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)
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)
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 07, 2009
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)
March 31, 2009
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 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 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)
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)