Random Thoughts

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)

May 27, 2009

Robby Gordon Penalized 50 Driver and Owner Points

Robby Gordon finished 3rd in the Coca-Cola 600 by following the same strategy as eventual race winner David Reutimann but he's not going to get to keep all the points he earned with that finish. During a post-race inspection NASCAR seized the rear end housing of the #7 to take back to the R&D center for further inspection and today penalties were announced for a "rear axle housing that exceeded the maximum specified toe of plus or minus one degree." Gordon will lose 50 driver points as well as 50 owner points and his crew chief Kirk Almquist was fined $50,000 and placed on probation through December.

Some of Robby's fans are freaking out but for right now at least these penalties aren't a big deal. Robby remains 34th in both driver and owner's points and there's a comfortable 131 point cushion between where he is in the owner's points and 36th. Almquist being put on probation is certainly a nothing penalty. What likely hurts the most is the fine since Almquist likely isn't making as much at Robby Gordon Motorsports given their lesser resources as he would with a larger team. Sometimes the team pays the fine for the crew chief and I doubt RGM has a lot of spare funds sitting around either. The other way that this penalty could be costly is if for some reason Robby's results aren't very good over the course of the rest of the season and he's in danger of falling out of the top 35 - at that point the 50 points could loom large. But right now - what's the big deal? Lesson learned and the team moves on.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:59 PM | 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)

December 16, 2008

Robby Gordon Motorsports Will Switch to Toyota for 2009

After being aligned with every other manufacturer in the Cup Series, Robby Gordon Motorsports is going to give Toyota a try in 2009. Robby said,

“We are excited to be partnering with Toyota in NASCAR in 2009. After watching their progress last season, we decided that a switch to Toyota was the right package for our team. We are confident that fielding a Toyota Camry will add to the success of our organization and the competitiveness of our performance on the race track.”

Just about anything would be an improvement over this season which saw Robby struggle so badly that he nearly fell out of the top 35 in owner's points. Details of the deal with TRD are skimpy so it's unknown where Robby is going to get his engines from, whether they'll be directly from TRD or via another Toyota team, but it appears there's no formal arrangement for RGM to be aligned with another Toyota team. I'd like this deal a lot better for Robby if that's what was going to happen. Robby's fans love that he's independent and loves to do things his way but at times I think his stubbornness and insistence on doing thing on his own hinders his chances for success. Maybe somehow Robby will add a second team in the near future, but it's extremely difficult for a single-car, small organization that's not got a lot of resources to have any kind of success no matter what manufacturer they're with. Unless there's more to this deal that hasn't been announced or Robby has other things up his sleeve for next season I don't expect the results to be that much more impressive next season than they were this.

But at least Robby's going to be around next season with sponsorship and racing a full season - that's better than a lot of teams and drivers. There's some discontent among some of Robby's fans about his move to Toyota because there's still a significant amount of anti-Toyota sentiment among fans across all fanbases. But I don't see where Robby had any other choice but to change manufacturers since being with Dodge didn't work out very well for him and given that manufacturer's financial woes there might not be much money or resources left to go to his team after what they provide to their primary teams. So even if the results aren't that great next season either at least Robby is trying to make the moves that he thinks will help his team move in the right direction.

I admit to being disappointed that at least for now there's no alliance between RGM and Michael Waltrip Racing - when I heard that Robby might go to Toyota I was really hoping that it would happen since it would get a lot of fans panties in a bunch. Even if there's no formal working arrangement there may still be certain things that RGM shares information about with MWR and the other Toyota teams - Frank Kerr being at MWR probably means that there likely will be at least some communication between RGM and MWR.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:26 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)

November 15, 2008

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (11/15)

*As expected Stewart-Haas Racing announced that they've hired Tony Gibson to be the crew chief for Ryan Newman and Bobby Hutchens to be the organization's director of competition. Both were in those positions at DEI so I can understand why they would be looking for work elsewhere considering how many layoffs there's been as a result of DEI's merger with Chip Ganassi Racing. Gibson's been at DEI for a long time and has been a crew chief for two of my favorite drivers, Steve Park and Michael Waltrip, as well as Dale Earnhardt, Jr. While Gibson seems to be very highly regarded by fans and others I can't say I was overly impressed with him. Should be interesting to see how both he and Hutchens do at SHR, particularly Gibson. I've always thought of Gibson as a lifer at DEI, someone who would go down with the ship so-to-speak, so I'm interested in seeing how he adjusts to working at another organization for the first time in years.

*There's not been much explanation given but apparently the crew chief for the #10 at Gillett-Evernham Motorsports, Mike Shiplett, has been suspended by the team for missing the flight back to North Carolina from Phoenix last week. One has to wonder what that's all about and why GEM considered it such a serious issue that they suspended him for the final race of the season. Technical director Sammy Johns will act as crew chief this weekend at Homestead.

*Bill Davis Racing released a statement yesterday expressing their commitment to fielding a car in the Cup Series next year. Supposedly they are pursuing sponsorship and will be doing wind tunnel and other testing in the off-season. But I'd be surprised if BDR had a full-time Cup car next season, and part of me wonders whether they'll even have the four trucks that they say they're going to have. I don't think it's too likely that BDR is going to find sponsorship for a Cup car, and given that word (via Jayski) is that they laid-off quite a few employees involved with the Cup program last week, they may not even have the personnel for that car. Things seem somewhat up in the air with their truck program as well with the driver lineup still a question now that Johnny Benson is either retiring or racing for another team next season.

*Although it had been rumored that the Air Force was going to move from the Wood Brothers to either Roush-Fenway Racing or Yates Racing next season, they're going to end up as the sponsor for the #10 at Gillett-Evernham Motorsports. Odds are that's the car that Reed Sorenson is going to drive but that's not yet been confirmed. I suspect that GEM would love to have enough sponsorship to field four cars next season and have A.J. Allmendinger race behind the wheel of one of them. Allmendinger has been outstanding for GEM these last few races and he's gotten the best results that the #10 team has seen all season. He's also been racing much better than Sorenson and some have speculated that GEM might be regretting signing him as opposed to Allmendinger.

*Good news for Robby Gordon - Jim Beam announced today that they will continue to sponsor him next season for most of the Cup races just as they did this season, though a formal deal hasn't been signed yet. It's hard enough for Robby to not only compete but survive in Cup, but losing his primary sponsor would be deadly to his team. I suspect he will likely have a blank car for some races like he did this season but at least he'll have most raced covered since Menard's will be back on a limited basis as well. One big issue that remains to be resolved for Robby is what manufacturer he'll be aligned with next season. He's with Dodge now and receiving technical support from Penske Racing but apparently nothing is finalized for next season. Seems to me that Robby needs to get that taken care of sooner rather than later. He was able to survive a last-minute manufacturer change last season but not without problems. Things need to be smoother for him to start the season in 2009.

*Some fans continue to be furious about the merger between DEI and Ganassi Racing. Some seem to be taking it as a personal insult to themselves or Dale Earnhardt and it's hard for me to relate to that. Saying that Teresa Earnhardt might be cursed to hell for business decisions she made in relation to DEI seems completely excessive. I just can't hate someone I don't know who has no effect on my life like these people hate Teresa. A common theme with this merger and so many other things is that some believe that if Dale was still alive this merger wouldn't be happening and so many other things would be different. That they know exactly what Dale would say or do. Thing is that everyone is judging Dale based on things that happened in 2001 and earlier - there's no telling how things would have played out or how he would have reacted to certain things in 2008. Not to mention sometimes people surprise you.

*Nascar said today that Preseason Thunder will still take place in Daytona in January even though there won't be any testing there. As Dale, Jr. pointed out without the drivers being consumed by testing perhaps there will be even more events for fans. But it seems to me that part of the allure for fans is going to see the teams test in preparation for the upcoming season. In addition, Nascar has said they suspended testing to save the teams money but now they're going to make the drivers and other personnel fly down to Florida and spend money on hotel and other expenses. Why not move the event back to North Carolina where it used to be held so few of the drivers and others with the teams/sponsors have to fly to get there? In addition, fans could also visit the race shops at the same time thus generating some revenue for those teams that charge admission to their shops.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:22 PM | Comments (0)

November 10, 2008

Mark Martin in the #84 at Homestead?

Dave Moody is reporting that Red Bull Racing will have Mark Martin race the #84 at Homestead instead of Scott Speed. This is a very smart move on the part of RBR since they are in a fight to finish the season in the top 35 in owner's points and right now they're on the outside looking in. While Scott has raced well in ARCA and the Truck Series, he's been less than impressive in Cup which is part of the reason why the #84 dropped out of the top 35 because the results haven't been very good for Scott. He's also qualified very poorly, and with the #84 not locked in next week, RBR had to have been worried that if they kept Scott in the car he might miss the race. Martin will not only almost certainly qualify for the race but he'll also likely race well if the car he's given to race is any good.

While I think this is a good move for the RBR organization, it's one that I wished they hadn't made because it's going to make things harder for Marcos Ambrose who is trying to keep the third Michael Waltrip Racing team in the top 35, and he's in by just 17 points. Some are thinking that MWR is really in trouble with Mark in the #84 because they're still thinking that MWR is fielding cars that aren't very competitive. However, as the season has gone on the MWR cars have gotten more competitive. The #00 has never been as strong as the #44 or #55 teams but that changed once Marcos got behind the wheel. It's not like they're racing in the top ten or anything but two finishes in the top 20 in a row is better than what Michael McDowell did with that team. I would expect that MWR will put everything they have towards trying to make sure Marcos has everything he needs to finish well enough to stay in the top 35.

However, I think the driver who has the most to worry about is Robby Gordon. Although Gordon is in the top 35 by a wider margin - 53 points - he hasn't raced particularly well at Homestead over the course of his career and he hasn't raced very well this season at all which is why he finds himself in the position of fighting to hang on in the top 35. Robby may also have more at stake. Marcos has full sponsorship for next season and his team has an alliance with MWR which will presumably remain in place regardless of whether Marcos is able to secure a spot in the top 35 or not, particularly since the car dropping out of the top 35 in the first place wasn't of his doing. But Robby doesn't yet have full sponsorship nailed down for next season and some of it might be dependent on whether he finishes the season in the top 35 or not.

Of course anything can happen. If any of these teams experience a mechanical failure or get caught up in a wreck it would be disastrous for them. But what this does is ensures that the top 35 battle will be as exciting as anything else happening on the track including the championship which is all but decided.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:46 PM | Comments (2)

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)

October 28, 2008

Additional Categories Added

Just a little house-keeping news - I've added new categories for a couple of drivers. Since I often discuss topics related to Michael Waltrip or Michael Waltrip Racing, I figured I should add categories for Marcos Ambrose and Max Papis since both drivers will be affiliated with MWR next season via the technical alliance that their respective organizations have formed with MWR. I'll likely be paying closer attention to what both drivers do - particularly Marcos since his team will be housed directly at MWR. In addition, I added a category for Robby Gordon. I'm not a huge fan of Robby's but I've been following his trial and tribulations as owner closely so given how many entires I've done on him and Robby Gordon Motorsports I figured it was about time to add a category for him. There may be some additional categories added as time goes on and possibly a few removed as I don't often discuss drivers like Brendan Gaughan or Elliott Sadler anymore.

Posted by silverdsl at 05:00 PM | Comments (0)

October 13, 2008

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (10/13)

*There's a rumor making the rounds that Nascar is considering cutting the size of the fields in the Nationwide and Truck Series to 28 and the Cup Series to 36, presumably in response to the difficult economy and how teams are closing up shop. I'm skeptical about whether there's any truth to this rumor, particularly about the Cup Series field being reduced to just 36 considering the top 35 rule already locks in 36 cars meaning there would be only one open spot for a go-or-go-homer. That would make things harder for teams not easier since it would means that even more teams would be going home each week. As much as there are organizations that are struggling and teams that won't be back next season, at least in Cup there are also organizations that are adding teams. There may very well be some short fields next season, but contrary to what some fans are anticipating, I'm not sure we'll see that in Cup since there would probably be organizations who would field a car just for a race or two if they knew there was a short field in an attempt to make some money. And if there are short fields in Trucks and Nationwide, what's so bad about that? There will always be some tracks where there are more entries and some tracks where they are less.

*A lot of fans still believe that Ray Evernham calls the shots and plays a big role in the day-to-day decisions at Gillett-Evernham Motorsports but that ended when he sold a majority share of ownership in the organization that was once his to the Gillett family. In fact he has so little say that he may not be involved with the company at all in the future. He said,

"That's largely up to the Gillettes. I want to help Mr. Gillette, and I'll do whatever I can to help him be successful, but I also want to pursue ... I'm enjoying my life at ESPN. I'm enjoying a little bit of semi-retirement. I want to help as much as I can, but I also want to make sure I have creditability with the viewers and that's important to me.''

From the way he's been talking for a while he would be perfectly happy not having to deal with a lot of what he used to deal with as sole owner at Evernham, particularly things on the business side, and while some have tied that to the controversy over his relationship with Erin Crocker, I suspect he might have felt that way regardless. This is a very tough business and it takes it's toll on those who are involved - it just seems like Evernham is tired and wants to take his life in a different direction.

*There's been some comments posted on PlanetRobby, a fan site and forum for Robby Gordon fans that are attributed to Robby, about how happy he is with recent changes he's made to his team and the direction they're going in. I think it would be good for the sport if an independent, single-car operation like Robby's were to succeed but I don't have a good feeling after reading what he supposedly said. For one thing Robby said that his new philosophy is "my way or the highway, no between" in terms of his organization and employees. Just exactly what's new about that? Robby has always been one to do things his own way no matter what anyone says or thinks. It's been both an asset for him and something that has also been his downfall. The reality is that it's essential that Robby be open to other people's input and ideas and be able to recognize when a different way of doing things might benefit his team. It was also said that there aren't going to be any engineers, no Nascar guys at all, just "imagineers," apparently most or all of whom will be off-road guys. It's good to have people who can look at things differently than the way things have always been done. However, engineering is a cornerstone of racing, not just in Nascar, but in all forms of racing. I think it's essential if Robby wants to have any hope of competing on the Cup level that there is some sort of engineering presence at his organization. Lately it's been all about maintaining for Robby, maintaining being locked into the top 35 in owner's points. He needs to be able to do more. Hopefully for his sake this approach will work and he'll be able to race competitively but I'm not convinced this is going to work out for him as well as he'd like.

*There was a huge amount of controversy in relation to the ARCA race this weekend, much of it relating to Scott Speed who cost himself the championship by retaliating against another driver and then getting parked. The incident was apparently so bad that there might be further penalties handed out to Speed. I'm not sure that bodes well for him in Cup. Speed has a very unique personality but he may need to learn how to control his emotions a little better. Every driver gets so angry at times that they retaliate or otherwise let their emotions get the best of them, but that's not a good thing for a rookie in Cup.

*Nascar made it official today that they're going to hold off on the Nationwide COT until the start of the 2010 season instead of having the teams start to race it mid-season next year as originally planned. I think that's a wise idea. The cost issues involved with having to build two different cars next season might be too great for some teams. It's still going to be difficult for some teams to build the Nationwide COT, but maybe by 2010 the economy will have improved some and some other issues related to the new car will have been worked out. Best to take the time to test the car well and not rush it to the track.

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

October 02, 2008

Two More Lawsuits for Robby Gordon

McLaren Capital Advisors is suing Robby Gordon and this week Robby filed a counter-suit in relation to the failed deal between Robby Gordon Motorsports and Gillett Evernham Motorsports that McLaren brokered. McLaren is apparently suing for over $1 million in fees they billed Robby for which he feels he shouldn't have to pay because according to Robby's lawsuit

"...the transaction was fraudulently induced and that McLaren disclosed confidential information and cooperated with GEM in its lawsuit with Gordon, which eventually was settled."

Robby has been involved in so many lawsuits and legal action this year that it's hard to keep track of all of it but I believe this would be his fourth and fifth lawsuits of the season, following disputes with Vanguard Integrity Professionals, Camping World and GEM. Like the other disputes which were settled (except maybe for the one with Vanguard) I would guess this one will be too. At least Robby hopes there's a settlement or that he doesn't have to pay at all since the financial situation at RGM is reportedly not very good so he may not have a spare $1 million hanging around.

With Robby racing to stay in the top 35, which could determine the future of his team, the last thing he needs is yet another distraction to take his focus away from what's happening on the track.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:38 PM | Comments (0)

September 30, 2008

Robby Gordon Says He's Not Merging With DEI or Anyone Else

There's been a lot of rumors about Robby Gordon and what he's going to do next season with Robby Gordon Motorsports. He's been rumored to be selling or merging his team or otherwise developing a partnership with another organization, and has seemingly been connected to just about every organization in the garage area. However, Claire B. Lang just played a brief interview with Robby from this weekend and from the sound of it Robby will be in exactly the same situation next season as he is this - a single car, independent organization trying to somehow add a second car. Robby said there's absolutely no truth to the rumors he might be buying into, merging with or racing for DEI, that someone likely saw him with John Story who used to work for him and read into things. For right now he's getting engines from Penske Racing but Robby gave no indication as to whether that arrangement would continue into next season. When asked about sponsors since it's been said that none of Robby's current sponsors are definitely confirmed to be coming back next season and whether they're going to be okay, Robby said "Of course we're going to be okay." He also said that they're doing good, that they're in the top 35 and moving forward.

Let's do a reality check - Robby is barely in the top 35. In fact he's likely only in the top 35 right now because other teams have been worse since his best finish in the last six races is 31st at Bristol in August. Robby has just one top ten, two top fifteens, an average start of 31.2 and an average finish of 29.5. It's hard to see how Robby is moving forward since his finishes have been pretty much consistently bad all season including at tracks where he traditionally finishes well like the road course tracks.

Fact of the matter is that things might not be okay for Robby. Back when the lawsuit with Gillett-Evernham Motorsports came to light I thought that Robby might actually come out of it okay because I had heard a number of rumors about him talking with various organizations from Yates Racing to Michael Waltrip Racing to DEI to Bill Davis Racing about a merger or partnership. However, it appears that there's no truth to any of those rumors or things didn't work out with any of them and Robby will still be on his own next season. During the interview with Claire, Robby said that he won while racing for other people and now he wants to win while racing for himself. That just isn't going to happen. Not with how competitive the Cup Series is right now, how great the costs are to race, and how difficult it is for a single-car team to have any kind of success. Robby will be lucky if he's in the top 35 next season, let alone contend for any wins.

Another reality check needs to be done in relation to adding a second Cup car for next season. Robby doesn't even have full sponsorship for his existing team, just exactly how is he going to be able to add a second team? There's been some rumors that maybe Scott Riggs would bring State Water Heaters to RGM next season but given that State Water Heaters probably has a lot less to spend than other sponsors do, I'm not sure how much help that sponsorship would be. If Robby really doesn't want to merge with another organization he really needs to develop a partnership with another organization that goes beyond getting engines and some technical assistance from them. It's great that he wants to have control and that he wants to do things his way and on his own but he also needs to recognize when he needs help and he definitely needs help now if he wants RGM to be around long-term in Nascar.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:16 PM | Comments (2)

September 16, 2008

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (9/16)

*Lee Spencer is reporting on Foxsports.com that Gillett-Evernham Motorsports is interested in buying Bill Davis Racing, or at least their Cup operation and engine shop. It's a little unclear as to whether GEM is also interested in becoming affiliated with Toyota but it appears they're very interested in the owner's points that would come with the #22 since that team is currently in the top 35 in owner's points. In addition, some sort of merger or buyout with BDR could give GEM an affiliation with a very successful truck operation. Suddenly it makes a lot more sense why GEM filed suit against Robby Gordon - they might have found a better opportunity when it comes to adding a team. As for BDR if not GEM then they need to find another organization or outside investor to partner with next season since right now they don't have any sponsorship for the #22 let alone the second Cup car they've said they want to field. The big loser in all of this stands to be Dave Blaney since there probably wouldn't be a place for him at GEM if this were to happen and he might have a hard time finding another Cup ride, at least with a competitive team.

*Jay Frye was heavily rumored to be going to Stewart-Haas Racing to be the general manager there but ultimately Frye decided to remain at Red Bull Racing. That's a good thing for RBR since the organization has made a lot of improvement since he joined. Of course that's why SHR wanted him too. One had to wonder who SHR is going to look to be their GM since Frye turned them down. Who they hire for that position could end up being a big factor in whether and how quickly SHR is competitive next season.

*There's a lot of fans who have deemed Joey Logano's Cup debut to be a spectacular failure because he didn't live up to the hype and only finished 32nd. Apparently because he didn't race up front and contend for the win means to some fans that he will never have any success in Cup ever. Ridiculous. A driver's potential can't be judged on the basis of just one race. Even if Logano races all of the remaining Cup races this season it still might not be a clear indicator of how well he's going to do in Cup. I think Logano's debut was actually a success. I'm sure he and his team were hoping that the finish would be better but Logano wasn't involved in any incidents, stayed out of everyone's way and brought the car home in one piece. How can that be considered a failure for an 18-year old driver in his first Cup race? The Cup Series is Nascar's most elite and competitive series with the quality of the drivers and teams being the best in all of Nascar. To expect greatness out of a young driver with no Cup experience regardless of how well he's done in other series is expecting too much. Logano has talent and if Joe Gibbs Racing gives him good cars to race, has a solid support system in place for him to help him adjust to the pressures of the Cup Series, and has patience with him, I think he will likely develop into a very good Cup driver - but it may not happen immediately.

*On a similar note, there are some who are writing off Kyle Busch's chances for winning the Championship because he finished 34th at Loudon. Sure he's behind but there's a long way to go in the Chase. Busch finished 34h this past weekend because of a broken bolt on the swaybar of his car. There's no reason to think Busch won't go back to doing what he's done so much of next weekend at Dover - race up front. If he has a couple more bad races, then the Championship likely is out of reach, but one bad race can be overcome. I think it's wishful thinking on a lot of people's parts that they're being so quick to write Busch off since he's the last driver a lot of people would want to see win a Championship.

*Some are questioning ESPN's decision to make a story out of Rick Hendrick getting on the #88's team's radio during the race at Loudon to settle down Dale Earnhardt, Jr. after he got upset over a bad set of tires. Hendrick later also commented to the media about how Junior needs to treat Tony Eury, Jr., his cousin and crew chief better. Some have actually gone so far as to say that ESPN is engaging in a vendetta against Junior because they don't like that he was critical of them last week. There's no vendetta. ESPN is simply doing their job, which is covering the news of the race and the sport. There have been times when ESPN has sensationalized things but in this case, a team owner feeling the need to get on one of his driver's radio's during the first race of the Chase to settle him down is news.

In my mind the question is whether a piece of audio ESPN or another media outlet is using gives some insight into what's going on with a team or adds something to the story of the race. When ESPN played the audio of Clint Bowyer saying that Michael Waltrip is the worst driver in Nascar, Clint was mistaken in his belief that Michael caused the wreck and as a result playing that clip only served to make Michael and Clint look bad as opposed to giving some insight into the race. However, I think that ESPN's coverage of Junior's audio from this race most definitely gives some insight into what was going on with the #88 team during this race. In addition, numerous other media outlets including XM, Sirius, Nascar.com, Nascar Scene, The Sporting News and others gave the exact same coverage to the issue of Hendrick getting on Junior's radio. Why is it acceptable for those media outlets to cover the story but not ESPN? Why is ESPN expected to ignore stories and/or Rick Hendrick addressing the media? They shouldn't since it would be doing their viewers a disservice.

*Speaking of what Bowyer said about Michael, Bob Packrass from Nascar Scene was on Sirius this morning and he said he asked Bowyer last week whether he meant what he said about Michael being the worst driver in Nascar. Bowyer apparently referred to Michael wrecking while racing Ron Capps during a piece they were taping for Nascar Now and said "I'll let you be the judge." A lot of people, including Michael, have dismissed Bowyer's comments as having been said in the heat of the moment out of emotion, but I've thought from the start even if he said it out of emotion it likely reflected what he thought to some degree. Based on what Bowyer said to Pockrass it appears he really doesn't think much of Michael.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:42 AM | Comments (2)

September 08, 2008

Things Continue to Get Worse for Robby Gordon

Not only is Robby Gordon facing a lawsuit filed by Gillett-Evernham Motorsports in relation to selling his team, after a 42nd place finish yesterday, not only did Robby drop out of the top 35 in owner's points but his crew chief, Walter Giles quit. Robby should be alright this weekend at Loudon since there are only 45 entries so far so he'll only have to beat two cars to make the race but if there are any races where there are more entries and he's still outside the top 35 he could be in trouble since qualifying isn't one of his strengths. Losing his crew chief is going to hurt though. Granted the results have continued to get worse and worse with Giles, but somehow I suspect another crew chief wouldn't have made much of a difference - GEM certainly isn't going to be providing much in the way of support or good equipment right now and Robby Gordon Motorsports doesn't have the financial resources like larger teams do to improve the competitiveness of the cars.

Over the weekend there's been quite a bit of speculation and conspiracy theories regarding what the lawsuit is really about and whether it's actually Robby (who has said he still wants to sell to GEM) or GEM who wants out of their agreement. I can understand that some of Robby's fans (at least the ones who aren't bashing him) want to put the best spin on things but some of the rumors are pretty unlikely to happen. If Robby is in such dire straights that it's hard for him to field a competitive car, and he's in a position where he might sell his team, just exactly how is he going to be able to afford to purchase a large organization like Yates Racing or DEI even with help from John Menard? What's really ridiculous is the wide-spread talk that Robby is deliberately tanking races to ensure that he falls out of the top 35 - it's hard for me to believe that any driver would deliberately race like junk to sabotage their own team's effort, particularly when dropping out of the top 35 would cause his team to lose value.

What's amazing is how many of Robby's fans have turned on him. It's totally understandable that fans are disappointed, pessimistic and unhappy. I also think there's plenty of things to be critical of Robby about. But I think some of the things that are being said about Robby are excessive. Yes, things are going about as bad as an be but I don't think that means that Robby deserves to be bashed, insulted or called names, and especially not by his own fans. It may very well be that Robby has a plan, things will work out for him and he'll continue racing in Cup for years to come, but there's also a chance that things aren't going to work out. Given that there's also some stresses for Robby in his personal life it seems to me that he could use support from his fans. That doesn't mean that his fans shouldn't be critical - there's clearly a lot that isn't going right and it would be ridiculous for fans to stick their heads in the sand about the realities of the situation that Robby's in. However, it's got to be really discouraging to not only Robby but his team to know that many of his fans are so negative right now. With all of this going on I can understand why the Uprising got shut down a few months ago.

I've never really liked Robby much - there's been some things that make it hard for me to like him. However, after seeing what Michael Waltrip went though and all his struggles as an owner-driver the past few years it's hard for me to be anything but sympathetic towards Robby. Some fans seem to think that ownership and racing overall is easy but it's really not. The Cup Series is extremely competitive and it's very hard for smaller, newer and less funded teams to have success when the elite team have an endless amount of money and resources to pour into their teams. I think a lack of funding due to Dakar being canceled and his team not being fully sponsored this season really handcuffed Robby. It's difficult on any racer when no matter what they do and how hard they work things don't go well on the track and the results aren't very good week after week. But I think all of this has to be even harder on Robby because it's also his dreams of being a successful, independent Cup owner that slowly seem to be getting destroyed.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:35 PM | Comments (0)

September 04, 2008

Gillett-Evernham Motorsports Files Suit Against Robby Gordon

During a Directv Hotpass broadcast from Watkins Glen in which he was one of the featured drivers, Robby Gordon was highly critical of Gillett Evernham Motorsports and the engines they were providing him. As it turns out it was not a wise choice to make those comments publically as they became past of a lawsuit GEM filed against Robby. The lawsuit alleges that Robby violated terms of a tentative $23 million deal that Robby had agreed to in January to sell his team to GEM. As part of the deal, which contained an exclusivity clause, Robby would have gotten a four year contract to drive for GEM for $3 million a year (plus 45% of winnings), would have been made a part of GEM's board of directors and would have also sold his shop to GEM. Robby then entered into an arrangement with GEM in which they would provide support to Robby's team this season as they do their primary teams. Apparently in May Robby had a change of heart and asked out of the deal, and requested only that they provide him engines.

From a Nascar Scene article, GEM alleges the following in the lawsuit:

The exclusivity clause is the primary basis for the lawsuit, filed Aug. 25 in North Carolina Superior Court in Charlotte. GEM claims in court documents that Gordon has talked to other teams about merging. It also claims that Gordon made disparaging remarks that he wasn’t getting comparable engines to the other GEM drivers during a DirecTV telecast last month at Watkins Glen. The lawsuit also claims that Gordon ignored the advice of GEM and terminated his previous deal with Ford prematurely, before GEM could get a sponsorship deal from Dodge for Gordon’s car. Dodge and GEM couldn’t agree on a manufacturer’s deal for Gordon’s car.

GEM is seeking damages and to get out of the deal with Robby/Robby Gordon Motorsports. Of course Robby denies all the allegations of the suit but otherwise declined further comment so it's impossible to know what his side of the story is. When I saw this my first reaction was "wow!" and that's still how I feel - just "wow!"

Although I know that Robby likes to be independent and in control, it boggles my mind that he backed out of this deal. RGM is literally racing to survive right now as the organization isn't in good shape financially, is in dire need of sponsorship for next season (Jim Beam isn't even confirmed to be returning) and is sinking like a lead weight in the owner's points to where Robby is on the verge of dropping out of the top 35 because the cars are completely non-competitive even on road course tracks which are Robby's specialty. This deal would have provided Robby with a way to continue racing Cup for the next four years, something which helps him be able to do off-road racing, and would have landed him much needed sponsorship from Dodge for his car. Now the situation with his team is so bad that there's quite a bit of doubt as to whether his team will exist next season.

This lawsuit could very well be the death keel for Robby Gordon Motorsports. For one thing he was already having a hard time nailing down sponsorship for next season and given this is the third lawsuit that Robby's been involved with this season that could scare some potential sponsors away. In addition, if there's any truth to the allegation that Robby has been negotiating to merge with other teams in violation of the exclusivity clause in his deal with GEM, that could also scare those teams he's been talking with away. Not to mention, though it's undisclosed how much damages GEM is looking to get, if it's in the millions, I have to wonder if Robby would be able to pay considering how he's said himself how little money RGM has. It hurts terribly in the short-term as well in terms of competition since Robby won't get much more than the bare minimum from GEM for the rest of the season which will make it extremely hard for him to stay in the top 35, which will complicate things further for next season.

One thing's for sure - Robby needs help to continue fielding his team next season. He needs financial help from sponsors and possibly even an outside investor and he needs engines and other equipment from another team and manufacturer. Maybe he also needs a big dose of luck and prayer because right now the odds that his team will survive past this season aren't looking too good.

I suppose some of my fellow Michael Waltrip fans will take great joy in the news of this lawsuit, as well as if his team folds. Not me. Even though I don't care for Robby all that much, I've always hoped that RGM would be successful in Cup because I think it's good for the sport for there to be one-car teams and drivers like Robby who do things their own way to do well. Unfortunately the more time that passes the more it looks like RGM may not be around for too much longer, at least not as an independent one-car team.

ETA: In thinking about this some more it occurs to me that maybe the reason why Robby pulled out of the deal with GEM is because one of the other organizations he was talking with offered him a more favorable deal, maybe even something where he could continue to operate his team more independently. A while back supposedly someone said that Michael Waltrip said in an interview that he had talks with Robby about working together, that would certainly be interesting for a variety of reasons... Maybe things will work out for Robby afterall, but he'll need to hope those he's been talking with don't get scared off by this lawsuit and that he stays in the top 35.

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

August 14, 2008

Frustration for Robby Gordon and His Team

The race this past weekend at Watkins Glen was a disappointment to say the least for Robby Gordon who is known for his prowess on road courses. The fuel mileage strategy the team used was puzzling to say the least and it ended up putting them a lap down early in the race, something they never really recovered from. Tony Rizzuti, who was part of the broadcast team for Directv Hotpass on Robby's channel at Watkins Glen, made mention in his blog yesterday about some comments Robby made during the race about he thinks he doesn't get the same engines as the other Gillett-Evernham Motorsports teams, and that GEM reportedly wasn't too happy to hear of Robby's comments. I had heard that Robby had said something negative about GEM during the race but I thought he made the comments in the heat-of-the-moment out of emotion to his team rather than while he was talking with Larry McReynolds as part of the Hotpass coverage. I think that puts the comments in a different context and I can understand why GEM might not be so happy, particularly since I had heard talk previously that Robby wasn't too happy with the support he's been getting with GEM so this might not be the first time he's made negative remarks about them.

Robby's apparent dissatisfaction with his partnership with GEM is fueling speculation that he's going to change manufacturers yet again. Robby Gordon Motorsports has only been fielding a Cup car since 2005 but during that time he's been affiliated with Chevy, Ford and now Dodge. I seem to remember when he was still with Chevy he had some sort of partnership with John Menard and DEI in relation to engines that he also ended up expressing unhappiness with. A move to Ford came in 2007, and then just before Speedweeks this year came the switch to Dodge, a changeover that happened so fast that Robby's team put the wrong nose on the car which resulted in a penalty from Nascar. At this point the only manufacturer Robby hasn't been affiliated with in Cup (I believe he raced for them outside of Nascar) is Toyota but considering the other issues his team seems to have I wonder if switching to a manufacturer that is still trying to get all their Cup teams up to speed in Cup would work out for him. Robby could very well end up staying with Dodge and continue his partnership with GEM, however, I think he's going to need to do some work to smooth over some ruffled feathers. He may very well have some legitimate complaints about the quality of the engines he's getting from GEM but expressing that publically probably isn't the way to go if he wants things to improve.

Speaking of Robby's team and being critical, the frustration among Robby's fans has been building all season long and many of them are extremely negative and critical of Robby and his team, so much so that it was allegedly one reason why Robby's Uprising was shutdown. Of course even if a driver has an official site or forum shutdown fans will find other places to post and Robby's fans did indeed do that. One of Robby's crew members (verified to be an actual crew member) found the criticism of the team so intolerable on Planet Robby that he posted the following:

FOR ALL THOSE WHO WANT TO BLAME THE TEAM OR THE CREW ON THIS ONE..... GO AHEAD AND F**K YOURSELVES WE HADE NO PART IN THE FUEL STRATEGY, PIT STOPS WERE GOOD AND THE F**KING CAR WAS FAST. FOR THOSE THAT SEE IT HOW IT IS ...
THANKS AND HAVE A GREAT NIGHT!!"

I'd like to say I was astonished to read a crew member telling fans to f**k off but these days it's not unusual for crew members to turn up on fan forums and rip the fans (and sometimes even the team if they've recently been relieved of their duties). I can understand how incredibly frustrating it must be to read criticism and negativity, particularly if it's off-base and lacking in fact. I also think team members should be able to defend themselves and their team, especially if they're setting the record straight. However, I think it needs to be done in a professional and appropriate way, and that post was most certainly not that. A post full of curses not only makes the individual crew member look bad but it also reflects poorly on the organization.

Whenever I see crew members go off like this I'm always reminded of the old adage in retail about how the customer is always right and I think it applies here too. Fans are customers too - they buy merchandise, buy the sponsor's product and support their favorite teams and drivers in a way that is often monetary. That doesn't mean that drivers and teams should only agree with the fans or say or do things that the fans approve of. However, I think the kind of sentiment that was expressed in the post by Robby's crew member needs to remain behind closed doors. Ripping the team's own fans publically isn't productive even if it seems like it is at the time, no one is going to change their opinion on the basis of a post like that and it only serves to create ill-will, something Robby's team doesn't need right now.

What I wondered about after reading that post was what he was talking about - if the team wasn't to blame for the issues at Watkins Glen who was? Is he implying Robby's to blame? GEM? The crew chief? Of course there's no way of knowing - another problem with angry rants like this is that they're often hard to understand and easily misinterpreted - but regardless of who he was referring to publically pointing fingers at who is to blame for the team's woes even if it's not directly isn't a wise idea either.

