Martinsville Speedway - Subway 500

RACE WINNER: JIMMIE JOHNSON

Our Boys Running Order:
17. David (started 19th)
18. Michael (started 29th)
19. Martin (started 2nd)
20. Casey (started 22nd)
23. Dale Jr. (started 7th)
30. DJ (started 33rd)
31. Kurt (started 11th)
DNQ Brian

Martinsville has never been a track I particularly liked and last weekend’s race didn’t help much. Despite the New Car’s matching front and rear ends, there were a record-breaking 21 cautions and an extra six laps. To further extend my displeasure for the place, the average finish of our drivers was about 23rd.

Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon pretty much dominated the race, leading a combined total of 315 of 500 laps. Now, I have nothing against those two, but it sure would be nice to see someone new win once in a while. However, Martinsville has a special meaning to them and they race extremely hard to get a #1 there for Rick Hendrick.

Dale Jr. led 24 laps and even ran well on seven cylinders. But running down on power eventually ripped things apart in the engine. When taking the green for the green-white-checkered, black smoke was puffing out of the sidepipes and relegated Junior to a last on the lead lap finish.

The start of the race was a struggle for Martin despite qualifying second. Near the end of the race he and Casey got into a tizzy and wrecked each other. Then Martin was involved in two more incidents and Casey in one more. I’m sure neither were very happy going home.

Kurt was looking at another solid day until a tire cut and he smacked the wall. Afterwards, the car just wouldn’t handle. He finished five laps down.

Similar days were to be had for Michael and David. Both claimed that their cars were horrible, but neither driver gave up. Each of them fell a lap down and, thanks to all the cautions, got free passes. It was funny because Michael wrecked going into a turn in practice on Friday and wondered if he would even make the race. Then he pulled nearly the exact same move Sunday! But both he and David did great jobs staying out of a lot of trouble and putting sub-25th place cars in the top-20.

DJ struggled early and got into a wreck not of his own doing. He dropped down a couple of laps and could run competitive times but just could not regain positions.

Then came a really interesting and disturbing altercation following the checkered flag. Matt Kenseth was about to be interviewed by SPEED’s Bob Dilner when teammate Carl Edwards pushed him to one side and began arguing with him. Matt looked irritated and the two exchanged angry words. After several seconds, Carl stepped over the wall separating the track and pit road and turned to give off some more comments. Matt sent him some closing remarks and Carl aimed a punch at him! It was rather scary watching Matt’s reaction of flinging up his hands to block, but then Carl suddenly pulled his fist away and gave this really eerie and venomous grin before he walked off. Apparently, when Reed Sorenson blew a tranny on one of the restarts, Carl dove it in very deep into Turn 1, running into the side of the #17. To indicate his unhappiness with the move, Matt bumped Carl out of the groove. The two talked about it on the radio and Matt thought everything was fine. I guess not! I like Carl but man, that was not cool. To make it worse, Jack Roush will probably do nothing since Carl is his current favorite.

Our Boys Point Standings
- Driver Points -
10. Kurt -420 behind 1st
11. Martin -447 behind 1st
13. Dale Jr. --
16. Casey -118 behind 13th
- Owner Points -
38. David -387 behind 35th
39. Brian -519 behind 35th
41. Michael -876 behind 35th
42. DJ -913 behind 35th

Charlotte Motor Speedway - Bank of America 500

RACE WINNER: JEFF GORDON

Our Boys Running Order:
10. Michael (started 19th)
17. Martin (started 32nd)
19. Dale Jr. (started 22nd)
21. Casey (started 9th)
26. Kurt (started 8th)
29. David (started 20th)
DNQ DJ
DNQ Brian

It didn’t take long for Dale Jr. to again mingle with Charlotte’s craziness and nearly put me into congestive heart failure again! Lap freaking 1 and he was 3-wide on the top, causing a big panic among the drivers he was passing. To add to my dismay David hit the wall moments later, so I fumed for a while and was annoyed at June, but I don’t really know how much he had to do with David’s brush with the fence. Dale Jr. continued to have an interesting night messing with future teammate Jeff Gordon, but his threats on the radio didn’t amount to any on-track retaliation (thankfully).

David’s night spiraled downhill for a while and a few choice words were used to describe the car’s handling, but Frank did a wonderful job rallying the team and making the car good enough to pass others that weren’t damaged. David apologized and took all the blame at one point but Frank had none of that and quickly told him they were all in this together. That definitely made me smile. They held on despite a flat tire and survived the rest of the night.

Michael’s race is one to gloat about, for he took a car that he thought was horrible and finished 10th with it! I’m so proud of him and honestly didn’t think he’d have two top 10s under his belt by now. He even spun through the grass (and almost crapped himself from what he said on INC because it surprised him so much!) but came back and cut through the field like a surgeon (another INC saying).

