Random Thoughts

September 15, 2009

Ty Norris on Sirius Talking About Pat Tryson, Truex, etc...

Ty Norris, general manager of Michael Waltrip Racing, was on Sirius this morning. He started off talking about hiring Pat Tryson as crew chief for the #56 next season. They felt like Martin Truex, Jr. coming on-board was an opportunity to upgrade the program with every piece of ammunition they could get. Steve Hallam and Cal Wells put together a list of what they were looking for in a crew chief to make Truex a Chase contender. They looked at who had the best on-track record and who was interested and Tryson was at the top of the list. He told them that he really wanted to make a change.

Martin and Michael were involved in the discussions about who would be crew chief of the #56. The process was very deep. They interviewed four different candidates. It was difficult for Martin to be part of the process because he has such a good relationship with Bono Manion and that's the only crew chief he's ever worked with on this level. However, it appeared to them (MWR) that it was time to go in a different direction for Martin. Sounds to me like Martin would have liked to have brought Bono with him to MWR but MWR had other ideas.

They looked at leadership qualities for one. Pat commands his guys and they respect him. He doesn't get flustered and doesn't have a temper, though Ty was quick to note (probably with Michael in mind) that he loves a temper because it shows passion (I agree!). Pat is a good motivator and has a good track record. He listens to everything presented to him from the driver and engineers.

Pat owes it to Penske Racing and to Kurt Busch to try to win a Championship and that's where his focus will be for the rest of the year. They won't be talking to him about race cars. Same thing with Truex, he has races to win. They've been doing data analysis since last May about where they needed to be to get the cars in the Chase and since then they've been addressing their gaps and fixing their woes. When they all get together in December and January (with Pat and Truex) they'll be ready for next year.

MWR has reinvented themselves as an organization. They have a bright future under their roof.

They talked to Michael last year about his future and knew that Martin would be a free agent this year. They talked with NAPA in December and January about going after Truex.

Michael is at the shop every day. He works out there and his office is right there so they see him walking around in his underwear! He goes to all the competition meetings and is very involved. This is Michael's passion and it's all he has (compared to some owners who have dealerships or other business interests). Michael spends a tremendous amount of time there and has dedicated his life to racing.

Words can't describe David Reutimann. They've watched him grow since DW's truck team and it's like watching a child grow up even though he's just a few years younger than Ty. Watching him mature as a driver is remarkable. They've never run well at Atlanta but David finished top five and it put a smile on his face. JTG invested a lot in Marcos Ambrose and Marcos has been loyal. Tad G. just smiles when someone tells him how amazing it is how well Marcos is doing because he knew how good Marcos would be. It's a pleasure to have Marcos around because he smiles all the time and it just like he seems to be on TV.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:32 AM | Comments (0)

August 28, 2009

Michael Waltrip Racing Names Gene Nead Interim Crew Chief of the #55

Rumors surfaced this week that when the Cup Series returned to action at Atlanta in two weeks that there would be a new crew chief calling the shots for Michael Waltrip and the #55 team. Yesterday it was confirmed that Robert "Bootie" Barker was being replaced by Gene Nead, who had most recently been a crew chief for Michael McDowell at JTG-Daugherty Racing in the Nationwide Series, and has worked for Robby Gordon Motorsports and Bill Davis Racing among others. Michael has been unhappy for weeks now both with the cars he's been given to race and often with the calls that are made during races. Almost every week he complained bitterly over the radio during races about how terrible the cars were and how the changes that Bootie made never seemed to do anything to improve things. So it was pretty clear that as much as Michael seems to like Bootie on a personal level, things weren't working with Bootie as crew chief.

However, as upset and unhappy as Michael has been I'm still surprised that he got a new crew chief. I figured that given that Michael isn't going to be back full-time next season and the results don't really matter that much beyond making sure the #55 is in the top 35 in owner's points for Martin Truex, Jr. that Michael Waltrip Racing wasn't going to be inclined to make too many changes or put too much resources into the #55 team since they would probably want to do those things after Martin joins the team. But perhaps they were worried that if the results continued to be as poor as they've been that there was some danger of the #55 dropping out of the top 35 or Michael just couldn't stand to struggle as much as he has been.

Contrary to what some believe Michael most definitely does care about the results. If he didn't care anymore he wouldn't get as angry as he has been getting when the car isn't any good and things aren't going well. Michael feels just as much passion and competitive fire as any other driver even in his 25th season in Cup. He loves racing and loves NASCAR. But things have changed from the style in which a lot of the younger drivers race and also with the cars and I think that is contributing to why Michael - and some other drivers - are struggling. Perhaps a new crew chief will be able to set the cars up more to Michael's liking or at least help him adjust a little more to racing the COT if that's an issue. It sure would be great if Michael was able to race competitively and get some good finishes in his last few races as a full-time driver! Hope Gene Nead is the man who helps make that happen!

Posted by silverdsl at 02:34 PM | Comments (0)

August 17, 2009

Brian Vickers Wins at Michigan!

Brian Vickers enjoyed a very successful weekend at Michigan, winning not only the pole but the race itself. The win was just the second of Brian's career and the first not only in Cup but in all of NASCAR for Red Bull Racing. I'm very happy for Brian that he won! Brian had to struggle through all the challenges that the other Toyota drivers had to deal with in Cup in 2007 and it's good to see him rewarded with a trip to Victory Lane. Some will surely try to dismiss Brian's win by saying that the only reason he won is because Jimmie Johnson ran out of gas but Brian had to race his way to second place and then hold onto the lead when Jimmie ran out of gas. This win is just as much of a win as any other.

This win makes the way RBR is dragging their feet when it comes to re-signing Brian even more curious. Brian has done everything right for RBR - he's helped them develop into a successful Cup organization, he's won poles for them, he's raced competitively on a regular basis and now he's even won a race for them. What more could they be looking for? It make no sense to me that they haven't re-signed him and if they aren't careful another organization may lure him away - it's hard to win races on the Cup level and winning this race may make Brian very attractive to other teams. The excuse that RBR may be thinking about switching manufacturers doesn't hold water for me since it seems to me that they can re-sign Brian regardless of whether they'll be a Toyota or Chevy team. If they're thinking about signing Brad Keselowski I hope it's not in place of Brian - as good as Brad may be I doubt he'll put himself in a position to make the Chase as Brian has done this season.

Other drivers who had good finishes at Michigan included Dale Earnhardt, Jr. who finished 3rd, Sam Hornish, Jr. who finished 5th, Casey Mears who finished 6th and David Reutimann who finished 9th. For Junior it was his first top five since Talladega where he finished 2nd, and renews the hopes of Junior Nation that their hero may contend for wins sometime in the near future. We'll see. For Sam it was his second top five in his last three races which is good but I'm not ready to say that he's turned the corner and is developing into a successful Cup driver like some others since he also has five finishes of 32nd or worse in his last eight races. For Casey Mears it was his best finish all season which will hopefully quiet some of the rumors that he may be replaced next season.

David was the top finishing Michael Waltrip Racing driver. While it was great that he got another top ten, David remains 16th in the points and the chances of him making back into Chase contention don't look very good which is unfortunate. But at least he fared better than his teammates at Michigan. Michael Waltrip struggled all day with an ill-handling car and finished 27th. I'll always be a fan of Michael's and I'll always support and cheer for him whether he's racing up front or near the back but it's hard to listen to him during races these days. He's always unhappy with the cars he's given to race which based on his description are pretty bad and it leads to him being very frustrated, angry and miserable. Marcos Ambrose also had a difficult day - he finished 35th, one lap down but I'm not sure what happened to him.

Next weekend is Bristol, a track that drivers look forward to racing on and a race that fans very much look forward to watching. Hopefully we'll see some great racing!

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

July 14, 2009

Ryan Truex Wins Thompson; Leads the East Series Points

While most of the attention lately when it comes to Michael Waltrip Racing has been focused on Martin Truex, Jr. signing with the organization or how David Reutimann is in the hunt for a spot in the Chase, there's another MWR driver making some noise. Martin's little brother, Ryan is on fire in the Camping World East Series! Ryan has won two of the last three races and the race that he didn't win, he came in second! As a result Ryan is currently leading in the points standings and if he keeps racing this well there's a very good chance that he could be the 2009 East Series Champion at just 17-years old!

What was so awesome about this past weekend's win at Thompson is that it was Steve Park who Ryan ended up battling for the win! Steve led the first 70 laps before giving up the lead to Ryan and the two raced each other for the remainder of the race. Steve ended up finishing second, his best finish of the season. It was really a dream top two for me - the driver who has been one of my favorites in NASCAR for the longest battling the driver who is one of my newest favorites! I would be in heaven if Steve and Ryan battled each other for the win in every race!

After the race Steve showed how much class he has, going over to Ryan in Victory Lane to congratulate him. In addition, Steve had nothing but high praise for Ryan, saying, "We were trying to pull every trick out of the bag and I thought Ryan, being as young as he is, would fall for one of them, but he's an extremely talented racecar driver. He's got a great future ahead of him." and that "You guys better get his autograph tonight because he ain't going to be around here much longer." I have to agree with Steve - Ryan is a driver with an immense amount of talent. While he started off the season slow, now that he's started to get used to racing in the East Series his ability is on display and it's clear he can race! What's most impressive to me is that Ryan is racing up front and winning poles and races on tracks he's never raced on before.

Ryan was on Sirius this morning and talked about how he'd like to race some Nationwide races next season.Although sponsorship is likely in short supply, if there's any way to make it happen MWR probably will try to get him some experience on higher levels as it's clear that Ryan is a driver on the rise with a very bright future. Sure hope that future includes winning a lot of races for MWR for many years to come!

Posted by silverdsl at 09:07 AM | Comments (0)

June 23, 2009

Good Day for Michael Waltrip Racing at Infineon and Other Sonoma Thoughts

Although I had high hopes for Marcos Ambrose at Infineon, I wasn't looking forward to watching the road course race at Sonoma this weekend, which is a big change for me about how I usually feel about road course races - normally they are a highlight of the season for me. But this weekend Michael Waltrip had replaced himself with Patrick Carpentier and I knew David Reutimann was going to struggle. So as much as I like Patrick, I considered skipping this race like many other fans of Michael's did. But I ended up watching and I'm glad I did because I turned out to be one of the better races all season mostly because there actually was some racing, and good, hard, exciting racing at that, particularly during the second half of the race. That Marcos raced his way through the field, not just once but twice, and was up front and in contention for the win also helped. Though Marcos didn't end up winning, I'm not too disappointed. I like Kasey Kahne and I was happy to see him win since he hadn't been in Victory Lane for a while. I was particularly impressed with the way he handled all the restarts and hopefully this win is the momentum boost his team needs to race up front more regularly.

As for the Michael Waltrip Racing teams, Marcos finished third which may be disappointing to him but is an excellent finish, particularly considering all the problems he had to deal with earlier in the weekend which included a blown engine which caused him to have to start from the back of the field for Sunday's race. Marcos has shown the ability to race well on every kind of track but he is particularly skilled on road course tracks and I have no doubt that he will contend for the win at Watkins Glen too - sure would be awesome to see him win! Patrick raced the #55 to a terrific 11th place finish - he did a good job with a car that he complained wasn't all that great - gee, wonder if it's really Michael that's the problem with the #55 if his replacement doesn't exactly rave about the car? At times he struggled at the back of the pack but the team as a whole did a good job with pit and fuel strategy and also on the pit stops to put Patrick in a position to get that top 15.

Then there's David. I think it should be considered a successful race for David that he made it through the entire race. He did go off track twice but I believe he got help both times. He just isn't very good on road course races and as many times as MWR sends him to test or get coaching from those who are more skilled then he is on road courses he seems to not be able to master racing on those kinds of tracks in Cup. Which is a problem - his 31st place finish dropped him to 14th in the points, and while he's not far out of 12th and Chase contention, there is another road course race coming up so it may be important how he races there.

MWR has a technical alliance with Germain Racing which makes Max Papis part of the MWR family in a way. I really like him and I knew he'd likely have good race at Infineon which he did. Max was actually on the verge of his first career top ten in Cup when someone - reportedly Patrick - got into him and caused a flat which led to him losing a few spots on the last lap which is unfortunate. He finished 12th which is still a career best for Max in Cup and it's still a very solid finish. I would love to see him get more successful on all kinds of tracks as he gains more experience in Cup so it was good to see him do well on Sunday.

Two other drivers who were in line for strong finishes until misfortune struck were Robby Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. With Robby the same thing always seems to happen - a great run is ruined by mistake, poor decision-making or just bad luck. On Sunday Robby stayed out one lap too long, taking the lead on lap 76 only to see the caution flag come out just as he was about to pit. Word is that Robby's crew chief actually told him to pit the lap before but Robby didn't listen so he has no one to blame but himself for the outcome. Robby attempted to race his way through the field but a late race tangle with Jeff Burton and another driver resulted in a 36th place finish. Although Robby is perpetually still considered by many to be a favorite to win on road courses, he really hasn't done much of note on those kinds of tracks in Cup for a few years and in light of that I'm not really expecting much from him at Watkins Glen either. He clearly is very skilled at this kind of track but these days so are many other drivers and his team doesn't have anywhere near the kind of resources that some of the larger teams do. Robby Gordon Motorsports fielded a second car for P.J. Jones this weekend and it appears - though it's not confirmed - that it was a start and park since it dropped out of the race so early. While I understand that Robby may have seen it as a good opportunity to make some extra money, I never would have thought that start and parking one of his cars would be his style and especially with a road course racer as good as P.J. behind the wheel.

Junior was on his way to a much needed top ten finish until he got swept up in a wreck and ended up finishing 26th. One of his PR reps, Mike Davis said the following on Twitter after the race,

"Just disgusted, b/c next wk Jr will face same Qs about god-awful season. Solid run was 2 quiet 2 b noticed by results-driven expectations."

I'm getting disgusted too - disgusted by the idea that I'm supposed to feel sorry for Junior or Davis for that matter. There are any number of drivers who get next to no media attention no matter how good or bad their finishes are. Sure, it has to be a pain-in-the-rear to have to field the same questions every week and have to talk about how bad his season has been. But that's part of what a driver - and his PR rep - has to deal with. There could come a day - yes, even for Junior - where there won't be this kind of media attention, and they'll be wishing they were in a position to have to answer the same questions over and over.

In addition, even though I get sick of hearing about Junior, the fact is that the most popular driver in the sport having a poor season is a storyline worthy of media attention. That Junior was racing in the top ten was most definitely noticed but the reality is that people pay attention to the end result. Michael has had countless strong finishes ruined by flat tires, blown engines or getting swept up in other driver's messes, as has every other driver on the track. That's part of the sport as is results-based expectations - should we be patting Junior on the head for his effort? Things don't work that way and if he can't take the heat - and based on his comment to Jenna Fryer about not having the mental strength to put up with a season like this again, maybe he doesn't - then he needs to get out of the kitchen. No driver is guaranteed that they will race up front in every race, nor are they guaranteed that they will have successful, Chase contending seasons, not even the most popular driver in the sport. And when expectations aren't met there may very well be questions that need to be answered.

There were more than a few drivers who seemed to run over and spin just about every driver they raced around - Boris Said, Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson were just three of those who seemed to get into a lot of other cars on Sunday but they weren't alone. Even Patrick spun Casey Mears in an attempt to pass him. I think that just speaks to the aggressive style of racing that's necessary at Infineon and how competitive it is. What I was impressed by is that immediately after the race Jimmie approached Kurt Busch to apologize to him face-to-face for spinning him. So often these days drivers don't take the time to apologize in person and leave a voicemail, send a text message, wait until they see the other driver the following week, or in some cases don't bother to make an effort to talk to the other driver at all. So I liked that Jimmie went over to Kurt and spoke with him in person right away - that probably went a long way towards smoothing things over with Kurt.

This weekend the Cup Series will be racing in New Hampshire and while I don't think we'll end up seeing a race as good as we did at Sonoma, I'm looking forward to it because Michael will be back in the #55.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:16 AM | Comments (0)

June 17, 2009

Not Much I Want to Say Right Now

I've been a bit neglectful of this blog of late, not because I don't have anything to say but instead because I don't have the heart to do entries about some of what's on my mind right now. If there's anyone who is still stopping in on a regular basis they may have noticed I haven't at all addressed other than in a passing way the rumors about Martin Truex, Jr. going to Michael Waltrip Racing to take over the #55 and the likelihood that Michael will only be racing a few races next season. I have a lot of thoughts about all that but I've decided that I want to wait until the announcement is officially made before I blog about it. The fact of the matter is while I understand all the reasons why all of this is happening, like many other fans of Michael, I'm sad about it and having a difficult time like many other of Michael's fans. The rumor mill says that the announcement is coming by the Daytona race in early July and after that a lot of things will be very different for many of us.

I'm also disappointed in the results for MWR at Michigan this past weekend and I just didn't feel like writing a negative entry about their poor performance. Yes, David Reutimann finished 19th which isn't terrible but that finished dropped him out of the top 12 in points. With Juan Pablo Montoya on the rise, other top teams performing well, and the series racing at a road course this weekend which isn't the kind of track where David excels it may not be so easy to get back into Chase contention, though I very much hope that happens. It's also a downer that Michael continues to struggle. I very much want him in what's likely his last full-time season to have some races in which he races competitively up-front, and maybe even contends for a win. At the start of the season it had seemed like that was going to happen and it's disappointing that things went in another direction. I feel really bad for Michael because it has to be hard on him.

If I'm being honest the Michigan race overall didn't do anything for me. While some fans and media members have been falling all over themselves to say how exciting the race was I can't agree. The race was incredibly boring for 198 of 200 laps and not just because the MWR teams were struggling. Sure, there was some drama on the last two laps not knowing who was going to have enough fuel to make it to the end and who was going to run out. But to me exciting racing is watching drivers racing each other hard. I understand that strategy, fuel mileage and otherwise, is a part of racing and I don't think Mark Martin's win is any less of a win because he won based on getting better fuel mileage than others did. But I think it's a sad commentary on the state of things that fuel mileage, not good hard racing, is what passes for exciting racing these days.

There's other things on my mind as well. Michael said at the Wal-Nutz gathering in May that the sport is changing and it's true that it is. To some fans and those in the sport it's changing too fast and too much but to me in some ways the sport hasn't changed enough. Because of how much of a fan of Michael and MWR I am, as well as my long-time love of racing, I've continued to be a NASCAR fan, but sometimes I wonder whether there's going to come a time when like so many other fans I find other things to do on race day. Which is pretty sad considering I've always been the kind of fan to find something positive and fun in everything.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:49 AM | Comments (0)

June 09, 2009

Patrick Carpentier in the #55 in Place of Michael Waltrip at Infineon

I guess if I'm really a good Michael Waltrip fan I'm supposed to be excited about this but instead I'm sad and disappointed. Today it was announced that Patrick Carpentier is going to race the #55 instead of Michael at Infineon. Michael has to make decisions as owner based on what he thinks is best for MWR, the #55 team and the business overall, but I can't say I fully understand this decision. Infineon is actually one of Michael's best tracks and his average finish over the course of his career is 16.4. Meanwhile in the one race he raced at Infineon in Cup, he finished 23rd, just two spots in front of Michael. In fact, in the limited amount of road course races that Patrick has raced in Cup, he's not exactly been spectacular. Which I think is the problem. If we were talking about Boris Said racing the #55 I might be more enthusiastic, but we're talking about a driver who thus far really hasn't been any better than Michael on these tracks.

The other thing is that overall as hyped as the road course ringers are for the most part they never seem to do much. Yes, occassionally a road course ringer has a nice run but that seems to be more of the exception than the rule. In the press release Michael talks about getting a win for NAPA, but when was the last time a road course ringer ended up winning on the Cup level? I'd love for Patrick to be the one to do it, but I think the odds of seeing the #55 in Victory Lane probably aren't too good. Hopefully he'll at least be able to finish in the top ten and move the #55 up in the owner's points but that won't be easy given how many other talented road course racers he'll be racing against.

It's funny because it's often said that these decisions are made for business reasons to please the sponsor, which in this case is NAPA, that those sponsors want a better chance for their cars to be up front in front of an audience in a major market like California . Meanwhile, a lot of the fans of the driver who is getting replaced - and Michael has a huge fanbase - opt not to watch because they won't be seeing their favorite driver. After all, as someone said to me recently in reference to Michael not racing much next season - fans don't cheer for the car or the sponsor, they cheer for the driver. Luckily in this case the driver is also the owner so Michael's fans will be more supportive of this than they might be otherwise.

Hopefully Patrick will finish up front in the #55 at Infineon.

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

June 07, 2009

Yet Again Kyle Busch Causes Controversy

Last night after winning the Nationwide race in Nashville, Kyle Busch smashed the trophy guitar given to him in Victory Lane that was specially designed by Sam Bass and made by Gibson Guitars. Fans and some members of the media were outraged, calling for Busch to be penalized by NASCAR for actions detrimental to the sport because of the disrespect that in their opinion he showed to Bass, the track, the sport and everyone else. On the other hand I fail to see anything wrong with what Busch did and especially since Bass said that while he was shocked at first he was okay with it,

"...when I went to Victory Lane to take a picture with Kyle, he said there was no disrespect to me, the speedway or the sponsors. He just said he was going to give each one of his guys a piece of the trophy. In the spirit of rock and roll and, as someone who appreciates rock and roll, he put on a show."

So if Bass doesn't have a problem with it, then why does everyone else? Gibson guitars are probably thrilled because there's more discussion of their guitars today than there would be otherwise. The track will almost certainly use footage of Busch smashing the guitar as a way to promote next year's race. And don't hold your breath waiting for NASCAR to penalize Busch. Not only can he do as he chooses with a trophy that belongs to him, they also will have no complaints about Busch putting on a show that generates attention.

Perhaps it's because many of my favorite bands of the past like Guns 'n' Roses and Motley Crue were known for doing crazy things, which sometimes included destroying guitars and other equipment, but I had no problem with Busch smashing that guitar. Busch is a bad boy and it seems as if that's very much in keeping with his bad boy image. I wish there were 20 more like Busch who were willing to be true to themselves and say and do exactly what they want instead of acting like a corporate robot and worrying about whether they might offend or upset someone.

The reactions of some fans are disturbing. As Michael Waltrip said on Twitter, it's only a guitar that can be replaced - and will be since Busch has said he plans on ordering two more to replace the one he smashed. Yet fans are acting as if it was a person he attacked in Victory Lane, with some saying that they hope he wrecks in every race he's in that follows and others even going so far as to wish injury on him. Those reactions are extreme and over-the-top. I don't think Busch smashing a trophy guitar or anything else he's done is so bad that fans should be wishing bad things on him. It seems totally out of proportion to what he's done.

Meanwhile Jeremy Mayfield has been accused by NASCAR in their lawsuit of racing while under the influence of drugs that would make him a danger to his fellow competitors - where's the outrage about that? There are fans bending over backwards to excuse Mayfield and blame NASCAR, yet if it's true that he was using an illegal drug and was on the track potentially impaired, what he did was way worse than anything Busch has ever done. No driver in this sport is without their flaws - they are individuals who make mistakes and sometimes even behave badly.

Posted by silverdsl at 12:23 PM | Comments (1)

June 02, 2009

This Week in NASCAR With Michael Waltrip and Chad Knaus (6/1)

Since there was no show last week, This Week in NASCAR with Steve Byrnes, Chad Knaus and Michael Waltrip, started off with a discussion of David Reutimann's Coca-Cola 600 win. I thought it was kind of neat how both Chad and Michael are part of teams that have won the last two races and both of them won in very different but equally as good ways.

Michael said that it was a great day for Michael Waltrip Racing last Monday in just the beginning of their third season. He's real proud. David's not a good hugger, if you look at the way he hugs, he's a sideways hugger according to Michael, who joked that David wasn't apprehensive about the rain, he was thinking about how Michael said that if he wins he wanted it all, that he wanted to feel the love from David in a real hug. All joking aside but with Michael's comments last week about how important it was for him to hug David because he never got a hug from his owner when he won his first Cup race and how touched he was to see David and Buzzie hugging that hugging David had quite a bit of significance to Michael?

The conversation turned to Jimmie Johnson's win and Michael said that if the fastest car or truck had won all the races lately Kyle Busch would have won them all but it's so hard to win. What Chad and the #48 team accomplished racing to the front with the fastest car was almost an anomaly. Which I think highlights a problem that some fans have with the racing these days is that even though strategy of various kinds has always been a part of the sport, a lot of fans are bothered that a driver can have an extremely fast car but things are often determined by how they come out of the pits, fuel mileage strategy or other things besides racing their way up front.

Chad said that a cool thing about Michael's win is that it shows that this is a team sport. A driver can go out and do their job, the pit crew does their job but if they don't have the right crew chief they won't be able to win. The #00 was running well, the pit crew did good and Rodney Childers made the right call to win the race. Chad made an outstanding point - as much as some fans believe that racing is an individual sport where only what the driver does behind the wheel matters, it's very much a team sport where the driver needs help from their pit crew, crew chief and other team personnel to be successful and win races. Some seem to think that the only reason David won the race is because it got rained out but David still had to race well enough and the pit crew had to do good enough pit stops to where the team was in a position for Rodney to make the call that he did that ultimately won them the race.

Back to Jimmie's win, Chad said that Tony raced them clean. Jimmie led close to 300 laps but they had trouble on the last pit stop which is why they came out 9th. Chad said that they had a great race car and Jimmie was still fresh because he hadn't had to race a whole lot so he had a lot of energy left. So Chad told Jimmie that he had a shot at a top five. Michael asked what I thought was a great question about whether Chad thought they could still win and Chad said that he though they had a shot at it but he wanted to first get into the top five and then reassess from there. The top five was the initial goal. Of course as it turned out they were able to win. I thought it was interesting that Chad set the goal as the getting a top five, at least at first. What he was doing was making sure to keep the goal reasonable instead of shooting for the moon right away and potentially being disappointed if they couldn't get the lead back.

Unfortunately MWR didn't fare so well at Dover. The #55 lost its 2nd engine in three races and Michael said that shouldn't happen these days and that it's unacceptable. Of course MWR gets their engines from Toyota Racing Development and I believe there have been other engine problems even prior to now. I was surprised that Michael had such strong words openly about how unacceptable it is to blow so many engines but I'm glad that he did because it should be known that the poor results recently aren't the fault of Michael or MWR when they've had engine issues to deal with. Michael said that his car wasn't great but in the middle of the race it wasn't bad, that they got it tuned up and he was pleased with the way it was running. Um, what?! Michael complained from start to finish about how bad the car was and at no time did he indicate that he was okay with the way it was running.

Michael said that David started out with a great car but it eventually went away. The cars are really difficult to keep on target. It's easier when you start out with a good car and then you either not touch it or just tweak it a little. But if you have one like he or David did then it makes for a hard day. David is still in great shape to make the Chase though and that's where the focus of MWR is, making sure he has all the resources, parts and pieces to make the Chase. Hopefully that will happen! Chad said David has momentum with the win and the pole. It's fun to see when things start to click for guys like David. The whole team has smiles on their faces and it's fun to see. I think it's especially fun to see all those smiles considering all the struggles all at MWR had to endure since 2007. Michael said that everyday that goes by he loves Rodney more and more. He analyzes and dissects the cars. Michael better be careful because the last crew chief whose praises he started singing was Ryan Pemberton who became a hot commodity in the garage area and eventually ended up over at Red Bull Racing. Pemberton reportedly had concerns about how competitive the #00 would able to be since the team didn't have full sponsorship at the time that he was still there, now that David is outracing his driver, I wonder if Pemberton regrets his decision to leave at all?

Some video of Greg Biffle talking about how his race went was played and Greg talked about his 3rd place finish as well as how he didn't understand what happened when the caution flew during the green flag pit stops. (He was put a lap down but eventually got it back). Chad explained that Jimmie was able to stay on the lead lap because they were able to get Jimmie back to the start/finish line before the leaders came around. Michael said that drivers shouldn't judge NASCAR for when the caution came out because they have it all figured out. They should just accept that they're a lap down and there's a lot of racing left. NASCAR has computerized scoring and timing so they don't mess up often. Well, I can't say I blame some drivers for being a little unhappy given how many of them got trapped a lap or more down and especially since the #34 (or #37) supposedly bounced off the wall and NASCAR didn't call a caution just prior to the pit stops but for some reason didn't wait until the pit stops were over as they often do to throw the caution for a piece of debris.

Steve Byrnes asked Chad whether the #88 crew chief change was a distraction and of course Chad said that it wasn't. He said that the change worked out well for him because he was able to send Tony Eury, Jr. to go testing with his team so he could focus on getting the car ready for the next race. Michael, who of course had Eury, Jr. as his crew chief in 2005 and has made no secret of how much he adored working with him said that any time you can free up someone like Eury, Jr. with all the knowledge he has it helps the organization since now he's going to contribute to every team. Michael said that he knows him well and would see him walk by and look unhappy. Now he's been able to unbridle himself from all "that." Michael continued by saying that Tony, Jr. is a "good dude," he's smart and he "doesn't deserve all the crap that he's been going through." I got the impression that Michael was saying something that wasn't all that different from Kyle Busch's "it's never Junior, it's always the crew chief" comment and that he felt Tony, Jr. was being unfairly blamed for the woes of the #88 team. Sure would love to see Michael and Tony, Jr. work together again but I don't think that's too likely to happen.

A lot of people were a-buzz after this show that Michael let the cat out of the bag about double-file restarts at Pocono but there was an article about it on thatsracin.com and it was a topic of discussion on Sirius before the show even aired. I don't think NASCAR can expect anything to stay a secret that they hand out to the drivers and teams at a drivers meeting where there's media members and others in attendance. But maybe that was the point - maybe NASCAR wanted to float the idea and see how it was received before they made it official. If it helps make for more exciting and compelling racing I'm all for it.

Michael mentioned that he's been getting rides with other drivers to the track and back, presumably because like so many of them he's trying to save money by not flying his own plane separately when he can catch a ride with someone else. Apparently he flew to Dover with Kurt Busch and back with Denny Hamlin, whose race also ended early. I thought it was interesting that he and Kurt flew together. Some have floated the rumor - which I never believed - that Michael hates Kurt with a raging passion for some unknown reason. I really doubt that he would be flying to Dover with him if there was ill will between them. It's been said that Kurt might be a free agent at the end of the season. I would love to have him go to MWR, much more than Martin Truex, Jr. but that probably won't happen.

When Michael flew back on "Ham-air" he got to listen to the MRN call of the race because Denny has Sirius on his plane. He doesn't usually get to listen to the race like that but really enjoyed it because he grew up listening to races on the radio. He got so into it listening to they they painted the picture of what was happening in the race and it was very dramatic.

One of the questions of the week was "what is the minimum speed?" Michael said that there's a mathematical equation that's used to figure out the minimum speed based on happy hour speeds and normal fall off. So I guess that means it varies from track to track. NASCAR gives drivers a chance to make the minimum speed then they have to go to pit road to work on it if they can't make that speed. NASCAR wants the teams to be able to finish races if they can so they'll work with them and give them more than once chance. However, if a team keeps not being able to make minimum speed eventually they'll be told to park it.

Good show as always!

Posted by silverdsl at 02:23 PM | Comments (0)

June 01, 2009

End of the Weekend Not as Good as the Start for Michael Waltrip Racing at Dover

The weekend started off on a very positive note for Michael Waltrip Racing in Dover when David Reutimann won the pole for yesterday's Cup race but the race itself was a disappointment for the organization. Although David was able to lead 25 laps, he got caught a lap down due to an ill-timed caution during green flag pit stops. Even after he got back on the lead lap his car wasn't the same as it was in the beginning of the race and he was able to finish no better than 18th. Not terrible but not as good as had been expected after he won the pole. Marcos Ambrose also had a car that wasn't all that great and he finished 20th.

But if the race wasn't very good for David and Marcos, it was a disaster for Michael Waltrip. The #55 didn't seem to be very good from the time they unloaded on Friday and Michael complained about how bad the car was from the start of the race. Still, things might have improved had they gotten the opportunity to make changes to the car but Michael was forced to pit under green due to a flat tire and he ended up going three laps down. To add insult to injury on lap 272 the engine in the #55 blew, sending Michael to the garage and out of the race.

To say that Michael was unhappy was an understatement - he complained that he was tired of getting crappy cars and crappy engines and I don't blame him. The cars he was given to race were pretty competitive to start the season but as the season has gone on the handling and performance of those cars has gotten pretty bad. In addition, there's been multiple engine issues, including two blown engines out of the last three points races. What bothers me is that Michael is going to be judged on these poor finishes pretty harshly, meanwhile ill-handling cars, cut tires, and blown engines are all things out of his hands. I understand Michael's frustration and I think he has every right to be upset with what's going on.

Some fans think that there should be a crew chief change. Maybe there will be but I have a feeling that Bootie Barker isn't going anywhere. For one thing it's likely that Michael won't be racing full-time after this season so they may feel like there isn't much point in making a lot of changes and spending money on another crew chief for a driver who won't be back. In addition, as someone pointed out on the MWR forum, it sometimes seems like Michael has lost confidence in himself - who wouldn't when the rumor is that NAPA wants a different driver and the results haven't been very good the past few years? So if Michael believes that the problem is at least partially with him then we may not see a crew chief or any other change. It's really unfortunate because I really want Michael to have fun in his last full season and go out on a high note. Hopefully that will still happen since he's a talented driver who is capable of winning when he has a competitive car and especially on restrictor plate tracks.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:25 PM | Comments (0)

May 31, 2009

David Reutimann and Ryan Truex Make it Two Pole Wins in One Weekend for Michael Waltrip Racing!

Great start to the weekend so far for Michael Waltrip Racing! On Friday David Reutimann followed up his Coca-Cola 600 win by winning the pole for today's Cup race at Dover and yesterday Ryan Truex won the pole for the Camping World East Series race in South Boston. David's pole win was perhaps one of the best things that could happen for the #00 team besides another win because it shows that the Charlotte Victory wasn't a fluke - this is an extremely competitive team that races in the top ten - or better - just about every week. As evidenced by their pole win on Friday, they are fast and they will likely win at least one more race, if not multiple races, before the season is over.

As for Ryan, it was his first career pole award in the East Series and it comes in just his fifth race ever in the series. Ryan backed up his pole win by leading quite a few laps and finishing third. His third place finish moves him up to eight in the overall points. The results in the first three races have been somewhat uneven for Ryan so I'm really happy that things came together for him at South Boston and he was able to finish so well! Probably because I've been lucky enough to interview him for a fan newsletter and then speak with him briefly again recently at Michael Waltrip Racing's fan appreciation day, he's becoming my favorite MWR driver after Michael. So I'm really excited that South Boston was such a great race for him and I hope that success will continue at Watkins Glen!

Sure hope David, Michael and Marcos Ambrose have are able to race up front at Dover this afternoon as much as Ryan was at South Boston!

Posted by silverdsl at 11:51 AM | Comments (0)

May 27, 2009

NASCAR Needs to Listen to the Fans Not Just Drivers and Owners

Yesterday NASCAR held two closed-door town hall style meetings with drivers and owners to address concerns and discuss the state of the sport. Topics that were discussed included the drug policy in the wake of Jeremy Mayfield's positive drug test and the COT. The meetings are a step in the right direction assuming NASCAR is truly open to hearing honest feedback responding to it, something that some have doubts about. But I don't think it's just the owners and drivers that NASCAR needs to listen to, particularly if it's true that one reason they held the meetings were to seek ways to reverse the continuing decline in ticket sales and ratings. NASCAR - as well as the teams, drivers and sponsors - need to be sure that they're paying attention to what the fans are saying too. In some ways that's difficult because there are a lot of fans who are overly negative and unrealistic in their expectations. But there are also a lot of fans who truly still love NASCAR but are frustrated and disheartened by the direction the sport is going in.

At times I'm alarmed because I get the sense that there are a lot of people who dismiss the fans completely and don't see much reason to pay attention to what they think. So how exactly are they going to get fans to buy tickets and watch races on TV again if they aren't willing to take the time to find out why they're upset? I'm also troubled because at a time when every single person in the garage area should be bending over backwards to reach out to the fans, there are still some drivers and others who can't be bothered. If not for the fans themselves, the drivers and others should want to make the fans feel important for the sake of their sponsors. Without the fans, there is no one for the sponsors to promote their brand and products to and they are less likely to remain in the sport.

Michael Waltrip understands these things and not only did Michael Waltrip Racing have a Fan Appreciation Day last week, Michael had a separate event just for his own fans, the Wal-Nutz. There are others who clearly understand why it's important to do these things as well. But does the governing body of the sport? Do they understand that they need to listen to fans and make them feel like they're being heard? At times they say the right things about wanting to be responsive to the fans but I'm not convinced they - or some of the drivers, teams and sponsors - truly understand what some of the issues are.

I also think that there are more than a few people in the garage area who are holding on to some outdated ideas about fan attitudes. Times have very much changed and a lot of fans aren't as inclined to be as loyal to drivers, teams, sponsors or even the sport as they once were. If anyone in this sport thinks that they can do anything and fans will blindly accept it as long as the drivers tell them to, they're mistaken - it hasn't been that way for a very long time otherwise there would be a lot less unhappy fans right now. The governing body of the sport, as well as everyone else who is involved, needs to listen with open minds to the fans. If they are truly wiling to do so then maybe they can address some of the problems and fans will be more willing to buy tickets and watch races.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:26 PM | Comments (0)

May 25, 2009

David Reutimann Wins the Coca-Cola 600!!!!

Whooohoooooooo!!!! Thanks to a great gamble by his crew chief Rodney Childers to stay out when others were pitting, David Reutimann won the Coca-Cola 600 today, his first career Cup win! It's also Michael Waltrip Racing's first win on the Cup level! I'm so happy for David, the #00 team, Michael and everyone at MWR! A lot of people never thought they'd make it past their first season in Cup and now in just their third year of racing on the Cup level they've won a race! I'm so happy and excited!!!!

As I continue this entry on Tuesday I'm still smiling from ear-to-ear when I think about David winning yesterday! But before I discuss how excited I am about David's win any further I have to address the complaints by some fans that this wasn't a "real" win. Get real! A win is a win no matter how it comes! As I've said before in this space, I'm so tired of all the reasons that some fans come up with to dismiss or demean wins - they came because of rain, it was only a result of pit strategy, it was a gamble on fuel mileage, etc... or all the crazy conspiracy theories like the person who said that NASCAR gave David the win because they want to help keep Michael Waltrip in the spotlight. Oh please! Strategy has always been and always will be a part of this sport. This is also a team sport and it's not just the actions of the driver behind the wheel that determines the outcome of a race. In this case David and the #00 team won the race because of a terrific decision David's crew chief made, a decision that every other crew chief could also have made. So I think it's a little unfortunate that David felt like he needed to apologize for his win afterwards. There is nothing to apologize for. I totally understand that some fans are disappointed when races are decided by rain but David won fair and square and so would any other driver who had ended up in his position.

I'm not going to let sour and negative fans take anything away from David's win though! As happy as I am for David, I'm even happier for Michael - the past few years have really been a struggle for him and to get to the point where he has a Cup car in Victory Lane has to feel so good! Michael should be so proud of what he built with MWR - I was just at Raceworld last week and it was an incredible sight to see! There was so much enthusiasm and excitement in the air, and I would imagine even more so today! Everyone at MWR works so hard including Michael and it's awesome to see that hard work paying off!

Michael spoke after the race at length about David's win and said how meaningful it was to see David's father, Buzzie hug him after he won and also how much it meant to be able to hug his driver himself. Apparently Michael teared up when he was talking about that - when he won his first Cup race neither his father nor his owner was there to hug him since his father had passed away a year or two before and unbeknown to Michael on that day as he celebrated his win in Victory Lane, his owner and good friend, Dale Earnhardt, had died in a last lap wreck as Michael was winning the race. So what a rush of emotions it must have been for Michael yesterday to feel so happy about David's win but at the same time be reminded of the hugs that never were to be with his own first Cup win. There are some drivers who seem to take winning for granted and don't get very emotional about it - I loved the fact that Michael showed some true emotion and David and the entire MWR organization was clearly excited to win!

Some seem to think this will be MWR's only win and those people need to get the idea that MWR is a fly-by-night organization on the verge of collapse out of their head - this is a professionally run organization with talented employees that is continuing to grow and develop. They have an extremely impressive facility and anyone who sees it in person as I did has to take them seriously. But I didn't have to go there in person to know that MWR has been making progress. David has raced up front consistently this season and even though the results haven't been as good recently as they were earlier in the season Michael has still raced better than he did the past few years. It was only a matter of time before David ended up in Victory Lane and this won't be his - or MWR's - last win! It's just the first of many trips to Victory Lane for MWR that will come in the future and hopefully one day they'll be celebrating a Championship too!

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

May 05, 2009

This Week in NASCAR With Michael Waltrip and Chad Knaus (5/4)

Last night's panel on This Week in NASCAR in NASCAR was comprised of the always entertaining Michael Waltrip and Chad Knaus along with master-of-ceremonies Steve Byrnes. While I've become more and more of a fan of Greg Biffle as the years have gone on, I still prefer the shows when it's just Michael and Chad as they have a great rapport. They also bring different points-of-view and ways of thinking to the panel. When the show was first made over into TWiN I wasn't too impressed but last year and particularly this season the show has gone back to what it used to be - must see TV! Some highlights...

Michael's been working out a lot so he kicked off the show by joking about how he was looking at himself in the mirror thinking about how you get a six-pack when you work out and now he has his first pack - go Michael! He was also happy with the performance and progression of his car on Saturday night at Richmond. He started at the back, got lapped, got his lap back and then felt like he could run with "them." His team improved the car all night. However, at the end when it came time to "get with it" his car was too loose. I can't help but notice that when talking about how the race went for him, Michael left out the part about how his team didn't have the sticker tires he needed at the end of the race and that's apparently why his car was loose and he lost positions. I've seen talk elsewhere that kind of thing is usually the result of a miscalculation by the crew chief or someone else with the team regarding how many sets of tires to order from Goodyear so maybe if that's true Michael didn't want to throw Bootie Barker or someone else from his team under a bus. Michael said that they had a competition meeting at Michael Waltrip Racing earlier that day and that he likes where they are as a team and that they're heading in a good direction.

It was a rough night for the #48 team - as Chad joked they literally had no brakes. He said it's rare to have mechanical issues at Hendrick Motorsports but on Saturday night they had a brake line that got severed and was leaking fluid. They came in to make repairs and only lost three laps doing so which might have still allowed them to get a decent finish if things had fallen right for them but it didn't work out. Michael asked whether it was a piece of debris that kicked up and severed the brake line or an actual mechanical failure and Chad said that the brake line had been improperly placed in the shop and ended up getting pinched between two suspension parts - oops! Michael deadpanned that "every now and then you just pinch one off."

Of course there was a lot of discussion about Kyle Busch since he won both the Nationwide and Cup races at Richmond this weekend. Steve asked Michael if he had his Busch sayings ready and while Michael said that he would see where the show goes, I'm quite sure he had some in mind, only I'm guessing not all of them were appropriate for air! Chad joked that Michael was "beating around the bush." Ha!

