps. So I've come to expect that every couple of years Michael is going to let his emotions get the best of him. He's far from the only driver who lashes out in ways that he (or she) shouldn't either. There are many drivers who have tried to retaliate or deliberately wreck a fellow competitor. That doesn't make what Michael did right, but it's definitely a part of the sport - along with the competitive fire that burns inside all these drivers comes a whole lot of emotions that isn't always channeled in the right way.

What gets me is that some fans are saying that Michael should be parked for multiple races over what he did. Let's get real. Michael was completely in the wrong, but if Nascar hasn't parked drivers who have gone after each other under caution or on pit road why would they suspend Michael for this? Nascar doesn't - and shouldn't - have any tolerance for blatant retaliation but parking Michael which resulted in a very poor finish and less points than if he had been able to race to the end is penalty enough. That's pretty consistent with what Nascar has done in the past - usually when the park drivers for aggressive driving during a race it's over and done with in their minds after that.

As much as I don't like what Michael did I also feel bad for him. Although things are better for Michael Waltrip Racing than they were last season it's still not great by any means. All three teams may be locked into the top 35 in owner's points but they're still struggling for strong finishes. There's been bad luck and mechanical failures, including a blown engine that possibly took a win away from Michael last weekend at Talladega. Plus, there are rumors that UPS is on the verge of leaving MWR to sign with Roush-Fenway Racing, and a whole host of other issues and problems that Michael has had to deal with this season. It can't be easy for him. So I can't see why he might have reached his breaking point and not been able to prevent himself from lashing out. Again, it doesn't make it right but I can understand why it happened.

But if I feel bad for Michael, I really feel sorry for Casey. For one thing the whole incident started because his spotter didn't tell him that Michael was next to him so Casey moved up and pushed Michael into the wall, having no idea he was there. Then he gets pushed down the track by Michael who is retaliating against him for something that wasn't really his fault. Casey definitely didn't deserve that.

Ultimately Michael really hurt himself because he ended up with a much worse finish than he would have had without getting parked. He's also damaged himself in the eyes of some of his fans. It's completely understandable that his fans are disappointed in him - I know I am. But I hope fans will have some understanding not only for the emotions that are involved but also for the fact that Michael is human and he's going to make mistakes. Fans tend to put their favorites on a pedestal and have a hard time when they don't live up to expectations but the reality is that no one is perfect and they aren't always going to say and do the "right" things.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:33 PM | Comments (0)

May 03, 2008

Kyle Busch Makes Some People Mad... Again

Last night Denny Hamlin
won the Nationwide race at Richmond, a very meaningful win for him because it was in his homestate of Virginia. However, what everyone was talking about after the race was the altercation between Kyle Busch and Steven Wallace . Talk about going from zero to hero - apparently all it takes is standing up to Kyle. I'm definitely in the vast minority when it comes to this incident. Although I think Kyle's post-race remarks were out-of-line and ridiculous, just like everyone else, but I also understand why Kyle was upset. I'd say more than a few drivers would be bent out of shape about nearly getting wrecked on the last lap. Substitute Kevin Harvick or Tony Stewart for Kyle Busch and fans would probably be cheering that they tried to teach Steven a lesson.

As much as I hate to keep sticking up for Kyle who I don't like much, I think it's a little ridiculous how a lot of fans talk about how much they want to see the drivers show personality and emotion, as well as how much better things were back in the day when drivers went after each other all the time. So that's exactly what Kyle does and a lot of fans are reacting like it's the worst thing they've ever seen. Also, if it's so horrible for Kyle to have gone over to Steven and confront him then why is it okay for Steven to lash out and slap Kyle's helmet?

Don't get me wrong I think Kyle acted like an immature brat, he needs to learn how to keep himself under control, and he needs to not be talking trash about his fellow drivers, but I just feel like the fan's reactions are magnified because it was Kyle involved.

