Tidbits Before the Race

Jess

I'm not a big fan of Martinsville so I sort of half-watched the CTS race yesterday, mainly to see what crazy things Kyle Busch would do and to see how Chrissy Wallace would fare in her first NASCAR race. Chrissy did a good job, finishing in 17th, but she did have her share of altercations where she spun a couple guys out. But generally I thought she did a wonderful job! She's gotten a lot of positive attention from Tony Stewart, which is always a good thing, and she seems to have a good head on her shoulders. She's younger than me. Holy crap.

On the last lap Kyle was running third behind Johnny Benson. By this time I was just hoping he'd chill and take the finish, but he tried one last time to get around Benson...and wrecked him. That sucked...nobody wants to wreck Johnny Benson. I don't think Kyle meant to do it, but if he did karma came back and smacked him when Matt Crafton plowed into the back of the #51 and sent him spinning as well.

I suppose you can say that that's Martinsville. It's pretty hard for drivers to get around each other because you can't race. Martinsville encourages wrecking, not something I enjoy. Most likely if you run at Martinsville, you're going to get hit by someone.

I understand a team's anger when one driver wrecks their driver. It's the team's finish, too. But what happened as the trucks were coming onto pit road after the checkers was just absurd. Some of Benson's crewmen walked out to Kyle's truck and started yelling and gesturing into his window (it reminded me of a tamer version of Tony Stewart's crew getting in the #2 car's space at Daytona). Kyle actually had to stop to be cautious about not hitting these guys. It was so stupid - hello, do these crew guys realize they're putting themselves in danger of getting hit? They shouldn't even tempt a driver who is posibly angry to use their car as a weapon against a person! They need to stay out of it on pit road. If they want to scream at Kyle out of the truck, fine. But stay away from him when he's trying to park on pit road.

Kyle wasn't happy about it, either, and I 100% agreed with him. He admitted what he did was stupid, that he got in too deep and then wheel-hopped it and had to get off the gas. He just looked bummed and disappointed. Bring on the bashing. But then something happened that made me feel so much better...Matt Yocum, who had interviewed him, stepped close and said something in Kyle's ear and then put a hand on his shoulder and gave him an reassuring squeeze. Kyle smiled. It was so heartening to see that someone understands this guy like I do!

Back to MWR news, I get more upset over David's switch from the #00 to the #44 the more DW mentions it. I understand why UPS would want to stay with the #44 because they've marketed around it and I don't want to sound like I'm complaining about them because I'm very thankful they're on David's car. But I wish they had been open to going on the #00 - it would have been great in so many ways. First, they'd be 27th in owner points right now instead of 34th. Second, David and his fans would have been able to keep their own identity. Dale Jarrett and his fans would forever be the #44 UPS. David's fans already identify with the #00 - he could start a new UPS legacy with the #00 UPS Toyota. The #00 has been in David's family for years and David used to work for UPS. It would be perfect. I'm really wanting some new David gear, but whatever gear I get I want his name very boldly on it because I want to show I'm a David Reutimann fan, not a Dale Jarrett fan. If I want to buy Dale Jarrett gear I'll buy gear with his name printed boldly on it because I'm a Dale Jarrett fan. But now it's a little unclear...if I see someone wearing a #44 hat is he a DJ fan or a David fan?

It's 63 laps into the Martinsville race and David is back in 30th. I don't even want to see owner point standings. I'm still upset he has only a 15 point cushion. I don't blame McD, in fact I gained a lot of respect for him when I read this:

You have to feel good that you impressed the boss and got the car in the show this weekend in your first Cup race?
"Well, we got the car in the show because of everything David did in the first five races. I definitely got a gift with the Aaron’s Dream Machine and him running so well and getting the car in the top 30 in points. I didn’t earn it, David earned it and I’m just grateful for that and grateful for the opportunity to drive for Michael Waltrip Racing and Toyota. To have Aaron’s come onboard for my Cup debut was obviously very important. They’ve been an instrumental part of Michael Waltrip Racing since the beginning."

That's awesome. It gives me comfort that he's thankful, at least.

Now We Have "Partgate"

Jess

Well I hoped last night that MWR wasn't the team Roush was talking about but those hopes were dashed literally minutes after I'd written that post. There are so many articles out there that I couldn't possibly give links to them all, but generally I've gotten three different stories from all that I've seen.

1. In September 2007, at Dover, an MWR crewman took a special swaybar from Roush Racing. In January 2008, the vendor that made the part called Roush Racing, letting them know that MWR had called them wanting replicates made of the swaybar. Roush realized the swaybar was missing, called MWR and told them to return it. MWR returned it.

2. In September 2007, at Dover, an MWR crewman took a special swaybar from Roush Racing. In January 2008, Roush Racing realized the part was missing, called MWR and told them to return it. MWR returned it.