I felt incredibly bad for Kurt when he smashed into another car on pit road during a gas-only stop, but was a bit miffed with whoever told him he was clear. In my opinion, if you’re the guy doing something different like two tires or gas only you should be the one keeping a sharp eye out for the guys in the back that will be coming into pit as you’re leaving. Things got worse when Kurt dropped a cylinder later on, which killed his dreams of a good finish. His second engine problem in the Chase…

Casey was having a decent night before a tire failure sent him screeching into Bill Elliott. That really sucked…but by hitting Elliott the damage wasn’t so bad to Casey’s car and the crew was able to make enough repairs to salvage a top 25.

A mistake on Martin’s part almost cost him a top 20 when he ran out of gas after failing to come down pit road when Bono called him in. Fortunately it worked out fairly well in the end.

And I still miss the old Charlotte. Although with Bruton Smith’s recent hissy fit about his precious drag strip, maybe he’ll tear the track down and build it somewhere else!! Ha ha, I wouldn’t be so lucky.

Our Boys Point Standings
- Driver Points -
7. Kurt -315 behind 1st
11. Martin -378 behind 1st
13. Dale Jr. --
14. Casey -122 behind 13th
- Owner Points -
38. David -405 behind 35th
39. Brian -450 behind 35th
41. Michael -891 behind 35th
42. DJ -892 behind 35th

Feeling Much Better....

After a few days to brood and ponder and think about what David will be doing next season I’m feeling much more confident. I guess it helped to read actual parts of the transcript as well as a lovely article on NASCAR.com. I had no idea that David has worked for UPS before…I wonder if he wore the shorts or was turned down like DJ in the commercial!!

I also found this quote by Michael when asked about David’s transition from Aaron’s to UPS relieving and interesting:

“We haven't really talked about the details of that, but the way I envision it happening is that he will start out the season in the No. 00 Aaron's Camry in the Cup series and run that car for five races. Then that car will simply change colors. His team and David will stay in the same car with the same equipment, they will just take off the Aaron's decals and apply the UPS decals. That is the way I envision it happening and we will have three Cup teams next season.”

First of all it sounds very promising that David will keep Frank and the team. Secondly, he mentions the car changing colors but not numbers…hmm. I hope that means that keeping the 00 in David’s name is still a possibility. I’d love to see that happen!

Michael on INC also explained more about the partnership and I feel more secure about that as well. He looked very happy as a whole tonight which made me smile because I have a feeling he’s been going through some difficult times as of late…

Charlotte Motor Speedway - Dollar General 300

RACE WINNER: JEFF BURTON

Our Boys Running Order:
3. Dale Jr. (started 26th)
12. David (started 8th)
13. Scott (started 19th)

This track just about gives me a heart attack during every race now and it didn’t help that Junebug was driving like an insane person all night and adding to my potential cardiac arrest! He nearly wrecked Jeff Burton at the end of the race but I suppose I can’t complain too much because it all worked out in the end and no cars spun off Junior’s front bumper. Generally I’ve noticed a change in his driving style in the past few weeks…he’s much more aggressive and a bit more reckless. I know he wants to win another race at DEI (not to mention a race this season), so I can’t be hard on him, but he’s scaring me with all his wild moves.

David didn’t have the excellent night everyone expected due to an early-race brush with the wall, but the Dream Machine crew did a wonderful job fixing the car up again and David raced his way back to the top 15. According to his post-race interview he was an “idiot”, but I think most of the blame should have been directed toward a horrible track, since he was in the company of other “idiots” such as Jimmie Johnson (who, by the way, is a Cup champion) and Clint Bowyer, neither of which were talented enough to save their cars – like David did – and also took out many of their fellow competitors with them – which David did not do. Don’t be so hard on yourself, David!

Scott also didn’t have the night he had hoped for in his last run in the 21 car.

But looking at the results and noting how many have the word “accident” as their status, I’m glad my boys survived and all finished in the top 20. I don’t think “beast” is a cruel enough word for Charlotte…maybe something like “demon” would suffice…

David’s Points:
1. Carl Edwards --
2. David -638 behind leader
3. Kevin Harvick -115 behind David

Frustrated!!!

WARNING: Feeling very irritated and unsure. Definitely will be some ranting. As more information comes out of I calm down after a while I might change my tune, but for the moment I’m writing what I’m feeling.

MWR’s long-awaited announcement was made today at Charlotte regarding both Dale Jarrett’s plans for next year and a partner. Basically what is happening is this:

1. 50% of MWR is now owned (personally) by Robert Kauffman, who founded and co-manages Fortress Investment Group. MWR is now MWRH (Michael Waltrip Racing Holdings, LLC).

2. Ty Norris (thankfully) is still going to be VP and GM, but now Cal Wells III (listed as the owner of the 00, former owner of PPI Motorsports, former expectant minority owner at Robby Gordon Motorsports) is the Executive Vice President of Operations and Larry Johns (no clue who he is) is the Chief Financial Officer.

3. DJ is running in the 44 UPS Toyota for the first five races of 2008 as well as the All-Star race, and then he will retire.

4. David will drive the 00 (supposedly sponsored by Aaron’s) for the first five races and then will drive the 44 with UPS as a sponsor. David will also be in a full-time Nationwide Series car as he is this season.