Posted by silverdsl at 12:07 PM | Comments (0)

May 02, 2008

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (5/2)

*Carl Edwards said today that he's signed Roush-Fenway Racing. Was there any doubt? Carl's won three races so far this season so I can't imagine either he or Roush wanting to make a change. As had been reported previously Carl didn't use an agent for contract negotiations. I assume he at least had a lawyer involved given the complexity of the contracts these days, but as I've said before I don't think it's a wise idea for drivers to negotiate without an agent or a business manager who have experience in this kind of thing. It's probably a relief for Carl to get his contract taken care of sooner rather than later so he can focus on racing and winning more races.

*Another Roush driver is also working on a new deal with the organization. In fact, Greg Biflle said today that he's so intent on re-signing with Roush that he's not interested in hearing offers from other teams. Seems to me it would be a wise idea for Greg to at least listen to what other teams are offering. For one thing listening doesn't commit him to anything and it might give him some idea about what he would be worth on the open market which could be useful in his negotiations with Roush. For a while Greg was talking like he might want to leave Roush since he was unhappy with the competitiveness of the cars to the point where he put re-signing on hold. What's interesting is that although Greg said that his intent is 100% to re-sign with Roush, he didn't indicate whether there had actually been any discussions about a new deal that had taken place.

*Reports had surfaced a few weeks ago that it was a done deal that Bobby Labonte was going to race Richard Childress Racing's fourth Cup car next season. RCR might be talking to him, but they've not made a decision on a driver, at least according to Richard Childress who says they're talking to three or four drivers who are currently racing in Cup. One of those drivers might be Scott Wimmer, who is attempting to qualify the #33 into the Cup race this weekend, but I think the chances of him getting that ride even though he's done a good job in the Nationwide Series for RCR is slim to none. Bobby is probably another of those drivers. That still leaves another couple of drivers that RCR might be talking with. It should be interesting to see how the dominos fall since there are surely going to be some drivers shuffling rides between now and next season.

*Robby Gordon's on XM right now talking about changing crew chiefs yet again. He said that one reason for the change is that Frank Kerr had been around Robby Gordon Motorsports for years and it was time to make a change. Um, Robby, Frank's only been back at RGM since January. Prior to that he was with Michael Waltrip Racing. And this is at least the sixth different crew chief for Robby since 2005. So it's not like things have been status-quo forever and things were getting stale. Robby seemed to indicate that he wished that he hadn't parted ways with Greg Irwin, but somehow I doubt there's going to be a reunion there.

*Sprint's the official series sponsor of the Cup series but why is it that there isn't a mobile version of Nascar.com that's compatible with all of their phones? I understand that Turner Interactive is responsible for the Nascar.com website but it amazes and frustrates me that with my new Treo 700wx, a smartphone that runs Window Mobile, I can't get a mobile version of Nascar.com like I could with my last (lesser) phone.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:57 PM | Comments (0)

Changes Likely to Nascar's Drug Policy

Although Nascar continues to stubbornly insist that they have the strongest drug policy in any professional sports, there's likely to be some changes to the policy next season based on recommendations by a study group. One of those changes may be random drug testing of some sort which I've said many times I believe is necessarily to be sure that none of the competitors on the track or on pit road are using substances on the banned list. Jim Hunter, Nascar's spokesperson said in relation to random testing and why Nascar isn't thrilled about going that route, though they would if the study group recommended it,

"There is a sensitivity with us that when you test and you tell people you are testing, it gives people the perception that there's a problem that may not be there. We don't like that."

Nonsense. Testing gives the perception that Nascar cares about making sure the sport is clean and that the competitors aren't racing against someone who is under the influence of drugs. The fact is that whether they test or not Nascar has a problem with drugs because society has a problem with drugs. In addition, it's hard to say that there isn't an issue with drugs in the sport or that the policy doesn't need to be stronger when a competitor admitted to having raced after using heroin and was caught not by Nascar but by the police when he was arrested for possession.