3. In September 2007, at Dover, an MWR crewman took a special swaybar from Roush Racing. In January 2008, MWR realized the part wasn't theirs, called Roush and told them they would return it. MWR returned it.

Additionally, the swaybar was clearly labelled (possibly questioning the intention of taking the part) and may or may not have been sandblasted (Roush says it was, Michael does not know if it was).

So who is lying?

Michael claims that he does not know that someone from MWR apparently called the vendor to get replicate parts. But if someone actually did call the vendor, that hints to me even if they didn't intentionally take the part, wouldn't they have noticed that they had never seen the part before? And gee, do you think it's a great idea to call the part's vendor for more of the same part when you think it might not have been your part to begin with?

But let's say that no vendor was involved and just somehow Roush found out that MWR had the part. How did he do this? The only way I can think of is that MWR knew the part was Roush's and someone let it slip to Roush. If no one knew it was Roush's, Roush wouldn't have found out MWR had it. So someone knew. And if they knew, it didn't stop MWR apparently from sandblasting it.

I'd like to think it was just an innocent mix-up in the hustle and bustle of the garage and MWR took the part by an honest mistake. Even if it was, I'd be disappointed and concerned that MWR wouldn't know their own parts enough to realize later that the part wasn't theirs - and then do work on it and/or try to get more of it. I mean, new, interesting parts don't just magically pop up out of nowhere.

It's so disheartening. Although I do think in a lot of ways it's getting blown off as another anti-Toyota rant Roush loves to publicize it is yet more negative publicity for Michael and MWR. It also brings back that Roush vs. MWR conspiracy theory for Daytonagate last season (a theory I think is absolutely freaking ridiculous, by the way) and adds more fuel to the fire. Plus, I'm getting nervous about how Toyota is starting to feel about MWR. It's so irritating that Roush is saying "the Toyota team"...who cares if it's a Toyota team? Toyota didn't tell MWR to steal a part! Give me a break! It was MWR, okay? When Roush Racing cheated did people freak out over Ford? No! But anyway, I'm worried because from the beginning it's been MWR's actions giving Toyota a bad name. Daytonagate and now this. Moreover, I believe the contracts of both NAPA and UPS are up this season. They are two very loyal and wonderful sponsors but they've also been through a very bad 2007 season. How much more can they be expected to take?

It just seems like when everything looks clear something else puts a dark cloud over MWR. For their sake I hope with all my heart that this blows over and isn't as serious as Roush is trying to make it sound. MWR needs to run well and leave all this scandal behind them. I know they're a good team. I truly believe they will be a great, respected organization one day. I just hope they can survive every punch that's thrown at them.

Martinsville Qualifying

Danni

RESULTS
1. Jeff Gordon
15. David
16. Michael
20. Kurt
22. Dale Jr.
39. Casey
40. Brian
42. Martin

Even though qualifying wasn't as stressful since all our boys are locked in, time trials at Martinsville always makes me nervous. Luckily, no one wrecked! I was actually very impressed with David and Michael's qualifying runs since they should be in something closer to race setup now than they have ever been. It's a good showing for David's first run in the #44 UPS car, so let's hope Martinsville is kinder to him than it has been in the past (don't worry David, I don't like the place either!).

On the opposite side of the field sit Casey, Brian and Martin. Brian had a bit of a spin in practice so I could see why he was being careful. Casey and Martin just looked out of control. It's hard to make up track position at this hairpin short track... hopefully their crew chiefs can make some pit strategy calls to help them go forward. Especially Casey, who needs all the points he can get (a little luck wouldn't hurt, either).

No Nationwide race, so David can focus on his Cup team and maybe get over the cold he sounded like he had during an interview today.

MWR in the News

Jess

There were two news items involving MWR that came to pass this week, neither one of which made me particularly happy. First it was announced that Bobby Kennedy is now Michael's crew chief while Paul Andrews is taking over the testing program. I don't agree with this move at all and I'm really disappointed that Michael doesn't have enough patience to last more than five races with the guy who got him into the top 35. I don't know what Michael wants anymore...every crew chief he gets it's the same old thing: "We really get each other, we'll work great and I look forward to the races!" and then on the radio it's frustration, screaming, cursing and a general lack of communication! For a period last season Bobby was Michael's crew chief and although he did make his first race in a while and got those two top 10s, he still missed races and ran badly. I don't expect a 180 in Michael's performace or his attitude just because Bobby is calling the shots...somehow I think it runs a lot deeper than chemistry. Michael is very stubborn. I don't think he likes these new cars and since Tony Jr. he's been so picky about what he wants in a crew chief.