Michael said that he's never seen anyone with the desire or enthusiasm that Kyle has for running every lap. Kyle won't settle for running behind someone and he's genuinely special. Whether you like him or not, you enjoy what you're watching, or at least Michael does. I hate to break it to Michael but there are quite a few fans who can't stand watching Kyle, resent his success and think he's undeserving of all the praise that's being given to him. Michael said that watching "that cat" makes him want to try harder. He appreciates what Kyle does. I'm not always sure how much Michael likes Kyle as a person but he can still appreciate his talent - too bad some others can't be like that because I think they're missing out on seeing something take place that could potentially be historical if Kyle keeps winning at the rate he has been. (50 wins between Cup, Nationwide and Trucks and he just turned 24.)

There was plenty of discussion about the events of the race and Michael was sure to point out all the times that other drivers got themselves into trouble like he had when he wrecked Robby Gordon by mistake a few weeks ago - and it's very true that Michael is far from alone when it comes to making a mistake or otherwise wrecking one's self or another driver. When commenting on a driver getting into the wall, Michael said that one time he hit the wall and then later told his crew chief at the time that his car was racing terrible. So his crew chief's response was that Michael was the one who adjusted it last!

Chad noted the importance of the pit crews and how more than ever a determining factor in races is the consistency of the crews. According to him if a team doesn't have a pit crew that can give them solid stops all race long there's not any chance of them staying up front all race long. The problems for the pit crews started this season with the longer stud length that was mandated by NASCAR - it's twice as long as it used to be. Chad feels that part of the issue is also psychological in that the tire carriers and changers are going over the wall thinking there's going to be a problem. So they try to go faster and when you go faster you make more mistakes. In addition, Michael said that preparation is key as well. There are issues with the glue and figuring out the best way to glue the lugnuts on so they don't fall off - should they glue them on an hour before? What can they do to make sure they don't fall off? So odds are just like with everything else, the teams are testing and experimenting with various options to try to make sure things go right or that they can do their pit stops better and faster than the other teams.

Later in the show Michael told a story about how he was racing at Darlington in 1985 just minding his own business and Dale Earnhardt pulls up next to him, points at him and tells him that he cut him off. Michael said he wanted to go back to Kentucky so he wouldn't get beat up by Earnhardt after the race! Of course Michael and Dale went on to be close friends so I guess Dale forgave him for that incident!

One of the questions of the week was about what drivers eat before races. Michael said that it depends on the individual. He likes to eat pasta. Benito, his motorcoach driver, is very European and chic (I've met Benito and I didn't get a European or chic vibe from him at all but he is a cool guy) and Benito cooks him pasta. He also loves turkey sandwiches - turkey on a bagel. From what I've heard of the way other drivers answer this question I think a lot of them eat similar things before races.

Good show as always!

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

Lowes Food to Sponsor Michael Waltrip Racing Entires in Three Races

Yesterday Michael Waltrip Racing announced a partnership with Lowes Foods, a chain of 109 grocery stores in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Lowes Foods will be an associate sponsor on both the #00 of David Reutimann and the #55 of Michael Waltrip for the Sprint Showdown/All-Star Race and Coca-Cola 600 this month and will also be the primary sponsor of the #99 for the Nationwide race at Charlotte in October with David behind the wheel. Lowes won't just be on the MWR cars, they'll also be doing some promotions including a sweepstakes in which winners will get a trip to the October Cup race in Charlotte or a shopping cart race for $500 worth of groceries against David. Lowes customers who show a receipt for $25 or more worth of groceries will also receive one free entry to Raceworld during October. Michael said,

“It’s great to have Lowes Foods as a Michael Waltrip Racing partner. Lowes Foods is where I do my grocery shopping and I want my fans to know about the quality and variety they offer at affordable prices.”

It's definitely great that Lowes is partnering with MWR! Love that MWR was able to secure additional sponsorship and therefore additional money coming in which can only help make the cars even more competitive!! Another good thing is that this deal will put David behind the wheel of the #99 for a race - some fans were upset when it was announced that Michael and Scott Speed would be splitting time in the #99 but not David. So this way David will get to race the car at least once. I also love that Lowes is doing the promotions, particularly the sweepstakes. It's hard for the sponsors these days to do as many promotions and marketing campaigns as they once did because there is less in the budget to pay for these things but I think the companies that are willing to be creative and do these kinds of promotions are the ones that make the most of their sponsorships and are the ones that reach the most fans.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:02 AM | Comments (0)

May 04, 2009

Random Thoughts After Richmond

Not been much for me to blog about the past few days. Unfortunately I missed both the Nationwide and Cup races so I really can't discuss either of those races in depth. I have seen that Michael Waltrip is getting some criticism from some of his own fans for not finishing as well as Marcos Ambrose at Richmond. Meanwhile, from what I can tell from those who listened to the radio communication of the #55 team they were actually racing almost as well as Marcos, particularly towards the end of the race and seemed in line for a top 20 finish at least, which would have been pretty good considering where Michael started the race. However, as it turned out they didn't have any "sticker" tires and that caused Michael to lose laps at the end of the race. So Michael finishing 24th - which really isn't that bad - was due to factors out of his control. It's great that Marcos continues to race very well but unfortunately David Reutimann didn't have a very good night and his finished dropped him out of the top 12 in points for the first time this season. I hope he can race his way back in but given how competitive the other teams are that he'll be trying to beat it may not be easy.

There continues to be rumors that Michael is or should get out of the #55 and either retire completely or race only part-time next season. Besides being a two-time Daytona 500 winner, Michael is the best sponsor spokesperson in the sport, with a presence and personality a lot of drivers don't have, and has a huge fanbase - I think some are going to be surprised at just how hard it is to replace him. Putting a young driver in the car, even one who races up front, isn't magically going to get NAPA as much exposure as they've become used to with Michael, nor will it necessarily draw the same fan support. I hope everything works out for Michael, MWR and NAPA, it just seems to me that taking Michael out of the #55 isn't a decision that should be taken lightly. Michael may not have won any races yet this season but he is racing better than he has for a few years and it would be unfortunate if he couldn't continue to try to build on that either part-time or full-time.

As I write this entry I'm listening to "The Morning Drive" on Sirius and they're talking about Kyle Busch's success, how the fans are reacting to it and what's happening as a result of Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s woes. Pete Pistone and Jerry Bronkowski, the hosts this morning, seem to feel that if Kyle continues to race this well and Junior doesn't that Kyle should become the face of the sport over Junior. But I don't think it's that easy. The fact is for as many fans as Kyle is gaining there are still a huge amount of fans who can't stand him. It's unfortunate but there are quite a few fans who still find him intolerable and refuse to acknowledge his talent behind the wheel. The more he wins the more some seem to dislike him. Fans can't be forced to like a driver no matter how good they may be and the fact is that even though Junior isn't racing as well as Kyle is right now, there are many more fans who are a part of Junior Nation then they are fans of Kyle.

It seems to me that there's actually a lot of challenges for the sport, teams and the drivers themselves when it comes to the fans. A lot of it I've discussed in this space before so I won't repeat myself but just like fans have difficulty with changes to the sport like the Chase, a lot of fans seem to have difficulty embracing new and young drivers unless those drivers happen to be friends of Junior - and even it's not a guarantee of a huge fanbase. It seems to me that part of the reason why ratings and ticket sales are going down is that as veteran drivers with big fanbases retire, those fans aren't finding other drivers to cheer for, they're opting not to watch or attend races because their favorite drivers aren't on the track anymore. Going back to Michael and NAPA, I think that's one of the challenges with that situation - Michael's fans will continue to support his teams but the odds are there will be a dropoff in fan support when Michael's no longer behind the wheel because his fans may not feel the same emotional connection to the driver who replaces him. I think that's an issue with Kyle - there are fans who appreciate his talent and are cheering for him but it seems harder for fans to develop a connection to him where they feel the kind of passion they do for a driver like Junior.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:17 AM | Comments (0)

April 30, 2009

Michael Waltrip Celebrates His Birthday With an Appearance on "My Name is Earl"

Today is Michael Waltrip's 46th birthday - hard to believe he's 46 since he seems so much younger to me! A nice birthday present for Michael is that the episode of "My Name is Earl" that he appears on debuts tonight at 8 p.m. (EST) on NBC. Apparently Michael plays a fairly large role in the episode and although he's appeared on other shows and in some very funny commericals for NAPA Auto Parts and Aaron's Michael has never done this much acting before. He said,

"I think this is the first real TV show I've ever done. I've done a few spots, cameos on different things, Comedy Channel stuff, but this is real. 'Earl' is an instant classic, and I promise you that the demographics for an 'Earl' fan and a NASCAR fan--and racecar drivers, too, as far as that goes--lay over top of each other perfectly."

Interestingly enough though Michael notes that the demographic for "Earl" fans and NASCAR fans is similar and there are indeed many NASCAR fans who also like "Earl" I've seen a surprisingly large amount of Michael's fans say that either they don't like the show or that when they watch tonight it will be the first time they've ever seen the show. Regardless, I'm really looking forward to seeing the show - I've thought for quite some time based on his performances in the NAPA and Aaron's commericals that Michael has some excellent acting skills, particularly when it comes to comedy, so I'm glad that someone else recognized that and put him in a show! I have a feeling his appearance is going to be hysterical!

Posted by silverdsl at 03:18 PM | Comments (0)

April 29, 2009

This Week in NASCAR With Michael Waltrip, Chad Knaus and Greg Biffle (4/27)

Yesterday I had started writing this entry about This Week in NASCAR when I heard the news about David Poole passing away. In some ways it was fitting that I was about to blog about a discussion regarding the issues at Talladega since David had been particularly worked up about what happened and had made his strong opinions known both on The Morning Drive and on thatsracin.com. He felt so strongly about the wrongness of it all that he said more than once that they should go in with bulldozers and rip up the track. Perhaps their opinions weren't as strong as David's were but the discussion between Chad Knaus, Greg Biffle and Michael Waltrip was just as passionate...

So much to discuss after the events at Talladega that This Week in NASCAR had to expand the panel for last night's show! Michael Waltrip, Greg Biffle and Chad Knaus all took part in a spirited discussion of the issues surrounding what took place at Talladega this weekend and I thought it made for an outstanding and interesting show. Each panel member had different opinions about what was seen at Talladega and each also had different ideas about how to address the issues. That made for a fascinating discussion and exchange of ideas that I wish could have gone for even longer than it did. In fact I thought it was one of the best editions of TWiN that I've seen in a long time.

So it was with much surprise that I discovered this morning that many fans strongly disliked the discussion so much so that few seemed to have paid much attention to it. Apparently a lot of people thought that Michael talked too much and that he interrupted too much as well. Of course as a die-hard fan of Michael's there's admittedly a bias there - I wouldn't mind if Michael talked for the entire hour just himself! However, I'm a little puzzled about why so many people had such a problem with Michael last night. For one thing, it seemed to me that Steve Byrnes and the panel had prepared some before the show and that Steve directed questions at each one based on what he knew of what their opinion was - should Michael have not answered those questions? In addition, the reality is that Michael has a lot of experience and knowledge about Talladega and that style of racing so that may be why he talked so much. It's true that a time or two Michael did interrupt but I think it's unfortunate that some are choosing to focus on that rather than the content of what was being said by Michael, Greg and Chad, all of whom had excellent points and interesting opinions.

Michael kicked things off by saying that what happened had nothing to do with the yellow line as many believe and everything to do with the way the leaders were racing. His belief is that if Carl didn't get wrecked where he did it would have happened somewhere else once Carl decided to block. He feels that you can't expect to not get run over if you're going to cut off another driver. While I don't think that was the only reason why the wreck happened I tend to agree that the actions of the drivers involved and the style of racing overall right now in the sport lends itself towards incidents like this. While I don't really think either Carl or Brad did anything wrong since both were simply doing what they felt they needed to do to try to win, I also think there needs to be some sense of responsibility on the part of those involved in terms of what role they played if wrecks like that are going to be avoided in the future.

The next panelist to comment was Chad who said that a car flying through the air and into the catch fence with the possibility of fans getting injured - which is exactly what happened - is their biggest fear. Chad said that's the most terrifying thing that you can see. He said he hopes that those who were injured get well soon, that he apologizes on behalf of those in the sport and that they appreciate all that the fans do. I have to admit that I wondered how much of what he said was suggested to the producers by NASCAR. That may not have happened but I felt like Chad had been asked to convey a message to the audience.

Steve then noted that they needed to have a "big-boy" discussion about what took place, which I guess meant that they were going to discuss things in a more serious and more in-depth way than they usually do. I'm very glad that they did so! Michael said that he was disappointed with Carl's comments following the race in which he said that NASCAR's going to get someone killed ad only then will they change something. But in Michael's opinion, the drivers sign up to race the cars and no one was forced to start the race. In addition, when you cut someone off, you sign up for the other driver to hit him if he wants and that's what Brad did. Besides not racing at Talladega, Michael doesn't know how to change the racing there - you can't slow the cars down anymore, you can't make it any easier to drive on the track, they're racing a safe car. In these tough times, he said, with everyone talking about ticket sales and TV ratings being down wasn't it refreshing to look up and see over 170,000 people in the stands who were anxious to see what would take place? He feels they owe that (exciting racing at Talladega) to their fans. It's true that fans want to see exciting racing and one reason why fans go in such numbers to Talladega is because the racing is very unpredictable and exciting there. However, there are a lot of fans who don't need there to be wrecking for them to find the racing exciting and most certainly don't want to see cars flying through the air and almost over the catch fence and into the stands.

Next TWiN made a terrific decision and replayed a clip of comments that Greg made on the show last year following the controversy over Tony Stewart being awarded the win over Regan Smith in the Fall Talladega race. At the time Greg said that what he (Regan) needed to do was wreck Tony in front of the entire field in the tri-oval and collect all the cars, that was the message sent (by NASCAR in relation to the yellow line rule) - don't give him position, turn him sideways and make him go on his roof. Greg continued by saying that's what's going to happen from now on, that if he was in that situation he was going to wreck him (the driver in Tony's position) if NASCAR's not going to do what they say they're going to do.

On Monday night's show Greg picked up right where he left off last year. He said that not many times have we seen the guy forcing the block be penalized. NASCAR says if you force a guy below the yellow line you may be penalized but if you go below the yellow line you will be penalized. There's a difference there. If you go below the yellow line to to advance your position you'll be penalized. Greg said that Michael said it wasn't about the yellow line but it was going to be about the yellow line if he (Brad) went as low as he could go and held his ground. In spite of Carl being his teammate, Greg said that the reality is that you can't block and that Michael had it exactly right. Which makes the second week in a row in which Greg didn't exactly defend his teammate or stick up for him.

Michael then continued the discussion by clarifying his earlier comments by saying that he doesn't like blaming the wreck on the yellow line because even if the yellow line wasn't there Brad was eventually going to have all he could take, hook Carl and they were going to crash. Michael feels that Brad understood where his boundaries were and that Brad decided it was the end of the road. The yellow line is the end of the road, you can't go over it. If you're there and there's no choice you're going to get crashed.

Steve then asked Chad about how there were a lot of torn up race cars. Chad said that it's great for the drivers how safe the cars have become. However, in his opinion the problem is with superspeedway racing is that the more you slow the cars down the more they're going to run in a pack. When they were running unrestricted they were strung out more but obviously they can't go back to that. But somehow they need to separate the cars. He said no one wants to hear knock the banking down or put a chicane in but that's the only way to do it. Obviously, Chad said, they aren't going to knock the banking down but they could easily put a chicane in on the backstretch. It will help the racing because it would separate the field but the catch is that it's not going to be as fun for the fans. Which in my opinion is why nothing like that will ever happen. As Michael said earlier in the show there were 170,000 fans in the stands at a time when most tracks are struggling to sell tickets. NASCAR isn't going to do anything that may lead to a reduction of ticket sales and interest in the racing at Talladega. Michael said that it's a tough question to answer - it's fun racing for the fans and the drivers enjoy it... until something goes wrong that is. What happened to Carl is a reality check.

Steven then asked Michael about why he took issue with Carl's comments after the race. I'm surprised that of all the things that people have gotten upset about so far I've not seen a single person get on Michael's case for being critical of Carl. I have to wonder if anyone actually listened to what he had to say or whether they simply dismissed him - and maybe the entire discussion - before even listening? At any rate, Michael said if you've got a suggestion or something you want to tell people, tell them. Michael feels that until there's someone who has an answer or suggestion that makes sense they should leave the racing like it is. In his opinion the racing at Daytona is fine, it's a different animal at Talladega a little because the track is so smooth and the cars run so close together but the last lap was a choice that Carl made. Carl choose to try to block the guy who was trying to win his first race. In hindsight, according to Michael, it might not have been the best idea that Carl ever had. Which may be true, but how many drivers would do the exact same thing as Carl? We see blocking by drivers all the time and not just at Talladega.

Unlike Carl, Greg did have a suggestion to change something and make things better. He feels that NASCAR should more aggressively penalize guys for aggressive driving. That if they see one driver touch another in a corner where they shouldn't or if they see a driver force another below the yellow line that they need to send them to pit road. I agree with Greg 100% - NASCAR needs to police aggressive driving more, particularly in situations where they've warned drivers they're going to do exactly that such as in regards to bump-drafting or with the yellow line. In response to the events at Talladega NASCAR said they're going to do exactly that but I tend to believe it when it see it. After all, some of these rules are already in place and warnings have been given but NASCAR only seems to follow through selectively when it comes to enforcement.

Michael also offered up an idea that he's mentioned in the past which involves modifying the bumpers of the cars so that if the drivers run into each other it would break the cars. He said he made this suggestion two years ago and they looked at him like he had two heads - I wonder why? One of the many reasons I like Michael so much is because he has a lot of ideas but that one doesn't sound like it's as well-thought out as some of his other ideas. Chad's suggestion was that the cars can't take gas under caution which would force the cars to pit under green and thus separate the field. Sorry Chad but that idea doesn't sound any better than Michael's idea that he disliked so much. I think Greg's idea was the best and most realistic. Michael ended up finishing off the discussion by joking that his other idea is that they should put spikes on the car and that would really fix the problem of the drivers running into each other.

It was cool to see that Michael's awesome save was selected as the Castrol Smart Move of the Race, though Michael commented that it wasn't very smart to get in that position in the first place. I think he's being a wee bit too hard on himself considering driver make mistakes all the time - at least he was able to correct his mistake in fine fashion. He said that you never give up when you're driving and you always think you're going to save it the whole time and sometimes it works out. But when Chad asked him if he thought he was going to hit, Michael responded that he did because in the past when he's been in that kind of situation before he's always wound up hitting something. So glad he saved it! He got himself some nice airtime, showed off his driving ability and almost ensured that he could continue racing.

Some of the fans who take issue with Michael complains that he never criticizes NASCAR but if they were paying attention to Monday's show you would have heard him do exactly that, though it was more that he was questioning their decision-making as opposed to being critical. He said that two cars shoving each other around the track can get out front, away from the pack. It's new and they've never seen it before. Now they need to figure out to deal with it and is it okay? There's a no-bump zone all the way around the track (as per NASCAR) but everyone bumps each other anyway. But that's how they get out front - what should be done about that? Both Chad and Michael pointed out that NASCAR tells them in the driver's meeting that there's a no-bump zone. Michael said that he's a big fan of everything they're doing except understanding when bump drafting is okay since he got bump drafted into the wall on Saturday during the Nationwide race. Which I think goes back to what Greg brought up earlier in the show in that NASCAR says that they might penalize drivers for aggressive driving or forcing other drivers below the yellow line but they don't always follow through. And they apparently also don't follow through on enforcing the no-bump zone either.

The rest of the show was mostly a preview of Richmond and some email questions were answered but what they said was far less interesting than what they said in the rest of the show. Overall, it was a great show and I hope they have other serious "big boy" discussions on future editions of TWiN!

Posted by silverdsl at 02:20 PM | Comments (0)

April 27, 2009

Michael Waltrip Survives a Wild Talladega Race to Finish 21st

I suppose I should be upset that Michael Waltrip got swept up in the second "Big One" at Talladega yesterday and could finish no better than 21st due to the damage to his car. But I'm not. I guess it makes me a bad fan but after seeing Carl Edwards go flying through the air at the end of the race I'm glad that Michael wasn't up front at the end of the race because that could have been him. Michael said something about karma during the race and as much as he surely wishes that his finish was better, maybe it was good karma that kept him from being a part of that mess on the last lap. What I am happy about is that Michael did get to spend some time up front - he got NAPA a lot of great airtime and he also made an outstanding save - that save was probably the highlight of the race for me.

Before I discuss the way the race went for Michael any further I have to express just how disturbed I was at the events on the last lap that saw a car nearly go over the fence and into the stands. I agree completely with what David Poole said this morning on Sirius - that crossed a line. I've seen fans say that yesterday's race was one of the best and most exciting races they've seen in a long time and I feel completely the opposite - to me yesterday's race was one of the worst we've seen because there were eight injured fans and a major disaster was only narrowly averted. Had Carl gone over the fence it would have not only been the end of racing at Talladega, but quite possibly the end to NASCAR racing as we know it. I also don't like the attitude that some seem to have that because the worst injury is "only" a broken jaw and "only" two people got airlifted out that the injuries aren't a big deal. Even one injury, significant or not, from a piece of debris flying over the fence into the stands is one injury too many.

Some fans want to see big wrecks but this fan wants to see racing, not wrecking. I want to see the race decided because a driver outraced their competitors not because they were one of the few who managed not to get caught in a wreck. I don't need to see cars flying through the air to be entertained and I think it's pretty sad that some fans think seeing that and a bunch of wrecks makes for a great race. There will always be an element of risk involved in racing and I don't know what the solution is to prevent situations like yesterday but it's essential that NASCAR looks at making changes and that they do it before someone, either a fan or a driver, gets killed because a car went over the fence into the stands.

As for Michael, although he wasn't happy with his car and said that it hadn't been very good from the time they unloaded, it was still good enough for him to be able to race it into the top five. It was really awesome to see him mix it up with the leaders and that he was able to do so with a car that may not have been as good as some of the cars he's raced at Talladega in the past shows that he's just as good at restrictor plate racing as he's ever been. However, what was really a testament to Michael's ability, not just at plate racing but as a driver overall was the save he made after he came across the front of Marcos Ambrose's car. That was an incredible piece of driving! I think anyone who doubts Michael's ability as a driver should be shown that video - it's a clear indication that he very much still has ever bit of skill behind the wheel as he ever did. Michael's save, and that of Kurt Busch not long afterward show how amazing the driver's reflexes and reaction time is that at in mere seconds while traveling at such a high rate of speed they're able to take evasive action to save themselves and their cars. I hope that whoever is going to be involved in the decision-making process about whether Michael continues racing next season or not was paying attention to that save and to what Michael did yesterday overall - he not only raced up front as is expected at Talladega, he got NAPA Auto Parts a significant amount of airtime.

One of the most interesting conversations over Michael's radio during yesterday's race was early on when Clint Bowyer was involved in the "Big One" on lap seven. On Saturday Michael had gotten bumped by Joey Logano during the Nationwide race which sent him into Clint Bowyer, wrecking them both. Clint's response over the radio was to yet again blame Michael, who was a completely innocent victim just like Clint was. So after yesterday's wreck happened Michael wondered who Clint was going to blame since he (Michael) wasn't in the wreck, to which Bootie Barker, Michael's crew chief responded by saying that Clint would probably find a way to blame it on him anyway. Michael continued by saying that he believes in karma and that good things happen to good people. He knows, he said, that he's a good person but that Clint's a prick, so he was basically saying that Clint got wrecked because karma bit him in the rear end for being a jerk. Bootie replied that Clint is indeed a prick. Based on what Michael said next about how one day he was going to "lose his mental focus" it sounds like if the opportunity presents itself there's going to be a little payback for the way Clint has treated him. Which is exactly why Clint and others who are so quick to lash out at their fellow competitors should put a sock in it - ripping on each other only creates animosity that can lead to problems on- and off-the-track. Michael isn't just a driver, he's also a car owner and maybe Clint won't be at Richard Childress Racing forever - I doubt that Michael would be inclined to ever offer him a ride. What I loved hearing was Bootie say that the team will fight with him if need be and how he clearly has Michael's back. Maybe the results haven't been quite as good as they'd like but I think Bootie and Michael make a great team and I really hope that they can work together past this season!

Unfortunately later in the race, just as he was starting to race his way forward again, Michael got swept up in the second "Big One." He was actually luckier than some others who were wrecked out completely since after his team made some repairs he was able to stay on the lead lap and continue to race but the damage to the car was enough to prevent him from being able to race his way back up front. If not for being caught in that wreck there no doubt in my mind Michael would have been up front with Marcos racing for the win. However, as I said above as happy as I would have been if Michael had finished in the top five like Marcos, part of me is glad that he wasn't up there at the end because I would have been beside myself if he had ended up being the one to go flying through the air instead of Carl. So maybe it was that karma thing at play in that karma dictated that Michael was an innocent victim of that wreck so that he wasn't involved in what happened on the last lap. That's a good thing in my opinion.

As for the other Michael Waltrip Racing teams as noted Marcos finished 4th which is awesome! However, Marcos may as well not have been on the track since from what I could tell he was almost never mentioned or shown during the TV broadcast. It's said time and time again that if a driver wants to get exposure and be shown on TV then they need to race up front - well, Marcos did race up front and he still got as far as I can tell very little attention during the broadcast. Just exactly what are teams and drivers supposed to do when they race up front and still get no exposure for it?

David Reutimann also appeared to be in line for a finish up front but a flat tire that led to NASCAR scoring him a lap down resulted in a 26th place finish. I still have no idea exactly what happened to David because the TV broadcast chose not to mention it. So here we have a driver who races up front for virtually the entire race but when they experience a problem it's not worthy of being discussed? It seems to me that's part of the story of the race, especially for David's fans who had no idea why he was suddenly at the back. If I understand correctly the team was upset about them being scored a lap down and tried to argue it with NASCAR to no avail. However, since TV never mentioned it I have no clue how David came to be a lap down and why the team felt that it was the wrong call.

By the way, speaking of invisible teams - did anyone notice that Max Papis finished 18th? Did anyone even know he was in the race? If you knew that Max was in the race it wasn't by watching the TV broadcast which barely or never mentioned quite a few drivers which actually makes it all the more impressive that Michael was able to get so much TV time for NAPA.

Talladega was certainly an eventful race but was it really a good race? Is any race in which numerous cars are taken out of contention by big wrecks and where a car goes flying through the air a good race? Not in my opinion. Sad to say I doubt I'll see much of anything different at the next race at Talladega though hopefully all the cars will stay on the ground and there will be no injuries.

Update: I didn't know until I read Michael's post-race report that by finishing 21st Michael moved up a spot in the points to 24th. Still not where he wants to be in the points I'm sure but any gain in the points is definitely a positive!

Update 2: Michael was among the many drivers who commented on the last lap in yesterday's race. In his opinion what happened was a result of Carl's decision to block Brad, which comes from a difference in the way the drivers race each other as compared to the past. He said,

“Back in the day, if somebody was faster than you, you didn’t cut them off. Nowadays you’ve got to fight for every inch. Don’t blame it on the yellow line, blame it on the two guys racing. It’s Carl’s fault. There was a time in history when you could protect your area, but those days are over. If you want to block, that’s fine. But be willing to pay the price. We went through this time when you respected each other. Now we’re more like daredevils.”

Some of Carl's fans are furious that Michael said it was Carl's fault but Carl himself pretty much said the same thing that he put himself in that position by the way he raced Brad. I think Michael has an excellent point that the style of racing has changed over the years and that the drivers have less respect for each other which contributes to some of these incidents.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:03 AM | Comments (0)

April 22, 2009

This Week in NASCAR With Michael Waltrip and Greg Biffle (4/20)

About time I got around to doing an entry on this episode! Ratings for Monday night's show were probably pretty high since a lot of people likely tuned in to hear what Michael Waltrip would say about the incident with Robby Gordon. Well, they wouldn't have been disappointed because Michael had a lot to say.

It didn't take long for that incident to come up - Steve Byrnes asked Michael about how the race went for him right away and Michael said that it's really hard as an owner/driver, more difficult than he thought it would be - David Reutimann is continuing to race for wins or in the top five, Marcos Ambrose is racing in the top ten and his night was bad. Thing is as much as Michael may not like when it happens it's not unusual that even when an multi-car organization seems to have a track figured out for one of their teams to miss on set-up or otherwise have issues. Those who think Bootie gave him a bad car take note - Michael said that he had a good car and that they were running well until he got loose under Robby and wrecked them both.

Michael said that he saw Robby after the race but gave no details about what they talked about - wouldn't you have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation? Said he heard Robby made some comments about him on TV, a reference to Robby's comment about how he looked forward to a new driver in the #55 next season. Turns out Steve was the one holding the mic and what I thought was pretty telling that Michael asked Steve why he didn't hit him with it and joked that he should have gone "boom" and bop him right in the head with the mic because Michael is his (Steve's) friend. To me, that sounds like for as apologetic as Michael was for the incident and for as much responsibility as he took for making the mistake that caused it he still didn't appreciate Robby's comment. Biffle said - and he's 100% right - like Robby's never wrecked anyone? Some of Robby's fans are ripping Greg for making that comment but what's the big deal? The reality is that Robby and every other driver on the track have wrecked other drivers, many of them in very similar ways as what Michael did. Robby has definitely made his share of mistakes on the track - as his fans are always quick to point out when things don't go well.

Michael continued by saying that Robby didn't deserve to get wrecked which is true - contrary to what some fans believe no driver deserves to get wrecked. That said, I wonder if he'd still feel that way if he knew that one of the comments Robby made after the incident on his radio was "he couldn't drive a nail into a frog's a**" and that wouldn't be the first time Robby has made a disparaging comment about Michael over his radio. Michael said that the wreck was his fault, that Robby is teetering on the line for the top 35 and he knows what the world is like and that he was sorry that it happened. Michael does indeed know exactly how difficult it is to race knowing that one small mistake or problem could result in a poor finish that would drop him out of the top 35. Thing is Phoenix is one race. Robby being so close to the top 35 cut-off isn't because of anything that Michael's done and staying in or falling out of the top 35 is entirely up to Robby and his team.

Apparently the incident with Robby changed Michael's attitude towards Carl Edwards in relation to how Carl wiped him out in Friday night's Nationwide race. Friday night he was racing up front and Carl wiped him out. He thought that was the dumbest thing he'd ever experienced at the time but on Saturday Robby's riding along (actually moving backwards at the time) and he's passing Robby and he wipes him out. So he can't be mad at Carl. Greg asked whether Michael ran into his back bumper (which is what Carl did) and Michael said that no, he ran into the side of Robby. IMO, Greg was pointing out that what Carl did was worse which was interesting considering Carl's his teammate. Michael said that he made a mistake and Carl made a mistake. It's so hard he said, it's a tough job and sometimes things don't go right and it makes him sad. It makes me sad too when things don't go right for Michael because at times he seems to get so down about it. Racing is his life and his passion and he wants to be successful at it as much as any other driver on the track.

Greg said he had a good car and ran a little better than where he finished (top five) but overall he was happy with his finish even though it wasn't quite where they needed to be. I'd say if they keep racing in the top five then eventually he's going to end up in Victory Lane so they aren't too far off from where they need to be! Michael asked him when he got his braces and Greg said he got them the Monday after Texas. They joked about Greg refining himself as he gets older and Greg noted that he was starting to wear makeup (the makeup they wear on the show). Greg said he has to impress the ladies and that there's a lot of girls out there - I wonder what his wife thought about that comment?

Mark Martin's 36th career win is Hendrick Motorsports 5th straight win at Phoenix. Greg said that Mark is an amazing driver and that he was excited to see him back in Victory Lane. Michael said it was so cool to see one for the old guys - since Michael is turning 46 in a week he probably considers himself among the "old" guys (they really aren't that old) and Mark's success probably makes him feel like he can be still win as well. For a while everyone was making such a big deal out of age in the sport but Michael never really saw it. There are good young guys in the sport who came along, guys in their 30's and 40's that could still do the job. Mark just took it to a new level. Greg noted that he didn't luck into that win, he had a good car.

There was some discussion about David continuing to race well. Michael said it's awesome to see, that David is so thankful and just wants to race his car. He joked about how he told David that not only was he "The Franchise" he was also "The F-Bomb." :lol: There was some joking about how being The bomb is good but not when the F is in front of it!

Steve made note of how Michael stayed out to lead a lap and Michael said that because they just avoided being the (un)lucky guy (avoided getting passed by the leader so they were the last car on the lead lap) and they were going to make a spring rubber adjustment on pit road and wouldn't be passing anyone on pit road there was no price to pay for staying out to get the five bonus points. Michael said it was a great call by Bootie and the guys because you never know how important those five points might be some day. Michael called Bootie "The Boot-meister." He seems to really like Bootie - there are some fans who are already calling for Bootie to be replaced but other than at Texas when he was a little testy with Bootie over the radio, Michael seems very happy with him and seems to work better with Bootie than he has with any crew chief since Tony Eury, Jr.

The #48 team had a slow pit stop due to a lugnut issue and Greg noted that the lugnuts have been a problem for all the teams. However with the #48 they were slow on that stop but fast when it counted. Even on the slow stop they took their time, got the lugnut secure and only lost nine spots. When it happens in the middle of the race it's fine but when there's a problem on the last pit stop you can't make it up. Michael said the #48 team made the slow pit stop a footnote. Which is why they've won the Championship so many times - the #48 team has shown the ability to minimize the damage from mistakes and overcome most challenges.

There was more discussion about the incident between Michael and Robby - Michael said it's a shame it had to happen. They were both on the lead lap and running well. He didn't have an excuse other than that he messed up and he hates that. When the #44 spun out (earlier in the race) he only hurt himself but he spun out and took out another guy. There's no excuse for it, that shouldn't happen and he's bothered by it. Michael said that Talladega's a big track and there's plenty of room there so he should be alright. While I think Michael said all the right things and handled himself really well on the show in relation to what he said about the incident I also think he was a little too hard on himself in that he kept saying that he made a mistake and how much it bothered him. Fact of the matter is that mistakes are going to happen. While it's unfortunate when it results in others getting wrecked no one is perfect, not as a driver and not overall. At times Michael seems to lose confidence in himself and it sounded as if this was one of those times. But he shouldn't. He didn't do anything that other drivers haven't done before - including Robby.

There was some brief discussion about Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s woes and the incident with Casey Mears. Once again it seemed to me that they kind of glossed over what happened to Junior, maybe because they don't see it as big of a deal as many fans and the media do. Michael said that what happened with Casey was kind of what happened with his car. Casey was on the inside and just couldn't hold it. Both Michael and Greg completely dismissed Junior spinning Casey and Casey bumping him back after the race as no big deal. Greg said that they kept it on the track and it wasn't on pit road where the pit crews are so it won't be an issue (with NASCAR). As it turns out they were right since NASCAR put Junior and Casey on probation for six races which is a meaningless, nothing penalty.

Next there was some discussion about Talladega. If you've heard one preview of Talladega, you've heard them all. Close racing, one wiggle, big one, yadda, yadda, etc, etc.... Greg joked that the only way to avoid the big one is to stay on pit road but something tells me that even that might not be a safe place if the "Big One" was big enough! Michael said he's been in second and been in the Big One and been in the back and been in the Big One. Steve brought up how one time Carl wrecked Greg and Michael said to him - "Carl hit you to?" To which Greg slyly said "He didn't mean to." Maybe I'm reading into things but I took that to refer to how Carl acts out and then smiles that big smile, apologizes and says that he didn't mean to do it which some drivers and fans are getting tired of.

The questions of the week - First, was what is a sealed engine? Greg gave a technical explanation but basically there's a wire in there that you can't cut so you can't take the engine apart. NASCAR wants them to use the engines for four races to save money. Greg said he couldn't do a burnout because of his sealed engine since they had to use it again. Next question was what is the entry fee? Michael said that the entry fee is $3650 and that's what each team has to pay (not sure if that's just Cup or the same amount in N'wide and Trucks as well). NASCAR calls it an inspection fee. If they go to a back-up car they have to pay that fee again - that must make some of these small teams with limited financial resources extremely careful during practice and qualifying because for them $3650 is a lot of money.

To wrap up the show, Greg promoted his online radio show that he's started doing each week on gregbiffle.com. Michael is going to Atlanta this week to sign autographs for NAPA employee appreciation day. He's taking Macy who just got a new dog, Darla that speaks freaky-deeky Dutch so you have to give it orders in a weird language. He said that him and Darla - and presumably Macy - are loading up in the Lexus and are heading to Atlanta. Something tells me that car ride from NC to Atlanta with a new dog that only takes orders in a foreign language might be an eventful one! Maybe the next video for Facebook?!

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

April 19, 2009

Tough Weekend for Michael Waltrip in Phoenix

Really tough weekend for Michael Waltrip in Phoenix - first he gets run over by Carl Edwards in the Nationwide race on Friday night while he was battling to stay in the lead and then last night in the Cup race he got loose and wrecked both Robby Gordon and himself.

Last night Michael had complained about being loose for virtually the entire race but he had still been able to make forward progress which came to an abrupt halt when he got loose under Robby, the worst possible person to get into an incident with considering their past history. While Michael got enough damage to cause him to have to go to the pits for repairs and limp around the track for the remainder of the race, the damage was much worse for Robby and he spent significant time behind the wall before returning to the track. Naturally he was angry and said during an interview with FOX that he "couldn't wait until there was another driver in the #55 next season." Seems to me that Robby needs to spend more time worry about his own team than about whether Michael or someone else is going to be racing the #55 next year. For one thing Robby is a giant hypocrite to get on another driver for wrecking, when Robby has caused plenty of wrecks and otherwise brought out the caution numerous times himself. In addition, it's not like Robby has done anything impressive of late on the track himself. So maybe if Robby thinks that Michael shouldn't race anymore he should also consider replacing himself?

Michael took complete responsibility for wrecking Robby, not just once but twice over his radio. What was sad to hear was how upset and down he sounded at the end of the race. He said how he had screwed up and that he needed to "get my brain working," that he gets nervous and that it's overwhelming - I would assume that's a reference to the pressure he feels to finish well and how it gets to him sometimes. There are some who think that Michael's ready to retire but he said that he wants to be able to race hard and wants to be able to drive. So there's no doubt that Michael still very much feels the desire to race - if he didn't then what happened last night wouldn't have been so upsetting to him. He continued by telling Bootie that he was a good man and that he deserved better. Bootie's response was great - he told Michael that it was just a bump in the road and that there were a lot of positives in the race, and that he wasn't bullshitting him.

As strange as it may sound I have to agree with Bootie - the team was able to make the car better for Michael as the race went on and he was able to pass for position to the point where he had raced his way into the top 25. Had he not gotten into Robby he probably would have been able to keep moving forward. In addition, the team had at least one excellent pit stop so it was also a good day for the team on pit road which is important since these days a lot of drivers have good runs ruined by issues on pit road. Still, I can understand why Michael's so down about last night - if he doesn't finish well this season NAPA may opt to either ask for a new driver in the #55 next season or leave Michael Waltrip Racing all together. I think both options would be a mistake for NAPA right now but they may not see things the same way I do. Michael is a talented driver, if he wasn't he wouldn't have lasted in Cup this long no matter how well he can plug his sponsors and I hope starting next weekend at Talladega he can get back to the way he was racing at the start of the season.

What probably bothers me as much as anything is that the incident with Robby is going to set off a whole new round of bashing and negativity directed towards Michael, particularly by Robby's fans who seem to be some of the most negative fans around, some of them even about their own driver. That's what's so amazing about Robby's fans is that many of them believe that "keeping it real" involves insulting their own driver and giving the impression that he's incompetent as a driver and owner. So unfortunately this incident is going to give those fans reason to direct their negativity towards Michael - again. All because of what's nothing more than a racing incident. Yeah, it stinks when your driver gets wrecked but sometimes things happen - it's not like Michael intended on wrecking Robby. Of course if Robby was in Michael's position they'd not only defend him but celebrate him wrecking Michael. Odds are Robby's comment will be a big topic of discussion not only on the various fan forums but also on Sirius though it's lucky that Junior had such a bad race because that may take some of the focus away from the incident between Michael and Robby.

As for Friday night Michael had stayed out when everyone else went to pit road to get track position and lead laps. Unless there was a quick caution he was going to lose the lead because those behind him were on newer tires. Well, Carl Edwards apparently didn't have the patience to pass Michael cleanly he ran him over and wrecked him out of the race. Carl's excuse was that Michael ran him up into the wall and maybe from Carl's viewpoint that's what he thought but in watching replays it's hard to see anything that Michael did wrong - he got run over plain and simple. Which is really a shame since Michael not only seemed to have a good car that he was going to be able to race up front with but he was surely hoping to get Best Western a top finish or even a win since they're based in Phoenix.

During his post-wreck interview Michael commented how Carl would just say he's sorry like he always does. It's true - Carl always flashes that big smile of his and apologizes as if it makes it okay that he ran someone over or otherwise did something to anger another competitor. But I don't think only Carl should be singled out for insincere apologies. I really wonder how many of the drivers actually mean it when they say they're sorry. I'm sure some of them do feel bad when they wreck another driver but for some drivers they probably don't care all that much when there's no consequences for them, they're able to advance their position or they don't like the person they wreck. What says it all to me about the sincerity level of the apologies is that last year Michael said that these days many drivers don't bother to even pick up the phone to call to apologize, they just send a text message with an "I'm sorry." Seems to me that if a driver is really sorry that it would be important enough for them to call the other driver or even better apologize face-to-face.

The good news is that Talladega is next weekend. Michael's won on that track before and is capable of winning there again - he almost did last year if not for his engine blowing on the last lap. So it's the perfect track for Michael to jump start his season and get things going in the right direction again. Hope to see a great finish for him and all of MWR!

Posted by silverdsl at 02:46 PM | Comments (2)

April 15, 2009

Patrick Carpentier To Race the #99 for Michael Waltrip Racing at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve

Today it was confirmed as had been rumored in a Canadian newspaper a couple of weeks ago that Patrick Carpentier will race the #99 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota in the Nationwide race at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in August for Michael Waltrip Racing. Robert Hattem, the president and COO of UAP Inc., the Canadian arm of Genuine Parts Company, NAPA's parent company said,

"Patrick was our first choice and we are undoubtedly very happy with this agreement. Not only is he from the region but his name is synonymous with talent, perseverance and sportsmanship wherever he performs. It was a natural fit for us to offer Patrick the wheel for this event and allow the public to witness his unique know-how.”

Based on the announcement the decision to put Patrick in the #99 sounds like a decision that was completely NAPA's which isn't a surprise since not only are they sponsoring the #99 for that race but they're also the title sponsor of the race itself. Patrick is a good choice.

Patrick said,

"By being the official race sponsor, it is clear to me that NAPA wishes more than anything the success of this important event for the City of Montreal. It is an honour to partner with such a talented team like NAPA. My greatest desire is to give the spectators and viewers a great performance that meets their expectations.”