Okay. There was nothing an any official MWR (coughMWRHcough) press release about Frankie and the 00 team, but in this article David doesn’t know whether he’ll keep them or not. That’s alarming to me. David has such wonderful chemistry with the entire team and it would be absolutely ridiculous to rip them apart! What is Michael doing here? Does he want Frank? Does he want Frank to go to whoever will be driving the 00 (rumored to be Josh Wise and/or Michael McDowell, two development ARCA drivers with little experience in NASCAR), and David can “pick up the 44 team”? I know David is definitely talented and good-natured enough for any team to fall in love with him, but he’s got a great thing going with the 00 crew.

I’m also upset about the number switch. Apparently UPS wants to keep the 44…why? They’ve only been with the 44 for one year. It was so cool that David could make his Cup name in a number he’s run with all his life and I think he really enjoyed it. I don’t see why UPS would get their panties in a bunch about the 44. It would be easy to just switch sponsorship to the 00 as well as owner points.

Owner points. I guess the plan is for DJ to get into the Top 35 and then David will get those points. But what happens if David goes on a streak of great finishes and is solidly in the Top 35 after Bristol? And if DJ is teetering on the edge? Will David get dumped to crappy points even though he earned his way into the Top 35, and then whoever gets into the 00 reaps the benefits of his hard work? David should get the higher owner points, hands down, from the 44 or the 00. He is the 1-year veteran of MWR versus a new driver. He is MWR’s shining star.

Oh yeah, as far as I know UPS is still signed only through 2008. I remember David saying some time ago that the contract was for multiple years hinging on sponsorship. That’s scary.

So who is the Kauffman guy? This whole “partner/investor” thing isn’t really my cup of tea. I don’t understand it (except for the big money part) and I don’t like it. I don’t want NASCAR to turn into stupid money-making machines where drivers are treated like greyhounds.

I’m nervous to see some parallels forming between David and Casey Mears. Both are kind of being pushed around to fit into gaps in the team and the sponsors. Both have lost their sponsors for this year to take over someone else’s sponsor next year. Both are losing their numbers, and those numbers had emotional meaning to the drivers. And both are way too good to be treated like that.

On the positive side (always have to have that or I go insane), I’m very happy that David will be a fulltime NS driver next season! And I’m looking forward to some great UPS commercials!

Talladega Superspeedway - UAW-Ford 500

RACE WINNER: JEFF GORDON

Our Boys Running Order:
6. Casey (started 29th)
7. Kurt (started 41st)
22. David (started 5th)
25. Michael (started 1st)
39. Brian (started 3rd)
40. Dale Jr. (started 26th)
41. Dale Jarrett (started 43rd)
42. Martin (started 13th)

It was a much anticipated race at Dega, more so than ever because it was the first time the New Car battled for position on a superspeedway. The weekend started out in an exciting fashion when the impound format landed all eight go-or-go-homers in the top-8 – and our Mikey nabbed the pole! To make it even better, not a single one of our boys had to make the trip back north.

Talladega is Talladega, but a lot of drivers complained about the boring single-file racing that often strung out the field into a follow-the-leader type line. I can tell by listening to drivers’ radios and reading their quotes that this probably frustrates a driver more than being caught up in the Big One. Although it’s fun watching the cars rim-ride, it tends to drag on, broken only by a caution or a brave man who decides to bring the race back to racing. Luckily for us, one of those men was Michael Waltrip! It was great seeing him and Junior working together like old times and showing their competitors whose boss. Mikey swung down low and after many failed attempts finally got enough backing to create a power train straight to the front. With some help from Jeff Green, David led 2 exciting laps (which, true to their nature, ESPN totally missed) before Mikey got a shot from Junior and retook the helm. Brian also did his best to work with his fellow Toyota drivers.

But as you could probably tell from the running order, not all good things last. Martin blew an engine. When a DEI car blows an engine, I tend to get a bad pit in my stomach. That wasn’t helped any when other DEI/RCR engines started expiring, and finally Junior’s car spewed thick smoke along the trioval (right in front of Michael, who jumped aside just in time). The smoke was nearly opaque and unfortunately for DJ, who was just coming up through the field, it blocked his car from Kyle Petty’s vision and he got smacked into hard, ending his day.

Of course, when the Big One finally did happen, it chose to occur right in front of a group of our guys. Bobby Labonte’s car suddenly took a left turn while running on the high side and nailed Kyle Busch, who then hit Robby Gordon. Gordon’s car turned up and just barely missed Michael… but hit David squarely broadside. David nosedived down the banking and spun. He would have been fine, I think, if David Ragan hadn’t been down there on the apron to hit him. Brian, after battling a lost 1st gear, was also collected. David’s beaten up #00 was one of the only cars to limp away from the carnage. I’d say finishing 22nd with a wrecked machine isn’t too shabby!

Even with a car that had a pancaked right side from hitting the wall, Michael was still in contention. He raced on, but his day didn’t end well. With only a couple handfuls of laps to go, he blew a right front tire and took out Elliott Sadler, Greg Biffle and Tony Raines. It really sucked, but apparently Sadler decided that Michael did it by lack of talent and proceeded to blast him on MRN radio, calling him an “idiot” and remarking that Michael can only win at restrictor plate races. Um, wow, Elliott, when was your last win? Fontana in 2004? Maybe you should look at your own career before insulting someone else.