I imagine it doesn't help Michael's mood too much that in the meantime David gets along with every crew chief he's paired with and runs well. And it seems to me that David often gets paired with the "lesser" crew chiefs while Michael gets the more experienced or well-known crew chiefs. On TWiN last week Michael made a remark that interested me about Ryan Pemberton and the fact that he didn't think as much of him when he hired him as he does now. Huh? What? Ryan is a very talented crew chief and was when he was with Mark Martin, too, so I don't understand how Michael didn't know that. But it also worries me. Michael, naturally, took Paul because Paul is the big name - does he think big name equals instant success? Now he realizes that Ryan is a great crew chief...I certainly hope that doesn't mean a future switch that puts Ryan on the #55 team. That...I don't want to even think about that.

In other news, I was hoping that David would be able to keep the owner points he'd earned so far, but that's not going to happen. Apparently NASCAR turned down MWR's request and I have two opposite feelings about it. The objective side of me understands and agrees with NASCAR not wanting teams to swap points in the middle of the season because it would definitely be abused along with the Past Cahmp's Provisional. It's potentially saving MWR in a way because Sam Hornish, Jamie McMurray and Kyle Petty are all drivers with teams that could switch points with a past champion teammate to guarantee himself in the race (in the case one of the MWR cars falls out).

But the biased side of me is pissed because now David is in a hole he didn't create and doesn't deserve. He should be 109 points from 36th, not freaking 15. Fifteen! I'm not happy about it at all because at a place like Martinsville you're often at the mercy of your fellow drivers so he could be taken out by something not of his own doing. I guess I'm trying to not be too upset about it yet because I know if anyone can fly up the points it's David and his team and if things go well I truly believe he'll eventually pass Michael McDowell in owner points - they are that good. They are a top 15 team at least. But I can't help but fear the worst. If they fall out...and if they miss a race...I'm going to lose it.

To McD's credit during an interview today he's very thankful for the points that David earned and says that it's his job to keep them up there.

David didn't look as happy and his choice of the word "aggravated" in the above article doesn't sound very happy, either. Which doesn't make me happy. To top it off, Darrell didn't sound happy - he was referring more to the actual number switch because he feels like David should have kept his #00, which I agree with. He also said that David really wanted to keep his number too...not something he ever said outright publically but an impression I got from some of his interviews. Hmm. That's four "not happies".

I don't know...it's been a distressing week for me as an MWR fan. Now there's even more drama going on with this stolen Roush Racing part and of course MWR is rumored as the Toyota team Roush is accusing. There are so many articles coming out with so much different information that if you don't know anything about it you can search for it yourself, but it doesn't make me feel good. I think Roush is a fool for crying about an important part being stolen since his team apparently didn't do a very good job keeping an eye on this part, but if MWR did in fact steal it I don't like that just as much. After Daytona last year I'd think they'd know better, but maybe not. I hope it wasn't MWR.

NNS - Nashville Superspeedway - Pepsi 300

Jess

RESULTS
1. Scott Wimmer!!!
9. David (1 LD)

Nashville has always been one of my favorite tracks with some of the most memoraible races for a couple of my drivers. David won his first NASCAR race here in Darrell's truck back in 2005 and no one can ever forget Michael's 2004 Busch Series win here when he went from 7th to 1st in about ten seconds through a cloud of smoke. It's a great track.

David didn't qualify too well but by Lap 40 he was in the top 10. Throughout much of this race Scott was within a few cars of him and for some time they looked just about equal. David made it into the top 5 and remained there, with Scott behind him. Finally the #29 got around the Dream Machine but he couldn't do much to get away from him.

Kyle Busch, again, basically dominated this race, and again, everyone pretty much figured he'd either win or he'd crash. Unfortunately for Kyle, it was the latter. As Clint Bowyer snuck up to his rear bumper on the frontstretch, Kyle got loose, tried to save it, bumped into Bowyer's right rear and shot through the grass, ruining his chances of winning the race. I felt so bad for him...he still seemed to have a decent car and was able to keep up with the leaders, though he was two laps down.

However, that soon created a problem for Scott, running second. Kyle was in between him and leader Bowyer - the damaged #2 of Bowyer was in Scott's sights but he couldn't get around Kyle and Kyle wouldn't move. As much as I like Kyle, I didn't agree with this because he was making a difference in the outcome of the race when he wasn't a part of the fight for the win anymore. The message eventually got to him because he did let Scott by. After that it wasn't long before Scott was leading the race!

Fuel mileage came into play...uhg. I'm not a big fan of fuel mileage races but it happens. Both Scott and Bowyer were very close but David, running third, was eight laps short. Eight? Whoa. There wasn't anything he could do about it - you can't save eight laps of fuel without a lot of help. With six to go he pitted. Despite being a lap down he finished in the top 10, which I can't be too bummed about. He was disappointed, though, but he handled his interview wonderfully.