Although he only has 12 Nationwide starts and didn't have much success in his limited stint in Cup, Patrick excels at road course races. In fact, in last year's race at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve Patrick finished 2nd so if he has a competitive car he can most definitely give a great performance! Sure would be outstanding to see him better that this season and win this year's race for NAPA and MWR!

Posted by silverdsl at 03:53 PM | Comments (0)

April 14, 2009

Michael Waltrip Takes Part in Hootie & the Blowfish Monday After the Masters Celebrity Pro-Am

Not much going on in the way of news since it was an off-weekend for the Cup Series but I did come across an article about the 15th annual Hootie & the Blowfish Monday After the Masters Celebrity Pro-Am, which took place in North Myrtle Beach, Florida yesterday. How I wish that Michael Waltrip still did Michael Waltrip Out Loud on XM because Michael golfed in this and based on the photos it looks like he had a lot of fun so it surely would have been a topic of discussion during the show. Unfortunately there is no XM show anymore much to the dismay of the many fans of Michael's who used to tune in each week to hear about each race weekend and his other adventures. Without the show we don't hear much about Michael golfing, something he surely is still doing a lot of. Something else I haven't heard Michael mention lately is Darius Rucker, the lead singer of Hootie & the Blowfish, but he and Michael must still be friends if Michael took part in this. Apparently Kyle Petty also golfed yesterday in this but I didn't see him in any of the photos. Seems like a fun event - sure wish Tommy Baldwin still did the charity golf event on Long Island I went to a few times. That was a great event, especially the time Michael took part!

Posted by silverdsl at 02:25 PM | Comments (0)

April 09, 2009

JTG-Daughtery Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing Benefit From Technical Alliance

Outstanding article on nascar.com that details the technical alliance between Michael Waltrip Racing and JTG-Daugherty Racing and how it came to be. The roots of the partnership were planted last July at Indianapolis as Michael Waltrip watched JTG attempt to make their first Cup race. Knowing how hard it could be to try to do what JTG was going to attempt, Michael decided that he was going to see if he could help them. He said that he sent Ty Norris to find Tad Geschickter because he could save him two years of trying to figure out how to survive in Cup. Michael said,

"I was a year and a half in at that point and I knew that when he started in '09 [as a Cup owner], we'd be two years ahead of where he was going to be if he tried to do it himself. My car was locked in the show and I had lived the hell of 2007 in missing race after race and just struggling to get our legs up under us as a team."

Of course Michael wasn't just thinking about how he could help JTG but about how an alliance could help MWR since the organization wanted to continue fielding three teams in 2009 but didn't have the necessary sponsorship to do so. Michael said,

"We didn't have sponsorship for our third car for '09, and definitely wanted to continue at a three-car level. We began talking right there, that day at Indy, about how we might partner, provide him cars, provide his equipment and he'd essentially be a part of MWR -- and that's exactly what we did. I think the benefits are endless for both groups. But I think for Tad, it gave him a chance to get up and running immediately. ... He has manufacturing support not only from MWR, but also Toyota support as well.

The benefits are indeed tremendous for both organizations. There's no question that the results for Marcos Ambrose and JTG are significantly better because of their alliance than MWR than if they were competing on their own. And MWR not only fulfills their desire to field three teams but are doing so with a driver who appears to have the potential to have a lot of success in the Cup Series.

What's interesting is that JTG had spoken with Ford about being affiliated with them but were told that there was no place for them on the Cup level even though Marcos had previously been associated with Ford. I wonder if Ford has any regrets about that decision? Toyota was more than open to having JTG become one of their teams which opened the door to the alliance between JTG and MWR. The other interesting thing which I think has led to some confusion among fans is that even though JTG's Cup operation is housed in the MWR shop and they share information and as the article notes even tools, even though Michael often talks about the #47 team as if it's one of his own, once they're at the track the JTG and MWR teams are separate entities. In the article Brad Daugherty says that sometimes these alliances don't work out, that an owner will just take a team's money but will provide them with inferior equipment. That's not the case here - JTG has access to everything that the MWR teams have access to from parts to engineering to personnel, which is why the alliance has been so successful.

Brad said of Michael,

"One thing about Michael, we all see him as the affable television character, kind of off the wall. But he really is a passionate, passionate racer. He loves racing. I think that gets overshadowed sometimes because we're always looking at some of the off-the-wall things he may say or do -- but he's a passionate racer. He thinks about things. I've really been impressed with Michael. When you sit down and have a conversation with him, he's got a lot of great ideas and has put a lot of thought into the business structure of his organization. I mean, they tried to eat an elephant here in a couple of bites and it was hard. But they learned a lot from it. That organization is going to survive and be a strong, strong operation going forward because of their resiliency. Michael's got a real passion for this sport. He's not just there, hanging out. He wants to run well and be successful. He wants to win and build a great organization. We're lucky to be a part of it."

I love it when people, especially those in the garage area, recognize that Michael is a lot more than just the goofball he sometimes portrays on TV. As I've detailed many times in this space before it irks me sometimes that some don't think Michael is serious about racing or dismiss him and his opinions because he plugs his sponsors a lot or like to be funny all the time. But the reality is that there is a very serious side to Michael that is, as Brad points out, that is passionate about racing and determined to be a success. Michael does indeed think about things and that's a very good thing because he's come up with some terrific ideas such as this alliance with JTG.

It's really wonderful to see Michael and MWR continue to get so much positive media attention!

Posted by silverdsl at 04:33 PM | Comments (0)

April 07, 2009

Michael Waltrip Racing Pairs With Ryan Truex in Camping World East Series

Today Michael Waltrip Racing announced what had been rumored among those in the Camping World East Series for a while that they would be partnering with Ryan Truex to field a car for him in the East Series this season with sponsorship from NAPA Auto Parts. When I heard about this I have to admit that I wasn't exactly jumping up and down about it because the person who first discussed it also speculated that this was because MWR hoped to sign Ryan's older brother, Martin Truex Jr., for next season to replace Michael Waltrip in the #55 - I'm not exactly thrilled to hear talk about Michael not racing past this season and if MWR is going to be looking at a replacement for Michael, Martin wouldn't be very high on my list of drivers that I'd want to see in the #55.

That said, I'm going to put that aside and be happy that MWR is going to be fielding an East Series car! For one thing it gives me another driver besides Steve Park to cheer for in the East Series. Beyond that I'm glad that MWR is working with another young driver since it's important for them to develop some young talent for the future. Sponsorship hasn't worked out for them to be able to field a Nationwide car for Josh Wise unfortunately and Michael McDowell lost his Cup ride with MWR due to a lack of sponsorship as well. It's also likely a lot cheaper to field an East Series car, particularly since it's only for ten races and the Truex's are bringing some resources of their own into the partnership. So this is very definitely a good thing for MWR and I certainly have no complaints about them giving a driver from New Jersey an opportunity!

Ty Norris said,

“In essence, Ryan was ready to move to the next level. The Truex's had the cars and the engines, but needed someone to house, employ the staff and operate the team. I've known the Truex's since we approached Truex Jr. about driving for DEI's nationwide team in 2003. Ryan has the bloodline and needed the opportunity, so we partnered in this entry. We heard he was aggressive and fast and we can’t wait to see him compete.”

I guess it surprises me that MWR is entering into this partnership without having seen Ryan race if I understand what Ty is saying correctly but maybe that's common when it's a partnership as opposed to putting a driver in a car that they're fielding for him completely as their own entry. Or maybe that happens with young drivers on lower levels where there isn't as much money being put in so there's not as much risk of losing a lot if things don't work out. Regardless I hope this works out great for MWR and that Ryan has a lot of success - sure would be great if he won a few East Series races for them this season!

Posted by silverdsl at 07:31 PM | Comments (0)

This Week in NASCAR with Michael Waltrip and Chad Knaus (4/6)

Sure wish I was able to capture the humorous moments in my recaps since Chad Knaus, Michael Waltrip and Steve Byrnes joke around with each other a lot but sometimesyou just have to see and hear it to understand why it's funny. But they were definitely very entertaining last night!

Michael started out by talking about Michael Waltrip Racing's performance at Texas - he was a lot more positive about it during the show than many fans have been but I suppose that's to be expected, and to be fair David Reutimann winning the pole for the race was definitely something for the organization to celebrate! It was a big deal for David to be on the pole for himself and MWR. Michael said you have to be impressed by Marcos Ambrose - I know I am! Marcos just showed up and is doing it. Tad and Jodi Geschickter put their heart and souls into NASCAR for years and Michael is happy for them that they're delivering for their sponsors, it's a great story.

Michael then proceeded to whip out a drawing that I thought when I first looked at it was a pair of boobs and I wondered why he drew them and why SPEED didn't have a problem with showing it. Turns out it was meant to be a drawing of the eyes on the stack of money from the Geico commercial! I don't know whether that's a commentary on me thinking Michael's mind is in the gutter or whether I'm right there in the gutter with him! The drawing was shown several more times throughout the show and luckily the commercial was shown as well which made it make a lot more sense.

The #48 team finished second at Texas but Chad said it wasn't an easy day for them. The car was fast on Saturday but once the green flag dropped on Sunday the car wasn't handling right. At one point they were as far back as 25th, which to me isn't really that far back in comparison to some teams that find themselves mired back in 30-35th place when things aren't going well. Jimmie did a good job of hanging on to the car and keeping it off the wall and they just kept working on it. By the end of the race they started getting it and the car was fast. This is why the #48 team is one of the best in the garage area - they're able to make the right changes to make an ill-handling car into a good one and contend for wins even in races that look like it's going to be an off-day for them early on.

A lot of people weren't too thrilled with the racing at Texas but Michael seems to have liked it. Said that there always seems to be drama at Texas and you don't know how the race is going to play out until the end. Later in the show Michael said the great thing about the race was that you had guys that came out of no where and also guys who had been there all day and that the suspense of how the race is going to play out is as fun as anything. I think for me that's true for every race that one reason I watch as much of every race as I can is because anything can happen and you never know what you might end up seeing on any given race weekend. However, my sense is that many of my fellow fans don't feel that way and perhaps that's part of the problem facing the sport. Many fans don't feel that the racing is exciting and they feel that it's not very interesting to see the same handful of drivers who are mostly from the same four organizations win almost every week, sometimes in dominating fashion.

After Jeff Gordon's win at Texas Hendrick Motorsports now has 177 total wins. Chad said they have a wall at the team center with an "H" for every win, when the wall is completely covered they'll have 200 wins. There was some joking about whether Chad would let them see his notebook if they went to HMS to see the wall and how protective he is of it. Gee, I wonder why?

Michael said he had been optimistic about his car for Sunday and thought it had potential but at the wrong times they didn't have the car running right. Late in the going they made adjustments that didn't work but at the end of the race the car was fast and he was happy with it - um, really? To my ears Michael seemed pretty unhappy with his car the entire race but maybe he just didn't express it over the radio when he was happier about the car since he was so upset with how bad it was at other times during the race. Segments of the race the car wasn't very good. He said you can fall off the pace a couple of times if cautions fall right or if you get the free pass - like the previous weekend at Martinsville when he was able to rally to finish 13th - but other times you better be dead on or you can't make it up - like this past weekend at Texas.

Steve announced that Michael would be getting his wish, that they would be expanding the radioactive segment of the show, at least one time, and that Monday at 8 p.m. there would be a half hour show with Michael that was and expanded look at the radio chatter from Texas. How cool for Michael that SPEED liked his idea and that they're going to give it a try, at least for a week? Sure hope it goes well and that they get a lot of positive feedback about it so it can become a new series. Although some teams and drivers don't like what they say over their radios being made public, I think it gives a lot of insight into what happens for the teams during races in a more in-depth way than what's possible during a TV broadcast.

The panel reviewed the points standings and Chad said that he wouldn't think that his team would be second in points, I guess because they're had some weekends in which they've struggled somewhat, but he's not surprised that the #24 is leading the points since there was a big effort to restructure that team. I thought that was an interesting comment since I can't remember hearing about major changes to the #24 team. A lot of fans were calling for Steve Letarte's head going into this season but HMS stuck with him and it's definitely paying off! Chad's surprised that the #2 team is so high in points after the way they raced last season. Michael said it's good to see the #00 team up in the points, as well as Kasey Kahne, I guess because like with the #00 team, Kasey and his team aren't with one of the big four organizations in the garage area. With MWR they wanted to work their way up into the four superteams that are mainstays for the Chase. They wanted to wedge one or two of their teams in there - so far so good Michael said, they've made the progress they've needed to.

There was some discussion of the penalty given to the #00 team for pitting outside his box. There was traffic when he was coming in and he didn't see his box properly. Michael said the jack should never go up if the car's over the line but that's what happened and the team got penalized for it. As crew crew chief you try to choreograph with the teams around you about when to pit and make a decision about pitting based on that. Sometimes you can't work it out but you try to come down pit road when they aren't. It can save 2-3 seconds by not having to deal with the cars around you. Chad brought up how the pit crew can get their rhythm thrown off by the car being over the line, they get confused and it throws them off.

They showed some video of Sam Hornish, Jr's spin and Michael said that Sam gives you 110% on every lap and tries real hard but when you consistently put yourself on the edge eventually you're going to cross it. Same has to figure out how to keep something in reserve. I thought that Michael was taking great pains to be delicate and nice about it but was basically saying that even though Sam puts a lot of effort in, he's not very good right now and often wrecks because he has a lot to learn about when to race hard and when to dial it down a little. I think in his second season Sam should have learn that lesson to some degree and that he hasn't probably doesn't bode well for the chances of him sticking around in Cup long-term.

After all this time of being on TWiN Michael just got to wondering last night whether TWiN was an acronym for "This Week in NASCAR." :lol: Said that "acronym" was a big word for him and that growing up in Kentucky he never needed to use that word. Some thing tells me that if Michael had been paying attention in English class in high school he probably would have had to have used that word!

I was surprised that there wasn't much discussion of the woes of the #88 team since it's such a big story everywhere else but maybe they didn't want to say anything that could potentially set off a controversy particularly since Chad would have to give an opinion on another HMS team that wouldn't necessarily be positive. They did discuss when Kyle Busch got loose and bumped Junior on the re-start. Contrary to what a lot of fans think about it being deliberate the panel just thought he got loose. Michael thought he did a great job of not crashing. Junior was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. It was refreshing to listen to a race review that didn't focus mostly on Junior's issues.

I don't recall exactly how it came up but Michael said he had a girlfriend named Tonya in 2nd grade that he says he still thinks about. He got to hold her hand in 5th grade and he joked that he's slow with it and likes to take his time - yeah, right! Later in the show they joked about her calling him but how the rest of the panel who knew him would warn her off, that she was smart to have stayed away from him.

When they played some video of Stremme's spin it was said that he knew he had a flat tire and that he was trying to get to pit road. Michael speculated that maybe secretly Stremme had deliberately brought out the caution by spinning himself. I thought that was an interesting observation which makes me wonder just how many spins aren't as accidental as they may look to us fans.

I didn't pay much attention to the preview of the Phoenix race since I don't have much use for the previews of the upcoming races since they seem very repetitive to me. However, they did mention that awesome race in '05 was mentioned which was the race in which Michael battled Kurt for the win and ultimately finished second. That's probably one of my favorite races ever even though Michael didn't win!

The first fan question was how larger tires and wheels effect the cars. Chad said that the new car doesn't have as much downforce and that there's a lot of stress on the tires and wheels. Larger tires and wheels would give the cars more mechanical grip and could make the racing better. The wheels and tires are very pivotal. The second question was about forward bite. Michael said it's how well the back tires stick to the road when you put the gas down and it's different from being loose.

As usual it was a fun show to watch!

Posted by silverdsl at 10:15 AM | Comments (0)

April 06, 2009

Patrick Carpentier to Race the #99 Nationwide Car for Michael Waltrip Racing?

Jayski has an interesting item that comes from RueFrontenac.com, that apparently (the original item is in French so what Jayski has is a translation) that Patrick Carpentier will race the #99 Nationwide car for Michael Waltrip Racing in the road course race in Montreal and possibly also in the race at Watkins Glen with sponsorship from NAPA Auto Parts. I had saw somewhere that MWR might possibly field the #99 for the race at Montreal which didn't surprise me since that race's title sponsor is NAPA, who of course sponsors Michael Waltrip's #55 Cup car at MWR but there was no indication as to who the driver might be.

I was thinking that driver would likely end up being one of the drivers that MWR is currently working with, maybe Marcos Ambrose or Max Papis since are known for their road course expertise. But I'm excited that Patrick might get a couple of races in the #99. Although he didn't have much success in the brief time he was in Cup he seemed like a good guy so I'm glad that he may get another opportunity in NASCAR with MWR even if it's just on a very limited basis.

I wish I remembered some of the French I learned in High School so that I could read the original article as it's possible that something is being lost in the translation between the article and what ended up on Jayski. I really hope it happens though - I think it would be really cool for Patrick to race for MWR!

Posted by silverdsl at 10:34 PM | Comments (0)

Disappointing Day for Michael Waltrip Racing at Texas

Races like yesterday at Texas for Michael Waltrip Racing are hard for me to blog about. I'd much rather only write positive entries about how wonderful everything is for MWR and how much progress the organization continues to make but other than David Reutimann's 11th place finish yesterday really wasn't such a great day for MWR. The weekend started with a lot of promise when David won the pole for Sunday's race and I think a lot of people thought that this might be the weekend when David ended up in Victory Lane for the first time in his career but it wasn't to be. In addition, it wasn't a very good day for any of the other MWR teams, primary or affiliated.

Let's start with what went right - David won the pole and raced up front for much of the race. But on lap 154 when he was coming in for a pit stop David overshot his pit stall and instead of backing him up, the team started working on the car while it was still out of the box. That resulted in David being penalized a lap. The team was probably operating on instinct - the car's in the stall so they did what they always do and serviced it but Rodney Childers, David's crew chief, should have had the team back the car up. It would have cost them time but David probably wouldn't have lost a lap. While David was able to eventually get his lap back and finish 11th, odds are without that penalty he would have been in the hunt for the win at the end of the race. The #00 is still a young team that doesn't have any experience as a Chase contending team but if they want to remain in a position to be in the Chase at the end of the season they need to minimize costly mistakes like that.

David wasn't the only MWR driver who overshot his pit - apparently the same thing happened to Michael on lap 96. While Michael put the car in reverse so that his team didn't service it while he was out of the box, it cost him a lot of time - and positions. At the time he had been one of the first cars one lap down, a position he had raced very hard to put himself in, and had a good chance of getting his lap back on a subsequent caution, but losing all those positions put him behind quite a few other lapped cars and once the handling of his car went away Michael was unable to get back to where he needed to be to get the Lucky Dog. The car really wasn't to Michael's liking and the handling was particularly poor towards the end of the race so I suppose a top 25 should be considered a decent finish considering what Michael had to race, but Michael really needs to finish better than 24th on a regular basis.

The other issue is that for the first time this season Michael gave Bootie Barker, his crew chief, who he usually works very well with a hard time. Michael was argumentative and difficult and the old communication problems which I think were an issue in the past re-surfaced. I guess it's to be expected because Michael was frustrated that no matter what was done to the car they were never able to get the handling back to what it had been to start the race, and he was probably upset with himself on top of that for overshooting his pit at a particularly bad time. Some fans are concerned that the way Michael acted yesterday is going to chase Bootie away, but Bootie seems to be able to handle Michael very well - he doesn't back down from him, he calms him down and nothing seems to bother him. It's also no secret that Michael can be difficult to deal with at times so Bootie had to know what he was getting himself into when he accepted the job as Michael's crew chief. So I doubt that one race with poor communication is going to ruin things between them. I just hope that Michael doesn't let himself fall into some of the old patterns where it seemed like to those of us listening in that he would let his emotions get the best of him, lash out and try to crew chief from the car instead of focusing on racing. Yesterday wasn't that bad and he did seem to remain focused on what he was doing behind the wheel so hopefully this was just a minor blip on the radar due to frustration.

As for the teams that MWR has technical alliances with none of them fared very well either. Initially it looked like Marcos Ambrose was going to finish extremely well but mechanical issues ruined his race. First his throttle got stuck, then his engine lost a valve and then finally his engine gave up the ghost completely. It's very unfortunate because Marcos's 41st place finish doesn't reflect how well he raced and how until the mechanical issues it appeared he might finish in the top ten. For a driver with so little experience in Cup he continues to impress. Although Max Papis was able to qualify the #13 for Germain Racing into the show, he wasn't able to finish any better than 35th and that he finished that well was probably due to some other cars dropping out. I would guess that maybe that result was due to his inexperience at Texas - Michael said over the radio prior to the race that he had a discussion with Max about how to race on that track and told Ty Norris, his spotter, that Max might need to be reminded via his own spotter if he fell into bad habits. Then there's the #66 - Dave Blaney was in the garage with after less than 50 laps due to "brake" issues - more like Prism put a "brake" on the race for Dave and called him into the garage.

As for the rest of the race, as a fan of Jeff Gordon, I was very happy to see him get his first win since 2007! Unlike some who have written off Jeff as having lost something behind the wheel, I've never stopped believing that he could not only win again but that he would likely contend for a Championship again. That may very well happen this season - he leads in the points and I doubt that this will be his last win in 2009. As happy as i was that Jeff won I thought the overall race was pretty boring. Seemed like there were long stretches in which there wasn't much passing and that doesn't lead to a very compelling race to watch. Unfortunately seems like there's a lot of that this season.

This weekend is an off-weekend for the Cup Series but the Nationwide Series is in action on Saturday at Nashville. Michael is slated to be in the #99 and I hope he's able to erase some of the disappointment from Texas with a great finish in Nashville - sure would love to see him in Victory Lane!

Posted by silverdsl at 01:49 PM | Comments (0)

April 03, 2009

David Reutimann on the Pole at Texas!!

2009 continues to be a success for won the pole for Sunday's Cup race at Texas the second pole of his career! It sure is wonderful to see David and his team continue to do so well this season! It's only a matter of time before David is in Victory Lane. I'm not sure it'll be on Sunday but I'm certain it'll be soon - all the pieces are really coming together for David and his team! I'm not only very happy for David, I'm also very happy for Michael Waltrip and everyone at Michael Waltrip Racing -They went though so much the past few years, it's really terrific to see them finally have things to celebrate! The cars are competitive more often than not, the finishes are much better and overall the organization has made so much progress!

I can't help but think "ha-ha!" in the immortal words of Nelson Muntz from The Simpsons that David not only won the pole and out qualified David Ragan but did so on this particular weekend because apparently UPS is debuting a new ad campaign and series of commercials with their David this weekend. It's very fitting to me that "The Franchise" outshined Ragan for today at least as he has the entire season putting the exclamation point on what's becoming more and more obvious - that perhaps UPS made a mistake when they opted to leave MWR to sponsor Ragan at Roush-Fenway Racing. Perhaps youth doesn't always triumph over older veterans.

The other items of interest from qualifying involved the go-or-go-homers as this was the first weekend that the top 35 and thus the locked in spots were determined by this season's owner's points. It was the first race weekend that Scott Speed had to qualify on time this season and not surprisingly he failed to make the race. I have no idea why Red Bull Racing thinks that the outcome is going to be any different if they keep doing the same thing over and over again - Speed may have some additional experience than A.J. Allmendinger did when RBR threw him in a Cup car and expected him to be success but he still doesn't have enough seat time in my opinion to be able to keep the car in the top 35 and consistently make races when he has to qualify on time. Speed - and Joey Logano - would benefit from spending at least one full season, if not two, in a Nationwide car before being put in a Cup car full-time. I can't help but wonder if RBR would have more success over the long-term if they had given Allmendinger that multi-year contract he was looking for and kept Speed on a lower level for another couple of years, even if it meant that Speed didn't race Cup full-time as soon as they would have liked?

I'm also not surprised that Scott Riggs and Jeremy Mayfield also missed the race. I'm sad for those two drivers and their teams because I'd like to see them make races and do well but I think the challenges of trying to compete at this level with very limited budgets and few resources are probably going to be difficult for them to overcome. Hopefully they'll have the money to keep showing up at the track and both teams will continue to try to make a go of it - if the trails and tribulations of MWR in 2007 showed anything it was that an organization can come back from the brink of disaster and build into a successful organization. But it's not going to be easy for either team since they don't have the resources that even MWR did. Regardless of how things turn out, I applaud both teams for attempting something that a lot of people would be too scared to try.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:20 PM | Comments (0)

April 01, 2009

Steve Hallam, Michael Waltrip Racing's Director of Competition on Sirius

Seems like it's been quite some time since there's been an interview on Sirius with someone from Michael Waltrip Racing to recap. David Reutimann is a guest on Dave Moody's show every Tuesday but as much as I like David it seems that he doesn't often have much to say of substance that's recap worthy. So I was happy to hear that Steve Hallam, MWR's Director of Competition, was going to be a guest on "The Morning Drive" on Sirius this morning, particularly since I've never heard an interview with him before.

One of the first questions for Steve was about the differences between F1 (where he worked for many years prior to joining MWR) and NASCAR. Steve seemed to be trying to show how it's similar - said racing is all about the people that make up the team and that no matter what form of racing it is, the cars are difficult and that there are no perfect cars. There's always limitations and it's up to the people to extract the maximum performance from the cars. How you go about that is dependent on the boundaries and regulations in that particular series. That led to him being asked about the differences between the boundaries - in F1 the material constraints are defined but less, they can have on-board data systems in F1 but can't in NASCAR. The challenge is still the same though. He didn't say it but I have to wonder whether the challenges are greater in NASCAR because they don't allow the on-board data systems and because they aren't as technologically advanced in some areas as they are in F1.

Steve said that the attention to detail at McLaren where he spent the last ten years was the key to their success. They had a really detailed approach to racing which became embedded in his DNA and that's what he brings to MWR. What he's been doing is looking at where at MWR that attention to detail can be applied. .He repeated that it's about the people, that if they have the will to win they'll be successful - Michael certainly has the will to win and so do his drivers!

David Poole brought up how the public perception of Michael is often that he's just a big goofball jokester but when you understand that he built a race team from the ground up and got it to this point you realize that he has to be very dedicated and that maybe not a lot of people see that part of him. Steve agreed and said that Michael is very charismatic. That he inspires a lot of loyalty from the people at MWR and that there's a lot of passion - people really want Michael to succeed. The way Michael is perceived as opposed to what the reality is (and the same for other drivers) is a topic I've touched on in this space before so I won't get into again other than to say that I think it's unfortunate that because Michael likes to entertain people he's often dismissed and not given the respect he deserves.

The next question was about whether there's a culture clash that Steve has to deal with coming to NASCAR. Steve said there can be. Basically he said it was about attitude. If you're arrogant and act like it's better somewhere else it won't work. So have to have a common sense approach. The focus is on the cars, finishing races, listening to the drivers and adjusting the cars to their needs, as well as on making the cars better, more consistent and marshaling the resources at MWR each week. Basically he's trying to work with everyone at MWR as a team and not impose himself and his way of doing things on them in a way that's going to rub people the wrong way because that wouldn't be productive.

He and his wife enjoy living in Charlotte - they used to live on the outskirts of London. He looks forward to going to work every day. They just got a rescue dog and his wife is spending a lot of time imposing the family will on the dog.

The interview ended with Steve saying that racing never stands still, what's good one day might not be the next and the important thing is to keep the development going. Which I have to think is one of the biggest challenges in racing is that your work is never done - the other teams are always trying to make gains so you have to as well to keep up. Those gains might be measured in the tiniest of fractions but they can end up making a big difference.

I'm glad that MWR was able to hire Steve - odds are that he's a big part of why they've made so much progress and are racing so well this season.

Posted by silverdsl at 02:48 PM | Comments (0)

March 31, 2009

New Forum and New Design For michaelwaltrip.com

For the past four or five years there's been a fan forum on michaelwaltrip.com that's been the online home for the Wal-Nutz, aka Michael Waltrip fans. But for the past two years even though many fans have wanted to join the forum, registration has been closed to new members - until now that is. A re-design of michaelwaltrip.com has brought with it a brand-new fan forum that is open to any fan who wants to be a part of the fun! The forum has been open for less than 24 hours and there's already been an influx of new and returning fans - not just Wal-Nutz but also fans of the other Michael Waltrip Racing drivers, and hopefully a lot more fans will join!

The Wal-Nutz are essentially Michael's fan club members. Really though any fan of Michael can be considered one of the Wal-Nutz since all of Michael's fans are Nuts about him! Sometimes people are surprised by just how many fans Michael has but he really has a huge fanbase. The Nutz are very active when it comes to supporting Michael - there are projects for his birthday, holidays, at other special times and sometimes just because. The Wal-Nutz write weekly messages for Michael that are delivered to him at the track. One of the Nutz puts together a monthly newsletter with news and information about Michael and MWR. In addition, over the past three years, the Nutz have raised a total of $10,000 for two different charitable causes that Michael supports. Of course the Nutz also cheer loudly and proudly for Michael and his drivers, buy merchandise and support NAPA Auto Parts and all of the MWR sponsors.

Prior to the formation of the Wal-Nutz I was never into organized groups of fans that named themselves. In some cases it seemed like some fans got a sense of elitism or entitlement as if those fans in some groups thought they were better than other fans or some would use it as an excuse to bully other fans. But that's none of that is the case with the Wal-Nutz. They're a fun group who welcome everyone! They are friends to each other and friends to Michael as well, never wavering in their loyalty even when times were tough. It's really a pleasure to be one of the Wal-Nutz and I hope that now that the forum is open to new members again, we'll gain a lot more Nutz!

Posted by silverdsl at 10:50 AM | Comments (0)

This Week in NASCAR with Michael Waltrip and Greg Biffle (3/30)

Not only was Michael Waltrip on This Week in NASCAR last night, he was also in the booth for the truck race earlier in the day on SPEED. Steve Byrnes called Michael a media animal, and I'd say it's just that Michael isn't about to turn down an opportunity to do something he very much enjoys - call the truck race, nor did he want to miss TWiN (nor would SPEED want him to miss TWiN since he is the show). Michael said that if they want him to talk about racing, sit him down, sign him up and he's in! Which is a very good thing for all of us fans of his! I liked that TWiN didn't ignore the fact that the Truck race just took place even though it's a lower series and started off with a brief discussion of that race - Michael thought it was awesome, a great race between Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick.

After touching on the truck race they started talking about the Cup race. I've seen some criticism that this show doesn't cover the Nationwide or Truck Series enough and I agree somewhat since the title of the show is This Week in NASCAR, not This Week in Cup. However, the reality is that the majority of fans tuning in care far more about what happens in the Cup race and the panelists are either Cup drivers or crew chiefs. So focusing on the Cup race and then only briefly discussing the other race(s) each weekend seems appropriate to me.

Greg had another bad race. Though they tested a lot at Rockingham Greg felt that not having much practice really hurt his team and they were never able to get the car where they needed it to be. His brakes were great he's not sure he ever got going fast enough to use them! Some of Michael's fans were probably worried based on the first practice as to how he was going to do at Martinsville since he was slow but all the MWR cars felt the way they were supposed to feel when they unloaded. He said they never made any qualifying runs in practice (probably because they knew qualifying was going to get rained out), just focused on their race set-up and were confident that they would be where they needed to be for Sunday and they were.

Michael said it was a great battle between Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin for the lead and that Jimmie did an amazing job. He tried to stay off Denny, lost his car, hit the curb, hits Denny and still was able to drive off with the lead. Both Greg and Michael agreed that if you're going to hit someone you better make sure that you can drive away at least until they calm down. Michael thought it was an amazing display of car control and determination by both drivers. There was some video from Chad Knaus in which he said how things looked bleak for their team at the beginning and they had to make a bunch of pit stops to get the car where it needed to be which shows why a team, driver, and the fans should never give up because you never know what might happen. Michael brought up how it was the 25th anniversary of Rick Hendrick's first win at Martinsville and how everyone loves Mr. Hendrick because he's a special person. Everyone in the garage area that is - there are still quite a few fans who can't stand Rick Hendrick and probably never will like him.

Steve pointed out that organizationally Hendrick Motorsports has it figured out at Martinsville and Greg said that Michael's cars also ran well there. When an organization has it figured out they share among all the teams. Next week Michael said they're going somewhere - Texas - where Roush has it figured out. He thinks it's strange that Roush can't get short tracks figured out so far. During a discussion of the points standings the panel noted how well Clint Bowyer is doing in spite of being with what is essentially a brand-new race team and Michael said that again, it points to the organizational strength and how Clint is able to lean on his teammates. Maybe on Kevin Harvick, but (surprisingly to me) the results haven't been too good for Casey Mears at Richard Childress Racing so far. Michael said it's also because Clint is an awesome race car driver which is true, but I can't help but think Michael is way too charitable towards Clint no matter how true his comments may be considering what Clint's said about him in the past.

There was some discussion of the penalty give to Matt Kenseth when the tire got away and out of his pit box during a pit stop and how upset his crew chief was about it. I had a hard time following what they were saying but Greg and Michael were unsure of the rule so Steve clarified that the team was penalized because they lost control of the tire and that rule is in place so that guys don't run into tires on pit road. I was surprised that Greg and Michael seemed confused about the rule since I would have thought that the drivers would be familiar with everything in the rule book, even things that relate to pit stops.

Steve said that he had written down at that point in the race "Almirola spins again" and Michael commented that isn't what you want written by your name. He had told Macy before the race that he just wants to make sure he's not involved in any cautions all day long. So after the race Macy said that he brought out the first caution all on his own and that it was an example of 11 year olds brutal honesty. Maybe Michael didn't want to be involved in any cautions but as it turned out things worked out fine for the #55 team and he was able to race his way to a fine finish!

During the segment where they play the audio from the drivers, they played the heated discussion between Kurt Busch and Roger Penske that's gotten some attention. Kurt was complaining about how bad the car was, how the cars have regularly been bad and how nothing they do seems to make it any better. Roger basically didn't want to hear it, saying that "we don't need a lot of rhetoric that's always negative." I can't help but think that maybe if Roger doesn't want to hear so much negativity from his driver he should be sure he's doing everything he can to ensure he has competitive cars to race on a regular basis. Kurt is complaining because he's not going to be satisfied unless he's contending for and winning races every week. The panel agreed that it was heat of the battle emotion. Michael said that the team dominated at Atlanta so obviously they can get it right. The intensity at Martinsville is turned up more than at some other tracks. You're looking for 1/100th of a second to keep from people running you over. It's very hard to find and it's frustrating. Greg seemed to understand where Kurt was coming from (maybe because I've heard that he's also been known to lash out at his team/owner during bad races). He said that when it's a bad day sometimes there's no way to make it better and it's frustrating. You don't always want someone to be a cheerleader, especially when you're already giving 110% and you know it's not going to matter.

There was another brief review of the truck race and an explanation of why Kyle got penalized at the end of the race. The panel agreed that no matter why Kyle crossed the commitment line, he's deserved the penalty he got because a rule is a rule. It's like at a basketball game if you step out of bounds you can't claim that you didn't mean to do it and get away with it. I may have missed them talking about it but I was happy that TWiN kept the focus on the racing and didn't bring up Kyle's temper tantrum (which has been made into a bigger deal that it warrants, imo).

There was a preview of Texas but I usually don't pay attention to this part of the show as it often repeats whatever they've said in past previews for that track. I did hear Michael say that the fun thing about Texas is the fans, how they've started showing up already and how the teams feed off of the fans excitement.

One of the fans questions was whether drivers wear mouthpieces and Michael said no, but they showed some video of Kyle Busch taking out a mouthpiece. Michael referenced his wreck at Michigan in '92 that resulted in him getting eight stitches when he bit through his lip and then showed off his scar.The next question was what the blue flag with the yellow diagonal stripe means - Greg said that's the flag they were giving him at Martinsville and that it means you're too slow, faster cars are coming up behind you, get out of the way. Michael said that no one pays attention to it even though it's displayed all the time during the race.

Though I prefer when Chad's on, overall it was a good show!

Posted by silverdsl at 09:49 AM | Comments (0)

March 29, 2009

Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann on Their Finishes at Martinsville

After the race both Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann commented on the way they finished at Martinsville. Not surprisingly Michael was a lot more positive and happy about his finish than David was.

Michael said about battling back to get the lucky dog three times after spinning on lap 21,

"[The team] did a great job. To battle back from being down a lap three times and race back on the lead lap was great. I am so proud of my team. They prepared a good car for me. That’s how this deal works – I want top-10 finishes bad."

The team from driver to crew chief to pit crew did indeed do a great job! The competitiveness of the cars that Michael is racing has improved a lot but so has the performance of the team as a whole. They work much better together and I think they are much stronger on pit stops than they used to be. A lot of that probably has to do with good leadership from Bobby Kennedy to Bootie Barker to Michael himself and others, the #55 team has really started to gel into a solid team that's capable of good results on a regular basis! I want to see Michael get those top ten finishes as badly as he wants them! He came close today!

Post-race David wasn't pleased with getting spun by David Stremme. He said,

“We just got run over by a lapped car that had his eyes rolled back in his head and ran over us for no reason. It’s disappointing when you run top-10 all day and you don’t really touch anybody all day for Martinsville and then have somebody spin you out. That’s hard to take, but we’ll just move on.”

The truth is that David did touch someone since contact between he and Carl Edwards much earlier in the race resulted in a cut tire for the #99 which sent him to the pits and ruined the race for him. But I can definitely understand being upset about getting run over by Stremme. I would still like to know why David lost so many spots after that pit stop since that was what put him in position to be racing Stremme there.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:52 PM | Comments (0)

Good Day for Michael Waltrip Racing at Martinsville; All Three Teams Finish in the Top 20!

Solid day for Michael Waltrip Racing at Martinsville - all three teams finished in the top 20! It's funny how things turn out - in the first half of the race it looked like David Reutimann and Marcos Ambrose were in line to finish in the top ten and that Michael Waltrip might have a poor finish but by the end of the race Michael was the top finishing MWR car in 13th!

Michael and the #55 team did a really outstanding job of rebounding from an early spin that put Michael as deep in the field as 42nd at one point to finish 13th! Michael was very down on himself when he spun, saying that he made a mistake, then after he got back on the lead lap he went down a lap, had to race his way into position for the lucky dog a second time, got a cut tire and still raced his way into the top 15! If I had to pick one word to sum up the day for Michael and his team it would be perseverance. No matter what happened Michael and his team didn't let it defer them from a good finish! Michael said after he spun that he was going to put it behind him and finish in the top ten, that's almost what he did, in fact if not for that late cut tire he probably would have had the time to race his way into the top ten. After a couple of weeks in which the #55 team struggled it was good to see even though there were a few problems that things came together for them. Michael had a competitive car with speed and was able to race with it and Bootie Barker and the rest of the team did a great job of making the right changes so that the car stayed good and even got better as the race went along. Bootie also did a terrific job of complimenting Michael and giving him encouragement. Although it might not be the top ten finish that Michael wanted, I still think it was a finish to be happy with!

David spent most of the day in the top ten but during a late pit stop he lost seven or eight spots, restarting the race in 17th. Not long afterwards he spun which put him a lap down. Ultimately though David made up a couple of spots he wasn't able to finish any better than 20th, a disappointing finish considering how well he had raced for the majority of the race. I'm interested in finding out what happened on that pit stop because there must have been something that caused him to lose so many spots. Even though David didn't finish as well as it looked like he was going to early on, I'm not that upset because yet again David raced up front and looked to have an extremely competitive car. It's only a matter of time before he wins a race!

Marcos also spent a lot of time in the top ten before losing some spots as the race went along. Even though he wasn't able to hang on for a top ten, finishing 14th is still a finish to be extremely satisfied with considering how limited his Cup experience is. I'm so impressed with Marcos! Seems like just about every week he shows he can race competitively at all kinds of tracks, including tracks like Martinsville, where as far as I can tell he's never raced on before in Cup or even in the Nationwide Series.

Today was a very good points day for the MWR teams. David remains in 11th in the points which means that he would be in the Chase if the season were to end now. By finishing 13th Michael moved himself up four spots in the points to 17th - might not seem very good to some but considering the way he's finished in the points the past few years I would be very happy if Michael finished the season in the top 20 in points. Marcos also moved up a few spots to 21st - that's very good for a driver in his first full season in Cup!

I'm not sure what to expect for MWR next weekend at Texas, but hopefully it'll be another good weekend where all three teams race competitively and finish well!

Posted by silverdsl at 06:35 PM | Comments (0)

March 24, 2009

"This Week in NASCAR" With Michael Waltrip and Chad Knaus

Not a transcript of every comment that was made on the show or anything but a recap of some of the things that jumped out at me for those who weren't able to watch last night's This Week in NASCAR on SPEED. Tonight's panel featured Michael Waltrip and Chad Knaus - they have evolved into a great team and as much as I like Greg Biffle, I look forward to the shows that Michael and Chad do together since those are usually the funniest, most informative and most fun. Last night's show definitely lived up to the promise!

As usual Steve Byrnes started out by asking the panel members about their race weekend and he specifically brought up the fine performance by Marcos Ambrose who spent the entire race up front, including quite a few laps in the top five. Michael said that he loved watching what Marcos did - so did all the Michael Waltrip Racing fans! Both Marcos and David Reutimann had cars they loved at Bristol, Michael not so much. He never had a car that handled right and he wiped one out - unfortunately the second car was even worse. He said that it's confusing as a driver-owner when he's out there battling and his car won't do what he wants it to do but then he has a couple of cars he owns in the top five and top ten. I'd think that must be confusing and frustrating for any driver, not just one who is also an owner, to see teammates racing well with a competitive car when they have an ill-handling car. Michael said that he wouldn't trade if if he could and that he's very proud of everyone at MWR. One thing Michael never mentioned unless I didn't hear it is the cut tire he got which put him a number of laps down. Maybe he didn't want to make any excuses for finishing 32nd but a lot of fans were wondering what happened since it was never mentioned during the broadcast of the race on TV and not everyone has Trackpass to listen in on the team's radio communications.

Jimmie Johnson finished 3rd at Bristol, his best finish of the season so far, so it was no surprise that Chad said that this past weekend was the best weekend they had all season from start to finish. They had a lot of fun all weekend - I guess that's what happens when a team has a great car that they know is going to be competitive and fast on race day. It was the first time at Bristol that they enjoyed the race. Chad was proud to take home second.

Next they went to some video of Greg Biffle in his hauler talking about his weekend which unfortunately didn't go as well as Chad's did. First Greg went fishing at night last weekend - and I too wonder like the panel what he was fishing for at night - and he slipped on the deck and hurt his ribs which meant he couldn't race in the Nationwide race. Then he was racing in the top ten or twelve all night in the Cup race and his engine failed. Greg said that in relation to his ribs at that point it was the best he felt all weekend but that the next morning it might be a different story. I like that they're checking in with the other panel members post-race even if they aren't on that week's show in the studio.

Chad commented that there's been quite a few engine failures like they haven't seen in the past and he thinks it has to do with how the teams haven't been testing. He said that the teams aren't able to take the engine packages they're using to the track and run miles on them. While I think he has a good point that the teams aren't fully able to test the engine packages they're using this season on the tracks where they'll be racing them, all the teams are still testing, they're just not doing it on NASCAR sanctioned tracks. Does it make that much of a difference when it comes to the engines what track they're testing them on?