I've never been a fan of Robby's - in the past his behavior on the track has bothered me and I really didn't like the temper tantrum he threw that was directed towards Michael Waltrip a few years ago. However, I do want Robby Gordon Motorsports to be able to survive and eventually be a successful Cup organization. I think Nascar needs more small, independent teams, not less. Unfortunately Robby's team seems to be in turmoil to the point where I've been wondering whether they'll be around next season. I hope that they are but it seems like they have some challenges to overcome first.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:05 AM | Comments (0)

August 11, 2008

Random Thoughts On Watkins Glen

*Slump? What Slump? Kyle Busch continued to show that he is one of the best drivers in the Cup Series right now by picking up his 8th win in the Cup Series and 16th overall in Nascar if one counts his Nationwide and Truck wins as well. Truly an incredible season for Kyle. Odds are he's going to win at least one or two more before the end of the season so his stats are probably only going to get better before the season's over.

*Another driver who was impressive this weekend was Marcos Ambrose. Not only did he win the Nationwide race on Saturday, but he also raced the #21 from 43rd to 3rd. That's a car that has been less than competitive for a few years now and he didn't get up front by pit strategy - he raced his way up there. His Nationwide win was not only the first of his career but also the first win for an Australian in Nascar and also the first win for JTG Daugherty Racing. Only time will tell if he'll be able to have success in Cup on tracks that aren't road courses but I have a feeling he's going to race pretty well next season, or at least as well as he can for a one car team.

*Once upon a time Robby Gordon was always a threat to win at road courses but those days are over. Not surprisingly he not only didn't contend for the win yesterday but he didn't even race up front. Finishing 27th has to be considered a major disappointment for him on one of his best tracks. The pit strategy his team used was truly puzzling and resulted in him being a lap down for a good portion of the race. Robby complained over his radio about the engines he's getting from Gillett-Evernham Motorsports and I have to think that's a sign that partnership won't last too much longer - not only did anyone listening to Robby's radio via Trackpass hear what he said but Robby was also a featured driver on Directv Hotpass and his comments were repeated on a variety of websites so odds are someone from GEM is going to hear about it and I can't imagine they'll be too happy. I have to wonder if Robby is going to make yet another manufacturer change in the off-season. One thing's for sure when Robby Gordon Motorsports struggles even on road courses that's not a good sign about the health of their program.

*Speaking of Robby, it used to be that I thought the way he pieced together a full season's worth of sponsorship for his car from a variety of companies was a good idea because it allowed him to ask for less money from multiple companies instead of having to ask one company for $15 or 20 million. However, I've since reversed my thinking. That approach to sponsorship has left Robby with multiple races in which he hasn't had a sponsor and with less money than he needs to field a competitive car. It also prevents him from developing a close relationship with a sponsor in which he's identified with a particular sponsor in fan's minds like Michael Waltrip with NAPA Auto Parts.

*The #88 also had a puzzling pit strategy that hurt their result. I can't understand Tony Eury, Jr.'s thinking, though I'm sure he had his reasons for what he was doing. It's just unfortunate for Junior because it seemed like he had a very good car and he ended up finishing 22nd instead of up front. There was some interesting discussion about this on Sirius this morning in which David Poole said that he thought that the #88 team doesn't look like a Championship team even though they often race up front and I have to agree. Championship caliber teams make good decisions on the track and show an ability to overcome challenges - that's always been a strong suit of the #48 team and a big reason why they've won two Championships in addition to Jimmie Johnson's talent.

*The top 35 situation is getting pretty interesting. A.J. Allmendinger has done an amazing job of racing his way back into the top 35 despite DNQ'ing for three races. A.J. has been outstanding behind the wheel since he got back in the #84 and it would be a real shame if he lost his ride to Scott Speed. A.J. is showing that he can not only overcome adversity but also that he can race up front. The #00 and #66 are both outside the top 35 and even though it's not by much I suspect that's where both will remain since both teams seem to struggle to race well. Of course that's true of all of the teams that are near the bottom of the top 35 but I've seen some more signs of life with some of the other teams. And poor Michael Waltrip has been bit by bad luck three weeks in a row - he took responsibility for the Indy wreck but his engine blowing and then getting swept up in the big wreck that his own driver started are things that are out of his hands - has to be frustrating!

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

August 06, 2008

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (8/6)

*Jayski has a bunch of "I heard" rumors today the first of which is that it's rumored that Mark Martin may move to the #5 car at Hendrick Motorsports, the ride he'll be in full-time next season, for the last four races of this season. That makes sense for both Mark and the team so they can get started on working together. However, I would feel bad for Casey Mears who is currently in the #5. Even if he's also understanding as to why it might happen, it can't feel good to be replaced and even more so if his next ride isn't yet available to him at that point. I would also feel bad for Casey's fans, particularly any of those who had tickets to those last four races if he was released from the #5 and wasn't able to race for a different team.

*P.J. Jones is going to be in Hall of Fame Racing's #96 at Watkins Glen this weekend. I like P.J. and even though I didn't like that David Reutimann wasn't in the #00 for the road course races last year, I thought P.J. did a nice job in his place. So I'm glad he's getting a chance to help Hall of Fame out. Jayski has "heard" that J.J. Yeley's removal from the #96 may not be for just one race, that it might actually be permanent. That wouldn't surprise me. I think the expectations for J.J. in that car were much higher than what he's been able to do so far. The question would then become who would take J.J.'s place in the #96 for Michigan and the rest of the races this season?

*Ron Fellows is going to race DEI's #01 car this weekend at Watkins Glen instead of Regan Smith. DEI had originally planned to put Regan in a fifth entry, the #81 until Nascar told them they could only field four cars unless the fifth was used for a rookie with less than seven starts this season. That meant that Aric Armirola could race DEI's fifth entry since he only has five starts but not Regan so DEI withdrew the #81. I feel bad for Regan. DEI had worked it out so they had someone in the car who might be able to help them gain some additional points to put them in a better spot in the top 35 in owner's points but they were also going to make it possible for Regan to still race. Unfortunately for him it appears that he'll have to sit on the sidelines after all.

*Although Robby Gordon spoke in positive terms about next season, it sounds like his sponsorship situation isn't going to be much better than this season where he hasn't had sponsorship for a number of races. In fact it might even get worse since it sounds like it's not definite that Jim Beam will be back even though he expressed confidence that they would be back. Jim Beam has done a lot of marketing campaigns with Robby and really seem to like him so I'd think they would return as one of his sponsors next season but there's no telling how the poor economy might effect their marketing/advertising budget just like it has so many other sponsors. If Jim Beam were to opt not to sponsor Robby next season I think his Cup program would be in significant trouble and it's already not doing so great.

*Robby was also asked by the media yesterday about the possibility of adding a second Cup team, maybe with Scott Riggs, who is rumored to have sponsorship from State Water Heaters to take with him to a new team. Of course Robby would like to add a second team but how realistic is it really? Multi-car teams really are a necessity for any Cup organization to have success but without the resources to make it competitive it's not going to be much of a help. I have my doubts as to whether the State Water Heaters sponsorship - if they would really go with Scott to whichever team he ends up with, is worth all that much. Of course some sponsorship money is better than no sponsorship money, but until Robby has full sponsorship for his own car it might be a drain on his organization to add a second car unless there was enough sponsorship money to cover all costs and have it be at least somewhat competitive.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:58 PM | Comments (0)

July 18, 2008

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (7/18)

With it being an off-week for the Cup teams a lot of people in the Cup garage are on vacation so there's not been too much news of note. It's not an off-week for everyone though since there's Nationwide, Truck and East Series racing this weekend. I'm very much looking forward to tomorrow's truck race in Kentucky since Michael Waltrip will be in the booth! I love the truck series to begin with and having Michael and his enthusiasm in the booth only makes it better! Even though there's not been much going on there's been a few bits of news that have surfaced...

*Jacques Villeneuve has secured a ride for the Nationwide race in Montreal in a few weeks but it's not with Robby Gordon Motorsports as rumored. Instead Villeneuve will race for Braun Racing. All the talk was that it was pretty much a done deal that Villeneuve would race for RGM and that he was bringing sponsorship with him that might translate into a full-time ride with RGM in 2009, but Villeneuve is taking whatever sponsorship he has to Braun. I don't know why Villeneuve ended up at Braun instead of RGM but it's likely he'll get a more competitive car to race from Braun than from RGM so this is probably a good move for him. Villeneuve hasn't given up on his hope of racing Cup but I really doubt that we'll see him full-time in Cup any time soon even if he does really well in this race.

*Josh Wise has a new crew chief at Fitz Motorsports and it's the former crew chief of the #22, Paul Wolfe, who Wise has apparently wanted to work with for a while. However, Wolfe isn't actually an employee of Fitz, no surprise given that Fitz sued him after he left the team earlier this season, but is instead employed by Michael Waltrip Racing, who will also be providing a pit crew to the team. Some have wondered why MWR doesn't just field a car of their own for Wise but given the lack of sponsorship for a second Nationwide car it's probably cheaper to pay Fitz to field one for Wise then to put one together themselves. Given the strength of MWR's Nationwide program Wise would probably get a better car from MWR than he gets from Fitz but it's better to behind the wheel of a car getting seat time than sitting on the sidelines as he was doing earlier in the season. I also think there's some benefits for a young driver when they have to race a less than perfect car because they can learn how to work with their team on making it better, how to give good feedback, how to deal with racing an ill-handling car, how to deal with challenges, etc... I can't help but wonder if Wise's development is being stepped up because of the recent rumors that have been circulating about David Reutimann and Michael McDowell possibly not being at MWR next season.

*A few times recently I've seen some comments attributed to team members in which they complain about or mock fans. I'm the first one to be dismayed at some of the behavior of my fellow fans as it seems like there's an increasingly large percentage of fans who don't know how to behave appropriately when they're around the drivers or team members and think that they're entitled to say and do whatever they want. However, there's also plenty of fans who do know how to behave appropriately and are simply excited fans who are hoping to get an autograph from their favorite driver or just catch a glimpse of them. As annoying as it may be when there's a bunch of fans hanging around I also think there needs to be some understanding for the fact that without the fans the sport wouldn't be as successful as it is. The fans are the people who buy the tickets to races, buy the merchandise, support the sponsors and cheer for the teams. Some of these team members act like they would prefer it if there were no fans at all at the track - be careful what you wish for. Michael Waltrip said on his XM show recently that he treats every fan and every moment like it's his last. There's a reason for that - it can all go away in the blink of an eye. Some teams and drivers may think that being popular, having success and being on top of the world will last forever but things can change very quickly.

Posted by silverdsl at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)

July 04, 2008

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (7/4)

*Robby Gordon and Camping World have settled their lawsuit. Gordon had alleged that Camping World broke an agreement to sponsor four races for $800,000, money that Robby Gordon Motorsports is in desperate need of. Apparently the suit was settled just before the Sonoma race which is likely why the Camping World logos appeared on the #7 at Sonoma and also at New Hampshire. I would think that RGM must be getting some money from them as part of the settlement so that helps the organization in the short-term but getting sued isn't likely to convince a sponsor to stick around so in the long-term Gordon will probably need to find another sponsor for next season to take Camping World's place.

*NFL star Randy Moss from the New England Patriots has bought 50% ownership in Morgan-Dollar Motorsports, which will be renamed Randy Moss Motorsports. Although the team need to secure sponsorship, Willie Allen will race for the team at Kentucky. Moss is wise to invest in a truck team. Although it's just as difficult to be competitive in the Truck Series as it is in the Nationwide or Cup Series, the costs from sponsorship to fielding a team are less. Of course that means the potential return on his investment is also less but the risk is probably less than looking to invest in a Nationwide or Cup team at a time when the economy has made it very tough going for all the teams. Moss was also smart to buy into an existing team instead of trying to start a completely new team from scratch on his own. Moss is used to a lot of success in the NFL so he may need to show some more patience in Nascar where racing competitively and winning races isn't easy given the level of competition.

*Mike Skinner has finished in the top ten in ten out twelve races so far this season with his only two poor finishes coming at Daytona when he wrecked and at Martinsville when he ran out of fuel two laps from the end. Many teams would be very happy if they consistently raced up front that much. However, given that Skinner had already won three races by this point last season, those results are apparently considered a disappointment since Jeff Hensley, Skinner's crew chief for more than three years has been replaced. I find it a little curious that this move was made. For one thing Skinner and Hensley have enjoyed quite a bit of success together including eight wins and 26 poles. Is Joe Lax, who most recently was the crew chief on Bill Davis Racing's now-defunct ARCA team really going to be an improvement? Perhaps the issue is that Skinner isn't all that happy that his teammate Johnny Benson, has already won a race and is higher in the points than he is, but Skinner has actually raced more consistently than Benson. Just seems strange for there to be a shake-up with this team. With how often they race up front it would seem to me that they would win a race or maybe several races sooner rather than later. Now Skinner and his team will have to get used to working with a new crew chief something that might not be as smooth of a transition as they would like considering how long Hensley was on top of the pit box.

*There continues to be rumors circulating about Tony Stewart buying into Haas-CNC, what his potential sponsors might be and who his second driver might be. Supposedly an announcement could come as soon as at Indy and that the only hold-up is Stewart getting out of his current contract at Joe Gibbs Racing. I think this needs to be resolved as quickly as possible for quite a few reasons. Other teams that are negotiating with the same sponsors that Stewart is need to know whether theyneed to explore other avenues for sponsorship, drivers who might be effected like Scott Riggs need to know so they can make their plans for next season and a team like Penske Racing who might need a driver for the #12 need to be able to move forward as well. So I'm hoping that any negotiations that need to take place between Stewart and JGR, which are likely about how much money it's going to take to buy out the final year of his contract get done sooner rather than later. I don't see any way that JGR could hold Stewart to his contract if he wants to leave so badly.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:39 AM | Comments (0)

July 02, 2008

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (7/2)

*Nascar has fined JR Motorsports crew chief Chad Walter $10,000 for use of "improper" language during a TV interview that took place during the Nationwide race at New Hampshire this past weekend. Apparently Walter said "shit happens." In addition, the team will lose 25 owner points and Landon Cassill will lose 25 driver points.Nascar wants everyone in the garage area to be professional in their TV interviews and they also don't want to run the risk of the FCC handing out fines so I can understand their reasoning in giving out penalties for cursing on TV. However, I think the only one that should be penalized is the person who says the offending words. Cassill has no control over what his crew chief says in an interview so I think it's ridiculous that he's being punished for something someone else said.

*Yesterday it was confirmed that Aric Almirola will race the #8 for DEI full-time next season. Aside from the fact that DEI believes he's ready to race the full season, it sounds like sponsorship may play a role in this decision. Almirola is Cuban and apparently that makes him attractive to some sponsors who are looking to market to a diverse audience. Although there had been rumors that the U.S. Army was looking to move to another organization next season Almirola indicated in an interview on XM yesterday that DEI was continuing to talk with the Army and that there was a good chance they would stay on as his sponsor for next season.

*DEI has fielded ARCA cars for him in the past, but for the first time in his career Kerry Earnhardt is going to make an appearance in a DEI car on one of Nascar's highest levels when he attempts to qualify for the Nationwide race at Daytona this weekend in the #8. Earnhardt started working for DEI behind-the-scenes last year and from what he said at that time it didn't sound like we'd be seeing much of him on the track again. I wonder why DEI suddenly decided to field a car for him now?

*Nascar may amend the testing policy to allow teams to test at any track they want, anytime they want. I really hope Nascar doesn't go that route. One reason for restricting where the teams could test was to cut costs for teams and to try to help some of the smaller teams with less resources keep pace with the larger, well-funded teams. I don't think it helped any. If Nascar allows "wide-open" testing as they call it, the divide between the big teams and the small teams will only grow larger. For one thing, every time a team goes to test it costs money. Sometimes there's a track rental fee but there's always costs associated with travel, meal money, and other expenses. Large well-funded teams like Joe Gibbs Racing or Hendrick Motorsports could afford to test every single week at every single track whereas smaller teams with less financial support like the Wood Brothers or Robby Gordon Motorsports would have a hard time being able to afford testing as much as the bigger teams. That would put the smaller teams at an even greater disadvantage. Michael Waltrip had a great idea on This Week in Nascar the other night in which he suggested that the tracks open up a day early and that the teams be allowed to test on that day. It would cut down on some of the extra costs since the teams have to travel to the tracks anyway. All I know is that it's essential for Nascar to work with the teams to find ways to help the smaller teams survive and to cut costs overall.

*Speaking of Robby Gordon very abruptly closed Robby's Uprising, a social networking site specifically for his fans. Not only were fans able to have profiles, blogs, upload photos and interact with other fans via a forum, members of Robby's team posted news, information, videos, photos and responded to posts. Many of the members were some of the most dedicated when it came to voting for Robby for the All-Star race and when he needed vocal fan support when he was challenging Nascar's penalty for the illegal nose at the start of the season. Yet without any warning at all the site was taken down completely, with links to it removed from Robby's own site, and no explanation as of yet has been given to anyone. From what I understand there was some drama and negativity, especially recently as things haven't gone well on the track for Robby but those things have to be expected. It's surprising that a driver who hasn't seemed to ever care in the past what people thought about him would suddenly care now what fans were saying, unless there was some concern that posts there might negatively influence potential sponsors. A lot of fans scoff at the thought that anything that they post could matter but the reality is that while companies don't use fan forums or blogs as the sole way to make decisions they definitely do actively seek fan opinions and consider them in the decision-making process. After alll, fans are who they are trying to reach when they sponsor a car.

The other thought I had was whether there was a cost issue. Although Robby's Uprising was outsourced to a company/site that specialized in hosting social networking sites, there likely were some expenses - I would guess that with as many photos and videos they had they were paying for extra bandwidth and that can get expensive. There could also be a cost associated with personnel who were working on the site. Unfortunately for RGM they don't have a lot of extra money these days and while I'd think that the money they spent on Robby's Uprising wouldn't make much of a difference in the budget it's possible that they have to cut costs anywhere they can. It just seems like a curious move from a driver who has always been exceptionally fan-friendly, and particularly to take the site down without any warning or explanation.

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

June 23, 2008

Woes Continue for Robby Gordon

Heading into this weekend Robby Gordon had to have had high hopes for a strong finish since he's an outstanding road course racers. Unfortunately even though he was able to race up front just like has happened so many times recently, things eventually fell apart for Robby. Not only was he spun by Kurt Busch but on the same lap he ran out of gas which put him a lap down. By the time the race was over Robby had finished 36th, his fifth finish of 33rd or worse in the last six races. Robby is now in danger of falling out of the top 35 in owner's points and that he didn't have any success on a track that he's normally good on doesn't bode well. Loudon has been a good track for him - he won there in 2001 - so he may not fall out of the top 35 next weekend but with how much his team has struggled to race competitively this season I suspect it will happen eventually. That will make things even harder for Robby and his team since he's not always a strong qualifier so there would have to be some concern about missed races if Robby were to become a go-or-go-homer.

If the on-track struggles weren't bad enough Robby has had any number of off-track distractions to deal with as well from Dakar being canceled post-poned/renamed/whatever) to sponsorship woes. In fact he showed up this weekend with a black car, only to put sponsor decals on at the last minute from Camping World, King Taco and DLP, the last of which is because the #96 who DLP normally sponsors DNQ'd on Friday. The situation with Camping World is curious since Robby Gordon Motorsports is currently suing Camping World, alleging that they agreed to sponsor four races at $200,000 each this season and then reneged, while Camping World says there was no agreement. That lawsuit is the second lawsuit involving RGM and a sponsor since RGM was sued a few months ago by Vanguard Integrity Professionals. Camping World being on the car this weekend may signal a settlement or agreement in that suit but I'm wondering whether their logos ended up on the car so that Robby can say that he upheld his side of the deal if the court finds that there was an agreement between Camping World and RGM for this season. Multiple lawsuits involving sponsors isn't a good thing as it could scare off other potential sponsors which RGM is in desperate need of.

The biggest problem for RGM is that they appear to be in dire straits financially, so much so that they skipped the Pocono test a few weeks ago in an effort to save some money. Turns out that might have been a mistake since they were non-competitive during the actual race, though one has to wonder how much better they would have been even if they tested since a lack of financial resources really hurts a team's ability to field competitive cars. Robby is currently paying himself out of the RGM "slush fund" and one has to wonder how long that can continue and what other expenses Robby will need to dip into that fund to cover. The financial issues on RGM are so bad that Mike Mulhern predicted on XM last week that RGM would be the next Cup team to fold. I don't consider Mulhern to be a reliable source of information but unless RGM's financial situation improves radically I don't see how they can continue to operate.

It's funny because most fans of Robby are rejoicing in the woes at Michael Waltrip Racing but their own driver is having virtually the same issues. Not only are both owner/drivers but both are having trouble getting a handle on the COT (their complains about their cars are virtually the same), both are having problems finding a crew chief they can work with, both are having sponsorship woes at their organizations, and both have off-the-track distractions to contend with in addition to dealing with the struggles of their respective teams. Robby and Michael are also similar in that they are both very stubborn people who like to be in control. They also each have the reputation for only being good at one kind of track, though each has shown they can race competitively at other tracks too. Each time a fan of Robby takes a dig at Michael for a poor race or issues at MWR I just shake my head because in a lot of cases they could be talking about their own driver and his organization as well. It's kind of amazing that they would get down on a driver who is chasing his dream of being an owner/driver when their own driver is doing the same.

I'm probably one of the few fans of Michael who wouldn't be happy if RGM closed their doors. I don't care for Robby too much but I do respect what he's trying to do with RGM. Just like Michael, Robby dared to go out on his own and do something that a lot of others wouldn't have the courage to do - field his own team on the Cup level. I also think that it wouldn't be a good thing if RGM closed because this sport needs new, smaller and/or independent teams to be able to have success. The sport needs to grow, not shrink and success, both financially and competitively needs to be shared among many teams not just a few.

Robby is likely racing for the survival of his team right now - I wouldn't be surprised if his team was absorbed by Gillett-Evernham Motorsports or another organization next season if things don't improve soon.

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

June 17, 2008

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (6/17)

*As per usual a number of road course specialists that aren't normally part of the Cup Series will be racing or attempting to race this weekend, either with their own teams or as substitute drivers for teams attempting to improve their standings in the owner's points. I have to wonder whether those teams are going to get the results they're looking for. We've seen some road course ringers finish well at times but often the results aren't all that impressive. A lot of times the ringers are replacement drivers for teams that are either outside or near the bottom of the top 35 in owner's points. Well, there's a reason those teams are struggling and as much as some blame the driver of those cars entirely, there's usually more to the story such as that the cars that they get to race aren't all that competitive. We'll likely see a few of those ringers up front but odds are the top finishers will be the usual Cup Series regulars who are strong on road courses.

*Haas-CNC Racing is going to put Max Papis in the #66 and move Scott Riggs, the usual driver of that car over to the #70. The hope is that Papis will get the #66 back into the top 35. I wonder about this move. While Papis has a lot of road course experience I can't help but notice he has no Cup experience. So not only has he never raced Cup he's never raced the COT either. Maybe that's not going to be a big deal for a driver who is as experienced on road courses as Papis is but it would certainly be ironic if Riggs got the #70 into the race and Papis wasn't able to get the #66 in.

*Other teams making changes include Ron Fellows in the #01 in place of Regan Smith, and Scott Pruett (likely) in the #41 in place of Reed Sorenson. Marcos Ambrose will race the #21, Brian Simo the #34, Terry Labonte the #45 and Boris Said will attempt to qualify his own #60. I would guess that Fellows, Said and Labonte have the best chance of finishing up front out of the ringers, though Labonte is also racing additional races for Petty Enterprises so he's not really a ringer.

*Usually Infineon is a track that Robby Gordon is considered a threat to win on but I have to wonder what we'll see from him this year. For one thing the recent results for Robby and his team have been extremely unimpressive and they're really struggling to field competitive cars. One would think that would change on a road course track where Robby is so good but I'm not so sure given that his team seems to not have the COT figured out. Another concern has to be that Robby doesn't have a primary sponsor for this race. In his pre-race notes he indicates that in the past sponsors on his car have gotten $3 million worth of exposure out of sponsoring him - in light of that I wonder how much Robby is looking to get from a sponsor for this race and whether that plays any role in why the car is going to be sponsorless this weekend? Robby has acknowledged having financial issues at Robby Gordon Motorsports so they likely need the money but it might be in his best interest to lower his asking price to make sponsoring him as attractive as possible. Racing without a sponsor doesn't look good and it especially won't look good at Infineon because potential sponsors may wonder why they should sponsor him at other tracks if no one wants to sponsor him at a track he can win on. The other thing is that since he won at this track in 2003, the results haven't been too great since. He's finished 16th twice which is okay, but he's also finished 34th and 40th so that doesn't look good to sponsors either. A win this weekend could very well save RGM, which I think is in some trouble, but I suspect it's not going to happen.

*Interesting item from Dave Moody's blog that sources are telling him that the U.S. Army might be thinking of leaving DEI for another team. Apparently one of the teams that they're talking to is a Toyota team. I have to wonder if that team is Michael Waltrip Racing, which might be in need of sponsors for the #44 and #00 next season. The #44 seems like it might be a good fit for the Army. For one thing David Reutimann is a veteran driver which seems to be what the Army wants in their driver. It would probably cost them less to sponsor the #44 than it would cost them to sponsor a car at a top-tier organization. And they're also familiar with Ryan Pemberton who was the crew chief for their team at DEI and Ginn Racing. Some people seem to be certain that MWR will fold next season due to a lack of sponsorship but despite what some people think there are things that make MWR attractive to sponsors. One thing about the Army is that they use their sponsorship as a recruitment tool and I suspect MWR could come up with some creative ways to help them with that on race day and otherwise. David would represent any sponsor well whether it's UPS, the U.S. Army or another sponsor.

*Apparently Joe Gibbs Racing wants to put Joey Logano in a Cup car for some races this season. One has to wonder if that's because they're thinking about him as a back-up plan in case Tony Stewart leaves for another organization. JGR insists that they'd like to put Logano in a 4th car but I can see why it might be tempting for them to put Logano in the #20 if it becomes open after this season. However, no matter his talent level I think they might be better off resisting the temptation and letting him race at least another full year in the Nationwide Series. He's very young and there's plenty of time for him to make an impact and win races so it might be a good thing for his development as a driver, even if it seems like he could handle himself in Cup right now, to let him get more experience before putting him in a Cup ride full-time.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:12 PM | Comments (0)

June 09, 2008

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts

*There's a lot of debate over whether Kyle Busch should have raced all three races this weekend. I say why not? If he wanted to and both Joe Gibbs Racing and his sponsors were on-board I don't see what the problem is. Sure he didn't win any of those races but he was competitive in the Truck and Nationwide races. Had he actually won one - or all three - of the races it would have created a huge amount of exposure for his sponsors. Even just racing all three created a lot of attention and probably drew additional viewers to the Truck and Nationwide races from those fans who were curious to see how he'd do. Also, from what Kyle said in an interview on XM a while back he's very involved with trying to build Billy Ballew Motorsports so he's doing more than just jumping in the truck. I just don't see this as being as much of a big deal as some are making of it - he could still have finished last in the Cup race even if he didn't race any other races.

*Jayski has a rumor that Michael Waltrip Racing has been laying people off due to financial issues. I had seen the blog item that this comes from last week and didn't even bother to mention it in this space. For one thing someone had been to MWR the day that this rumor was reported and said that everything seemed to be business as usual. But also if MWR really was laying off lots of employees due to major financial issues wouldn't something be said in the mainstream media before now even in passing? So I'm a little skeptical as to how true this rumor is. What I can believe is that MWR is letting people go in an effort to make personnel changes to improve performance. They could be telling people it's due to financial reasons or some of the people who have left could be disgruntled and be spreading this rumor. Or there could be no truth to it at all. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if MWR isn't on as good of financial footing as other organizations. After all, it takes a lot of money to start a three-car Cup organization and even more money to try to be competitive. Missing races last season and a lack of strong results this season has to hurt. Increased costs due to the increase in gas prices and for other things has to hurt too. But since MWR still has money coming in from at least two major sponsors - UPS and NAPA - I don't think they're likely as close to closing their doors at the moment as some are trying to use this rumor to make it seem.

*Kasey Kahne won yesterday's Cup race. That makes wins in two of the last three points races, plus his All-Star race win. Kasey and his team have definitely found something major the past few weeks - quite a turn-around from his struggles last season. It's good to see and it should give teams that are struggling now hope. One never knows when a team might suddenly hit on something that makes all the difference when it comes to racing competitively.

*Robby Gordon continues to sink like a stone in the points. Just like MWR, Robby Gordon Motorsports is struggling to get a handle on the COT and Robby's complaints every race are just like Michael's regarding the handling of his cars. What's a very troubling sign for the future of Robby's team is that when he was on Trackside on Friday he apparently said that he doesn't have a sponsor for Sonoma. I don't understand how Robby doesn't have sponsorship at a track that's one of his best, where he usually contends for the win, and where he will likely get a lot of attention so it's a good opportunity for a sponsor to get some exposure. Between now and then he may very well find sponsorship but if he can't get a sponsor at a road course race what are his chances of having sponsorship for all of the other races this season. It's surprising that Jim Beam was willing to spend the money to put together an elaborate "Vote for Robby" campaign for the All-Star Race, as well as a campaign to get fans to put pressure on Nascar to overturn the early season penalties, that they wouldn't step up to spend the money to sponsor him at Sonoma. If all else fails, I wonder if a Gillett-Evernham Motorsports sponsor will end up on the car since Robby has that partnership with them? Speaking of that partnership how exactly is Robby benefiting from it? Certainly not in performance.

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

June 06, 2008

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts

*Penske Racing has a problem. Alltel, the sponsor of Ryan Newman's #12 car has been bought by Verizon and Nascar's contract with Sprint, the title sponsor of the Cup Series, doesn't allow Alltel to re-brand. The situation that Penske faces is similar to that of Richard Childress Racing with Cingular when that company was bought by AT&T. It was only because of a lawsuit, which Nascar settled with AT&T, that RCR is allowed to have AT&T on the #31 car, but only though the end of this season. Ryan Newman is a free agent at the end of this season and I have to wonder how potentially losing the sponsor of his car will effect whether he re-signs with Penske or not.

*Jamie McMurray again denied today that he's out at Roush-Fenway Racing or that he's been talking with other teams. However, Jim Utter who wrote the original story that McMurray was looking around for another ride for next season again indicated that sources are telling him that McMurray has put feelers out to at least two Cup teams and that Roush is still looking at moving McMurray's Crown Royal sponsorship to Greg Biffle. If it's true that McMurray is in search of a ride for next season, I have to wonder if one reason he's denying it is because he has a clause in his contract like so many drivers do that prohibits him from talking to other teams while he's under contract to Roush. Of course drivers get around it all the time by having a representative act as a go-between but McMurray might be trying to avoid giving Roush anything that they can use to release him before the season is over.

*According to eastseries.com the Camping World East Series cars didn't even hit the track at Watkins Glen before an issue was found with one of the competitor's cars. For the second week in a row something from Brian Ickler's car was seized by Nascar, in this case the rear end from the car. You'd think after last weekend in which there was some question as to whether Ickler would get to keep his win after Nascar found something they didn't like with his car in post-race inspection at South Boston that the team would be sure that everything was exactly perfect as far as the rulebook goes this week. Teams are always going to try to get away with something to gain an advantage in every series, on every level, but I think it speaks to a problem in this series that in the first four races there have been these kinds of issues every weekend. It's kind of amazing that even after two wins were taken away that there still might be teams that haven't gotten the message that Nascar is serious about making sure all the teams follow the rules.

*Speaking of Watkins Glen, Steve Park is a winner of a Cup race there and after having tested his East Series car there recently he had high hopes that he might be able to win in that series. However, based on the first practice results Steve and his team have some work to do if they hope to get their fourth top ten in a row (or better). Steve was 26th in the first practice which isn't very good considering there are only 30 cars and two of them didn't practice! Of course there's still plenty of time between now and Sunday when the race will be run... at the same time as the Cup race which is probably why HDNet isn't bothering to carry the race live. It's not too likely that many people would choose the East Series race over the Cup race.

*Robby Gordon was 41st out of 44 cars in the first practice - I wonder if he and his team still think that skipping testing at this track was a good idea? The car is also unsponsored which isn't good considering how Robby had talked about how Robby Gordon Motorsports had some financial issues earlier in the season.

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

June 05, 2008

Casey Mears is Going to be a Father

I usually avoid discussing the driver's personal lives like the plague in this space. However, there are times when a driver makes something known publically or there's something that's newsworthy and I feel more comfortable discussing it, which is the case in regards to Casey Mears whose girlfriend is pregnant. It's not my place to pass judgment on the rightness or wrongness of Casey's situation (he isn't married). What interests me is how Casey's fans and his sponsor is going to react to this piece of news. Times are changing but there are still many who have very conservative views when it comes to family and that could really present a problem for Casey given that his sponsor is Kellogg's, a brand that markets to families.

Practically since the start of the season rumors have circulated that Casey might be replaced in the #5 even though his deal with Hendrick Motorsports goes through 2009 at least. I haven't really understood where those rumors were coming from because even though Casey hasn't won multiple races while at HMS like some thought he would, he certainly hasn't been awful and some of his poor results have been due to issues out of his control like getting caught in wrecks. However, in light of this news I'm wondering whether there's speculation about Casey losing his ride because his sponsor might not be all that happy about his situation.

Robby Gordon, another single driver, is also rumored to have a pregnant girlfriend. Normally I wouldn't touch a rumor about a driver like that with a ten-foot-flaming pole but it obviously relates to this topic. If that rumor is true, there might be more fans who accept Robby's situation than Casey's. Robby is older, he races for himself, and most significantly Robby has a far less clean-cut image than a driver like Casey. So both Robby's fans and his sponsors are probably less likely to take issue with that kind of thing.

I'd like to think that except in extreme cases like with criminal behavior or drug use that sponsors wouldn't make decisions based on morals or personal behavior but image is very important to the sponsors. It's unfortunate because a lot of things that some fans think is such horrifying behavior from the drivers are things that go on every day in the real world. But some fans hold the drivers up to such a high standard for the way they want them to behave that they can't accept when they act differently. It's kind of unfortunate because most of the time even if the circumstances are non-traditional or difficult a new baby is an event that brings with it a lot of joy.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:50 AM | Comments (0)

May 28, 2008

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (5/28)

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

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

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

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

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

Robby Gordon Not Testing at Pocono?

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

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

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

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

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

May 19, 2008

Curious Comments by Kasey Kahne

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

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

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

May 02, 2008

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (5/2)

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

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

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

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

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

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

May 01, 2008

Robby Gordon Changes Crew Chiefs Yet Again

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

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

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

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

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

April 23, 2008

East Series Shock-er - Peyton Sellers Gets His Win Taken Away

What a stunner in the Camping World East Series! Saturday night's race winner, Peyton Sellers, had his win stripped away from him by Nascar yesterday due to the car being found to have had an illegal shock on it in a post-race inspection. The new race winner is Peyton's 17-year old teammate, Austin Dillon, Richard Childress's grandson, who now finds himself with a win in his first-ever race in the series. Nascar also suspended the crew chief of the #44, H.C. Sellers, for the next three races.

Naturally the team said that the infraction was unintentional. Team owner Andy Santerre said,

“The one thing we know in the NCWES is if we finish in the top-5, which for ASM, is about every week, the tranny, the rear gear and the shocks are coming apart. It would be stupid to do something that blatant intentionally when we know it will be checked. We built shocks for a team last year and bought them back at the end of last year. We dynoed them and they seemed the same as when we built them. We tested all four shocks on the car at Greenville, but to make the car better, we changed three of them, but one of the shocks stayed on the car. It was this shock that was illegal.”

