NASCAR is back, part II

I do the same thing when Junior, Stewart, or either Busch wrecks... so I guess I can't hold it against you guys.

On another chord, things don't look good for Gordon making it into the chase this year. For whatever reason and in spite of the PR, it doesn't look like he and his CC are progressing. He is also having an odd proportion of Hendricks' mechanical problems in his cars.

Right now, I'd say his chances are less than 50%.

 

Don't we all do that when either of the Busch's wreck? :wavey: :smilewinkgrin:

Though I tend to agree that Gordon's chances of making the Chase are fading, I don't think we can write off the 4 time champion just yet. Though I have reservations about what he said about next week's Michigan race, I think he was right about its importance to his season. But, I thought he said the same thing before the Coke 600 and things didn't go well.

As bad as that car was, I think it was probably destined for the junk heap even before the wreck.

 

Ain't that the truth

I am not getting my hopes up that the 24 will miss the chase just yet.

 

Neither am I, especially after yesterday. It wasn't that an 8th place is especially great, but it was how he scored it, leading a lot of laps along the way. It was very unusual to see Earnhardt running up front at Michigan, but it was especially cool to see Earnhardt and Gordon battling for the lead. :thumbs:

In the "Do the announcers ever listen to themselves talk" dept, the guys in the booth were saying how Earnhardt is good about moving over and letting the guy behind him pass if that car is faster than he is. My wife said, "That's funny, that's not what they were saying earlier in the race."

BTW, if moving aside and just letting a car go is a good thing, then I would make a terrible racecar driver. Unless I were a few laps down, I wouldn't be moving aside for anybody, and I wouldn't expect them to do that for me, either.

 

Dale Jr. had a very good day yesterday. It seems he has worked out his problems with those type of tracks. If he has, then he should contend for the title this year.

His car design in honor of his grandfather was really cool!

 

Over So Soon?

I really enjoyed the race yesterday. It was very competitive with lots of genuine potential winners.

Now for my complaint: Why did they call the race when they did? By 6:30 PM local time the sky was clear and the track was dry. PLENTY of time to complete the race since the sun didn't set there until 9:30. I suspect that FOX didn't want to interfere with their heavily promoted Sunday night lineup. The race was building to a dramatic climax and it was cut short for no good reason. Shame on NASCAR!!!

 

That is a shame. I didn't pay much attention to it after they went off the air, I just assumed NASCAR knew the rain wasn't going to let up and called it.

Does FOX have any say on whether NASCAR calls the race or not? And if they do, why in the world do they?

 

swaimj, you're exactly right. I had assumed it had rained all night and knew nothing about the track drying until reading differently this morning. It was a good race, with lead changes that happened on the track rather than on pit road. Earnhardt, Gordon, Biffle, Edwards and Kahne all looked capable of winning.

I don't believe that Fox has any say about it. I believe it would be similar to a baseball game being rained out. Even if they did have a say, there's no reason for them to be worried about their Sunday night shows, because they can always switch the race over to FX should it run long.

 

My real problem is that LaBonte pitted under caution before the red flag because his team felt that the race would resume. That cost LaBonte alot of positions. I realize that he took a chance and came up short, but, to my memory, NASCAR has always resumed races if they could get them in the same day during daylight.

 

"He's a good teammate."

If I were Brian Vickers, I would do 2 things once I found out that the Fox geniuses thought I was a good teammate. #1, get mad about the perception of me. #2, realize that I'm the one at fault for the perception existing in the first place. If there's a worse statement that can be made about a race car driver, I don't know what it is.

They made a big deal about how Vickers used his time after his wreck at Charlotte to scuff tires for his teammates. I wonder how much that sort of thing played into Vickers' leaving Hendrick Motorsports. I mean, when was the last time that Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson used their on-track time after a wreck to scuff tires for their teammates?

It doesn't get much better than the caution on lap 154 when J. Gordon and 3 Roush cars are taken out in the same wreck. :thumbs:

 

#24 in the wall at Daytona, a 40th place finish and an ugly DNF. Let me see if I can work up a tear.........

...........nope, I guess not.

Let me use one of these :tear:.


There, now. Don't we all feel better.
​

 

I did not get to watch the race. But I am always glad to see Tony Stewart win and to see Gordon have a DNF.

Stewart and Dale Jr are both holding strong in the top 10 ready for the race for the cup.

 

Slimeball moves

No matter whether it's Dale Earnhardt, Tony Stewart or Jeff Gordon, a slimeball move is a slimeball move. Here's a quote from the other Nascar thread that was closed on this board.

If Dale Earnhardt was a dirty driver, and many think he was, then it's time to put Jeff Gordon in the same category as a dirty driver.

BTW, what a shock that Juan Pablo Montoya will be driving the 42 car in 2007. I've always been a fan of JP and it's not like I needed another reason to be excited about a season of racing, but I can't wait to see JPM in that 42 car. :thumbs:

And, what does this say about how much $$ is being made by drivers in Nascar? Historically, driver salaries in F1 have always been the highest in all of auto racing. It says something about driver salaries that one of the top F1 drivers would leave to go drive "stock" cars.

 

I did not get to see the end of the race, but heard Gordon had a pretty bad move. I guess it just shows he can be a dirty driver as well.

 

"NASCAR drivers and elephants never forget"
Jeff better keep his eyes open next week.

 

The president of Nascar was at the driver's meeting before the sunday race, and gave his usual "everybody follow the rules - or we'll have to enforce them" speech. Nascar "leadership" is a paper tiger, and the drivers all know it.
Nascar picks the rules it wants to enforce-when they want to enforce them-and against whom they want to enforce them.

 

I just got to see the incident. That was bad. I guess the Chicago fans didn't care too much for it either with the littered track on his victory lap. I would say that Gordon is too much of a "pretty-boy" for Chicagoland.

 

Did you notice how quickly the commentators all agreed that the incident was the result of "just racin' ", and was not done with any intent?
Wonder what the commentators take is on the Easter Bunny?

 

Danica Patrick may come to NASCAR now?

Will she be competitive?