Of course the discussion soon turned to Kyle Busch and they joked about how "Y'all better watch him because he has the potential to turn into something." Much to a lot of fans dismay, Kyle is definitely "something" all right! Michael said that Kyle showed up good. He said that you can't learn this stuff, it has to come natural, which to me is what makes Kyle so impressive (and may be part of why so many fans can't stand him) is that while there are many talented drivers, I think there's something a little extra special about Kyle's ability and how he often makes winning look easy. Michael remembers Kyle racing Joe Nemechek's Nationwide car at Darlington in one of his first starts in that series ever, how it was five laps to go and Kyle was in 2nd right in front of him and Michael couldn't do anything with him even though he had a competitive car (and Kyle was new).

Michael said that Marcos Ambrose also got to NASCAR and knew how to drive the cars meanwhile some from other forms of racing don't get it and never do. However, like Kyle, Marcos got it right from the start. Even the fans noticed pretty quick that Marcos in spite of limited Cup experience knows how to race the cars. What's impressive to me is that Marcos is able to race well on a variety of tracks, not just road course races. As he gains more experience we could see some great things from Marcos!

In the past some have felt that Michael doesn't like Kyle (or his brother Kurt) much but Michael was very complimentary of him last night saying that he's fun to watch, though it would be a lot funner if everyone wasn't getting beat by him. The panel pointed out that the Busch family is undefeated for like a month or as Michael put it no one's "beat the Busches."

Just about every week so far this season there's been some talk about how packed the stands have been despite the economy, even at tracks where ticket sales have been soft. Michael said that Bristol is an economy buster and that people need their Bristol. Steve Brynes pointed out that Bristol sold out for the 54th time in a row. I understand that they're trying to put a positive spin on things but let's get real. Bristol wasn't sold out until the day before the race which is in sharp contrast to previous years when it was impossible to get a ticket and fans put their season ticket rights in their wills. My guess is that the reason that Bristol was able to say that it was a sell out was due to giving away or offering deep discounts on their remaining tickets, just like every other track has been doing. What gets me is that I've seen it said that supposedly one problem for Bristol was that they had sold out for so long that they had no idea how to go about selling tickets. That really amazed me because it's essential whether it's a track or a retail company to be prepared not just for when things are going well and sales are strong but also for when things go bad, because eventually they will. I can't help but wonder how many others involved in the sport always assumed that because the money was flowing freely in the sport whether from fans or sponsors, it always would be and weren't prepared for the effects of the poor economy and other issues the sport is facing.

In relation to the incident between himself and Todd Bodine, Michael said that all he heard was "clear, clear." Oops! He said that he trusts Ty (Norris) his spotter because he's been his spotter for years and never lets him down. Well, usually doesn't let him down. Just like to race on the Cup level you have to have a lot of ability I think the same is true for the spotters in Cup as well but of course just like the drivers sometimes make mistakes, occasionally the spotters do as well. Michael said that Todd got his nose in there and he (Michael) wasn't aware of it, that if you're out there racing you better know that the guy you're passing knows you're there. Michael said he had his nose in several holes but realized he might not quite fit (why does that sound so dirty to me? LOL!) You have to be very defensive he said, especially early. Michael shouldn't feel too bad about wrecking Todd since Todd's done it to him. Chad said he noticed that there was no give during the race, that no one would give up a spot and that they were racing for every inch.

Something interesting that Michael mentioned is that apparently the Toyota engineers give their teams big reports with the history of the race which includes information about trends when it comes to cautions, the way times fall off, pit road strategy, etc... and that it's amazing how well they can predict what's going to happen. I would have thought that every manufacturer would do similar reports but according to Chad they don't get anything like that from GM and he jokingly asked Michael if he could get it. Michael's response naturally - "Can't work with you on that!"

They talked about how it was a tough day for the Roush-Fenway Racing teams which shows how set-up sensitive organizations can be as a whole.The Joe Gibbs Racing teams and Hendrick Motorsports teams mostly had their packages together but not Roush, who have had a lot of success at Bristol in the past, whose best driver on Sunday was Carl Edwards who finished 14th. So according to the panel when an organization gets on it they spread it among the other cars but it works the other way too - when they miss it, that too can spread among the other cars.

After some discussion about how important pit crews are and that there's so much emphasis these days on the pit crews because if they're off by even a 1/16th of a second on something it can throw everything off, they turned their attention to the photo of Kyle and his car behind them, specifically how it said "satisflying" on the side of his car. None of them had any idea what that meant. Michael being Michael got silly and stuck his face in the shot with a goofy smile on his face. Michael never misses an opportunity to try to get a laugh and that's one of the many reasons his fans love him! Later in the show Michael got a text from Kyle explaining that "satisflying" was part of a Snickers promotion and that it was hard to understand if you haven't seen the commercial - no kidding! On one hand if it gets people talking and prompts them to do a Google search for what satisflying means, it's a successful promotion, but if it just confuses people and they don't take the time to find out what it is or watch the commercial maybe it's not such a great promotion after all.

After they listened to the audio highlights from the radio communication, Michael once again said how much he enjoyed listening to that segment. He said that he lives in that world, where you push the button and can say all these words and no one can beat you up about it. It's like you're on an island so you feel pretty invincible. Gee, I wonder if he's read some of the criticism of late of Kyle and some of the other drivers for lashing out over their radios? Michael would love to see a whole show with highlights from the different drivers. He thinks it would be entertaining to hear the emotion and hear where the drivers are mentally. I think it would also give extra insight into what went on with the teams and drivers in a way we don't normally get during the TV broadcasts since they only play a limited amount of audio clips from the team communications.

Next there was a lot of discussion previewing Martinsville, about how important brakes are and all. I admit when they preview the next race, I often don't listen as closely as I do to other segments in the show since it seems like there often isn't any new information that's given since they've been down this road with previewing races at these tracks in the past.

The Legends race at Bristol was briefly discussed and Steve did a spot-on imitation of Sterling Marlin who won the race. Michael said that one thing he loves the most about the sport is that there's a lot of living history. He can go up to Richard Petty or Harry Gant and they race at a track like Martinsville. Thing is, sometimes I think NASCAR could do a better job when it comes to the history of the sport which might happen once the Hall of Fame opens. I think there are a lot of fans - and some of the young drivers - who don't really know anything about the history of the sport or of the accomplishments of the drivers who came before those who are currently racing. I couldn't help but think of last year's Old Timer's Day at Yankee Stadium and how cool it was to see all the former Yankees who came to put on the pinstripes in the old stadium one last time.

The panel answered a couple of questions from fans including one about the treaded tires that teams have in the garage area. Michael said those are used tires that Goodyear grooves and returns to the teams for them to tow the cars around on but that they can't race on them. I had no idea that there were special tires for that use - one cool thing about TWiN is learning things I never knew before!

Good show last night!

Posted by silverdsl at 08:00 AM | Comments (1)

March 22, 2009

Michael Waltrip Finishes 32nd at Bristol Due to a Cut Tire; Other MWR Teams do Well

I always prefer to start out with something positive and there definitely were positives today for Michael Waltrip Racing but since the TV broadcast never mentioned why Michael Waltrip ended up six laps down and a lot of people were wondering, in case anyone stops by this space looking for an explanation, I'll start off by saying Michael finished 32nd because he had a tire go down and had to pit under green and then had to come back in because of a loose or missing lugnut. It was unfortunate timing because just after he got back on track for good the caution flew when Brian Vickers got a blown tire. Michael didn't have as good of a car as his teammates had and was a lap down when his tire went down so he wasn't going to finish up front but he did seem to be able to make forward progress so odds are his finish was going to be significantly better than it was.

Very disappointing that Michael struggled for the second race in a row after starting the season so well. He's 21st in points which is much better than he was at this time the past few seasons and he doesn't have to worry about having to race his way into races which is definitely something to be happy about but I'm sure he was still hoping to be able to continue his strong start to the season.

Before I get into talking about the other MWR teams I have to express my frustration that the TV broadcast never mentioned that Michael cut a tire. I think that does a tremendous disservice to the drivers, the teams and their fans when they have problems - or when things go right - and it's never mentioned. It's said that a teams needs to make themselves part of the story of the race to be talked about on the broadcast but it seems to me that when something happens like a cut tire and the driver ends up multiple laps down it's part of the story of the race. I knew what happened to Michael because I was listening to his radio via Trackpass but a lot of fans don't subscribe to Trackpass so many are probably still wondering what happened to him. Not only are some of Michael's fans in the dark but some of those who don't like Michael, who look for any excuse to insult him will make him finishing laps down to be about his lack of talent when in reality the issue was something completely out of his control, that had nothing to do with ability behind the wheel. As I've said a million times, not every team can be mentioned all the time, but maybe if the TV broadcasts made more of an issue to cover when something does happen to a team that's worthy of being discussed then more fans would be tuning in each week.

If the #55 team was disappointed, the #00 and #47 teams surely weren't! In a surprise to almost everyone Marcos Ambrose spent almost the entire race in the top ten, including quite a few laps in the top five. Finishing 10th isn't a career best for him since he finished 3rd at Watkins Glen last year but it's his best finish on a non-road course track and I think it's a sign that Marcos is going to be able to race well on a variety of tracks which means he may end up developing into a very good Cup driver once he gains more experience on this level. That would be outstanding for both JTG-Daugherty Racing and MWR - I'm very happy that so far their alliance is working out extremely well! With his 10th place finish Marcos moved into 24th in points.

David Reutimann also spent quite a bit of time in the top ten, only losing some positions towards the end of the race. I suspect he may be a little disappointed to "only" finish 12th but it's good enough to move him up to 11th in points. I can't help but notice that once again David Ragan was a non-factor in this race and his 27th place finish drops him to 26th in points. I wonder what UPS is thinking now? Sure, it's still early in the season and things can change in a hurry but the longer MWR's David stays in Chase contention and the longer Roush's David looks like he may not live up to the hype - this season at least - the more I have to wonder if UPS has any regrets. Aaron's has to be thrilled with the amount of exposure they're getting since the #00 has been shown and talked about in every single race. Meanwhile the #6 is almost invisible on broadcasts.

Hopefully next weekend in Martinsville the #00 and #47 teams will race as well as they did this weekend and the #55 team will be up front with them!

Posted by silverdsl at 06:44 PM | Comments (0)

March 10, 2009

This Week in NASCAR on SPEED With Michael Waltrip and Greg Biffle (2/9)

The best episodes of This Week in NASCAR on SPEED are those in which the panel spends a lot of time offering insights in the events of each race and discussing various issues that are raised by what happens each race weekend or in the sport in general as opposed to just recapping each race. Last night's show was a strong one and not only were there some interesting things said by both Michael Waltrip and Greg Biffle but there were things that were talked about that I wouldn't have known about without watching the show.

There was a lot of good discussion and explanation about the issues that most teams faced in regards to handling. It definitely wasn't just Michael who was struggling with an ill-handling car, many of the other drivers were as well. Greg said that he had a "humbling day," that his car was very loose and that everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Michael said that every driver out there was sideways other than Kurt and that his car was unmanageable. He sounded happy to have finished 25th, saying that they "minimized the damage." He said that he messed up at Vegas by "hopping the cushion" and getting into the wall when his car got tight so he told his guys that he was going to be smart this week and not screwup so I took that to mean he drove like a little old lady who can't see over the steering wheel to be sure he didn't wreck. I'm not sure that a lot of fans realized how many teams were struggling with handling issues during the race and that the time when drivers wiggled and got sideways wasn't a reflection of a lack of ability or a mistake on that driver's part but was a product of the conditions under which all the drivers were racing.

Greg said that the handling problems might be partially his fault because he took part in the tire test that Goodyear had at Atlanta and the tires during the test were great. However, they went back for the race and the first run off the truck and they couldn't drive it. It's difficult for Goodyear to do the tire tests under the right conditions. Steve pointed out that the test was done when it was 30 degrees out and it was the high 70's during the race. Michael said that no one should hop on Goodyear's back, the track's worn out (which I guess contributed to the issues). He likes a worn track but would have liked to have had more grip during the race. I had absolutely no idea that the tire test took place under such radically different conditions, and wouldn't have known if they hadn't talked about it last night. It highlights a problem with testing in that Goodyear may get great feedback from the drivers who take part in their tests and may develop the perfect tire on the basis of that information but if the track conditions are different when the race is run the "perfect" tire may not be so perfect anymore and there may not be much that can be done about it.

In relation to the incident with the crew member from the #47 running out to get the tire, NASCAR would have had to throw a caution for the tire regardless of whether the crew members chased it but they would have waited until the pits cycled through had the crew member not gone after it - him doing that meant they had to throw the caution immediately. Michael (who may be biased since this crew member is kind of a Michael Waltrip Racing employee given the close alliance between JTG-Daugerty Racing and MWR) said that incident didn't really matter as it was early enough that if you had a good car you could recover - there are many drivers and fans who would disagree with him on that! I also think that when there's only six cars on the lead lap and most of the field is one and two laps down, it's hard for a team to salvage a lead lap finish up front at that point, especially considering the handling issues many of them were dealing with.

There was some video shown of Tony Stewart getting into Joey Logano and to the credit of the panel no one harped on it or tried to portray it as Tony sending a message to the driver who replaced him in the #20 as I suspect some fans are thinking. Based on some of his comments in the past Tony doesn't seem to always have a lot of respect for rookies so I would guess that bumping Joey was more about not having much patience for a rookie racing in front of him rather than it being about the team he used to race for.

I thought it was interesting that Greg more than once brought up how he thought that David Ragan would give him a break and give a little more in light of them being teammates than he did. Greg excused him by saying how much the cars slide around and all but since Greg mentioned it more than once the way David raced him was clearly something that bothered him and I wonder if there's going to be a discussion at the shop about it between them?

There was some discussion about the pit crews and how much pressure they put on themselves, particularly in relation to trying to gain positions on pit road. That means they they're trying their hardest to be perfect on multiple stops during the race but anything can happen. Michael said that there are 20 lugnuts on every stop and that it's amazing that there aren't more lugnuts that fall off - that is amazing! Fans get upset and rip their favorite driver's pit crew when they leave a lugnut loose but in reality the vast majority of time more than a hundred lugnuts per team per race get put on the car perfectly.

Michael joked that Kurt's backwards victory lap was like his car felt going forward!

Every week on TWiN they play some of the audio from a variety of drivers and some of the audio they played this week was between Carl Edwards and his crew chief, Bob Osborne, when Carl took the lead out of the pits late in the race. Carl expressed some doubt that he could hang on for the win but Bob said something along the lines of "I believe you can do it, you're a wheel man, you'll make it happen." I was reminded of the way that "Bootie" Barker talks to Michael (and Tony Eury, Jr. in the past) and how much confidence Bootie always expresses in his driver. You don't hear that from every crew chief in relation to their driver but I think it's important for a driver to hear that kind of positive reenforcement and know that their crew chief believes in their ability behind the wheel.

I admit that I often don't pay close attention when they preview the next race on TWiN. It often comes off as a promo for that race and there often isn't a lot that's said that can't be found elsewhere. But Michael made note of how many interesting stories there are "back there" in relation to the top 35, how the #71 team is in, Mark Martin is just barely in, and how unless something really good happens for him at Bristol it looks like Scott Speed is going to start having to qualify for races on time. It's true that there are a lot of interesting stories to be told about those teams and I hope that FOX agrees with Michael about that and gives some of those teams some coverage.

Michael said that winning at Bristol is a big deal, that he won with his Nationwide team based out of his backyard there a few years ago and it meant more to the guys on the team than if they won the Daytona 500. Michael likes the changes that have been made to Bristol because he likes to race and doesn't like all the caution flags - I know a lot of my fellow fans feel that it makes for boring races, particularly since as Greg noted it's still hard to pass, but I also don't love all those caution flags. I don't watch racing to see carnage, I watch racing to see... racing!

Greg has a quiet off-week planned but it's going to be a busy week for Michael. He's testing at Rockingham (with David Reutimann, a test that's allowed because the Rock no longer hosts a NASCAR race), he's going to Washington D.C. (for something for NAPA which is apparently going to involve a reception with some members of Congress), and then he's going to California to tape My Name is Earl. Hope Michael gets to do some relaxing during his "off" week/weekend at some point!

Posted by silverdsl at 03:56 PM | Comments (0)

Michael Waltrip to Appear on "My Name is Earl"

I can't believe it took me this long to mention in this space that Michael Waltrip is going to be on My Name is Earl! That piece of news was posted on Michael's Facebook page recently and I immediately got very excited - it took me a while, but Earl has become one of my favorite sitcoms and it's crazy sense of humor is perfect for Michael! What's really great is that apparently Michael will be playing himself and will have a decent sized speaking role! According to what was posted in "his" (clearly not written by Michael but instead a reworked version of what he says on TWiN each week with some occasional extra material) blog on the NAPA Auto Parts site, the episode that Michael will be on will be shown on Thursday, April 30 - Michael's birthday! How cool is that? From what he said on TWiN last night he's going out to California at the end of the week to tape the show - good thing it's an off-weekend!

I wonder how often Michael gets asked to appear on non-NASCAR TV shows and especially on shows like this? I suspect he gets a lot of requests in general and that they only pick the ones that will create the biggest opportunity for exposure on a National level for NAPA. It's probably tough to fit a lot of appearances on TV shows into Michael's schedule particularly since many shows tape in California. Might not even be easy to get to a taping for a show that films in New York either depending on where he's racing that particular week.

I've always thought that Michael has good acting skills. He's naturally funny and seems to be able to slip into whatever role is required of him. If the Earl writers "get" Michael and write his lines to fit his personality and the way he normally is, I think his appearance on that show is going to be great! I can't wait!

Posted by silverdsl at 03:37 PM | Comments (0)

Ron Capps is in the Michael Waltrip NAPA Auto Parts Commericals

When I checked my site stats a little while ago I discovered that numerous people had ended up on my blog while searching for some variation of "who is in the new NAPA commercials with Michael Waltrip?" Presumably those people are talking about Ron Capps, who NAPA Auto Parts sponsors in the NHRA. I'm trying to remember whether either Michael or Ron is named in the new commericals that have been airing this season but if they haven't been seems like at least Ron needs to be addressed by name because quite a few people apparently have no clue who he is. Which is very unfortunate because Ron won the first two NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series events this season and has 27 wins overall on the national level so he's a talented and successful driver in that series.

I wonder if NHRA fans are asking who is in the NAPA commercials with Ron Capps? Some how I doubt it. Everyone seems to always know who Michael is and as much as NAPA may be trying to create a campaign around Ron that goes beyond the NHRA the star of those commericals is Michael and always will be no matter who else is in the commericals. If at some point NAPA does commericals without Michael they will never get the same kind of attention that commericals with Michael get - he's just that good and that funny. Ron may have won more this season but Michael seems to get more attention - as I've always said whether people like Michael or not everyone seems to pay attention to him.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:04 PM | Comments (0)

March 09, 2009

Not a Good Weekend for Michael Waltrip Racing at Atlanta

Michael Waltrip Racing started off the season very strong but this weekend in Atlanta was the first weekend all season in which all three teams performed poorly. Both the #00 and #47 teams experienced engine woes, in the case of the #47 a terminal engine issue, a crew member from the #47 was involved in a pivotal race changing incident on pit road and the #55 was so ill-handling that Michael Waltrip could barely race it. Although every team and organization is going to experience problems and weekend when they're off-their-game, I was pretty disappointed that it happened to MWR in Atlanta since three of their sponsors - Aaron's, Coca-Cola and NAPA Auto Parts - are based there. It was particularly important for the #55 to have a good race considering that NAPA is only signed through the end of the season.

To their credit, the #55 team did the best they could with a bad car and rallied to finish 25th. In the past an ill-handling car meant that Michael would have spent the entire race riding around in 35th and would never have made any progress. Instead, with the help of some excellent pit stops, Michael was able to finish 25th - might not be great but could have been a lot worse. Even after Michael took a ride through the grass while avoiding a spinning car which caused damage to the splitter, the team did a great job of working together to make repairs and Michael never lost any positions. Still, it had to be a downer for Michael and the organization that his 25th place finish was the best of all three MWR teams.

Ill-handling race cars and missed set-ups can be fixed, but what concerns me is that there continues to be engine woes for the MWR teams. Since they don't build their own engines in-house MWR is completely dependent on the engines that Toyota Racing Development provides to them. It didn't seem like the engine issues in this race were related to the engine issues that the Toyota teams experienced in California and Las Vegas but it doesn't speak well for their reliability that one engine developed an issue that caused the #00 to have to spend time in the garage making repairs and the engine on the #47 went completely. There are always going to be mechanical problems and engine failures but TRD and MWR have to try to minimize them so that their finish is determined by how they race not whether the engines hold together.

What changed the course of the race for many of the teams was an unfortunate incident in which a tire got away from the #47 on pit road and Jimmy Watts, the gas man for the team, chased it all the way across pit road and into the grass. That resulted in a caution which trapped many teams - the #55 included - two laps down and earned Watts a suspension for the rest of the race from NASCAR for chasing the tire as far as he did. Being suspended and told to leave the track may not be Watts only punishment as NASCAR has indicated they may give him an additional penalty when they review the incident later in the week. I feel bad for Watts because many are blaming the way the race played out on him, not realizing that NASCAR was going to throw a caution for the tire regardless of whether Watts chased it or not.

Although it wasn't a good weekend for the MWR teams, things could have been worse. David remains in 12th in the points and Michael in 16th which is far better than than they've been after four races the past two years. Even Marcos Ambrose in 28th isn't bad considering his lack of experience in Cup. Although David, Michael and Marcos, are surely not very happy about the drop they've taken in the points, they still have to be relieved that there will surely be no worries about whether they're going to be in the top 35 after the first five races. This weekend is an off-weekend and then in two weeks they head to Bristol where they'll hopefully go back to racing as well as they did in the first three races.

What bugs me is that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finished 11th, a finish that any of the MWR teams, as well as many other teams, would be very happy with but the Junior fans are complaining as if Junior finished last. To be fair the #88 teams hasn't performed up to expectations this season and I don't blame fans for not being entirely happy with some of the issues that have plagued the team so far. However, the way some fans are complaining it's as if Junior's season is already a failure and the world is going to end because he hasn't won a race yet. Get a grip. There is room for improvement for sure but expecting that Junior is going to finish top five or win every race is expecting too much. Maybe this just isn't going to be Junior's year and he's going to miss the Chase - or maybe the #88 team will right themselves at Bristol and go on a tear which will put them back in the hunt for the Chase in a few weeks. It's understandable to be concerned and to wish things were going differently for Junior and his team but it's extreme to call for Tony Eury, Jr. to be fired immediately because Junior finished 11th.

Kurt Busch won the race which was well deserved considering how good his car was throughout the race. I was hoping that Brian Vickers was going to pull out the win, but I'm not upset that Kurt ended up winning. Kurt won a race last season but he and his team aren't usually among those that most pick to race up front and win on a regular basis these days so it's good to see someone who is perhaps a little unexpected end up in Victory Lane.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:14 AM | Comments (0)

March 05, 2009

Lots of Positive Media Attention for Michael Waltrip, David Reutimann and MWR!

Just about every day recently there's another positive article or commentary on Michael Waltrip, David Reutimann or how improved Michael Waltrip Racing is as as a whole and it's great! For the past few years either there hasn't been much media attention given to Michael and MWR or when there was it was often negative, dismissive of the improvements they were making or predicted that the organization was in such trouble that they wouldn't make it to the following season. Things have really changed! Instead of stories about tainted fuel, misplaced sway bars or poor results, the focus is on how competitive the MWR cars are this season and how Michael and David are both in Chase contention right now. Every time I read one of these articles or hear positive things being said about MWR on Sirius or elsewhere it makes me smile!

Today there was a great article by David Caraviello on nascar.com about how MWR wants to show their strong start to the season isn't a fluke. In the article, Ty Norris, MWR's Vice President and General Manager said,

”We have said as an organization that we think we will win three races this year. People look at us like, that's crazy with Kyle Busch winning all these races, you've got Jimmie Johnson, you've got Jeff Gordon back on his game. I said, look at the lap speeds. If you just watched the lap speeds at California, if you watched them at Las Vegas, even back to last year. We started gaining a tremendous amount of momentum last fall, and you started seeing David Reutimann in that mix all the time. We would make a mistake on pit road or make a mistake somewhere else, but the lap times were always there, very, very fast. So that's what tells us that we can win races, and what tells us that we're not a fluke. It shows us that David Reutimann and Michael Waltrip have a legitimate shot at the Chase this year."

I don't think it's crazy at all to think that MWR could win three races this season and I thought that even before they started the season so well. What I think is one of MWR's biggest assets is that they have drivers who are strong on different kinds of tracks - Michael is a master on restrictor plate tracks and has shown that he can race well on many other tracks, Marcos Ambrose will contend for wins in road course races and David is capable of winning at just about any track. That makes MWR a threat to win just about every race weekend as long as the cars they show up to the track with are fast. So far the cars have certainly had speed and been competitive so if the pieces fall into place in the right way, I definitely think MWR could have more than one win this season!

I agree with Ty that David and Michael have a legitimate shot at the Chase by starting out the season so well though I think making the Chase will perhaps be even harder than winning races since it will necessitate racing competitively on a weekly basis which may be a tall order for an organization in just their third year, as improved as they may be. But it sure would be awesome if David and/or Michael did it!

Another article by Monte Dutton highlights how it's David's time to shine. In the article David says, speaking of flukes,

"You're out there, and things are going well and you get that confidence built up, but you also want to know in your own heart that it's not a fluke. That we're not just 'lucking' into this deal. I think that's what some people think from time to time."

Although how well MWR has started the season has quieted many of their harshest critics, I think there are still some who are convinced that things are going to fall apart for MWR and that they're going to revert back to finishing poorly every weekend. Without question there are going to be problems, bad races and issues because there are for every single team and organization, even the best of the best, but MWR has made real progress since 2007 and it's not likely that they're going to go back to being an organization that struggles to qualify for races any time soon. My hope is that Michael, David and Marcos continue to race well and show that it's not just luck - it's that MWR has developed into a competitive organization that fields fast cars.

Yesterday, Michael and David were guests on NASCAR Now on ESPN to talk about their success so far. Surprisingly Michael was holding a bottle of Coke during the interview and not the Vemma Energy Drink he plugged numerous times on Facebook yesterday. What I liked hearing is that when Michael was asked about his retirement comments he made prior to the start of the season he seemed to back away saying that he was racing well and that he hoped to continue for a year or two more because racing "provides something to his soul that he needs" - which is something that I don't think many fans outside his own always understand.

Michael may play the clown a lot and make it seem as if plugging his sponsors is more important than anything else but the reality is that he's just as serious about racing as any other driver. Racing is all he's known for most of his life, it's a part of who he is and the competitive fire burns just as strongly in his blood as it does for any other driver. Michael said that he made the comments that he did so that people would pay attention to what he did this season - that definitely worked! In addition, he wanted it known to any "star" drivers that might be available that if things didn't work out and he didn't race well that there might be an open ride next season at MWR. Something tells me that if Michael keeps racing well there won't be an open ride in the #55 but MWR might add another car for a "star" driver if they were interested in joining the organization and sponsorship was available.

Last weekend at Las Vegas Michael met with the media and he said that he was committed to doing everything he could not just as an owner but as a driver as well to ensure that the results were the best they could possibly be. He said,

"I have also made sure I didn't leave anything on the table," Waltrip said. "I work out every day and I'm very dedicated. I pushed all in for 2009. I want to run well and I want to race my car. I'm going to put everything I can in from my end. When the owner was talking to the driver, the owner said, 'We need to go faster,' and the driver said, 'Well, you all need to give me better cars.' Luckily, I agreed with my driver and we have improved our team. Having those conversations with myself is something that is not unusual, by the way, and generally there's more than just two people having them with me."

Michael jokes a lot about his multiple personalities, the many voices in his head or the conversations he has with himself and many take it as a sign of how eccentric he is. I always find it interesting when he makes comments like that because I would guess that he might seriously talk to himself. Michael has always struck me as someone who is a lot more intelligent and creative than he's ever given credit for and sometimes those types of people have conversations with themselves as a way to work out problems and come up with ideas. Michael's definitely full of a lot of great ideas!

Michael credited having the right people in place at MWR for the improvements they've made. He said,

"The hardest thing is having a plan and getting people to follow along with your plan and influence the direction of the team by getting folks that will sign up and follow your road map of success that you feel is necessary. We've got a group of people now that are talented and driven and focused who are coming together and allowing us to build better cars."

Another thing that I think some fans - and some in the media - didn't really understand is that it takes time for an organization to find the right people who share in Michael's vision and even more so considering the difficulties for MWR in 2007. In addition, Toyota wouldn't let their Cup teams hire people away from other organizations when they were first starting out so that dramatically limited the talent pool they could hire from. But as time has passed MWR has been able to hire a terrific team of people who are helping MWR made even more progress every day.

I hope that Michael, David, Marcos and the MWR organization as a whole continues to give the media reasons to give them positive attention!

Posted by silverdsl at 02:23 PM | Comments (0)

March 03, 2009

This Week in NASCAR on SPEED with Michael Waltrip and Chad Knaus (3/2)

This week's panel on This Week in NASCAR featured was Michael Waltrip, Chad Knaus and Ralph Sheehan, filling in for Steve Byrnes who was still stuck in Las Vegas. Even without Steve this was a pretty good show, though there were audio problems for part of the show when they showed video in which the music was so loud that it was impossible to hear what the panel was saying. As always, this is by no means a full recap, simply some comments and discussion that I thought were highlights or found interesting.

First, Ralph asked MIchael about how the race weekend went for him. As all of us fans know, although Michael seemed to have a fast car he ended up going for a spin during the race which resulted in some damage when he got into the wall and he finished a disappointing 27th. Michael said that he was happy with the speed the car had but they had a lot of problems beginning on Friday. I didn't quite understand all of what he was saying but it sounded like even though it was a fast car there was some sort of issue that they couldn't quite figure out and as Michael said, it all went to pieces on Friday. It was all bad on Saturday but really good - at least in the first part of the race - on Sunday. However, Michael said he "jumped the cushion," which is a racing term I had never heard before but I assume means that he wrecked it or otherwise made a mistake. Instead of explaining what happened Michael then proceeded to go on a tangent and asked Chad if his driver had ever "jumped the cushion." Perhaps Michael was trying to illustrate that even the best of drivers like Jimmie Johnson have bad races or make mistakes which is very true.

Chad said that the race was similar for the #48 team as it was for the #55 team. They were fast, qualified well and got the car dialed in for Sunday and were fast during the race. However, it seemed like every time they came down pit road something happened and they got bunched up behind someone or there was some other issue. Michael said that people don't understand how circumstantial winning a race is, things happen and suddenly you can't overcome it. I definitely think a lot of fans don't understand that at all - some drivers and teams make it look easy because they're always racing up front and contending for wins - the #48 team is usually one of those teams like that. However, it's not easy by any means - one issue, even a small issue can ruin a race for a team even if they have a fast car.

Michael brought up how much doom and gloom there had been heading into California but the infield was filled and the stands looked good too. The stock market is in the toilet again but the racing in Vegas was over the top - Michael said it feels good to look up at the stands and see all the people. I think his point was that in spite of the problems that the economy has created for everyone - the sport and fans alike, there are still a lot of people attending races and they're seeing some great racing. He's right. Although the sport is being effected greatly by the economy and one of the biggest ways is that there's a decline in ticket sales, perhaps things aren't quite as bleak as they were made out to be by some heading into the season. I can't help but note despite predictions that the entry lists were going to shrink dramatically to the point where the fields would be very short after Daytona, that still hasn't happened.

Chad made what I thought was the comment of the show, at least from him, when he said that he wishes there were no rules and that they'd just get rid of them all. Gee, who would have ever guessed that? Given how many times Chad has been busted for rules violations because of his creative thinking that leads him to push the rules in an effort to gain a competitive advantage, it's no surprise that he wishes there were no rules. It's probably a good thing for the competition that there are so many rules otherwise the #48 team would probably be even more unbeatable than they are now.

Michael thinks the save Jamie McMurray made was amazing. If you're one of the 43 guys who make the race you have more skill than anyone in America because it's the pinnacle of racing but Michael thought that Jamie did a better job than anyone in the history of racing... at least since they started using radial tires. It's so true that contrary to what some fans think that if you make a race on the Cup level you have a considerable amount of talent, and Jamie showed just how much talent he has by making that great save on Sunday.

Everyone thought Jeff Gordon blew the whole race with the blown tire but he still finished in the top ten despite the fact that he was missing his right front fender. However, Chad said that Jeff benefited by a lot of good cars taking themselves out of contention and that's why he was able to finish so well. Had those cars not had problems he wouldn't have been able to finish as good as he did with that damage. I think the same is true for Robby Gordon who finished 15th but had a lousy car - he finished so well because other better cars had problems. It's great for Robby that he finished better than he had in the prior two races and it should give his team some much needed confidence that sometimes things will go their way, but it should be a concern for them that the car wasn't very good. Michael said that had he not "humped, hopped (or jumped) the cushion" he would have been up there too - considering how fast his car was he probably would have finished in the top 15 again if not for the spin.

Of course Michael was very complimentary of his driver, David Reutimann, for finishing as well as he did. He said they believe David can win for them - he sure can! Chad said that the whole Michael Waltrip Racing organization has elevated themselves - it's good to hear others in the garage area notice how well MWR is doing! Ralph brought up that it was David's birthday and asked whether Michael got him anything. Michael wished David a Happy Birthday and said that no one else probably wished David a happy birthday on TV.

One of the fan questions was whether the cars that go to the back are lined up in a certain order. Michael said that it's supposed to be that the car that qualifies first that has to go to the back lines up in front of those that have to go to the back that qualified worse but in reality they all just sort of work it out because they're all last anyway. That's probably very confusing to a lot of fans who can't figure out why their driver is starting in a particular spot when he gets sent to the back, but as Michael pointed out when they're all back there it really doesn't matter much exactly which spot they start from.

The other question was about the red stripe on new tires and Chad said it's where the stud penetrates, the stripe lines up with the hole so the tire changer gets a good visual for where it goes.

Usually I don't notice the sponsor plugs too much but if I'm being honest Michael was really pushing Geico hard, reading the voice-overs of their bit in his "TV-voice" - of course Geico is a sponsor that's affiliated with MWR via the alliance with Germain Racing so that may be one reason why he was over-emphasizing Geico as much as he did. Chad also got into the act emphasizing how the #48 team was bringing the Kobalt Impala to the Kobalt Tools 500. Of course it's understandable and to be expected that the panel members are going to plug their sponsors - and in Michael's case a lot since that's part of his shtick, however, it seemed to jump out at me more than usual last night.

Next week's panel will be Michael and Greg Biffle. As much as I like Greg in general I wish it was going to be Chad again since he and Michael are so good together on this show.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:47 AM | Comments (0)

March 01, 2009

David Reutimann Finishes a Career Best Fifth at Las Vegas!

Michael Waltrip had a tough race at Las Vegas but he was probably still happy at day's end because it was still an excellent day for his organization since for the third weekend in a row Michael Waltrip Racing fielded good cars that were able to race competitively. In fact the #00 was so fast that David Reutimann was able to finish fifth - a career best in Cup!! That finish came in spite of the #00 having to make an engine change which forced David to start the race from the back. Although there was some concern early on about an oil leak, his car ended up being so good that he was able to race his way though the field into the top five - outstanding! Not only did David finish fifth in the race, he's now fifth in the overall points standings. It may only be three races but it's still great to see an MWR driver so high in the points!

Unfortunately Michael's day didn't go as well as David's though in the first part of the race it seemed as if he was on his way to another strong finish as well. However, on lap 163 Michael spun and got into the wall causing damage to the back end of the car. The #55 team made repairs and Michael was able to keep racing but he ended up finishing 27th, two laps down which is kind of disappointing considering that he was racing pretty well prior to the spin. Still, as disappointing as the finish might be it was still great to see Michael qualify well this weekend and have a pretty good car. He dropped to 12th in the overall points but that's still light years ahead of where he was at this time the past couple of seasons so I continue to be optimistic about how Michael's going to do this season.

As for the teams that MWR is affiliated with Marcos Ambrose had a solid day for a driver with so little Cup experience, finishing 20th, one lap down. That moved him up a spot in the points to 20th which means that all three of MWR's primary drivers are in the top 20 in points. Sure hope that continues! Max Papis was the innocent victim of another driver's wreck early on which made for a difficult day since he was on and off the track and could finish no better than 36th. As much as Max must have been disappointed about how the race went for him I'm sure he was still thrilled just to be in the race since it was his first career Cup race ever. It definitely won't be his last and hopefully the results will only improve from here.

I'm hoping that next weekend in Atlanta MWR will continue to race as well as they have so far this season. NAPA Auto Parts is based in Atlanta and I believe Aaron's is as well so if David and Michael were able to race competitively up front next weekend it would look really good to both sponsors. It sure would be awesome if Michael or David won next weekend - I think that would convince both sponsors to stick around long term!

Posted by silverdsl at 10:19 PM | Comments (0)

February 27, 2009

Great Qualifying Results for Michael Waltrip Racing at Las Vegas But...

Michael Waltrip Racing continued to show that they are a much improved organization in 2009 by qualifying three cars in the top fifteen today for Sunday's Cup race at Las Vegas. David Reutimann, who was second fastest in the first practice, qualified fourth, Marcos Ambrose fifth and Michael Waltrip 15th. In addition, Max Papis, whose Germain Racing team gets cars and technical support from MWR, qualified 26th. That MWR had so much success in qualifying, just two years after they struggled to make races, is outstanding. I'm very happy for them!

However, the news from qualifying wasn't all good. Both MWR and Red Bull Racing get their engines from Toyota Racing Development since they don't build their engines themselves and for the second week in a row the teams got a bad batch of engines. David and Marcos, as well as Brian Vickers, Scott Speed and possibly Michael will have to start from the back on Sunday because their teams all have to change engines. Apparently the exact same part that was a problem last weekend at California which caused Vickers to have to change engines and start from the back after winning the pole is the same problem this weekend. Talk about disappointing!

These teams aren't building their own engines, they're completely dependent on TRD to provide engines to them. There are always going to be some engine failures but there shouldn't be the same parts issue two weekends in a row that's going to result in so many engines having to be changed. While I have no idea what the details are about how this happened, I don't think it reflects very well on TRD that this issue wasn't addressed after last weekend. It puts the teams at a real disadvantage because it means that they have to race their way from the back to the front which isn't always easy even when they have good cars as these teams seem to have this weekend. As much as I want Michael to be able to start where he qualified it might be better for the #55 team to be safe than sorry and also change engines so that they don't have to worry about an issue during the race unless they know for sure that there isn't a problem with the part in the engine in their car.

In addition to the engine woes for the teams that get their engines from TRD, there was also an engine failure for another Toyota team - for the second week in a row a pole-sitter will start from the back after an engine change since Kyle Busch lost his engine during practice. The issue with his engine might be totally unrelated since Joe Gibbs Racing builds their own engines but one has to wonder if JGR possibly got some parts from the same source as TRD did.

Even with the engine problems I'm still very happy! Max didn't have any luck last season when it came to trying to qualify for races so I'm really glad that he was able to make the show today! I really like him a lot and I'd like to see him do well even though he's only racing part-time in Cup. But I'm especially excited that MWR qualified two cars in the top five and overall three cars in the top 15! That's awesome! Of course the results on Sunday are more important than how they qualify but assuming there are no other problems I'm optimistic that MWR is going to have a very successful race as well!

Posted by silverdsl at 09:15 PM | Comments (0)

February 26, 2009

Some Positive Media Attention for Michael Waltrip

One thing that's been nice recently is that instead of the usual gloomy predictions from the media about how Michael Waltrip Racing is going to fare this season, since they've gotten off to an excellent start there's been a lot of positive comments and optimism about how they might do this season. Yesterday Dave Rodman from nascar.com was on Dave Moody's show on Sirius and I was very pleased to hear during a discussion about which were the most likely drivers who were most likely to drop out of Chase contention as the season went on, Rodman didn't write off Michael Waltrip immediately. In fact, Rodman was very complimentary of Michael and spoke highly of his ability behind the wheel which was very good to hear since many don't think much of Michael as a driver.

Rodman said that a lot of people have probably forgotten how when Michael was with Tony Eury, Jr. at DEI and how during that time (2005) he was competitive everywhere, at every track and almost won at Phoenix. I definitely haven't forgotten 2005! It was awesome to see Michael be able to race up front competitively just about every week. Best of all was that Phoenix race - most believe that Michael can only contend for wins at restrictor plate tracks because all of his wins so far have come on those tracks. But Phoenix is a very different kind of track. I very badly wanted Michael to win that race so that he would be taken more seriously as a driver but unfortunately it wasn't to be.

Rodman said that everyone makes fun of Michael and says he can't drive but that's a crock! It most definitely is a crock - Michael can without question drive! However, since he's left DEI Michael hasn't been able to race as well as he's capable of because the cars he's been given to race haven't been very competitive. But this season might be different - if MWR fields fast cars that Michael can race up front with on a regular basis, with Bootie Barker's help it may very well be 2005 all over again. Michael actually has finished 12th in points twice (1994 and 1995) and in the top fifteen in points six times. While that may not be as impressive as the usual points finish for a Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart, it reflects that Michael is very capable of putting together a good season and that it shouldn't be assumed that he's going to free-fall in the points.

I think some members of the media and a lot of fans forget very easily what Michael and other drivers have done in the past. So because Michael hasn't raced competitively very much the past two or three years most fans don't think he can race up front and contend for wins. Meanwhile the reality is for Michael and every other driver is that they can't race competitively if the cars they are given to race aren't very good. But as Rodman said, MWR has been on an uphill climb the past few years - the cars, and as a result the finishes, have been getting better. This morning, also on Sirius, David Poole said that he had been remiss last season in not doing an article on what an impressive accomplishment it was for MWR that they made 107 of 108 possible races last season as compared to all the races they missed in 2007. That right there should have served notice to some that MWR is making progress and that it should be expected that they will continue to improve this season as well.

Of course it's only two races into the season and anything can happen. Michael may not continue to finish as well as he has to start the season. But at least there's reason to be optimistic that it's possible that he will continue to race competitively and have a much better season than he has in years. I'm happy for Michael that some people besides his fans are taking notice of the potential and hopefully if he continues to have a good season even more people will take notice!

Posted by silverdsl at 01:56 PM | Comments (0)

February 24, 2009

This Week in NASCAR on SPEED with Michael Waltrip and Aric Almirola (2/23)

Some observations and thoughts on last night's This Week in NASCAR...

I wasn't sure what to expect when I heard that Aric Almirola was going to be part of the panel on TWiN alongside Michael Waltrip but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Aric was terrific! Although Aric is much younger and has far less Cup experience than Michael, Aric didn't hesitate to give his opinions and he made some good contributions to the discussions. Some who appear on TWiN sometimes seem intimidated by Michael but not Aric - he was personable and charismatic. Aric talked about a new sponsor on last night's TWiN but if he is to race more than a limited schedule this season Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing needs to find additional sponsorship for him - I think there are sponsors who are missing out on a golden opportunity to align themselves with a driver with a lot of personalty and talent who could become a star in the sport in the future.

