Stewart-Haas-Hendrick Motorsports Racing

The Allstar race on Saturday night was awesome and I want to give congrats to Tony Stewart for achieving his first owner-driver race win. With that said a question keeps popping up in my head that really has me thinking. Has Rick Hendrick figured out a way to have up to an 8 car stable? By supplying an engine package and technical support to Stewart-Haas racing Rick may have found a way around the four car team limit. When Tony wins his first points race as a owner-driver I won't be surprised at all when he says some thing to the effect of " The number 14 Office Depot/Old Spice car was great tonight, I'd like to thank Gene Haas for all of his support and I'd like to thank Rick Hendrick and Hendrick Motorsports for the motor package they lease us and their continuing technical support." I think my theory will only become closer to being fact if we see Brad Keslowski ending up over at Stewart-Haas Racing, driving a third car for the team.

This theory could be endless Dale Jr. could start his own cup team with Hendrick engine packages with full tech support, making it a 12 car stable. Jack Roush could do something similar with Carl Edwards or Matt Kennseth by having one of them acquire 50% of a team like Yates or the Woods Bros. of course for a rock bottom price ,with the promise of Roush engine packages and full technical support. Or what about something like Hamlin-Nemco Motorsports with Gibbs engine packages and tech support. It's only a theory but it's really something to think about, NASCAR could end up with a number of teams that are still controlled by a few.

By saying all of this I'm not taking anything away from Tony as a driver, I think he's one of the greatest drivers there is. What I am saying though is it seems that Stewart's Allstar race win was more of a Hendrick Motorsports win than a Stewart-Hass Racing win.

Who's Jason Keller?

Well I'm really looking forward to the racin' this weekend, Darlington's one of my favorite tracks, the track itself brings out some good old skool racing, everybody gets to scrape up against the wall at least once. Guys like Biffle,Stewart, big Busch and little Busch all have a good chance of winning at Darlington but I think the guy to watch will be Jeff Gordon, He's hungy, he already has 5 wins at Darlington which ties him with Cale Yarbourgh for most wins at the track, Jeff will be trying to beat that record and I think he'd like to put a bit of a cushion on his point lead. Biffle will be hungry, he's had a couple of wins at Darlington and I think he would like to rack up a win for the Rousch team. The racing there is always great, lots of rubbin' and bumpin', and lots of lead changes with tires and fuel always playing a major role in the outcome of the race.

Going into the Nationwide race on Friday night I'd like to give a thumbs up to Jason Keller, people don't hear a whole lot about Jason but he's been a mainstay of the Busch / Nationwide series for 19 years, has 10 wins, 82 top 5's, and 169 top 10 finishes in 466 starts which is also the most starts of any Nationwide driver. In the 11 years that he ran a full season he's only finished outside of the top 10 in points twice and this being his 19th season he is currently sitting in 7th after 9 races. According to Jayskis.com Jason also holds some other pretty impressive records at Darlington, Keller holds the Nationwide record for most laps completed at Darlington-3598 and after Friday nights race he will have logged 5000+ miles on the track. While some drivers are overrated I think Jason is one driver who is highly underrated and I often wonder what he could do if he drove Nationwide for one of the bigger teams like Hendricks, Rousch or Gibbs. So my hat's off to you Jason, and good luck Friday night at Darlington.

Happy race viewing to all this weekend and may my favorite driver finish ahead of everyone else's.

Thank You Sirius Satellite Radio/Talladega Crash

As you may or may not know David Poole a media icon, in the world of NASCAR passed away early this week. Not only did David write for the Charlotte Observer but he was also a host on " The Morning Drive " radio show, broadcast on Sirius NASCAR Radio,Channel 128, Sirius-XM Satellite Radio. I want to give my thanks to Sirius Satellite Radio for introducing me to the world of David Poole, as his comments and insights on the world of NASCAR were both educational and enlightening. Although I often didn't agree with David's comments I always respected his opinion, as I felt he was one of the most knowledgeable media personalities there was when it came to NASCAR. God be with you and rest in peace David.