The finish was exciting, but I couldn’t help but feel disappointed that Kurt and teammate Ryan Newman couldn’t get 1-2. Those two have worked so well together! It was also kind of miserable to watch Casey be the pusher to Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson and then get hung out in the end. But… that’s the way it goes, I guess.

Our Boys Point Standings
- Driver Points -
7. Kurt -215 behind 1st
10. Martin -300 behind 1st
13. Dale Jr. --
15. Casey -116 behind 13th
- Owner Points -
38. Brian -359 behind 35th
39. David -365 behind 35th
41. DJ -807 behind 35th
44. Michael -909 behind 35th

Pumped!!

If I had said on Thursday that Michael Waltrip was going to get the pole at Talladega I would have been laughed at. Yesterday when he made the quickest lap at the time, I thought he’d most likely lose it…but he didn’t! For the first time since 2005 at Pocono, Michael was on the pole. Better yet, all three MWR cars made the show! Michael said that that made him happier than anything.

Generally all the star cars qualified very well. I expected them to but not at the magnitude it turned out to be: the first top 35 car qualified 12th. Not to mention that AJ Allmendinger qualified 9th and missed the race. Again, a lot of fans are freaking out about a 9th-place car going home, but the only reason the star cars did so well is because they had full-blown qualifying setups while the top 35 cars did not. I believe if it had not been an impound race things would have looked a lot different on the speed charts, but not necessarily affecting the star cars that made the race and went home.

Another notable development occurring yesterday was not a very good one because it involved Kurt’s car failing post-qualifying inspection – it was too low. He didn’t qualify really well anyway and moving to the back at a plate race isn’t always a bad thing, but I’m a little nervous about further penalties, which that team can’t afford.

I love Talladega, despite the fact that most of my drivers could get caught up in wrecks not of their own doing. It’s fun and it’s good racing. There’s an ongoing argument that drafting isn’t real racing because anyone with a good car can draft, but I completely disagree. The cars are very equal. Drafting takes brains and good reflexes. And it’s very intense! From the green to the checkers, your heart is pounding because anything can happen at any time, anywhere.

Good luck to all my drivers today and I hope they all have fun and stay safe.

Random News Items

Probably the biggest thing that’s going on with our drivers at the moment is regarding David and where he’s going to be next season. Honestly for a while I thought he was going to leave MWR but at this point I’m assuming he’s staying, if anything because there aren’t any other rides to choose from. But I’m still wondering about one key element: sponsorship. No one knows what Domino’s and Burger King are doing and they seem to be taking their time on that decision. The newest development that’s of interest to me is some negotiating between Dale Jarrett, UPS and MWR on what those three are willing to do. Maybe it has nothing to do with David but I think it comes at a coincidental time of doubtful sponsorship for the 00.

I don’t believe Michael would give David a contract with absolutely no guaranteed sponsor for at least a few races. But I also think he’s willing to take a risk with limited sponsorship in order to keep David, in hopes that something else will come along. The latest on DJ and UPS make me wonder if UPS is a backup plan if the 00 can’t get its own sponsor(s). Will Dale run the races with UPS when the 00 has a sponsor, and then when the 00 doesn’t UPS will move to the 00 and DJ will sit out?

It’s rather depressing and I think it will hurt the organization as a whole to have only two full-time cars when its accustomed to having three, but Dale appears to be okay with a part-time schedule and from the way he’s praised David I think he’s happy to sacrifice some of his races to allow David to become a star. It’s definitely frustrating to no end for me as a fan to see David, the best MWR driver by far, having sponsor troubles while Michael and Dale are not…

In other news, it looks like Brandon Whitt will be making an appearance in the Truck Series again at Atlanta! Ironically enough he will be driving for Red Horse Racing, the team that fired him a few years ago (and has subsequently fired David Starr, Aaron Fike – a druggie – and is now searching for a full-timer). It’s only for one race and only because Jason Leffler can’t make it to Atlanta, but I hope Brandon kicks some ass and shows owners (especially Jeff Hammond and Thomas DeLoach) that he deserves a good ride.

Kansas Speedway - LifeLock 400

RACE WINNER: GREG BIFFLE

Our Boys Running Order:
4. Casey (started 16th)
10. Dale Jr. (started 6th)
11. Kurt (started 12th)
26. DJ (started 13th)
30. Michael (started 11th)
31. David (started 25th)
38. DJ (started 9th)
DNQ Brian

Rain, rain, go away. Mother Nature sure is enjoying messing around with these races this season!

I was thrilled to see Biffle get that win this year but the whole “reasonable speed” deal is bothering me. I don’t exactly think NASCAR made the wrong call, but I do understand why Clint Bowyer and Jeff Gordon were upset. It wasn’t like Biffle slowed a little bit – the pace car was driving away into the sunset and leaving the field behind. I know NASCAR just wanted to end the race, declare a winner and go home because it was dark and everyone is tired, but then they probably should have just called the race a lap earlier for darkness and ended it there.