Of course Michael's fine finish at Fontana was one of the first topics of conversation. He said that he was nervous going into California because they were terrible there last year and the results at California are more indicative of what the results would be for the rest of the season but they passed the test. They sure did! I'm still extremely happy with what I saw not only from the #55 team but from Michael Waltrip Racing as a whole this past weekend and I hope it really is an indication of what we're going to see for the rest of the season from Michael and his teams! Michael joked at one point that he was going to talk to his owner (himself) about his strong performance so far this season and see about getting a bonus!

Steve Byrnes asked Michael and Aric about whether they notice when some cars are fast or whether they're so focused on their own race that they block everything out. According to Michael and Aric they do notice and both agreed that it's like a different world when you're with a team that is fast and races up front all the time as compared to being with a team that struggles which is a position that both of them have found themselves in. Michael said that he's made up so much ground from the world he was in to his new world now but it's still different than the other world of the teams like the #17 or #24, which is a really cool world. Hopefully some day Michael will get to that world with the #17 and #24 teams!

There was some discussion about how everything is so precise and technical with the new cars. One little change and everything can be thrown off. They can change the wedge and air in the same stop but if it's the wrong changes then they have to figure out which thing they changed was wrong. I think that's something that some fans don't really understand. First of all, the changes on the cars have to be very exact and they might be making changes in very small increments. To it's probably very difficult to get things just right. But once changes are made that don't work out it may not be so easy to go back to where they started from or know immediately exactly which of the changes they made aren't the right ones.

Later in the show there was some discussion about cars that are about to be lapped or are already lapped racing the leaders. Aric said that sometimes people don't understand why the drivers race the leaders so hard which is very true - fans are constantly complaining about drivers who race the leaders hard as if those drivers should simply pull over rather than fighting to stay on the lead lap, to be the lucky dog or to not go additional laps down. But as Aric pointed out what happens in that situation can change your whole day whether it's staying on the lead lap or staying in position to be the lucky dog if the caution comes out.

At various times Michael and Aric would mention different facts about the race or things that happened in the past so at one point Steve commented on it and Michael said he took lots of notes. He held up a sheet of paper with a lot of text typed on it so it's obvious that someone definitely did take a lot of notes though it's almost certainly the producers who then handed a sheet of notes to Michael for him to read in preparation for the show. There was also some discussion about their new set and about how there had been some changes to the way the chairs were based on feedback from Michael. However, he still wasn't completely happy - in the past he would get the attention of the other panel members when he had something to say by tapping them on the arm only Aric wasn't close enough so Michael in his own words was "swatting at Aric the whole show."

Being on TWiN is a great way for a driver to showcase their sponsor and Aric was very mindful of that. He talked about how a new sponsor, Tom-Tom, who makes GPS devices is going to be on his car this weekend at Las Vegas. Michael claimed to have never heard of Tom-Tom, saying that he thought Tom-Toms were drums. Later in the show when they were joking around Michael said they would have to head to Las Vegas on Thursday to leave enough time in case they got lost. So Aric said "No Michael that's why you have a Tom-Tom so you don't get lost!" The camera then panned to Michael and the mystified look on his face was hysterical! I have no idea if he really didn't know what a GPS device was used for or whether he was just joking but it was pretty funny!

One of the questions that was submitted by a listener was about the transponders that are on the cars since Michael had a problem with the transponder on his car at Daytona and Ryan Newman had a problem with the one on his car this past weekend. The fan who emailed wondered whether NASCAR would have started the race while Michael and Ryan were getting their transponder issues fixed and Michael said that no, the race wouldn't have started without them. Apparently the transponders belong to NASCAR and are their responsibility and at least in the case of the #55 one being missing was due to an oversight in inspection. I have to admit that when I heard that there was an oversight during inspection I couldn't help but wonder what else might get overlooked if a missing transponder can be.

Overall, I thought it was a really great show! The past couple of years I've not always enjoyed TWiN as much as I did when Alan Bestwick was hosting since the format seemed to get so much more formal after he was replaced. But the panel was pretty relaxed last night and they seemed to be enjoying themselves which makes for a good show. I like seeing Michael be so happy and joke around so much - so often the past few years he's been serious and unhappy even though when he was making an effort not to be due to all the challenges and problems he had to deal with. But things are finally going in the right direction for him and it's wonderful to see!

Posted by silverdsl at 01:14 PM | Comments (0)

February 23, 2009

New NAPA Auto Parts Commericals with Michael Waltrip and Ron Capps

One of Michael Waltrip's biggest assets is that he's a terrific spokesperson for NAPA Auto Parts, not just in interviews or at hospitality events at the track, but also in commericals. Every year fans, even those that aren't big fans of Michael, look forward to the new NAPA commericals because they're always creative and humorous. Even I, who doesn't pay much attention to commercials, looks up when the NAPA commericals (of any of the commericals Michael is in) comes on.

The new commericals that debuted during Speedweeks are no different. In the latest commercial Michael and Ron Capps (who just won two NHRA events in a row) are having tea with some fans in their living room while playing some sort of game. Michael and Ron demonstrate their impressive knowledge of auto parts and awe the fans who thought they were doing pretty well. As always, Michael's delivery is perfect. He really is as good of an actor - and comedian - as he is a driver! I'm looking forward to seeing the other commericals in the series and I hope there are a couple of commericals with just Michael!

It's been said by some that NAPA isn't happy with the results on the track the past few years and aren't going to continue their association with Michael past this season if he doesn't finish better on a more consistent basis. So far Michael's results have improved but even if Michael doesn't race up front in every race this season I think they'd be crazy to stop sponsoring him. Yes, results matter and I understand that in this kind of an economy it's hard for a company to justify spending millions of dollars to sponsor a car that isn't up front all the time. However, NAPA will never get the kind of exposure they get with Michael with another driver. Oh, there might be a driver with whom they'd get more TV time during races but there is no other driver who is as gifted when it comes to creating opportunities for his sponsor to get exposure not just at the track but everywhere he goes. And there will most definitely never be another driver who is so good in commericals that even fans who don't like him watch when those commericals come on because he's so funny in them. That really says something that whether fans like Michael or not they pay attention to him.

NAPA will never, no matter how much money they put in, be able to create as close of an association with another driver like they have with Michael - when fans think of Michael they think of NAPA and vice versa. That's rare these days given how often drivers and sponsors switch teams. I think even if they were to become affiliated with another popular driver and put him in their commericals it wouldn't likely be the same due to how much personality Michael has and how good he is in these commericals. Of course that creates a problem for NAPA since eventually even if they stick with Michael past this season one day he's going to retire but hopefully they'll stay with MWR even after Michael is no longer racing to sponsor the next generation at MWR. Then NAPA can continue using Michael in their commericals to sell auto parts for years to come - and he most definitely has sold a lot of auto parts and created a huge amount of brand awareness for them!

The NAPA commericals aren't the only ones that Michael's in this season. As I mentioned in a previous entry he's also in some really great commericals for Aarons, but there's also an extremely funny commercial that Michael's in along with all his fellow Toyota Cup drivers in which some robots go looking to get some autographs for some young fans from the drivers and are very persistent about it. The funniest two parts are when a robot pulls David Reutimann out from under his car, then rejects him because he's not Michael, and then Michael ends up fighting off the robot with a metal rod - the expression on Michael's face is pretty funny and it looks like something out of a comic book!

Really great stuff when it comes to the commericals Michael's in!

Posted by silverdsl at 09:43 AM | Comments (0)

Good Weekend for Michael Waltrip Racing in California!

Although things started off rocky with engine problems with not only the Michael Waltrip Racing cars but their plane as well, the weekend finished very well with Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann finishing in the top 15 in Fontana and Marcos Ambrose finishing 21st. For some teams "only" finishing in the top 15 might be a disappointment but for the MWR teams it's another sign of how many strides they've made in the short time they've been in the Cup Series.

I'm particularly happy that Michael finished 15th! I wasn't sure how he was going to do, one, because the team had to change engines which meant that Michael was going to be starting from the back and two, because he wasn't all that fast in practice. However, much to my delight, Michael was able to race his way from the back into the top 15. Yes, it may come as a surprise to some of the doubters who are thinking that Michael finished in the top 15 because of pit strategy or for some other reason, he did in fact race his way up to the front. Michael's 15th place finish is his best finish at this track since 2005 and is ten spots better than his average finish at Fontana.

Even when Michael went a lap down at one point where in the past that might signal the start of a bad race, there was no panic. Michael simply keep racing as he had been, kept himself in position for the lucky dog and got it on the next caution which put him back on the lead lap where he stayed for the rest of the race. Later in the race there was some concern that his engine was overheating but removing some trash from the grill on a subsequent pit stop eliminated that issue. The communication between Michael and Bootie Barker continues to be excellent. Thus far even when Michael isn't happy he's remained calm and Bootie does a terrific job of handling him even when he's complaining. But the best thing is that Michael was actually able to race. So many times last season the handling on his cars was so bad that he couldn't actually race for position, but rather to just hang on and not wreck. But so far this season it's a much different story - even when the car isn't perfect Michael is able to pass for position. Of course it's only two races into the season but I love looking at the points standings and seeing Michael in 7th!

David finished one spot ahead of Michael in 14th and he also had to come from the back due to an engine change. David had been fast all weekend both in practice and in qualifying so he and his team probably weren't too happy that they had to change engines and start from the back. However, David quickly made his way forward and still ended up being able to race competitively. It's particularly impressive that David was able to finish in the top 15 considering he lost his brakes mid-way through the race which must have made pitting particularly challenging. David is currently 12th in points, and while just like with Michael's it's only two races and things can change a lot over the next few races, it sure is great to see him in the top 15 in points.

Even Marcos had a good day, spending most of the race in the top 20, though he lost a couple of positions at the end of the race and finished 21st. That's still pretty good considering he only has 13 races worth of Cup experience and he finished 32nd in his only other Cup start at California last season. I think a lot of people were expecting Marcos to struggle considering how little Cup experience he has but so far it's looking like he's making the adjustment to Cup pretty well. The season is still young so there may be some tracks he's going to struggle on, particularly if there are any that he's never raced on before, but I have a feeling he's going to have a decent season.

On the Nationwide side Michael also finished 15th and that may have been a little disappointing considering how fast of a car he had. Michael qualified 10th and I really thought he might be able to contend for the win - though no one really had anything for Kyle Busch as it turned out. However, Michael got hit on pit road by Brandon Whitt just as he was entering his pit, which resulted in Michael ending up backwards in his pit. He had the team pit him backwards and then spun around but that put him in 23rd, and if I understand the discussion over his radio during yesterday's race, there might have been a penalty. So he had some ground to make up which might have prevented him from finishing as well as he might have been able to without that incident. Michael had harsh words for Whitt yesterday, saying that he must be "retarded." As much as I hate it when drivers (or anyone) says things like that, I can't say I blame Michael for being upset - that was a pretty big mistake by Brandon.

All last week there were a lot of fans and the media dismissing Daytona, saying that the results there don't matter and how the "real" season starts at California because more tracks are like California than they are Daytona. So I don't think a lot of people thought much of MWR doing well at Daytona. But if California is a better measure of how teams are going to do this season, then MWR might end up having a very solid season. It's still only two races into the season but I think it's an extremely good sign that the finishes have been very good and the cars have been fairly fast and competitive at two different kinds of tracks. It was especially good to see MWR race well yesterday since they've struggled at tracks like that in the past and I'm hoping that it's an indication that they've made progress on getting a handle on those kinds of tracks. I know that there are still going to be bad races and tracks that the MWR teams struggle on but after the past two weekends I feel very optimistic about how MWR is going to do this season!

Posted by silverdsl at 08:41 AM | Comments (0)

February 20, 2009

Michael Waltrip Racing Plane Experiences Engine Problems, Lands Safely in Las Vegas

Probably some very nervous moments those aboard Michael Waltrip Racing's plane that was headed out to California for the races this weekend when the pilot had to shut an engine down and the flight was diverted to Las Vegas. Michael wasn't on the plane since he was already in California but 48 other people were. Thankfully the plane landed safely without incident and there were no injuries but it's still kind of upsetting to hear about an incident like this.

I wonder how they got everyone from Las Vegas to California and whether the plane will be repaired in time for them to use it to get everyone back from California to North Carolina at the end of the weekend?

Update: Michael commented on this incident today at the track and gave some additional details. Apparently the engine lost oil pressure which is why the pilot shut it down. Everyone got to California from Las Vegas via a bus and they believe that the plane will be fixed in time to go to California on Saturday and fly them back home to North Carolina.

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

February 17, 2009

This Week in NASCAR with Michael Waltrip and Greg Biffle (2/16)

Last year I had a lot of fun doing weekly recaps of "Michael Waltrip Out Loud" on XM but unfortunately for me and the many other fans of the show, it won't be back along with the other driver's shows, a victim of the poor economy. But luckily Michael will still be appearing weekly on "This Week in NASCAR" on SPEED. Michael isn't able to give as many of his opinions in as detailed of a way as he did on Outloud and Tony Rizzuti isn't around to ask questions to draw out some of those interesting opinions, but it's still an opportunity to hear what Michael thinks about each race and the news of the week in the sport. So this season I'm going to do more commentary on TWiN than I have in the past, not a full recap by any means since then I'd pretty much just be recapping what happened in each race, but just whatever Michael (or the other panel members) say that interests me.

As I discussed in a previous entry one thing that always bugs me is when fans stay that rain-shortened wins aren't "real" wins. Michael had a great point last night on TWiN about this. He said that rain-shortened races are actually some of the hardest to win because you have to know exactly when to be in front when the race is called. That's very true - for a while it looked like Elliott Sadler was going to be this year's Daytona 500 winner but the rain didn't move in fast enough for the race to be called while he was leading and he lost the lead shortly afterwards which opened the door for Matt Kenseth to eventually take the lead. Whenever rain is in the forecast the teams have to use strategy not just in terms of how to put themselves in a position to be leading when the race is called but to hold whatever their current position is in general if they're up front or how to advance in what may be very few laps to gain as many positions as possible before the race is called. Although some fans don't like it, strategy has always been a part of racing and to me, as much as I'd like to see a race run it's full length and be decided based on some great racing, it adds an extra element of excitement to see which teams make the best decisions.

I was particularly interested to hear what Michael and Greg Biffle would have to say about the incident between Brian Vickers and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. However, they didn't seem to spend much time on it, maybe because they and their producers were afraid of setting off a big controversy given how hotly debated that topic is among fans. One thing that Michael said is that while he didn't think that Junior intended on wrecking half the field, maybe he was thinking that he wanted to get Brian out of sorts. So basically Michael was saying that there was some intent on Junior's part rather than it being just a mistake - I'm sure there are some Junior fans who weren't happy to hear Michael say that but he may be right. After all, Junior and Brian were racing and Junior probably didn't appreciate getting blocked. But no driver sets out to start "The Big One" so it's more likely that if there was any intent there, as Michael said, it was just to send Brian a message and maybe move him out of the way.

I couldn't help but be reminded as Michael was talking about that incident is that in a way Michael has been in Brian's shoes. The circumstances were different but at Charlotte in 2005, Michael got put in the wall by Junior who was at that time his teammate. Although I don't think Junior's intent was to plant Michael into the wall, I do think it was possible he let some frustration get the best of him, which may be what happened on Sunday as well. Of course Junior wouldn't be alone when it comes to a driver letting their emotions gets the best of them. It's happened many times in the past and it'll happen many times in the future. However, Junior can't let this one incident dictate his season. He needs to learn from the mistakes he might have made on Sunday and avoid making them again to ensure that he's a part of the hunt for the Championship at the end of the season.

Another interesting comment that Michael made was in reference to an incident that a lot of people probably didn't even notice or think much of. At one point Michael had pulled out of line at the same time Clint Bowyer did and Clint got into him a little. I'm not really sure exactly what was going on there but Michael went to the back after that by design so it may just be that Michael took Clint by surprise in that Clint didn't expect him to get out of line and slow up. However, Michael said on TWiN that his "buddy" decided to run him over and that he'll be keeping a tab on that. Although it's been said multiple times that Michael and Clint have made up after Clint's "worst driver" comment about Michael from last season, I've been skeptical and even more so after Michael admitted recently how much that comment hurt him. I get the feeling that one day when Clint needs Michael to give a little or otherwise needs a favor it's not going to happen.

One thing about Michael that he never gets enough credit for is how many good ideas he has such as when he advocated for having all the go-or-go-homers qualify together. Last night he had two of them. One was something he's talked about before how he thinks there should be a TV show just about what's said by the drivers and their teams over their radios during the races. I agree that it could definitely make for an interesting show, though some drivers may not be too happy about having extra attention brought to some of what they say since so many things are said in the heat of the moment. But I think it would definitely add some extra insight into what happens with particular teams and with the races themselves. Michael used the example of how Tony Stewart said over his radio that he was tired of seeing Sam's Club which was a reference to him being tired of seeing Kyle Busch in front of him since Sam's Club was on the back of Kyle's car, and how no one would know about that unless they were listening to Tony's radio or the clip was played somewhere. Maybe Michael could even host the show as I think it would be useful for their to be a driver or crew chief on the show to explain what the driver and his crew chief were talking about.

Michael's other idea was that he thinks NASCAR should allow the drivers to use tinted tear offs on their front windshields. Apparently NASCAR wouldn't let them use them because of visibility concerns but Michael said that there are visibility issues anyway with the COTs. Either Greg or Michael said that it would cut down on incidents that were caused by the setting sun at tracks like the one they'll be racing at this weekend (California). Some drivers use tinted shields on their helmets but I've never really understood why NASCAR won't let them use tinted tear-offs since it seems like there are times when the drivers are racing blind as they go into certain corners when the angle of the setting sun is a certain way which seems like a safety issue.

I'm admittedly not a fan of California Speedway where they'll be racing this weekend - that they have to promote the track by using footage of wrecks as opposed to showing exciting racing says a lot to me - but hopefully Michael and the rest of the panel will have a lot to talk about next week as well!

Posted by silverdsl at 08:44 AM | Comments (0)

February 16, 2009

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (2/16)

*I'm still thrilled today about Michael Waltrip finishing in the top ten yesterday! I had realized that all three of Michael Waltrip Racing's cars finished in the top 20 but I also didn't realize that they were also the top finishing Toyotas .In addition, as someone on Michael's fan forum on his site pointed out, when you add Terry Labonte into the mix since he was racing one of David Reutimann's old cars from last season via Prism Motorsports's technical alliance with MWR, the organization actually had four cars they built in the top 25. That's really outstanding in comparison to where they were last year at this time and especially in comparison to where they were two years ago!

*A significant amount of fans are upset today about a lot of things in relation to the Daytona 500 but one of the biggest complaints is that NASCAR decided to call the rain so quickly. I'm in the minority because I don't have a problem with their decision at all. Reportedly it was still raining at Daytona at 10 p.m. and since the track needs three hours to dry, if it stopped raining then the race still wouldn't have gotten re-started until 1 a.m. Seems to me making people stay at the track in on-and-off rain with no guarantee that the race would get re-started and finish wasn't a very good scenario either. It's unfortunate when one of NASCAR's biggest races doesn't go the full distance but the weather is completely out of NASCAR's control.

*Another thing that a lot of fans are harping on is that Matt Kenseth didn't really deserve his Daytona 500 win because it came via a rainout. It's become popular to tear apart just about every win and show why it's not a "real" win, but it always happens with rainout wins that some believe the driver who wins those races doesn't really deserve that win. Well, Kenseth raced his way up front and put himself in position to be in the lead when the race was called. If he raced his way to first, just exactly what was undeserved about his win? Had the race gone the full distance the outcome might still have been the same. Kenseth was up-front when it counted and he and his team deserve to be congratulated.

*It was nice to see Kenseth get emotional when he was interviewed about winning. Sometimes it seems like some drivers have become so accustomed to winning that it's old hat to them and they don't get too emotional - or in some case excited - about it. So it was nice to see how much winning the Daytona 500 meant to him.

*I hope that Richard Petty Motorsports is able to find a sponsor for A.J. Allmendinger so he can race the entire season. Allmendinger finished 3rd and continued to look like a driver who could have major success in Cup if he gets the opportunity to show what he can do in a competitive car on a full-time basis. RPM had three cars in the top ten and for a while it even looked like Elliott Sadler was going to win. Pretty good for an organization that went through so much turmoil in the off-season.

*It should be noted that there were six single car teams that finished in the top 25, with Marcos Ambrose finishing the best in 17th, though in all fairness the #47 is pretty much the third MWR team. Of course a couple of those teams like the #47 get technical help from larger organizations but for the most part these are small teams with much less resources, financially and otherwise, in comparison to the multi-car teams. They may have benefited from other cars getting wrecked but it's good to see these teams be able to avoid trouble of their own and finish well. It's particularly good to see Terry Labonte finish in the top 25 considering there was so much doubt as to whether this team was going to race the entire race. I have no doubt that Prism will start and park some races this season if they don't have sponsorship for those races but it appears they could end up with some decent finishes if they actually race full races.

*Speaking of single car teams, one that didn't do well yesterday was Robby Gordon. Hopes were high among Robby's fans about the Daytona 500 since Robby has done well recently in restrictor plate races. But that wasn't the case yesterday due to mechanical issues. It's just one race so Robby might go on to finish up front in California but yesterday seemed to be a continuation of the way last season went for Robby where there was always some issue to ruin races for him. At some point Robby is going to have to start racing up front more otherwise he may eventually find himself in the situation that Michael Waltrip is where his sponsors say they want to see better results. Being affiliated with Toyota will probably help Robby this season but I think his refusal to align himself with a larger team is a mistake as the technical support would probably benefit his team.

*I'm about the only fan who doesn't have a problem with Junior not being penalized for the incident with Brian Vickers. To me it was just a racing deal caused by Junior making a (very big) mistake, rather than him intentionally trying to wreck Vickers. I also don't see much comparison between what happened yesterday and what happened with Jason Leffler in the Nationwide race on Saturday. For one thing it's two different series with two different set of officials, but the circumstances in which things played out seemed to be a lot different to me.

*Kyle Busch got ripped by fans for many reasons last season including that they felt he often came off as obnoxious, rude and self-centered but I thought he's carried himself with maturity during Speedweeks. He hasn't mouthed off including when he was surrounded by the media after he got wrecked in yesterday's race and he had to be furious after that considering he had led 88 laps to that point and had a good chance of winning the race. In addition, he tried to help his young teammate Joey Logano, who had a tough Speedweeks, even getting in Joey's car during one practice to shake it down for him. I hope this Kyle Busch is present all season because it may win over some fans.

*Todd Bodine won Friday night's truck race even after starting "The Big One" earlier in the race. Bodine still doesn't have a primary sponsor which is amazing to me since any sponsor associated with him is going to get exposure since he races up front and wins. I hope Germain Racing is able to field this truck for the entire season so Bodine can make another run at the Championship.

*I can't help but notice that in spite of all the talk about how Nationwide regulars were going to have a greater chance at finishing up front this season because there are so few Cup drivers racing the full Nationwide Series that only one Nationwide regular finished in the top ten in Saturday's race. In fact in the top 15 while there are three Nationwide only drivers, the only one that has limited Cup experience is Jason Keller since even Brendan Gaughan and Michael McDowell spend some time in the Cup Series in the past.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:48 PM | Comments (0)

February 15, 2009

Michael Waltrip Finishes 7th in Rain-Shortened Daytona 500

What a great way for Michael Waltrip and the #55 team to start off the season with a 7th place finish in the Daytona 500!! Had the race gotten re-started Michael would likely have been contending for the win at the end as he was just positioning himself for a run up front when the last caution flag flew but I'm not in any way disappointed with 7th! Due to bad luck and non-competitive cars this is Michael's best finish at Daytona since his last Daytona 500 win in 2003! I'm so happy for him! It was a terrific day overall for Michael Waltrip Racing - David Reutimann finished 12th and Marcos Ambrose finished 17th so all three cars finished in the top 20! Awesome!

I'm also very happy with what I heard over the radio today - Michael and Bootie Barker are working extremely well together and the communication is the best I've heard between Michael and one of his crew chiefs since Tony Eury, Jr. in 2005. Of course it's only one race but if they can continue to work so well together and the cars continue to be competitive, then Michael is going to have one of his best seasons in quite some time. What I loved hearing was that other than some complaints about his car not having as much power as he would like, Michael was very happy with the car. He complimented Bootie and the team for giving him a good car and for the changes they made to the chassis. That's a big difference from the past few years when Michael would complain about everything and instead of racing for position would often be racing to not wreck. I feel so optimistic about this season after today!

I love the fact that right from the start all the MWR teams have put themselves in a very good position in terms of the top 35! Again, it's just the first race and anything can happen over the next few but all three teams finishing in the top 20 gives them a good cushion in case they run into trouble over the next few races. The progress that MWR has made since the start of last season - and especially since 2007 - is something for them to be very proud of!!

Posted by silverdsl at 06:54 PM | Comments (0)

February 13, 2009

Michael Waltrip Deserves More Respect

Great commentary by Tommy Thompson on frontstretch.com titled "Michael Waltrip: Due Respect" in which he touched on something that I've complained about over and over again in this space - the lack of respect that Michael Waltrip gets. Tommy wrote that even if one disagrees with Michael, by virtue of the fact that he's an owner, driver and a 25-year veteran of the sport Michael deserves some respect for his opinions, even if one doesn't agree with them. This commentary was prompted by some posts on scenedaily.com from fans reacting to some comments Michael made regarding NASCAR's decision to eliminate testing. Though Tommy doesn't agree with all of what Michael said either, he explains his own opinions in the commentary in a well-thought out way and still leaves room for why Michael could also be right. If only there were more people who were like Tommy.

The same comment that got Tommy's attention, "who cares what Michael Waltrip thinks" would surely have gotten my attention to. I find it incredibly frustrating how quickly a lot of fans dismiss Michael's opinions (and that of many other drivers) because Michael is saying things they don't agree with or because they just don't like Michael. Meanwhile, as Tommy points out, Michael has been instrumental over the years in advocating for important changes in the Cup Series such as the change in qualifying so that all the go-or-go-homers qualify together. In addition, Michael was a champion for the roof hatch that was briefly used as a safety measure and on his XM show Michael said that he went to Bill France many years ago with his concerns about how larger drivers were going to be squeezed out of the sport which led to rules in which weights were added to the cars to compensate for differences in driver's weight.

Because Michael is quick with a joke and often pokes fun at himself, a lot of fans don't take him very seriously when in fact Michael is intelligent, creative, passionate about racing, committed to making Michael Waltrip Racing a success. Too bad some have their minds made up that he had nothing worthwhile to say because he has many interesting opinions whether one agrees with him or not. One of the reasons that I miss "Michael Waltrip Out Loud" so much is because Michael would give his opinions at length on what was happening in the sport and it often caused me to look at situations in a way that I hadn't considered before.

One bone of contention for many fans is that Michael often agrees with or defends NASCAR. I don't have a problem with that. For one thing Michael is being consistent with his stated belief that the leadership of the sport knows what they're doing. Michael is entitled to have any opinions that he wants to have, even if those are opinions that fans disagree with or don't want to hear. In addition, I think it's important that there's someone who is willing to speak up on behalf of NASCAR and explain why their decisions might be sound ones - it's good to hear viewpoints from all sides. It gets really tiresome to only hear why NASCAR is in the wrong or why they should be doing things differently.

With all of that in mind this morning I read a comment by Michael that I partially agree with and partially disagree with. Michael said in reference to how there's going to be more start and park teams,

"That isn't a bad thing at all. All you need is enough people for Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. and Jeff Gordon to pass, and everybody will be happy."

In the past Michael has said more on that particular topic so I know that's not the totality of what he thinks - he believes that all these new teams are a good thing, that it presents an opportunity for teams to get involved in the sport. I agree with him on that, and while I don't really care for the practice of starting and parking, I also realize that it's a way for teams to make money which they could use to generate the funding to run full races in the future. I also agree with Michael that as long as the big-name drivers in the sport have enough cars to race against a lot of people - fans - will be happy. In fact there are a lot of fans who probably don't even notice what the tiny teams are doing.

However, I also disagree with Michael a little in that not everyone is a fan of Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. or the other top drivers even though it might seem that way sometimes. I think one reason there's been a decline in some fan's interest in the sport is that they feel that it's hard to follow what their favorite drivers is doing because often the focus is almost exclusively on a handful of drivers. The response is always that those drivers should, as Michael puts it, make themselves part of the story of the race, but I don't think it's that simple. Sometimes drivers don't get much attention when they race up front or even when there's something going on with their team that's worthy of getting coverage. Every single driver in the field has fans and I think that more effort needs to be made to be sure that a wider variety of drivers get some coverage during race broadcasts and in general.

In addition, the past few years a number of popular veteran drivers have retired and instead of finding another driver to cheer for those fans have opted to not follow the sport anymore. Some of the negativity that's directed towards some of the younger drivers in the sport seems to be rooted in resentment that those drivers are taking the place of older, veteran drivers even though the reality is that no driver can race forever. One of the challenges that exists is how to keep those fans interested in the sport even if their favorite driver is no longer racing. It worries me in relation to Michael because he may retire within the next few years and contrary to what some believe he has a huge fanbase - what happens to his fans? It's important for those fans to continue to support Michael Waltrip Racing even if Michael isn't an active Cup driver. Hopefully Michael's fans will cheer for the drivers who race for him but while everyone likes David Reutimann and other drivers who have raced for MWR, the same passion doesn't seem to be there as it is for them when it comes to Michael. So I think MWR is going to have to sell Michael's fans on his drivers and find ways to ensure that they stick around after Michael retires.

But whether I agree with Michael, disagree with him, or in this case both agree and disagree with him, I always have have nothing but the utmost respect for Michael.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:48 AM | Comments (0)

February 12, 2009

Top Fifteens for the Michael Waltrip Racing Drivers in the Gatorade Duels

There were some feel-good stories from today's Gatorade Duels but I think the Michael Waltrip Racing drivers are probably a little disappointed even though all of them finished in the top 15 in their respective Duel. There were some nervous moments for Michael Waltrip and his team at the start of the first Duel when NASCAR told them that they had to put another transponder on the car so it could be scored. Although I suspect anything less than a trip to Victory Lane at Daytona is a disappointment for Michael since he's had so much success at this track, I think he had a decent race considering he was in a back-up that he hadn't turned any laps in due to the practice wreck the day before. Michael was able to spend some time in the top ten which was good to see but ultimately he didn't feel the car was the way it needed to be to really race up front like he wanted. He ended up finishing 15th and since there are two more practices between now and Sunday, hopefully Bootie Barker will be able to make some adjustments to give Michael a car that he can contend for another Daytona 500 win with! Marcos Ambrose, a MWR driver by way of their association with JTG-Daugherty Racing was also in this duel and quietly he finished 13th so it appears Marcos can hold his own racing a COT on a restrictor plate track, something he had previously expressed some uncertainty about.

David Reutimann is surely the most disappointed of the MWR drivers and he also had amends to make with one of his fellow competitors. At the start of the race David was racing in the top five and I was beginning to wonder if he had a chance to win. But during the first pit stop he lost quite a few positions and then disaster struck - http://www.scottriggs.com>Ryan Newman moved down while trying to avoid a much slower car and instead of just letting him in for some reason David though it would be a good idea to try to bump draft him. Instead of helping Ryan, it send him hard into the wall and the defending Daytona 500 champion was left with a wrecked race car. He was clearly livid with David and gestured at him when he drove by and later took a dig at David, saying that he was racing over his head. Based on his comments after the race David clearly felt horrible since he thought he was going to help Ryan and I'm sure he'll apologize profusely to him - if Ryan is willing to hear him out. I admit I was pretty surprised to see David give Ryan a shot like that as the timing didn't seem right but every driver makes mistakes from time to time.

The real story of the Duels was the drivers who raced their way in - Scott Riggs, Jeremy Mayfield and A.J. Allmendinger. I think a lot of people figured that A.J. would make it in but most weren't too sure how well Scott and Jeremy would do considering both were racing for brand-new teams that don't have a lot of funding, personnel or resources. Racing for Tommy Baldwin Motorsports, Scott did a terrific job of putting himself in position to make the race and staying there. Really outstanding work for a driver who was cast-off at the end of last season when Tony Stewart became an owner of Haas-CNC Racing. If Scott was outstanding, Jeremy was even more impressive. His team, which he not only races for but also is one of the owners of, was only assembled just a few weeks ago and is entirely made up of people who were laid off from other teams this off-season. If the odds seemed long for Jeremy to race his way in they looked even worse when his jackman was run over on pit road while helping another team in the first duel. But thanks to a great call by his crew chief, Tony Furr, to take only two tires on a late pit stop which helped give him track position, Jeremy did it - awesome job by Jeremy and his entire team! Regan Smith became a happy man before he even took to the track for the second duel - he found out he was locked in based on the way other go-or-go-homers had finished.

As for the winners of each duel, it was great to see Jeff Gordon win the first Duel and show some of the doubters that he's not done yet. I think Jeff is likely to have a pretty good season in 2009 and I'm looking forward to seeing him win some points races. Terrific way for the #24 team to start the season. Kyle Busch won the second duel much to the chagrin of the many fans who can't stand him. I'm not a fan of Kyle's but I admit I'm amused every time he wins because the reaction of many fans is so extreme. Kyle definitely showed today that he's picking up right where he left off last season.

Other than that the MWR teams didn't finish as well as I hoped they would, I enjoyed watching the Duels. I thought the racing was pretty good and it was exciting to see which drivers would be able to race their way in. Hopefully the races this weekend will be just as good!

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

February 09, 2009

All Smiles for Michael Waltrip at the Start of the Season

Photo by Eric Gilbert, motorsports.com

I don't normally like to use someone else's photo in this space without permission but this photo of Michael Waltrip is so terrific that I had to post it. The photographer, Eric Gilbert, did an outstanding job of capturing that great smile of Michael's! I love seeing him look so happy and look like he's having so much fun considering how stressed out and upset Michael's looked so many times over the past few years. Michael was hysterical during Thursday night's draw for the Bud Shootout - if he did "whip it out" on national TV, everyone would still be talking about it now! One of the reasons that I like Michael so much is because of how much personality he has and that was in full evidence on Thursday - he's definitely not afraid to be himself and it's great!

As for the Shootout, unfortunately there weren't many smiles for Michael or his team as he ended up getting into the wall which ended his night early. What was troubling to me is that Michael said that his car was down on power in comparison to the other cars and it appears based on qualifying yesterday that his 500 car may have the same issue. I hope they can find something between now and Sunday to help fix that problem otherwise the result for Michael might not be as good as he's capable of on a restrictor plate track.

However, there were still two big positives for the #55 in Saturday night's race. I thought the communication between Michael and his new crew chief, Bootie Barker, was great. Michael seemed to have a better rapport with Bootie than he has with any other crew chief for years and that includes Bobby Kennedy. That may change but during the Shootout they seemed to be working together well, and Michael seemed willing to listen to Bootie as opposed to trying to take control of things. I was also happy to hear Michael say that the handling of the car was good. So many times last season Michael would have a decent car but wouldn't be able to race with it because the handling was so bad. Hopefully this is a sign that he'll have better handling cars this season because I think that would make a big difference in Michael's ability to get better results.

David Reutimann had a tough night on Saturday as well - he got caught up in a wreck like so many other drivers. From what others have said David seemed to also work well with his new crew chief, Rodney Childers, so hopefully he'll be able to pick up where he left off last season.

Although I was happy that Kevin Harvick ended up winning the Shootout and I thought the quality of the racing was pretty good, I didn't like seeing all the wrecking. Of course it's to be expected that there's going to be big wrecks during restrictor plate races, but I don't really enjoy races where the majority of the field is wadded up and in the garage by the end of the race. That makes the race more about who can survive as opposed who can race their way into Victory Lane. I hope we'll see something different during the duels and the 500 but I suspect both are going to be very messy as well. I just hope the MWR cars are around at the end of both and up front contending for the win!

Posted by silverdsl at 09:10 AM | Comments (0)

February 05, 2009

Michael Waltrip Says (Again) that he May Retire if he's Not Competitive in 2009

Please, oh please let Michael Waltrip race competitively up front in 2009! Even better would be if he was able to end up in Victory Lane for a race or two! Michael said today at Media Day, as he did at fan fest a few weeks ago that if he didn't race competitively in 2009 he might have to retire. Michael was clear about saying that wasn't what he wanted to do, that he wanted to continue racing in 2010 and for years to come but that if he didn't race as well as David he might have to step out of the car and put someone else in. Michael said,

“I think that’s interesting because ’09 could indeed be my last year because I can finally call it retirement if I choose to. There’s been years in my career where it could have been the last one and I just would not have had a ride. … I want to race the NAPA car in ’10 and beyond because I’m the best guy for it, but if I notice [teammate] David Reutimann out in front of me and me not being able to catch him and if I don’t see the results that I think the 55 car and 55 team deserve, then as an owner, I want to get somebody in it that can post those results. So it’ll be fun to see how it plays out. I believe in what we’re doing at MWR from a team standpoint, and I really, really want to be a part of it as a driver, but if not, I’ll just have to enjoy it as an owner.”

"Fun" isn't exactly what I'd call it! More like nerve-wracking for all of Michael's many fans because we want him to continue racing that #55 for a long time to come! Contrary to what some believe, Michael is a talented driver - his two Daytona 500 wins and two additional Cup wins speak to that. However, he can only make the best of the cars he's given to race and the cars he's had to race haven't been very good the past three years at times. If Michael has competitive cars to race like he did at the end of last season then I have no doubt that we'll be seeing a lot of him up front and not just at restrictor plate races.

What's going unsaid is that I think a lot of the pressure on Michael comes from NAPA Auto Parts and the possibility that they might not continue to sponsor Michael past this season. They want to see better results this season and if that happens the hope is that they'll remain at MWR, hopefully as Michael's sponsor. I suspect that when NAPA says they want to see better results it may not just be in terms of the finishes on the track but as far as the amount of exposure that Michael gets them. There is no doubt that there is any driver in the garage area who is as good as Michael is when it comes to finding ways to maximize the amount of exposure that his sponsors get but the reality is that poor results don't lead to much exposure during race broadcasts nor does it lead to very much coverage in the media or attention from fans. In this economy NAPA may be having second thoughts about spending millions of dollars if the results aren't there like they once were, though in my opinion they will never have another spokesperson as good as Michael is nor will they ever be as closely associated with any other driver as they are Michael. Even now when the results aren't there on the track, Michael still has a very large and loyal fanbase, much larger than many people realize, highlighted by the Wal-Nutz, and he still generates a tremendous amount of exposure for them - unfortunately given how much money they're investing in him they likely want more.

Michael said that he hasn't lost any of his ability behind the wheel,

“The last three years probably have been the most difficult years ever for me. They definitely have. It’s been challenging to be a guy that has won the Daytona 500 and competed at the level I have as recently as a couple year ago to think that my skills have gone away. They haven’t. We were building a new team, and I don’t think no one else has really done all that we’re doing right now, lately.”

I'm not surprised that he would say that he lost confidence in himself - anyone would if they had as much negativity directed towards them as Michael has the past few years. As much as one can try to shrug it all off and say that the criticism doesn't matter, when it's so relentless it's going to get to anyone. I think it's really unfortunate that so many people have written Michael off as a driver and haven't recognize that as he points out, MWR was building a new team and that came with a lot of struggles and challenges that showed up in the results not only for the #55 team but for all the MWR teams.

Apparently what really got to Michael last year - as I suspected contrary to what he said at the time - was Clint Bowyer's comment over his radio during the Bristol race in August that was broadcast on ESPN in which he called Michael "the worst driver in NASCAR, period." Michael said,

"The last three years, '06, '07, '08, probably have been the most difficult years ever for me. And maybe that came to where I wanted to beat somebody up when Clint Bowyer said what he said at Bristol because I didn't deserve that. It just made me mad. The fact that the whole world heard it was probably the hard part."

Michael definitely didn't deserve that! No driver deserves having everyone hear a fellow competitor insult him like that. What was truly awful in my mind is that ESPN and other media outlets continued to play the clip repeatedly afterwards even when it became clear that Clint's comment was because of his mistaken belief that Michael had caused an accident in which he was actually just as much of an innocent victim as Clint was. It set Michael up to be mocked by fans - and I suspect perhaps by some in the garage area. He must have felt terribly hurt by that incident and it must have been difficult to put it behind him - and maybe he hasn't completely since he discussed it today at Media Day.

I'm all for fans and the media calling things as they see them. I don't think that anything should be swept under the rug and ignored. Some drivers are more successful than others, and Michael's four Cup wins in the 25 years he's been in Cup aren't as much as some drivers who have that many wins in one season - that's fact. No one has to like Michael and cheer for him like his fans do. But I think he and every other driver in that garage area deserve some respect. No one sticks around in the Cup Series for 25-years - or wins two Daytona 500s - if they're lacking in talent. Michael is not only a talented race car driver, but also an intelligent person, who dared try something that may others would be afraid to do - start their own three-car Cup operation, something which I think a lot of people don't realize just exactly how hard it is to do. When times got tough for himself and for his organization he didn't call it quits, he kept going - luckily for us fans!

I'm very happy that Michael said today that he's regained his confidence and that he feels mentally and physically better than he has in a long time - hopefully that will help him have an outstanding season which will lead to NAPA re-signing and Michael continuing to race beyond this season!

Posted by silverdsl at 04:17 PM | Comments (0)

Aaron's Agrees to Sponsor David Reutimann for the Full Cup Season

Great news for David Reutimann and Michael Waltrip Racing! Originally Aaron's had agreed to sponsor only a partial season on the #00 Cup car but Michael Waltrip spilled the beans at media day today that Aaron's had agreed to step up to sponsor the car for the full season! That means that all of MWR's Cup cars are fully sponsored! Michael said,

“It’s going to be the Aaron’s Dream Machine from Daytona to Homestead, and I’m really, really happy about that and proud that Aaron’s has made that commitment."

I'm really happy too! I'm sure that Michael gave Aaron's a good deal to convince them to sign on for the full season but odds are MWR would have had to give any other company a deep discount this late in the going anyway. To me some outside money coming in is better than no money at all. Aaron's is certainly very committed to MWR given that they're now sponsoring David for the entire season in Cup and Michael for a partial Nationwide schedule.

I like that David is going to have one sponsor for every Cup race. As much as I think it's a good idea for teams to break up full season sponsorships and have a variety of companies sponsor a few races as a draw because it's more affordable for them than being a full-time primary sponsor I think the downside of that is that it's hard for fans when the sponsor is changing every race because it becomes confusing. So fans have trouble associating one sponsor with a particular driver and I suspect they may not be as likely to support those sponsors since they don't feel the same kind of connection the way they might if a sponsor is on the car for every race.

Something tells me that Aaron's is going to be very happy they decided to sponsor the #00 full-time - David is going to win his first Cup race sooner rather than later and hopefully it'll be this season!