Which might explain why Nascar won't allow the team to appeal. Based on their explanation it sounds like they're claiming a Robby Gordon defense, that they got the shocks from another team and put it on the car not knowing that the shock had been modified which is similar to Robby's defense that he got the wrong nose from Dodge and unknowingly put it on his Cup car. In that case Robby's penalties were mostly overturned on appeal and maybe Nascar thinks the same thing might happen with the #44. They may want to send a message that blatant violations may result in harsh penalties - at least on this level - and having the penalty overturned would definitely dilute that message. However, I think it's very unfair to this team that they aren't being allowed to appeal. Every team no matter how blatantly they might have cheated should be allowed to plead their case to an appeals panel if they so choose.

Peyton said,

“What’s really baffling to me is that there’s no opportunity to appeal it. When you go to a court of law, both sides get to plead their case. We don’t get to do that. Our character means nothing. Neither one of us had ever been caught cheating before. Andy never has and my team, running well last year in this series and winning a National Championship, winning Rookie of the Year, there’s never been one question about me.”

Problem is this isn't a court of law. Nascar can do whatever they want as unfair as it might be.

I have to wonder if this signals that Nascar might consider taking wins away on other levels as well. It's a lot easier to do in this series where there much less attention given to the series than the Truck, Nationwide or Cup Series. In addition, the sponsor dollars that are invested in the team are much less. On higher levels I suspect Nascar would be much more leery of taking wins away or sending teams home from the track because it doesn't just punish the team and driver, it punishes the sponsor and the fans as well. I don't think Nascar is going to want to go down that road - especially in Cup - unless the violation is extremely blatant and a gross violation of the rules.

A big problem is that sometimes there's a lot of variables and possibilities as to how infractions happened. If it's proven that a team deliberately modified a major part and knowingly put it on their car, then yes, I'd think that a win should be taken away or a team sent home from the track. But if an illegal part is found and the team claims that they got it from an outside supplier and had no idea there was a problem with it, and Nascar doesn't have any evidence that's not true, then I think it's a lot harder for Nascar to take a win away. I certainly wouldn't be comfortable with a team being punished that harshly without concrete evidence that they knowingly did something wrong.

Posted by silverdsl at 07:52 AM | Comments (0)

April 16, 2008

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (4/16)

*It's official - Ken Schrader will race the #70 at Talladega. As I said yesterday although the #70 team has struggled this season Haas-CNC Racing probably has more resources than BAM Racing does so the prospects for improvement and competitive racing with that team are probably better than with the #49. I'm happy that Ken is going to continue to race Cup. Although he's not had really good results for a few years now - a big reason being the quality of the teams he's been racing for, Ken is a true racer with a great attitude and as Michael Waltrip said recently, he's an asset to the sport.

*Verizon Wireless and Motorola are going to sponsor Chase Miller for seven of the Nationwide Series races he's in for Gillett-Evernham Motorsports this season. Usually I don't take much notice of sponsor announcements unless they involve Michael Waltrip Racing but this got my attention because both of those sponsors had been previously affiliated with Robby Gordon Motorsports. There is a partnership between RGM and GEM so perhaps those sponsors ended up with GEM because RGM wasn't going to be fielding a Nationwide car at all this season. But that would be a little curious since usually sponsorship money makes it possible for an organization to field a car. What I'm wondering is whether handing these sponsors over to GEM is a way for Robby to pay for the equipment and help he's getting from GEM through the partnership. I doubt any of that comes for free.

*Something else that was made official today was David Stremme joining Penske Racing as one of their test drivers for their Cup program. There's been some speculation - that's been denied - that Penske wanted to sign David as a back-up in case Sam Hornish, Jr. decided that he had enough of Nascar and wanted to go back to the IRL. There may not be any truth to those rumors - for now - but I can't remember the last time there was an official release about an organization signing a test driver which may be why some are speculating that there's more going on than meets the eye. Regardless I think it's a good move for David. He'll continue to race in the Nationwide Series for Rusty Wallace, Inc. and at the same time he's going to test for one of the top organizations in Cup. There's no telling what that might led to and it'll keep David's name in circulation in the Cup garage.

*Dale Earnhardt, Jr's new bar, Whisky River, is opening this week in Charlotte. Junior says that the bar and other off-the-track business interests are a way for him to have things to be involved with after he retires from racing, as well as a way for him to have some income then (not that he'll ever have to worry about money given how much money he makes each year). Some drivers get involved in business ventures or media work which could provide something to occupy themselves after they retire, but other drivers don't seem to give any thought to what they might do for the rest of their lives. Of course Junior has many people to advise him and some other drivers don't, but as much as I sometimes wonder whether all that he's involved with off-the-track might be a distraction, I think it's a good thing that he's thinking ahead and trying to be prepared for when he has to enter a new chapter of his life that doesn't involve racing.

*Nascar added an additional test for Cup teams which will be held May 5-6 at Lowe's Motorspeedway. That's a good thing because it will give the teams the opportunity to be better prepared for the All-Star Race and the Charlotte 600 next month, as well as help them get used to the COT in general, something more than a few teams seem to be struggling with. Some aren't crazy about testing because of the cost to smaller teams but I'm in favor of anything that might help these teams get a handle on the COT.

*Last week Chip Ganassi ripped into his own organization publically, criticizing his teams for not performing as well as he'd like. So this week he made some changes, swapping crew chiefs between the #41 and #42. Donny Wingo will now be the crew chief for Reed Sorenson and Jimmy Elledge will now crew chief for Juan Pablo Montoya. I wonder if this is really going to make for better results. Sometimes shaking things up does end up being a positive thing but it seems to me that overall Chip Ganassi Racing needs to improve the overall competitiveness of their cars. Just swapping crew chiefs might not be enough for improvement to the degree that Ganassi wants. Also, both Reed and JPM are going to have to get used to working with a new crew chief which might result in a period of adjustment that could effect performance. In addition, Chip was most upset about the #40 team - did he make any changes to that team?

Posted by silverdsl at 03:30 PM | Comments (0)

April 14, 2008

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (4/14)

*As a New York Yankees fan I have a much different perspective than many of my fellow Nascar fans about Fox's decision to show the Yankees-Red Sox game instead of the pre-race show. I'd much rather have seen as much of the Yankees game as possible rather than the pre-race show which is often a waste of time - does anything ever happen on the pre-race that matters? I'm much more bothered by the fact that Fox switched the baseball game to FX in the middle of a pitch than I am about them going to the race later than some fans would have liked. Switching the game mid-pitch is like Fox going to a commercial break when there's a pass for the lead. In a lot of ways Fox was in a no-win position. Yankees-Red Sox games aren't just a big games for the Northeast markets, it's a game with national interest that is shown in 97% of all markets across the country and due to the excitement of the rivalry gets the biggest audience of most any games that Fox shows. So there was going to be a lot of baseball fans, especially those who don't get FX, who were going to be upset about the decision to switch away from the game. And there were going to be lots of upset Nascar fans who didn't like missing so much of the festivities leading up to the green flag. I'm not sure what else Fox could do differently, but hopefully they won't be put in that kind of a situation too many more times in the future. Things just lined up in a bad way due to the rain delay in Boston and that it was a Saturday night race.

*Kevin and Delana Harvick are exploring their options in NHRA drag racing and whether he wants to field a top fuel dragster with a NHRA veteran, Bob Vandergriff Jr. The goal is to possibly field a dragster as soon as next year. At first I was wondering why if they were interested in expanding Kevin Harvick, Inc. they wouldn't look into fielding a Cup team but then I realized that the costs associated with fielding a NHRA dragster might be less than that for putting together a competitive Cup team, particularly since they have an already established entity in the NHRA they could work with.

*An announcement is expected soon that David Stremme is joining Penske Racing as their test team driver. But there's speculation that it could lead to more than that. Apparently Penske has entered a third car with the #77 for the Indy 500 and there's some talk that Sam Hornish, Jr. might decide to race that race instead of the Cup race that weekend. If that happens I have to question Hornish's commitment to Nascar. Yes, he's had more success in open wheel racing and he's been struggling in Nascar, but if he ever wants to succeed in Cup he needs all the seat time he can get and he can't be opting out when it gets hard. Stremme's results in Cup haven't been all that impressive either but he has raced better than Hornish. It would be interesting to see what he could do in the #77, though historically no one recently has been able to do much in the #77.

*As noted in a previous entry Robby Gordon is headed to Europe later this week for the rescheduled Dakar Rally. Since the rally ends on April 26, the day before the Cup race at Talladega, P.J. Jones will practice and qualify Gordon's car and be on standby to race it for him in case he doesn't get back to the United States in time for the race. Usually Gordon does fairly well on restrictor plate tracks but I have to wonder what effect rushing back from Europe after having done a rigorous off-road race and then starting from the back is going to have on how he finishes at Talladega. Gordon needs some good finishes otherwise he may end up having to worry about qualifying for races on time. All of Gordon's fans seem to think that Michael Waltrip is lacking in talent behind the wheel and incompetent as an owner but Robby's not in such a different position than Michael these days in terms of where he is in the points standings as well as trying to juggle the demands of racing and ownership. Gordon and his fans count on the road course races as the highlight of his Cup efforts but I have a feeling that things may not go as well as some of his fans would like on the road courses for him this season.

*The first race of the Camping World East Series is this Saturday at Greenville-Pickens. Steve Park will be behind the wheel of the #35 for NDS Motorsports but it will be almost impossible for fans to find out what's happening in the race in a timely manner unless they're at the race. I knew that Speed would be rebroadcasting the East Series races several weeks after they first aired on HDNet, but I figured the races that they had the rights to they would show the same day they were raced. Not so. Saturday's race won't air on Speed until May 7! At that point is anyone going to care? It's so hard to find coverage of this series both in the media and online in general. I'd like to think that Steve's own website will have photos and a post-race report so fans can find out how the race went for Steve at least but in the past they've not been inclined to do that. (In fact I was once told a few years ago by the person who did Steve's website at the time that for some strange reason there would never be post-race reports on Steve's site). It's really hard for even die-hard fans to stay interested when there's so little news to be found about the races and their favorite drivers.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:13 PM | Comments (1)

April 07, 2008

Random Thoughts on Texas

*There is no way I can do a driver-by-driver run down for the race at Texas - it was one of the most boring races I've ever watched (and the Nationwide race the day before was just as bad) so I would have a very hard time coming up with something to say about every driver in the field. It seemed like there was very little passing all day and many teams are continuing to struggle to figure out the COT. It's an insult to my intelligence as a fan that those in the booth tried to pass off the finish of this race as ultra-exciting. Sorry, but a last lap near-wreck between Clint Bowyer and Denny Hamlin that has no effect on who wins the race isn't what I'd call exciting last lap racing. I can usually find something interesting or exciting in just about every race I watch but not this weekend. I want to see good side-by-side racing with passing for the lead and throughout the field, not the whole field strung out in a line struggling to make any forward progress.

*Carl Edwards dominated a big chunk of this race which must have been thrilling for Carl's fans but boring for every other driver's fans. Carl has now won three races this season and it appears that the #99 team is one of the few that have figured out the COT. Carl's Roush-Fenway teammates all finished in the top 15 with the exception of Greg Biffle who lost an engine.

*Dale Earnhardt, Jr. started this race on the pole and most were penciling him in as the race winner before the race even began. But it was far from Junior's day. Though he led 31 laps he was never a factor at the end. Each week it's thought by many that it'll be the week that Junior wins his first for Hendrick Motorsports and each week so far fans have been disappointed. The expectations are so high for Junior at HMS and he's certainly been racing extremely well but fans are already very restless and impatient to see him in Victory Lane - I wonder what will happen if he doesn't have at least one win by mid-season?

*The top 35 situation continues to be in flux. For a while it looked like David Reutimann was going to be able to race his way back in but mechanical problems for the second week in a row ruined a potentially strong finish yet again. Sam Hornish, Jr. and Regan Smith are just hanging on to spots in the top 35, and Jeremy Mayfield has dropped out by just six points. Jeremy's teammate, Scott Riggs is also in the danger zone when it comes to the top 35. Thanks to a wreck J.J. Yeley is also on the verge of dropping out of the top 35. I think there's a good chance that both Haas cars and Yeley may find themselves on the outside looking in. The Haas cars weren't all that great last season and they don't seem to be much better this season, particularly the #70. Yeley has been unimpressive in the #96 and it's an uphill battle for that team anyway since they're a one-car team.

*Where will the freefall for Robby Gordon stop? He has about a 100 point cushion between where he is and the top 35 cut-off but that could disappear very quickly if things continue like they have been for him. If Robby were to find himself outside the top 35 he could be in trouble since he's not a very strong qualifier. What should be most worrisome to Robby's fans is that Robby often has a better first half than second half - if the results are this bad now, how much worse might they get in the second half? Of course Robby and his team are far from the only ones who are struggling and they could still figure things out and right their season. Problem is that Robby's been getting into the wall quite a bit too and when that happens it doesn't matter how good or bad his car is.

*Ryan Newman finished 4th but his car failed a post-race inspection when it was found to be too high. I haven't heard much about this so I have no idea if this is something that Nascar will penalize him and his team for or whether it's something that could have happened during the race. I tend to think that a car being too high is something that couldn't happen as a result of damage during the race but one never knows.

*On the white flag lap Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer tangled. After the race Denny was so dizzy from being hot and dehydrated that he nearly collapsed while talking to reporters. I have to wonder if how dizzy and sick he was feeling might have played a role in the way he was racing on that last lap?

*Last season HMS seemed to have the COT figured out but this year it's a much different story. Jeff Gordon and the #24 team were terrible in this race. The car was bad throughout the race and Jeff finally spun and got into the wall. He ended up finishing 43rd which drops him five spots in the points to 24th. That a team with as many resources and talented personnel as the #24 has is struggling so much is a definite indication that there's some issues with the COT that teams are having a hard time with. If the #24 team can't get things right with the COT, how are smaller teams going to be able to? Even Jimmie Johnson who finished second but has struggled a lot in other races this season complained after the race about the COT.

*It was a good race for Yates Racing with both of their cars finishing in the top 20. However, I still have to wonder how long they're going to be able to continue fielding these cars without any outside sponsors? Finishing in the top 20 might not be enough to attract sponsors, particularly when the personality of the Yates drivers aren't as dynamic as that of some other drivers, which may not be a draw for some sponsors.

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

March 27, 2008

Robby Gordon Motorsports Being Sued by a Sponsor

Robby Gordon Motorsports is being sued by one of their off-road sponsors, Vanguard Integrity Professionals, over their sponsorship of Robby's team in the canceled Dakar Rally. Vanguard apparently wants to terminate a three-year deal they have with RGM and they also want $1.5 million back that they paid in relation to that deal. Leading up to this lawsuit it was clear based on a variety of things that were said in various spots online that there was a considerable amount of ill-will between Robby and Ronn Bailey, Vanguard's chief executive officer, who was supposed to have driven a second RGM vehicle at Dakar. I suspect the suit is as much a product of their own falling out as it is with Vanguard the company actually being unhappy.

What's interesting to me in relation to Vanguard's lawsuit is that they cite comments Robby made when Dakar was canceled as being damaging to them. Robby said in relation to Dakar being canceled because the organizers didn't want to take the risk of the rally being held in certain, potentially unsafe areas,

“Let’s put it in perspective. Eleven people got killed over there. I’m pretty sure in L.A., we kill 11 a night on the streets of L.A. I’m pretty sure there is 11 every night killed. Stabbed, shot, beat up, murdered. … I guarantee you just in L.A., and if you take L.A., Detroit, Chicago, New York, Charlotte? Eleven. It was a couple of kids in the back of a pickup truck with a couple of AK-47s shot a couple of people. I’m sorry to say that. But the reality of it is it’s not like it’s this big setup bombing.”

At the time Robby made those comments I thought they were ridiculous and that Robby was ill-informed. For one thing, as I pointed out then while there is a high homicide rate in Los Angeles and some other urban areas, there most certainly isn't 11-people killed every night. Second, there is no comparison between urban violence and terrorism. While I'm sure that Robby didn't mean for his comments to come off this way, it almost seems like he's brushing off the deaths of the 11-people who died at the hands of "kids" with AK-47s, who "shot a couple of people." While I'm not sure his comments are enough to justify terminating the contract that Vanguard has with RGM, the reality is that Robby has an obligation to represent Vanguard and his other sponsors to the best of his ability. As a representative of Vanguard he has a responsibility to not make comments that could be damaging to them. Robby is known as one who always speaks his mind, which is a good thing, however, the problem is that I think Robby doesn't really know where to stop himself. He can be vocal and say what he thinks without causing trouble for himself or others.

It seems to me what could be most damaging about this lawsuit is that RGM may have to pay back $1.5 million. That could be very difficult for an organization that already lost $4.5 million because of Dakar being canceled and according to Robby is on shaky ground financially as a result. Seems like there's always some sort of negativity swirling around Robby these days. I wondered when Dakar was canceled as to whether it would prove to be a distraction for him, and given all that's happened since and the way it's impacted his organization I don't see how it can't be.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:41 AM | Comments (0)

March 17, 2008

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts

*Why, oh why, was DW in the booth yesterday when he could barely speak? He sounded horrible! While he's very knowledgeable about Bristol and it's admirable that he wanted to try to contribute even though he barely had a voice someone in production should have intervened. How awful he sounded really detracted from the broadcast.

*Silly season used to start mid to late in the season but now it's year round. First Jacques Villeneuve lost his ride after just one race (attempt) and A.J. Allmendinger was replaced in the #84. Now Johnny Sauter has already parted ways with Phoenix Racing in the Nationwide Series. Johnny was only 17th in points, but while the results weren't great, they weren't horrible either, especially considering how many Cup backed teams and Cup drivers he was racing against. In addition, there's plenty of races left to improve. James Finch has been known to get dissatisfied and make changes quickly but I also wonder whether Johnny wasn't so disappointed to leave since I suspect there may be some open Cup rides in the not too distant future if some drivers don't start showing some improvement.

*One organization that has some issues to address is Petty Enterprises. With the #45 outside the top 35 in owner's points Kyle Petty will have to qualify in on time at Martinsville unless PE does a points swap between the #43 and #45 since Bobby LaBonte has a past Champion's Provisional to fall back on if he can't make races on time. Another option being considered is putting Bobby's brother Terry behind the wheel since he also has a Champion's provisional he can use if need be. Even before the #45 dropped out of the top 35 apparently PE was considering Terry for the two road course races so they might just ask him to race the car for more races. Won't someone please stop the insanity? The top 35 rule has forced all these teams to resort to all sorts of crazy things to increase the chances of their cars making races. While I don't blame the teams for taking advantage of the rules and doing whatever they need to do to help themselves succeed, it gets a little ridiculous after a while. How many points swaps are there going to be this season? How many past champions are going to be lured back behind the wheel? I can't help but wonder how permanent Dale Jarrett's retirement will really be.

*Of course Kyle Petty isn't the only driver who finds himself outside the top 35 in owner's points and fans of a number of those drivers are livid, particularly those with lofty expectations for what their driver was going to be achieve this season. Naturally some fans are realistic about the circumstances their driver finds himself in and others find even the slightest hint of negativity to be intolerable. Dave Blaney's forum was shut for a while and may still get shut down again if the posts aren't supportive enough of Dave, his team and Bill Davis Racing. While excessive negativity is always a problem, and insults or bashing of anyone should never be acceptable, I think it's asking too much for fans to be all "flowers and rainbows" and positive all the time when Dave is outside the top 35, the cars he's been given to race are horrible and BDR as a whole seems to have issues. Based on what's been heard over the radio during races Dave isn't too happy with how things are going so why should his fans be? There's some similar issues on one of Jeremy Mayfield's fan forums too. Fans should always support their driver to the best of their ability and in the way they feel comfortable but they shouldn't have to stick their heads in the sand about reality to be considered a "real" or a "true" fan.

*Speaking of Jeremy, I have to wonder if Haas-CNC Racing will continue to field both cars without outside sponsorship and particularly if the #70 continues to struggle. Haas Automation is the sponsor of the #70 and is also partially paying the bills for the #66 too. Just because that company can afford to sponsor both cars doesn't mean they actually want to, particularly since they must be bankrolling Haas-CNC as an organization to some degree as well. The more money a team has at their disposal the easier it is to have the resources to be competitive but sponsorship money also pays the bills when it comes to team expenses like hotel and travel.

*Bob Dillner reported on Speed last night that several teams including the #40 and #01 might be in danger of shutting down now that they're outside the top 35 in owner's points. Although both the #40 and #01 are fielding by large organizations with a lot of resources, the performance by both teams has been very poor and neither has full sponsorship. The #40 team has underperformed for Ganassi Racing for quite some time but I have a feeling they'll keep it going. However, I can see DEI opting not to field the #01 since they've already got three other teams none of which are consistently performing well right now. It might make sense to put their resources into those three teams rather than spread themselves thin with a fourth team.

*This weekend Robby Gordon denied rumors that had been making the rounds that he sold his team. However, he didn't say that it would never happen, only that it wasn't true right now. Robby said he's gotten many phone calls and I wouldn't be surprised if he eventually took someone up on an offer to buy into his organization. Additional financial resources would definitely be a good thing for Robby Gordon Motorsports.

*Rumor has it that Slugger Labbe is on the move from BDR to another organization. Both Hall of Fame Racing and Red Bull Racing have been mentioned. I think Slugger and J.J. Yeley would be a terrible fit so I'm not sure how likely that is to happen but Jay Frye is familiar with Slugger from Ginn Racing and I could see them teaming up again. This morning on Sirius Slugger denied that he's talked with anyone or that he's leaving BDR - which could be true considering how close he is with Tommy Baldwin, Jr., but in this sport often a denial is quickly followed by the person doing exactly what they said they weren't going to do.

Posted by silverdsl at 02:31 PM | Comments (0)

March 12, 2008

Rumors Abound About the Dodge Teams

There's been a lot of rumors swirling the past week or so involving the Dodge teams and some possibilities of mergers, sales or other changes. Petty Enterprises is rumored to be bringing on a financial partner, Robby Gordon Motorsports was rumored to be sold to Alex Gillett and BAM Racing was rumored to be on the verge of partnering or merging with Gillett-Evernham Motorsports, PE, RGM or switching to Toyota and merging with Bill Davis Racing. So far there's been denials issued that there's anything going on with RGM or BAM, but it seems to me that there's been so many rumors about so many of the Dodge teams this week makes me think that something is in the works with one or more of these teams.

Bringing on a financial partner, merging or partnering with another organization would be a great benefit to all three of the organizations rumored to be looking in that direction. All three have struggled recently either on the track, with financial issues or both. I have a feeling that the likeliest organization to make a deal is PE, one, because it hasn't been denied yet, and two, because that organization has more attractive assets at the moment in terms of being a two-car team with sponsors, two well-known drivers, one of whom is a past Champion, and of course the Petty name. Bobby LaBonte has gotten off to a pretty good start this season, but he might be able to race even better if PE had the financial means to make the cars more competitive than they are now. That might help Kyle Petty too - he's had a horrible start to the season.

Although many of Robby's fans are resistant to the idea of Robby selling all or even a piece of RGM because he wouldn't be in control anymore I think it's almost a necessity for Robby to bring on a financial partner. He's said a few times that not racing in Dakar and losing $4.5 million or more has put his company in dire financial straights. That might have been helped some by the partnership with GEM, but it seems to me that Robby's going to need additional financial resources to make his team as competitive as it can be, particularly since he doesn't have full sponsorship this season, and also if he wants to grow the company into a multi-team organization. A good situation for Robby would be what Michael Waltrip did - he didn't sell all of Michael Waltrip Racing, he sold 50% and the way the company is set-up Michael retains the majority of control in terms of decision-making. I'm sure Michael would much rather have remained the sole owner of MWR but they needed help financially. He was lucky he was able to find someone who wanted to make an investment but didn't necessarily want to be involved on a day-to-day basis.

BAM Racing also needs help and has for a few years now. They're a one-car team that struggles to make races and doesn't have much sponsorship. The Morgentaus have been paying a lot of the costs to field the #49 out of their own pocket, and while it's been said that they have a tremendous amount of money at their disposal, it doesn't make good business sense to continue pouring money into the team like they have been without getting much back. A financial partner to help pay the bills would probably be a good thing for the team but even more than that some sort of merger or partnership that involved technological resources might be needed even more because it might help them improve performance and make more races.

It'll be interesting to see whether there ends up being any truth to any of these rumors.

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

March 05, 2008

Robby Gordon Wins His Appeal

Robby Gordon won his appeal today and had the 100 driver and owner point penalty that Nascar had given him for having the wrong nose on his car at Daytona rescinded. Frank Kerr's suspension was also rescinded. The $100,000 fine was increased to $150,000 but it's meaningless because Dodge will likely pay it for Robby. While I believe that there was no deliberate attempt to cheat and that it was just a mistake that the wrong nose got on the car, as I had said in previous entries, I'm in the small minority of fans who believe that Nascar was correct in giving Robby the penalties that they did for a variety of reasons ranging from that the team is responsible for the car they come to the track with even when they're getting parts from outside vendors to that someone at Robby Gordon Motorsports should have asked questions when the nose had a -A at the end of the serial number to that the penalties were consistent with others given out for COT violations. In the past Nascar has never excused teams for accidentally putting the wrong part on the car or because a mistake was made by whoever supplied them the part put on the car, and I don't see why that should make a difference now. Yes, this situation was caused in part by RGM having to rush to make the switch to Dodge but that was Robby's choice to switch manufacturers - and it was also his choice to be away at an off-road event at Parker and not be around to supervise his team for a good part of the time they were changing the cars over.

It seems to me that these penalties being overturned opens the door to manufacturers potentially being able to "accidentally" send their teams unapproved or altered parts and then if the teams are caught they can just blame the manufacturer for making, as Robby put it, a clerical error. Or the teams can claim that in the rush to get ready for the next weekend's race they made an innocent mistake, that they had no idea what that -A meant, or make up any number of other excuses to justify how they're completely innocent of all wrong-doing. After all, teams are always looking for loopholes and ways to take advantage of the system if they think there's a way to, and there's always ways to excuse away just about anything other than the most blatant attempts to cheat.

There's always going to be mistakes but I think teams need to be responsible for what happens in their shops and what goes on their cars.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:21 PM | Comments (0)

March 01, 2008

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (3/1)

*Only four cars DNQ'd this week at Las Vegas and I can't say there were too many surprises about who they were after the way things went in practice. Pretty much the teams that didn't do very well in practice were the ones who went home. John Andretti's team had an extremely hard time getting through inspection and it took them so long to fix the problem that he only got one lap of practice. When it came time to qualify he didn't even end up being able to make a full lap around the track - unlike at Daytona no fairy tale endings here. Joe Nemecheck was slow in practice and slow in qualifying. Johnny Sauter wrecked in his qualifying attempt, likely because he knew he had a poor car and he had to push the car and himself to the limit if they were going to make the show. A.J. Allmendinger wasn't good in practice and also failed to make the race. The teams that didn't make the race are probably those that will be among those that continue to struggle to make races going forward.

*Among the go-or-go-home teams that did make the race were all three Michael Waltrip Racing cars (which will be discussed in a separate entry), Brian Vickers, Patrick Carpentier, Ken Schrader, Mike Skinner and Kurt Busch. There was no doubt Kurt would race since he had the Champion's provisional but qualifying on speed was no problem for him. Brian, Ken and Mike were all fast in practice so barring an unexpected issue I figured they would probably make it in. It sure was good to see the #49 be good right off the hauler this weekend. Patrick was the only one who didn't practice very well but his team apparently made the right changes because he ended up qualifying 12th. I'm glad to see Brian continue to make races and do well - I'm sure that he's going to lock himself into the top 35 and have a decent season, particularly in comparison to last year.

*A driver I think is in trouble is A.J. Allmendinger. He's starting off this season just like last and this in spite of having been strong in pre-season testing. With his teammate making races and seeming to have an improved team and cars, it's not reflecting very well on A.J. that he doesn't seem to have made any progress from last season. To be fair, it's hard to get any better when he's not racing, but he has to make races to get the Cup experience he needs. With Red Bull Racing developing Scott Speed, I think A.J. may lose his ride before the end of the season if he doesn't start making races on a consistent basis. RBR got Scott a truck ride specifically because there are some similarities in feel between a truck and a COT which indicates to me they're preparing him to race Cup, maybe sooner than A.J. would like.

*In interviews on both Sirius and XM last week Jon Wood indicated that although he had been scheduled to be in the #21 this weekend, he had voluntarily pulled himself from the car because he wasn't confident about his ability to successful qualify the car and finish well in it because of his lack of experience in the COT. So the team went with Johnny Sauter because he was the best available driver with a lot of qualifying experience. Last season Johnny did a good job of qualifying the #70 on time in the first five races and getting it in the top 35, but he certainly didn't have as much luck yesterday. So ironically after Jon took himself out of the car because he didn't think he could qualify the car, his replacement not only couldn't make the race, but also wrecked the car trying. I don't think that's a reflection on Johnny - as I said above he was giving his all towards trying to get the most of a bad car and the margin between success and disaster isn't much. This is another team that's in major trouble and it's sad to see considering how long the Wood Brothers have been a part of the sport. I don't expect things to get much better for them this season no matter what driver is behind the wheel.

*Some teams had trouble passing inspection the first time around before qualifying. One of those teams was that of Robby Gordon leading to speculation that there was another issue that he might be penalized for. There were several big teams like the the #88 and #48 that also had inspection issues. A lot of fans are making a big deal about all of this but all of the issues might amount to nothing. While it's possible Nascar found some things that will eventually led to penalties, there are also things that relate to the templates or weight that Nascar just tells the teams to fix and then resubmit for inspection. It's not them favoring certain teams or ignoring violations, it's them working with the teams. The key thing is that there can't be an unapproved part or any kind of major violation, but if there's something that can be easily fixed so that the car fits the templates, Nascar will let them try to do it.

*Robby says that if the penalty stands he's going to try to do the double - race both the Indy 500 and Charlotte 600. I'm really not sure why the penalty standing would be the reason why he would do this. Robby isn't likely to make the Chase regardless of whether he loses 100 points or not, and this early in the season, a loss of points can be easily made up with several good races in a row. Full Throttle makes several excellent points about Robby attempting the double, the most important of which is that a failure on Robby's part to pay the proper attention to his Cup program to the point where he does something to hurt his chances of being in the top 35 wouldn't just hurt him in 2008, it could also severely hurt his program in 2009 as well. I can't help but wonder just what the situation is at Robby Gordon Motorsports and whether things are in such dire straits in terms of his Cup program (there is talk he doesn't have full sponsorship for this season) that he figures it doesn't much matter what he does the weekend of the 600.

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

February 29, 2008

Robby Gordon on Sirius

Yesterday Robby Gordon was missing in action, as he had been scheduled to call in to Sirius's morning show and never ended up calling in. Robby did manage to call in this morning but I have to wonder if he never called yesterday because he didn't like what David Poole was saying regarding the penalty that was given to Robby's team considering his obvious displeasure about some of David's comments. If the only reason that Robby didn't call in yesterday to do an interview that he was booked for was because he disagreed with David's opinion that Nascar is was right regarding the penalty, that really doesn't reflect too well on Robby. I'm quite sure that there are many drivers who would like to skip interviews with media members who have written things they don't agree with or who they've had conflicts with. But most of them suck it up and fulfill their obligations. It's good that Robby called in today, but most of the time he argued with David like a stubborn mule. It's pretty clear that Robby has a hard time hearing opinions that conflict with his own views, and I can't help but think that if he took a step back sometimes, was a little more open-minded and willing to consider things from other people's point of view in addition to his own, he might have it a little easier in Nascar.

As for what was said in the interview, much of it is the same things that Robby has parroted over and over again. Some questions he dodged such as regarding the extra "-A" at the end of the serial number on the unapproved nose and he had to be asked multiple times before he would answer "yes" about whether he thought that the teams are responsible for the cars they bring to the track. Robby was also asked about whether he thought Nascar was out to get him, and he wisely answered "no," though just this past weekend he implied the opposite.

A big part of Robby's argument is that there's no advantage to the unapproved nose, unlike with some of the other unapproved parts on the COT that Nascar's penalized for. Well, since Nascar hasn't actually finished testing the new nose, and contrary to popular belief there actually is a difference between the two noses - the indentation where the decals go is different - no one actually knows for sure if there is an areo advantage or not. Why would Nascar take the word of a team or manufacturer that there's no areo advantage? Maybe there is no advantage to the new nose but Nascar has to do their due diligence and find out.

But what was most interesting was Robby's comment that his team doesn't have the financial resources to pay the $100,000 fine. Usually the fines are meaningless to the teams and it's the suspensions and loss of points that they're most worried about. That Robby Gordon Motorsports might not have the $100,000 to pay the fine speaks to some financial problems, something that isn't all that surprising. Not running Dakar is probably a major reason why they're having financial issues now. To fund Dakar they took $4.5 million from a "slush fund" (and the very fact that that they had to do that instead of funding Dakar from the off-road budged speaks to some pre-existing financial issues), thinking that money would be replaced after Dakar was run, but that never happened. I suspect the fine would also be paid from this same "slush fund" only there's probably not much left in it now.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:28 AM | Comments (0)

February 28, 2008

What Happened to Robby?

This morning Robby Gordon was scheduled to be a guest on Sirius on "The Morning Drive," hosted by David Poole and Mike Bagley. Robby was supposed to call in before the end of the show but he never did and it was clear the hosts weren't too happy about it and I can't say I blame them considered it was pre-promoted and not just on their show. I wasn't too happy about it either considering I had the show on all morning so I could hear what Robby had to say when I really wanted to be listening to some music while I worked. It may very well be that there was a miscommunication between those that book the show, Robby's PR person and/or Robby himself. Maybe something came up such as a meeting with a sponsor, something else he had to attend to in relation to his team or there was an emergency. But should it turn out that Robby just forgot or decided that he didn't feel like doing the interview that wouldn't reflect very well on him. With all the controversy that Robby's found himself in lately I'd think he'd want to make it a priority to do media interviews to tell his side of the story, particularly since the appeal of his penalty has been scheduled for next Tuesday.

Maybe Robby was listening earlier in the morning and discovered that David Poole is very definitely not on his side in relation to the penalty. Maybe Robby didn't want to have to answer any hard questions. Maybe he didn't feel like doing the interview. Or maybe this and everything related to the penalty mess is a sign that Robby needs to address some things in his shop and with his team as Mike Bagley suggested.

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

February 23, 2008

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts

*Kyle Busch just won the Truck race at California. I only got to see the last six laps but from the sounds of it I didn't miss much as Kyle pretty much dominated an uneventful race. The rest of the top ten was made up of the usual suspects including Todd Bodine, Johnny Benson, Ted Musgrave and Mike Skinner. Kyle has never been a well-liked driver to begin with but now he's even more disliked, I guess because Dale Earnhardt, Jr. replaced him at Hendrick Motorsports and to some fans that means that they have to tear down Kyle even more, maybe out of some sense of competitiveness. Junior is a talented driver, but anyone who thinks that Kyle is lacking in talent is completely off-base. He's also a true racer - Kyle races in all three of Nascar's highest levels, including all three races this weekend, and he also races his Late Model frequently as well. Kyle loves racing so much that he races the truck for free. I'm not a fan of Kyle and he's definitely made his share of mistakes, but he is deserving of the attention he gets.

*Qualifying was rained out yesterday for tomorrow's Cup race and I can't say I'm disappointed about that because it means that all three Michael Waltrip Racing cars will make the race. It's a complicated system that determines who races in event of a rain-out during these first five races of the season, but essentially David Reutimann and Michael Waltrip had enough owner's points and Dale Jarrett, who would have had enough owner's points anyway, gets in by virtue of being a past Champion. I'm extremely happy about that because solid finishes tomorrow will help them solidify spots in the top 35 in owner's points if they qualify for the next three races that follow. Unfortunately some drivers who missed the Daytona 500, Ken Schrader, A.J. Allmendinger and Patrick Carpentier, are in an even deeper hole now because they won't get to race tomorrow either. Overcoming missing one race is do-able but missing two races is pretty hard to get past in terms of getting into the top 35, but we'll see what happens. I have a feeling the #49 team won't be around by the end of the season and I'm not sure A.J. will make it to the end of the season either.