It took me a few days to form an opinion about the Talladega race and the Carl Edwards crash. I read a lot of articles and opinions on the crash, all the way from technical stuff about the aerodynamics of roof and cowl flaps, to people who just felt that tracks like Talladega and Daytona should just be demolished, never to be raced at again. A lot of people feel that the yellow line rule should be changed and this is the only change that I might agree with. The crash was caused by racers racing, Keslowski went to the outside to try and pass, Edwards went up the track to block, Keslowski dropped down and got his nose just underneath the 99. Carl moved back down to block and clipped Brad's right front corner, end result- BIG CRASH for Edwards, causing debris to be thrown into the grandstand, injuring 7 people along with a non-related injury(not sure about that one, your guess is as good as mine; maybe a heart attack?) If the yellow line rule was changed to allow the drivers to drop below the yellow line, if only on the last lap, there is a slim possibility that this crash could have been avoided.

All of the safety measures that have been put in place worked. The special seat, the restraints, the roll cage, the Hahn's device and all of the other safety features that protect the driver worked. Carl exited the car and jogged across the finish line. The cowl and roof flaps that keep the car from going airborne worked,if you watch the replay after the initial contact and Carl's car goes sideways and lifts up it starts to come back down but lands on the front end of Ryan Newman's car which shoots Carl's car up into the catch fence. The catch fence itself did what it was designed to do, it caught and absorbed the force of the car and threw it back onto the track.

They don't need to move the stands back, as with a lot of sports, fans have to know that the closer you sit to the action, the higher the risks. They don't need to lessen, the steep banking in the corners or slow the cars down, that would take away the racing that is Talladega. Restrictor plate racing at Talladega is high speed with the cars running in a pack. The drivers are professional drivers that are at the top of their game, they've raced all of their lives and know the risks. So don't change a thing other than maybe the yellow line rule, at least for the last lap.

I Love You Mark But I Can't Pick You For My Fantasy League

I'm really looking forward to this weekends race at Talledega mainly because it's always a crap shoot as to who will win. Although Mark Martin is the driver I root for the most, I won't be picking him this week for my fantasy cup league same as I didn't pick him last week. The reason being is, I have picked him twice and both times he either blew an engine or blew a tire. In my gut I really thought Mark would win last week at Pheonix so I didn't pick him so as not to jinx him and it worked he won. As a matter of fact it seems most guys I pick, no matter how good they are, don't do very good that week, so if I ever give any advice as to who to pick as winners do the opposite(lol).

Dale Jr. and Joey L. sure need a good run this weekend, things so far aren't looking good for either of them. I really don't like either of them because I think that they are both overrated, but I will still wish both of them the best this weekend. I hope Joe Nemechek has a good showing this week, he needs it also and being it's a plate race his chances are just as good as anyone else's.

By the way if anyone is undecided as who to vote for,for the Allstar race, A.J. is my choice and even though I really think that he will race his way in , I'm probably jinxing him by saying that, so to be on the safe side all of my votes are going to him.

Good luck to all the drivers this weekend and happy race viewing to all of us that have to watch it from our living rooms.

A Whining Whiners Whine

Is anyone else tired of all the whining in NASCAR ? Jr. nation whines about Dale Jr. not winning a race, come on people all the wine and cheese in the world isn't going to help him win a race. Jr. fans are whining because the famed number 8 is parked, Jr. doesn't drive the 8 car any longer he drives the 88, besides it's just a number, changing his car number back to the 8 isn't going to make him win races. People whine about the top 35 rule, save your breath I don't see that rule ever changing in the near or distant future. People whine about the new car, but I think if you look at the statistics the new car is much safer, and cheaper for both owner and manufacturer.
People whine about the start and parkers, these are just under funded racers who are trying to find a way into the big show. Now people are even whining about who gets to be Grand Marshall at races. In particular shock jock Bubba The Love Sponge Clem, who has been named Grand Marshall for the up coming Talledega Nationwide race. He's a high profile radio personality who happens to promote NASCAR and racing in general big time on his show. He owns and drives a late dirt model car for his own race team, has gotten his 6 year old son involved in racing(drives quarter midgets and is one of the youngest developmental drivers for Stewart-Haas Racing). Bubba personally knows a lot of Cup and NHRA drivers and to top it off he has a mega huge fan base that includes people from all over North America, so who better to have as a Grand Marshall at Talledega?
So I guess to be a true NASCAR fan one also has to be a professional whiner, I should know, I just finished writing a blog whining about whiners
.