Posted by silverdsl at 02:49 PM | Comments (0)

February 04, 2009

Four New Aaron's Commericials for 2009 Featuring Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann

Four new commercials that Aaron's did with Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann are going to make their debut during the Daytona 500 weekend but fans can get a sneak peek of all four on the Aaron's Youtube page. As always the Aaron's commercials are creative and humorous - Michael has a real gift for acting and has perfect comedic timing. It doesn't appear that acting comes as naturally to David since he doesn't have much of a speaking role in any of the commercials but he still does a good job.

Continuing a theme from commercials of the past where DW used to plead to be allowed to race the Dream Machine, Macy Waltrip begs her father to let her have a turn behind the wheel in the #99. No doubt this commercial is going to be a big hit! Fans love seeing Michael with Macy to begin with, but it's also funny and Macy does a terrific job of delivering her lines - it appears Michael isn't the only talented actor in the family!

In "After a Long Day at the Track," Michael and David show how they like to relax after a hard day's work at the track using the furniture and electronics featured at Aaron's. In another commercial Michael the spokesperson is hard at work at Aaron's, along with David who is busy checking out the Aaron's website. Michael instructs David and the Aaron's Lucky Dog in how to sign an autograph - Lucky Dog passes but David appears in need of some extra help! "Who's the Real Driver?" features all three drivers that Aaron's will be sponsoring in 2009 - Michael and David at MWR and Ken Butler, III, who will race 18 races for R3 Motorsports with sponsorship from Aaron's. I think the commercial is funny but I suspect there are going to be some jokes made at the expense of Michael and Ken when it comes to the "real driver" question. Unfortunate for sure, but as much as I dislike drivers being mocked it may draw some additional attention to that particular commercial which I'm sure Aaron's will have no complaints about.

One thing that strikes me about these commercials is how prominent Michael is in them. That's to be expected since Aaron's has a long relationship with him and he's very much associated with Aaron's in fan's mind. I would have thought that even though acting isn't his thing, David might have had more of a starring role in at least one of the commercials considering Aaron's will be sponsoring David in the Cup Series for part of this season. In the past I've thought that David might not be as marketable as some other drivers and perhaps this speaks to that. David is a nice guy and a very talented driver who will no doubt get Aaron's a lot of exposure by racing their car up front in Cup this season, but I think Michael will probably get Aaron's even more exposure - not only will he likely contend for wins in the Dream Machine but as reflected in one of the commercials his talents as a spokesperson are far superior to David's. But as long as Aaron's is happy with their association with MWR and continues to sponsor David that's what's important.

It's always great to see new commercials with Michael in them! As much as I enjoyed these commercials I'm really looking forward to the new NAPA Auto Parts commercials with Michael and Ron Capps - those should be really awesome!

Posted by silverdsl at 07:58 PM | Comments (4)

Michael Waltrip Designs His Own Paint Scheme for the #55

Michael Waltrip's #55 is going to feature a new paint scheme this year, one that's very cool looking which I think will make it stand out more on the track. Much as I suspected Michael actually designed the paint scheme himself and I think he did a great job! I especially love the way the flames look! Michael said of his design work,

“I’m an amateur artist. My brother [Darrell] was the same way: He always wanted to have the coolest looking race car when I was a kid. He’d be real proud of his cars and the way they looked, and to me they were awesome. I’ve always had that eye. I want things to look uniform. I like them to make a statement: Our chrome wheels, our double numbers. All those things were important to me. I like doing that a lot.”

Not only did Michael design this year's paint scheme on the #55, he also designed MWR's logo. The first time I met him I had him sign a design I drew that incorporated his car number at the time and he told me then that he likes art, I found out later on that he's always liked to draw. So when I heard that he designed the MWR logo, the next time I saw him I asked him if it was true and he said that it was. He told me about how he drew a lot in high school but gave it up because there was someone who was better than he was and he wanted to be the best! But he sure didn't give it up all together thankfully!

Michael makes note of his "eye" and how he likes things to be uniform. As someone else who is into art and photography that was something that I picked up on - I've noticed that a lot of times when he signs things, without having to be told, it's he instinctively knows where the "right" spot where it's going to look good. I actually asked him whether he had ever done any photography in the same conversation when I asked him about the MWR logo because with his "eye" I think it would be something that he would likely be very good at. His answer was no, that he didn't do much photography because he got frustrated when his photos didn't come out exactly the way he wanted them to. Maybe someday he'll get over that because I think with his eye for design he would really do well with a camera.

On The After Show on Tony Rizzuti's site one time, Tony talked about how when Michael was designing the MWR logo he got really into it, drawing variations over and over which he taped up inside his motorcoach. I can only imagine how many versions of his paint scheme he went through! I think it really speaks to how unique Michael is that not only is he a driver, an owner, and business man but he's also creative and an artist! Just one more reason why I like him so much! Maybe someday when he retires from racing and has some more time he'll do more art and design work - sure would love to see more of what he does!

Posted by silverdsl at 04:41 PM | Comments (0)

Michael Waltrip Says Alliance With Prism Motorsports is a "Win-Win"

Yesterday there was a press conference at Michael Waltrip Racing about the technical alliance they have formed with Prism Motorsports. Phil Parsons was also on Sirius just after the press conference talking in glowing terms about the alliance and Window World, the company that will be the primary sponsor of Prism's #66 as well as an associate sponsor (according to Phil, I can't find a press release about it) on the MWR cars. In a video clip from the press conference that was posted on MWR's Facebook page Michael talked about Window World, and in a separate interview he spoke about how the alliance was a "win-win" for all involved - I definitely agree on that!

Michael said,

"This association with Prism Motorsports and Phil and Randy, with Terry Labonte driving their car, is an avenue for us to put some money on the bottom line, sell some cars, furnish these guys with support so they can have a chance to go out and make races and accomplish their goals."

One reason I've been so excited about the technical alliance that MWR formed with JTG-Daugherty Racing, and the other alliances that have followed is that I suspected that it was going to bring in some revenue. That revenue will not only help MWR continue to operate as they have previously even though the economy has gone downhill, but hopefully it will help them be able to field the #00 as competitively as they would if it had full sponsorship, even though they only have sponsorship from Aaron's for a partial season for that car. In addition the alliance will also benefit Prism since they'll receive technical support from a large Cup organization. I also think it will help Phil Parsons, one of the co-owners of Prism, to be affiliated with MWR because it will legitimatize Prism and his efforts to go Cup racing in the eyes of fans who are skeptical and suspicious after seeing what Phil did with MSRP Motorsports last season in the Nationwide Series.

According to what Phil said on Sirius the affiliation with MWR came about because Phil and Michael got to talking and Phil was saying how he was going to go Cup racing. So Michael said that MWR was building all these new cars all the time and that he would check their inventory and see what cars they had to sell off. Michael definitely knows how to seize an opportunity!

They had to ask him three times before he would answer but Phil finally said that yes, Prism will be racing the full races not just start and parking. I hope that truly is what happens particularly now that they're affiliated with MWR. However, Phil said that they don't have sponsorship beyond the Daytona 500 right now so I think that might make it difficult for them to race the full season let alone full races. Only time will tell how things are going to work out for Prism but now that they're working with MWR, I'm cheering for them to do well!

Posted by silverdsl at 03:33 PM | Comments (0)

Michael Waltrip Racing May Not Have Three Cars Locked in for the Daytona 500

It's a little over a week to the Daytona 500 and Michael Waltrip Racing still doesn't know whether all three of their teams will be guaranteed a spot not only in the Daytona 500 but for the following four races. That's because of the rush of teams trying to make deals to buy or transfer owner's points. MWR had been thinking that the #47, their third car via an alliance with JTG-Daugherty Racing, would be locked in via that team's use of the #00' owner's points. That team had finished 36th in owner's points in 2008 and was first in line to move into the top 35, something which appeared was going to happen after a number of teams in the top 35 folded. However, as it turns out it appears that those owner's points may all be transferred or sold to other teams instead of going unused. Apparently it all comes down to whether Richard Childress Racing can work something out to acquire top 35 owner's points for Clint Bowyer and his team - if they can, Marcos is out, but if they can't, Marcos is in.

My issue isn't whether it's fair or not. For one thing, JTG made a deal of their own to get owner's points to try to lock themselves in and they had to know that there was a risk that something like this would happen once the #00 finished 2008 36th in owner's points. What bothers me (besides the deal Phoenix Racing is trying to broker) is that it's so close to the Daytona 500 and Marcos Ambrose and his team still don't know whether they're locked in or not. Michael Waltrip said he doesn't even know what's going on,

“I don’t know. He was 36th, and then he was 34, and then he was 35th. I heard he might be 36th again. But I don’t know. He may be, but then again, he may not be. I haven’t heard from Daytona what the official top 35 in points is today. I know that there’s a lot going on.”

It most definitely does make a difference whether they're in or out because having to race their way in means that they'll have to approach Speedweeks, and the four races that follow, with an entirely different strategy and a lot more pressure. Supposedly NASCAR is going to finalize the top 35 on Friday so teams have between now and then to finalize a deal but it seems to me that NASCAR should have set a much earlier deadline. Or maybe they should tighten up the rules regarding owner's points transfers even more so that it's not so easy for teams to move points around unless they're making a transfer of owner's points internally between their own teams.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:07 PM | Comments (0)

February 02, 2009

Michael Waltrip Visits Texas, Gets His Own Day and Talks About the Economy

Michael Waltrip visited Odessa, Texas for the second part of the Fan Swap promotion that Best Western did last year. The winning bidder of an auction to benefit a charitable cause got to switch jobs with Michael. Last Fall Murray Erickson spent time at Michael Waltrip Racing experiencing what Michael does on an average day, so last Thursday Michael visited Odessa where he saw Erickson's race car collection and presumably experienced other parts of his daily life. In addition, the mayor of Odessa made a proclamation that January 29 was Michael Waltrip Day and according to what Michael said in the video that was posted on Facebook, it was the first time he's ever had a day named after him. Kind of hard to believe that even after winning the Daytona 500 twice no one has given him an honor like that before!

While he was in Texas Michael gave interviews to some of the local media outlets. He addressed what is on many people's minds - the economy and the effect it's having on fans and the sport. Michael said,

"We understand the challenges our fans are faced with. We know one thing for sure, in the history of the world, when there was the gas crisis in the 1970s and where there is war, people need a break. They need to be able to turn on the TV and see something they like and pick them up a little bit."

Michael is 100% right. Fans are tuning in to NASCAR and other professional sports partially as a way to be entertained and escape from their problems, some of which are heightened now due to the economy. There seems to be some that don't understand that concept. While some in the media and some fans are relentless in their negativity about the dire effects the economy is having on NASCAR and how the sport may not survive for much longer, there are quite a few other fans who while still concerned about the issues facing the sport, just want to cheer for their favorite drivers and enjoy some good racing.

Media day is Thursday at Daytona, and I have to wonder what the tone of the day is going to be. Will it be the usual optimism that most drivers express at the start of the season that this will be their year and that they'll not only contend for the win in the Daytona 500 but maybe even for the Championship. Or will the topic of the economy dominate to such a degree that doom and gloom will prevail? Of course the problems related to the economy that the teams and the sport overall are facing shouldn't be ignored but those issues shouldn't overshadow what the drivers are in Daytona to do - race. Other than those fans who are perpetually pessimistic, most fans are very excited for the start of the season and very much looking forward to the cars taking the track for the first time. The last thing the sport needs right now is for that enthusiasm to be discouraged or dampened.

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

January 22, 2009

SPEED Puts the Brakes on "Tradin' Paint"

As part of NASCAR's media tour this week, SPEED held an open house to show off their new facilities. They also announced that Tradin' Paint was going to be replaced with a game show. TP featured John Roberts, Kyle Petty and a different motorsports media member who discussed each week's news and events. In some ways it's unfortunate that TP is getting canceled since there it was an opportunity for a lively and candid exchange of opinions, but I'm not really going to miss the show because I haven't watched since Michael Waltrip was replaced by Kyle. As much as I like Kyle, I wasn't too happy when Michael stopped doing the show since I thought he was terrific on it, and I just couldn't bring myself to watch someone else doing the show.

I can understand why SPEED is canceling the show. It may be that low ratings played a role, but these days it seems like it's all doom and gloom in the sport and week after week of being negative and talking about bad news - which is probably what the show would have been this season - isn't very fun for those on the panel or those who are watching. It may also be that NASCAR discouraged SPEED from continuing the show, realizing how that kind of a tone might not lead to warm and fuzzy feelings from fans about the sport. I just wish they were replacing it with something other than a game show. To me the more racing and racing related programming the better and I'm unlikely to watch a game show.

However, there was some good news that came out of the media's visit to SPEED - based on what was said apparently there are no other programming or personnel changes at SPEED which I think means that Michael will likely be back on This Week in NASCAR and in the booth for Truck races. Every season there always seems to be rumors that he's getting replaced on the Monday night show and as much as he seems to love doing the truck races one never knows season to season whether his schedule is going to allow him to continue. I'm really happy that Michael will be doing both, particularly since it's almost certain that Michael Waltrip Out Loud won't be back. Even though he won't have a weekly radio show, I'll still get to hear his thoughts and opinions on what's happening in the sport, and enjoy his enthusiasm in the booth during truck races.

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

January 17, 2009

Will 2009 be Michael Waltrip's Last Season in Cup?

Michael Waltrip made some comments today at Daytona Fan Fest that weren't music to this fan's ears. He said that his goal in 2009 was to race up front so that he doesn't have to say that it's his last year. Michael said,

“...if I don't do those things, if I can't compete at the level that Reutimann does or NAPA expects, then I probably won't get to do this again in 2010.”

The title of this article asks whether Michael is contemplating retirement after this season, and if that happens I think it would be because he has to, not necessarily because he wants to. The reality is that NAPA Auto Parts is only signed through the end of 2009 and that's likely because they want to see if the results will improve this season before they opt to invest $20 or $25 million in Michael and Michael Waltrip Racing for more years. Though it has to be expected that NAPA wants to see more of Michael racing up front, I hope the expectations are being kept reasonable. The fact of the matter is that MWR is only in it's third season in existence and although they've had some good races, and both Michael and David have raced well at times, they are very much still a work in progress. I'd love for it to happen but I don't think Michael, David or their teammate via the alliance with JTG-Daugherty Racing, Marcus Ambrose, is likely to race in the top ten every week or be in the Chase. I definitely think that Michael can contend for wins - after all, he's won two Daytona 500s and two other Cup races besides, but he's never been a driver to contend for wins every single week - which has been perfectly fine with NAPA up to this point.

NAPA wants to see more of Michael racing up front sure, but I also think it comes down to exposure. They get a lot of exposure when their car is racing in the top ten, but Michael has always been able to get them a lot of exposure outside the car. Unfortunately some of those opportunities may not be there as they once were. As far as I know Michael will still be doing This Week in NASCAR and will be in the booth for Truck races on SPEED, but he's not on Trackside or Tradin' Paint anymore. In addition, Michael Waltrip Out Loud is unlikely to return and fan interest in the sport in general is decreasing. MWR has created a new Facebook page to promote their interests - including their sponsors interests - but what they put on that page only reaches a limited audience - those who are on Facebook who visit their page regularly. So perhaps the question this season in addition to whether Michael races up front this season enough to satisfy NAPA is also whether he gets them the amount of exposure they want. Michael is one of the most gifted and savvy when it comes to finding opportunities to generate exposure for his sponsors but even he may be limited by the current state of the economy and other issues that all the teams and the sport are facing.

Michael also said,

“This is a real important year for me because I still love it. I'm still emotional about it. That's a great feeling. I'm glad I have that. I'm glad I feel the way I do, and I'm also glad that I own my car, because if this is my last year then I'm fine, because that means I got somebody faster or better than me to drive my car in 2010, and that's how it was supposed to be.

I'm glad to hear that Michael still loves to race - he probably always will and even if he isn't able to continue racing on the Cup level hopefully he can race in the Nationwide Series. I'm also very happy that he is a car owner because as long as there's sponsorship for his cars being an owner will keep him involved in the sport for many years to come. Problem is with the way the economy is and the increasing difficulty for even the good teams to find and keep sponsorship, there are no guarantees that the sponsorship and other funding will be there forever for Michael to continue as an owner, not because he or his organization will have done anything wrong but just because all the teams are struggling with these issues. If NAPA walks or reduces the level of their sponsorship there may not be a replacement sponsor since there doesn't seem to be that many companies willing to make a $25 million investment in sponsoring a car any more. Without NAPA I'm not sure MWR will be able to continue, at least in Cup, with just Aaron's, some associate sponsors and the affiliation with JTG.

The other issue is that since it appears there may not be the sponsorship to put Josh Wise in a Nationwide car this season they may not have a younger or faster driver to put in the car when Michael steps out. Josh could be a star for MWR but financial issues may prevent them from developing him so that he's ready to race Cup. It sure didn't work out throwing Michael McDowell in a Cup car without getting him some experience on a lower level. I suppose MWR could sign a free agent to take Michael's place but that costs more money and unless MWR is fielding cars that race up front and have solid sponsorship they may not attract the top level "name" free agents.

I always used to be the kind of fan that would watch races regardless of whether my favorite driver was racing or not. But I'm increasingly getting the feeling that once Michael isn't racing anymore my interest in the sport may decline significantly. That doesn't mean that I'll stop watching all together but I don't think I'll be as ardent or as passionate of a fan as I am now. I've always been able to shrug off a lot of the things that a lot of fans make a big deal about, I have don't have that many major issues with the way the powers that be run the sport, and in general I would prefer to focus on the positives and the things that are going right, than on the negative and complain all the time. But even I'm getting disheartened and discouraged by the direction the sport is going in.

So hopefully Michael will race up front on a regular basis and even win a couple of races - he certainly has the talent behind the wheel to do it! I would love to see Michael racing the #55 NAPA Toyota for many years to come!

Posted by silverdsl at 06:44 PM | Comments (0)

January 14, 2009

Michael Waltrip, Scott Speed to Split Time in Michael Waltrip Racing's #99 Car

Today Michael Waltrip Racing announced that they would field four full-time teams in 2009, three Cup cars and one Nationwide car. As has been previously announced the Cup lineup will be Michael Waltrip in the #55 with sponsorship from NAPA Auto Parts, David Reutimann in the #00 and Marcos Ambrose in the #47 with a variety of sponsors via the alliance with JTG-Daugherty Racing. Although there had been an announcement a number of months ago that David would return to the #99 Nationwide car for a handful of races it appears that won't be happening. Instead, Michael and Red Bull Racing's Scott Speed will split the schedule. There's been some video and photos posted on the MWR Facebook page that relates to the Aaron's sponsorship for the #99, but apparently Best Western will also be sponsoring Michael for some races as well. Of course Red Bull will be on the car when Scott is behind the wheel.

I have to admit that I have mixed emotions after reading today's announcement. While I'm thrilled that Michael will apparently be racing more Nationwide races than previously thought, I'm not so happy that it appears that Josh Wise not only won't be in the #99 for any races as originally planned but since he's not mentioned, may not race for MWR at all in 2009. I understand completely why that might be since there probably isn't any sponsorship to put him in the #99 or another car. However, as a fan of Josh's who had high hopes that he would not only develop into a very successful and winning driver, but do that at MWR, it's disappointing that he doesn't appear to be part of their plans right now. It also concerns me because it's important for MWR to develop young talent for the future and at least for the moment it seems like a lack of sponsorship dollars is going to prevent that from happening. Of course MWR isn't the only team who will be scaling back on driver development this season and I don't think that's a good trend.

The other thing that's a concern is that MWR still hasn't found sponsorship for the remaining half season for David and the #00 car. While Michael said today that MWR will still field the car on a full-time basis in spite of there not being a sponsor for every race, that could present a problem since MWR will have to pay to field the car out of their own pocket. I suppose that they're still better off than some since there are teams that don't have any sponsors let alone a sponsor willing to cover half a season. Apparently the remaining races will be offered to potential sponsors at a discounted rate so hopefully that will appeal to some companies even if they only sign on for a few races. David is a very talented driver who showed last season that he can race up front and contend for wins. He's an overall great person and very fan-friendly. So David can get sponsors the exposure they're looking for. Problem is that it seems like sponsorship dollars are so scarce that even if a company might be interested they might not have the money for it even at a reduced rate.

Putting my concerns aside, I am definitely thrilled that Michael will be racing a lot of Nationwide races this season! He's won in the #99 before and I would love to see him take it to Victory Lane again! Although the #55 team has made a lot of progress since 2007, they still have a ways to go before they're racing up front on a regular basis, but in the past Michael has usually raced competitively when he's been in the #99. So it'll be good for him to race that car and race competitively as the #55 team continues to develop. I'm really excited for Daytona - a great truck race on Friday that Michael will hopefully be in the booth for, and then Michael racing in both the Nationwide and Cup race! Maybe somehow, someway, Michael will end up in Victory Lane that weekend - he certainly knows how to win at Daytona! How awesome would that be?!

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

January 12, 2009

Michael Waltrip Goes Boar Hunting with Aarons Outdoors

Back in October Michael Waltrip and some others from Michael Waltrip Racing went wild boar hunting at the Briar Patch Plantation in Georgia, as part of the taping of a TV show for Aaron's Outdoors. Not too long afterwards photos from this outing surfaced and I didn't do an entry about it because if I'm being honest I found it a little disturbing to see photos of Michael holding and shooting a gun. I'm not sure exactly why it bothered me since I don't have a problem with hunting if that's what someone wants to do or with gun ownership, though neither or those things are for me. Perhaps it was because in the past Michael has made a comment or two that indicated that he might not be that comfortable with guns and when he talked about going wild boar hunting on his XM show he sounded a little leery about shooting the pigs. But the show that was filmed for Aaron's outdoors has been airing and has a few more air dates so for the sake of those who visit this blog who might be interested in watching the show I decided to do an entry now to pass on the air dates which are from a press release on Michael's site:

Saturday, Jan. 31 at 9:30 AM on CSS
Monday, Feb. 2 at 8:30 PM on Pursuit (Direct TV channel 608)
Wednesday, Feb. 4 at 10:00 AM on Pursuit

I don't have either of those channels so I won't be able to watch but I'm sure some others will be interesting in checking it out. Apparently it aired a couple of times already and based on what was said by a fan who watched neither Michael, nor Ty Norris, who also took part, had ever fired a gun before. I admit I'm a little surprised by that because even if Michael isn't a big gun person with how popular hunting and presumably guns are in the garage area are I would have thought that he would have gone hunting or at least target shooting at some point prior to now.

Apparently Michael did very well for someone who has never shot a gun before and was able to shoot two pigs with one bullet the first time he tried after taking some target practice. Just goes to show that drivers have good eyesight and excellent reflexes! However, one of the two pigs was only injured from the shot, and Michael didn't want to finish the pig off - I can understand that as I would think if one isn't used to hunting and isn't fully comfortable with it, finishing off a kill up close and personal might be kind of difficult. A tradition with a first kill on a hunt is that the person smears blood from that kill on their face, something Michael declined to do, and again, I can understand why he wasn't too keen on that. After the hunt was over there was a pig roast and a good time was had by all.

Something tells me that unless Aaron's Outdoors wants Michael to do something else for him we probably won't see Michael going hunting on a regular basis.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:38 PM | Comments (0)

Michael Waltrip Wants a Preseason Race, Thinks Testing is a Waste of Time

Michael Waltrip had some interesting comments during the Sound and Speed Fan Festival this past weekend in Nashville, one of which is about how he thinks that there should be a preseason race - something I think is an excellent idea. Michael said,

“Why not have a race in January, maybe a New Year's Eve race, middle of January, some sort of race in a cool location where it pays money? You go down there for two or three days, you're able to test what you've learned and you actually have like an unofficial race. NASCAR does it. It's like a pre-season game, if you will.”

Some of the teams and drivers might not be as enthusiastic as Michael about a race during the off-season but fans dearly miss racing during the three month break that NASCAR takes and even more-so now that there isn't even testing to look forward to. Sure, there's the Toyota All-Star Showdown that the Camping World East and West Series teams and Whelen All-American Series teams take part in , and a few other events but for the most part the drivers from the Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series that the fans cheer for so ardently during the season don't do any racing. How awesome would it be to have a race on New Year's Day or at some other point during January to look forward to? I'm thinking it would also be a lot of fun for the drivers since it would be a race that didn't really count for anything, prior to the season, where they could let it all hang out.

Michael continued,

“You get paid money for it. Fans get to come and watch it. It's a test for all the teams. Everybody gets to compete. We can start 50 cars. Whoever shows up gets to race. I like that.”

I like that too! For one thing paying the teams and/or drivers to take part is a great idea because it would provide some incentive for them to take part. It would serve as a way for teams to test, something which they can't do right now on any of the NASCAR sanctioned tracks. I also love the idea that whoever shows up gets to start so no team goes home. Fans would love that too since it would give some drivers who might not normally race Cup an opportunity to participate in a Cup race though I would think there would need to be some limits such as making it that a team or driver would have had to have started at least once race in the year prior to take part to prevent the field from being too big to manage. Maybe they could also have the race at a different track each season or have some sort of twist like the field is inverted halfway through like they do at the All-Star race to give the race some uniqueness. I'm hoping that someone in a decision-making capacity heard or will see Michael's comments and will consider his idea because I think it's a very good one.

As for testing, Michael would like the current test ban which is temporary for now to become a permanent one. He said,

“My philosophy on testing is that it's a colossal waste of time and money. We can go to the wind tunnel. These guys will tell you, the cars are set up so precisely when they leave the shop. The guys go to the seven-post rig and they shake them. They do simulation. They understand what the cars are going to do when they go into the corner in the wind tunnel. So everything about the setup, it can be done virtually or through wind tunnel and seven-post testing. So when you go to a racetrack to test, you're just basically burning up tires, burning up gas, and taking people's time, taking employees' time at home away, which is a negative, because the schedule is so intense.”

From an owner's point-of-view, as someone who has to be concerned with money, resources and his employees, I can understand where he's coming from. In addition, I get the impression that testing isn't high on a driver's list of things that they're anxious to do and particularly during the off-season. However, it seems to me that there is some value in testing. For one thing these days drivers and crew chiefs are constantly on the move. Test sessions give drivers and crew chiefs an opportunity to get to know each other and work on communication prior to when they have to start racing together. Also, testing is a way for young drivers to get some experience and get to know tracks that they might not have raced on much or at all. I also think that as much as computers and simulations can duplicate everything almost exactly, there's still something to be said for doing things hands on, at the actual track. I don't know much about the technical aspect of the sport so I could be completely off-base but I would think there might be things like how the track feels to a driver or certain kinds of feedback that might be hard to duplicate via a computer simulation. But what do I know?

In other Michael related news from Sound and Speed he literally gave the shirt off his back... or more precisely the sweater off his back to a fan. Apparently this fan asked him if she could have the sweater and he gave it to her. I really can't understand what possesses fans when they do stuff like that in general as I think it's kind of pushy and inappropriate but I really can't figure out what this fan was thinking in this case because the sweater Michael was wearing is without question one of the ugliest sweaters I've ever seen in a truly horrible shade of bright green. (Sorry Michael!) He told Raygan Swan that people were making fun of him the whole time he was wearing it and even I who doesn't tease people much would probably have had a hard time keeping my thoughts to myself if I saw him wearing that sweater in person!

Michael also talked about how he spent New Year's Eve from 5:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. bowling with Macy and maybe some other family members which is a nice way to spend New Year's. Raygan - no surprise - made a big deal of a comment that Michael made about how his right arm hurt afterwards and how he ",,,couldn't use it for things that I'm used to using it for anymore" to which Denny Hamlin said, "Like writing and whatnot" and Michael responded, "Yes, writing and whatnot." Raygan called it the "...most disturbing innuendo I have ever heard from a driver in a public setting" and while I can understand that some who are more conservatively minded might be offended or find it inappropriate I'd say she doesn't get around much if she thinks that's the most disturbing innuendo she's ever heard from a driver in a public setting. In fact, a driver (not Michael or one of his drivers) once said a joke to me that I found about a hundred times more disturbing and no where near as funny, though I wasn't offended because I understood that this driver was just trying to be funny.

It's unfortunate - fans, the media and NASCAR say they want the drivers to show more personality but when they do it gets called "disturbing." The reality is that as much as some like to think that all the drivers are ulltra-conservative, spend every night at home drinking milk, eating cookies and playing board games with their families; and never make an off-color joke or even think about anything that isn't g-rated, the reality is something different and there's nothing wrong with that.

What's also unfortunate is that the media were told not to report on anything from the silent auction that was held on Saturday night. That's never been the case in the past and I can't imagine why it was this year unless NASCAR thought that it might not go over so well in this economic climate if fans heard about the drivers and others spending big money at a silent auction on things they don't really need when some fans are having trouble paying their bills. That's a shame because something tells me there are some good stories to be told about that auction since it's seemed like a fun event in the past.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:02 PM | Comments (0)

A Sad Day

Yesterday a very devoted fan of Michael Waltrip, John Seidelman, who was also a great friend to many of the Wal-Nutz (Michael's fans) passed away from lung cancer at the age of 64. John was a constant presence on the forum on michaelwaltrip.com, and he will always be remembered for the weekly messages he did for Michael and David Reutimann, his jokes, for calling the ladies of the forum his "gurlz" and for his overall positive attitude. He will be very much missed, and to give an indication about just how much Michael even made mention of John's passing on his Facebook page this morning. Although some had met John in person, many people got to know him through the forum, by exchanging emails and in some cases talking to him on the phone. So there may be some who don't understand how it's possible to be sad about the loss of someone who many never met in person. However, the Wal-Nutz are a family of sorts and John was a vital part of the fabric of the community on the forum and his loss is felt deeply by all, even those who weren't close to him.

One thing about John was that he was an unwavering, loyal and devoted fan of Michael's through thick and thing. No matter what happened John always believed in Michael and was always positive and optimistic about Michael and Michael Waltrip Racing. If there were things that John didn't agree with or didn't like I don't recall him ever letting on. I also don't remember him every having a bad word for anyone - it just wasn't his style. There is a lot to be learned from his example and from his positive attitude.

John will never be forgotten by the Wal-Nutz. One thing's for sure when Michael races in the Daytona 500 next month, John will be looking down from above and cheering him on. Rest in Peace John and thoughts and prayers to Lois and the Seidelman family.

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

December 17, 2008

Michael Waltrip Thinks His Team is Getting Stronger

Nothing earth-shattering here in terms of it's newsworthiness but it made me smile this morning to come across a positive article about Michael Waltrip and his organization. I love the fact that Michael is still talked about as a contender for winning another Daytona 500 - and for good reason! Aside from being a master at plate racing, Michael Waltrip Racing as the article points out has made a lot of progress. Michael said,

"I think our past history may be an advantage, what with teams not allowed to test anymore. I don't think there's a whole lot I can learn about Daytona, and that carries over to the whole team, I think."

With two Daytona 500 wins and an additional Cup win at the track, I'd say Michael is right!

Michael also said that he feels that Joe Gibbs Racing becoming a Toyota team in 2008 will continue to help the other Toyota teams in the future and that the effects will be seen more next season. He said,

"Their goal is to get their entire program in position to win races. The cooperation between all the Toyota teams has already paid dividends, but it's not going to be as hard to see next year."

I'm glad to hear that there's continuing cooperation between the Toyota teams. There's now a new Toyota organization to add into the mix as well - Robby Gordon Motorsports - and I'm interested in seeing how much Robby and his organization works with MWR. Robby has been close with Call Wells, MWR's Executive Vice President for Operations, for years and Frank Kerr, the crew chief of the #47 that will be housed in the MWR shop has worked for RGM more than once, including a stint as Robby's crew chief. Despite Robby's past conflicts with Michael (and the hatred that Robby's fans have for Michael as a result) if the other Toyota teams are working together there won't be much choice but for Robby to do the same. Not to mention the MWR teams were a lot more competitive at the end of this season - often more competitive than Robby was - so I'd guess he's going to do whatever he feels is going to improve the performance of his team even it means sharing information or otherwise working with someone he and/or his fans don't like that much.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:50 PM | Comments (0)

December 11, 2008

Michael Waltrip In the News (12/11)

This morning Michael Waltrip made an appearance on a Charlotte radio station 96.9 to take the gallon of milk challenge. His task was to down a gallon of milk and some cookies in an hour without puking and if he did it money would be donated to Toys for Tots and Motor Racing Outreach. And he did it! He didn't feel too good by the end but he came though for two very deserving causes! Video can be seen on the radio station's website and I'm very glad that it doesn't feature Michael puking though I suspect the station was hoping that would happen for the entertainment value! Michael is known for doing anything for his sponsors but he'll do anything for a good cause too!

Michael made another appearance today, this time online in a video on the official Michael Waltrip Racing Facebook page where he was shown with the #99 Aaron's Dream Machine Nationwide car that he'll be racing a few times next season. Michael talked about how they're hoping to get 500 fans to join the Facebook page by the end of the year and a thousand by Daytona so everyone who is a fan of Michael's or MWR, join up and spread the word!

During the video Michael also mentions the Wal-Nutz and how many of them have joined the facebook page. That was pretty exciting to hear! Although Michael once talked about the Wal-Nutz in an interview he did for the Most Popular Driver newsletter, to my knowledge it's the first time he's made reference to the Wal-Nutz in any kind of video. Michael has always been very appreciative of the support he's received from the Wal-Nutz and has said so when he's seen Nutz in person but it really makes people feel good to hear him talk about them without being prompted on the MWR Facebook page. (For those that don't know the Wal-Nutz are what the fans on Michael's official forum on michaelwaltrip.com call themselves though it really applies to any of Michael's fans since every fan of Michael is nuts about him!)

In other news that may not end up having much to do with Michael or MWR, Jayski is reporting that he's "heard" that Robby Gordon may switch manufacturer to Toyota. Gee, a manufacturer change for Robby, there's a surprise! Robby's been with every other manufacturer but Toyota so why not give them a try too! Just about every season there's a Robby Gordon Motorsports to Toyota rumor so we'll see if anything comes of it this time but it would certainly make things very interesting if RGM would enter into an alliance with MWR. There's no question that given how deeply some of Robby's fans hate Michael it would be very difficult for them to take a partnership between Robby and Michael so naturally I'm really hoping that's exactly what happens! The venom that's been directed towards Michael and often his fans as well by many of Robby's fans is really hard to take at times so it would be pretty amusing to see their reactions.

As much as I'd like for Robby and Michael to work together - and not just because of how it would drive some fans crazy - MWR may have all they can handle with the technical alliances with JTG-Daugherty Racing and Germain Racing. So I think Robby is more likely to end up working with one of the other Toyota organizations if he does end up changing manufacturers. It won't be Red Bull Racing since Monster Energy Drinks who sometimes sponsor Robby in both Cup and off-road are a direct competitor. It could end up being Joe Gibbs Racing, particularly since it appears they'll no longer be providing support to Hall of Fame Racing. But what about Bill Davis Racing? They've been pretty much written off on the Cup side but I have to wonder if they're contractually obligated to Toyota to field or support at least one Cup car next season? A partnership with RGM could fulfill that obligation if one exists. In addition, although BDR has had a lot of woes on the Cup side they still have more resources and are a bigger operation than RGM so there are ways in which Robby would benefit as well. But I'd still like to see Robby and Michael working together - I think they may be a lot more similar in certain ways than either of their fanbases would care to admit.

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

December 09, 2008

Michael Waltrip Racing on Facebook

I'm pretty new to the whole Facebook thing but I discovered today that Michael Waltrip Racing just created an official Facebook page which looks like it's going to be really good. So far there's some videos of Michael, some photos including photos of the 2009 paint scheme for the #55, which is different than this year's, and a holiday photo of Michael which is pretty funny. I know some are leery of social networking sites but it's easy to join Facebook and joining the MWR Facebook site is a quick and easy way for fans to show their support for Michael and MWR!

I'm not sure why they aren't doing some of the things they're going to do on Facebook on the MWR site as most teams try to drive as much traffic as possible to their own site via this kind of content but if they really do have video updates from races and other unique content that can't be found anywhere else it seems like it's going to be great!

The new paint scheme for the #55 is probably going to take a little getting used to because I'm used to the way it's been but I'm liking the addition of a lot more color. I think the new design is going to make the car stand out a lot more than it has. I haven't compared it to the paint scheme on Ron Capps NHRA car (he's also sponsored by NAPA Auto Parts) but I'm thinking that maybe his car influenced the design of the #55.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:39 PM | Comments (0)

December 08, 2008

Michael Waltrip is One of the Most Improved Drivers of 2008

Lately it seems like there isn't much positive to talk about when it comes to Nascar which is one reason that I haven't always rushed to discuss some of the news of the sport lately like I have in the past - I have plenty of concerns about how things are going to play out in Nascar as it is so it's not really that much fun to read article upon article about the woes of the sport due to the economy, particularly when most of them are the same. So I was happy to see two positive stories recently that made note of the fact that Michael Waltrip had a decent season in 2008 and that he was one of the most improved drivers from last season. Not that fans or the media should have their heads in the sand about the problems facing the sport - far from it - but I think it's just as important to discuss the things that are going right as it is to talk about the things that are going wrong.

Michael's 2008 was definitely something that went right even if it didn't always seem that way on the surface. His team made a huge amount of progress from 2007 going from DNQ'ing in 19 attempts that season to not only making every race in 2008 but only being outside the top 35 in owner's points once. I was pleased to see Tim Tuttle of SI.com say that Michael could be considered for Comeback Driver of the Year if Nascar gave out such an award for going from 44th to 29th in the points, and Lee Mongomery from scenedaily.com look inside the stats to see that even though Michael only finished 29th in points there a lot that went right for him this season.

It's very true that a lot did go right for MWR this season which had to be a relief after so much went disastrously wrong for them last year. Although David Reutimann got most of the attention for how well he was racing at the end of the season, the #55 team also made significant gains from where they were at the beginning of the season. When the season started the cars that Michael was given to race were horrible, so bad that he was often "racing" just to keep from wrecking as opposed to racing for position. By the end of the season he had fast cars and he was racing competitively and often as fast as the leaders more often than not. Throughout his career Michael has always had to deal with a lot of bad luck so the results don't always reflect how well he frequently was racing before bad luck in the form of blown tires, mechanical issues or getting caught in a wreck ruined potentially fine finishes. But Michael really did race extremely well this season, probably the best he's raced since he left DEI at the end of the 2005 season. I never doubted that if given a competitive car Michael could race up front and contend for wins, but it sometimes gets discouraging for even the most devoted of fans to see poor finish after poor finish so it was really exciting for Michael's fans that he was finally able to start being able to race like we know he's capable of again!

Michael said of his 2008 season and the outlook for 2009,

"We entered the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season with optimism, but knowing 2007 was a failure. So that optimism was cautious at best. We established ourselves as contenders this year. We went from missing races, having no cars in the top 35, to having two cars in the top 30 and one right on the bubble. As we enter 2009, we know we must continue to improve. But we also know we have our foundation built that will make us better than we were in 2008. Our team will head into a new season at the same strength as we ended this year, which means engineering support of our three cars, fabrication support, wind tunnel testing and seven-post testing. Evaluation will continue at the same level. We look forward to the 2009 season.”

They did indeed built a good foundation for next season, not only the #55 team but also the #44 (which will be the #00) team. Michael and those at MWR aren't the only ones looking forward to 2009, all of his fans very much are as well because we're expecting to see a lot more of him racing up front! Sometimes it seems that in light of the issues facing the sport that some aren't too excited about next season but I'm already looking forward to the 2009 Daytona 500 - I can't wait to see Michael and MWR make more progress next season!

Posted by silverdsl at 03:14 PM | Comments (0)

December 04, 2008

Michael Waltrip Finishes in the Top Ten in Most Popular Driver Voting!

For most fans the story is probably that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. won his sixth Most Popular Driver Award but for me the big story is that Michael Waltrip finished in the top ten in voting! I'd love to know how many years in a row it's been that Michael has finished this high in the voting - seems like he does well in MPD voting every year which is awesome!

So far Chex hasn't made available where the drivers in the top ten other than Junior finished, just who they are, but I hope that Michael finished in the top five like last year! I'm really happy for Michael that in spite of the results on the track not being as good as he would like the past few years he's still just as popular with the fans. Michael has a huge fanbase, much bigger than many think, and he's outstanding with his fans, so it's no surprise that they all voted so enthusiastically for him. Great job to all those who voted for Michael!

Some dismiss the results of polls like this as being a test of which fanbase can vote the most as opposed to really showing which drivers are the most popular and I've not been a fan of internet polls like this in the past myself. However, it's clear that teams and sponsors take the results of these kinds of polls seriously and believe that they are an accurate gauge of how popular a driver is. So it looks good not only to Michael's current sponsors but more importantly potential future Michael Waltrip Racing sponsors that he finished so well in the MPD voting.

I've not been feeling too good about what's been going on in the sport lately so it's good to have some positive news to be happy about!

Posted by silverdsl at 04:50 PM | Comments (0)

December 01, 2008

Red Bull Racing Announces 2009 Lineup; Scott Speed to Race Part-Time in Nationwide for Michael Waltrip Racing

Red Bull Racing announced their lineup for 2009 this morning, and there wasn't many surprises other than what Scott Speed's Nationwide plans are since it involves Michael Waltrip Racing. On the Cup level, Brian Vickers will race the #84 with Ryan Pemberton as his crew chief and Speed will race the #82 with Jimmy Elledge as his crew chief. Jay Frye, RBR's general manager and vice president said,

"Brian and Ryan are each at a point in their respective careers where they can bring home wins and make a run for the championship. Scott earned his Sprint Cup ride by exceeding our expectations in ARCA and trucks. He has a great asset in Jimmy, who has experience working with both rookies and open-wheel drivers."

Pemberton's addition to RBR will make them a stronger organization, no question, so I would expect Vickers to be even better in 2009 than he was next season. I don't expect much from Speed next season as he adjusts to Cup - no matter how well a driver does in Nationwide or Trucks the level of competition in Cup is so great that even the most talented of drivers may struggle some - but he should benefit from continuing to work with Elledge.

There was a bit of a surprise in the announcement that involved MWR - Speed will race part-time for MWR in the #99 car. According to what Slugger Labbe said this morning on Sirius, Speed will be in the car for twelve races. I would assume that RBR will be handing over some money to MWR to make that happen since MWR didn't have sponsorship for the #99 beyond the ten races that Aaron's was going to sponsor Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann for.

In some ways I'm not all that surprised that Scott is going to end up in an MWR car since Michael has spoken highly of him in the past. I like Scott since he's a unique personality just like Michael - maybe even more so since Scott seems to do things his way even if that's not the Nascar-way even more than Michael. However as much as I like Scott I'm not jumping up and down about the news that he's going to race the #99 because I have to wonder what this means for Josh Wise since the plan had originally been for him to race the #99 in the races that David and Michael weren't behind the wheel for. There will still be some races left in the #99 for Josh or another driver but it seems to me if Josh is going to continue to develop he needs to race full-time in the Nationwide Series next season. Unfortunately, a lack of sponsorship may prevent that from happening. If MWR doesn't have a sponsor for him for the #99 or for a second car, I have to think that he might be with another organization next season since MWR wouldn't even be able to use him as their test driver as they did last season.