*I saw somewhere that to get one of the t-shirts that Jim Beam made in support for Robby Gordon, fans will need to purchase $25 worth of merchandise from the hauler. I don't know how true that is, but if so Jim Beam really is doing everything they can to get as much mileage as they can out of Robby's penalties. Not only are they looking to maximize their exposure but they - and Robby - are apparently looking to make a profit by selling additional merchandise too. I guess Robby has to come up with the money for the fine somewhere.

*Another article I saw and can't locate now indicates that other Dodge teams got the wrong noses in addition to Robby Gordon Motorsports. So how were they able to avoid showing up at the track with those noses on the car and Robby's team wasn't? I believe it was Robby Loomis from Petty Enterprises that said that their organization went so far as to cut the noses in half to be sure they weren't used.

*And in yet another article I can't locate at the moment Robby whined about how he thinks Nascar is out to get him. He noted how the first caution during the Daytona 500 came out while he was in the pits - hello, Robby you finished 8th you have nothing to complain about with that race! He also complained about how he didn't have a garage stall at California - well, that's what happens at many track since so many teams show up to qualify. The teams higher in the owner's points get the better stalls - if it's okay for the go-or-go-homers to deal with that each week why can't he deal with it? The best way to resolve that situation is to race his ass off for the next few races and get higher in the owner's points. Those complaints come on top of Robby saying that maybe Nascar penalized him because the Daytona 500 was boring and they wanted to give people something to talk about. It's one thing for fan to have conspiracy theories and think that Nascar is out to get their favorite drivers, but for one of the drivers to think that way? Ridiculous. And if Nascar does have a problem with Robby maybe his behavior over the years, including the childish temper tantrum he threw in Montreal has something to do with it.

*Yes, there's more on Robby - today he said "This penalty could be life-threatening to our race team. ...If this sticks, I don’t know what our plan will be.” For one thing, if a penalty like this is so disastrous for his team, then maybe they should have checked and double-checked everything to be sure it was 100% correct before they brought it to the track? In addition, every team is going to be penalized for things at one time or another and they need to be able to deal with it without folding. Last season, the #55 team was penalized in a similar fashion for having an illegal substance in their fuel. That meant that they had no chance of making the top 35 in owner's points and as a result Michael missed many races. Yet he and his team kept showing up each weekend to race and they're back for more this season. As a more established team that for now is still in the top 35 Robby should be in a better position than Michael was last season. His plan should be to finish as well as he can over the few races to make up the loss of points and lock himself into the top 35. If this penalty is life-threatening to his team, maybe his team wasn't in such great shape to begin with, something I suspected given the rumors of disgruntled employees, how they needed to borrow money from a "slush" fund to pay for their Dakar efforts and how much of a financial blow not racing Dakar in January was to the organization.

*Yahoo Sports is reporting that Richard Childress Racing will field a 4th Cup team next season with Bobby Labonte behind the wheel. Supposedly Labonte will bring his current sponsor at Petty, General Mills, with him to RCR. Labonte is already racing for RCR this season in the Nationwide Series so it's not that much of a stretch to think they might want to put him in a Cup car too. Bobby has talent behind the wheel, more than he's been able to show with Petty, but I suspect a big reason RCR wants him is for his past Champion's provisional which could help them as a new team without owner's points in qualifying for the first five races in 2009. Bobby leaving Petty wouldn't bode well for that organization, especially if he takes his sponsor with him. Petty has had some trouble finding and keeping sponsors, probably because their results haven't been too impressive for a number of years now. In addition, they don't have a driver development program, largely because they couldn't come up with the sponsorship to put Chad McCumbee in a Nationwide car, so they don't really have anyone to replace Bobby.

*I'm getting a little tired of some of the feature "lifestyles" articles on Nascar.com that I guess are supposed to appeal to female drivers. This week there was a feature article on Krissy Newman, the supposed "first lady" of Nascar. What makes Krissy the First Lady of Nascar? She bakes cookies, is educated enough to assist Ryan with his affairs and does charity work. Doesn't that describe many of the driver's wives and significant others? I'm sure Krissy is a lovely woman who has helped Ryan a lot over the course of his career but I couldn't care less about her cookie-baking skills. Nor do I care about the clothing that the drivers and their significant others wear. I care about the racing, and it's almost offensive to me that so many of these fluff-piece articles have popped up lately on Nascar.com. I really hope Turner Sports doesn't think that most female fans are more interested in cookie baking and clothes than in the racing.

Posted by silverdsl at 05:13 PM | Comments (0)

February 22, 2008

More on Robby Gordon

Jim Beam sure knows how to make the most out of an opportunity for some exposure. They've written an open letter to Nascar protesting the penalties given to Robby Gordon, there's t-shirts for fans to wear and they've started an online petition that they're going to present to Nascar. I can't help but wonder if they really believe that the penalties are that unjust or whether they just recognize they might get more publicity and exposure from this than from anything else this season. "Rally for Robby" and at the same time advertise Jim Beam.

What really cracks me up in the open letter is how they talk about Robby's character. Every team and driver tries to get as much of an advantage as they can get over their fellow competitors and I highly doubt that there are many who haven't pushed the line when it comes to the rules at one time or another, but Robby is far from an innocent flower. It's really hard to view Robby as a man of complete integrity who would never break the rules after the roll bar padding incident when he deliberately threw padding on the track to cause a caution.

I think Robby also needs to take a step back. The more he whines about how it was just a clerical error and that it's not the fault of anyone at Robby Gordon Motorsports the less sympathy I have for him. Robby claims the difference in serial numbers was just a dash. This is big-time racing at the highest level, not putting together a go-kart for the local track. Any difference in the serial numbers, even a dash, should have been checked to be sure it was right. To my knowledge Robby has not once taken any kind of responsibility for the wrong nose being put on the car or even talked about how he would prevent a similar incident in the future. But his team is responsible for being sure that the car they come to the track with has legal and approved parts on it. Maybe if Robby had come back sooner from Parker instead of leaving the change-over to Dodge in other people's hands this could have been avoided. Of course it could have happened anyway but as soon as I heard he wouldn't be around to supervise the change-over I had a feeling things might not go as smoothly as he wanted.

Robby said today, "I think open wheel got back together last week and I know I can drive one of those cars." Maybe that's exactly what he should do if he can't handle operating his organization on the Cup level.

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

February 20, 2008

Penalties Announced For Robby Gordon, Dale, Jr. and Others

Kind of interesting the way things worked out - the infraction that was downplayed in the media as being accidental resulted in the biggest penalty and one of the infractions that was made out to be a big deal resulted in a minor penalty. The biggest first - for being found to have the wrong nose on the car Robby Gordon was penalized 100 driver and owner points and his crew chief, Frank Kerr, was fined $100,000 and suspended for the next six races. For the infractions found after inspection on the #5 Nationwide car, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was penalized 50 driver points, Rick Hendrick 50 owner points and the crew chief, Chad Walters was fined $25,000 and suspended for the next six Nationwide races. Five other Nationwide teams lost 25 driver and owner points and their crew chiefs for six races for having an oil reservoir tank cover that wasn't securely fastened. Lastly, Jerry Baxter, the crew chief of the #99 was fined $5,000 and placed on probation until July for an infraction with the carburetor, something many thought would result in a major penalty but didn't.

More than a few people thought that Robby would get off lightly because the team said that in changing the cars over from Fords to Dodges they simply put on the noses they were given from Gillett-Evernham Motorsports/Dodge and had no idea that they were the wrong ones. However, I suspected that Nascar wouldn't feel that was an acceptable excuse. For one thing the team and especially the crew chief is responsible to make sure that the car they show up with to the track meets the parameters set forth in Nascar's rule book even if they are changing manufacturers. If Nascar allowed Robby Gordon Motorsports to get off for accidentally and unknowingly putting the wrong parts on then any team could claim the same thing even if they were deliberately trying to get away with something. In addition, it was a COT violation and Nascar's made it clear that the penalties are going to be very harsh when it comes to COT violations.

Since Robby is locked into the field for the next four races because of the 2007 owner's points, there's no worries about him possibly missing races due to the loss of owner's points... right now. Odds are Robby will finish well enough over the next four races to be high enough in the 2008 owner's points to where he'll still be locked in when the 2008 points come into effect, but the team can't afford any mistakes. If they finish poorly in several races they could find themselves in trouble. Losing Frank Kerr for six races is probably what will hurt the team the most. Of course he can still work on the cars in the shop, but he won't be able to work with the team at the track, and Robby will have yet another crew chief just when he was starting to get used to working with Frank (again). Any failures to communicate as has sometimes been a problem for Robby with his crew chiefs could be costly if it effects performance.

As for the penalties for the #5 Nationwide team, the driver points are meaningless to Junior since he's racing only a few races. The owner's points are more costly but a few good finishes will take care of that. Losing the crew chief for that team for six races will hurt more but since Nascar talked about how blatant the violation was, they're probably lucky they didn't lose him for longer. Hendrick Motorsports has never penalized Chad Knaus (that we know of) for getting caught cheating numerous times on the Cup side but both Junior and Rick Hendrick had expressed their displeasure about Walters messing around with the spoiler so it will be interesting to see if they take any additional action against him.

Michael Waltrip Racing - and David Reutimann - must be breathing a major sigh of relief. After last year's mess at Daytona the last thing they needed was to be tagged again for a major rules violation even if it was on the Nationwide side. In addition, since David is racing for the Championship every point is important so a loss of points wouldn't be a good thing. Nor would losing Jerry Baxter be good either since he and David seem to work very well together. I'm not sure why the #99 team got off so lightly as it had been said that the infraction to the carburetor was considered a major violation that could give them an areodynamic advantage. But maybe it was determined that there wasn't actually as much of a rules violation as originally though. I'm just glad that the penalties were so little.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:46 PM | Comments (0)

February 09, 2008

Robby Gordon Faces Penalities for Wrong Nose

Changing over from Ford to Dodge didn't go as smoothly as Robby Gordon would have liked. His car failed inspection on Friday because they had the wrong nose on the car. Apparently Gillett-Evernham Motorsports gave Robby Gordon Motorsports noses for his cars that weren't yet approved for use by Nascar and that could result in penalties. While this certainly isn't a blatant attempt to cheat, more like sloppiness on the part of the teams involved that they put the wrong nose pieces on the Daytona cars and the rest of the cars at RGM, but it's still an unapproved part that was on the car. While the intent to cheat might not be there I think Nascar will likely still give Robby some sort of penalty otherwise teams could show up with all sorts of unapproved parts and then claim that they just made a mistake. In fact that's exactly what Tony Eury, Jr. said when the #8 was busted for having an illegal part last season. RGM will probably claim that they just put on the parts that GEM gave them but Nascar may not view that as an acceptable excuse either. A couple of years ago the #96 team was penalized for a carburetor violation even though they got the carb from Joe Gibbs Racing and handled it themselves very little, if at all, so they would have no idea that there was anything wrong with it. I doubt Robby will be hit with a severe penalty but any loss of points could end up hurting his team.

What boggles my mind is that GEM was so disorganized that they gave RGM completely wrong nose pieces for all his cars and no one noticed. That speaks to some problems at GEM. In addition, while RGM isn't going to be as familiar with the specifications for Dodge cars since they're just switching over now, they're still responsible for the cars that they bring to the track and at some point someone with RGM should have noticed something might not be right too. I suppose they just took GEM's word for it that these were the right nose pieces but as an organization that isn't entirely stable they need to be 100% sure that everything is right when they go to the track. Any issues or poor results over the first five races this season could be very costly to the team.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:28 PM | Comments (0)

February 06, 2008

Thoughts and Predictions - Dodge

Penske Racing - Probably the best of Dodge's Cup organizations right now and even they had their struggles last season. An extremely strong second half, which included having to overcome a 100 point penalty for a pit road incident at Dover, got Kurt Busch into the Chase, while Ryan Newman fell just short. Ryan improved between 2006 and 2007, but he still hasn't won a race in two years. Some feel that Penske may look to make a driver change if Ryan doesn't win in 2008 but I don't think they'll part ways with him quite so easily. I'm not sure he'll be a Chase driver in 2008 but he will at least race as well as he did last season. If Kurt can race as well all season as he did in the second half of last season he will make a return to the Chase for sure. However, like with all drivers, it's all dependent on how competitive their cars are - Dodge overall hasn't been that strong as of late, though they are supposedly going to have a new engine mid-summer which could help their teams.

Kurt and Ryan will have a new teammate this season - Sam Hornish, Jr. Although Sam is very accomplished in other series, I think Penske is making a huge mistake by having him race Cup so soon. That he'll be locked into the first five races via the owner's points swap with Kurt's team will help him, but he may have trouble racing well enough to stick in the top 35 in owner's points. Sam has raced sporadically in the Nationwide Series where the results haven't been very good for him - he would probably benefit - as would all the open wheel drivers - from racing a full season in Trucks or Nationwide and then easing his way into Cup. The other issue is that while publically Kurt has said that he's fine with the owner's points swap and the possiblity of having to use his past Champion's provisional if qualifying doesn't go well for him in the first five races, one has to wonder if there could be some hidden resentment about having to give his owner's points to a rookie.

Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates - One of the only reasons why I would say that Ganassi Racing is behind Penske is because their drivers are so inexperienced, at least in Nascar. Reed Sorenson is the veteran when it comes to Cup experience with two seasons under his belt, Juan Pablo Montoya is entering his second season of Cup racing and Dario Franchitti has no Cup experience at all. JPM will likely be the best of the Ganassi drivers this season and I wouldn't be surprised to see him race well enough to finish in the top 15 in points, if not make the Chase which would be a huge surprise to some people. But JPM is an extremely talented driver - some shrug off his win last season because it came on a road course but I think it's a major accomplishment for a rookie to win a road course race even if he's an accomplished road course and overall racer in other series. JPM made a lot of rookie mistakes but I think he will learn from his errors and be significantly better this season though I don't expect him to lose too much of his aggressive driving style which earned him the ire of fans and some of his fellow competitors at times.

I don't expect much from Reed or Dario this season. Reed is still very young - just 21-years old - so he could still develop into a successful Cup driver but I think he's going to need more time, and possibly more competitive cars. It's also possible the results won't ever improve much for him since he's not shown much on the Cup level so far. It'll be interesting to see how much patience Ganassi has with him if the results aren't all that great for him this season too. Just like with Sam Hornish, Jr., Dario would be much better off with more experience in Nationwide or the Truck Series before racing in Cup full time. Ganassi is at least entering Dario in the ARCA race this weekend at Daytona in an effort to get him some extra experience at that track which is a good thing. But it could be a very long season for Dario - racing a stock car in Nascar is very different than racing an open wheel IndyCar.

Gillett-Evernham Motorsports - On the surface this organization seems to be in good shape with a new owners, three talented drivers and several major sponsors. However, I think under the surface GEM has some issues that need to be resolved. For one thing their performance last season was poor - very poor. That Kasey Kahne went from having won six races in 2006 to barely being able to race competitively is an indication that this organization has major problems on the competition side. Aside from their on-track issues, Ray Evernham sold a major share of ownership in GEM to George Gillett, and while Ray is still involved, his role at GEM seems to be undefined and changing week to week. Some believe that Ray's issues in his personal life led to his decision to take a step back, but I suspect he might have made this move any way since GEM likely needed the outside help if they want to get back to racing up front.

Some feel that Kasey is over-rated as a driver, but a driver who wins six Cup races in one season clearly has talent behind the wheel. I'm not sure we'll see him win six again, but if the GEM cars are competitive this season, he'll likely make a return to Victory Lane. I think Kasey's quietness and feminine looks make some thing he's weak as a person and as a driver, but he's shown that he can be very aggressive behind the wheel and he's just as determined as any other driver to get back into Victory Lane. Budweiser may look to toughen up Kasey's image to be more in line with their own marketing and branding image. 2008 is a very important season for Elliott Sadler if he still wants to be considered one of the better drivers in the garage area. Since the best season of his career in 2004 when he won two races and made the Chase, the results for Elliott have gotten worse and worse. Part of that is because he's been racing for organizations that have struggled to be competitive overall but part of that might be that Elliott will never be the driver that some predicted he would early in his career. Like the other open wheel drivers, Patrick Carpentier will likely struggle with almost no Cup experience. To make matters worse Patrick will start the season outside the top 25 in owner's points meaning that he'll have to qualify for races on time - a tall order for such an inexperienced Cup driver.

Petty Enterprises - Moving from Level Cross to where most of the other teams are based was a good move, but as much as I'd like to see Petty Enterprises find success this season I don't think it's going to happen. Kyle Petty is an exceptional fundraiser for the Victory Junction Gang Camp and is very good with the media, but he hasn't contended for anything on the track in years. Bobby Labonte has shown he can still race up front but it's hard to picture that PE is going to be fielding cars good enough to beat the larger organizations. PE needs to do some driver development so that there's someone to replace Kyle when he retires but a lack of sponsorship has prevented them from fielding a Nationwide car for Chad McCumbee as they had wanted to do this season.

Robby Gordon Motorsports - Partnering with GEM will help Robby but that the decision to do so came so close to the start of the season may make things difficult for Robby as his team rushes to change the cars over from Ford to Dodge. Robby will contend for wins at both road course races but I'm not expecting him to do much better than last season at the other tracks. There are still sponsor and other financial issues to work out at RGM which could hinder their progress even with support from GEM.

BAM Racing BAM will start the season with Ken Schrader behind the wheel but I'd be surprised to see the #49 still around at the end of the season. Then again, I've been surprised that BAM's lasted this long. BAM has an ambitious program to attract sponsors and I don't think that's gone very well for them which is no surprise considering the current state of the economy. BAM changes drivers early and often, so they may try John Andretti or other drivers they've worked with behind the wheel, but they always seem to return to Ken. As much as I like Ken I think the chances of him having any kind of success this season with this team aren't very good. Just making races would be an accomplishment.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:25 PM | Comments (0)

February 05, 2008

That $4.5 Million Loss Still Stings

Another blog raised some interesting questions in relation to Robby Gordon Motorsports partnering with Gillett-Evernham Motorsports and switching manufacturers to Dodge. Robby had said in an interview on XM that a major reason for making this move was that there wasn't going to be any information shared from the other Ford teams. However, there's also a financial angle as well - RGM took a loss of at least $4.5 million when the Dakar Rally was canceled.

I've seen some fans shrug that off as having no effect on Robby's Cup team since it's separate from his off-road efforts but even if it's two separate budgets, it's the same organization. And it appears that losing $4.5 million prompted Robby to look more seriously for a partnership because "it cleaned some of our slush fund out." Full Throttle wondered why Robby was using money from the slush fund, a kind of fund that most organizations usually avoid touching except in an emergency and I think that's a valid question. While Robby surely figured that once the rally was run and his sponsors paid the money would be replaced, it's an indication that RGM didn't actually have the money in their off-road budget to pay for Dakar since they had to dip into the "slush fund." In addition, they now have no margin for error financially since they didn't end up getting the $4.5 million back - what if there were unexpected expenses in another area? Yesterday it was announced that there would be a Dakar Series rally in Eastern Europe in April to make up for last month's Dakar Rally being canceled so that could help Robby regain some of the lost funds, but it remains to be seen if Robby's Cup schedule will allow him to run the race himself and whether all of his sponsors will give him the same level of support they were going to for the original Dakar Rally.

In addition, I'm wondering what the financial arrangements are between RGM and GEM. Money has to be changing hands for GEM to be providing RGM with technical support and information. I assume the money that RGM takes in from their sponsors from the Cup side would pay for that, but it's still a little unclear if Robby has a sponsor for every race this season. So I have to wonder if Robby could end up coming up a little short on the Cup side as well, particularly since they now might not be able to take money out of the "slush fund" to augment the Cup budget should they need additional funds because they don't have a full season's worth of sponsorship money coming in.

Robby's fans seem to think that partnering with GEM will automatically make him have one of the better teams in the garage but while I do think this partnership will help Robby, I think their expectations should be kept reasonable. If there are any financial issues for RGM it could make it difficult for them to field cars that are as competitive as they need, even with GEM's help. After all, GEM supposedly helps BAM Racing and Petty Enterprises as well and I don't see either of those two organizations racing up front very often. The other thing to consider is something raised on another forum - is Robby going to end up as nothing more than a test team for GEM? I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that something like that could happen since GEM won't want to do too much experimenting with their own teams.

While it's commendable that RGM has been able to survive in Cup and stay in the top 35 in owner's points as a single-car team I wonder what the long-term future of Robby's organization is. Joining with a larger organization is a wise move and should help performance. However, that doesn't solve the financial and other issues that may be present at RGM. This could end up being a very important season for RGM.

Posted by silverdsl at 02:14 PM | Comments (0)

February 01, 2008

Robby Gordon Partners With Gillett-Evernham Motorsports

Turns out there was some truth to the rumor that Claire B. Lang reported yesterday on XM. Robby Gordon isn't selling his team but he is switching to Dodge and has entered into a "Technological and marketing agreement" with Gillett-Evernham Motorsports. Robby Gordon Motorsports will remain an independent operation. Partnering with a larger, more established organization with more resources should help RGM. While Robby has gotten many kudos for surviving as an independent driver/owner, just about the only thing that Robby has had to celebrate was that last season he raced well enough to stick in the top 35 in owner's points since the results often weren't too impressive, particularly at season's end.

However, I have to wonder how switching manufacturers this close to the start of the season is going to work out for Robby. Particularly since RGM just completed three tests as a Ford team. It's possible they were preparing for this for a while since as I noted previously, RGM didn't take part in Ford's media day so odds were something has been in the works for a few weeks at least. Maybe switching manufacturers isn't a big deal - after all, Joe Gibbs Racing hasn't seemed to miss a beat after their switch to Toyota. Then again, JGR has had since last season to prepare. The other thing is that GEM - and Dodge as a whole - have had their own struggles recently. So I'm not sure this will be as much of a boost in performance as some of Robby's fans may be hoping for. Still, having any kind of help has to be considered a good thing.

What I don't understand is why RGM deleted two threads off of Robby's Uprising where fans were discussing the rumor that Claire had reported. There was no negative comments being made, only speculation - what's the big deal if fans speculate on what might be going on?

Posted by silverdsl at 03:24 PM | Comments (0)

Robby Gordon Exploring Selling His Cup Team?

Last night Claire B. Lang reported on XM that a source told her that Robby Gordon is looking into selling his Cup team. In the past Robby has looked at merging with another organization, but none of that went anywhere, however, Claire seemed to indicate that this time the talks are more serious. According to Claire's source, Robby has been speaking with Star Motorsports, a company with which former NFL player Steve Smith is involved. In addition, he's supposedly also been trying to convince George Gillett to purchase his team to become the fourth team at Gillett-Evernham Motorsports.

Although no one else in the media is reporting anything about this as of yet, Claire normally doesn't report rumors on her show unless she believes there is some truth there. One thing that struck me as odd during the media tour was that at the event Ford had for all of its teams, there wasn't anyone there from Robby Gordon Motorsports. Robby was taking part in an off-road event but it seemed strange to me that he wouldn't send a representative to speak on behalf of his organization. In addition, in all of the press related to the project Roush-Fenway Racing is working on in relation to chassis with the other Ford teams, I didn't see RGM mentioned anywhere. In light of the rumor that Robby is looking to sell his team, it raises questions in my mind as to whether Robby didn't participate in the media tour with the other Ford teams and won't be working with Roush because he knows he won't be associated with Ford for much longer.

On one hand it's surprising to me that Robby might think about selling his team to another organization. Robby seems to have a lot of control issues, and while he's raced for others before, I'd think that now that he's been racing for himself for a couple of years again that it would be hard for him to go back to a situation where he's not making all of the decisions about his team - and the organization - himself. However, it maybe that Robby doesn't have much choice. Given the level of competition in Cup these days, it's very difficult for even multi-car teams to be successful, let alone a one-car operation. And the fact is while Robby finished the season in the top 35 in owner's points, he struggled significantly in qualifying, and the results particularly towards the end of the season weren't impressive. Robby has always put together sponsorship in a patchwork-type fashion using multiple sponsors to cover the full season, and it's unknown as to whether he has a sponsor for every race this season. In addition, it was said on XM that Dakar being canceled caused Robby to lose a significant amount of money, a sponsorship deal with Microsoft and a publicity/ad campaign that included TV commercials that Robby was counting on to help bring visibility to his Cup efforts and help bring in sponsors. Consider that Michael Waltrip Racing and other large organizations with major sponsors had to being in additional owners and financial partners last year, it seems to me that it's not out of the realm of possibility that Robby has to do the same for his team to survive.

Robby loves to race but his passion seems to be with off-road racing. I would think he would continue racing Cup, especially because the exposure he receives in Cup helps with his off-road program. However, there could also be a chance that Robby is looking to ease out of racing Cup. I think the chances are slim that Robby would stop racing in Nascar, but the fact is that his team is valuable because of their status in the top 35 in owner's points. There are more than a few organizations that would probably be interested in acquiring Robby's team to transfer the owner's points to one of their existing teams.

It'll be interesting to see where this goes, if anywhere.

ETA: A thread on this topic was deleted from Robby's Uprising, a fan site that's run by RGM. If it's a false rumor they should just address it and stop the speculation, but if there's any truth to the rumor, perhaps they don't want discussion about it because they aren't ready to announce anything yet. Thing is while they might be able to control what gets discussed on their own site, they can't control the rest of the fan forums where this is being talked about.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:27 AM | Comments (0)

January 24, 2008

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (1/24)

*There's been quite a fuss made by the media and some fans over all traces of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. being removed from DEI, including all of his race memorabilia and trophies that used to be on display. I think this is much ado over nothing. I'm not sure what people expected really. Yes, Junior won a lot of races for DEI, was a big part of their overall success while he raced for them and is the son of the late owner. But when drivers like Steve Park and Michael Waltrip left DEI everything of theirs was removed too so it seems to me that DEI is just doing what they've always done. In addition, it was a bitter parting of the ways between DEI and Junior so I'm not sure why so many thought that DEI would continue to pay tribute to someone who seemed to leave on such bad terms. Also, while many teams continue to display memorabilia from drivers who used to race for them to reflect the history of the organization, another way of looking at it is that DEI is choosing not to give exposure to a driver and sponsor who left for two different competing organizations.

*Obviously Teresa Earnhardt and others at DEI were paying attention to the criticism directed towards Teresa last year about how she was an absentee owner who wasn't involved enough in what was happening at her organization. After hosting a party for the media during Champion's Week in New York in December, Teresa also made a brief appearance at the event DEI had for the media yesterday as part of Nascar's media week. Naturally many criticized her for that too saying that she didn't speak for long enough or that it was only for show. Hello, everything that every team does during media weeks is for show! It's all about impressing the media and getting them to write positive stories about how each team and driver thinks they're going to do during the season. Teresa will never be a Richard Childress or a Rick Hendrick who attends most of the races and makes themselves available to the media at all times, but it does appear that she's trying to make an effort which is a good thing for her organization and it's drivers. Of course to many fans nothing she does will ever be right. I don't particularly care for Teresa's approach to her company, however, it's her's to run as she chooses.

*There was another round of testing this week that's gotten very little attention - the truck teams tested at Atlanta yesterday and Tuesday. Ron Hornaday was fastest on Tuesday and Terry Cook was fastest yesterday. Of course testing isn't always that exciting, especially since the results aren't always a true reflection of how the teams are going to do during season. Still, it says something that there's been next to no coverage of these test sessions anywhere. Of course there's tough competition with it being media week so most of the journalists are involved with that. But it seems to me that it's a problem for this series that sites like Scenedaily.com don't seem to have even a bare-bones article about how testing went. How can this series be expected to grow and attract much needed sponsors if there's not much coverage of what's going on in the series?

*ESPN is going to air a five-part series chronicling Junior's move to Hendrick Motorsports called Dale Jr. – Shifting Gears. It sounds very similar to what ESPN did with Michael Waltrip Racing - A New Era last season. Given that the show is produced by Hammerhead Entertainment, which is a division of JR Motorsports, and in cooperation with Hendrick Motorsports, I would guess that Junior and his "people" had complete editorial control over each episode. I'd probably be a lot more interested in watching if this was something independently produced by ESPN that I thought was an honest look at the process. I'm quite sure that anything that will make Junior look bad or doesn't fit with the message that they're trying to get across won't make it to air.

*Although John Andretti will take part in the Rolex 24 this weekend, he doesn't have a ride in Nascar after having parted ways with BAM Racing due to uncertainties related to sponsorship and direction. Andretti may participate in Cup testing next week for an unknown team but otherwise he's still looks for a ride, though it sounds like he may race some truck races. Andretti raced four races for Billy Ballew in 2005 and the results were good - two top tens and a top fifteen.

*Key Motorsports didn't test at Daytona with the rest of the truck teams but they are planning to field a truck for Chad Chaffin at Dayona next month and at a number of other early season races, after which the team will decide whether to continue or not. I would guess that whether they're in the top 30 and thus guaranteed a spot to race each week, as well as their sponsorship situation will determine how many more races they'll run. Chaffin isn't among the elite drivers in the truck garage, but he has won a truck race and shown that he can get decent results at times so I wouldn't be surprised to see him put the #40 in the top 30 if luck is on his side and the trucks he's given to race are decent.

*The media tour wrapped up today and I don't think the media ever paid a visit to Red Bull Racing or Bill Davis Racing unless I just missed the articles or discussion that was generated from those visits. According to Claire B. Lang on XM RBR pulled some sort of stunt where they had a street-legal version of one of their cars drive next to the media bus when they were on their way to one of the stops on the tour, but I don't think they had an official event where their drivers, crew chiefs and executives were present like most of the other teams had. I'm surprised. I assumed that all of the larger teams took part in media week but it appears that they don't. RBR traditionally doesn't do things the way other teams does when it comes to media and promotions so maybe it's not that surprising that they didn't host an event. But what about BDR? I'd think that with the sponsorship problems for BDR they'd want to do something that would generate some press and exposure for their organization. Maybe they didn't want to have to answer any hard questions about whether Bill Davis might sell BDR, the fiasco with 360OTC or their current lack of sponsorship for the #27 which could leave them as a one-car Cup operation after the first five races this season. ETA: Claire B. Lang just said that Robby Gordon was the only Ford owner to not take part in that manufacturer's event today - why? I don't understand why an owner would opt not to take part in something which usually results in positive media attention and added exposure for the team and their sponsors.

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

January 07, 2008

Robby Gordon Still Angry Over Dakar Being Canceled

*Robby Gordon is still upset about the Dakar Rally being canceled and after hearing that getting prepared for Dakar cost Robby Gordon Motorsports $4.5 million, much of which can't be recouped even though Dakar was canceled, I can't blame him for being upset. I also agree with him that ASO should have had a back-up plan - it's not just terrorism to be concerned with, a race like that could be effected by instability in some of the countries the rally goes through or a natural disaster. They should have a plan to shorten or change the route the rally takes. Had they had those kinds of plans in place perhaps a partial race could have taken place so all the money that over 500 teams spend wouldn't have gone to waste.

However, where Robby loses me completely is where he tries to compare the threats against Dakar to inner-city violence. While there's no question there are some cities where there's a high crime rate, Robby is completely off-base when he says that there's 11 killings a night in Los Angeles. Based on the statistics in the Homicide Report , a blog maintained by the L.A. Times, there were approximately 820 homicides in Los Angeles County in 2007. High numbers indeed but a far cry from 11 murders a night as Robby claims. In addition, I think there's zero comparison between the violence in some cities and international terrorism. Robby seems to feel that the only threat he would face would be from some guys in the back of a pick-up truck shooting at his team, but as we've seen unfortunately extremist groups are capable of violence on a grand scale. That's very different from someone getting murdered as a result of a domestic dispute or in a gang-related drive-by shooting.

Robby probably has to smooth things over with his sponsors that were partnered with him for Dakar in an effort to make sure they don't bail out of fear that Dakar might be canceled again. There's probably other fallout that Robby is going to have to deal with. So I have to wonder if the disappointment over Dakar getting canceled is going to be a distraction for Robby. His early test speeds - which don't necessarily mean much of anything - weren't very good. Given that the last half of the season wasn't very good for Robby it's essential that he starts off well this season.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:30 PM | Comments (0)

January 06, 2008

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts

*More than a few fans - mostly disgruntled Robby Gordon fans naturally - keep saying that by canceling the Dakar Rally the organizers let the terrorists win. And to an extent I can see their point since it does seem like the organizers are caving to the threats that they received. However, if terrorists were to carry out their plans and disrupt the rally though sniper shootings, kidnappings, bombs and other mayhem, aren't they winning that way too? This was a lose-lose situation for the organizers in which they would be the subject of criticism no matter what they did. If they went forward and there was an incident, the same people who are saying that they shouldn't have "let the terrorists win" would probably be ripping the organizers for stubbornly ignoring the threats and carrying on as usual. I wonder if those who wanted Dakar to go on as planned in spite of the threats realize what an immense and likely impossible task it would be to ensure the safety of the competitors, teams, spectators and media members in some hostile and remote regions. It's not the same as a race taking place at a track or a game at a football stadium where the event is contained in one location. None of those who are so convinced that the organizers made the wrong decisions have presented any kind of plan as to how the rally could have gone the full route safely - they just wanted it to happen. If Dakar is to be held in 2009 or in the future, the organizers are going to have to come up with a way to protect those they are responsible for from terrorists or anyone seeking to do harm.

*Apparently Kirk Shelmerdine is going to be testing a fourth Cup car for Richard Childress Racing at Daytona this week. I have to admit to being a little surprised that Shelmerdine will be behind the wheel instead of Scott Wimmer who tested and raced for RCR last season. That might mean that Shelmerdine will attempt the Daytona 500 in an RCR car - he made the Daytona 500 in his own car in 2006 so it's not out of the question he might be able to qualify for it this season as well, particularly in good equipment like he would have from RCR. However, there will be quite a few good cars competing for only a few open spots so it won't be easy to make the field at Daytona - or at any other subsequent races.

*Gillett-Evernham Motorsports will also have an additional car at testing - the #98 which will be tested by Jason Keller. Odds are that if Evernham fields an additional car at some point next season it won't be for Keller, so he's probably just lending them a helping hand.

*Boris Said won the Third Annual Chevy Bodine Bobsled Challenge this weekend at Lake Placid. It's turned into a real neat event and this year it featured Nascar drivers competing against NHRA drivers. Although those who participate aren't the most well-known drivers in Nascar, each year they've raised a good chunk of money for the U.S. Bobsled team, and had some fun too. This isn't Said's first win at the Challenge - bobsled racing must run in his family considering his father Bob was a member of the U.S. Bobsled team in 1968 and 1972.

*Michael McDowell didn't confirm that he'll be the driver of the #00 for Michael Waltrip Racing after the first five races of the season - the official announcement will come later this month - but it sure sounds like the rumor that he's been selected to race that car is accurate. Apparently McDowell has been testing with Bill Pappas, who will be the crew chief for that team, and he's going through the process to get approval to race Cup. In addition, McDowell said that he'll be racing the Nationwide race at Daytona. I had thought that MWR planned on putting Josh Wise in a Nationwide car full-time next season, but unless they plan on fielding three Nationwide cars, something I think is unlikely, it sounds like Josh will be missing at least the opening Nationwide race. I really hope they still have plans for Josh.

*Jimmie Johnson said today that there will be changes to his crew next season because they felt that they could get faster on their pit stops with two new tire changers. In some ways it's an indication of how good the #48 team is that they don't rest on their laurels and are continually working to improve their team. However, those two tire changers helped Jimmie win a championship and that's the thanks they're going to get? In addition, there's no guarantee that the next tire changers will be any faster, plus there could be an adjustment period while the crew gets used to working with new people.

Posted by silverdsl at 05:43 PM | Comments (0)

January 04, 2008

Dakar Rally Canceled Over Terrorism Fears

Due to fears that terrorists would make good on threats to target the Dakar Rally, organizers have made the decision to cancel, just two days before it was scheduled to start. This is the first time in 30-years that the race, which would have been run through the Sahara Desert, was canceled. More than a few think that the organizers shouldn't have given in to the terrorists and canceled, but I think they made the right decision. The safety of thousands of people from the competitors and their support teams to spectators is more important than sending a message to terrorists. Since a family was killed recently by al-Qaida-linked militants in an area that the rally would have raced through the threats needed to be taken seriously. Apparently there's some question as to whether the rally will return in 2009 - or ever - the terrorists aren't likely to go away in a year, and the rally was already a subject of some criticism for the high amount of deaths associated with it. I feel sorry for all the teams who spent so much time and money getting ready for the race.