I’m also irritated because of something that happened to David directly that contradicts that situation. David got involved in the restart-after-the-rain wreck, but didn’t quite get stopped and got going again at what I’d say was a reasonable speed, so in theory he should have maintained his position on the lead lap, right? Nope. He got put a lap down because Kevin Harvick sped by at a high rate of speed and took the lead. So yeah, I went a little buggy over that.

Martin got caught up in that mess too, which sucked and put a good dent in his championship hopes.

There was also a little controversy over that wreck, which in my opinion Michael had a part in creating. He didn’t have a good car and was also having radio problems, but he drove like crazy during that restart and nearly got into Jimmie Johnson, and then drove down very close to Schrader and either made contact or took the air off him. It wasn’t on purpose – just a racing incident – but it just kind of annoys me that some Michael fans are acting like he had nothing to do with it. However, with the way the entire field was racing at that time I’m willing to bet they would have wrecked sooner or later.

David had a good car once again and got totally screwed by the rain, since he pitted while running about 15th and then the race was red-flagged because of rain. Then he got wrecked which killed his chances of finishing well. But…I’m still very satisfied that the cars are getting consistently good every weekend now!

Kurt got a bit screwed as well in something that shouldn’t of happened. Tony Stewart had a bunch of damage from that restart wreck but didn’t pit even though he had wheel well issues. I knew the tire was going to blow. And it did! Jeff Green was lucky enough to see Tony signal frantically out the window but unfortunately Kurt was not and plowed right into him. Tony threw a bit of a tantrum inside the car and I felt kind of bad for him; he also denied interview requests which after his little F-bomb (don’t get me started on that unprofessionalism – is that a word?) was a good idea, especially since he would have likely gone off on Kurt, and then I’d be very angry.

Our Boys Point Standings
- Driver Points -
8. Martin -158 behind 1st
9. Kurt -177 behind 1st
13. Dale Jr. --
15. Casey -218 behind 13th
- Owner Points -
38. Brian -289 behind 35th
39. David -346 behind 35th
41. DJ -726 behind 35th
44. Michael -881 behind 35th

Kansas Speedway - Yellow Transportation 300

RACE WINNER: KYLE BUSCH

Our Boys Running Order:
3. Casey (started 9th)
9. Brian (started 10th)
15. Scott (started 26th)
17. David (started 31st)

I’ll be honest, I didn’t get to see this race in its entirety because I have a life and went out shopping with my mom. With my busy college schedule this semester and the fact that I like to spend my day off fishing, I never did watch this race except for what I saw live. From what I saw on INC it seemed like your typical Kansas race with a few big crashes and some long green runs. I’m glad Kyle won especially because it was a battle right to the end!

It was pretty disappointing that Brian finished 9th after having a car that could have won the race; another one lost on pit road. I don’t like to get on the pit crews because they have a tough job and get so easily blamed by fans for screwing up a driver’s race (meanwhile the drivers get all kinds of excuses), but Brian’s lost one or two already with this team and it gets kind of frustrating after a while.

Other than that it was nice to see Casey have another good run, and Scott and David finished decently but a little lower than the norm.

David’s Points:
1. Carl Edwards --
2. David -696 behind leader
3. Kevin Harvick -122 behind David

New Hampshire International Speedway - Sylvania 300

RACE WINNER: CLINT BOWYER

Our Boys Running Order:
5. Martin (started 2nd)
8. Casey (started 15th)
16. Dale Jr. (started 19th)
25. Kurt (started 3rd)
26. David (started 20th)
43. Brian (started 42nd)
DNQ Michael
DNQ DJ

Despite it being a rather boring race to watch on TV, I was really happy to see Clint get his first win. Other than my boys winning, first-time winners are my favorite victory celebrations. He burned out so hard that he blew the engine and that’s always cool to see.

Martin and Casey had great days!

Dale Jr. was good in the beginning and led some laps but ended up spinning out at one point as a result of the handling going away.

Kurt’s day went downhill when his engine lost a cylinder but I’m glad it didn’t fail completely and that he salvaged a half-way decent finish. He was running very well before his problems so I’m not counting him out of the championship yet. He’s a good one for going on a tear when he needs it the most.

David’s car was a lot better than his finish showed. He got trapped a lap down and was too loose at the start of the run to fight for the Lucky Dog, which ensued in a lot of frustration over the radio. To add insult to injury, when David finally got out in front of the other lap cars the caution never flew again, and with a long green flag run he didn’t stand a chance with so many other cars getting lapped ahead of him.

Brian started in the back and stayed there, unfortunately. He got black-flagged at one point for running the paddle on pit road and that ended any chance of a good finish.

Our Boys Point Standings
- Driver Points -
6. Martin -40 behind 1st
12. Kurt -102 behind 1st
13. Dale Jr. --
15. Casey -229 behind 13th
- Owner Points -
38. Brian -277 behind 35th
39. David -373 behind 35th
41. DJ -699 behind 35th
47. Michael -925 behind 35th

A Few Things in the News...