It would be a pretty big loss for MWR if Josh were to leave. I think he's an extremely talented driver who has shown he's capable of good results even though he's only raced a limited amount of Nationwide races. He could end up being a future star in Nascar and I was hoping that was going to happen at MWR and that he might take over the NAPA sponsorship from Michael in a few years when he was ready to retire from racing Cup full-time. However, if there's no sponsorship for Josh, MWR has no choice but to let him go since the poor economy means that there's almost no way that MWR or any other team is going to be able to field a car or truck out without sponsorship. I was so impressed with Josh when I met him a couple of years ago and I was so happy that he was with MWR, but I'll continue to be a fan of his no matter what team he races for.

Really difficult times for all the teams and all who are involved in the sport right now. RBR and all those who are employed there are very lucky that the owner is also the sponsor and that there still seems to be a pretty steady flow of money from Red Bull for their Nascar operation.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:04 AM | Comments (2)

November 30, 2008

Help Save Michael Waltrip Outloud!

For the last few weeks it was sounding like the chances of Michael Waltrip Outloud returning to Sirius/XM in 2009 were pretty good but apparently things have changed. Much to my dismay last night on both Out Loud and "The After Show" the discussion made it sound like Sirius isn't too sure about making Outloud part of the lineup on the Nascar channel 128 next season which would mean that it would be canceled. What's astonishing is that apparently they may cancel Dale Jr Unrestricted as well. Just exactly what are they thinking over at Sirius if they may not bring back shows by two of the three most popular drivers in the sport as per the results in last season's Most Popular Driver voting? At a time when it's hard to keep fans interested it seems to me that Sirius would want more unique shows like this featuring some of the most loved drivers in the sport rather than less.

On the show last night they asked fans to call and email Sirius to try to help convince the powers that be that the show should return in 2009. If you are a fan of Michael's and you want to help save this show, whether you have Sirius/XM or not, please email and call Sirius and let them know you want Michael Waltrip Outloud to come back next year!

You can call Sirius at 1-888-539-SIRIUS (7474).

You can email Sirius via this link: http://www.sirius.com/customercare.

If you are a current subscriber make sure to mention Michael's show as one reason you are keeping your subscription and if you aren't a subscriber please tell them you would consider subscribing if Michael's show comes back in 2009. Money talks and especially in this economy!

Some of you might be thinking that since you don't have Sirius/XM and therefore can't listen it's not a big deal, but I would guess that it's a big deal for Michael because it helps him and MWR to not only get their message out but it's something I think is likely a big selling point to potential and current sponsors. Doing this show, as well as TWiN and his other media appearances, are extra exposure for Michael and therefore extra exposure for all his sponsors. I would think this is part of the way they try to do more for their sponsors than other teams do.

Listening to this show is a highlight of my week when it comes to Nascar programming because Michael and Tony do an outstanding job of informing the fans, not just about Michael and his teams, but also about everything that's going on in the sport. I've learned so much from the show! Also, they've had some great guests on and of course they're very funny as well! It's so much fun to listen to this show and I really hope it's back in 2009!

Posted by silverdsl at 10:04 AM | Comments (0)

November 26, 2008

Thankful on Thanksgiving

Given the poor economy it's easy to get caught up in worry and stress because things are so difficult for everyone right now. However, it's Thanksgiving tomorrow and I'm trying to focus on the things that I'm happy and thankful for. Most of all my husband, my friends and family. My snuggle-monster, Bailey the pug, who is currently happily snoring away on my lap as I tap this on my laptop. I'm also thankful that myself and my husband still have good jobs and that our employers, while effected by the economy just like any other, are involved in areas that aren't some of the more volatile ones right now like retail, banking or the automotive industry. I'm thankful for good health and that we'll be seeing lots of our family over the next few days.

I'm thankful that even though 2008 was an off-year for the New York Yankees that I've been a fan of the team during a time when they've had so much overall success. I'm thankful for the community at NYYFans.com and our moderation team who help us so much when it comes to running the site. I'm thankful for David Cone, Paul O'Neill, Tino Martinez, Robin Ventura, Mike Mussina, John Olerud and Jason Giambi, all former Yankees and all favorite players of mine who I was lucky enough to see play in person.

I've loved watching racing since I was a little girl but there was a time when I didn't watch as avidly as I do now. So I'm thankful that I got back into watching a number of years ago and that I became a fan of Steve Park which led me to becoming a fan of Michael Waltrip. I'm thankful for the friends I've made through the forum on Michael's site, for being lucky enough to meet Michael several times, for the adventures I've had at the track and for "Michael Waltrip Out Loud" which I hope returns in 2009. I'm thankful that Michael's won two Daytona 500s and has had success on the track otherwise. I'm thankful that Michael Waltrip Racing has taken some hits but has survived and especially that Michael is going to race both Cup and Nationwide next season.

I'm thankful that back in 2004 Michael and those around him decided to raise $1 million for the Victory Junction Gang Camp via Operation Marathon because it came at a time when I was looking for a way to do something in memory of my grandmother who had passed away the year prior. My grandmother was of limited means but she was very kind-hearted and tried to do whatever she could to help others. What Michael did with Operation Marathon inspired me to organize a variety of charitable efforts over the past few years in my grandmother's name because I realized that if he could do these things even with the busy schedule he had then surely there were things that I could do.

I'm thankful that I decided to do this blog because it gives me an outlet for all the many things that I question and think about. I'm sure my husband is thankful for that too because it means that he doesn't have to spend as much time listening to me ramble on about racing, something that he has no interest in! I'm thankful for all those who have taken the time to read this blog, particularly those who are repeat visitors. As one who loves news and has many, many things I'm interested in I'm thankful for the internet in general because it allows me to read and learn about things that I might not easily find information on otherwise.

Sometimes I wish I lived in the Southwest so I could photograph all the beautiful canyons and rock formations there but then I'm thankful for living in the Northeast where it's just an hour's drive to the ocean or an even shorter trip to Manhattan. I'm thankful for all the natural wonder that I get to photograph and thankful for the internet that I can see so many beautiful photographs from talented photographers of the places I can't visit. The world is a beautiful place and I'm constantly in awe of everything around me even if it's just the sunrise on the horizon on my way to work in the morning.

There are times when I get stressed out and down, and there's things that I wish were different, but I feel lucky that I also have a lot to be thankful for!

Posted by silverdsl at 10:55 AM | Comments (0)

November 24, 2008

Michael Waltrip and Others on the Economic Welfare of the Sport

A couple of months ago Michael Waltrip and a number of others in the garage area took part in a roundtable discussion in Charlotte about the economic welfare of Nascar and a number of related issues. The transcript is well worth reading in it's entity because it was a very interesting discussion that involved a lot of people on the business side of the sport.

One of Michael's first comments is very reflective of his entire attitude towards his sponsors. He said,

"That's partially why I wanted to be a car owner, because I thought I could do more for my sponsors than what I saw other owners doing, to try and deliver value on the marketing side or, more importantly, marry all these sponsors together so they can grow their businesses away from the track. I'm as much into that as I am anything in the car. I'm all-in on all aspects of this owner deal, but the thing I'm most interested in is how to deliver that value. It's there if we're smart enough to get it. There are opportunities everywhere."

I've always thought that one of Michael's greatest assets besides his ability behind the wheel is his approach towards his sponsors. He's creative, full of ideas and he has a tremendous understanding of how to deliver for his sponsors. I definitely think he recognizes opportunities that others in the garage area either don't or are afraid of pursuing because they're non-traditional. Raceworld is one of the biggest examples in my opinion of Michael looking at a way that he could offer something to his sponsors above and beyond what other teams could offer. If not for how hard Michael works for his sponsors Michael Waltrip Racing probably wouldn't be fielding cars on the Cup level right now.

I find it frustrating that fans will mock Michael for how often he mentions his sponsors or for some of the other things he does to help get them exposure because it seems that a lot of people fail to understand that all those things that he does is how his organization is able to not only strive but hopefully one day thrive. Michael does deliver value for his sponsors and they recognize that which is why sponsors like NAPA Auto Parts and Aaron's have been with him for so long. These are the things the other drivers and teams need to be doing and even more so given the challenges of the economy right now as evidenced by the issues brought up in this discussion.

What I thought was one of the most interesting topics that was discussed was the idea of various entities working together to help each other though these difficult economic times. At times it seems like there's some resistance about working together particularly from those on the Cup level when the level of competition is so great but more and more I think that's going to be necessary. Hunter Nickell from SPEED said,

"We've spent a lot more time talking to the tracks, but more now than ever we talk to people like Michael [Waltrip] about ways we can work together. While we're grateful TV ratings have been solid this year, we're totally connected with the tracks because we've got to find creative ways with these guys to keep the live attendance value going."

Of all the TV partners I think SPEED does the best job of working with the teams and giving exposure to a variety of different teams as opposed to just those that race up front. SPEED's coverage of the Truck Series is outstanding and I wish that ESPN and FOX would follow their model. A big problem to me is that these sponsors are paying $20 or $25 million a year to sponsor a Cup car but they might not ever get any exposure even when their car is racing competitively. Some drivers and teams are never mentioned unless they're involved in an incident. That leads to fans getting frustrated because they have no idea what's going on with some of their favorite drivers. I think all the media partners need to work better with the drivers and teams. Sometimes it's seems like there's a very adversarial relationship there, and I suppose that has to be expected since the media is sometimes going to report things that teams and drivers don't want them to. But there are also times when there are positive things to report or simply ways that race and team coverage can be improved in a way that will make fans happy. That benefits everyone because if the fans hear or see what they want they're more likely to pay attention and tune in.

A very intriguing idea to me is the idea that teams might work together to find ways to get their sponsors added exposure. Steve Lauletta, president of Chip Ganassi Racing said,

"I think collaboration is getting better, but it's so minimal compared to what could happen. We all go racing every week and we're not talking to Michael Waltrip Racing that much from a team perspective. And there probably are things we could do together. Not us taking NAPA or them taking Target, that's where we are right now, we're all feeding off the same mound. But there are things we could do better team-to-team or team-to-track. You get that in other sports. The White Sox and Yankees can feed off each other with ideas because they're in different markets and have different approaches. It'd be really interesting to see if NASCAR could formalize that and get people to think beyond their own team boundaries."

I think that's an area that needs to be explored and developed further. In response to Lauletta's comment Michael brought up the Gillette Young Guns promotion and it seems to me that more promotions like that which utilize a variety of drivers from different teams is a good direction to go in. The Coke Family of Drivers or the Toyota commericals that feature a variety of drivers from their teams are good too. In those promotions, not only is a sponsor like Gillette or Coke getting exposure, but so are the individual driver's sponsors. I think there's other opportunities too where promotions could be done to encourage fans to support a variety of sponsors. So Ganassi and MWR could work together on a promotion to get fans to visit NAPA for their auto parts and then stop by their local Target for the other things they need. Problem is that it's likely not only teams that need to be convinced of the wisdom of working together on things like this but also the sponsors who might be leery of working with sponsors they may view as competitors even if they aren't selling the same products or services.

One of the questions that came up was how Nascar was "returning to their roots" and how successful that's been While those on the panel spoke in glowing terms about how successful returning the focus to the traditional fans is, I think that particular effort has been a miserable failure. They seem to think that the core fans, the most passionate fans are more involved in the sport now but from this fan's point of view many of those fans seem even more unhappy than ever. The CEO of Motorsports Authentics, Mark Dyer said,

" I think the ultimate conclusion was that we're pretty good where we are with mainstream America and let's not run away from that image. You know what, there's a lot more folks from Main Street than any other street. Those are the people who go to the races and consume eight to 10 hours of media."

With ticket sales taking a major nosedive it seems to me that those from mainstreet America aren't going to races either. I don't know of any fan hardcore or otherwise who listens to 8-10 hours of Nascar related media and there seems to be far fewer people than ever who make Nascar a major part of their lives. it's troubling to me that doesn't seem to be recognized by those in the garage area. In addition, today's casual fan is tomorrow's hardcore fan since everyone has to start somewhere. Who is going to replace the traditional fans when they aren't around anymore? I also have to ask as I did in a recent entry, just exactly how is this sport supposed to continue to appeal to major sponsors if there's no growth, particularly among the demographics of who the sport appeals to? Later in the discussion one of the participants mentioned the need to understand and engage the hardcore fans. I'm not sure that those in the garage area understand those fans as well as they think they do.

Another interesting point came up in the discussion of the possibility of smaller fields next year and that's the idea that it's not as bad as some seem to think it is. Those who are involved from an ownership standpoint such as Michael or Steve Lauletta don't think it's a bad thing, partially because it prevents the value of sponsoring a car from being watered down. In thinking about it from the point of view of an owner I can understand why they feel that way. For one thing there's that many fewer teams that they're competing with whether it's for wins or for sponsors. But less cars also means greater opportunities for the cars that are there to get exposure and attention. The other point is that with less cars there's less chance that a sponsor can get a better deal in terms of paying less to sponsor a car elsewhere.

Michael said,

"It happened in '02 or '03, we were down to 39 cars, other guys were starting and parking and, really, we don't even remember it now. Just think of the 100,000 people at Talladega. Most of them want to know how Dale Jr.'s going to do, they want to know how Tony Stewart is going to work out and what's going to happen with Jeff Gordon. The rest of it is just white noise; every now and then a guy like me runs up there and takes the lead and everybody's like, "Yeah, that's Dale Jr.'s buddy there. He can still draft." To me, you can read more into the number of cars than is significant. ... Last year, I picked the worst time in the history of NASCAR to start a team. Fifty-one cars, at least 47, showed up and it almost took a wonderful sponsor in NAPA and made them say, 'We don't want to do this anymore, this isn't fun.' A better problem to have would be less cars than too many."

It's 100% correct that it's not the end of the world if there are some short fields. Thing is fans definitely do remember the days of starting and parking on the Cup level and they don't want to see it again. Fans are very much against start-n-park teams even if what those teams do is completely within Nascar's rules.

In addition, while it's true that many fans are only interested in Junior, Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon because those are some of the most popular drivers in the sport, there's a significant amount of fans who are interested in other drivers. It's a complete fallacy that fans aren't interested in drivers other than a select few and it's kind of disappointing to me that even Michael is under the impression that fans are only interested in a handful of drivers. Michael has a huge fanbase - he was third in Most Popular Driver voting last season - and his fans care about what's going on with him and his team more than just when he's up front. The same goes for all the other drivers - every single driver in the field has fans. Anyone who thinks that fans are only interested in four or five drivers needs to go take a look at the many fan forums that exist - there's one for just about every driver and all those drivers have very passionate fans. All of that said, Michael is very much correct that a smaller field is going to make a lot of sponsors, and therefore teams, happy because there are going to be less issues with the top 35 and the potential for missing races.

One thing that I've thought for a while now is having a big effect on the way the fans view the sport is that gone are the days when most drivers stayed with one team or sponsor for most of their career. Instead, drivers change teams and sponsors all the time. That creates issues for fans because sometimes drivers end up with teams that their fans don't like and it also creates an unwillingness for fans to invest a lot of money in memorabilia and merchandise because they're afraid the sponsor and car number is going to keep changing. In response to a question on the topic of drivers changing teams, Michael brought up the difficulties in marketing Junior when he goes from the red 8 he's always been associate with to a new sponsor. In Junior's case he doesn't just have one new primary sponsor, he has two, and that makes things a lot more complicated. I know for me so far I don't associate Junior with Amp Energy Drinks or the National Guard like I did with him and Budweiser. I also think things may get even more complicated since the National Guard is reportedly also going to be sponsoring Jeff Gordon next season. How are fans supposed to connect a specific sponsor with a specific driver when that sponsor may bounce from driver to driver, sometimes within the same season? Or when a driver has a bunch of different sponsors?

Something that I never gave any thought to until Michael brought it up later in the discussion is that the costs for a sponsor aren't just limited to what they spend to get on the hood of the car. Michael notes that it's not just the $26 million that a sponsor might have to spend to be the primary sponsor of a car but the cost that they have to spend in activation of the sponsorship which could be double or triple to the point where a company may need to spend $80 or a $90 million. $80 or $90 million?!?!? In this economy?! There simply aren't going to be many companies that are going to be able to do that no matter how much they want to get involved in the sport. So moving forward it's going to be just as important to find ways to keep costs down for the sponsors as it is on the competition side.

Lauletta also brings up the competition they face from other sports and specifically cites the New York Yankees and the new stadium they're building. I have to say I can't blame sponsors for looking at opportunities like that over sponsoring a race car. Yankees stadium is probably going to be sold out for every game next season and the TV ratings for the Yankees on a national level are always high. It's definitely not going to be cheap to buy advertising or sponsorship at Yankee Stadium for next season but it may offer a greater value than being on a race car right now.

Perhaps the single most important point was made by Michael Burch from Speedway Motorsports who emphasized the importance of keeping the fans engaged. He said,

"I want you [Waltrip] to have more racing fans because the more fans you have, the more likely they're going to come to one of our facilities to see you. You have fans, we have facilities, we know where they live, we send them information. How can we help tell people that Juan Pablo is going to be out in the campground on Saturday? Or NAPA will have this display, stop by? How do we get more fan-driver interaction? How do we keep that fan engaged? If that fan isn't engaged, we don't have a reason to go into the boardroom and ask for that $28 million."

He's right. It's essential for this sport to keep the fans interested and engaged, even if that becomes harder because there's less money available to make that happen. Everyone is going to have to be creative and also work together to figure out ways to get the fans to go to the track, go to appearances, watch on TV and stay enthusiastic. Recently I've gotten the sense that some teams and drivers believe that Nascar fans are so loyal that they don't have to put in much effort and those fans will always be around. False! These days a driver needs to do more than smile and say the "right" things in an interview or sign a couple of autographs on the way out to a practice. Doing appearances and autograph signings are great, but there are a lot of fans who can't go to those things so it's essential that drivers make themselves available to the media whether it's a print journalist or a satellite radio reporter and that they also find ways to engage their fans online as well. Fans need to feel respected and appreciated as well. It's impossible to make every fan happy or always give them what they want, but teams and drivers shouldn't take fans for granted and assume they'll always be around because they might find out that their fans have moved on when they need them the most.

I like that this panel was brought together to frankly and seriously look at some important issues facing the sport. Sometimes I feel like some in the garage area are afraid of addressing these topics openly or are ignoring these things all together. But it's important that these discussions take place and particularly that they happen openly so that fans and the media have some understanding of the perspective of the teams and the challenges they're facing. Maybe they'll also lead to some brain-storming and problem solving that might help those in the garage area address the problems facing the sport in relation to the poor economy.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:40 AM | Comments (0)

November 21, 2008

Michael Waltrip Out Loud and The After Show (11/20)

Michael Waltrip Outloud

Normally I'm in a good mood when I'm listening to Michael Waltrip Out Loud but I felt sad while I was listening to last night's show. I wasn't enjoying it any less than usual, it's just that it was the last show of the year and on top of that they said that the show might not be back on Sirius or XM next season because Sirius is still deciding whether it fits in for them. Make it fit Sirius! This show is so awesome and it would be not only a loss to those of us who are fans of Michael's but all fans if this show wasn't renewed.

Anyway, the show kicked off with a song by Ne-Yo and Michael said he hadn't heard of him until he sang the National Anthem on Sunday at the Cup race. Well, I can do Michael one better - I didn't know who he was until they talked about him on last night's show! I guess I didn't pay any attention to who was singing the anthem on Sunday. In fact, when they first started talking about the song I thought Michael said that it was Dio!

Michael told a story about a phone call he got from someone named Muscles - not sure who that is but I've heard Michael refer to someone as Muscles before. Everyone in the garage area it seems has a nickname, and it turns out Muscles has one for Michael too only it's not EmDub as some others call him. It's a nickname Michael said that rhymes with "truck race" and he's really disappointed that Muscles hung that one on him because it's not too nice. Yeah, not exactly a term of endearment! By this point in the story Tony was completely cracking up and once I did some rhyming and figured it out, I was laughing too. Turns out Phil Parsons and his son were there while he was talking on the phone with Muscles so that's why Michael had to resort to explaining what Muscles called him by saying it rhymed with "truck race." I know that some of Michael's more conservative fans might take issue with Michael even thinking the word that rhymes with "truck" let alone telling a story about someone calling him that but it really was pretty funny the way Michael told it! I guess you could be offended by it and wonder why someone was calling Michael that or take it in the spirit in which it was intended - as something to amuse listeners.

There was quite a bit of discussion about Friday night's truck race and no surprise since not only was Michael in the booth for that race but it was the race with the best racing all weekend. Michael said he thought of eleven things that had to go right for Johnny to win the Championship, but he only named six before forgetting the rest of the things he thought of. Besides those eleven things that Michael said had to fall into place for Johnny, he also said that Johnny's passion and heart was on display the whole race. He was racing for his life.

So many things had to go perfectly for Johnny Benson to win the Championship since he had a slower truck than Ron Hornaday at Homestead. It was hard to say that Rick Ren made a bad call when he had Ron come in for four tires. The big thing is not taking yourself out of the lead for the Championship. Ron put himself in a position to be vulnerable. The call by Rick would have been fine without all the other things that happened. Tony made note of the big smile on Bill and Gail Davis's face after Johnny won the Championship, but as we know based on some of their comments since they weren't quite smiling on the inside. Michael said that it was an inspired Championship and repeated that Johnny raced with passion. Michael seemed really impressed with the way Johnny raced and I think that's pretty neat that the way he raced this season made such an impression on Michael.

Tony and Michael continued their joke from last week about how careful Hendrick Motorsports should have been with Jimmie Johnson in getting him to Homestead, that he was "bubble boy." Michael said that there could have been a Tonya Harding-type situation - I laughed to myself when they brought up Tonya Harding because Nascar only wishes something like that would happen to generate a little controversy and therefore extra media and fan attention. When Jimmie was in the back he was freaking out on the radio about the idiots racing three-wide but Michael said that later on he saw a bunch of guys going three-wide and one of them was Jimmie. He said that if you see someone else doing something it's dumb but if you did it, it's okay and that they (the drivers) have a bit of a double-standard. I'll say! How easily some of them forget when they rip one of their fellow drivers that they've all likely done the same thing at one time or another.

Tony interviewed Carl Edwards in Victory Lane and called him "Mr. Fuel Mileage." Tony and Michael (and presumably a lot of others) are very impressed with the way that team has horsepower yet they can save gas like no one else. Usually you can't save gas when you're out front. I would guess a lot of teams are going to try to figure out what the #99 figured out that they haven't yet because that definitely seems to have gotten a lot of people's attention. Even Carl's own teammates have been wondering why he's been getting so much better fuel mileage than they have. Michael said it's fun to see what it takes to win - I'm thinking he's paying close attention in the hopes that he'll pick up something that will help him get to Victory Lane - sure hope that happens!. Tony said that usually when you talk to the person who comes in second for the championship they aren't too happy but Carl and his teams were all smiles. They dominated the end of the Chase. The big mistake that Carl made was at Talladega. Michael said that sometimes there are circumstances out of your control but Carl can zero in on what went wrong at Talladega because he made the mistake and caused the wreck.

Both Michael and David Reutimann were very loose during the race. Michael said that Michael Waltrip Racing had high hopes for the race since David was on the pole and all but it ended up being disappointing. David was able to race in the top five for most of the night even though he was so loose but he couldn't get the fuel mileage that others could. Michael was so loose he couldn't drive it. It made the most sense to just make sure he didn't get into the wall since he was racing the #22 and others in the points. So he couldn't afford to make a mistake. What popped into my mind when Michael said that was that he was driving like a granny! The finish was terrible but he just needed to survive. He also talked about Marcos Ambrose and how things didn't work out for him to finish the season in the top 35 but he may still end up in the top 35 when they go to Daytona due to the mergers and all.

Michael has fun doing the show. His Dad was famous for being a BS'er and sitting there doing the show reminds him of that. It makes him feel like his Dad. Michael's been mentioning his Dad a lot recently and it seems like his Dad is on his mind a lot. I always feel bad for Michael in relation to his Dad - it's always sad whenever anyone loses a parent but I believe Michael's father passed away before he won the Daytona 500 and had success at DEI. Not only would he have wanted his father to be around for those things, but I'm sure he wished he had his Dad for support and advice during the past couple of years when things have been difficult. Tony thanked Michael for asking him to do the show and helping him out with his career. They also thanked the fans for sticking with XM just for the show when they could have switched to Sirius - there are indeed many who kept XM just for Outloud.

Tony asked Michael about the new testing policy. Michael loves it. He talked with Jack Roush about being willing to sign off on a affidavit that they won't test anywhere. Sure Jack is willing to sign an affidavit like that because he has the money and resources to do all sorts of other testing instead! Michael was thinking something similar as he said there's no end to what people will do to circumvent the rule. If you rent Rockingham for the year you're not playing by the rules. Apparently there's going to be a lot of people not playing by the rules next year but I've heard that Rockingham as well as a number of other unsanctioned tracks are already completely booked - I hope MWR is one of the organizations who have booked time at one of those tracks. Michael said that the rule will help weaker teams gain traction against the stronger teams hopefully. I can't help but notice that Michael added in that "hopefully." Personally, I don't think it's too likely that the test ban will help the weaker teams other than that they won't be spending $1 million on testing. In fact, I think the test ban may actually hurt the weaker teams because they won't have the money or resources to do a lot of the things that the big teams can do. Tony wondered whether testing grounds and airports like some teams go to are covered by the test ban. Michael doesn't know. He said they should just tell them they can't go anywhere where they can crank an engine. They'll still have wind tunnel tests, seven-post shaker rigs and simulations.

The merger between DEI and Chip Ganassi Racing looks like a case of survival. Between them there's six cars that don't have three sponsors between them. Hopefully if they pull together it'll make one strong team. Michael loves that they came to an agreement, it took a lot of work for them to get on the same page. Tony said that he noticed that they didn't mentioned that the #15 was going to be used next season but Michael said that he's going to use the #55 next season because he wants to make it something special. I'm glad he's sticking with the #55 since I have so much #55 stuff! I don't know why Michael decided to stick with the #55 but I think it's a good decision because in this economy a lot of fans don't have the money to go out and buy a whole new #15 wardrobe.

Michael thanked all the fans and the show ended with them asking the fans to let Sirius know if they like the show. Sure hope Sirius will hear from lots of fans of Outloud and they'll put the show on channel 128 next season!!

The After Show on Tonyrizzuti.com

No Traci this week as she was still down in Florida so it was Tony, Rich and Geri (Jeri) - don't really know who Geri is but she works or worked for the same PR company that Traci is working for until she officially starts working for MWR, which is the same company Tony used to work for before he moved to MWR. So maybe Geri was filling in for Traci. At any rate, Tony figured that Rich was going to edit out Michael's "truck race" story but he said he's definitely leaving it in, and I for one am glad that he did!

That led into a discussion of how Tony was watching Joe Scarborough's Morning Joe show on MSNBC and how Scarborough dropped the f-bomb which caused quite a reaction from the guests on his show. When I googled to see what was being said about this I discovered that the irony of all ironies is that apparently Scarborough is one of the most vocal about "filth" on TV and how the FCC should go after the networks when they make a misstep like the infamous Janet Jackson halftime show a few years ago. So Scarborough freaks out about others being "filthy" and in the meantime he slips up with one of the biggest no-no words he possibly can on live TV! As a result MSNBC is going to use a seven-second delay on his show.

Tony and Rich were making the chances of Outloud coming back next season really bleak and that was pretty depressing to hear. Tony did say though that no one should underestimate Michael or the fans. If the fans say they want Michael Sirius may have to listen. Afterall, people make a conscious effort to listen since they have to pay for it. In general Tony seemed a little freaked out by the current state of things - I don't know whether it's because the future of Outloud is unknown or because of what's going on in the sport but a big portion of this two-part show was spent discussing the woes in the garage area right now.

In relation to the layoffs Tony and Geri agreed that every year at this time there are layoffs but because of the economy things that they're used to seem worse now. There were a lot of people in the garage area on Sunday that didn't want to go into work on Monday. Well, better to learn the news on Monday at the shop then in the back of the hauler like Jeff Hammond says one team did to some of their employees before the race! Tony thinks that maybe in January a bunch of teams are going to start wondering who is going to do this or that and a quarter or even a half of those laid off will be rehired by February. I'm not so sure about that - maybe a well-funded team can afford to hire back some people but the teams that have financial issues probably won't see things improve much by the start of next season.

As for Michael's idea that no one's going to test Tony said that's not going to happen and I agree. I would guess that maybe Michael is hoping that no one goes to test at non-sanctioned tracks so MWR won't have to either but they'll likely be forced to spend money on all sorts of alternative testing that all the other teams do. Rich wondered how Goodyear is going to handle their tire tests and I think that's an excellent question that hasn't really been addressed by anyone. As they said, the teams that take part in tire testing could end up with a big advantage over other teams who don't participate. Apparently some in the garage area think that Goodyear should have their own test team. Maybe Brett Bodine, some retired drivers or young drivers like Brad Coleman who don't have rides can test for them. It's actually puzzling to me why Goodyear already doesn't have their own test team regardless of what the testing policy is. Maybe if they did Goodyear might not have had some of the problems they did at Indy this season.

Tony Eury, Jr. was a guest on the pre-race show that Tony did with Pat Patterson on Sirius and he's okay with the testing policy. The only value in testing is the computer data for the engineers. Tony Jr. would like to see Nascar do the same thing that Michael suggested on TWiN a while back - give the teams systems on Friday during practice and qualifying that will allow them to collect data, then once those sessions are over Nascar takes the systems back. Then the teams have the data they need for that track. I thought it was a great idea when Michael brought it up and I still think it's an outstanding idea. That way there could still be limits on testing but there's a way for the teams to gather the same kind of useful information like they would at testing.

Rich had a few other interesting questions in relation to the test ban including something I heard a fan ask on Dave Moody's show the other day, about whether someone not associated with a team can take a car, test it and then take the information to a team, whether that would be possible or acceptable under the rules. Dave Moody thought that idea was ridiculous but Tony seemed to think it could happen and I agree. As he said if someone wants to they can find a way to cheat the system. The reality is that there are teams with a lot of money who even in this economy are going to be willing to spend whatever it takes to get around the rules.

Perhaps the most interesting thing that was discussed was about how people can't figure out why Steve Hallam is coming to Nascar or how MWR got him, but maybe it has something to do with Toyota and MWR anticipating the test ban. Hallam brings with him the simulations that F1 uses that can simulate things like seven-post shakers. So now that test money goes to IT (yay for computer geeks!). Tony wondered what's to stop Toyota from going to Europe and doing testing with a COT or Goodyear tire over there. Maybe someone will even have a whole European test team.

There was some discussion about the DEI-Ganassi merger. Both Geri and Tony knew Dale, and Geri said she had mixed emotions about it. What astonished me is that Tony said Martin Truex, Jr. was telling people over the weekend that no one was telling him anything about what was going on. Maybe part of that is that they don't have all the answers yet, but it's ridiculous to keep him in the dark. He's supposed to be DEI's top driver now and he's only signed to a one-year deal so if he's not happy he could walk at the end of 2009 which would put Earnhardt-Ganassi in even worse shape than they're in now.

During a discussion about how even Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is even having trouble getting sponsorship for his Nationwide cars Rich brought up something I've discussed a few times in this space, whether the issue is the economy or that people just don't want to sponsor Brad. Tony and Geri seemed to think the issue was the economy and with the background that they both have they would know better than I, but as I've said in the past with factors like marketability, appearance, media savvy, personality and other intangibles being as important to sponsors as talent behind the wheel I think that part of the issue is Brad himself. He's got a huge amount of talent and he might be a good guy, but there's no getting around the fact that he's not "cute" - it's hard to overlook the mouthful of braces he has. I'm just not sure he's what a lot of companies are looking for.

Tony painted a rather bleak picture of what ad sales are like for the motorsports media including PRN/MRN/Satellite radio and Speed - horrible. Maybe off by as much as half. In addition, a friend of his does the in-car camera sales and he has no idea what's going to happen with those either. When the friend contacts companies that have sponsored in-car cameras in the past they tell him they have no idea if they're still going to be in the sport next season let alone sponsoring a camera. It may have to be regional deals, where a local company picks up a one-race sponsorship of a camera at a particularly track. Geri said that they're seeing a lot more of that with the hospitality where the local people are coming in to support the tracks. The problem for Tony's friend is that he can't just cut it to four in-car cameras when the fans expect to see eight. I hate to be Debbie-downer (ha!) but I have a feeling things are going to get worse before they get better in terms of sponsorship and ad sales, but I'll save my thoughts on that for a separate entry.

Switching gears, they decided to talk about something happier - Jimmie's Championship win. As Tony detailed in his blog Jimmie is a friend of his and apparently they go out to eat with their wives at an Italian restaurant near where they live. I'd just like to point out that unlike Marty Smith from espn.com who seemingly mentions his friendship with Jimmie every two seconds, until I read Tony's blog I would never have guessed that he had a personal friendship with Jimmie. Rich and Tony said that Jimmie's Championship win isn't seeming to get as much attention or have that much excitement around it. They feel it's because Jimmie is too nice, normal and has a non-celeb persona. I think they have that perspective because they're around Jimmie in the garage area all the time and they know who he is as a person. Many fans think the exact opposite - that Jimmie is stuck up, craves celebrity, is too PC and is a fake. Tony said that unlike Junior, Jimmie can go anywhere in Charlotte and no one notices. Tony said if he were a driver he would like to have been like Scott Wimmer who could walk through the Cup garage and no one knew who he was but he still got Cup money. Well, that may be one reason why Wimmer is no longer in Cup (besides being arrested for DUI) - no one ever gave him and therefore his sponsors any attention ever.

That was pretty much it for the show, but that won't be the last we hear from Tony until February - he's going to do off-season radio on his website starting the Monday after Thanksgiving and the show will have a focus on motorsports which is something to look forward to. Rich may end up doing a show or two with him during the off-season as well.

Hopefully Outloud and The After Show will both be back next season!

Posted by silverdsl at 01:14 PM | Comments (0)

November 17, 2008

Ryan Pemberton Leaving Michael Waltrip Racing for Red Bull Racing?

Because of how busy I was I only got around to listening to the most recent edition of "The After Show" on Tony Rizzuti's website and holy carp do I wish I listened to it sooner because Tony dropped a rumor that would potentially be big news if it were to happen! So this week "The After Show" gets it's own entry because that rumor is worthy of a stand-alone entry.

Once before Tony had mentioned that he hoped that Michael Waltrip Racing would be able to keep Ryan Pemberton because how much he's helped the #44 team improve has been noticed in the garage area so other teams might be interested in him. But I didn't realize that Tony was saying that based on having heard something of substance about Ryan actually leaving MWR. According to Tony on last week's "After Show" his sources have told him that MWR may lose Ryan to Red Bull Racing next season. Apparently the reason that Ryan might leave is because he's not convinced that the #44 will be fully funded next season so the "endless stack of cash" as Tony put it at RBR is attractive to him since presumably he would have no worries about finances effecting his ability to make his team competitive. However, Tony's sources are telling him that David would be happy with his replacement crew chief because it would be Brian Pattie, who is currently at Chip Ganassi Racing, who is a long-time friend of David's and has been his crew chief on lower levels.

As happy as David would be with Brian, Ryan leaving would be a major loss not only for the #44 team but also for MWR as a whole because he's been cited as a big reason why they've improved as much as they have. In fact, another thing that was said on "The After Show" is one reason Dr. Eric Warren left as MWR's technical director is because he had different ideas than Ryan and the improvements came when they started doing the things that Ryan wanted. I'm not sure exactly what that means but I have to wonder whether Dr. Warren was leading MWR in the wrong direction, much like some have said he led Gillett-Evernham Motorsports in the wrong direction in 2007. I also have to wonder whether he left by choice or whether MWR hastened his exit if they decided that they needed to using more of Ryan's ideas rather than Dr. Warren's. Regardless it sounds like there was some sort of conflict there and Ryan came out on top - which is probably a good thing for MWR if he was instrumental in helping them get more competitive.

Unfortunately Tony didn't give any specifics as to who his sources are for this information other than it that it doesn't come from Michael or anyone at MWR because no one from MWR will talk to him about anything that's going on, I guess because he's a member of the media. So it's hard to know how much truth there is to this rumor. If Ryan has been talking to RBR it seems like the kind of thing that would be hard to keep quiet so if it's true it would be surprising that nothing has ended up on Jayski this far. Tony gave so many details regarding why Ryan would be leaving and who his replacement would be that unfortunately I have to think that there's at least some grain of truth there. But maybe Ryan will change his mind about leaving. Supposedly David said in an interview I didn't get to hear on Sirius that MWR is close to finalizing sponsorship for the remaining Cup races that Aaron's won't be sponsoring next season. If that happens it would mean that the #00 would have full sponsorship next season and Ryan wouldn't have to worry about how much funding his team might or might not have. Problem is, will this sponsor get signed before Ryan accepts an offer with RBR or another team? Sure hope MWR can get him to stay!

Tony sounded like he was somewhat hesitant to talk about what his sources had told him, maybe because he's afraid of getting into trouble with Michael. Aside from the fact that he and Michael seem to be pretty good friends, I've heard - and I don't know how true it is - that Michael doesn't like it when those around him spread rumors or say things that he doesn't want them to so I can understand why he might want to be cautious. It's always seemed like MWR has tried to keep the lid on a lot of things, though they haven't always been successful. Thing is, Tony's not doing PR anymore where he has to be worried about saying the exact right thing and getting a particular message across. He's a media member now and part of what goes along with that is reporting or giving commentary on things that are newsworthy, even if it's about Michael or MWR and isn't good news. It's a delicate balance with rumors in that it's not good to report rumors that are potentially damaging that might be false but on the other hand if Tony has sources he trusts who he thinks are giving him good information, I don't think he's doing anything wrong by talking about it, especially since it would be a fairly big news story if Ryan left MWR after he helped David race so well this season.

There was plenty of other topics covered on "The After Show." Apparently Traci had to fix a wireless issue that Michael was having that was a matter of clicking one button. They joked that when it comes to electronic devices Michael doesn't know what he's doing so when he's trying to figure something out he'll hit a bunch of buttons and screw things up worse. Some are under the impression that Michael is on the computer all the time, and while there's no doubt that he goes online, based on everything I've heard, he needs help so I'm not sure he's the presence online that some believe, nor is it as easy for him as some think. Last year when I saw Michael at Pocono I was curious so I asked him if he did any photography and in talking about why he doesn't he looked at my digital camera and indicated that cameras these days were too complicated for him. Which is amazing to me. One, because Michael is extremely intelligent so it's a little surprising that he gets so confused by electronic devices so easily. But also, the man can not only drive a race car but talk about the technical details of what goes into making one competitive, but too many buttons on an electronic device and he gets confused!

Traci brought up how she feels sorry for her friend Melanie who does PR for Sam Hornish, Jr. because it seems like every post-race there's an incident that he's involved with. Sad to say but that's no exaggeration and things didn't get any better for her this weekend considering Sam failed to qualify for the race. Traci noted that no one cares about the Rookie of the Year battle and that's very true considering how poorly all the rookies raced this season for the most part. Tony wondered why Sam is coming back to Nascar next season when he can race competitively in the IRL. He thinks it's more a case of pride than money, but I would guess that money plays a role since even the worst finishing driver stands a chance of making a decent amount of money if they're with a well-funded organization which Penske Racing is. There's also a lot more exposure that a driver can get in Nascar, even a driver who isn't racing all that well as compared to the IRL. I also think one season is too soon to give up on a driver being successful, though as Traci said a lot of teams often aren't able to have the patience with a driver who is struggling. For Sam's sake I hope he's a lot better next season but it seems to me he has a long way to go.

Tony mentioned that he wanted to see a decent race at Homestead and that he hoped that someone that you'd never think in a million years would win a race would win. Well, I'm writing this entry a day after the Cup race at Homestead and neither of those things happened. In my opinion, the Homestead race stunk and not just because Michael had such a lousy day, but because the quality of the racing wasn't very good, at least what they showed us on TV. In addition, one of the usual suspects won - Carl Edwards, who picked up his ninth win of the season. I don't think anyone unexpected even sniffed at the lead. Sure would have liked yesterday's race a lot better if things had gone the way Tony was hoping they would!

There was also some discussion about how the Homestead race was going to be Bobby Kennedy's last as Michael's crew chief and how as good as it is that Bootie Barker will be coming on-board there's some concern that the momentum that the #55 has build up at the end of the season will be effected. Traci said that's because there's something that just "clicks" between Michael and Bobby. Yeah, and not always in a good way. As much as Michael and Bobby might be friends and as much as Bobby might understand Michael, from the perspective of an outsider looking in, aka a no-nothing fan, at times it's seemed like Bobby has struggled to make the changes to the car to get the handling right for Michael. There are also times when it almost seems like Bobby's not completely listening to Michael, though to be fair Michael sometimes struggles to communicate well and give good feedback. I just haven't got the feel-good, trust-him-no-matter-what vibe this season that Michael says he has with Bobby.

What was good about Bobby is that he didn't hesitate to put Michael in his place such as yesterday when Michael got to whining about something and Bobby told him to "give it a rest!" Michael has such a strong personality, and is not only the driver but the owner, so I suspect it might make it hard for some to stand up to him. But hopefully that won't be a problem with Bootie. I really hope that he and Michael are able to work well together because I really think Michael needs to be able to work with someone other than Bobby. Okay, he and Tony Eury, Jr. also work great together but the odds that Eury, Jr. will be available anytime soon probably aren't all that good. Traci said that from a PR standpoint Bootie is great because it's easy to sell him and he also likes to do media. He's also got a lot to say and he's attractive too! So I'm thinking NAPA is going to get some extra exposure with Bootie on-board!

One more Michael Waltrip Out Loud and one more After Show!

Update: Apparently there is some truth to what Tony reported regarding Brian Pattie at least - Lee Spencer reported in an article this weekend regarding the DEI-Ganassi merger that MWR had "courted" Pattie but he turned their offer down last week because of the way the #42 team has improved and because of the opportunity to with with Kevin "Bono" Manion, the crew chief of DEI's #1 car, who is one of his best friends. That really doesn't bode well because MWR probably wouldn't be offering Pattie a job unless they were going to have a crew chief opening. Jerry Baxter isn't likely to leave the Nationwide team with how long he's been at MWR, Bootie was just hired, Frankie Kerr is technically a JTG employee, so that leaves Ryan unless MWR is going to be fielding an additional Nationwide or Cup car in 2009 that we don't know about yet which seems kind of unlikely given that they don't have sponsorship completely lined up for their existing cars. So if MWR can't convince Ryan to stay and they couldn't get Brian, who is going to be David's crew chief next season? And how much will Ryan's departure from MWR - if it happens - effect both David's team and MWR as a whole?

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

Michael Waltrip Out Loud on XM (11/13)

I wish I had the time to get to this sooner but I've been super-busy since last week, so busy in fact that I almost wasn't able to even listen to this past week's Outloud! As it turns out I did get to listen but I was in the car and I was exhausted from a very long day at work so I might have missed a few things. Anyway...