I was so, so thrilled that Scott won his first race for RCR!! It's been a long time coming and it felt so good thinking about the near misses he had last season. Now he can say that he's won a race in the #29 before Jeff Burton did! But in another way it's very disappointing because he isn't full-time. And he should be.

Of course ESPN decided that a driver's burnout is a good time to go to commercial. What freaking idiots!

Congratulations Scott and the entire #29 team!

PS. I'm feeling spunky so I'll further insult ESPN's idiocy by criticizing how they chased Kyle Busch - a very unhappy Kyle Busch - and stuffed a microphone in his face, asking him stupid questions and getting terse answers. Are you kidding me? Do these freaking reporters have anything called...called...sense?! Courtesy? A heart? How bloody rude! And then they look all offended when Kyle is nasty right back to them. And then the fans cry, "What a spoiled brat, get a life Shrub!" while they're the same ones who say, "That's just Tony." Oh puke. LEAVE KYLE ALONE!! He's young, passionate and talented. Heaven forbid he be upset after screwing himself over during the race. At least he didn't curse or punch anyone like somebody else I know of.

POINT STANDINGS
1. Clint Bowyer
3. David -71

Future Changes...

Jess

Hey all you blog readers!

A few years ago I came up with the name Running Wide Open...thought it was quite cool. I should have copywritten the phrase then because last year California Speedway stole it from me! It was for a NASCAR Foundation event (a wonderful thing) but aimed at super-rich Hollywood stars, which annoyed me, as does the general glitzy glamor image California tries to force upon us fans who would much rather see the Fontana grandstand semi-full (and shouldn't that be what the speedway wants, too?) than Tom Cruise sitting on a pit box.

So in a bit I'll be changing this blog's URL from
http://runningwideopen.blogspot.com/
to
http://fromgreentocheckers.blogspot.com/
as you might have been able to guess from the new banner.

Ta ta, I'll get going on that Nashville report as soon as I put some college work behind me!

Martinsville...Here We Come!

Jess

I'm about falling asleep during ESPN's ridiuclously long prerace show, so I might as well take this time to celebrate the amazing accomplishments some of our heroes have made this season. Four of our drivers - Michael, David, DJ and Brian - had the task of not only qualifying for the first five races of 2008 but to run well enough to lock themselves inside the top 35 so they are guaranteed into Martinsville and hopefully beyond. More than I could ever hope for, they did it.

Brian certainly impressed. His qualifying runs were just fast enough to squeak himself into all the races but his performaces during the races were awesome. The only time he didn't finish in the top 25 was at Bristol when he crashed. He's 17th in points - wow! I have to wonder how Doug Richert feels about this since he said last year when he left Team Red Bull, "If I land somewhere, I'm definitely looking at the points. It will be in the top 35." Ouch. Regan Smith is 39th in points, 39 points from 35th. Ouch.

David has run much better than his finishes show and nearly every race he's been running top 15 to top 10 times. The #00 has a 109 point cushion, but then you realize that starting at Martinsville he's jumping into the #44. The plan was that he'd take the #44's owner points because in theory since DJ had the Past Champion's Provisional he was just about guaranteed to make the first five races and would possibly have been higher in points than David (since David could miss a race). This didn't happen...DJ ended up being the lowest MWR driver in the standings, with only 15 points separating him from the Martinsville star cars. This poses some problems. First of all, David earned those points in the #00 - he should be able to keep them. Secondly, 15 points is basically nothing. If David had just a little hiccup at Martinsville it could mean he'd be outside the top 35 with a fully sponsored car while Michael McDowell has partial (at best) sponsorship. I remember Michael Waltrip having a fit last season when his sponsored cars were missing races while the unsponsored cars of Joe Nemechek and Sterling Marlin were locked into the races.

To Michael's credit, he said on his radio show (summarized by a good friend over on Michael's fan club ) that MWR is going to ask NASCAR if David can carry over the #00's owner points to the #44. This is a relief because I know that Michael thinks a lot - a lot - of McD and in some ways having the most points of all the MWR cars could help him stay up there with his rookie status. But sponsors talk. UPS, I'm sure, is talking quite a bit! Secretly I'm hoping NASCAR tells MWR that to take those points David will have to be in the #00...and UPS then says, "Okay, then we'll be on the #00 with David as our driver." I can dream, right?

I'm very proud of how Michael and the #55 guys pulled it together at Bristol and made sure they were going to be locked in for Martinsville. They've struggled in more ways than one and I'm putting my faith in these guys that not having to worry about qualifying anymore will improve their communication.