First of all, the most popular news for sure in the NASCAR world is in regards to Dale Jr. and his much anticipated move to Hendrick Motorsports. This week it was announced that Tony Eury Jr. will be jumping ship at DEI as well and moving over to the yet-to-be-numbered team of Dale Jr.’s! This is very exciting for me because I have a lot of faith in Tony Jr. and also in his pairing with Junebug. Some people think it has bad news written all over it but I think these are a misinformed bunch that don’t know this unique driver/crew chief relationship as well as I do (some are also jealous Michael Waltrip fans who wanted Tony Jr. to come to MWR…like there was ever a chance of that happening!). Yes, Junior and Tony Jr. fight. They yell at each other. They’ve also known each other since they were little kids and are like brothers. They were also in a rather hostile environment called Dale Earnhardt Inc.

Having Tony Jr. will likely make Junior feel comfortable at HMS outright because it will be a familiarity. On the other hand, I’m a little apprehensive about it because I don’t know how either will adapt to Hendrick cars, which according to Casey Mears drive very differently than what he was used to (this is supposing that there will be as much of a parallel between his situation and Junior’s, of course). The learning curve could be shortened with Tony Jr. or it could be lengthened, depending on how quickly Tony Jr. gets a handle on the cars. But in general I’m happy with it. Tony Jr. wanted out of DEI and wanted to be with his cousin.

Some less thrilling news was that Casey will now be driving the 5 car in 2008, not the 25. Selfishly, this is frustrating because he hasn’t had a number for more than a year since he was in the 41! Fans like identity with their driver and seemingly every time Casey gets one it gets taken away the next season. Emotionally, I’m disappointed because he won his first Cup race with this number and it also has personal meaning to him because of his father. I’m a little annoyed that Casey didn’t have much of a choice since the 5 was Rick’s first number, but Junior has his pick of whatever number he wants. Alan Gustafson will be Casey’s crew chief and I’m a little sad about that because Casey gets along very well with Darian Grubb and I’m not happy to see him put to another position. To top it all off, it’s looking like National Guard will be on Junior’s car, while Kellogg’s and Carquest will be on Casey’s (and sorry, but I’m not wearing a hat with Tony the Tiger on it!!). This leads to some fear that Casey is now the least important driver at HMS. But there is also some excitement because the 5 team is a great bunch, so I’m hoping Casey will gel with them and kick some ass.

Lastly is some news that I’m 50-50 on: Todd Kluever is a free agent and will not be back with Roush in 2008. Half of me is bouncing off the walls with happiness because quite frankly Roush has treated Todd like crap. Does he not see that Greg Biffle is running about the same in that 3M #16 as Todd? I think Todd is more talented than his results show and deserves a better team owner. But I’m also terrified that he’ll fall off the radar; a team won’t be interested in him and he’ll go the route of Brandon Whitt and disappear. So if you’re some team looking for a talented, good-looking young driver and you have somehow stumbled upon this blog, pick Todd Kluever!!

Richmond Int'l Speedway - Emerson Radio 250

RACE WINNER: KYLE BUSCH

Brian Vickers: 6th (started 13th)
- A better result was in store, but for some reason the crew was off and kept losing the track position Brian gained. Still, a great night for the #10 team.

- Quotes:
“We weren't too bad tonight -- we were able to get a top-10 finish, but we could have been better. The tires really got us there at the end. I think we could have had a top-five, but our pit stops really hurt us the most. Trent Owens (crew chief) did a good job getting the car better all night long with all the pit stops -- we just got killed on the pit stops. Every time we would get some good track position, we would lose it in the pits. It happens sometimes -- everybody makes mistakes, but that's really what hurt us tonight.”

Scott Wimmer: 8th (started 18th)
- Unlike Brian, Scott had a mediocre car but was benefited greatly by his team’s good pit stops. He made up a lot of spots in the closing laps, which is always a plus.

David Reutimann: 23rd (started 17th)
- A spin during qualifying may have set the #00 team back a bit when they decided not to change tires and keep their starting spot. When the race started, David made contact with David Ragan and cut a left front tire. He had to pit under green despite leaving a formidable debris trail. After his service was done, the caution flew, trapping him two laps down. The rest of the night was a battle to survive till the end. David even got in front of leader Kyle Busch at one point in an effort to gain a lap back, but was eventually overtaken. Not the best showing for the team, but 23rd is not a horrendous finish.

- Quotes:
“We just struggled right from the beginning today. I had a cut left-front tire early in the race and had to come down pit road - that cost us track position and that's ultimately what we had to battle all night. We had a fast car and I think we were able to make a lot of changes to the car, but we could never make up the track position that we lost early on. It's real disappointing because I know we had a car that was a lot better than where we finished.”

- David’s finish was one spot above Kevin Harvick, so he is now tied with Harvick in driver standings.

Other Notes:

- It was great seeing Kyle win. He seemed so emotional in victory lane and appreciative of his team. There have been some tense moments between Kyle and the #5 group, especially Alan Gustafson, and I was worried that the rest of the year was going to be based on that. After Friday night, I am certain that Kyle and Alan will continue to be close friends.