This has to be a huge disappointment for Robby Gordon. Some feel he races in Nascar to support his off-road efforts such as his participation in this race. Racing at Dakar would have been a major event for Robby and in the past it's gotten him - and his sponsors - a good deal of exposure. That won't happen this year, and the cancellation is likely very hard to swallow for Robby - and his fellow competitors. Robby will now head back to the United States and I would guess will participate in testing at Daytona, which means that Brendan Gaughan's services won't be needed unless Robby ends up fielding a second car for him at testing which I would guess is unlikely.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:59 AM | Comments (0)

January 02, 2008

Brendan Gaughan to Fill in for Robby Gordon at Daytona Testing

Although there's been no news about a ride for Brendan Gaughan, he won't be sitting idle for Daytona testing. Only he won't be testing a truck (at least not that we know of so far), he'll be testing a Cup car. Brendan will be helping out his good friend Robby Gordon by testing the #7 for him while Robby's racing in Dakar. As I wondered previously, though it's often said that the driver isn't very important at Daytona testing, in light of the issues that Robby's team faced this past season, plus the addition of a new crew chief and that the Cup series will be using COTs exclusively, doesn't that make testing a wee bit more important this season for Robby's team than in the past? Even Tony Stewart will be testing at Daytona for the first time in three years. In any event, I'm sure Brendan will do a good job filling in for Robby. There will likely be speculation that this means that Robby is going to give Brendan a Nationwide or Cup ride, something that I think would be good for both Robby and Brendan. However, I suspect Brendan is still likely to end up in a truck - if he ends up getting a ride at all for this season. It seems late in the going for Robby to start a second Cup team and a full-time Nationwide team would need sponsorship. But if not now, maybe Brendan will end up racing for Robby down the road.

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

December 19, 2007

More on Frank Kerr

Frank Kerr was just on XM talking about going to Robby Gordon Motorsports to be Robby's crew chief. There's been a lot of speculation about why Frank left Michael Waltrip Racing, whether it was by choice and whether it was because he was replaced as David Reutimann's crew chief by Ryan Pemberton. Well, it turns out that Frank always remained in contact with Robby after he left RGM, and he's been talking to him since the Dover race in September about becoming his crew chief. I guess his contract at MWR must have put a little crimp in his plans - it must have been pretty disappointing to Robby and Frank when Gene Nead fled RGM that Frank couldn't step in right away as Robby's CC due to his obligations to MWR. Frank said that Robby's driving style is exactly like his was when he raced - intense. From the way he was singing Robby's praises I'm wondering if he really enjoyed working with David and had as good of a relationship with him as it had always seemed. None of this surprises me as I've just always had the sense that there was still a relationship of some sort between Robby and Frank and that Frank would be leaving MWR eventually to return to RGM.

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

December 17, 2007

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts

*As I suspected, Frank Kerr is headed to Robby Gordon Motorsports, where he had worked previously, to be Robby's crew chief. I just had a very strong feeling that Frank was going back to RGM, the only question (which we may never know the answer to) is whether he left Michael Waltrip Racing as a result of Ryan Pemberton being hired to take his place as David Reutimann's crew chief, or whether Frank was already planning to leave for RGM before MWR even started talking to Pemberton. Robby has had a hard time keeping crew chiefs as he can be extremely hard on them, but Frank is familiar with Robby already so maybe he'll stick around at RGM longer than some of the other crew chiefs Robby has had recently.

*More and more of the smaller Nationwide and Truck teams are struggling to continue to race. Things look bleak for McGill Motorsports since they don't have a primary sponsor or a driver, but also Riley-D'Hondt Motorsports is being dissolved. I can't say I'm surprised about that. After Eddie D'Hondt left Yates Racing, he announced with great fanfare his plans to form Riley-D'Hondt and race full-time in both the Nationwide and Cup Series, even though he didn't have much (if any) sponsorship lined up or any drivers. While they did race part-time in the Nationwide Series with Mark Green, Riley-D'Hondt ultimately made only one Cup start with Marc Goossens at Infineon. Apparently D'Hondt plans to field some cars in the Nationwide and ARCA Series next season as D'Hondt Racing.

*Danny O'Quinn's finally been released by Roush-Fenway Racing. After winning Rookie of the Year honors in the Nationwide Series in 2006, it seemed as if O'Quinn had a bright future ahead of him. However, Roush was never able to secure sponsorship for him for this season nor would they release him from his contract. So he ended up in limbo, racing just ten Nationwide races for a few different teams. Hopefully he'll find a team to race for but it's rather late in the going to first be looking for a ride now as most of the best available rides are already taken.

*Although Bobby Hamilton, Jr. is no longer involved with his father's company, Bobby Hamilton Racing, due to a dispute with the current ownership group that includes his late father's second wife, that hasn't stopped him from giving his opinion about the organization moving from Nashville to Virginia now that they've merged with Arrington Manufacturing. Bobby believes that his father would never have allowed the move to Virginia for reasons much like why Brendan Gaughan wanted South Point Racing to remain in Las Vegas - that people told them that a team couldn't be successful outside of Charlotte. While both organizations have had their share of success over the years, I think there's a lot of truth to the idea that the successful teams are those that are based in the Charlotte area. While Virginia still isn't Charlotte, it's a step in the right direction. BHR has yet to announce their driver lineup for next season, though it's been rumored that Dennis Setzer and possibly Ted Musgrave or Stacy Compton (who is involved with Arrington) will race for them in 2008.

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

December 09, 2007

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts

*As per usual at this time of the year, there's very little going on in Nascar. I expect there could be a couple of announcements next week though as teams solidify their plans for 2008. Testing really isn't that far away and almost every team wants to know who their driver and sponsor(s) will be by then if not sooner. I'm pretty surprised we haven't heard by now about what team Ted Musgrave will be racing for next season, particularly since he had been talking like it was just about a done deal at one point. Although he's been linked to a number of other teams, I have to wonder if the delay in the announcement about his plans for 2008 are because he really was headed to Wyler Racing but the merger with South Point Racing getting called off threw a wrench into those plans.

*Speaking of South Point Racing, someone on one of the forums I occasionally visit brought up a good point regarding the impact that their closing will have. Not only will all their employees lose their jobs, but it will also effect a number of local businesses. Kroyer Racing Engines for instance was closely associated with SPR, and although I believe they also build engines for Off-road and other teams, SPR had to have been one of their biggest clients who will be hard to replace given that there are no other teams in any of Nascar's three highest series based in Las Vegas. There's also Race Day Outfitters who printed their t-shirts and other merchandise, and likely other businesses that are losing revenue because SPR is closing. Even Las Vegas Motorspeedway is effected because the SPR shops were a destination for race fans, particularly when they had their open house, that was close to the track. When a team closed up shop in the Charlotte area, it doesn't have as much impact on surrounding businesses because there are so many teams in the area.

*Not too long ago Bobby Hamilton, Jr. thought he was out of a Nationwide ride due to Team Rensi being unable to secure sponsorship for a car for him. So he accepted a ride in the Busch East Series. Turns out at the last minute Team Rensi did come up with some sponsorship so he'll race for them again next season, as well as in as many Busch East races as possible and some ARCA races. It's nice to see a driver not be too proud to consider racing in other series and it's something that (as I've said before) I wish Steve Park would consider if he really wants to keep racing as much as he says he does.

*I also can't help but think of Steve when I read Bobby's comments in the article about how it's dog-eat-dog when it comes to finding rides and how drivers have to do something, especially since as the article points out, teams and sponsors are unwilling to invest time and money into driver who they don't think are going to win race and produce for them immediately. As much talent as Steve has as a driver after not racing for so long, I think there would likely be an adjustment period where he got used to being behind the wheel again, as well as for learning the changes that have been made to the sport since he last raced, and that may be something that teams and sponsors don't want to deal with. I also have to repeat the comment that Bobby made - "You have to do something." Countless drivers this season have said the same thing - you have to remain active in the sport somehow - racing, testing, consulting, whatever - if you want to be considered for open rides and get opportunities.

*A number of sponsors have pulled out of Nascar recently but last week Coca-Cola announced that they're extending their partnership with Nascar for another ten years. Although financial terms weren't disclosed, according to a spokesperson for Coke, it's one of the largest corporate sponsorships in the country, which is a pretty good indication that Coke's presence in Nascar has been very lucrative for them if they're willing to enter into a long-term deal like that at a time when some have concerns about the economy and consumer spending. Coke extending their deal with Nascar is also good for Michael Waltrip since he's a member of the Coke Family of Drivers so he appears in ads, marketing campaigns and promotions for them which helps increase his exposure.

*If I understand correctly Robby Gordon is going to miss Daytona testing to race off-road in Dakar in January. Furthermore he may also miss testing later in the month for another off-road race. While I understand that Robby is passionate about off-road racing, it seems to me that considering the problems for his organization this past season it's important for Robby to be present at testing, not just to offer input from behind the wheel, but to be there for his team as owner. Robby has missed testing in the past for Dakar, and other drivers miss Daytona testing without issue, but it seems to me that Robby Gordon Motorsports is at a crucial junction where it's essential that they improve on their results from 2007 if they're going to grow and be around long-term.

Posted by silverdsl at 02:28 PM | Comments (0)

November 24, 2007

More Changes at Robby Gordon Motorsports

According to Jayski, Robby Gordon is going to be in need of yet another crew chief and also a car chief for 2008 after he parted ways with both Peter Sospenzo and Bill Henderson. How exactly does Robby think he's going to achieve any success with his Cup program if there's no stability there? At least Jim Beam re-upped their sponsorship with RGM for next season otherwise Robby could really be in trouble. Robby will never be one of my favorite drivers but I think it's important for Nascar that some newish and smaller operations have success. Unfortunately as time goes on, while Robby has some real talents and a definite vision for what he'd like to do, I'm not getting the sense that RGM is going to stop struggling anytime soon.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:49 PM | Comments (0)

November 10, 2007

No Michael Waltrip Racing Teams will Race on Sunday

As much as Michael Waltrip Racing has struggled this season, they've still managed to get at least one car in every Cup race this season until this weekend. Qualifying for tomorrow's race at Phoenix was a disaster for MWR - Dale Jarrett was almost embarrassingly slow, David Reutimann lost an engine on the warm-up lap and Michael was bumped out of the field by Bill Elliott needing to use a Champion's provisional. Like last week when the #55 team missed the show after having done so well for so many races in a row previously, I'm not too happy with the way things went this weekend. It was pretty obvious based on the practice speeds that DJ had no chance of making the race and that it would be borderline for David and Michael. That can't be happening. As the season went on the MWR teams had done a much better job of showing up with cars that had the speed necessary to make races, and I hate to see them take a step backwards. They absolutely have to show up with cars that are decent off the truck because one practice isn't enough to make changes to give them the speed they need to make races. In addition, while teams are always going to have mechanical issues, it can't be happening during qualifying when there's no margin for error for the MWR teams. Of course since they don't build their own engines, that's a Toyota issue - it's incredibly disappointing for the #00 to miss races to begin with and even more frustrating when it happens for reasons that are out of their control.

What I'm really bothered by though is Michael missing this race. While the #55 team needed to come to the track with a car that had more speed, Michael qualified 32nd, better than six go-or-go-homers, which should have gotten him into the race. However, because one of those cars was the #21 and Bill is guaranteed to race thanks to his Champion's provisional, Michael goes home and Bill gets to race even though he was slower. Even though MWR has used the Champion's provisional to their advantage, I wish they'd eliminate that provisional all together so no team can use it to get into races even when they're lacking the necessary speed. In addition, Michael was bit by having such an early qualifying draw. He went out second and as qualifying went on the track cooled down considerably, which meant that those that went out later picked up a lot of speed. Had he had a later draw I suspect Michael would be racing tomorrow. It seems to me that all the go-or-go-homers should qualify together so that there's no advantage for some teams over others based on their qualifying draw.

But more than all of that, as it has all season, it bothers me that Michael was one of the 43 fastest cars yet he's still going home. Michael routinely out-qualifies drivers like Robby Gordon and Kyle Petty, yet both of them are guaranteed to race each week because they're in the top 35 in owner's points, even though they're sometimes significantly slower than Michael. Of course all the teams are aware of the rules and need to adjust what they do accordingly, but I think it's ridiculous that Michael out-qualified 17 other cars and his team still had to pack up and go home. I highly doubt that Nascar is going to make many - if any - changes to the rules regarding qualifying for next season, but they're doing a tremendous disservice to many teams and sponsors. The rule was created to protect big-money sponsors and teams that show up every week to race - well there's big-money sponsors such as NAPA and UPS who spend a significant amount of money not just on their cars but in the sport overall that are being hurt by this rule, and all of these teams are attempting to race every week. It makes it so hard for new teams to have any kind of success and that's a problem that Nascar doesn't seem too concerned about.

I also feel terrible for Michael. He's been so happy and proud of the improvements his teams have made recently. That none of them will be racing on Sunday has to hurt pretty bad. With one more Cup race left, next weekend at Homestead will be very important for MWR so they can finish the season on a positive note. I suspect there might be a large entry list since it's the last race and one with a large audience both at home and at the track since the Cup Champion will be crowded. So it won't be easy for all three MWR cars to make the show, but I'd at least like to see two out of their three cars make the race. I'll have my fingers crossed all week that we'll see Michael (and hopefully his teams) racing at Homestead!!

Posted by silverdsl at 11:32 AM | Comments (0)

October 21, 2007

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts

*The race isn't over yet but it's looking like the results aren't going to be too great for the Michael Waltrip Racing teams. However, I think this weekend isn't all bad for MWR. It's an accomplishment that all three cars made the race, considering they've struggled to qualify all season at tracks like this. Going into this race Michael expressed some concern on his XM show so that didn't exactly fill me with confidence. I felt even worse when there was only 15 minutes of practice prior to qualifying due to rain, and Michael spun which resulted in damage to his car that his team had to fix. But not only did Michael qualify for the race but Dale Jarrett and David Reutimann did too. It was a waiting game with DJ to see if his time was going to hold up or not, but David and Michael both had solid qualifying laps that pretty much assured that they would make the race right away. It's been really good to see MWR make some progress as the season has gone along. The race just finished - David finished 17th and Michael 18th. That's pretty freaking good considering at one point they were commiserating with each other over David's radio about how lousy their cars were. I think both teams did a good job of persevering, staying out of trouble and hanging on to take advantage of other team's troubles.

*Some probably think that Ward Burton regrets coming back after not having raced for so long since he's struggled so much in the #4 this season. But from the sounds of it, Ward has no regrets. He said, "I've had a lot of fun -- there's been some frustrating moments obviously -- but I'm really happy I'm back here and it's where I ought to be right now." I like Ward's attitude. I'm sure he'd like to be racing much more competitively but it sounds like he's making the most of the situation he's in and just trying to get as much enjoyment about being on the track as possible. Ward also said that he doesn't know what he'll be doing next season, no surprise since I think sponsorship - and possibly the future - of the #4 is still uncertain.

*From the sounds of it, Petty Enterprises is grooming Chad McCumbee to take over for Kyle Petty eventually. While Kyle isn't ready to step out of the car yet, he'll turn the #45 over to Chad for five races next season (and hopefully be in the booth for those races like he was this season), and PE is also trying to partner with a Busch team to put Chad behind the wheel for the majority of Busch (Nationwide) races next season. Confirmation that Chad is going to continue to work with PE makes Darrell Waltrip look a little silly since he indicated in a recent column that Chad was one of the young drivers that MWR was developing to eventually take over the #00. Only problem is that Chad isn't affiliated with MWR. DW talked about how much he liked MWR's young drivers, but it seems like he has trouble remembering exactly who they are, which is kind of funny considering they're racing trucks he owns. The column that DW wrote is very complimentary of Michael and the overall efforts of MWR which is great, but a mistake like that makes me wonder if DW even wrote what's in that column (or if anyone proofreads his columns) since he should know that Chad isn't involved with Darrell Waltrip Motorsports or MWR.

*Speaking of Petty Enterprises, apparently they might put Bobby Labonte in the #45 if that car falls out of the top 35 in owner's points to take advantage of Bobby's champion's provisional to ensure that both cars are locked into the races for the remainder of the season. Should they have need to keep Bobby in the #45 for next season as well that might throw a major wrench in MWR's plans since Bobby would get the champion's provisional over DJ since he's a more recent champion. However, since MWR is continuing to improve hopefully they wouldn't need those provisionals anyway.

*Although Bill Davis has denied rumors that Jacques Villeneuve is going to buy Bill Davis Racing, Bill has expressed that he is open to selling at least part of BDR. I'm not surprised. BDR has struggled in Cup for a few years now, and even with Toyota's help this season they haven't seemed to make much progress. In addition, they've had a lot of success in the Truck Series, but even there they've had some sponsorship issues. To improve on all levels - and maybe make it possible to field a Nationwide team to develop young talent - BDR likely needs additional financial resources that a partner or new owner would provide.

*If the sponsorship materializes Robby Gordon would like to put Johnny Sauter in a second Cup car for Robby Gordon Motorsports. I think it's essential that RGM adds a second team if they're to get more competitive, but it seems like Robby's wanted to add a second team for quite some time with no luck so I'm not sure how likely it is that it's going to happen now. I'm also not sure how Johnny is going to work out racing for Robby. Both have very combustible personalties and it would be interesting to see if they're able to work together.

*DEI fired three employees last week because they were responsible for the banner that was flown over Talladega that said "How much money does Bobby Ginn owe you?" Most fans are celebrating what those three, who are presumably former Ginn Racing employees, did and can't understand why DEI fired them, but I think DEI had very good reason to fire them. That banner was far more than a mere prank, it was a public dig at someone who is part of the upper management at DEI. No matter how much wrong Ginn might have done paying for a banner to be flown oover the race track isn't the way to handle a dispute with him. I have to wonder how their actions might effect their chances of finding other jobs in the garage area. Some other teams might hesitate at hiring people who would do something like that.

Posted by silverdsl at 05:16 PM | Comments (0)

October 16, 2007

Random NascarThoughts on Random Thoughts

*Seems like it's been real quiet this week in terms of news in Nascar-land. Come to think of it other than the announcements that Michael Waltrip Racing made last week, it's been pretty quiet overall for a while now in terms of major news outside of the rumors that Jeff Green and Johnny Sauter might both be out of their rides at Haas-CNC Racing. There's a few other rumors circulating, one of which I won't detail because it involves a driver's personal live and I avoid discussing those kinds of topics in this space unless it's something newsworthy. But my husband and I had a good laugh about this particular rumor which has no chance of being true and was likely started by one of the people involved to either make someone else jealous or make themselves seem important.

*Speaking of the Haas-CNC rumors, I would guess that both Green and Sauter will be looking for new rides next season. Sauter has said that the team has told him he can explore his options with other teams so that doesn't make his chances for staying in the #70 sound too promising. If they're going to get rid of Sauter, I can't imagine them sticking with Green. The big question is what sponsorship is going to look like for those teams next season. It's been rumored that Best Buy won't be back on the #66, and given the lack of strong results for that team and Haas overall, I have to wonder how easy it's going to be for them to find replacement sponsors.

*Apparently Robby Gordon told fans at Charlotte that he's considering talking to Sauter about a ride for next season, presumably for the second Cup car that Robby has wanted to get going for quite some time. I have my doubts as to whether Robby is going to be able to get a second team going considering how much he's struggling to be successful with just one Cup team. However, maybe Robby will end up putting Johnny in a Busch car full-time. It might work out better to start on a lower level, develop the team and then move them up to Cup once they're working well together and the results are fairly solid.

*Jayski has an "I heard" that ESPN is in the process of filming a documentary style show that will chronicle Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s transition from DEI to Hendrick Motorsports. It sounds exactly like what ESPN did with Michael Waltrip Racing: A New Era. That show was very well-done as it gave a peek inside the workings of a Cup organization in a way that fans don't normally get to see, though I think the earlier episodes were stronger than the later ones. I think a show like that which followed Junior as he got used to his new organization would be pretty interesting, though I'm under no illusions that it will depict the totality of all that goes on, but rather what they choose to show the fans.

*There's been some speculation that the #22 Nationwide car fielded by Fitz Motorsports will be an open ride next season but Armando Fitz said recently that it's likely that Mike Bliss will be back in that car. Although Bliss isn't among the elite drivers in the garage area I have to give him credit for finding opportunities to race. Not long ago the #22 was considered a junk ride, but Bliss has raced his way to six top tens and two top fives in that car so it appears that it's a pretty decent ride.

*In other Bliss-related news, while he's racing the #22 in Atlanta, Ryan Mathews will race the #4 truck in Memphis for Bobby Hamilton Racing that Bliss has been racing of late. I'm really happy for Mathews, who got dumped by Bill Davis Racing in favor of Jacques Villeneuve in spite of some strong finishes, that he's getting another opportunity in a solid truck. Maybe it will lead to a more regular ride for Mathews with BHR - I'd definitely like to see what he's capable of over the course of a full season.

*Justin Labonte is going to be behind the wheel of the #00 truck at Martinsville this weekend. I suppose this is part of the deal that put Terry Labonte in the #55 for a few races earlier this season but I would have liked to have seen Josh Wise or Michael McDowell race this truck considering Michael Waltrip Racing is trying to get one or both of them ready to race Cup as soon as possible.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:19 PM | Comments (0)

October 13, 2007

Robby Gordon Are You Paying Attention?

In relation to taking on a partner/investor at Michael Waltrip Racing, Michael said,

“I could see that there were things that we weren’t doing well. We knew race cars really good, but we didn’t surround ourselves with the type of folks that were necessary to run the race team like a business. I was running the race team like a race-car driver: If you need it go get it, we’ll figure out how to pay for it later. It just really turned out that I needed some help.”

I can't help but think of Robby Gordon who is struggling to make Robby Gordon Motorsports a success in Cup. Although Robby has his car in the top 35 in owner's points, contends for wins on road courses and occasionally is competitive otherwise, the results have not been spectacular for Robby as an owner-driver. He struggles tremendously in qualifying, to the point where he's lucky he's in the top 35 in owner's points otherwise he might have missed a number of races, which causes him to often have to race from the back to the front, his team struggles to field cars that are competitive on a consistent basis, there's been constant crew chief changes, sponsor issues and Robby hasn't been able to add a second Cup team like he's wanted to. I would suspect that Robby is experiencing a lot of the same problems that Michael has in terms of not necessarily knowing how to run his organization like a business, and also struggling to have the available financial resources to pay for all the things that would allow him to race as well as the elite teams in the garage area. So it seems to me that Robby would also benefit from taking on an investor/partner who could help him with the business side of things, give him an influx of money and maybe also allow Robby to concentrate on what he's good at - racing and race cars.

It seems as if Robby realizes that he might have to do this since at one time he explored the possibility of partnering or merging with Yates Racing. However, part of the problem for Robby is that he likes to be in control and it would probably be hard for him to have to turn some of that control over to someone else. I think having control is something that's important to Michael as well, but he was able to put aside some of what he wanted for the good of his organization, and ultimately I think Robby will need to do the same. Michael found someone who seems willing to let Michael continue to make most of the day-to-day decisions, maybe Robby can find someone like that as well.

Although most fans of Michael's dislike Robby as much as Robby's fans dislike Michael, I don't share those same sentiments. I definitely don't care for some of the things that Robby does on the track and his attitude at times. However, I like how fan-friendly he is and most of all, I think it's important for RGM to not only survive, but thrive and have success because it would show that it's possible for a small, independent organization with a driver-owner to do well. Problem is, I'm not convinced that RGM will be around five years from now if Robby doesn't adjust his approach.

One thing that Robby and every other organization looking to merge, partner or add investors and additional owners is making sure that they're choosing to work with the right people. Michael has said in the past that he was approached by quite a few people who were looking to buy MWR and take over completely - like Michael, Robby would not be happy in a situation like that. There's also the potential for investors to be unscrupulous or a deal to go bad. 360OTC is an example of how sometimes things that look great on the outside are rotten to the core. There's also been rumors that a New York investment company has been looking to buy or invest in a team and that there are concerns about where their money is coming from. Before Michael introduced Rob Kauffman some assumed that this was who Michael was partnering with, and questioned the wisdom of bringing them on board. Of course there's risk in every deal or investment, but it seems as if Kauffman is someone who has a global presence in the financial industry, is stable, has a significant amount of personal assets and also seems to have a good reputation. Maybe Robby can find someone like that to help him out, someone who believes in him and his organization enough to join with him in taking RGM to the next level.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:38 PM | Comments (0)

October 12, 2007

Michael Waltrip Racing Announces New Partner; Dale Jarrett To Retire

What a day for Michael Waltrip Racing!! Lots of exciting news for sure! As rumored, Dale Jarrett will race just six races next season before turning the #44 - and the UPS sponsorship - over to David Reutimann. David, who has extended his contract with MWR for the next three years, will start the season in the #00 before getting into the #00. In addition, Michael announced that he was bringing on a partner, Rob Kauffman, a founder of Fortress Investment Group, who has acquired 50% ownership of the new company formed as a result, Michael Waltrip Racing Holdings, LLC.

I'm thrilled that David was not only re-signed, but re-signed for the next three years! He's an outstanding driver and person, and I've been so impressed with him, not only this season but also when he was in DW's truck as well. David has so much talent as a driver, and I have no doubt we'll be seeing David win some Cup races as soon as he has cars that are competitive enough to allow him to race up front regularly. I think David will end up being a good fit for UPS - it's clear they like David, and from the sounds of it, DJ thinks very highly of him too and played a major role in getting David into the #44. It's a little disappointing that David won't be able to continue racing the #00 since that number has so much family history for him, but UPS would like to remain with the #44. What's good is that David said yesterday that he'll apparently be keeping his crew chief, Frank Kerr, and his team - that's outstanding for David because he has such a great rapport with them and they seem to work extremely well together.

David will also race the #99 again full-time in the Nationwide Series because he wants the opportunity to race for a Championship again in that series. While I love to watch David race in the now-Busch series, and I think his chances of winning the Championship next season are pretty good, if there's one thing that I wish was different is that I would have rather seen David concentrate on Cup only next season, and that the #99 would be used for driver development. But I can't really complain too much about having more opportunities to see David race!

Although DJ is only going to be racing a handful of races next season he plans on remaining involved with the #44 team and UPS. DJ talked about how much he wanted to help MWR and the #44 team grow, but I have to wonder if the extent to which he's going to be involved next season is because he still has contractual obligations to UPS and MWR because of the deal he signed prior to the start of this season which was supposed to be a two-year deal for DJ to race full-time through the end of next season. What makes me think that is when it was said that DJ would fulfill all his hospitality obligations to UPS. I can see how UPS might want to get as much mileage about of DJ as possible before he retires completely considering how closely connected DJ and UPS have been the past seven years. UPS is really going to get the best of both worlds - a talented driver in David, and continue to have DJ represent them. As I've said previously in this space I've never warmed to DJ, and once he said that he didn't care one way or another whether he continued to race, nor was he very upset when he didn't make races, I thought it was definitely time for him to get out of the car. So I can't say I'm as heart-broken as a lot of fans that DJ's retiring. I appreciate all that DJ has done to help MWR get off the ground and I can recognize that DJ has accomplished a lot in the sport, but I just don't have the same fond feelings for him that others do.

I also practically jumped up and down for joy when it was confirmed as part of this announcement that Michael will continue to race the #55 full-time next season! Michael had said that was the plan a number of times recently, but the best laid plans have a funny way of changing. Some have said that surely NAPA wants Michael to step aside, but it's pretty clear that NAPA wants Michael to continue representing them and racing for them otherwise another driver would be in the car next season. Eventually I know the day will come when Michael steps out of the car for good just like DJ is doing, but Michael told Nascar Now he has no plans to retire and that he intends on continuing to race as long as he feels he can race competitively. If he has a good race car I know Michael can race up front and contend for wins so now that the MWR cars are getting more competitive, I hope that means that Michael will continue to race for a few more years, but I suppose that depends on how quickly the drivers in MWR's development program progress.

One thing that wasn't announced at the press conference was who the driver of the #00 would be when David moves to the #44. It was said that they would consider putting either Josh Wise or Michael McDowell in the #00, but that they're also considering other options. So the speculation about who might get that ride will continue. I imagine that a lot of it will depend on sponsorship - whether they find some and who that sponsor wants in the car, though based on Ty Norris's comments just now on XM it also depends on whether Josh and Michael will be ready by next April to race in Cup. I'm very happy to hear that it sounds like Michael McDowell has joined the MWR driver development program. Michael has spoken highly about him recently and he appears to have a lot of talent and potential, just like Josh. I think it's a little soon to put either of those two drivers in the #00 though, especially full-time. I'd rather see them race full-time or share a ride in the Truck or Nationwide Series so that they can get experience before move up to Cup. Maybe putting a veteran in the car who is willing to split time with the two young drivers, as well as mentor them, much like Mark Martin is doing at DEI would work. No, I don't think Steve Park is going to end up in this ride. Not when he hasn't raced Cup or worked much with a sponsor since 2003. Though I saw elsewhere that apparently Michael mentioned in one interview or another that Johnny Benson was being considered - I wish Steve had hooked up with a Toyota truck team at some point because that might led to other opportunities with other Toyota teams.

Contrary to what David Poole reported, Fortress Investment Group isn't buying into MWR. However, Rob Kauffman, a founder and managing director of Fortress is making a personal investment in MWR. That was made clear several times, that this is a personal investment by Kauffman. I think this is ultimately going to be a very good thing. Kauffman will be a huge asset on the financial and business side, which will allow Michael to focus on the motorsports side, an area that Kauffman has no experience with. Since Kauffman lives in Europe I suspect that Michael will remain in control of most of the day-to-day operations and much of what happens just as he always had. It's interesting that this partnership is going to result in a new company, Michael Waltrip Racing Holdings, LLC. For one thing Michael's name remains prominent, but additionally, I have to wonder as someone else on Michael's forum wondered about as well what that new company actually entails and what kinds of protections are in place for Michael to retain actual ownership of Michael Waltrip Racing and the teams.

What no one saw coming was that Cal Wells, formerly the owner of PPI Motorsports would come on board as Executive Vice President of Operations. MWR essentially merged with PPI prior to the start of this season when they not only purchased the owner's points from the #32, but also hired most of the #32's crew and some other personnel. It had been thought that this deal was mostly on paper, particularly since Cal was working with Robby Gordon Motorsports as a consultant for a while. However, a few months ago Michael made a comment on his XM show that Cal was still actively involved, and it's clear now that was very true. Some of Robby's fans have to be all twisted up inside that Cal was hired by Michael, not Robby given that Cal has known Robby since he was young. However, Cal had said in an XM interview that while he wanted to help Robby out as much as possible he could never go into a formal business arrangement with him because he felt it would damage their personal relationship due to Robby's control issues and overall attitude as owner. Robby's loss is definitely MWR's gain! It'll be humorous to see all the ways that Robby's fans, a large percentage of whom can't stand Michael, try to spin what was announced today as negative news that's a sign that MWR is on the verge of folding as many are trying to convince them is going to happen - I think not! In fact, if Robby doesn't look to make some of the same kinds of moves that Michael has - develop young drivers so he can expand and bring on outside partners, his organization might be the one in trouble.

Believe it or not, this morning, a few hours before this announcement was made I actually got to talk to Michael. Some friends were visiting Raceworld today and got to spend a little time with Michael. So one of them was kind enough to put Michael on the phone. It was a very brief conversation, in which he did most of the talking since I was too excited about hearing his voice to say much! I honestly can't even remember exactly what was said beyond him saying that he wished I was there and that he hoped to see me soon - no clue if it was explained to him who I was and that he actually knew that he was talking to someone who is a familiar face to him or whether he says stuff like that to fans who he talks to on the phone all the time. But even in that short conversation, he sounded so happy - he's always happy around his fans, but I think what he was announcing today was making him happy too. This season has been such a struggle for him, but the future looks really bright for MWR. It has to make him feel good that someone believes in him and his organization and their chances for success enough to invest so much in it. I'm really, really happy for Michael - after a very rough start, it appears that things are really starting to turn around for MWR - I'm very excited to see what next season has in store for Michael and his teams!

Posted by silverdsl at 12:22 PM | Comments (0)

October 02, 2007

Reasonable Speed

A subject of much controversy after Sunday's race is reasonable speed and whether Greg Biffle was maintaining a reasonable speed or not at the conclusion of the race. Turns out many people are confused about how reasonable speed is determined. Contrary to what many - including some of the drivers - believe, it's not determined by the pace car. David Poole read the rule that relates to reasonable speed directly from the official rule book this morning and the race car isn't even mentioned! Reasonable speed is a judgment call made by Nascar officials, and in their judgment on Sunday Biffle was maintaining a reasonable speed when he crossed the finish line. Case closed. It's not up to the other drivers, members of the media or fans to decide what reasonable speed is, it's up to Nascar to decide.

Many are bringing up the Robby Gordon incident in Montreal in which Nascar cited Robby's lack of reasonable speed for one reason why they made the call they did. I think what happened in Montreal is irrelevant to what happened with Biffle on Sunday. Michael Waltrip brought up an incident last night on Inside Nextel Cup in which he pulled momentarily towards pit road during a Busch race and when he pulled back on the track Nascar put him in 7th instead of 4th because they said he didn't maintain a reasonable speed. As much as I love Michael and frequently agree with him on many topics, in this case I think that incident is irrelevant too. It's left as a judgment call by Nascar because each situation is different with different circumstances and drivers doing different things, at different speeds. Which is why, as much as the panel members on INC, fans and everyone else want Nascar to be consistent, it's not always possible. While there are similarities in some situations, there are so many different variables in each situation.

But to me a lot of people are getting hung up on reasonable speed when there's other factors that are important as well. For one thing the field was frozen when the caution flew and there's no passing allowed under caution. So even if other cars passed Biffle while he was taking precautions to ensure he didn't run out of gas, those passes didn't count. In the middle of a race if Nascar determines that a driver makes a pass under caution that driver isn't allowed to keep the position they gained - why would it be any different in this situation? In my mind, since the field was frozen and no passing is allowed, as long as Biffle crossed the finish line - and he did - he won the race. Had he stopped because he was out of gas completely and was unable to cross the finish line then that's different, Clint Bowyer would be the winner. But Biffle definitely crossed the finish line.

It seems to me that some fans, and some in the media as well, are looking for any excuse to criticize Nascar. To some fans they're so insistent that everything that Nascar does is wrong that everything that happens is part of some sort of conspiracy where Nascar is helping a team they favor or otherwise trying to manipulate the outcome of a race. Even if in reality Nascar is trying to follow their own rule book. Nascar may not always be consistent. The way they apply the rules may change over time as the sport itself changes. They may *gasp* make mistakes. The reality is that the officials in every other sport blow calls and make mistakes, it's going to happen in Nascar as well. But that doesn't mean that every ruling is a mistake or everything they do is wrong. Sometimes they actually get it right.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:55 AM | Comments (0)

September 26, 2007

Random Nascar Thoughts

*Richard Childress said today that it's unlikely that Richard Childress Racing will field a 4th car next season, and that he's rather wait until 2009 to find the "right combination" that makes it a "good fit" for their organization. From the sounds of it, sponsorship might be a problem, which isn't surprising since a 4th team wouldn't be locked into the races each week due to a lack of owner's points so some sponsors might be leery of that situation, particularly if RCR didn't have a marquee driver lined up to be behind the wheel.

*Speaking of David and him re-signing with MWR, he says that a sticking point that's keeping him from re-signing is that he wants to stay in the #99 Busch car next season but MWR wants to put a young driver in. It would be great if MWR were able to field two Busch cars next season but as an organization that is still trying to get a solid foundation in place to be successful, I'm not sure they have the resources to field two full-time Busch cars, particularly two competitive cars. Dale Jarrett is going to be retiring at the end of next season so there will need to be a replacement for him, and Michael will eventually step out of the #55 as well, so I can understand why MWR wants to put a young driver in the Busch car in the hopes of being able to advance him to Cup in 2009.