Joe,Joey And Kyle

Haven't posted for a week, so I have lots to comment on. First off congrats to Joey Logano for winning in Nashville. Wasn't Front Row Joe Nemechek awesome? He ran in the top 15 most of the race,pretty good for a driver-owner team, and gets ran into by Ricky Stenhouse, rolls his car a couple of times lands on the wheels and has enough control to be able to keep it out of the wall and drive back onto pit lane. It's just to bad that Joe can't afford to wreck cars, I would imagine that this will be quite a set back for Joe. I hope Joe can find some decent sponsorship, if I was putting out sponsorship money Joe is the kind of driver I'd want to have.

Speaking of sponsorship, if I was Kyle Busch's sponsor(s) I'd be pulling my sponsorship money in a hurry. What an idiot, having tantrums when he doesn't win races, even when it's his fault(Martinsville truck race). Demanding respect where none has been earned. He whined about fans having to much access to the drivers at the Nationwide race at Nashville, he stated that he was upset at all of the fans lined up at his hauler for autographs that had multiple items to sign(a few had suitcases full) well shouldn't his PR guy come out at the start and make the crowd aware that autographs are limited to one item per person? He says this on national TV, he's already stated that he doesn't care about souvenir sales-popularity. To me, that's like him straight out saying, fans are nothing more than pieces of dung. Aren't the fans the ones that sponsors are trying to get to buy their products? I was really trying to root for Kyle(a tiny bit) this year because he is a top of the class driver, but the past few weeks have put me in the same state I was last year, a "Kyle Hater " or even worse a"Kyle Busch, M&M's,Pedigree Dog Food, Interstate Batteries, Etc. Hater".

I wonder if Joey Logano will get a handle on the new car this year? He's on the verge of falling out of the top 35 in owners points but even if he does I don't think anyone should panic, he seems to always be able qualify real well. I think he just needs more time in the cup car, he needs to learn how to better communicate what he needs in the car with his crew chief. I didn't expect the #20 cup car to win any races this year, but I most defiantly didn't expect to see the #20 car on the top 35 bubble.

20 Team Needs Help

Part of Joey Logano's lack of success in Sprint Cup may be the driver crew chief combination. There is no doubt that Greg Zipidelli is a great crew chief, but maybe Zippy and Joey just can't communicate properly with each other. Zippy was with the same driver for 10 seasons and it's been 9 seasons since he had to work with a rookie. I think Zippy may have become so accustomed to what Tony wanted and needed to drive the car and win races, that he may be having a hard time understanding what Joey wants and needs.

Joe Gibbs needs to do something before the famed 20 car falls out of the top 35 in owners points. Looking at the performance of the 18 and 11 teams rules out the poor equipment option, so Joe probably has two options to try and figure out if the problem is driver or crew chief. He could leave Joey in the 20 car and pair him with another crew chief for five races and see if it makes a difference or he could take the same route as did Team Redbull with A J Allmendinger and put a seasoned veteran behind the wheel of the car for five races to try and figure out what the problem is.

The solution may be as simple as putting another crew chief with Joey or as severe as taking Joey out of the car and putting in a different driver with a different crew chief. I would rather not see either of these people relieved of their duties, but something needs to be done to help the 20 team.