- AJ Allmendinger was running in the top-10 near the end of the race before he was dumped by none other than Todd Bodine. Needless to say, I was not happy.

California Speedway - Sharp AQUOS 500

RACE WINNER: JIMMIE JOHNSON

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: 5th (started 7th)
- This team is trying as hard as they can to get back into the Chase but even a 5th place finish and leading fifteen laps still puts him 128 points from 12th in the standings. Kurt and Kevin are going to have to have major problems at Richmond for Junior to have a chance.

- Quotes:
“It was fun, hot, sweaty and car was tight, loose, never perfect, but we worked hard. I am tired, real tired. I am so proud of my guys, they worked so hard and it was so hot this weekend, I am proud of them for sticking it out and giving us a good run. I don't know much about the system (points), never have. Never cared to. I just go out there as hard as can. It doesn't look like we are going to make it but we aren't going to quit trying. Until they say we aren't in the Chase. Just a long day out there, hot, real hot.”

Martin Truex Jr.: 6th (started 8th)
- For the first time Martin will be competing for the Cup Championship, since he only needs to start the race at Richmond to make it! He had a great night at California and did everything he needed to do for the big picture.

Brian Vickers: 8th (started 17th)
- Brian has been Toyota’s shining star consistently throughout the year and this race was no different. He led three laps and was very good all night but unfortunately a carburetor problem held the team back from possibly a higher finish.

- Quotes:
“The biggest thing is we had a carburetor problem that almost cost us tonight. Earlier in the race it cost us 25, 30 spots at one point. It was mainly a steering issue down pit road and when we finally got that fixed it was great. For a while there every time we came to pit road under caution, turning out of the pit box it would stall. Top-tens are what we need. It was good - that's how we are going to make up ground in the points. Making the race and finishing 43rd, we aren't going to make any points.”

Kurt Busch: 9th (started 1st)
- He led twice for 21 laps after starting on the pole and basically had a good solid night to keep him in the Chase, passing Kevin Harvick. Now he is 141 points in front of Dale Jr.

- Quotes:
“The night was really interesting. I felt like our car as the race grew longer we just kept getting looser. I’m not sure what added to that, but maybe we were disguised by our good run at Michigan, but it was 60 degrees out at Michigan and it was 160 today. We were just on the loose side of things. The car started off okay, just every lap we made we kept getting worse and worse. We changed everything under the sun to make the Miller Lite Dodge better, but all in all we’ll take this finish in the top 10. That’s what consistency is all about.”

Casey Mears: 15th (started 13th)
- A pretty consistent day, maybe not as high as he’d like but better than it could have been.

David Reutimann: 32nd (started 28th)
- A great run that turned ugly! David sliced through the field and drove into the Top 10, making it all the way up to the lead during green flag pit stops! It was so awesome to see him running so well and over the radio you could hear the excitement in everyone’s voices. Then the crap hit the fan when Jeff Gordon got loose under Jeremy Mayfield (who was two laps down at the time), and a big wreck ensued that took David right out. He hit Ricky Rudd broadside and then sailed through the grass, tearing up the front of the BK Camry and ending the 00 team’s good night. David struggled on during the remaining laps in a foul mood, which no one could blame him for.

- Quotes:
“The pit stops were great, the car was good, everything you need to run up front. We just got caught up in a deal there. I’m still not entirely clear on what happened. The result was that we got screwed up and we tore the car all to heck and it just kind of screwed our night up. I’m really proud of the guys. The pit stops were great. The car was good. We ran like we should and that felt really good to do that. I mean you’re out there racing guys like Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, guys that are running good and winning races. You’re passing those guys and running up front with them and they’re racing with you. They’re giving you hand signals and motioning to you. I’m so used to just letting those guys go because they’ve been so much better than me. It’s nice to have the shoe on the other foot. I enjoyed the night. I thought I was going to get my first Raybestos Rookie of the Race award tonight but I’ll have to do it next week.”

Michael Waltrip: 23rd (started 16th)
- This whole situation just sucked. I don’t know what happened with the tire rub – if Mark Green couldn’t see in all the haze or what – but the rub was clearly not getting any better and I was screaming for Michael to pit! Then it went boom. It was such a scary wreck with all that fire, but although I think the safety crew should have been a little quicker with the fire extinguisher, they let Michael do what he wanted and get out of the car at his own pace.

- Quotes:
“I was trying to get by Ricky and he moved over. That caved in our left front fender. The tire rubbed and the left front tire blew off. When it blew it took some oil lines with it and those caught fire. The car filled up with smoke and fire. The crew does such a great job at sealing off the interior of the car. I saw just a little bit of flame by the shifter, nothing much. I'm bigger than the car - if I try to get out of the car in a hurry it is disastrous. I just took my time and took my stuff off. Right there at the end is when it started to flame and smoke up and I had to get out in a hurry. That is why I'm so thankful the Car of Tomorrow is here because I just can't get out of these cars in a hurry. I've tried it at the shop - basically I have to take my helmet off to get out. It was a short day for the NAPA Toyota, it was pretty fast before this happened.”