DJ tried hard to be as far up in points as he could be but he had a lot of bad luck that hindered his effort. I wish he could have had more to celebrate about in his last five points races at MWR and I'll really miss seeing him on the track. Thankfully he's not going anywhere and will be a voice of reason over at the chaos known as ESPN! He's not at Nashville this weekend...listening to the broadcast I very much wish he was!!

I'm going to be extremely interested in how McD fares in the first year at the Cup level. He's talented, incredibly talented. Charming, good-looking, religious. A "good guy". I'll admit at first I was very wary of this guy but he sucked me in with that smile (grr!). But...ARCA isn't Cup. McD has only run four Busch/Nationwide races and one Craftsman Truck race with no top 10s in any of them. I really hope he's ready for the pressure, demands and competition in Cup. There have been drivers who have run an entire Busch season and have crumbled in Cup. Plus...I get the impression that McD is quite outspoken about things that he might be better off letting the higher-ups at MWR deal with. I don't know. He sort of reminds me of Kyle Busch...which might scare a lot of MWR fans! Michael could have some trouble with him...we'll see. I almost look forward to the day Michael has a troublemaker for a driver because I'm curious to see how he would deal with that as a team owner. Aaron's is very kind, as they will be on the #00 for Martinsville, Phoenix and Talladega - then McD will have to inspire companies to sponsor his ride.

Ahh...for the first time in almost two years I can sit back during qualifying and relax. Ahh. Congratulations all you drivers and teams that are now the insiders looking forward. Keep going up!

NNS: Nashville Qualifying

Danni

RESULTS
1. Kyle Busch
14. Scott
19. David

The Cup Series gets the weekend off for Easter, but not all the Cup drivers are at home right now! Nashville Superspeedway is a great track and it being a stand-alone race gives some of the other guys a better chance at showing their stuff. Including our David, there are only 6 Cup drivers in the race. And, in typical ESPN fashion, they left fans in the dark in terms of coverage. Both practices were yesterday. We saw First Practice but not Happy Hour. This morning, the drivers qualified but instead we watched tape-delayed Happy Hour. To make things worse, since Rusty Wallace is in the booth again, pretty much all we heard about was his team, along with Carl Edwards. I mean...come on. I dread to see coverage during the race today.

Bristol Motor Speedway - Food City 500

Jess

RESULTS
1. Jeff Burton
5. Dale Jr.
12. Kurt
13. Martin
20. David (2 LD)
23. Michael (3 LD)
37. DJ (10 LD)
39. Brian (OUT)
42. Casey (89 LD)

It's Bristol, baby!

With this new car it seems like cautions don't come out quite as much as they used to, so there was a surprisingly long green-flag run at the start of the race when you'd usually be pretty safe in making a bet for a wreck within five laps or so. In a way it's nice because it sucks when a driver gets taken out before he can show what he has, but in another way I was worried since a bunch of our guys started in the back and if their cars weren't handling well they'd be a lap down fairly quickly.

Thankfully David and Michael began to work their way forward and barely missed going a lap down, but their MWR teammate making his last career start in a points race didn't fare so well. Poor DJ! And he just lost out on the Lucky Dog!

Meanwhile Casey was running in the top 10, which really made me happy since he desperately needs a good run to accumulate some points.

Things got very interesting a bit later when on Lap 100 Michael took the field to green after staying out under caution. Smart! Those five points could mean the difference between being locked in or having to qualify in. I was actually very impressed with the way Michael held on, even though when he was being passed and was riding up high holding the leaders down it made me feel sick! Luckily it all worked out well and he settled down in the top 20. Great call, Paul Andrews!

Bristol is Bristol and on short tracks a lot of cars get out a lap down - David and Martin were passed by the leader and fell off the lead lap. It was disappointing but all you can do is hope for a free pass or that lots of cars go a lap down so there are plenty of guys to pass on the same lap as you.

On Lap 189 the first big wreck of the day occurred when Jamie McMurray lost his temper with Dario Franchitti. Franchitti had gotten loose under the #26, pushing McMurray up the track. Instead of just getting his rhythm back, McMurray apparently thought that the #40 deserved payback, so he turned a dead left and took Dario and himself out. Oh yeah, the ensuing wreck also involved Ken Schrader (who had been running great, by the way), Paul Menard, Ryan Newman and Bobby Labonte. Casey also got a little bit of this mess, but not enough to send him packing. And people think Big Ones only happen at restrictor plate tracks? McMurray - duh. Say hello to being a star car.

During the next green run Dale Jr. and Kurt - two drivers who are famously good at this little bullring - entered the top 12 and top 10, respectively. Casey was put a lap down but was still in the top 20. Until...