Congrats to Jeff Gordon for his Sprint Cup win at Texas on Sunday and congrats to Kyle Busch for his Nationwide win at Texas on Saturday.

A Texas Weekend

I've always thought that if I could go on a fantasy all expense paid race weekend, I would go to the fall night race in Bristol,Tennessee. But I may be swaying towards the spring race in Fort Worth, Texas. Here's my reasoning:

Bristol has the cup race and the truck race, with the truck race being on Wednesday night and the cup race on Saturday afternoon. So Wednesday would be full with truck practice, qualifying and race.Thursday would have a cup practice and qualifying.Friday would have 2 cup practices and Saturday night would be the cup race.

Texas has the cup race and the Nationwide race,with Thursday being filled with Nationwide practice and qualifying. Friday would have cup practice and qualifying. Saturday would have two cup practices and the Nationwide race and Sunday would be the cup race. Not all that much different from Bristol.

My accomadations and seats at either place is where the differences start. In Bristol I think I would want to stay in a five star hotel, eat at good resturants and have really good seats(maybe even a luxury booth) on the front stretch with pit passes. At Texas I would rent a nice big RV and a stall on the infield. This takes care of accomadations, seats,pit passes and food(the RV would have a fold out BBQ and I'm big on BBQ'n). On the infield for the weekend, I think a person would have a better chance of meeting and interacting with more people than you would staying at a hotel. If you think about it you could arrive at the track on Wednesday night with groceries and beer and unless you wanted to, you wouldn't have to leave the track until Monday morning. I think that I would enjoy living in a RV, and kicking back with a whole bunch of race fans for the whole weekend. Besides that it's hot here in Alberta in August and I would imagine it's hotter in Bristol, where as we still have about a foot of snow here now and it looks pretty nice in Texas.

Congrats to "The Franchise" David Reutimann for picking up the pole this afternoon.

Sliced Bread And Butter

If Joey Lagano is sliced bread then A J Allmendinger must be butter, because he sure has been smooth.Looking at AJ's short Sprint Cup career he has improved phenomenally. His first year he struggled with not only being a rookie to Sprint Cup, but also driving for newly formed, Team Red Bull. AJ only qualified for 17 of the 36 races in 2007, but in comparison Brian Vickers, Red Bull's other driver only qualified for 23 of the 36 races and he's more of a seasoned veteran. The following year AJ failed to qualify the first three races and was taken out of the car and replaced by veteran Mike Skinner for the next five races. AJ must have been able to learn something from the vet Mike because upon returning to the car, his qualifying woes were no longer ,qualifying for the next 21 races before being let go by Red Bull because it seems Red Bull didn't have the time to develop a driver,but wanted one that would be an instant success (We see how that's working out). After being let go, AJ sat for 1 race, drove for Michael Waltrip Racing for 1 race and, finished off the season in the 10 car for GEM which is now Richard Petty Motorsports. Now only 6 races into the season he's put the 44 car not only into the top 35 in owners points, having to qualify his way into the first 5 races, but is also now in a respectable 15th place in overall points standings.

As it stands right now AJ only has sponsorship up to and including the Coca-Cola 600 and if none is found ,I wouldn't be surprised to see some shakedown-shufflearound moves done at RPM in order to keep AJ in the 44 car for the season.

36 Races At 31 Tracks

I read an article today stating that Kansas is once again lobbying for a second race date. I know economic times are tough right now, but I really think that in future times, NASCAR should be looking to expand the number of tracks they visit in a year, rather than doubling up at tracks. To me it only makes sense to cover a greater area of fan base, rather than hit the same fan base twice in one year.Also it would make make for a greater variety of tracks that would be visited,making driver diversity an even bigger part of winning a championship.



That's why 36 races at 31 tracks. For historical reasons I would leave Daytona, Talladega, Bristol, Martinsville and Charlotte all with two dates, leaving 26 dates for other tracks. I know this wouldn't work right now, there just aren't enough tracks capable of holding a cup race. But eventually all of tracks with two dates other than those five would lose one date,so don't be upset about the races I've eliminated first, to accommodate tracks in existence now, that could probably hold a cup race. So until new tracks could be built, or existing tracks overhauled the schedule could look something like this.