Posted by silverdsl at 02:32 PM | Comments (0)

Ogunquit Considers New Marginal Way Standards

The town of Ogunquit is considering new standards and rules for Marginal Way, a very popular and beautiful path that winds along the rocky shore. A lot of what they're considering makes sense such as prohibiting bikes and skateboards and only allowing dogs during certain months. It also seems like a good idea to have some standards related to repairs, benches and signs. However, what troubles me is that they're also considering putting in barriers and policies to prevent people from "exploring the rocks, ledges, tidal pools, and natural habitats along the way." Part of the charm of Marginal Way is that you can leave the path to explore the rocks and tidal pools just as you would in any other area along the coast. Yes, people can and surely do create damage when go off the path but the natural world is meant to be explored and experienced not fenced off. Would Ogunquit put barriers up on the beach to prevent people from going onto the sand and into the water because they might damage something (or injury themselves)? Then why do it on Marginal Way?

Posted by silverdsl at 09:28 AM | Comments (0)

Richie Sambora to Replace Bret Michaels on Rock of Love?

As a long-time fan of the band Poison I watched both seasons of VH1's Rock of Love with Bret Michaels even though it was a train wreck at times. Bret might not have found true love on the second season of the show but he does appear to have found someone that he at least enjoys spending time with so in light of that it doesn't sound like he's going to do a third season of Rock of Love. I can't blame him regardless - he's gotten a nice career boost from the first two seasons so he doesn't really need the show anymore for exposure (though there might be another VH1show in the works for him), and it starts to look ridiculous after a while to repeatedly be looking for "love" though a reality show.

Of course VH1 doesn't want to have to cancel Rock of Love if they don't have to since the ratings were so high. So now comes work that Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora might be the new rocker bachelor on Rock of Love. Sad to say but Richie, who was once married to Heather Locklear and involved with Denise Richards, was most recently in the news not for his music but because he was arrested for DUI. Personally, I don't see much that's appealing about Richie other than that he's been an instrumental part of Bon Jovi since the band started, but I would guess that there would be many women who would be interested in trying to "win his heart." I just have to wonder how Jon Bon Jovi would feel about Richie being on the show? It doesn't seem like Jon's type of thing and he has a reputation as being somewhat controlling, but he may not have much say in what Richie does outside the band.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:18 AM | Comments (0)

May 01, 2008

Robby Gordon Changes Crew Chiefs Yet Again

Some drivers seem to change crew chiefs as often as they change underwear - Robby Gordon is one of those drivers. So it was no surprise when it was announced that Robby had parted ways with Frank Kerr. I had thought Frank might last until at least the halfway point in the season considering they had worked together previously but Robby seemed to have the same issues with Frank that he did with his other crew chiefs related to control, communication and what changes needed to be made to the car. I would feel sorry for Frank but having worked with Robby before he knew what he was getting into. What's kind of amazing is that Robby opted to make this change after having finished 11th at Talladega with Frank as his crew chief but I guess he had completely lost faith in Frank's ability to get the cars to where he needed them to be. Starting this weekend at Richmond Walter Giles, who was previously at DEI, will be on top of the pit box for Robby.

What's even more interesting is that from the sounds of it Robby is looking at expanding his current partnership with Gillett-Evernham Motorsports into something more formal. He could be looking at merging with GEM, which makes some sense because it would give GEM the fourth team they've wanted, plus it would give Robby Gordon Motorsports (if they still existed independently after a merger or something else took place) more financial and other resources than they have now. However, Robby might not be in control of his own team if a more formal partnership was in place and I'm not sure how well he would do going back to a situation where he had to answer to others in an ownership role.

When I read about Robby switching crew chiefs again, I couldn't help but think of Michael Waltrip. Fans of both drivers will hate me for saying it and deny it strongly, but there are some similarities between Robby and Michael, who also recently changed crew chiefs. Both go though a lot of crew chiefs and for some seemingly similar reasons - both like to be in control and often try to crew chief from the car. Both can be difficult to work with and hard on their crew chiefs and crews during races. Both have strong personalties. Both are owner-drivers and it's not always smooth sailing for either one. Both are known for having success on one kind of track - Robby on road courses and Michael on restrictor plate tracks. Of course there are many differences as well but I sometimes wonder whether one reason Robby and Michael have clashed in the past is because of how they are similar in some ways, particularly as it relates to both of them having strong personalities and liking to be in control - neither is probably willing to yield much to the other.