Paul Menard dumped Dario Franchitti in Turn 1, causing me much anger when I saw the aftermath on the frontstretch. Drivers began to check up like they're supposed to, all drivers unless your name is Juan Pablo Montoya. Montoya, a lap down, shot underneath leader Denny Hamlin, shoving Hamlin up the track. Right into Casey. The #5 slammed into the wall. What the frick?! Both Casey and Hamlin suffered a lot of damage and NASCAR just let Montoya stay on the lead lap! Casey's day was ruined. He had been running high enough to be around 25th in points. I swear, what does he have to do to get some good luck?

In a few minutes I had more to be upset about when David pitted. He was still only a lap down and frankly belonged on the lead lap, since he was zipping off times as faster or faster than the leaders. The #00 boys were going to give him a great pit stop so he could get the free pass. Looking good, sounding good..."One lap penalty." What? Apparently the official said David was pitting outside the box so they held him there for an extra lap. Ryan, who is usually calm and cheerful, screamed out a word I won't repeat and pretty much broke my heart. He sounded so upset I thought he was going to cry. I wanted to cry, too. Two laps down. Nonetheless, this team didn't give up and their 20th-place finish was a relief.

The Lap 291 caution was a very odd one involving Kyle Busch's steering. He just spun out for what looked like no reason - it was very odd. DW tried to explain (he was very sick and could hardly talk, poor thing!) that sometimes the steering will fail at Bristol and there's nothing you can do when that happens. Can we put Kyle on the same list as Casey when it comes to luck?

Later on, Jimmie Johnson plowed into DJ and the #44 somehow held on. Poor Dale wasn't having a good day as a result of pitting under green earlier for a loose wheel - a problem Michael was also fighting. I really wish DJ could have had a better day for his last start, but it was something out of his own control.

On Lap 489 Brian Vickers's day came to an end when he blew a tire and hit the wall hard. He had been battling with brake problems for the majority of the race. I'm very happy that he's run well enough this season to still be well up in points, giving him a cushion in case something like this happens! Martin received the free pass under this caution, giving him the chance to improve his position.

The last few laps at Bristol almost never fail to be exciting and this time was no different! Tony Stewart was leading until Denny Hamlin came flying up and passed him. Soon after Kevin Harvick dove under the #20 and clipped the apron...and shot right up into Stewart, sending him spinning. Yikes! I actually felt rather bad for Stewart, but then again I feel it's a bit of revenge for the Brickyard when Stewart moved Harvick out of the way. Harvick apologized immediately but Stewart's spotter didn't accept it. Typical. But when Stewart hits someone it's no problem. Hmm.

When the green-white-checkered flew Hamlin appeared to have a problem and Jeff Burton blew by him to take the win. That was cool! I wish Junior could have had a shot but 5th is nothing to be unhappy about - and he was smiling during his post-race interview. Yes, smiling! Yay!

#00 Quote of the Race

I don't really feel like putting the transcript of the pit road penalty as David's radio clip, so I'll use Ryan's speech at the end of the race, which I thought was very nice.

"Nice job, man, nice job. You ran a really good race - really good race - we just paid the price for track position the whole time. You did a great job this weekend...I know you know that but I want to tell you that in front of everybody. You did a great job this weekend. Appreciate all the hard work guys and we'll go to Martinsville!"

I. Love. This. Man!!!

POINT STANDINGS
1. Kyle Busch
5. Dale Jr. -96
10. Kurt -177
12. Martin -187
17. Brian -245
26. David -321 (27th in owner points +109 from 36th)
30. Michael -380 (30th in owner points +50 from 36th)
33. Casey -414 (33rd in owner points +16 from 36th)
34. DJ -415 (34th in owner points +15 from 36th)

NNS: Bristol Motor Speedway - Sharpie Mini 300

Danni

RESULTS
1. Clint Bowyer
3. David
12. Scott
41. Martin

For the I-can't-even-remember-th time, rain was the biggest headline, even at a place like Bristol. With dark clouds looming in the distance, the main goal was to make it to halfway. The urgency became apparant fairly quick.

There were two cautions before the competition caution on Lap 45, including one that took out Martin, who was driving Dale Jr.'s #5 car (something I was very happy about!). Martin slowed slightly off a corner to compensate Carl Edwards getting loose, only to be plowed from behind by none other than David Ragan. It was actually kind of scary to watch Martin fly down the backstretch and go back up the banking in the next turn to barely clip Kyle Busch. Poor Kyle! Could he just get a sliver of luck? Martin held his tongue in a post-wreck interview, but I could tell he knew exactly who hit him.

The race continued on with David and Scott both running in the top-10. Scott eventually lost handling on his car and dropped back, but David only went forward. Just as he was starting to catch the battling Clint Bowyer and Kasey Kahne to add his challenge for the lead, the skies opened and decided not to stop. NASCAR called the race at Lap 171. David finished in the same place he did last time his visited Bristol (but with no one spinning just in front of him).