*However, David also indicated in he same article that he would probably re-sign with MWR. that's definitely great news and not a surprise. For one thing David had expressed interest in returning to MWR all along. But beyond that since RCR likely won't have a 4th team next season, David probably doesn't have many other options other than staying with MWR. I'm really happy that David will likely be back at MWR next season since I think he's a huge asset to MWR - he's a very talented driver and a terrific person. I'll be even happier when an official announcement that they have a signed deal with David is made.

*Ever since Aaron Fike was busted for allegedly being in possession of heroin, David Green has been behind the wheel of the #1 truck for Red Horse Racing. But he'll be replaced for five of the last six races this season by Jason Leffler, with Brandon Whitt racing at Atlanta so Leffler can race in the Busch series at Memphis that weekend. I wonder what that means for this truck for next season? Leffler's the top non-Cup driver in the Busch Series right now so I can't see him leaving that ride unless something were to open up for him in Cup, which doesn't seem likely considering how poorly things worked out for him the last time he was in Cup. Would they put Whitt behind the wheel? Could it be a potential ride for Steve Park? The #1 would be a solid ride and the team has shown that they can finish in the top ten and top 15. However, they don't race up front regularly or contend for wins, so Steve probably wouldn't even be interested in this ride even if they were interested in him.

*Tony Stewart wasn't penalized or even reprimanded by Nascar for twice bumping Paul Menard on pit road during Sunday's race at Dover to express his displeasure at the way Paul pitted in front of him. Why? It seems to me that one driver using their car as a weapon against another on pit road is a safety issue and something that's even more serious than Carl Edward's car being too low, something he got points taken away for.

*Peter Sospenzo has officially been hired as Robby Gordon's crew chief. Sospenzo is a talented and experienced crew chief but it seems like Robby goes through crew chiefs very quickly. I wonder how long Sospenzo will last? Hopefully Robby will be able to develop a good rapport with Peter and he'll stick around long-term - the survival of Robby's Cup team might depend on having someone on top of the box consistently who can help the team improve. Being 27th in points isn't very impressive.

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

September 22, 2007

An Eventful Day for Robby Gordon

In the prior entry I detailed the issues that Robby Gordon has related to Gene Nead leaving which has left him without a crew chief this weekend, but he's had other problems to deal with too. He's racing the Busch race for Brewco Motorsports - or I should say was racing since he just wrecked and is headed to the garage area. So first he missed the Busch driver's meeting for unknown reasons so he had to start the race from the back, which didn't end up being too much of a problem because Robby was able to race his way into the top ten.

But the race suddenly got quite eventful for Robby. While racing Reed Sorenson, Robby got into Tony Raines who ended up wrecked in the wall. Not pleased with this turn of events, and probably feeling some pent-up frustration from losing his Cup ride, Tony gave Robby a little taste of his own medicine. Few fans can forget what happened at New Hampshire in 2005 when Robby threw his helmet at Michael Waltrip after the two of them tangled and Robby ended up the worse for it. Well, Tony just did the exact same thing to Robby, plus gave him the finger, both of which will surely result in Tony having to hand over some money in the form of a big fine to Nascar. I think the drivers need to have control over their emotions and act like adults so I really don't like seeing drivers throw helmets at each other, but on the other hand I have to admit I laughed at the irony of Robby getting a helmet tossed at him.

The excitement wasn't over for Robby though. A few laps ago he lost it and got into the inside wall which sent him to the garage for repairs. In his interview just now on ESPN, Robby took full responsibility for Tony getting wrecked, saying it was completely his fault and that he misjudged things which resulted into him getting into Tony. I have to commend Robby for taking responsibility there. He dodged responding to a question about the helmet throw, but if anyone should understand what Tony was thinking in that spot it's Robby.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:54 PM | Comments (0)

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts

*Jon Wood will return to the #21 in next week's Kansas race, and will be one of three drivers behind the wheel of the #21 next season. Marcos Ambrose and possibly Bill Elliott would be the other two drivers. The Wood Brothers will also field a second car for Elliott in the Kansas race. I can't say I fully understand the Wood Brothers thinking in relation to putting Jon back in the car. Jon missed time earlier in the season due to mysterious headaches, possibly caused by being prescribed medication incorrectly, and spent time in rehab for reasons that have never been fully clarified. Once he started racing again he wisely took things slow by racing in the Truck Series where there's less pressure and attention. I have to wonder how throwing him back in Cup, particularly into a situation where there's going to be a revolving door when it comes to the driver behind the wheel, is actually going to work out. From the sounds of it, Ken Schrader is out of the picture for the #21 for 2008, but it's good for Bill Elliott, who I think did a good job for this team, that he might get to continue racing some races for them. It'll also be interesting to see how Marcus Ambrose does in Cup.

*The Associated Press is reporting that Joe Gibbs Racing is close to finalizing a deal that would make M&M's the primary sponsor for Kyle Busch and the #18 next season. That would give JGR more financial resources for the #18 team since Interstate Batteries, who are currently on the car has a more limited budget than M&M's. If M&M's were to leave Robert Yates Racing, where they sponsor the #38, that might mean the end of the Snickers sponsorship on the current #88 car, since Masterfoods is the parent company of both. It's going to be hard enough for Yates to find sponsorship for one car given their lack of strong results recently for either car, and it might be an impossible task if they have to find sponsorship for both cars. I have to wonder what the future of this organization is going to be. Without sponsorship it will be very difficult to field competitive cars, something they already struggle doing, and financially it would be very hard to field two cars all season without sponsorship.

*Yet again Red Bull Racing has had to deny rumors that they're leaving Toyota for Chevy. While it seems to me that it's possible that there's a grain of truth to those rumors since they've persisted for so long, in that perhaps there was some feelers put out by either RBR or Chevy, it seems to me that it doesn't really make sense for RBR to switch manufacturers after just one season. For one thing odds are that RBR has a multi-year deal with Toyota, so they'd have to find some way of breaking it. But beyond that RBR had to anticipate going into this season that they might struggle. Perhaps they didn't think it would be this hard, but they had to be prepared that their first season in Cup might be rocky. I'd think they have a long-term plan and that they're not just thinking about their results this season but also what they might be down the road. Odds are all the Toyota teams are going to make continual improvement each season as Toyota and their teams get used to racing Cup.

*On one forum I'm on a few people are convinced that Nascar fixed races in that they pre-determine the outcome to create drama and make for better storylines, thus ensuring more media and fan attention. It's not just they think that Nascar might manipulate races like Tony Stewart once accused them of doing, but that the sport is apparently as fake as professional wrestling. As Jeff Burton once said when asked about that possibility - ludicrous. I've yet to hear any explanation from anyone who believe that Nascar fixes races how they could get 43 owners, teams, drivers and sponsors to go along with fixing races. Or how they could script races without anyone knowing about it. One would think if Nascar was really doing something like that, someone who didn't care about losing their job would step forward to blow the whistle. But no one has. Even Tony was unable to provide one shred of evidence to support his claims, and there's nothing to support the idea that Nascar fixes races either. Burton even said that he would quit racing if he thought that anything like that was going on, and thus far he's still racing.

*Less than six months after joining JR Motorsports as a development driver, Jeremy McGrath has parted ways with the team. The reason that was cited by JR Motorsports was McGrath's desire to remain close to his family on the West Coast and not travel. While that might be a factor, I suspect the bigger reason is probably what was cited by Nascar Scene, that there was a conflict between McGrath's sponsor, Monster Energy Drinks, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s new sponsor, AMP Energy Drinks. Odds are when McGrath expressed interest in racing in Nascar he realized that he was going to have to do a lot of traveling and spend a lot of time on the East Coast.

*Although Robby Gordon claims he parted ways amicably with his most recent crew chief, Gene Nead, that doesn't seem to be an accurate depiction of how Gene came to leave Robby Gordon Motorsports. Based on reports from a Robby fan forum, Nead got so fed-up with taking abuse from Robby that he actually left the pit box with ten laps still to go in the race at New Hampshire. Maybe it's happened in the past and I've just never heard about it, but I can't remember another instance in which a crew chief voluntarily got down from the pit box and abandoned his team when there wasn't an emergency of some sort, so that speaks to just how bad things were between Robby and Gene. And Gene's unhappiness with the way Robby treated him might not be an isolated instance if what's being said on that same forum can be believed. Message boards are notoriously unreliable sources of accurate information, but if only a fraction of what's being said there by Robby's own fans is accurate RGM has some real problems that need to be addressed.

It's well known that Robby has a volatile personality, and virtually every driver has their moments when they have a meltdown over the radio or with their teams out of frustration, it's important to an organization's success that an owner treat their employees well and make them feel respected and appreciated. Personnel and sponsorship issues that have lingered for RGM since the start of the season could very well present a major roadblock for this organization in terms of achieving success and in terms of growth. Which is unfortunate because I think RGM being successful would be good for Nascar because it would show that small, independent teams can make it in Cup. What's ironic is that a lot of Robby's fans rip Michael Waltrip Racing for their short-comings and predict that organization is going to fold sooner rather than later, but perhaps they should be more concerned with what's going on with their own favorite driver and his team.

Posted by silverdsl at 12:53 PM | Comments (0)

August 07, 2007

Robby Gordon Gets Penalized

Since I was at Pocono this weekend I didn't get to do an entry about Robby Gordon's action in Montreal on Saturday, but believe me I've been giving it plenty of thought. Although Nascar parked Robby for Sunday's Cup race in response to his actions the day before, they penalized him further today by placing him on probation and fining him $35,000. At first I had thought that Robby got off easy but there's a stipulation to the probation that I think might be Nascar's harshest punishment of all. Nascar said,

"...if, during the remaining NASCAR events in 2007, there is another action by Gordon that is deemed by NASCAR officials as detrimental to stock-car racing or to NASCAR, or is disruptive to the orderly conduct of an event, he will be suspended indefinitely from NASCAR."

Why is that such a harsh punishment? Because over the course of his career, as evidenced by his actions this past weekend, and many other instances, Robby has shown an inability to keep his emotions under control, which usually leads to behavior that gets him into trouble. There's the helmet toss, deliberately causing a caution, ill-advised comments about Danica Patrick and so much more. What Nascar has forced Robby to do is either change his pattern of behavior or not race, possibly for a long time. As a result Robby might be forced to change his racing style to be less aggressive - spinning another competitior like what he did to Marcos Ambrose, regardless of what was done to him first, likely won't be tolerated. But Robby will also be forced to be careful in terms of his overall attitude and behavior - "actions detrimental to stock-car racing or Nascar" is extremely broad and Nascar can apply that (and often does) to virtually any situation where they feel there needs to be some sort of penalty. One way or another Robby will have to conform and accept Nascar's authority.

As for Robby's actions in Montreal, I think he was competely over-the-line. Yes, he had reason to be angry with Nascar. Good reason. But the fact of the matter is that Nascar is the governing body of the sport. If he doesn't feel like abiding by their directives and rules he can find another series to race in, and I think that's the message that Nascar is trying to send with the stipulation to the probation. Most of Robby's supporters are glossing over his actions after Nascar black-flagged him and are only concentrating on how unfair it was that Nascar wouldn't let him stay in second place on the re-start. But in my mind, it's Robby's actions afterwards that overshadow any mistakes that Nascar made.

As soon as Robby was told to get off the track for deliberately wrecking Ambrose - something Robby admitted to in an interview that was played on XM yesterday - he was obligated to comply. Robby claims that he felt he had to stay on the track and "win" so that if he appealed and won he would be declared the winner. Give me a break. There's no way Robby was going to win that appeal once he refused to get in line and then failed to comply with a Nascar directive to go to the garage. What's worse though is what Robby did after the race - his victory "celebration" with the burnouts and the show for the fans was an embarassment. That showed a complete lack of respect not only for Nascar, but also for Kevin Harvick, the real race winner, and Richard Childress, who happen to be Robby's former teammate and owner respectively. I think his antics displayed not only a lack of respect for everyone else around him but also an incredible selfishness because in that moment not only did Robby not care about Nascar, Kevin or Childress, he also didn't care about how his actions would effect his Cup team, his organization overall or his sponsors.

Robby was practically begging for Nascar to take action against him - and they did. I completely agree with Nascar suspending Robby for Pocono, and I would have fully agreed with them parking him for more races too. Regardless of how in the wrong Nascar might have been in relation to some of their calls against Robby, they are the governing body of the sport and they have to send a message that no competitor can ignore their rules or create a sideshow like Robby did, something which completely overshadowed not only Kevin's win but what should have been a feel-good story about how great the racing was in Nascar's first race in Montreal.

Many of Robby's fans think his behavior is wonderful because he's standing up to Nascar and making them look foolish. Most of them think that not only did Robby "win" the race in Montreal, but he also "won" some sort of battle against Nascar. I don't think so. In the long-term Robby's actions could be quite costly. For one thing it's never a wise idea to be on Nascar's bad side, and there's no doubt that those that run Nascar were furious with Robby. What if Robby needs their help with something down the road - they might not be so willing to help him out. But beyond that on Sirius yesterday morning there was some discussion about how some of Robby's sponsors aren't all that thrilled with his antics. While it's true that there's no such thing as bad publicity in many cases, that doesn't mean that sponsors condone bad behavior. At some point sponsors would rather that exposure comes from good results on the track or other more positive things rather than a driver constantly acting out. Plus, Robby already has some sponsorship issues - some sponsors may think twice about getting involved with him, which could be especially costly considering Robby wants to get a second Cup team going full-time. In addition, there's Robby's Cup team to consider - I think by getting himself parked, Robby really let them down. Perhaps that's what's most unfortunate of all to me - Robby doesn't seem to understand that he's not only a driver now, he's also an owner and that brings additional obligations and responsibilities.

So Robby's response is to put Ambrose in a second Cup car at The Glen. I suppose it's his way of making amends with Ambrose and also generating some additional PR. But part of me wonders if it's not an additional way of saying "screw you" to Nascar by doing something to ensure that this incident keeps getting talked about through next week. It seems that Robby's pattern is to screw up and them do something splashy to make up for it. In this instance he's giving Ambrose a ride, when he threw the helmet at Michael Waltrip, he ended up auctioning it up for charity. Those are nice gestures, but I think it's unfortunate that he's not just doing those things anyway as opposed to doing them because he needs to do damage control.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:01 PM | Comments (0)

July 28, 2007

Random Thoughts on Random Thoughts

*Great Busch race tonight at ORP! Jason Leffler got Toyota their first Busch Series win and the racing was outstanding, particularly towards the end of the race. David Reutimann finished third, but he was clearly upset after the race with the way that Leffler raced him though he tried to take the high road. I'm sure it was also disappointing for David that he wasn't the one to put Toyota into Victory Lane in the Busch Series for the first time - I sure would have loved to have seen that happen! But odds are David will end up in VL himself before this season's over - that #99 is fast every week and David is a terrific driver! As for what happened between he and Jason, I would have preferred to see Jason race him cleaner but I can also understand how hungry Jason was for that win, knowing he had a good car and not many laps to get to the front. If I remember correctly Jason once wrecked both Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who were teammates in Cup at the time, in another Busch race, so I'm sure Michael was extremely displeased to see Jason racing a driver in one of his cars so aggressively in this race.

*I'm usually one who tries not to judge drivers when they have a lot of poor results or get into a lot of incident on the track since I know that there's often so many factors that are out of a driver's control that can make situations they're involved in look bad when in reality it might not be entirely - or at all - their fault when something happens. However, Steven Wallace seems to wreck himself or others every single week, and it's really hard for even me to write it off as bad luck, non-competitive cars or the fault of other competitors. Usually I think that teams should have patience with their young drivers even if they tear up some cars, but when Steve seems to cause chaos on the track every single week I think it's time for RWI to re-evaluate things. That doesn't mean they should write Steven off for good - he might very well turn into a great driver who wins a lot of races some day. But it seems to me that he might benefit from being brought along slower. Maybe racing some ARCA races, along with the occasional truck race, where there's less pressure might be something to consider. I think racing where there might be less attention on him might also be beneficial. I have to wonder if Steven wasn't racing for his father if he would still have a ride - most teams would want to see some signs of improvement and there haven't seemed to be many for Steven so far.

*Junior said today that not only is he trying to sign Brad Keselowski to race the #88 for the rest of this season (excluding the road course races), but that he's considering signing him for next season as well. So it's probably unlikely that Steve Park will end up in that ride even for a race or two. For those who think that JR Motorsports should put a "real" driver (Steve) in that ride, well "fake" drivers don't finish 10th like Brad did tonight in only their third race with a team that's had their struggles at times. Brad did a good job of racing into the top ten tonight on a track he's only raced a truck on. If JR Motorsports can provide him with competitive cars then it appears he might be able to race up front with them. Three races is a small sample, but I like what I see from him so far, particularly since the #88 probably hasn't been one of the best teams in the garage this season, but Brad has done a nice job of getting all he can out of that car so far.

*Greg Biffle might be in trouble with Nascar. Not for anything he did during a race but because after tonight's Busch race he wouldn't go to the press box to fulfill his media obligations as is required of top finishing drivers. Biffle did speak with members of the TV and radio media, but refused several requests to go to the press box. While I think the drivers need to make themselves available to the media and fulfill their obligations, Biffle did speak with some of the media so it's not like he refused to speak with them at all. He may have felt that speaking with the TV and radio folks by his car was enough to complete his obligation, or maybe there was some reason that he had to leave the track immediately. But in a situation like that his PR person needs to step in, either to explain to Biffle why he needs to go to the press box and find a way to make sure he follows through, or to run interference for him with the media he didn't speak with and Nascar in terms of making the reasons why he refused to go to the press box known. Of course he might not have had a very good reason in which case it puts his PR person in a bad position where they have to make excuses for something there's not much of an excuse for.

*After months of rumors that had Robert Yates Racing merging or being sold to just about every other team in the garage area, they finally went through with a merger of a sort (they're calling it a partnership), only it was one that no one expected. RYR has joined forces with Newman/Hass/Lanigan Racing, and RYR will now be known as Yates/Newman/Hass/Lanigan Racing, which is a clumsy mouthful (but they do have a cool looking logo). I think this is a good move for Yates. It's been clear for a while that they need some help to improve and from the sounds of it Newman/Hass/Lanigan Racing will be able to help them with one of their biggest weaknesses - engineering. Supposedly David Gilliland has been re-signed to race the #38 next season, but it still remains to be seen whether Ricky Rudd will return to the #88 and how this partnership will effect who races that car next season.

*Yet again Mike Mulhern made me shake my head. He wrote the following:

"According to one report, which could not be immediately confirmed, John Menard, the wealthy businessman whose son, Paul, is a first-year tour racer at DEI, apparently stepped in with a check to help make the merger happen."

It couldn't be confirmed because according to John Story of DEI, it's not true! According to Story, John Menard didn't even know about the merger until after it was a done deal, though I question why DEI was moving forward on a major merger without giving their sponsors some prior warning. These days until another source reports it, I find it difficult to believe much of what Mulhern reports because so much of it turns out to be inaccurate. What bothers me is that Mulhern could have called Story or others to find out whether this "report" was true or not, in which case he would have found out that Menard wasn't involved in the merger, but instead he opted to run with the story as he does so often without confirmation or sourcing. It amazes me that his editors let him get away with this kind of thing so often, but I guess it would make for more boring stories and less readers if he didn't print all the rumors and speculation he hears.

*Robby Gordon wrecked during practice today, so badly that his team had to pull out the back-up car. I went to Robby's forum on Nascar.com to see what his fans's reaction was and there was immediate speculation that Robby had put his primary car into the wall deliberately because he wanted to go to his back-up since the primary was so ill-handling. I was skeptical - what driver deliberately wrecks a car that their team works so hard on, and especially when that driver is also an owner and knows how much money does into each car. Well, if someone who was at the track listening in on Robby's radio can be believed Robby told his team to start getting the back-up ready... the lap before he got into the wall. That's pretty disappointing to me to find out that a driver might have actually done something like that deliberately. I'll never know if Robby really did wreck himself deliberately or not, but it would make me lose some respect for him if he did. Every other team on the track made due with what they had and I'm quite sure that some of the other teams were very unhappy with their primary cars too. What's ironic is that the back-up car appears to be pretty lousy too. Of course his team can make adjustments so things might be different during the race tomorrow but Robby was one of the slowest cars in qualifying.

*Ray Evernham finally discussed his relationship with Erin Crocker this week, and admitted that it hurt her racing career. Well, duh. No one - and especially not sponsors - are going to look favorably on a 50-year old dating a 26-year old, and especially not when he's her car owner who is recently divorced. But I have to give them credit for seemingly weathering the storm and staying together in spite of the negativity that's been directed towards them. I wouldn't make the same choices that either one of them did, but they are adults who can live their lives the way they choose, and if they've been together this long there's likely something real there. It's a good move for Erin to look for opportunities to race outside of Evernham Motorsports. That will be best not just for her career but also for their relationship.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:49 PM | Comments (0)

May 03, 2007

Michael Waltrip and Robby Gordon Bury the Hatchet

...and not in each other. On Michael's XM show on Tuesday night, Robby came up in conversation, and Michael said that he and Robby are "cool" with each other, that they've had a love-hate relationship in the past, but that they have a lot of mutal respect for each other. Apparently, Robby has also been giving Michael advice since he's also a driver-owner, who knows all about many of the trails and tribulations that Michael is going through since he missed seven races when he was first starting out with his own team in 2005. Michael said of Robby,

"He said he wished he was as smart when he started as he is now. I said, 'Well, would you help me be smarter then?' "

I'm glad that Michael has asked Robby for advice. Fact is, in spite of a subpar season so far, Robby was able to overcome missing races in 2005, to put himself and his organization solidly in the top 35 in owner's points last season, and is there so far this season. So there's likely a lot of insight he can share with Michael, but more than that just encouragement that things can and will improve.

Robby said,

"At some point, you have to feel sorry for the situation that they're in. They've got themselves in a hole where it's going to be tough to get out even next year. Just have confidence, hang in and wake up every day believing you can do it."

I think Robby has some great words of advice there. Having confidence and the belief that things will get better and that they'll eventually be able to have success on the track is really important. If Michael has a positive, yet realistic, attitude, that will inspire everyone else at MWR to have that kind of an attitude, and believing that they can turn things around will help them put a lot of effort into actually making it happen - and they will!

I just hope the good will between Michael and Robby will spread to their respective fanbases. I can't stand how fans of each driver call the other driver POS, bash them obsessively, and especially how many in each fanbase appear to hate fans in the other fanbase simply because they cheer for the "wrong" driver. Yes, Michael and Robby have been involved in some incidents with each other, and yes, there's been some words exchanged. But I remember how Robby showed up in 2005 at the Hootie and the Blowfish concert as part of Operation Marathon which was meant as a celebration of Michael running the Las Vegas Marathon to raise $1 million for the VJCG when a lot of other drivers didn't. So there was a time when they were on somewhat good terms, and I'm glad that it appears they might be back to that way again. If Michael and Robby can get past their problems, I hope that their fans can too.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:10 PM | Comments (0)

March 27, 2007

Random Thoughts On Nascar Happenings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

March 25, 2007

Random Thoughts on Bristol

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

March 16, 2007

More Sponsor Trouble for Robby Gordon

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

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

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

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

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

March 12, 2007

Robby Gordon Having Sponsorship Problems?

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

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

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

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

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

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

January 24, 2007

John Story Hired by DEI

I'm often interested in the business side of the sport, and this got my attention - John Story, who was most recently CEO and general manager of Robby Gordon Motorsports, a position he held since the company was created in 2003, has joined DEI. He'll be involved with sales, marketing and communications, and assist DEI's newly appointed president, Max Siegel. RGM and DEI has something of a working relationship last season in which DEI provided engines to RGM, and perhaps some other assistance. I wonder if Robby's regretting that arrangement now that his long time GM who was instrumental in helping him build RGM has been lured to DEI?

Story said,

"What attracted me to DEI is the vision Teresa has for the company, the commitment she has already shown and the ideas she has shared with me for taking the company beyond its already prominent position. She has clearly illustrated that commitment by bringing Max on board, and having the opportunity to learn from him and work with him day-to-day is also a huge attraction."

There's been quite a bit of criticism directed towards Teresa recently. But are things really so bad at DEI if they've been able to hire Story, who surely knows all about the inner workings of DEI since he worked with them previously? Of course it's a great opportunity for Story. He gets to work for an organization much larger than RGM, that fields a car for Nascar's most popular driver, and two others. In addition, he's probably going to be working on a lot of much larger projects than he would get to at RGM, which is a growing organization, but probably has less resources right now than DEI does. It's a great career move for Story, and that might blunt having to deal with a less than perfect working environment.

It'll be very interesting to see how this effects RGM, especially since it's been rumored that they're in the middle of trying to expand, and who they get to replace Story.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:57 AM | Comments (0)

December 14, 2006

J.J. Yeley Involved in Most Wrecks Among Cup Drivers

J.J. Yeley inherits a dubious title from Michael Waltrip - Yeley's the Cup driver involved in the most crashes during the 2006 season. Last season poor Michael found himself wrecked 19 times, this season Yeley was involved in 17 incidents that led to torn sheet metal, something those back in the shop at Joe Gibbs Racing probably weren't all that thrilled with.

Before I go further, I should note that while I find an analysis of the stats as they relate to wrecks interesting, the stats as they relate to individual drivers don't take into account what the wrecks were a results of - being wrecked by another driver, a mechanical problem, or just driver error. So some use these stats to "prove" that certain drivers suck, I think that one needs to use some caution when it comes to drawing conclusions from these stats and instead look at overall trends. For example, this season Michael was only involved in 8 wrecks, which is about the average for him per season since USA Today started keeping track. So last season when he wrecked 19 times, appears like it was an abberation, as much as some fans who dislike him insist that Michael wrecks all the time - the numbers don't lie (they're only twisted around sometimes) - he doesn't.

One thing that jumps out at me about the list is that in spite of a rookie having wrecked the most this season, it's pretty obvious that it's not just the young drivers who find themselves in trouble on the track. In fact the driver with the second most wrecks in 2006 is a 14-year veteran, Joe Nemechek. There was a tie for third place among three other veterans - Ryan Newman, Casey Mears and Robby Gordon, with 15 wrecks each. Then fourth place went to Sterling Marlin with 14 wrecks. Then the next rookie can be found on the list in fifth with 12 wrecks, tied with Kyle Busch and Elliott Sadler.

2004's most wrecked driver, Robby Gordon who was high on this list in 2006 as well with 15 wrecks, had an interesting comment. He said,

"The field is so competitive. You have to push yourself to the maximum, week in and week out."

I can't be 100% sure what Robby is referring to. And as noted above, there's plenty of reasons why drivers wreck, some of which are out of their hands completely. However, Robby seems to be indicating that hard racing and pushing one's self - and one's car - to the limit is a factor in why some wrecks occur. Robby is certainly a driver who gives everything he's got to every race, non-stop. I can't help but wonder if perhaps some wrecks might be avoided if Robby and some other drivers didn't push quite so hard every lap of every race. After all, there's going to be sometimes when a driver doesn't have a competitive enough car to race up front with. But that doesn't seem to stop some drivers from trying. Maybe racing a 20th place car like it's a 20th place car, until their crew chief is able to make changes to make it better, is a wiser course of action than trying to race 5th with that car?

I can't help but notice the driver who took this unfortunate title in 2002 and 2003 - Steve Park. If that's not a glaring reason, in conjunction with the damaged goods tag that he's been unable to shake, for why he's not been under consideration for any decent Cup rides recently, I don't know what is. Again, all of those wrecks weren't all due to driver error. However, as I've said before in this space a lot of people, including those with teams and sponsors, have trouble looking beyond the stats at what might be behind the numbers.

Something else that's interesting is that Kasey Kahne went from being involved in a lot of wrecks his first two years in Cup - 15 in 2004, 16 in 2005, to being tied for least wrecks (5) with Kevin Harvick. Is that due to Kasey having gained more experience as the years passed? Because of the cars he's driving? Just a matter of luck? No way of knowing for sure, but Evernham Motorsports has to be very happy with him being able to bring his cars home in one piece most of the time in 2006.

Ah, yes the off-season - time to analyze semi-useless stats in the hope that they'll offer some insight into the following season.

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

November 29, 2006

Robby Gordon to Run Indy 500 in 2007?

Robby Gordon's raced both the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in the same day before, so every year it's speculated that Robby will attempt the feat again if the pieces fall into place in the right way. In fact, Robby is already saying that because of how competitive he thinks the field is going to be for the Indy 500 next season that he'd like to race both next season. However, Robby says that he'll only agree to do it if his Cup team is doing well.

"I would rather wait until the first six Cup races next year so we can say 'are we sitting 15th in points? Have we the improvements we think we are going to make with our programme? It's better to wait rather than just say we are going to do it now."

Robby Gordon fans probably shouldn't book a trip to Indy. As many advances as Robby Gordon Motorsports has made since last season, and as much as they might improve for next season, I'm skeptical that they'll be sitting 15th in points, at least not very deep into the season. That's not a knock on Robby's driving ability, but a reflection of the reality of how competitive Cup racing is, and how difficult it is for a single-car team to achieve a high degree of success. I simply don't see the #7 as a top 15 team at the moment. Should Robby add a second team, and continue to expand, I think the chances of success will increase. But for now I think Robby will be lucky to finish the season next year in the top 25.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:09 PM | Comments (0)

November 02, 2006

Robby Gordon to Appeal

Robby Gordon's going to appeal the penalties Nascar given to him for deliberately causing a caution by throwing a piece of roll bar padding out of his car. But not because he says he's innnocent. Instead according to a statement by Robby Gordon Motorsports, they will appeal the severity of the penalties, not that he was penalized.

"We strongly believe the penalty imposed on the team, crew chief and driver, Robby Gordon, are excessive and fall well outside of any reasonable precedence set by NASCAR in dealing with many similar incidents in the past. We do intend to appeal the severity of this penalty."

The only thing about this penalty that's excessive is that Robby's crew chief was also penalized. He had no control over the idiocy of his driver. Otherwise, Nascar is perfectly within their rights to hand down any penalty they so choose. And as we've seen in the recent past, Nascar might let a competitior or two off relatively easy, but if similar infractions continue, they have a tendency to make the punishments more and more severe. I also think that the circumstances with the incident involving Robby may be slightly different than with some of other competitors found to have deliberately caused a caution in that Nascar seems to believe that Robby's incident was premeditated. I highly doubt that Robby's going to win his appeal.

What's amazing is that there are still some of his fans who think he's a completely innocent man who's being framed by Nascar.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:46 PM | Comments (0)

November 01, 2006

Robby Gordon Penalized For Intentionally Causing Caution

Much to my surprise Nascar not only investigated whether Robby Gordon deliberately caused a caution, but when they discovered that he had in fact by thrown a piece of roll bar padding out the window of his car, also penalized him quite harshly. I was completely wrong when I figured that they might be making noise about looking into things just to appease fans and the media, because I thought they might not want to get into policing drivers who deliberately cause cautions by throwing things out of their cars since it's been going on for so long without Nascar doing much about it. But I guess there was no way to ignore this incident since NBC caught the roll bar padding flying out of the window of Robby's car on tape, and Jeff Burton was extremely vocal about how he thought Nascar should severely penalize the guilty party who caused the caution - which they did.

Robby's been fined $15,000, lost 50 driver points, 50 owner points, and has been placed on probation through the end of the year. Of course being placed on probation is meaningless since there's only three races left and the money is insignificant to Robby too. However a loss of 50 driver and owner points is a big deal. In addition, Robby's crew chief Greg Irwin was fined $10,000 and also placed on probation because Nascar feels that crew chiefs are responsible for the actions of their team members. I think that's a little unfair since a crew chief can't really control what their driver does inside the car when they're on the track. Not to mention Robby owns the entire team and employs Irwin, so I think it's kind of hard to tell the boss what to do in that regard.

Now that I've gotten over my shock that Nascar is actually doing something to address the issue of drivers deliberately causing cautions, I have to say that I'm glad that they were so hard on Robby. Not because I dislike him, but because I think that deliberately causing a caution is pretty close to cheating and it shouldn't be tolerated, no matter how many times it might have happened in the past. Robby was trying to manipulate the race and gain a benefit for himself - which he did since he was the Lucky Dog. Getting back on the lead lap allowed him to finish 10th. I have no problem with Nascar using Robby to discourage other drivers from doing something similar - I just wish they were equally as hard on Reed Sorenson earlier this season when he was caught throwing a glove out the window of his car during a Busch race to cause a caution.

I haven't been to any of the forums yet, but I'm sure some fans are crying about how unfair it is, and how Nascar is only being so harsh because it's Robby and they hate him. Please. It would be unfair if Robby was being punished when he really hadn't done anything. But Robby's guilty, therefore he deserves to be penalized, no matter how Nascar might have handled - or not handled - similar situations in the past. Robby is responsible for his actions (and according to Nascar his crew chief). If he didn't want to be punished, then he shouldn't have been throwing roll bar padding out of the window of his car.

I especially find it difficult to have much sympathy for Robby when he flat out lied during his post-race interview with NBC. I wouldn't expect him to admit to wrong-doing in a televised interview, but maybe a no-comment might have been a wise idea. It calls into question how much else he might lie about to the media. Such as when he claimed he didn't brake-check Michael Waltrip a few months ago at New Hampshire.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:33 PM | Comments (0)

October 31, 2006

Nascar Still Investigating Robby Gordon

Apparently Nascar is continuing to look into the possiblity that Robby Gordon deliberately caused a caution during the race on Sunday by throwing something out of the window of his car. Initially Nascar had said that the video was inconclusive and that they weren't going to penalize Robby, but it appears that didn't mean that they were going to drop the whole thing all together. I don't really understand how they're going to determine for sure whether or not Robby caused that caution if they can't tell from the video. I highly doubt Robby's going to admit to it if he's guilty, and I also doubt that they're going to be able to find an eyewitness who was able to say for sure that they saw Robby throwing something out of his car considering the car were going around the track at 200 MPH. So I still suspect nothing much is going to come of this, though many fans are convinced that Robby's going to be penalized extra-harshly because Nascar has it out for him. I'd be all for Robby being penalized, not because I dislike him, but because I don't like drivers deliberately causing cautions. But I'm not sure penalizing for incidents like this is something Nascar wants to get into. So a lot of this might be for show due to how much outrage there's been among fans and how much attention it's gotten from the media.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:16 PM | Comments (0)

October 29, 2006

Random Thoughts on Atlanta

*What a disappointing race this was. Atlanta's a fast track and in the past I seem to remember some pretty decent racing at this track. Not today. Or at least not that NBC showed us. Maybe the race was really exciting if one was sitting in the stands, but if one was watching at home it was a real snoozefest. In fact, I think this was the most boring race all season. There were a few instances of good racing, but for the most part nothing much seemed to happen. I hope the last three races this season are better, but I'm not feeling very optimitic. Since NBC won't be broadcasting Nascar next season, there isn't much motivation to do much more than the bare essentials when it comes to their race coverage. What does it really matter to them if they clog up the broadcast with a bunch of commercials, come back from commercial too late to catch re-starts, don't promptly explain why there's a caution or show footage from an incident?

*Yet another crappy race for the #55 team. This week Michael Waltrip finished 33rd, six laps down. It's unfortunate because if there was a race that the team needed to feel good about it was this one because Friday night the jackman for the #55 team, Steve Spahr, died suddenly at home from complications from open-heart surgery. The team had a nice memorial to him in their pit, and I imagine it might have been hard to truly concentrate on racing with the loss of a co-worker, who was probably a friend to many on their minds. So it would have been nice if the car Michael had been given was competitive enough to allow him to do some actual racing with it and finish well. Instead Michael was lapped early and the car kept getting worse and worse no matter what they did with it. But Spahr's death puts things in perspective. While it's disappointing, depressing and frustrating that Michael's season is so bad, it's only racing, not life or death. Michael has a lot to look forward to in the future, and I hope 2007 brings him much better results.