Dale Jarrett: DNQ

Other Notes:

- It was ridiculously hot at California!! 107 degrees, are you kidding me? It made me laugh because one of NASCAR’s excuses for replacing Darlington with Cali was that South Carolina is too hot at this time of year. Yeah, right. I was also oh-so impressed with the amount of fans in the grandstands. It’s not a good thing when you can see the color of the seats. California doesn’t warrant two dates on the NASCAR schedule.

- Congrats to AJ Allmendinger for his best career finish of 18th! It was so great to see him have the finish he’s been striving for!

- Ricky Rudd ended up separating his shoulder in the wreck with David, Jeff Gordon and Jeremy Mayfield, and won’t be racing the Cup race Saturday night. This also makes me question Fontana’s safety, for he is the third driver (after David in the spring and Brad Keselowski) to get into a serious crash here this year.

California Speedway - Camping World 300

RACE WINNER: JEFF BURTON

Scott Wimmer: 12th (started 25th)
- It was really nice of Kevin Harvick to put Scott in his #77 Busch car this weekend and Scott came back from starting from the rear being a lap down early on to a decent finish.

David Reutimann: 15th (started 13th)
- I was a little surprised that David didn’t run better, but you have an off night sooner or later. It was very interesting when it came down to the last lap, and who is David racing to the line like a dragster? Jason Leffler! Leffler got the position, but I was glad to see no smoke or sparks and ripping of sheet metal…I’m all for these two racing hard, but no more wrecking! David dropped back down to 3rd in points behind Harvick, but with Carl Edwards’ continuing problems he is now (only) 657 points from the lead!

- Quotes:
“The car wasn't running as well as it should have all night. Our Camry was capable of running in the top-10, but we had some lug nut issues. On that last pit stop, we came in and the lug nuts came loose as we were pitting . The left rear tire came off and messed up our quarter panel. Overall, it was a good day for the points but we would have liked to give Toyota a solid finish in their backyard. We are going to put this behind us and go to Richmond next weekend.”

Brian Vickers: 27th (started 9th)
- A strong car early faded a bit at the end, which seems to be a bit typical, but he ran well all night until a wreck took him out. Matt Kenseth turned himself across Steven Leicht during a restart and smashed into teammate Carl Edwards, sending both into the wall and, of course, right in front of Brian…

- Quotes:
“Tonight we had a really, really strong car - especially on long runs. We weren't as good as some guys the first 10, 15, maybe 20 laps, but the second half of the run we were strong. We were so fast. Everybody did a good job. Coming in for four tires on the last pit stop was the right call. We were getting ready to smoke those guys who didn't get tires. I don't know what happened, who wrecked who or who got into who. I don't think it was intentional, it was just one of those racing accidents. Toyota has a great car here in the Busch series - I'm glad I had the opportunity to race it.”

Other Notes:

- Brad Keselowski was involved in a horrifying wreck on Lap 69 and it made me very thankful that SAFER barriers are installed at California. AJ Allmendinger was racing hard with JJ Yeley while Brad ran at the bottom of the track beneath them. Eric McClure rode up top, trying to stay out of everyone’s way, but when these four drivers lined up side-by-side disaster struck. Yeley made contact with AJ’s right rear quarter panel, sending AJ flying down the track and right into Brad. Brad shot back up, taking AJ with him, and slammed astonishingly hard into the wall. The 88 soared into the air trailing a curtain of flames and AJ found himself briefly trapped under him. Brad’s rear tire was hung on the wall for a few scary moments before it hit the track again and slid down to the grass. It was evident as soon as Brad began to be helped out of the car by safety workers that he was hurt, and several workers held him up. Brad grimaced in pain the entire time until he was brought into an ambulance via a stretcher and was later transported to a hospital. He was released from the hospital with no broken bones (according to ESPN’s Cup broadcast) – that’s unbelievable! I so glad he is okay, for he is a young talent and in my opinion a perfect fit for JR Motorsports.

- AJ Allmendinger is driving for Ganassi in the Busch Series for several races now, which I think is really cool of both Toyota and Dodge to allow to happen. More than anything, AJ needs seat time and he was doing a great job last night from starting at the rear of the field and making his way forward. It really sucked when he got into that accident, but his post-race interview was nothing but class.

- ESPN coverage continues to make me want to vomit! Not only did we miss all the pre-race ceremonies except the command because of some lame football game, but when the race actually started the booth guys were awful. Brian “Vicker”? “Kevin” Hamlin? Kyle Busch was called Kasey Kahne. Rusty suddenly thought “nervy” was the coolest, trendiest word ever and used it about five times in ten minutes. I’m also getting really irritated when they see one replay of an incident and instantly “know” what happened. Andy Petree really screwed up with the Kenseth/Leicht incident, immediately blaming it all on Leicht. When it was clear from the second angle that Kenseth turned across Leicht, Petree just shut his mouth and didn’t speak another word about it. Learn from the other broadcasters, boys! When you think you know what happened, say, “Well, it looks like from this angle that…” instead of, “So-and-so did this!!”