On to Nashville, the track of David's first NASCAR win. I'm sure he'd love to add another guitar to his collection.

POINT STANDINGS
1. Kevin Harvick
5. David -83

Bristol Qualifying

Jess

CUP RESULTS
1. Jimmie Johnson
5. Casey
11. Martin
15. Dale Jr.
36. Kurt
37. DJ
38. Brian
39. David
40. Michael

Rain. Again. Psh.

But in a way I'm thankful because that means our star car heroes have made the first five races of 2008, greatly increasing their chances of staying inside the top 35 for the rest of the season. Michael definitely needed this because he had to go to a backup car after crashing, but I would have loved to have seen what David could have done since he was the quickest in practice.

NNS RESULTS
1. Scott
5. David
9. Martin

And because of rain the Nationwide quals were also set by owner points to give everyone some more practice time!

Atlanta Motor Speedway - Kobalt Tools 500

Danni

RESULTS
1. Kyle Busch
3. Dale Jr.
9. Brian
11. Kurt
17. Casey (1LD)
20. David (2LD)
21. Martin (2LD)
26. DJ (3LD)
30. Michael (4LD)

Junior took full advantage of his 2nd place qualifying effort and passed teammate Jeff Gordon after the green dropped. He set a blistering pace that pretty much stunk up the show for the first 30 or so laps. Other cars were not having such a good time, including Michael who brushed the wall. When the first caution came out for debris on Lap 38, only twenty cars were on the lead lap - but our Brian got the free pass.

After the yellow, Kyle Busch took over the dominance from Junior. Teams continued to struggle with the new car combined with the hard tires. David was relatively horrendous in the beginning of runs but would get better as time went by (or at least get better than drivers he was fighting for the free pass). But by the time he'd get into position to get the Lucky Dog, the leader put more cars a lap down far ahead of him.

As a rule, the race ran green. Yellows came out occasionally for debris or harmless spins (except Elliott Sadler's third and final, in which he hit the wall and really put himself out of his own misery). Brian got another free pass mid-race and afterward showed what he had. As a result of his great finish, he is virtually locked in the top-35 when the points shift after Bristol.

David's day was another California repeat - battle somewhat in the beginning, get trapped a lap down and run top-10 times at the end. It was annoying, especially at one point after a yellow pit stop. At the time, David was only one lap down and the crew tried to rip off an awesome stop to get him out first. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out so well. In a frenzy, David ended up running Michael out into the grass. Michael then proceeded to run into the back of the #00 in a nonappreciative way. Now, the #55 was two laps down! They didn't show it on the broadcast (Shawn let out some angry words over the radio) but it was aired on This Week In NASCAR on Monday and it didn't make me too happy, especially since Michael seemed to still act miffed about it. To add to the irritation, the #28 and #38 that lined up in front of David on that restart were two or more laps down and marred him back in traffic as the #2 and #5 (cars he was fighting with) drove away into the sunset. UUUGH!! But at the end, David and his team did a good job and got a sufficient finish that put a cushion between them and 35th in points. He even managed to pass Martin late in the race to be the first car two laps down. Impressive!

Michael and DJ had more handling issues, though DJ salvaged a decent day. It was pretty depressing, considering they are playing with fire near 35th in the standings. It's also causing a lot of apprehension for another driver - David. After Bristol, he's in the #44 with, according to Michael, the #44 owner points. So if DJ falls out and David stays in, David has to deal with qualifying for races again while Michael McDowell gets a free ride. This whole topic makes me furious but that's another blog, I guess.

Casey and Kurt had days similar to David, but Kurt was lucky enough to get the free pass and advance his finish. Dale Jr. was the best of everybody, though as I'd feared his performance sagged slightly at the end and allowed Kyle Busch to steam off with Toyota's first Cup win. I was so happy for Kyle! He's an awesome guy who deserves success. Toyota should be proud to have someone like him. Kyle's burnout was excellent and his excitement was contagious.

The conclusion of the race ended with smoke in two others fashions - Tony Stewart and his coinciding sour attitude. At the start of the race weekend, he'd said that the tires were too hard and it was going to be difficult to drive on them. This is a result of everyone cording tires at the Atlanta test last year, so Goodyear naturally brings a harder, safer tire. To their credit, not a single tire failed during the race. But I guess Tony doesn't give a crap about safety. Even though he finished second, he still found reason to not only complain like a baby, but to personally insult Goodyear employees and threaten to go home and remove all Goodyear tires on his vehicles so he could replace them with Firestones. In the mandatory post-race press session, he continued his whining, constantly reiterating "like Junior said" as if to condone his nasty views because he supposedly had the 100% support of the sport's most popular driver (I counted at least 6 times). Which, interestingly enough, he did not because Junior never dropped to Tony's level of bad-mouthing Goodyear employees.