*The hot topic on fan forums this week is going to be whether Robby Gordon deliberately threw a piece of roll bar padding out of the window of his car deliberately to cause a caution when he was about to go a lap down. NBC's footage didn't make it clear whether it came from inside Robby's car or whether it was something that he ran over, but if Robby actually did throw something out of his car deliberately than I think Nascar should penalize him. I think deliberately trying to cause a caution is just as bad as cheating with an illegal part because the driver is trying gain some sort of benefit or manipulate the outcome of the race. However, earlier in the season when Reed Sorenson was caught red-handed throwing something out of his car during a Busch race to cause a caution, Nascar did nothing, so it's unlikely they'd do anything to Robby. Particularly considering how hard it might be to proove that he did it deliberately. Maybe they'll find different footage or be able to see what happened more clearly by reviewing the tape at a slower speed, but it was very hard to tell exactly where the piece of debris came from. And inspecting Robby's car as he offered to let them do won't do much good since Robby could have had a spare piece of roll bar padding stashed in his car somewhere just in case, as opposed to have ripped some off from inside the car.

*Some fans are upset that NBC tracked Robby down to "ambush" him and ask him about whether he had thrown the roll bar padding out of the car. Robby didn't look too happy about that, and in fact he did a remarkable impression of a guilty man trying to hide something, but it's entirely possible he was angry about being asked questions he didn't want to deal with just after getting out of his car, and he might have also not been too thrilled about being delayed in leaving the track. However, since Nascar doesn't have a cooling-off period before the media can interview the drivers, NBC did nothing wrong in seeking out Robby for an interview. The media has an obligation to do their jobs, and NBC has a limited amount of time for the post-race show. So there really wasn't much choice but to chase after Robby for a comment.

*There was another caution which might be a topic of some debate this week. That was when Junior was in the lead and desperately needed a caution so he wouldn't have to pit under green. Well, low and behold there was a debris for caution. Is it possible that Nascar threw the caution there so that Junior wouldn't go laps down? Sure, it's possible. Or it's possible that the racing wasn't very exciting at that point and they wanted to bunch the field up. However, it's just as likely that Nascar saw some actual debris on the track and threw the caution to play it safe. Fans aren't privvy to the discussions in the Nascar control tower so it's impossible to know what their thinking is. In addition, Nascar gets input from a variety of sources - officials around the track, drivers, teams, and from those in the control tower before the call to throw a caution is made. So when fans start talking conspiracy theories they're saying that a lot of people are working in collusion to fix races to benefit certain teams. And I'm not sure that's very likely.

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

July 28, 2006

In All Fairness to Robby Gordon...

Robby Gordon isn't very high on my list of drivers that I like right now... in fact I pretty strongly dislike him these days after his second run-in with Michael Waltrip at New Hampshire in less than a year. But in all fairness, I feel that I need to present his side of the story, as it is, regarding the lastest incident from a couple of weeks ago. What really irked me is that not a single person in the media bothered to follow-up on this incident, in spite of the fact that it led to several wrecked race cars and had an impact on the outcome of the race. Michael gave his side of the story on Inside Nextel Cup but I couldn't find a single comment by Robby anywhere that shed any light on his thinking and whether he actually deliberately meant to wreck Michael. I know a lot of people don't think that's a big deal, but I feel that it's really important to hear from all sides, even when I don't agree with what they might have to say, to gain as much of an understanding of what might have happened in an incident and what everyone's mindset might have been.

But Claire B. Lang took the time to call Robby yesterday to talk to him for "Dialed In" on XM about a few different things, including this particular incident. Naturally Robby denies brake-checking Michael. He says that he slowed while he was cleaning his tires and Michael must have looked down to check his tach or otherwise wasn't paying complete attention to what was going on in front of him. So Robby says that Michael didn't notice him slowing and that's why he ran into the back of him. Now, that has happened before - this season in fact when Sterling Marlin caused a wreck under caution because he looked down to check some gauges and didn't see cars stopped in front of him. And that was what Carl Edwards speculated had happened in an interview with Claire just after the race. But it seems to me that if Michael had made the mistake he would admit to it, since he had no problem admitting that he was at fault when he ran Ryan Newman over earlier in the same race because he didn't know that Ryan was checking up due to Dave Blaney slowing in front of him. So I'm kind of doubtful that Robby simply slowed while he was cleaning his tires and was a completely innocent bystander. Not that anyone can really prove for sure one way or another since only the two people who were actually in the cars - Robby and Michael - know what they did for sure.

I have to say that I'm not surprised that Claire B. Lang would be the one to finally get a comment from Robby. Often she's the only one who asks the hard questions and trys to talk to as many different people who were involved in an incident as possible. Now there are some others who do try to ask tough questions or do hard analysis, but I find that often those people interject their own opinions into it. What I like about Claire is that tries to be as objective as possible and rarely gives her own opinions about anything that happens. She simply asks the questions, plays the interviews and lets her listeners make up their own minds.

I also love the fact that she talks to so many drivers, crew members, sponsor representatives and all sorts of other people in the garage area that others in the motorsports media never talk to. No one ever talks to Steve Park, yet Claire had him on to give an update on what he's up to. Without her taking the time to call, probably because she's gotten emails and IMs asking about him from fans, no one would have any idea of what his status is. WIthout her taking the time to call Robby Gordon, no one would know his side of the story, and his fans wouldn't know what he was involved with either, since he doesn't get a tremendous amount of media attention either. I wouldn't know a thing about Joey Miller, the young truck rookie that she speaks to regularly, without hearing all those interviews that she's done with him. Listening to Joey talk, has really made me into a fan of his (and that he drives for DW). The list of people that she's interviewed and the amount of news and information that I otherwise wouldn't know anything about is endless.

Unfortunately there may be changes in store when Nascar moves to Sirius at the end of this year. I just hope that Claire can continue to do her show, either on XM or for Sirius.

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

July 23, 2006

Is Michael Waltrip Ever Going to Catch a Break?

Week after week it's the same story - the #55 is such a piece of junk that Michael Waltrip is only just barely able to qualify for races, let alone actually race. Then on top of that there's usually some sort of mechanical gremlin, and then maybe even a tangle with another driver to ruin his day even further. And if that's all not bad enough listening to the team communciation over the radio is painful! All of it adds up to miserable race after miserable race. If I'm sick of this garbage week after week, I can only imagine how horribly frustrating and depressing it is for Michael! Of course this week was no different than any other.

Today at Pocono, it seemed as if the car wasn't quite as lousy as it has been at some races, but Jeremy Mayfield getting into Michael on a restart and particularly a broken shock late in the race took care of any hope that Michael might be able to get even a top 30 finish. By the time the race ended, Michael was in 40th place, five laps down. I guess I should be happy because he didn't DNF - that could easily have happened after he got into the wall after the Mayfield incident or when the shock went bad. Michael's team did a nice job of fixing the car and making sure that he could continue the race. But that was just about the only good thing from this race.

So far this season, there's been spark plug issues, multiple occassions in which Michael has lost his brakes, mysterious electrical problems, engine issues and now the broken shock. Every single team experiences mechanical issues, but why is this team having so many?Of course even if the cars weren't falling apart, the #55 is usually so slow that even a drunk tortoise could practically out run it! What's really bothering me is that the past few weeks the #22 team of Dave Blaney has been improving, why isn't the #55 team also improving? Presumably the cars that Michael is getting from Bill Davis Racing are the same as those that Blaney is getting... or are they? BDR doesn't own the #55 team, Michael does. There is a contractual agreement where BDR provides cars, engines, equipment and personnel, but the #55 isn't really a BDR team. But of that agreement, Michael is locked into using whatever BDR gives him, which to say the least appears to be some of the worst cars on the track. And his crew can't seem to do anything to improve them.

Oh, the crew. I'm quite sure that every member of the #55 team is hard-working. I can't imagine that anyone on pit road doesn't take pride in, and give a huge amount of effort towards, doing the best job that they possibly can. However, the members of the #55 crew know they won't be working with Michael in 2007 because he will be hiring his own crew members who work directly for Michael Waltrip Racing. So I think that may change the attitude and the way they view the #55 and Michael. It's not just that they won't be working with Michael, but the whole #55 team won't be affiliated with BDR next season. Does that mean that Michael's crew are sloppy or that the mechanical issues and lousy cars are their fault? No! But I don't think it helps because there isn't as much motivation to fix the problems that face this team, particularly since they are so far back in the points, without too much hope of advancing too much higher.

Another problem is that Michael is on his third crew chief, fourth, if one counts Larry Carter sitting on the pit box for a race or two. I don't see how the team can develop much momentum or develop a rapport which each other when there doesn't seem to be a permanent crew chief. I suppose Michael is trying out various crew chiefs who he might hire at MWR, but so far not a single one of them seems to be able to do a thing with the junk cars that Michael is getting from BDR. And all of them pale in comparison to Tony Eury, Jr., who not only gave Michael outstanding cars last year at DEI, but also had terrific communication with him. How I wish Tony, Jr. was still working with Michael! though I'm not even sure that he could work enough magic to give these horrible cars any speed.

I'm just about ready to lose my mind listening to the awful communciation over the radio! At times the communication has seemed better, but sooner or later the old problems seem to resurface, and needless to say it sounds very rocky over the radio. It was especially bad today because there was a new spotter, whose style clashed with what Michael wanted. I'm sorry, but there's a new spotter - was there any kind of meeting this weekend to discuss how things should go during the race? Maybe they just don't do things like that, but it was frustrating to listen to, and not pleasant to listen to Michael being so hard on his spotter.

The poor communication between Michael and his crew chiefs (and now his spotter) for virtually this entire season is one of the most aggrivating things to me because I think it's a one of the roadblocks to them getting better. How are they truely supposed to come up with a game plan for making the car better during races or addressing problems that crop up when they can't seem to communicate well with each other? With most teams the crew chief is the quarterback, with the driver giving input into the decisions that are made. But ultimately it's most often the crew chief making most of the final decisions. Not with the #55 team. It's often Michael driving, giving input, making calls and really trying to do it all, when he needs to just be able to trust his crew chief. The problem is that this is simply Michael's way - he has a strong personality and I'm not sure how easy it's going to be for him to be less dominating... unless he has Tony, Jr. back, which isn't going to happen. Of course there's also the problem that Michael isn't just the driver, but also the owner of the team, which makes things even more difficult because it probably prevents whoever his crew chief d'jour is from being too assertive, since Michael is the boss.

All of these issues, and likely a whole host of other things that the fans haven't been made privvy to, has made for an awful season for Michael and I see very little hope of it getting significantly better. This team struggles to finish 30th on a good day, how can I possibly expect them to get the top 15's and better that will help Michael get back into the top 35 in owner points? And a win? Maybe if the other 42 cars wreck! This isn't a reflection on Michael's abilities behind the wheel - I believe strongly in his ability to race up front and win if he has a competitive car - but the #55 has most certainly not been anything close to being competitive at any point this season.

One of the worst things is that a lot of people are just assuming that Michael sucks as a driver, rather than seeing the reality which is that the cars are crap, there have been a whole host of mechanical issues, and that's when asshats like Robby Gordon aren't brake-checking him, causing him to DNF. Michael is upbeat for the most part in interviews, but privately this has to be extremely difficult on him. Not just because of the poor results this season, but also because he was hoping to have a solid foundation for next season, when the results will be far more important. I can't even begin to imagine the amount of stress and pressure he's under, and how difficult all of this is to handle. I really feel so bad for him. All I can hope for is that somehow, someway, things will get better, even if it's only a little bit, not because it's frustrating for me as a fan, but because I dearly want things to get easier for Michael for his sake.

Posted by silverdsl at 05:51 PM | Comments (0)

July 18, 2006

Michael Waltrip vs. Robby Gordon

About time I got around to saying something about this one, ay?

By now anyone watching Sunday's race at New Hampshire knows that it featured a rekindling of the bad blood between Michael Waltrip and Robby Gordon that first surfaced last fall at the very same track when they tangled and Robby threw a temper tantrum. This time Robby decided for some reason that he was going to brake-check Michael under caution and unfortunately Michael couldn't stop in time and he ended up out of the race. As did Travis Kvapil who slammed into Michael and it's likely that whoever was behind Travis, possibly Clint Bowyer, ended up with damage as well. Why? Robby was likely upset about the way Michael had been racing him hard earlier in the race and decided to mix it up with him.

What really bothers me is that essentially Robby was using his car as a weapon against another driver. Now, some will say - what about when Michael did it in this race or that? Or when other drivers do it? I hate it every single time any driver uses their car as a weapon to retaliate. This is a dangerous sport and the drivers know that all too well. There is always the danger, maybe even under caution, that something bad might happen because someone can't keep their emotions under control and is looking for revenge. I understand that it's a part of the sport, but just like I don't like when pitchers intentionally throw at hitters, I don't care for drivers using their cars as weapons. At the very least it often results in torn up race cars which results in wasted dollars and more work for those back at the shop. Of course it's unlikely that Nascar is going to do anything about it in terms of a penalty, because it might open a big can of worms where they will need to start doing something about quite a few more incidents of retaliation.

One reason I haven't said much about this incident previously was because I was trying to put all the pieces together instead of rushing to judgement. It's very easy to look at an incident and think that it looks one way or another, particularly through a fan's biased eyes if one of their favorite drivers were involved. So I didn't want to rip Robby if there was some reason that wasn't obvious as to why he slammed on his brakes or some other issue that might have played a role in that incident. The only problem was that the Nascar media as a whole really dropped the ball when it came to covering this incident - there were apparently zero questions asked to anyone involved in this incident after the race. And there was nothing in any of the race summaries that followed that talked about Michael being brake-checked or that it might have been the continuation of an old feud, simply a few mentions that Michael ran into the back of Robby under caution. So it was really impossible to know what exactly happened, particularly when there were a number of conflicting accounts surfacing via fans.

I really hate not knowing the full story. Especially since it leads to people forming inaccurate perceptions of what might have happened. And that's exactly what did occur, as many fans bashed Michael for running into the back of Robby. Some thought, particularly in light of the fact that he ran over Ryan Newman earlier in the race because he didn't know that Ryan was going to check up due to Dave Blaney checking up, that the incident with Robby was a poor reflection on Michael's driving skills. Others thought that Michael deliberately ran into Robby as retaliation for the way they had raced earlier, but also for the incident last season. Then there were people like me who wondered if Michael's bad brakes played a role in him not being able to get stopped in time.

So it wasn't until Michael gave an account of the incident on Inside Nextel Cup that it was confirmed in my mind that things did play out the way they seemed - that Robby had lost his head once again and decided to do something stupid. I really don't get Robby. I think he's got talent behind the wheel and he's always a threat to win on road courses. He's also done a terrific job of building Robby Gordon Motorsports. And he's extremely fan-friendly and does work for various charitable causes. Yet when he's on the track racing, he frequently gets himself into trouble with his fellow drivers and with Nascar. Like on Sunday when he got angry at Michael - again - and apparently decided to seek revenge. I say apparently because as of now, there still hasn't been one word of explanation heard from Robby. Maybe he realizes how bad it looked and that there's no believable excuse or plausable explanation he could give. But I sure would like to hear something from him because otherwise I have no other choice but to agree with Michael's summation from last night that Robby is an idiot. I just don't like loose ends and I feel like not knowing whether Robby felt Michael did him wrong earlier in the race, whether he was still upset over last season, or whether there was something else entirely going on, is a missing puzzle piece.

Michael had harsh words for Robby on INC last night, calling him a moron and saying that Nascar should park him for life for being an idiot. I completely understand why Michael is so upset because once again he finds himself in the midst of controversy with Robby and all he was doing during that caution was minding his own business and waiting to finish the last few laps of the race. Then suddenly he's wrecked, another insult heaped upon an already horrible season. But on the other hand I can't say that I'm completely comfortable, as much as I understand the way Michael is feeling, with him calling Robby a moron and an idiot on INC. I really don't like it when drivers call each other names, even when it's my favorite driver doing the name-calling. I think that only adds fuel to the fire and I worry that Robby is going to go looking to get Michael again this weekend at Pocono. Michael is certainly entitled to think Robby is an idiot - I'd have to say that I agree with him. But I'm not sure I agree with him saying it publically on INC. I think that even if they can't stand some of the people they race against - and I'm sure there are many in the garage area who don't like each other - I'd like to see the drivers keep the insults out of the public eye. Especially since in Michael's case it's not doing him any favors in the eyes of fans who were, rightly or wrongly, already not looking at him too kindly over this incident.

I'm not usually one for conspiracy theories but I have to admit that one has crossed my mind as I've been trying to puzzle out what Robby was thinking when he brake-checked Michael like that. What occured to me is how John Story, the GM at Robby Gordon Motorsports, said that the incident last season between Robby and Michael got the team more attention than they had all season. Not only that, their sponsors were thrilled. So I can't help but wonder if Robby was deliberately trying to start round two, hoping that he would get all that media attention again. Of course that would also be risking a penalty from Nascar but maybe that would be worth it to him. Unlikely? Probably. But in this business you never know what someone might do for some exposure.

So the only question now is whether this is going to escalate or not..

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

July 16, 2006

Lousy Race for Michael Waltrip in New Hampshire

I could go do a huge entry about how crappy today's race was for Michael Waltrip, topped off with a big rant about Robby Gordon, but I'd rather wait until after Inside Nextel Cup tomorrow to hear what Michael's comments are about the end-of-the-race incident with Robby under caution. While many have come to the conclusion that Robby deliberately stopped in front of Michael to wreck him, I don't feel that I have enough information to know what Robby intended on doing. In addition, it was discussed over Michael's radio that he was losing his brakes to the point where it was said that he was having trouble getting "whoa'd up" earlier in the race. So that may have played a role in that incident as well. I would just like to hear from one, and preferrably both participants, in the incident before I rip anyone.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:50 PM | Comments (0)

June 29, 2006

Harrah's to Sponsor Brendan Gaughan at Kansas

I think this deal is somewhat curious. Why? Because the Gaughan family is heavily involved with the casino business in Las Vegas and normally the #77 truck carries a paint scheme advertising one of their own properties, The Orleans. But this week at Kansas Brendan Gaughan's #77 will sport a Harrah's North Kansas City Hotel and Casino paint scheme. Of course being that this particular Harrah's is in Kansas City it's not a direct competitor with The Orleans, but indirectly they do compete with each other. So to me that stikes me as odd that they would end up on Brendan's truck.

Of course as Brendan noted in the press release, he's long been good friends with Robby Gordon, who Harrah's regularly sponsors so there is somewhat of a connection there. Still, it's not lilke Robby drives for Orleans Racing. However, he did shake down a truck for Brendan during a practice recently, so perhaps there's a possiblity that he could race a truck for them at some point, though I had never gotten the impression that Robby was anxious to race in any truck races.

In the end, since the #77 truck has no primary sponsor perhaps it simply came down to a matter of money and that Orleans Racing needed some.

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

June 08, 2006

Casey Mears Won't Be Back at Chip Ganassi Racing in 2007

I wasn't really all that surprised to hear that Brian Vickers will likely leave Hendrick Motorsports after this season and I'm not surprised to hear that Chip Ganassi informed members of the #42 team today that Casey Mears told him that he won't be back with Chip Ganassi Racing after this season. Mears had said that he hoped that he would work out a new deal to stay at Ganassi, but that's what every single drivers says. Fans would not be too pleased if a driver openly said "I'm not happy where I am, the team stinks and I can't wait to find a new ride!" As one of the few real free agents after this season, meaning that he was one of the few drivers whose contract expires at the end of the year, Mears has surely gotten a lot of phone calls from a wide variety of teams. So he likely knows that he can find a pretty sweet deal with another team that might offer him a better chance to win than if he stayed at Ganassi.

There's a lot of speculation about where he might end up. On XM there was talk that he could take over the #25 at Hendrick Motorsports. Not only is Mears is good friends with Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, but Rick Hendrick had expressed interest in signing Mears a number of years ago for Hendrick's Busch team, but they ultimately went with Vickers. The line of thinking is that now that Mears is available again, Hendrick will once again want to bring him on board. Of course there's also the #88 - Mears might be a good fit there. I'm sure he's gotten some phone calls from the Toyota affiliated teams as well. Another option, which is probably very unlikely, is Robby Gordon Motorsports. I heard Gordon do an interview on XM about a month ago in which he expressed interest in fielding a second Cup car in the future and said that Mears would be an ideal driver for that team. However, based on what Gordon said he wasn't very close to having that second team ready for next season.

I have no idea who might end up in the #42. Ganassi is really in a difficult position because all they'll be left with is Reed Sorenson and David Stremme, two rookies who haven't done all that much in Cup so far this season. I think Sorenson will likely blossom with more experience, as long as he's given competitive cars but Stremme seems to be over his head thus far in Cup. So I think Ganassi is going to have to get a veteran in that ride so that there's someone to help guide Sorenson and Stremme as they develop, as well as provide some veteran experience overall.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:41 PM | Comments (0)

March 28, 2006

Robby Gordon Didn't Get Screwed

Many fans feel that the penalties assessed to Robby Gordon during Sunday's race at Bristol are grossly unfair. But let's review the sequence of events. In the first instance Robby was going to pit but at the last minute he decided not to. In doing that he apparently made a committment cone violation. Penalty one. Upon being told that he had to come in to serve a penalty, Robby, who didn't believe that he had violated anything, began expressing his displeasure using various colorful language and going so far as to rip Nascar. I've heard that the word "idiots" was used but I can't say for sure. Penalty two, as Nascar decides that they are going to hold him on pit road until he cools down.

Then later in the race Robby comes in to repair damage to his radiator that occured in an incident with Denny Hamilin and as per Robby's post-race report,

"Forced to make a lengthy and unexpected pit stop to mend the damage and cap the radiator, Gordon raced back to the high banks attempting to catch up to the field but was assessed his second commitment line penalty."

Penalty three. I include the quote from Robby's own site because some fans have indicated that the third penalty was for another committment cone violation and they feel that is Nascar just teaching Robby a lesson since he never made another committment cone violation. That would be true. Robby's third penalty was for a committment line violation as he got back on the track if I'm understand the post-race report correctly.

Two out of the three penalties are clear rules violations. While I do think that Nascar is harder on some drivers than others I don't think they make up things like committment cone violations out of thin air. If anything is unfair in that regard it's that the other week Tony Stewart appeared to make a committment cone violation and was never penalized for it because Nascar said that the cone was place in the wrong place at the entrance to pit road. That seems iffy. But I don't think they pull violations of that nature out of thin air. Could Nascar have choosen to ignore one or both the penalties? Maybe they would have been softer on Robby in regards to the third penalty. But by then he had already cursed them out over his radio, thus spoiling any goodwill he might have had.

The penalty for what he said over his radio to Nascar is more debatable. Many fans feel that the drivers and team members shouldn't ever be penalized for what they say over their radios. I don't agree. The first amendment doesn't apply to Nascar for one. In addition, Nascar has certain rules and guidelines that the teams are aware of as it relates to what they say and it should be known by one and all that calling Nascar officials names is a sure way to draw a penalty. I can't curse up a storm in my place of work and expect to get away with it. Make no mistake Robby is at work when he's in the race car and when he's at the track he has to play by Nascar's rules no matter how much he or the fans might not like it. And Robby is not the only one to be penalized for lashing out at Nascar. Steve Hmiel had his hard card pulled and was sent home from the track once for disrespecting Nascar officials after his son was assessed a penalty during a truck race. And Kurt Busch was penalized just like Robby was last season after he had some choice comments for Nascar over his radio.

Many fans and the teams themselves feel that what is said over the radios are private communications between the drivers and their teams and thus shouldn't be subject to any penalities. Well, the reality is that it's hard to say that those are private conversations when 100,000+ people with scanners at the track can listen in plus all the thousands of people at home if that driver is featured on Trackpass or In-Demand. Fact is that anyone can and usually is listening at any time and the drivers and team members can't say anything they want. Correction. They can say anything they want but they have to expect they may face the consequences of that. Everyone is solely responsible for their own words. Robby wasn't force to call Nascar "idiots" if that is what he said - he made that choice and he has to deal with the consequences just like anyone else would have to deal with the consequences if they walked into their bosses's office and called him or her an idiot.

Every single driver is going to make mistakes or lose control of their emotions but Robby needs to cut down on the behaviors that are leading to him getting penalized. He can't let his emotions get the best of him, get frustrated and not be careful about entering or exiting pit road. Even if Nascar is looking at Robby more closely than other drivers he simply has to live with it and learn to modify his behavior so that he won't be penalized. Because if he doesn't he may not end up with the kind of season that he is capable of.

ETA: I was giving this some more thought this evening and it occured to me that in baseball players and managers can get thrown out for arguing balls and strikes or other calls. So how is Robby being penalized for ripping Nascar too much different?

Posted by silverdsl at 11:32 AM | Comments (0)

March 20, 2006

20th Place Isn't So Bad When the Car is So Crappy

Wow. Just wow. I am unbelievably impressed with Michael Waltrip after today's race. I've long believed in his abilities as a driver and that he is underrated as a driver but today was just incredible. Not because he contended for the win or finished in the top ten. But because he took a piece of shit car that was so bad thoughout the majority of the race that Michael said it was one of the worst cars that he had ever driven and a constant threat to wreck and raced to a 20th place finish. The crew definitely made some improvements to the car on the last pit stop but finishing 20th was all driver. That was Michael racing his ass off, on a tear, determined to finish as best as he could. That was simply amazing considering for most of the race he couldn't pass anyone and only gained positions when other drivers experienced problems. I was certain he would struggle to even finish 30th. Instead Michael finished 20th! Is that a terrific finish? No. But considering how bad the car was and how it seemed at times like neither Michael nor his crew chief knew what to do about it, a 20th place finish is almost like they got a top ten.

At one point towards the end when they weren't going to make too many changes Michael commented over the radio how they should make some changes or would they be satisfied finishing 30th? Obviously the answer was a big "NO!" for both the team and for Michael. There are some who doubt Michael's abilities behind the wheel or if he is as focused as other drivers. But there is no way that a driver who isn't dedicated, determined, focused and talented could take such a crappy car to a semi-respectable finish like Michael did. I guess it must seem odd to some that I'm raving about Michael's finish today when I'm sometimes down when Steve Park doesn't finish so well in some races. Well, anyone who has been listening to Michael's radio in person or via Trackpass would understand exactly why this is so exciting even though it's only a 20th place finish. Yes, the cars have been that bad. To the point where Michael can't do any racing, can't pass and is on the verge of wrecking at any moment. But somehow, maybe through sheer strength of will, he got the most he possibly could out of that car today. He made a 30th place car into a 20th place car and I have no doubt if there was more race left he would have gained even more positions. The best thing about this 20th place finish is that he gains two positions in the points standings to 29th which gives him a little breathing room in terms of being in the top 35 in owner points.

Now that I've gushed like a fangirl over Michael (just imagine how excited I'm going to be when he gets a top fifteen or better!), let me mention a few other highlights from today's race. First of all - Robby Gordon. If there's someone else who was incredibly impressive it was Robby. For much of the race he was racing up front. While he never really contended for the lead he clearly had one of the strongest cars on the track. Even after getting caught a lap down due to the timing of a pit stop and an injury to a pit crew member, Robby perservered, got back on the lead lap and made his way back up front. But a pit stop while racing in the top five because they didn't think they had enough gas to make it to the end ruined Robby's day. Not because of the pit stop itself but because Robby sped leaving pit road and had to serve a penalty. That resulted in a 28th place finish which in no way reflects how well Robby raced today. Obviously the engine he got from DEI for this race was a stout one and Robby showed that he will likely be a factor this season. That's outstanding to see because he owns his own team and has no teammate. Very impressive.

Perhaps even more impressive is that pole-winner Kasey Kahne won today's race. That's impressive to me because in spite of a win last season Kasey's season overall in 2005 was pretty disappointing. But the changes to Kasey's crew, including crew chief Tommy Baldwin, Jr. being replaced by team director Kenny Francis has seemed to bring out the best in Kasey so far this season. Kasey has also said that he's changed his approach and it shows. Sometimes it seemed as if Kasey would get himself into trouble on the track or struggle to overcome problems. But so far Kasey has raced smart and it's paid off. I really hope this is a sign that Kasey is coming into his own and that he is going to start to live up to expectations. I suspect this might not be the last time we see Kasey in Victory Lane this season.

Posted by silverdsl at 02:59 PM | Comments (0)

February 10, 2006

More Teams Buy Owner Points

Of course this is flying totally under the radar for most people because it's happening in the truck series and not too many fans care what happens in the truck series but three more teams have created "partnerships" to buy owner points to lock themselves into a spot for the first four races of the season. From Jayski's:

Reid, Crocker, Richardson “locked in” truck field: Boston Reid will now have one of the top-30, locked-in spots for the first five Truck Series races of the 2006 season, including the GM FlexFuel 250 season-opener at Daytona. The new Woodard & Sharp Racing team, with Reid, has formed a partnership with Orleans Racing owner Michael Gaughan and will get the points from the disbanded #62 team paired with drivers Steve Park and Scott Lynch last season. Two other new teams have also formed partnerships to earn locked-in positions: Erin Crocker will have points from the #2 Ultra Motorsports team while Robert Richardson will have points from the #1 Ultra Motorsports team, both of which closed down in the off season.(NASCAR Scene Daily Newsletter)(2-9-2006)

With the way that owner points have been changing hands left and right, I assumed that Orleans Racing would sell the #62's owner points if they had no intention of putting that truck on the track this season. In fact, Steve Park told someone this past weekend at an appearance that Brendan was selling the team but I figured that he wasn't exactly selling the team as much as the owner points were changing hands. So it's not surprising that the new Woodward and Sharp Racing Team has a "partnership" with Michael Gaughan that will make sure that Boston Reid makes the first few races. In addition, there is some sort of "partnership" between Evernham Motorsports and Jim Smith so that Erin Crocker can use the #2's owner's points and there is also a "partnership" between Robert Richardson's team and Jim Smith so they can use the #1's owner points. I put "partnership" in quotes because it's a neat way of saying that money changed hands and paperwork was written out to make it possible for the owner's points to change hands. While it's possible that some of the owners who sold their points will be involved directly with the teams that they are now partners with, this is really all about the points and not about forming new race teams.

Despite the fact that Michael Waltrip is benefiting in both Cup and Busch by Nascar's rules that allow owner points to change hands and despite the fact that I think it's a smart business decision for teams to protect their investments by buying owner points to guarantee themselves a spot, I'm not entirely comfortable with this trend. Nascar's rules allow the teams to transfer owner's points in this way so the teams are doing nothing wrong in Nascar's eyes. The teams should be exploring every avenue available to them that gives them the best chance of success within Nascar's rules and this happens to be one of those ways, no matter how many people might not like that Nascar allows it. However, racing at it's heart is about he who is fastest winning and I think that qualifying for races should be determined based on the fastest 43 cars making the field, rather than on provisionals and owner's points. It will never happen but I would love to see Nascar go to a qualifying method in which owner's points are useless and only speed matters. I can see giving teams a very limited amount of provisionals to use in case of a mechanical problem or other circumstance that didn't allow them to make their qualifying lap but otherwise it should be the teams that are the fastest are in the race.

Marty Smith has an interesting article this week about this very topic. There's been a lot of discussion about the teams who buy the owner's points and about the teams who don't have the owner's points to guarantee them a spot in the race but not much about the point-of-view of the owners who are transferring their points. Until Smith's article which shows why Doug Bawel's partnership with Michael in Waltrip-Jasper makes sense for him as well as for Michael. Smith writes:

Bawel's No. 77 was 34th in 2005, so when the 77 shut down he had something to sell. Eight teams contacted him about a partnership, three of which, he said, were folks that wanted everything, a seamless, turn-key transition.

He wasn't certain he wanted to stay in the sport.

Then, during banquet week in New York, Bawel was approached by Michael Waltrip. Waltrip had just departed Dale Earnhardt Inc. to drive a second car for Bill Davis Racing, but hoped to partner with Bawel on his own Nextel Cup Series program.

It was a win-win scenario: Waltrip gets a guaranteed position in the first five races, not to mention Bawel's expertise in the day-to-day operation of a Nextel Cup team. Bawel, meanwhile, maintains a vested ownership interest in a Cup team.

After mulling it over for a month, Bawel accepted Waltrip's offer, and Waltrip-Jasper Racing was born.

Bawel owned Jasper Motorsports and had fielded an independent team prior to joining with Penske Motorsports in 2004 to field the #77. If not for partnering with Michael, all of Bawel's hard work that went into developing a Cup team would have gone for nothing and his team would simply vanish. This way, at least for the near future, Bawel can continue to be involved in the sport.

Larry McClure's #4 team got bumped up into the 35th position, the last guaranteed spot, when the #77 folded. So they thought that they were going to have a guaranteed spot for the first four races. McClure says,

"I don't make the guidelines. NASCAR does that," McClure said. "I've always been a NASCAR guy, and don't like to air laundry in the open. But I think it takes some credibility away. The guy that was listed as car owner can take points and work out a deal with someone else, and they use him to get that [points] advantage."

There's just one problem - if it takes credibility away from the sport that Michael is going to work out a deal for owner points he didn't directly earn than it takes credability away from the sport for the #4 team to benefit from owner's points they didn't directly earn either. At least Michael raced well enough when he was with DEI to earn enough owner's points for the #15 team to be in the top 35 in owner's points. Whereas the #4 team didn't race well enough in 2005 to be in the top 35 in owner's points.

Robby Gordon, whose #7 that he both owns and drives is outside the top 35 in points is also opposed to the way that owner's points can change hands but also to the Champion's provisionals. He says,

"It is what it is, but it's wrong," Gordon said. "There's two wrongs. There's wrong with Hall of Fame [Racing] putting Terry Labonte in the car. They don't deserve to be in the race any more than we deserve to be in the race. You should have to earn your way into the top 35. Terry shouldn't be eligible for the top 35 [with] the past champion's provisional unless he's going to race the full season. Otherwise it's cherry-picking. NASCAR shouldn't let that happen. Then the Michael Waltrip wrong. That team doesn't deserve to be in either, because they haven't paid their dues. Just like we haven't."

I have to agree with Robby that I'm not a huge fan of the Champion's provisional and I'm especially not a fan of the way that some teams take advantage of it by putting a former champion in the car just to ensure that they have a spot in a race. Hall of Fame Racing has both Terry LaBonte and Tony Raines in the car and it's pretty obvious that they sought out Terry's services specifically to take advantage of his Champion's provisional. Again, it's smart from a business perspective since they have a major sponsor that they need to take care of, not to mention Terry can still race, but it doesn't feel quite right.

Robby then says,

"You should have to earn your points. Welcome everybody to the track, doesn't matter who it is, but no freebies."

But what I'd like to know is whether Robby Gordon Motorsports is one of the teams that contacted Doug Bawel about getting the #77's owner's points. From his comments one would think that Robby is so opposed to teams buying owner's points that he wouldn't even consider approaching Bawel. However, Robby didn't get to the point where he has his own race team by not being a smart businessman as well. And from a business point-of-view, as I've said a few times already, it makes sense to try and get those points. I'd also like to know how his sponsors felt about the situation - did they want him to try to get the owner's points to try to guarantee a spot in the first four races considering Robby failed to qualify for several races last season due to a lack of owner's points? Or did he reassure them that this season with DEI motors things would be different and he'd have no problems qualifying? I think Smith should have asked Robby whether he talked to Bawel about the owner's points because his personal feelings might be different than his feelings as an owner who needs to take care of his race team.

I also feel the need to point out that if Robby hadn't thrown a huge temper tantrum directed at Michael last season which resulted in him having 25 owner's points taken away he might not be in the situation that he's in now where he had to worry about qualifying for races. If I recall correctly at that point Robby was still in a position where he still had a chance to finish the season in the top 35 in points but being penalized eliminated that chance. So if Robby is upset at anyone perhaps he needs to be upset with himself for losing control to the point where he might have cost his team a guaranteed spot for the first few races.