1. Daytona-The first race of the year always needs to be here.


2. Texas-Everyone whines about the spring California race so get rid of it.


3. Las Vegas


4. Atlanta


5. Bristol


6. Martinsville


7. Nashville-minor upgrades could make this track cup ready.


8. Phoenix


9. Talledega


10. Iowa-Once again this track wouldn't need much to be able to host a cup race.


11. Darlington


12. Charlotte


13. Portland-I know it's a road course but I felt the northwest needs a race and road courses are easier to adapt to accommodate larger crowds.


14. Pocono


15. Michigan


16. Montreal-For the international flair and also I'm Canadian.


17. Loudon


18. Daytona


19. Chicago


20. Indianapolis


21. Rockingham-This track could be rejuvenated


22. Watkins Glen


23. Kentucky-From what I've read this track could easily hold a cup race.


24. Bristol


25. Atlanta


26. Richmond


27. Sonoma-That's right start the chase with a road course,it has a short track and a superspeedway, it needs a road course.


28. Dover


29. Kansas


30. Fontana


31. Charlotte


32. Martinsville


33. Talladega


34. Texas


35. Phoenix


36. Homestead

The powers that be would never do this, it's just a thought, one that I'm sure will make some people happy and others very angry.

And My Wife Thinks I Got It Bad,And Monday's Truck Race

I just wanted to share this picture I took on Friday Mar. 27, on the way to my hometown to attend a funeral.I had stopped in Lacombe,Alberta to drop off a resume when I noticed this tow truck parked outside a body shop.I wish I would of had time to see if the owner was around and ask some questions about him and the truck, maybe next time.

Congrats. to Kevin Harvick for winning Mondays CWTS race,congrats. to Kyle Busch for making a rookie mistake by crossing the pit road commitment line, sending him to the back for the green ,white, checker finish, then looking like a fool as he ran away after the race, congrats to KHI for a one-two finish and finally congrats. to J.R Fitzpatrick(the Canadian guy) for posting a solid 21st place finish. All in all I thought it was a great race, the type that reminds one of why he or she loves watching racing.

Jr. A Meltdown And Who Is Kyle Jabbin' At

First off I am neither a Dale Jr. hater nor a Jr. lover but rather a Jr. sympathizer and I wonder if the pressure put on him by NASCAR,Jr. Nation and the media don't have him headed in the direction of a total meltdown.

The pressure a driver puts on him or herself to win each week in NASCARs top 3 series must be huge let alone having to deal with the pressures and expectations of a whole nation. I don't know how many articles I've read lately that contain the phrase "NASCAR needs Dale Jr. to win a race". Does anyone really think that NASCAR will cease to exist if Jr. never wins another race? Are race fans going to stop going to races,stop watching races on TV and stop buying souvenirs altogether just because Jr. hasn't won a race? Probably not,although that might happen for a totally different reason.

I'm not saying that NASCAR has ever intentionally done anything or changed any rule to help Jr.,but they've done some things that don't look very good,2 that come to mind are 1.Changing the chase format from 10 to 12 after the 1st year when Dale Jr. ended up 12th in the standings after Richmond and didn't make the chase.2. The way the Daytona incident was handled I'm not blaming Jr. or Brian but I think the incident would have been handled differently by NASCAR if it had been any other car other than the 88 that was involved.

Maybe it's just me, but when I see Dale in TV interviews this year whether it be prerace,postrace or the middle of the week he looks tired, like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders and he has no fire left inside him. I hope Jr. can learn to deal with these pressures because NASCAR does need Dale Earnhardt Jr. just the same as it needs every other driver it has.

One last thought,when Kyle B. takes pokes at Jr. are they really aimed at Jr. or is he taking jabs at Rick Hendrick for giving Kyle the bums rush?