Okay. So the tires were too hard. I think everyone got that point. However, it was how you dealt with them. Funny, Kyle Busch is commonly described as a selfish brat, yet he handled the situation like a man. "I'm going to say that I didn't like them," he said. "But I just went out there and we all had the same tire. They're going to pay somebody to win the race. And so that's what I focused on, just trying to go out there and be the one that they were going to pay to win the race. I just drove the thing to the best of my ability." Perfect! Tony acted like he was singled out and given the worst tires. HELLO, EVERYONE HAD THE SAME TIRES!!! And this is coming from someone who blew a tire at Las Vegas and hit the wall hard enough to cause his lower extremities to tingle?!

Jess and I came up with a couple of theories for Tony's outburst (besides the typical, "That's just Tony" that most of his so-called fans use to explain all of his embarrassing behavior because they can't come up with anything convincing). The first is that he's on probation. Tony seems to never really be happy unless he is attacking someone. He can't go after a driver right now, so he goes after the easiest thing to blame for all your problems - Goodyear. The second and probably most intriguing is the fact that Tony is humiliated that he did not get Toyota's first win, but furthermore was defeated by his upstart teammate! Tony's so used to being Number One at JGR so this must have hurt him pretty bad. Perfect way to remove attention from this fact and a NASCAR milestone? Make a big stink, a technique that is so becoming of Tony.

Plain and simple, Tony got support only about the tires being too hard, but definitely not for his scorn for Goodyear. In fact, several drivers said that he went too far. None of these drivers seemed surprised about this fact.

Just... grow up, Tony. You don't need to act like a baby to get your word out. I really hope his young fans don't start acting like him or this world's in for big trouble.



#00 Quotes of the Race:
(A caution comes out for debris)

David: "WHERE? Where, where, where, I don't see anything!" (pause) "There's nothing, there's nothing there!"

Shawn: "They're saying below the white line getting into (Turn) 3."

Ryan: "We see it. Your dad sees it. We're okay, we'll just tighten you up."

You can tell David's been bitten by debris cautions before when battling for the free pass!

POINT STANDINGS
1. Kyle Busch
6. Dale Jr. -134
9. Brian -174
10. Kurt -187
11. Martin -194
27. David -307 (+78 in front of 36th)
30. Casey -334 (+51)
32. DJ -350 (+35)
33. Michael -362 (+23)

NNS - Atlanta Motor Speedway - Nicorette 300

Jess

RESULTS
1. Matt Kenseth
10. David
15. Dale Jr.
22. Brian (1 LD)

Atlanta disappointed a bit, as it got pretty strung out at times and didn't quite provide the on-the-edge-of-your-seat excitement lap after lap like it has in the past. At the drop of the green, however, David charged forward, which was quite thrilling, but by then Rowdy Busch was a little speck in the windshield of the second-place car.

The first part of the race consisted of a lot of wrecks due to underfunded teams and inexperience.

David ran into some problems in the middle of the day when he became extremely loose, but Jerry did a great job getting the car handling well again and he was able to make his way back into the top 10.

Dale Jr. was running well but a rather interesting crash ruined his day late in the going. At the exit of Turn 2 he came upon the slow car of Eric McClure and instead of slowing down or going around him he saw a little hole and stuck his nose in it...and they wrecked, taking out Bryan Clauson as well. I thought it was a little odd that Junior just kind of ran into him, but I also feel pretty bad for a full-speed driver flying up on a car well under the pace sitting in your groove.

Meanwhile, Brian was having a depressing day on pit road. I really, really hate picking on a pit crew but this #32 has a very inconsistent group of guys - either they're really, really awesome or they are really, really bad. According to Brian's website (because ESPN2, of course, isn't very thorough), they had trouble with the rear tires on one stop but the real killer was a stop during green-flag conditions when a tire rolled away and they were penalized a lap. Later, Brian overshot his pit stall and put himself further back into the field. Despite all this the car was good and the Sheriff was able to salvage a decent finish.

I felt so awful for Kyle Busch when that tire blew - what a shame (although I am getting a little tired of the #20 winning all the time). To add insult to injury he was interviewed by Shannon Spake, who, true to her nature, asked the stupidest questions she could ask to a driver who was obviously very upset. Uhg, that girl needs a bitch slap!

Matt Kenseth is a good guy. I like him. But jeeze, that burnout felt more like a "Well, I suppose I should make a little smoke," rather than a "Whooohooo, YES!! CELEBRATION!!! " It bugs me enough sometimes when a Cup driver wins with a fully Cup-funded team, but when they just act like it's something they have to do instead of jumping up and down and grinning and whooping it just makes you feel gypped as a fan.

POINT STANDINGS
1. Kevin Harvick
6. David -102