The fact of the matter is that Nascar's rules are set up in such a way that owners are allowed to transfer their points and teams are allowed to aquire them. In addition, the environment that Nascar is currently operating in is such that it's very difficult to find primary sponsors and keep them. So teams must do everything they can to keep their sponsors happy and get the best possible results. If that means entering into a partnership to get points that they didn't really earn then so be it. I really can't fault any team for looking out for themselves.

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

January 25, 2006

Bill Davis Racing, Red Bull Racing Will Also Race Toyotas in Cup in 2007

Besides Michael Waltrip Racing, the other two teams that will be racing Toyota Camrys in the Cup series in 2007 are Bill Davis Racing and Red Bull Racing. Of course it was about as obvious as the likelihood that Michael would mention NAPA in every interview he did last night that BDR would be fielding Toyotas in Cup in 2007 given that they race Toyota Tundra trucks in the truck series. However, the big surprise was the third team that was announced. There had been much speculation about which existing organizations might join with Toyota but it turns out that at least initially all of that speculation is incorrect. Last night it was announced that Red Bull Racing who are involved with F1 racing would also field two Toyota Cup teams.

So we know the names of the teams that will be fielding Toyotas in Cup and we also know the name of one driver - Michael Waltrip. We also know that Marty Gaunt, who was once with Penske Racing, will be the general manager. We also know who a few of the sponsors of several of the cars will be. Besides that not much other specific details were given, especially about what most people are anxious to know most about - who the other Toyota Cup drivers are going to be.

Although it was assumed that Dave Blaney's presence at the event last night means that he will also be one of the Toyota drivers, it turns out that his contract only runs through this season and there's been no discussion as of yet in regards to 2007. So there will be six Toyota Cup cars in 2007 but only one driver is confirmed. So that leaves five seats wide open. Let the speculation about who's going to be driving those cars begin!

Many people believe that Robby Gordon is eventually going to join up with Toyota and the announcement of Red Bull Racing only solidified that belief for some because Red Bull has sponsored Robby in the past. But there was a media event for Robby last night prior to the Toyota event and Robby said that for now he's committed to the manufacturer he's with. I also think that Robby has put a lot of work into trying to improve his Cup team for 2006 and I don't see him abandoning that quite so soon to go race for a team where he wouldn't be the owner. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that Robby would join with Toyota down the road but for now I think he's going to continue doing what he's doing, though I think that he would benefit from an association with Toyota.

Another name that's been tossed around is Kevin Harvick. I think Kevin joining with Toyota makes a lot of sense. First, Kevin is only signed with Richard Childress Racing through the end of this season so he is free to explore all his options for 2007. Even if Toyota wasn't entering Cup racing I think Kevin would want to do given RCR's struggles the past couple of years. In addition, Kevin has his own Busch and truck teams through Kevin Harvick Inc. and it occurs to me that signing Kevin to race for Red Bull Racing in Cup would then give Toyota a few Busch teams. Though their racing styles are completely different, off-the-track there are some similarities about Kevin and Michael given that they are both car owners, both seem to have an extremely good business sense, and both understand the importance of fans and value being as fan-friendly as possible. So if that is the kind of person that Toyota is interested in, Kevin certainly fits the bill. But more than all of that Kevin is an aggressive and talented race car driver who likely has many successful years ahead of him so I think he would be an excellent pick-up for one of the Toyota teams.

I would expect that a few of the drivers currently driving for Toyota in the truck series will likely move up to drive for one of the Toyota teams in Cup or Busch. I think David Reuitimann is likely to race for Michael Waltrip Racing on some level. Beyond that I suspect that there will be some surprises. Just as we were shocked by the career moves that Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray made this season, I think we will be surprised by some of the drivers who will end up racing for Toyota in Cup and Busch in 2007.

Posted by silverdsl at 07:05 PM | Comments (0)

November 30, 2005

In the News: Michael Waltrip (11/30)

So the paint scheme for the #55 Napa Dodge that Michael Waltrip will be driving in 2006 for Bill Davis Racing showed up on Jayski already.


Not surprisingly the #55 looks a lot like the #15 did, only without the distinctive DEI "E" on the side and obviously with a new number. I really like the red swoosh on the side as I think that gives the paint scheme a little added omph. Based on this scheme, not only did NAPA and Best Western leave DEI for BDR with Michael but also Domino's as well. I wonder how often not only does a primary sponsor leave with a driver but most of the associate sponsors as well? I would think that doesn't happen very often. DEI might try to downplay that but when Michael left they lost a significant amount of financial revenue in the form of a major primary sponsor and several big associate sponsors considering Best Western is the official hotel of Nascar and Domino's is the official pizza of Nascar. But both of those sponsors have relationships with Michael though Michael Waltrip Racing so it's no surprise that they would opt to follow him to his new team. In addition, Michael picks up a new sponsor in the form of Sofa Express and I wouldn't be surprised depending on what companies BDR is affiliated with, a few more as well.

Otherwise, Michael took his family to the Bahamas for a vacation at the conclusion of the season. But before he did that he was at a private party that the newly single Nick Lachey hosted at the hot Miami hotel, The Setai. The article is quick to point out that Michael and about 30 others spent time at the courtyard bar drinking Grey Goose vodka. So I immediately have to wonder if that item was planted by the folks from Grey Goose - that the specific brand of alcohol is mentioned seems a bit suspicious. Or perhaps by the hotel. Everything to do with Lachey and what he might be up to now that he and Jessica Simpson have broken up is going to get a lot of attention so I'm sure there are plenty of places that are looking to um, latch on to his notoriety by positioning themselves as a hotspot where Lachey likes to party or the beverage of choice when he's drowning his sorrows. As unfortunate as it might be people's choices as consumers can be effected by the choices of high-profile celebrities.

Otherwise, there have been plenty of season in review articles and most of them don't contain much of note about Michael. Bob Margolis of Yahoo! Sports is pretty negative about Michael going over to BDR, saying that

"Davis isn't bringing Waltrip in for his driving ability."

There is a grain of truth to that because I think that one of Michael's biggest assets that has really helped his career tremendously probably more-so than most of what he has done on the track, as much as he might not like this to be the case, is that he is an outstanding spokesperson and representative for his sponsors. No driver takes care of his sponsors better than Michael does and there are some drivers who could learn a lesson or two from him. That's why all of his sponsors were so willing to follow him to BDR. But I also think that Michael has a tremendous amount of ability behind the wheel that he often hasn't gotten to show because he's been given lousy cars or the full support he needed in terms of personnel wasn't there. There's no way that Michael would be a two-time Daytona 500 winner if the ability wasn't there. In fact Margolis alludes to the need for a good supporting cast by saying,

"The younger of the Waltrip brothers says he's only as good as the rest of his team, and Davis will need to put a strong supporting cast around him."

I have to agree - Michael will have success at BDR if he's given a crew chief who believes in him as strongly as Tony Eury, Jr. did, with a strong crew that will work as hard as the #15 team did in giving Michael some exceptionally competitive cars and outstanding pit stops. Really it's true for all the drivers. Even the elite drivers need good cars, a strong team with a talented crew chief and a supportive organization for them to race as well as they are capable of. If any of those things aren't there the team performance can be hurt. Just look at Jeff Gordon - something went admiss on his team in 2005, perhaps between himself and Robbie Loomis, and he didn't make the Chase for the Championship. I don't know who Michael's crew chief or crew members are going to be but I hope it will be people who will give him the opportunity to race well next season. One thing's for sure though - he will do everything that he can do to get the best possible results from the cars that he is given.

Unfortunately an incident that Michael would probably rather forget made a few season in review highlight lists. That's the ugly incident with Robby Gordon in New Hampshire. Some think that kind of incident is so exciting that they wish there would be more like it but I think trying to retalitate after a wreck by backing one's car into on-coming traffic, helmet throwing and calling a fellow competitor a piece of shit on TV is childish and excessive. Michael and Robby have long since worked out their differences and smoothed things over but I would guess that there will be references to Robby throwing his helmet at Michael for years to come because it was so dramatic. What I'd like to see in 2006 is for Michael to make some season in review highlight lists for his on-track accomplishments, preferrably a win. The assumption is that he won't do much in 2006 at BDR, and I'm not expecting the #55 to be a dominant team by any means, but I'm optimistic that they will be capable of some good runs and hopefully Michael will be able to contend for a couple of wins.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:49 AM | Comments (2)

November 17, 2005

When Did Michael Waltrip Admit that He Deliberately Wrecked Robby Gordon in Anger?

I'm talking about the ugly incident in the Sylvania 300 up in New Hampshire of course when Michael Waltrip and Robby Gordon tangled on the track and Robby proceeded to throw a massive temper tantrum. Maybe I missed it somewhere but I can't remember Michael ever taking responsiblity for that wreck, let alone admitting that he deliberately wrecked Robby in anger. But John Story, President and CEO of Robby Gordon Motorsports says that Michael did in fact do that the day after the incident which is why they were able to smooth things over with thier sponsors. Story says,

"We did get calls from sponsors with questions as to what happened. But when Michael came out and admitted that he, in fact, wrecked Robby out of his own anger, it made things a little more easier to understand. And quite frankly, the fan reaction was overwhelmingly positive. And that was not lost on our sponsor."

Now it's quite possible that on Monday Michael called Robby personally and admitted to him that he wrecked him purposefully out of anger. But publically I can't remember Michael making any kind of statement in which he admits to anything even remotely like fault in that incident. In fact I seem to remember Michael on Inside Nextel Cup on Monday evening making comments to the effect that he was the victim in that incident and that he wasn't at fault for the wreck. Maybe I'm just not remembering correctly or Michael said something somewhere that I missed but I've been racking my brain to come up with something that remotely sounds like Michael accepting blame and talking about wrecking Robby in anger and I'm coming up empty. I even went back and looked through old blog entries and the archives on the forum at Michael's site because I think Michael admitting that he wrecked Robby in anger would surely show up somewhere. Nothing.

I can't imagine Story making that comment to a reporter if there wasn't at least some truth to it. So with that in mind I emailed the reporter for clarification to see if he knew if Story was referring to a comment that Michael made publically or a private conversation between Michael and Robby or someone else at Robby Gordon Motorsports. I probably won't hear back from the reporter and he might not know the answer anyway but I'd kind of like to know the answer. Because in a lot of ways it does put the incident in a different context if Michael admitted that he deliberately wrecked Robby in anger. That would certainly make the extremeness of Robby's reaction, while still not in any way appropriate in my opinion, a little more understandable if in fact Michael did deliberately wreck Robby.

That's not to say that I'd view Michael any differently. Racing is an emotional sport and it's not unusual for drivers to get angry or frustrated. And Michael has certainly had plenty of reasons to be angry and frustrated this season. So it's not unbelievable to think that he might have not been too pleased with the way Robby was racing him and that he might have let his overall anger at the way his season was going get to him. Every man has his breaking point and that could have been Michael's. However, with that said, it seems to me that Michael made quite a few statements publically in which he defended himself and stated that he didn't intend for the outcome of that incident for Robby to be wrecked. So it seems to me that until I hear something differently I would tend to go with Michael's version of events and chalk up Story's comments to him misunderstanding something that Michael said.

This is probably one of those things that I will never know the full story on but I sure would like to.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:16 PM | Comments (1)

October 09, 2005

Michael Waltrip Wins Appeal of Penalty

Penalized for Giving the "Finger" to Robby Gordon

Just catching up on one more Michael Waltrip related piece of news that happened while I was in Aruba - as I had mentioned a while back Michael said on the forum on his site that he didn't give the finger to Robby Gordon and that he would be appealing the penalty. I wondered how successful he was going to be with that and as it turned out he was very successful. The three member commission found the video footage inconclusive so they voted to overturn the penalities against Michael. Which is a very good thing for him and I'm glad he was successful. It doesn't seem like it's very often that drivers and teams win their appeals.

However, there are still many fans who believe that Michael did in fact give the finger and I think that was probably why Nascar penalized him in the first place. Not because they saw something definitive but because others were saying that they he gave the finger and Nascar was covering their asses since they had just penalized Martin Truex, Jr. for giving the finger. And before someone says that it's just Michael-haters who claimed he gave the finger that's simply not the case. As soon as the footage aired a few people were saying that it looked like he gave the finger and I think unfortunately for Michael his finger was unintentionally in such a way that when seeing it quickly some jumped to the conclusion that he gave the finger when he didn't. I have to admit that I believed that he gave the finger on the basis of what was being said because... well, why not? Drivers give each other the finger all the time so it didn't seem so outrageous to me to think that he had let Robby know in that way what he felt about the helmet throwing. And given that I see the finger fly every single day when I'm commuting on the New Jersey Turnpike I'm certainly not offended by it. But Michael says that he didn't do it and the committee agrees with him so all those folks who were convinced that they saw the finger were apparently mistaken.

I'm sure someone is thinking that I'm a bad fan because I initially thought that Michael gave the finger. I'm not the type to think that my driver never does anything naughty or never does wrong and when something happens I also think that he has to face the music. That doesn't mean that I support him one iota less. I just don't automatically assume that my favorites do no wrong - sometimes they do because all human beings do. Now that Michael has said that he didn't give the finger of course I believe him and I'm glad that he won his appeal because Nascar was wrong to assess him a penalty. But if he had intentionally let the finger fly on camera, well, sorry Michael but as much as I like you, I couldn't bitch and moan if he had been penalized for doing it because as much as I don't like Nascar's rules about penalizing drivers for giving the finger, rules are rules. But Michael was wrongly penalized so I'm glad it was overturned.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:20 PM | Comments (0)

September 24, 2005

DEI, Michael Waltrip Appeals Penalities From Loudon

"My Fingers Had No Issues!"

Here I am the morning of my wedding posting on my blog. Why? Because I'll go nuts if I don't do something to get my mind off the craziness of the day. So since accuracy and correcting misinformation as best as I can in this blog is important to me I figured I would mention that Michael Waltrip via DEI is appealing the penalties that Nascar gave him after the events at Loudon. On the forum on his official site Michael said that he didn't give the finger and that he "had no issues with his fingers last weekend." Which of course would make it ridiculous for Nascar to be penalizing him for giving the finger if he was only waving his hand out the window to get some air because his cooling system wasn't working too well as he said during an interview yesterday. The problem for Michael of course is that when you've got a whole bunch of people saying that they did see him give the finger even if he didn't so perhaps Nascar felt like they had to do something. The big question is will they overturn the penalty? How does one prove that there was no intention finger-giving when it looks like there might have been?

But Michael and Robby Gordon have seemingly made amends. I discussed in the entry prior how Michael offered to give Robby a new car from Michael Waltrip Racing to replace the wrecked one and they were both apparently on Trackside last night to discuss what happened between them. I think that really says something that after Robby threw such a huge temper tantrum and called Michael what he did that they seemed to have patched everything up. I'd guess that unless it's an on-going issue or the drivers really don't like each other that's probably what happens most of the time. Not that the drivers necessarily forget incidents, but they forgive each other a lot quicker than the fans who seem to hold grudges forever against drivers they feel have done their favorite drivers wrong.

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

September 23, 2005

Michael Waltrip Makes His Brother Cry

Gee, Mikey, You Didn't Have to Do That

I feel compelled to do one other entry today because there are a lot of people out there who are under the impression that Michael Waltrip is selfish and self-centered but that couldn't be further from the truth. That should be obvious based on how hard he worked to raise $1 million through Operation Marathon for the Victory Junction Gang Camp as well as how incredibly much he does to be good to his fans. But two items the part few days really highlight to me what kind of a person Michael is. First is the above story in which he got his brother, Darrell, as a surprise, the #1 Pennzoil car he drove in 1998 for DEI when Steve Park was recovering from his accident. DW had some good runs in that car and it meant the world to him that Michael got it for him. Meant so much to him in fact that it made him cry. DW said in his column on Fox Sports,

"So I love you, brother, and I just want you to know how much I appreciate what you did. It was one of the sweetest things that anybody has ever done for me, and I'm just so blown away."

It brings tears to my eyes too because it wasn't always the case that Michael and DW were close. Over the years they have become as close as brothers should be but in the early days it definitely wasn't that way. So it warms my heart to hear DW say things like that about Michael and to hear that Michael did such an incredibly wonderful thing for his brother, not because he had to but because he knew that it would mean a lot to him to get that car. That's the thing about Michael - he does a lot of these things not because he has to or is forced to but because he wants to. Because he knows that it will make someone else smile or feel good. That's such an incredibly good quality that he has.

Here's the other thing that reflects what kind of a person Michael is: From Jayski's:

Waltrip and Gordon speak: on Speed Channel's new show, Back Seat Drivers, Robby Gordon said Michael Waltrip called him on Tuesday and apologized and even offered up a car from Michael Waltrip Motorsports if Gordon needs it, as Gordon said he is down on Intermediate Track cars [1 to 1.5 mile tracks]. But Gordon expects his team to have one ready for Kansas in a few weeks.(9-22-2005)

Robby Gordon called Michael "a piece of shit" but Michael was still willing to reach out to him to try to make things right. I think that's incredible that Michael called Robby in spite of the hard feelings and the nature of the incident between them and offered to give him a car from MWR if he needed it. And to those who say big deal, I say it is a big deal because cars don't just grow on trees. Even for Michael it's expensive to run MWR and I'm sure he doesn't have a huge amount of spare cars sitting around either. And Michael called Robby and made that offer with no fanfare, no public comment, no press release. No one would ever have known if Robby hadn't said anything. He did it not for damage control or good PR but because he thought it was the right thing to do.

Perhaps that's one big reason why I like Michael so much. Because through the years I've noticed him doing big and little things like this. Just reaching out to people and helping them when he can. Again not because he has to or for good PR but because he wants to. And that's something that I've always tried to do - help people when I can, do something nice for someone when I can. He sets a good example in that regard and it impresses me what he does big and small to make people happy or help them when he can. What Michael does inspires me to try to do even more to help people if I can.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:06 AM | Comments (2)

September 20, 2005

Robby Gordon Does Damage Control

Proceeds to Benefit Hurricane Recovery Efforts

Ebay Auction

First up I have to applaud Robby Gordon for doing his part to help raise money to assist Hurricane Katrina victims by auctioning off the helmet he threw at Michael Waltrip during Sunday's race on Ebay. If all the bids are legitamite Robby will end up raising a significant amount of money for the Harrah’s Employee Relief Fund. But what amuses me is that aside from trying to help others, Robby is also trying to help himself. Doing an auction like this will redeem him in many people's eyes so naturally since many Nascar fans are thinking he has a few screws loose after his antics at Loudon, the press release about this auction was disseminated far and wide, seemingly to every possible media outlet considering how many mentions I've seen of it both on the web and in the mainstream media. That's not a bad thing of course because the more publicity the auction gets the higher the bids will likely go, hence the more money will go to the Harrah's employees effected by the hurricane. But Robby is not only doing this out of the goodness of his heart but also for self-serving reasons as well. Regardless of his reasons this really is a good thing and I hope that it's a huge success.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:42 PM | Comments (0)

Penalties Announced: No Drivers Parked

Robby Gordon, Michael Waltrip, Kasey Kahne, Brian Vickers Penalized After Loudon

Yesterday I was concerned that Michael Waltrip might get penalized by Nascar for the altercation with Robby Gordon even though I don't think that incident was much more than one of those racing deals. Well, he was penalized only it was for the other thing that I noted he might get in trouble for - that he apparently gave the finger to Robby during the helmet-throwing and that was caught on camera despite Michael's best efforts to be sly about it. While I think it's ridiculous that drivers are fined and get points taken away for giving the finger and even more so when it can barely be seen, which is the case with Michael, rules are rules. As much as I hate it for him, if he gave the finger on camera he has to deal with the consequences of that since he knows that's a big no-no. Michael of all drivers is extremely camera-aware and sometimes adjusts his behavior accordingly, hence why he probably tried to give the finger in a way that no one would notice. Nascar did notice but what did he really have to lose anyway? I'm sure he doesn't want to have to pay out $10,000 but to drivers who earn millions a year it's not like he can't afford it and the points don't mean too much considering where he is in the standings. Since he's not in the #15 next season the owner points certainly don't matter to him either. Though at this point Teresa Earnhardt is probably composing a memo to all employees forbidding the use of the middle finger for anything ever, since this is the second week in a row that a DEI driver has given the finger on camera and cost her owner points.

What amazes me is that a few fans are unwilling to believe that Michael would ever give the finger to anyone, ever. It would probably come as a shock to those fans to know that it's likely that there aren't many races that Michael and every other driver on the track isn't flipping off someone at least once. As was discussed previously on Inside Nextel Cup, hand signs are the only way that drivers have to communicate with each other and the finger is the way that one driver lets another driver "Hey you're an idiot!." It's not like they can cuss a guy out and have it be heard so they give the finger to let their displeasure be known. And I say freaking deal if Michael gave the finger! That doesn't make him or any other driver who expresses themselves in that way a bad person. Simply a man who wanted to let his fellow driver know that helmet throwing didn't sit too well with him.

Michael is a human being like anyone else - he experiences the full range of human emotions, he's not perfect and he has his flaws. Thanks to winning the Operation Marathon auction and being around Michael a year ago at Dover I got to see him in a different setting than some others have which I think has helped me see him not just as Michael Waltrip my favorite race car driver, but also as Michael Waltrip the human being. There are plenty of other fans who see the drivers as I do too but so many who have such rigid ways of looking at them. As I've complained about in this space before, some fans hold these folks to an impossibly high standard for how they should think, speak and act. Which means that sometimes they would be disappointed if their hero did something less than perfect and they have trouble accepting certain behaviors. Whereas I except that the drivers aren't always going to do what I would do in a particular situation, aren't always going to to what I want them to do and are going to do things that I don't like sometimes. Everyone, including the drivers, have different values, opinions and beliefs, and might lead their lives in a different way than I do. That's their right. Everyone has to lead their life to please themselves, not anyone else, not even the fans.

After Jim Hunter's comments to the media after Sunday's race in which he said,

"You're going to see some pretty stiff penalties coming out of this. [NASCAR President Mike Helton] said we are going to do whatever we need to whether it's park a guy a week or nine weeks.

I think that Nascar completely wussed out by not parking any driver after the antics from Sunday's race. They sent a message all right - a message that using one's car as a weapon and trying to run over another driver in retaliation under caution only garners one a slap on the wrist. Oh sure, Kasey Kahne was fined and both he and his owner had points taken away. And Robby will also have to pay up for his actions. Robby was also docked 50 driver points and Jim Smith, 50 owner points. That will be very costly for Robby since it pretty much assures that he will not finish the season in the top 35 and won't be guaranteed a spot in the first three races next season. But I hardly think that those penalties will be much of a deterrent because they anything other than the usual penalities handed down for almost every infraction, which is ridiculous. Michael lost the same amount of points for giving the finger as Kasey did for retalitating against Kyle Busch!

Mike Helton said,

"There have been a growing number of incidents lately where drivers have taken matters into their own hands. Such unsafe and inappropriate behavior has to stop. NASCAR will use whatever means necessary to stop it."

Parking a driver would have ensured that the drivers would think twice about using their cars to retaliate under caution. Fines, which almost every one of them can pay easily, and the loss of points isn't much of a deterrant, other than perhaps to drivers who are in the Chase. But by not taking a strong stance when they threatened to do so, Nascar comes off as weak, in my opinion. You've got two drivers who clearly did wrong, both of whom lost their ability to think straight and while Nascar has certainly not turned a blind eye they've not taken the strong steps that would ensure that this behavior wouldn't be repeated.

Maybe that's because in spite of what they're saying publically they aren't all that unhappy about the events during Sunday's race and don't really want to stop it. No race this season has gotten this much attention. The antics by the various involved drivers will be debated, talked about and remembered for quite some time to come. As much as Nascar might frown upon the behavior, they surely aren't diappointed by the attention. Not one bit. So my feeling is that they wanted to come down hard, but not so hard as to scare the drivers into complete submission. Helmet-throwing and cussing on-air, as well as the potential that it might happen again in the future, adds a level of excitement to the race that we unfortunately haven't been seeing all that much from the actual racing. That's the biggest shame of all in my opinion - with a few exceptions, much of the racing has got so boring that Nascar has to depend on the immature antics of a couple of drivers to compell fans to be excited.

Going back to the incident between Robby Gordon and Michael Waltrip, Michael said on Inside Nextel Cup last night that apparently Robby was upset with him even before Sunday's race. During the race weekend Robby confronted Michael and said that he was angry over a comment Michael said on the previous week's INC. I can't remember exactly what was said but I believe they were showing footage of an incident Robby was involved with and Michael made a comment to the effect of how Robby was driving over his head again. I have to say that while I don't remember the specifics of what was said it did catch my attention at the time and I was surprised by how candid Michael was in his opinion of Robby. I'm not so sure Michael was wrong in what he was saying - as talented of a driver as Robby is he puts himself into situations on the track that he might have trouble getting out of successfully without doing damage to his car of that of his competitors. But I can understand why Robby wasn't pleased with what Michael said. Given that they were friendly previously, if not friends, I can see where Robby's feelings might have been hurt. My feeling is that Robby's anger over that comment might have fueled his reaction to the incident on the track with Michael, maybe even contributed to that incident happening in the first place. That's unacceptable to me. On the race track personal feelings have to be set aside for everyone's sake.

I think Michael might not have made a wise decision in saying what he did about Robby on INC in the way that he did but my guess is that it just slipped out rather than that he had any kind of malicious intent to hurt Robby. And the appropriate way to handle it as Robby seemed to have done initially is discuss it with Michael. But to then freak out over an incident oin the track in the way that he did, culminating in calling Michael a "piece of shit" during his post-incident interview is excessive. Perhaps Robby was thinking that he would get back at Michael and give him a taste of his own medicine but that's childish. Two wrongs don't make a right. I would also guess that Michael probably felt guilty about the comment after the fact, certainly after hearing that it angered Robby, and maybe he even felt bad about it.

While he's made small comments here or there, it's never been Michael's style to flatout rip another driver publically. I have no doubt that there are some drivers that he doesn't like and some drivers who he thinks are less talented than others but for the most part Michael keeps the majority of those thoughts to himself, even about people he's tangled with like Jeff Green. It's always seemed to me that when Michael gives his thoughts on INC he simply discusses what he thinks of individual incidents or certain things that particular drivers have done during that race rather than passing judgement on them as people or drivers. Last night on INC Michael said that he hopes that everyone realizes that there are two people "in here," meaning inside himself, Michael the race car driver and Michael the guy who comes on INC to talk about the sport he loves. And I think that's a good point not only for his fellow drivers, but also for fans to remember. When Michael is on INC he is in a way playing a role and that doesn't necessarily fully reflect the person or the driver that he is or the totality of what he thinks. And what he says on the show certainly shouldn't have any impact on what happens at the racetrack.

Oh yeah, Brian Vickers and his team were penalized too. Nascar confiscated their primary car on Friday when it failed inspection because it didn't fit some of the templates. The team apparently tried to fix it but were unable to do so which meant that Nascar wasn't going to let them on the track with it the way that it was. The #25 team claims that they forfeited the car so that they could have time to get the back-up car ready for Brian to practice in, as opposed to Nascar confiscating it. But that's just semantics. They had no choice but to hand the car over to Nascar because it was in violation. Another week this might be big news but in light of everything else that happened, that the #25 team had a whole car taken from them, and whether they were deliberately trying to get away with something or just made a mistake will fly completely under the radar.

So the end result of all of this is that some money is going to change hands and some hard-earned points will be taken away but in the end all the drivers who normally race each weekend will be present at Dover. And who knows what might happen at the Monster Mile?

Posted by silverdsl at 09:24 AM | Comments (0)

September 19, 2005

Revisiting the Robby Gordon/Michael Waltrip Incident

I've been thinking about this incident today so naturally I have more to say. It's being said, and I have no idea how accurate it is because I didn't see it for myself, that when Robby Gordon lost his mind and threw his helmet at Michael Waltrip that Michael subtly gave Robby the finger, then quickly changed that into a wave knowing that he would be seen on his in-car camera and probably on the TNT broadcast. Frankly, while I have no idea if Michael actually did give the finger, that seems like exactly the sly kind of thing that he might do and it kind of amuses me.

Personally, I have no problem with drivers giving the finger to each other. I think it's ridiculous to think that Michael would never do such a thing - of course he does, every driver does. They get angry they give the finger. But every driver knows that giving the finger on camera is a big no-no so if Michael did in fact do that, as much as I adore him, he's going to have to face the music on that one. I really couldn't argue much with Nascar penalizing him for that - rules are rules and while I don't happen to think that Nascar should be handing out penalities for giving the finger, that's what they've decided that they're going to do and that's the rule the drivers need to abide by. But hopefully it will turn out that Michael didn't in fact give the finger and he will be in the all-clear in that regard.

Increasingly there's a lot of talk that Michael wrecked Robby under caution and I think that's pretty much a judgment call. If the caution was out I think it was out as the incident was unfolding when it was unlikely that anything could be done to avoid the incident. We're talking less than seconds here and I doubt that either party could extricate themselves in the fraction of an instant that the caution probably came out and then Robby was wrecked. In thinking about it further my feeling is that if blame absolutely has to be placed then it falls on both men's shoulders. Robby was racing Michael hard in a way that he had to know could get him in trouble - and did. And Michael choose to hold his ground and not give way to Robby. So I'm finding that I really can't find fault in either Robby or Michael for that incident. Sometimes cars come together on the track and things happen - that's racing.

It's what unfolded afterwards that I really have a problem with. Robby backing into traffic to try and hit Michael - can't be doing that under any circumstances no matter how angry he is. Robby throwing his helmet at Michael - in some ways it was pretty funny but he absolutely can't be walking onto the track while the cars are still going around, risking his own safety and putting the other drivers in a position where they have to worry about damaging their cars or injuring him if they can't stop in time. Calling Michael a "piece of shit" is ridiculously over the line, particularly given Nascar's rules about cursing during interviews. I think the drivers have the right to get angry with each other but they absolutely have to be keeping themselves under control and not throw temper tantrums.

There are a lot of fans who are viewing Robby as a hero and applauding the overall emotions and actions of those drivers who lost their heads. After all, it brought a certain amount of excitement to the proceedings that had been missing from many races recently. Well, I'd like that excitement to come in the form of good racing on the track, not because a few drivers decide to act like five-year olds. I've just never been one to celebrate bad behavior. Some feel that Nascar has become too restrictive and too buttoned down, that the drivers are forced to behave like emotionless robots. I'd agree with that - I have no problem with drivers showing emotion and speaking their minds. But I think what we saw yesterday was excessive, very excessive. And just because in the past drivers fought with each other and those kinds of displays were more acceptable then doesn't mean that it's okay now. Times change and rules change. The drivers have to abide by the rules that exist in the here and now, not the way things used to be.

A lot of people are using this incident to bash Michael as a person and as a racer. That's unfortunate because I really do think that this was one of those racing deals that comes with the territory. No driver is perfect, not Michael, not Robby, for those who are reading not your driver either. But to some fans any involvement with any kind of incident seems to indicate that a driver is a talentless racer and a horrible person. That's far from the truth. Fans need to show more tolerance and understand that this incident doesn't make Michael an awful person and frankly I don't think it makes Robby a horrible person either. Robby lost his mind and I fully disagree with his actions but is Robby a bad person? I can't say one way or another. He does a lot of charity work, like Michael and is extremely fan-friendly, like Michael. I do think that Robby has done other things on the track that have made me think he's an asshat as a racer but as a person I can't make that call.

If Michael gets penalized and I'm starting to think he will be, not necessarily because he did anything wrong but more because Nascar might want to make an example out of him, I will be very upset. But he will have to take his punishment, deal with it and move on. Right or wrong Nascar is going to do what they want, when they want.

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

September 18, 2005

Michael Waltrip Tangles With Robby Gordon; Ugliness Ensues

Penalties Forthcoming

Racing is an emotional sport and I have no problem when drivers show some emotion. I completely understand that there are times when tempers flare and that drivers are going to get angry and upset when they get wrecked. But I still think that drivers need to keep themselves under control and act like adults, something that Robby Gordon was completely unable to do today. Kasey Kahne also showed a lack of good judgment today as well, but Robby really lost it after an incident with Michael Waltrip. Both incidents were highly frowned upon by Nascar and that could be extremely costly for the involved parties.

A lot of fans are focusing on the incident itself between Michael and Robby but I think it's the aftermath that was far uglier than when the two cars made contact. It's hard to say exactly what happenend because a wreck with Mike Bliss and Joe Nemechek happened at almost the same time and the TV cameras focused on that initially. But it appears that just as the caution was coming out Robby started moving up the track and Michael was left with a choice - either hold his ground or get planted into the wall. So he held his ground and Robby ended up in the wall with Michael going into the grass. Robby felt that Michael deliberately turned him into the wall and I think that's unlikely. Michael simply doesn't race that way. Is it possible that he got frustrated with Robby and didn't give way or turned when he couldn't have done something else? Yes. But I highly doubt that Michael decided that he was going to intentionally wreck Robby - why would he?

Some are claiming that the caution was already out and Michael wrecked Robby under caution. But it sure didn't seem that way to me based on what was being said over Michael's radio. Michael is one of the most safety conscious drivers out there and I'd be surprised if he didn't let up when the caution lights came out and deliberately wrecked Robby. That's just never been his style. Michael certainly gets angry like any other driver and he will retalitate if pushed hard enough such as
when he and Jeff Green tangled earlier in the season. But under caution? That strikes me as very unlikely. If in the unlikely event that Michael decided to punt Robby, and again I doubt that Michael deliberately decided to wreck Robby, then he likely didn't know that the caution had come out. But I don't think the caution had come out yet and in that case I see nothing wrong with Michael standing his ground and making sure that he didn't get wrecked, something that has happened to him quite a few times this season.

But given Michael's explanation over his radio to his team and also to Benny Parsons during the race it sure didn't sound like he was an angry driver who was looking for vengence for something. In fact I think he sounded a little shocked that it happened. Particularly after what happened next...

I didn't see this on the TV broadcast but it's being said that Robby then tried to back his car into Michael as he was getting back onto the track after the incident. That's a no-no right there, though I can't say much about it because I didn't see it. But everyone saw what happened next. Robby wanted to ensure that Michael knew exactly how upset he was. So after his car came to a stop he got out, took off his helmet, walked into the middle of race traffic, waited for Michael to come around and threw his helmet at him!

I can't imagine what was running through Robby's mind when he decided that it would be a good idea to go out on the track like that. Okay, yeah I do know what was going through Robby's head - he was seeing red and he wanted to make sure that he got a message across to Michael that he was pissed off. But to take it those extremes is ridiculous! He walked in front of several cars that had to stop for him - what if they weren't able to stop for some reason? What if, as unlikely as it might be, his helmet damaged another driver's car? Drivers walking into the middle of traffic, even if it's under caution, just can't be happening. Imagine the consequences if Robby had been hit by Tony Stewart or Bobby Hamilton, Jr. because they couldn't stop for him? I shutter to think about what might have happened.

The funny part was that listening to it unfold over Michael's radio, Joey, his spotter, "spotted" Robby throwing the helmet just like he would spot him through anything else happening on the track. I think the helmet throwing really caught Michael off-guard. He flinched and ducked in the car, even though there was no way he was going to get hit by the helmet and it was only then that he called Robby an idiot. In his interview with Benny, Michael said that no one had ever thrown their helmet at him before so I'm not sure he quite knew how to react. Really, what can he do? He can't take back the incident and he can't stop Robby from throwing the helmet.

However, the fireworks weren't over yet. Robby then preceeded to give an interview to TNT in which he said "Everyone thinks that Michael is a good guy, he isn't a good guy, he's a piece of shit." Now that just crosses all sorts of lines. First of all every single driver knows that they can't curse on TV otherwise it's an automatic fine and loss of points. Secondly, and more importantly in my mind is that drivers simply can't be insulting each other like that. Yes, they're going to get angry with each other and call each other idiots or say that something was stupid from time to time. But calling another driver a piece of shit? Sorry, that's totally uncalled for. Especially when Robby's referring to a driver who the vast majority of the time ra