Just prior to doing the show apparently Tony had a big thing of sweet tea so that led them into a discussion of the best places in the area to get sweet tea. Which led into Michael talking about a place near Raceworld that he loves to go to lunch at which is a Greek place in a shopping center nearby. He mispronounced all the Greek names of the food you can get there and said you can get fallopian there. Har, har, har. More seriously he said that he likes to get a plate of food and if I understood correctly sit outside and eat it there. I love Greek food so I might have missed a little of what they said next because I was dreaming of yummy Greek food and places to get good Greek food near me. Even days after listening to this show I'm craving a gyro, some spinach pie and a big greek salad!

Michael was talking to Bill Davis at some point last weekend after the truck race and Bill was incredulous that both Ron Honaday and Johnny Benson made boo-boos on Friday night in the truck race. Tony said that you have to expect that kind of thing with Ron because that's the kind of driver he is - he races the first lap just like it's a green-white-checker. Aside from saying that he wanted Johnny to win the Championship because he's a Toyota guy, Michael said that he's been racing with Johnny forever and that he likes him so it's not just because of Toyota why he's pulling for him. Michael thinks that Ron has the advantage at Homestead and that Johnny needed to go there with that points lead if he was going to have any hope of beating him. As it turned out as we saw on Friday even though Ron had a strong truck, Johnny was still able to beat him based on taking a gamble on staying out when Ron pitted. I think what Tony pointed out with Ron, how he races hard on every lap of every race, is something that has helped him be as successful as he's been but it can also be his downfall - had he not wrecked at Phoenix he might be celebrating a Championship right now.

Tony pointed out that there are quite a few Hendrick or Hendrick affiliated teams - the Hendrick primary teams, the Haas teams, James Finch's team, etc... so if Jimmie Johnson ran into any problems where it looked like he wasn't going to finish well enough to win the Championship all those cars could pull over so Jimmie could finish ahead of them. However, Michael pointed out that wouldn't work if there was a massive mechanical failure like a blown engine because those cars wouldn't be able to pull over fast enough so that Jimmie would be ahead of them. Besides Junior isn't about to pull over and stop racing. I think Tony does have a good point though that Jimmie has a lot of friends out there and it might be something to watch as to how those teams might help him if needed. Michael joked that what they really need to do is to protect Jimmie on his way down to Homestead to make sure nothing happens to him while he's traveling so they should walk him down to Florida or put him in a cocoon. Turns out Jimmie made it to Homestead without incident and he didn't need any help from either his teammates or affiliated HMS cars to win his third Championship in a row.

Lee White from Toyota Racing Development was the guest in the second segment and he came prepared with a bunch of stats about how much the Toyota teams have improved over last season. When Lee said that he was going to give them some numbers I forget which one, Tony or Michael, joked that the last time numbers came up Nascar took horsepower away from their Nationwide teams. One stat that Lee mentioned is that Joe Gibbs Racing has something like 28 wins in the Nationwide Series over the 13 years they've been in the series... and 19 of them came this season. If I'm being honest I didn't think Lee had anything too exciting to say and certainly nothing that we haven't heard before, though some of the stats were mildly interesting. On The After Show Tony said he had wanted to ask Lee about the economy but he thought it might not be a good idea and didn't. Sure wish he had because it might have made for a more interesting interview!

At some point it came up that Michael wants to do the show live next year on Monday nights. He thinks they should get some candles, turn the lights down and serve some wine to their guests. More like Michael probably just wants an excuse to have some wine while he's doing the show! I have my fingers crossed that not only will the show be back next season, but that it'll be an hour! It would be great it if were on Monday nights too since we rarely have events at work on Monday nights so I'm almost always home.

In relation to his car at Phoenix Michael said they were like 12th fastest on average on Saturday but by Sunday the car was junk. He said that's something they need to work on making sure the changes and adjustments they make from Saturday to Sunday are the right ones I agree! Seems like Michael often complains on race day that the car doesn't feel the way it did during practice and that the changes aren't for the better. So it seems like the #55 team often gets behind even when they have a fast car because they have to spend so much time adjusting on the car to get the handling right. However, Michael also said he's really proud of Bobby Kennedy and his team because they took a car that was junk and made it into one of the fastest on the track by the end of the race. That is a good thing - I just wish they were able to do it before the end of the race!

There was some discussion about Marcos Ambrose and how well he's been racing. Michael said that Marcos and Frankie are good together. The cars that Marcos are racing are the same ones that Michael McDowell and other drivers were racing and Marcos is able to get more out of those cars than those other drivers. That really says something about McD imo, because while Marcos has more Nascar experience overall than McD, he has just as little Cup experience as McD, yet he was able to take the same cars McD was racing and get top 20s with them. In retrospect I wish they had taken McD out of the car a couple of races earlier because a different driver behind the wheel for just a few more races might have made the difference in terms of the top 35. Traci mentioned on The After Show that she wasn't sure that McD had enough of a chance in Cup to show he belonged (along with a few others who have come and gone) and there's probably some truth to that. However, one thing that's always bothered me about McD is that some of his comments seem to indicate that he thinks he has nothing to learn. I'm not sure how much a young driver is going to grow and develop from where they are if they aren't open to advise or learning from others.

There must have been some discussion about Homestead but I really can't remember anything they said, and not that it really matters anyway since they raced at Homestead yesterday. The show closed with "Smuggler's Blue's" by Glen Fry.

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

Disappointing End to the Season for Michael Waltrip Racing

The Homestead weekend started out on such a high note for Michael Waltrip Racing with David Reutimann winning the pole for the Cup race, his first pole in the Cup Series ever. Things continued to go well for MWR during the Nationwide race on Saturday with Josh Wise and David finishing 12th and 13th respectively. But things didn't go as well for the three MWR teams yesterday.

For most of the race David was able to race in the top five and top ten but due to having to use different fuel mileage strategy, he only finished 20th, which was surely a huge disappointment considering where he started and how well he had been racing. When I saw the #44 pit late in the race I figured that he had such a good car he would be able to race his way into the top fifteen at least if not back into the top ten but that didn't happen. I don't know if he had to save gas after that and thus had to slow down or it was just a matter of not having enough time to make up the lost track position. David finishes the season 22nd in points and I have no doubt that next season he'll be a lot higher in points, maybe even in the Chase, considering that towards the end of the season he was racing in the top ten just about every week. The team just needs some better luck as there have been a variety of mechanical issues and other problems that no one can really control that have kept David's results from being as good as they could have been in some races.

I wonder what UPS was thinking when David won the pole on Friday and spent most of the race up front? Sure, David Ragan has finished fairly well in the last few races of the season but how often is he ever mentioned during the race broadcasts except in passing? Meanwhile David Reutimann is getting all sorts of attention for winning the pole and racing up front because it's such a story that his team and MWR have improved as much as they have over last season. I have a feeling that trend will continue next season as well.

From the start of the weekend things didn't go well for Michael. He scrapped the wall during qualifying and had to start from the back and the car was junk from the start of the race. For the first time since the beginning of the season Michael had one of the slowest cars on the track. No matter what the #55 team did they weren't able to make it any better for him either. Based on what was said over his radio it sounds like they were experimenting with some things that they hadn't done before, maybe some things that the #44 team were doing, and those things didn't work out. I suppose the time to experiment and take a risk is in this race as opposed to next season, but it was still kind of a bummer that Michael didn't get to finish the season on a high note. Michael had said at the start of the race over his radio that he was ready to race, and he sounded so optimistic - it had to be so frustrating for him that he couldn't actually race anyone. The one positive is that even though Michael finished 38th it was still good enough for him to finish ahead of Dave Blaney and the #22 team in the points which means that Michael will race in the Bud Shootout next season. I just wanted so much for Michael to be able to race competitively at Homestead and have some momentum to take with him into next season.

The biggest disappointment to me though was that the #47 was also junk at Homestead. I would have thought that MWR would have done everything in their power to ensure that Marcos Ambrose had the best possible car to race with so that he had a good chance of finishing well and sticking in the top 35. But Marcos was slow all weekend and his already slim hope of staying in the top 35 was finished off when he and Reed Sorenson tangled midway through the race. That put Marcos behind the wall for 45 or so laps and out of the top 35 by 17 points. I think there's a good chance that Marcos will end up in the top 35 to start the season anyway since there will likely be several current top 35 teams that won't be around next season. So unless those teams find a way to sell their owner's points, Marcos will likely move up into the top 35. However, one of the goals for MWR this season was to finish the season with all three cars in the top 35 and they weren't able to achieve that. They came close but fell just short. Part of me wishes that they had taken Michael McDowell out of the car a lot sooner because that might have made the difference when it comes to those 17 points.

As much as the season didn't end the way MWR wanted it's important to not lose sight of how much progress they've made not only since last season but also since the beginning of this season. David and Michael's teams have developed into teams that are capable of racing competitively. David has been racing so well that I have to think that the chances of him winning a race next season are very good Michael has said that he wants the #55 team to be a top 20 team next season and I definitely think that's possible - you have to think that he'll contend for wins as he usually does at the restrictor plate tracks as well. And even though Marcos didn't end up finishing the season in the top 35, he's been very impressive in the Cup races he's been in. While he may struggle somewhat as he gets used to racing Cup full-time next season I expect that we'll see him race up front and contend for wins at the road course races next season. So MWR is going to have a very diverse driver line-up next season that is capable of putting them in Victory Lane at a variety of tracks. If MWR continues the progress they've made this season into next - and there's no reason to think they won't - at least one win is likely for MWR in 2009! This season just ended yesterday and I'm already excited and looking forward to next season - I'm hopeful that we'll see a lot more of all the MWR cars racing up front!

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

November 12, 2008

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (11/12)

*The closer to the end of the season we get the more doom and gloom there is about the impact the poor economy is going to have on Nascar, whether there's going to be massive layoffs within the sport, how many teams might fold , and whether there will be dramatically shorter fields next year. None of what's happening now should be a surprise to anyone. Even if the economy was still strong, the sport has been heading in this direction for a while. Rising costs have widened the gap significantly between the have- and have-nots to the point where it's a struggle for new and small teams to compete even when they're fairly well-funded. Teams were struggling to find and keep sponsors, particularly in the Truck and Nationwide Series, for a few years now. It's almost mind-boggling to me that not too many people were apparently paying attention to these things and that when the economy started to go south there weren't more discussions about what the potential effects might be. All of these discussions, particularly those about cutting costs, should have taken place months, if not years ago, not just now when things are dire.

*An interesting item in relation to Clint Bowyer for next season. It was announced today that BB&T Corporation will be the primary sponsor on the #33 for eleven Cup races and will be an associate sponsor on the car for the remaining races. I had been under the impression that General Mills was the full-time primary sponsor for the #33 for next season but based on what was announced today they either sold some races off to BB&T or never signed on for the full season. Given the cost of sponsoring a car at Richard Childress Racing I'm not surprised that General Mills might have sold some races to BB&T.

*The one new (sort of) sponsor to come into the sport is the Automobile Club of Southern California, which will be the primary or co-primary sponsor for Sam Hornish, Jr. at a handful of races next season and an associate sponsor for the remaining races. Of course AAA is the primary sponsor for David Ragan through this weekend but I believe that's the parent company and not an individual, local division. I have to admit I can't quite understand why AAA wants to sponsor Hornish. Although he's accomplished a lot in other series he's done very little in Nascar and the only exposure he gets each week seems to be when he's wrecking or getting wrecked.

*Furniture Row Racing has decided to only run a limited schedule in 2009. I heard the general manager of FRR, Joe Garone, on XM yesterday and he indicated that as a result of scaling back they will be letting go about half of their 50 employees. It's particularly difficult for personnel from FRR since the team is based in Colorado because finding another job in Nascar would mean moving to North Carolina so I really feel for those that are being let go. Garone also said that it's still up in the air as to whether Joe Nemechek would continue to race for them next season. He said that Nemechek deserves a full-time ride so it sounds like if FRR actually enters any races next season it'll be with a different driver. Thing is, what other ride is Nemechek going to be able to get? I think he's done an excellent job in the #78, qualifying for 31 races and winning the pole at Talladega in the spring despite the fact that the team has limited resources. However, given Nemechek's age, that he's not that marketable and that the results haven't been stellar for him in Cup the past few years he is going to have a great deal of difficulty finding another ride, particularly one that's anywhere near competitive.

*The 60 Most Beautiful People in Nascar magazine came out yesterday and much to my surprise Michael Waltrip didn't make the list. Putting aside what anyone thinks of how attractive Michael is, the list is supposed to encompass those who are "...beautiful inside as well as outside, taking into account their work and impact within the NASCAR community." A number of those on the list are apparently there because of the charitable work they do. How exactly doesn't Michael qualify as one of the 60 most beautiful if all those factors are being considered? For one thing, Michael raised $1 million for the Victory Junction Gang Camp in 2005 via Operation Marathon and has supported a variety of other charitable causes throughout his career. As a team owner, media personality and driver, he's also had a huge impact on the sport. I'm supposed to believe that Denny Hamlin or Joey Logano have had more of an impact or have done more than Michael has? Why is DW on the list but not Michael? Where is Pattie Petty? Why is Nicole Biffle on the list but not Greg, who surely has done as much for their foundation as she has? What has Jeff Gordon's wife done besides looking pretty to warrant being 2nd on the list? And if one is going on pure looks how can any list of the most beautiful people in Nascar be complete without Ty Norris?

Posted by silverdsl at 03:13 PM | Comments (1)

November 10, 2008

Matt Kenseth vs. A.J. Allmendinger

Something that hasn't gotten much attention so far is Matt Kenseth putting A.J. Allmendinger into the wall seemingly deliberately at the end of yesterday's race, something which resulted in quite a few other cars getting wrecked as a result. I understand that Kenseth wasn't too happy with Allmendinger's mistake earlier in the race which caused Kenseth to go for a spin, but Allmendinger was very apologetic over his in-car radio based on the audio played during the broadcast and asked his team to pass an apology on to Matt. Whether that ever happened I don't know, but regardless Kenseth should have more understanding for the fact that sometimes mistakes are made - I'm quite sure there have been times that Kenseth has made mistakes that have led to wrecks. In fact one could say that he made a mistake at the end of the race yesterday that resulted in a big mess and torn up race cars.

Retaliation has always been a part of the sport but I don't like the recent trend of drivers thinking nothing of deliberately putting each other into the wall. First it was David Gilliland last week with Juan Pablo Montoya and this week with Kenseth and Allmendinger. I'm quite sure that neither Gilliland nor Kenseth was looking to hurt Montoya or Allmendinger - but they could have. When Nascar opted to not penalize Gilliland any further last week than parking him, I think it sent a message to the drivers that putting another competitor into the wall was acceptable. It shouldn't be. Since Kenseth waited until the last lap to go after Allmendinger unless Nascar decides they're fed up he likely won't face any consequences for it.

Maybe the drivers have been lured into a false sense of security because of the safety advances with the COT and safer barriers so they think they can do anything to each other and nothing's going to happen. But there is still an element of risk and even with the COT we've seen some drivers get shaken up and get bumped and bruised. One of these times that a driver decides that the way to respond to some perceived wrong is by putting the other driver into the wall will result in an injury.

The other issue is something that Michael Waltrip brought up over his in-car radio during the race, the concept of whether a driver "deserves" to get wrecked. After an incident in which Montoya got into Casey Mears, Michael said that while he had no opinion, some people felt that Montoya deserved what he got at Texas (when he got put in the wall by Gilliland) and that he did see Montoya get into people a lot. Michael is 100% correct - Montoya races very aggressively and he often gets into his fellow competitors. That tends to led to other drivers getting upset and retaliation may follow. But does that mean he deserves to be put into the wall and possibly injured as some believe and possibly hurt? To me, no driver deserves to get put in the wall. I would hope that's not the way Kenseth was thinking about Allmendinger. It reminds me of the irrational way some fans think about some drivers that they deserve bad things happening to them because they've wronged their favorite drivers - there are still quite a few Robby Gordon fans who wish ill on Michael on a regular basis and think he deserves to be wrecked - preferably by Robby - because of that incident three years ago at New Hampshire between Robby and Michael.

Given the level of competition and the issues related to the poor economy that are surely effecting all the teams, the pressure on the drivers must be immense. I can also understand that Kenseth was not only frustrated about how yesterday's race went for him - even though finishing 15th is certainly not horrible - but that he's also frustrated about the season as a whole since in spite of being in the Chase he's not won any races for the first time since 2001. Emotion also runs high during races and sometimes drivers do things out of emotion that they might regret later. But that all doesn't excuse what Kenseth did. He's a former Champion and he should know better.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:41 AM | Comments (3)

November 09, 2008

Marcos Ambrose Races His Way Into the Top 35

The more I see of Marcos Ambrose the more impressed I am. Although he's had to battle the usual bad luck that always seems to spoil good runs for Michael Waltrip Racing teams, he's done a solid job the last few races in the used-to-be #00, now #47. The best part is that Marcos followed up a 21st place finish last weekend at Texas by finishing 18th today at Phoenix despite having been swept up in a wreck not of his own doing - he and his team did a great job of staying on the lead lap and hanging on for the last few laps of the race. That finish puts Marcos in the top 35 in owner's points! That means he's locked in to next weekend's race at Homestead and if he finishes well enough to stay in the top 35, he'll have ensured that he'll be locked in for the first five races next season! In addition, he will have helped MWR achieve one of their goals for this season - to have all three of their teams finish the season in the top 35 in owner's points. If that happens that will be huge for the organization - it might not be a big deal to some teams but considering where they were a year ago it would be pretty big!

It wasn't as good of a day for Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann. As per usual these days David was racing up front and it appeared that he might be in line for a strong finish. But then he had to pit because a cowl cover wasn't removed and things went downhill from there. At first I thought David was going to be able to recover from that incident and race his way back up front but it never happened and David ended up finishing 25th, two laps down. Michael Waltrip finished just ahead of David in 24th. The car was okay but not great in today's race and Michael never really seemed to be able to do much with it. But I can't say I'm too upset - both David and Michael finished in the top 25. While neither finish is stellar, that's still progress from where they were a year ago and even earlier this season when finishing in the top 35, particularly for the #55 team might have been considered a good result.

The other drivers in the top 35 battle besides Marcos didn't finish very well which is one reason Marcos was able to gain ground and get back into the top 35. Sam Hornish, Jr. who doesn't have much of a chance of racing his way back in was involved in two incidents, Scott Speed was involved in the big wreck of the day and finished 40th and Robby Gordon raced in the back all day long. It's puzzling to me that Red Bull Racing has Speed in the car. While I understand that they want to get him some experience for next season, they have to expect that he's going to struggle, thus jeopardizing their chances of finishing the season in the top 35.

Based on the way A.J. Allmendinger has been racing lately it's safe to say that the results would have been much better if they had just stuck with him and then odds are Speed would be starting the season in the top 35. But it's looking like he won't be locked in next season and he'll have to worry about making races - that's a horrible situation to put a rookie in and RBR should know that considering all that they've gone through with the top 35 for the past two seasons. Maybe RBR thought that the #00 (#47) team was so bad that they didn't have to worry about them racing their way back into the top 35. However, that was a miscalculation - MWR has been fielding much more competitive cars for a few months now.

All I know is that the decision that MWR made to take Michael McDowell out of the third car and put Marcos and a few other driver in was an excellent one. I'm not sure that the #47/00 would be back in the top 35 right now if McD was behind the wheel. Marcos has really done a great job for JTG/MWR!

Posted by silverdsl at 09:02 PM | Comments (0)

November 07, 2008

Michael Waltrip Out Loud and The After Show (10/7)

Before I get to talking about either show I have to say that I encourage all of Michael's fans and especially those who listen to OutLoud each week to be sure to listen to The After Show on Tony Rizzuti's site each week. Tony and Michael's PR rep, Traci Hultzapple, along with the producer of OutLoud, Rich York, give a behind-the-scenes review of the taping of the show each week but more than that there are always great stories and commentary on Michael that can't be found anywhere else. They also give their thoughts on what's happening in Nascar from the point-of-view of insiders who are involved in the sport. The After Show is free to listen to and well worth checking out. It's usually about 20 minutes long but it downloads very quickly so everyone should be able to listen no matter what kind of connection or computer they're using.

Michael Waltrip OutLoud

The show started off with a song by ELO. Michael said that nothing could bring him down because he was at Pebble Beach where everything is lovely. I have to say that I found everything he said about being at Pebble Beach and the way he felt very moving and meaningful. Pebble Beach is God's country, Michael said. It's like God served up a palette for some artist to work on. It's breath taking there. It makes him think of his Dad and how it would be special for his Dad to be there. It makes him look inside himself. You think about what's important, maybe your problems aren't so bad and that life is pretty good. He wanted to do the show from Pebble Beach specifically so he could have the opportunity to share with his listeners. I'm so glad that he did!

For me being immersed in nature evokes some special feelings too. For Michael it's being on these golf courses in beautiful settings, for me it's watching the waves crash to shore at the ocean, seeing amazing rock formations, or even just picking up wave-smoothed stones at the beach. I'm awed by the beauty of it all and the power of nature. As anyone who visits this site regularly knows, photography is one of my hobbies and I'm always trying to capture the wonder of what I see around me. In listening to Michael, I was reminded of sitting by my favorite rock at sunrise on Marginal Way in Ogunquit on the coast of Maine, watching the waves crash over it. I feel so good, so at peace then and at other times when I'm able to take in the beauty of natural world around me.

Anyway, If I heard what Michael said right MWR got Jim Aust and his wife a trip to Pebble Beach for his retirement. Michael is there to play golf with him along with Brian Jackson, the Tailormade golf pro who Michael seems to golf with a lot.

Tony said that the #44 and #55 were "on it" during qualifying. They sure were! Michael said that the #44 was also good on Saturday and then really good on Sunday. However, they never got the handling right on the #55, it was too loose and it made for a tough night. I think it's pretty unfortunate that the #55 team was never able to get the car adjusted right to where it felt comfortable for Michael since the speed was definitely there and he likely could have been racing up front like David Reutimann did if not for those handling issues. Michael's proud that all three cars with three different drivers, three different crew chiefs and three different groups of people all were in the 28.9 bracket (in qualifying or practice I assume). It shows the progress they're making. They dreamed of one team with three cars and they're beginning to make gains on it. It's a great feeling. It's not just a great feeling to Michael, it's a great feeling to me as a fan to watch the progression and know that they're only going to get better!

The #47 can race into the top 35, has an outside chance of getting into the top 20 (in points) and they're (the #55 team) are working towards being a top 20 team which is their goal for next year. I have a feeling some fans might be dismayed if they heard Michael say that the goal for the team for next season is to "only" be a top 20 team. But I think everyone needs to remember where they were last season when they struggled to make races let alone race competitively. Then at the start of this season the cars were pretty bad. But they've gradually made progress and that progress will continue. However, it's not realistic to think that a team is going to go from fighting to stay in the top 35 one year to contending for wins every single week the next. Given competitive cars Michael most definitely can race up front and contend for wins on a regular basis but since MWR is still a relatively new and still developing organization, it's going to take time for them to be able to field cars like that on a regular basis for all three teams.

Michael asked Tony how the Chase changed on Sunday. Tony said that Michael had been preaching that it's not over and then Jimmie Johnson wasn't on his game for the last two races. They rallied at Atlanta but were mid-pack most of the day at Texas while Carl Edwards has been winning races. Tony wondered whether the team is having doubts creeping in and if maybe they're over-analyzing things. Michael said that no, it's Tony who's over-analyzing things. The cars are temperamental, and it's easy to go from leading to laps down. At Texas he outran Jeff Gordon for 250 miles, then Jeff was able to get a free pass and ended up finishing 2nd. Jeff performed well at the right time like JJ did at Atlanta. Don't think it's because they're thinking too much, it's because it's hard to get the cars to do what you want them to. Michael gave kudos to Carl and Roush for how well the whole organization did at Texas. It's not that easy and you can get off in a hurry. While it's true that the cars are difficult to adjust, more so than I think a lot of fans realize, I think there may also be some truth to Tony's point about whether the #48 team was over-analyzing things. There is a mental aspect to racing and whether a driver or team realizes it there are subtle factors related to mindset, attitude, how they deal with pressure, etc... that I think can effect the way drivers and teams perform.

Michael was very surprised by what Carl and his team did with the fuel mileage. He never heard anything from his team about fuel mileage (presumably that teams were using fuel mileage strategy) and he likes to know about those things. He never thought anyone could make it that far and it was impressive. The #55 team pitted with just five or six to go and he thought that was a stretch. It was a strange night for the #55, they couldn't go on new tires which was the opposite of Atlanta.

Tony brought up the incident with Gilliland and JPM which he said was really bad and something that you just don't do. Michael on the other hand said that he's a race car driver, out there driving and he knows how emotional it gets. Turns out Michael hasn't seen a replay on TV yet so he doesn't know how bad it looks. He doesn't think it's fair to really comment much on it, he doesn't know what Gilliland was thinking and what led up to it. He knows Gilliland pretty good and knows that he wouldn't try to hurt someone. I wonder whether Michael would have said something different if he had seen the incident on video? But I agree with Jeannie that he probably felt he couldn't say too much that was critical of Gilliland in light of what he did at Richmond.

The third segment started with Tony playing a Sex Pistols song that Michael said he didn't understand. They got to talking about Louis Hamilton winning the F1 championship. Michael was amazed at the finish. Hamilton is the youngest F1 champion and the first man of color. Tony said that Hamilton is a role model for everyone in motorsports. I thought that was a pretty cool thing for him to say and I hope that one day Tony gets to say that about a man or woman of color in Nascar in relation to them winning a Championship.

Michael had fun dressing up as the cowardly lion on Speed. He's so thankful that he gets to be on Speed and that he gets to talk about truck racing - I'm very thankful for that too because he is awesome on Speed working the truck races! It's the best racing in Nascar and the best points battle according to Michael. Johnny Benson has been racing like a champion. It looked like he was going to finish 15th at Atlanta but he battled back to finish 7th. Then he worked and worked all night long at Texas to finish 3rd. Both he and Ron Hornaday are a threat to win every week. I got the feeling that Michael is pulling for or thinks Johnny is going to win the Championship and maybe Tony wants Hornaday to win it, which would be no surprise since he seems to be pretty friendly with Ron.

Tony brought up Kyle Busch donating $100,000 to Sam Ard. Michael said there are good people who race in Nascar. He's proud to be associated with people with such big hearts. He remembers how dominant Sam Ard was in the #00 the year he won all those races and Kyle is doing the same years later.

JJ has a performance advantage over Carl at tracks like Phoenix but at Homestead it's Carl. Tony will be working Carl's Directv Hotpass channel this weekend.

The show closed with Sun King by the Cult and Michael complained that he wanted a Toby Keith song to be played to which Tony responded that since Michael wasn't there he was in charge! I have to admit that since my taste in music is a lot more like Tony's than Michael's, I like it when Tony is in charge of the musical selections they play! A great thing about this show is that I've been exposed to some really good songs that I never would have heard if not for Tony and/or Michael having them played such as "Please Come to Boston" by Dave Loggins that they played on one show last year.

The After Show

Tony, Traci and Rich were laughing at how much Michael talked when he called in to do the show and how hard it would be for Rich to edit it down to fit the 30 minutes they have. I have to say that Rich always does a terrific job of editing in such a way that unless you know that he does it, you can't tell the show's been edited. Apparently Michael talked for something like 24 minutes just about Pebble Beach and I loved what he had to say so much that I would have been happy if they just made that the entire show!

Turns out Michael actually studied all about the cowardly lion on Thursday night to get ready for being dressed up as the lion on Friday! That's being prepared! He knew that he had to hold his tail and everything. Ray Dunlap claimed he wasn't wearing any underwear under his costume and I know it's terrible but when Traci said that all I could think was that maybe that was why he got suspended last year! Turns out as they were coming in on the golf cart after Michael got in costume they got hassled by security. First a guard said it was against the rules for Traci to be riding up front (why?) so she actually had to go sit on Michael's lap! That must have been pretty funny to see! Good thing Michael was in costume so most likely no one knew who it was otherwise photos of that would probably ended up on TGOM and other similarly slimy sites.

Next a guard hassled them and told them that those in costume needed credentials, not knowing that they were SPEED'S on-air talent. Okay, they were in costume so it's hard to tell who they are but presumably Traci and others with them did have credentials so come on, use some common sense! Traci always has these stories about them getting harassed by security over nothing or in situations where common sense should override a rule and I would guess the same thing happens to other PR reps and drivers too - Kasey Kahne certainly found himself in some hot water with a guard last season. Meanwhile, there are guards who let fans sneak into the garage area without the proper credentials, which is something that should never happen. They were blown away by the number of people at the truck race and how many of them were dressed up for Halloween.

There was some discussion about how Michael declined to be critical of David Gilliland. In general Tony feels that Michael tries to avoid being overly controversial, particularly when it comes to Nascar. I actually think that sometimes creates more controversy for Michael since being pro-Nascar isn't popular these days. They wondered whether Michael felt he couldn't be critical of David in light of his own incident he got parked for earlier in the season. Traci said that Michael might have gotten away with what he did if not for the in-car audio in which he claimed he had no brakes but he was "mashing it." I'd say that regardless of what Michael said over the radio he was going to be in some trouble since just like with Gilliland the replays of that incident made it look pretty blatant. Michael had said that he knows David wouldn't do something intentionally like that but Tony brought up how David had tangled with Michael McDowell earlier in the season and how it's the second time Gilliland has lost his temper like that.

I was surprised by Michael's comment on Outloud because of what Tony brought up - when that incident took place Michael went on TWiN and placed all the blame for it on Gilliland losing his temper. Michael was one of the few that saw the incident that way and it ignited a firestorm of controversy among fans, especially Gilliland's fans who organized an email campaign to NAPA to tell them that they should stop sponsoring Michael simply because he said things they didn't like about their driver - ridiculous. So it's a little curious that he would opt to say virtually the opposite this time, unless he didn't feel comfortable giving an opinion since he hadn't seen a replay of the incident. Or maybe he didn't want to deal with another round of nonsense from fans who are intolerant of opinions they don't agree with. I'm all for fans openly disagreeing with things that drivers say but some fans take things ridiculously far.

I was also surprised that Tony indicated that he thought that there wasn't a big deal being made of what happened and if it involved a driver like Tony Stewart there would have been much more conversation about it. Seems to me that this has been a huge topic of discussion all week not just with fans on forums and on XM/Sirius but also in the media too. There were some pretty harsh things said about Gilliland and I can't say that I feel too sorry for him - if you do something that blatant and in my opinion wrong, then there are going to be consequences you have to deal with.

Next there was discussion about how Texas went for the MWR teams. The #55 got fast midway through the race and Michael was able to outrace Jeff Gordon (but unfortunately the results don't show how fast Michael was). Because of the handling issues Michael didn't realize how good the car was from a speed standpoint. On Sunday the talk in the garage area was that David Reutimann was the driver to beat. Tony thought it would have been great if David had won and made UPS regret their decision to leave MWR (myself and every other MWR fan was wishing for the same thing). If I heard Traci right she made a comment that rumor has it that UPS may in fact already regret their decision. They should. David Ragan may race competitively next season but it's a better story for the media if the #44 team contends for wins in light of MWR's past struggles. In addition, they're joining a very PC organization where the drivers including Ragan don't show much personality. Meanwhile there's no shortage of personality at MWR and Michael always encourages his people to go above and beyond for sponsors.

Tony said that there's no way that those in the garage area can say that MWR isn't getting better and I definitely hope their progress has been recognized. Unfortunately I still see fans routinely talks about how bad MWR is in their eyes, completely oblivious to how far the organization has come and how much more competitive they've gotten. Even some in the media still down MWR. Thing is some fans are negative about top teams as well so in general there's an inability among some fans to recognize success. It must be frustrating for these teams and drivers.

The best part of the show was Tony saying that they have their fingers crossed that Michael Waltrip Out Loud will air on Sirius's Nascar channel next season and that it might expand to an hour! That would be awesome! I'm thrilled that it sounds like there's a good chance the show will be back next season and likely even longer! Tony said that there had even been some talk about the show being two hours long but that Michael wasn't too keen on that idea - too bad since I'm pretty sure he would have plenty to say to fill that time! I really hope it all works out. Listening to Michael and Tony is so much fun each week! I laugh a lot and I learn a lot too. An expanded show would give Michael more of an opportunity to talk about what's on his mind, have guests on or get the message out about what's going on with his team and MWR. I've come to think there aren't too many better venues for getting one's message out than XM/Sirius because it gives drivers, teams and sponsors the opportunity to speak at length as opposed to articles or TV interviews where there's often space and time limitations. Good thing for me there are no space limitations in this space!

Posted by silverdsl at 09:56 AM | Comments (0)

November 04, 2008

Car and Driver Magazine Test Drives a Michael Waltrip Racing #55 NAPA Auto Parts COT

It's been great how much positive media attention Michael Waltrip and Michael Waltrip Racing have been getting lately, and it's continuing with a interesting article in Car and Driver magazine in which a reporter takes a ride around the road course track at VIR in a MWR car - a #55 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota to be precise. That resulted in an in-depth review for Car and Driver about what it's like to drive a COT, and includes some interesting comments from some at MWR.

I know that a lot of people stop by here looking for news and information about Michael and MWR so I want to give those folks a head's up so they can check the article out online or even better go pick up a copy of the magazine at the store. It's well worth a read especially for anyone who is interested in the technical aspect of the sport and the cars but the article is written in a way that anyone can understand.

I'm not sure how this article came to be but it's really outstanding that of all the teams in the garage area that Car and Driver could have done this article with they did it with Michael,the #55 team and MWR! Since I don't believe Car and Driver

I originally posted this entry when the article came out last week but I want to update it now that I have some time. I have to admit I'm surprised by how little attention this article has gotten. I would think that a MWR car - or any Cup car and team for that matter - being featured in Car and Driver is a big deal and something that doesn't happen every day. Yet I've seen nothing about this article anywhere, including on Michael's site and the NAPA sponsorship site. If not for having stumbled upon the one fan forum where it was posted I probably wouldn't have any idea the article came out.

Maybe part of the reason it hasn't gotten a lot of attention is because it's a pretty technical article and a lot of fans don't understand or enjoy the technical side of the sport. I find it pretty interesting to read about the technical side even though some of it definitely goes over my head. One interesting thing in this article is that apparently the MWR engineers at the test openly admitted that they don't like the COT, I guess because how hard it is to get it set-up right. At the time the reporter tested the #55, Dr. Eric Warren was still with the team and he emphasized the importance of the tires and getting the tire pressures right. This quote should seem familiar to Michael's fans - “What we are seeing this year is that people will make the car better during the race, then lose a handle on it out of nowhere.” Seems like that's a regular thing for Michael - he has a great car and then suddenly out of no where the handling goes away and it ruins his entire day. This is extremely frustrating to fans who are listening on the radio during races because they don't understand why the team can't just put back the car back to the way it was but from the sounds of it, that's not always so easy.

What I was really astonished by was that even though the COT is supposed to save the team money, apparently it's actually costing the teams even more money due to the testing and R&D costs. From the article:

The CoT was supposed to save money, but the talk is that costs have gone up because teams are spending huge amounts of time in the wind tunnel chasing small gains. The amount of computer modeling has increased because, as Waltrip Racing’s senior analysis engineer Mark Catania says, “We basically threw all our notebooks away when we went to these cars.”

Despite NASCAR’s ban on data acquisition during race weekends, teams are loading up their CoTs ($100,000, less engine) with $1 million worth of instrumentation at test sessions to try to discover what is happening at the tire contact patch. In theory, teams need far fewer cars than they ran in the past because the Car of Tomorrow was designed as a one-size-fits-all machine, whereas the old cars were tailored for the event: road courses, short and intermediate ovals, and superspeedways. However, Waltrip Racing has an inventory of about 55 cars, according to Warren, with eight in build at any one time, which is not much different than what teams were running in the recent past. Warren explains: “Even though you can take the same car to a short track and an intermediate one, they get trashed more often because the slightest of damage in a race means the car may not be able to pass the NASCAR inspection process because of the tight tolerances demanded. So you save in the number of car configurations but lose more in the course of normal racing.”

So just exactly how are the smaller and underfunded teams supposed to be able to afford $1million worth of test gadgets for testing? Or fancy computer modeling? Or a bunch of cars? Or the personnel to oversee all of this? It seems to me that the COT came to the sport at the worst possible time because the poor economy and resulting sponsor woes for many of the teams makes it hard for them to be able to do the necessary tests to try to find those small gains or build as many cars as they need. Do all the fans that complain about why their favorite team is doing so poorly or laugh at drivers who are struggling each week realize what a difficult challenge many of these teams have when it comes to the COT?

Reading about the reporter's test of the car is also interesting because he calls being in the car a hostile environment. For one thing there's the heat which McD told the reporter causes him to lose ten pounds each week. But there's also the way the car drives which the reporter says seems harder to driver than the older style car he once tested. He described the way to get the most out of the COT on a road course as needing "finesse and violence in equal measure." Michael said,

“It’s a lot like wrestling in that you have to hop the curbs to get the car to turn. Yet stamping on the gas is not an option. You can’t mat it at Charlotte at 180 mph, so you can’t mat it here. You need a lot more finesse than you might think.”

Again, I ask - do fans realize how hard it is? That these drivers aren't just cruising around the track on road courses or anywhere else. It may look easy but it's not. The writer sums up by saying,

Then you think about driving a CoT at Charlotte, where the top drivers are dirt-tracking them into corners at 170 mph and more. It must be plenty challenging in a car that drives predictably. In something as compromised as the CoT, these drivers sure earn their money.

Yeah, they really do earn their money! Especially when you consider that they aren't just out on a test course like this reporter was, they're racing against 42 other competitors who are some of the most elite race car drivers in the world, often at close quarters. It's really incredible - and fascinating - what these drivers and teams are doing in an effort to try to tame the COT beast and get to Victory Lane.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:11 PM | Comments (0)

SPEED Celebrates Halloween... in Costume!

On Friday during the pre-race for the Truck race SPEED had a little fun since it was Halloween. They had their entire broadcast team of Michael Waltrip, Rick Allen, Phil Parsons, Adam Alexander, Ray Dunlap and Krista Voda dress in costume as characters from the Wizard of Oz. It was clear that a lot of time and effort was put into the whole thing. Since I had to work I missed seeing it on TV but based on the photos Michael was a terrific lion! He even had full face make-up as did the others. Apparently they were out on pit road and conducted interviews in costume which had to have been pretty hysterical to see not only for viewers at home, but anyone who was there in person. Fans loved every minute of it! I think it was a terrific idea that SPEED had to do something for Halloween and I applaud their creativity! There's some great photos on Speed's website including some that shows them getting their face make up put on.

What astonished me is that yesterday on "The Morning Drive" on Sirius, David Poole said how awful it was that SPEED had their broadcasters dress up in costume, I guess because he thought it was ridiculous and unprofessional. He particularly didn't like that some of the men like Ray Dunlap were dressed like women. Poole has complained in the past about how much he can't stand Rutledge and some of his stunts so maybe this is just an extension of some of the long-standing issues he has with Speed and their Nascar coverage but I think Poole was completely off-base in his criticism. Just exactly what's so wrong with having some fun? There's so much about racing that is serious and even more so now with worries about the economy, sponsorship woes and teams possibly folding at the end of the season. I'd like to see more people in the garage area loosen up a little, have some fun and show some personality!

There are definitely times to be serious such as during the actual race broadcast which is exactly what the SPEED team did since they took off their costumes when the pre-race show was over. In Poole's role as a reporter for The Charlotte Observer and thatsracin.com where he usually covers hard news he needs to be more serious and mindful of being professional. But on SPEED it's a different story. People are tuning in to be informed but also to be entertained. Ticket sales are down and fan dissatisfaction with the sport seems to be at an all-time high. I think doing unexpected, fun things to engage the fans is a good thing. It makes them laugh and more importantly it keeps them watching.

SPEED does an outstanding job with their coverage of the Truck Series - their race broadcasts are far superior to those that ESPN/ABC and FOX do for the Nationwide and Cup races and SPEED is likely working with a much smaller budget, as well as less resources. Michael, Rick and Phil do an outstanding job in the booth - I think they've developed into an outstanding team and I hope they continue to work races together for years to come. I like that SPEED is willing to think out-of-the-box and take advantage of opportunities to do something different like they did with having everyone dress up for Halloween.

It occurs to me that other than the SPEED broadcast team, I haven't seen any other photos of anyone else from the garage area dressed up in costume or otherwise acknowledging that it was Halloween. Surely there were some Halloween parties and people who got dressed up - or did everything think like Poole that it was unprofessional or that it was beneath them? I hope that's not the case. In some ways it's a catch-22 because fans like the fun side of the sport but they also get offended and upset easily. This fan though would rather that there was less concern about image and doing/saying the exact "right" thing all the time. I guess that's one reason I like Michael so much - he definitely knows how to have fun and keep people entertained!

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

November 02, 2008

Not Thinking Much of David Gilliland Right Now and Other Texas Thoughts

David Gilliland just put Juan Pablo Montoya into the wall and got parked by Nascar as he should have been. While JPM had stones enough to admit that he bumped Gilliland prior to that to send a message that he didn't like the way Gilliland was racing him, Gilliland claimed in his interview that he was trying to let JPM go and just "misjudged." Yeah, he misjudged all right - misjudged if it was a wise idea or not to allow himself to lose control of his emotions to the point where he put another driver into the wall. There is no excuse for punting a driver at this kind of track at these speeds. As much as I don't like it retaliation is a part of the sport but Nascar shouldn't have any tolerance for when it goes that far. No matter what the other driver might have done, drivers can't be wrecking each other like that. It probably won't happen since they parked him but I'd like to see Nascar hand out some additional penalties to Gilliland, even if it's something relatively meaningless like a fine or putting him on probation for the last two races.

What was interesting was that I was in a chat at the time this incident took place and someone was on Jeff Burton's directv Hotpass channel - apparently Burton was livid when he saw what Gilliland did and thought he should have been parked immediately. It would be interesting to find out what some other drivers thought - while there's no doubt that they all understand retaliation and how angry one can get behind the wheel, particularly when it comes to JPM who more than a few have been annoyed by on the track, there also seems to be some unwritten rules as to how and when you send a message to another driver.

As much as I don't like what Gilliland did I don't think he should be banned from Nascar as I've seen at least one person say they think should happen. The reality is that countless other drivers have acted out, lost control of their emotions or otherwise done stupid things. Some think Nascar should sit Gilliland for the rest of the season but if they didn't sit Michael Waltrip for blatantly retaliating against Casey Mears at Richmond earlier in the season, then I don't think they're going to sit Gilliland. They probably won't even penalize him further but I'm sure they'll make it clear to him that they don't want to see anything like that again no matter what another driver does to him.

Maybe though the worst penalty for Gilliland will be the one he receives in the court of public opinion. He's currently getting ripped on virtually every fan forum and I would guess the same will be true on XM and Sirius tomorrow, and possibly in the media. That's not good