Now the question becomes where Frank Kerr will end up? I would think he would be in demand since he was so good last season when it came to helping David Reutimann qualify for races. He seems to be a pretty good crew chief and he certainly got along with David well. I believe he and Robby also got along well on a personal level, he just wasn't on the same page as Robby when it came to how Robby wanted the cars to be.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)

In the News: Michael Waltrip (5/1)

Yesterday was Michael Waltrip's birthday and while I'm sure he would have loved to have spent it on a beach somewhere he was at Churchill Downs for a UPS sponsored event in conjunction with the Kentucky Derby along with Dale Jarrett and David Reutimann. But as usual for Michael according to someone who was there he was in good spirits and had a smile on his face. Michael, David and DJ signed autographs for fans and they also got to see all the horses and make their picks for which one would win the Derby. It sounds like it was a fun event whether your choice in racing is horses or car!

All three drivers were asked by a reporter from the Orlando Sentinel about which they thought was harder racing a horse or racing a car, and all three seemed to think horse racing sounded pretty hard to them.

"I know our races are a lot longer," Reutimann said. "But there's something about riding something that has its own thoughts."

"For me, racing a horse because I'm too big," Waltrip said.

Waltrip suggested a training strategy that involved him on the horse for training and then putting a little jockey on it for races. By comparison it would feel like nothing was on the horse.

"As high-strung and tempermental as these horses have to be, [it must be difficult,]"Jarrett said. "We look at our racecars like they have personalities. It's a good question."

An interesting question for sure. Cars have so many parts and so much overall has to be right for a driver to have a successful day of racing. But a jockey has to control, as David said, a living creature with it's own thoughts. There's no amount of new tires or adjustments to the track bar that will make any difference when it comes to a horse!

Michael also said that he could never be involved with horse racing. He said,

“The emotional attachment to the animal would be confusing to me. I would want it to do well but I wouldn’t want it to get hurt. I’d be nervous all the time. I’m going to stick with cars. I don’t fall in love with them.”

I have to admit that my first reaction when I read that was "Awwww!" I think it's really awesome that Michael admitted to getting emotionally attached to animals. Of course there are other animal lovers in the garage area, many of them in fact, but I'm not sure how many of the men would be willing to show their sensitive side and admit to falling in love with animals! But in Michael's case he had or has had horses on his property in North Carolina and his daughter Macy barrel races so he's been around horses a lot and has probably come to feel a connection to the horses he's had. I can't picture Michael on a horse given his size but at one time or another he probably has ridden - I sure would love to see some photos of that!

What was weird to me was seeing photos of Michael wearing a UPS logo on the shirt he was wearing. I'm not sure I've ever seen him wear the UPS logo on anything he's wearing quite so prominently other than when it's been on his racesuit. I suppose Michael was trying to do everything he could to make UPS happy considering the speculation that they're leaving Michael Waltrip Racing.

In other news MWR has a new member of their executive team - Terry Bassett - who is the new Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. He will oversee sales, marketing, media relations, licensing and sponsor services. Although he most recently was with the Miami Dolphins football team, he has experience in motorsports having worked for International Speedway Corp and Penske Motorsports. This is a good move for MWR and one that I'm surprised that they haven't made sooner considering what an outstanding understanding Michael has for motorsports marketing, fan relations and all things related to the media and sponsors.

This weekend both the Cup and Nationwide Series is in Richmond. Michael has won a Nationwide race at this track and finished in the top ten in Cup there as recently as 2005 so he's definitely capable of good results if his car is good enough. Given the disappointment of last weekend at Talladega when he came so close to possibly winning the race, a strong finish this weekend would be great for him and his team!

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