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posted by admin on May 18

I love Saturday night racing! There is just nothing better than 800 horsepower under the lights no matter where you race. A night in the home of Nascar is always special though, with the points not being a factor, the racing is just more intense. I thought that there would be more cautions though. Even without the cautions I still think it was a great evening. Some pit stop decisions took out any chance for some people to win though didn’t it?

Kasey

For the first time ever, the fans vote driver has won the all star race. Not only did Kasey Kahne make that history but he also gave Dodge their first victory in an all star race. Crew Chief Kenny Francis made the right call in the pits by taking on fuel only. Later that call would propel Kasey into history as Denny Hamlin lost his engine allowing Kasey to take the lead again. Greg Biffle might have had a chance to take the one million dollar plus purse had this been a longer race, as he was making a charge on the Budweiser Dodge in the closing laps. There just wasn’t enough time left to make the pass.

Gibbs Engine Woes

Tony Stewart was the only Gibbs Racing Toyota left running at the end of the night. Engine problems got the teams of Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch. The Home Depot team knew ahead of time that there were problems withthe Gibbs engines because they found a broken rocker arm after qualifying. They changed the engine causing them to have to drop back to the back of the field for the start of the race, but they were there in the ending up in fifthplace at the waving of the checkered flag. Kyle Busch had the car to beat as he was just spanking the field before he too broke a part in his engine. Shortly later the same thing for Denny Hamlin. It does make me wonder why they didn’t all three change engines when they knew that there might be a problem in all of the Gibbs engines? With a car that dominant, Kyle surely could have gotten back to the front couldn’t he have? He had a much better ride than Tony, and Tony got back up to 5th.

Dale Junior’s Night

I have said this before so without knowing what the radio traffic was between Dale Earnhardt Junior and Tony Eury Junior, I will have to say that Tony Eury Junior just cost the junior nation another victory with another bad call in the pits. Four tires? Let me get this straight ok? Tony Eury Junior put on four tires for a twenty five lap shootout? That put Junior solidly in the back half of the field on a surface that is still not really cured up enough to make a lot of passes. I am beginning to wonder if he is just guessing at it! I will hold off asking for a new crew chief for a couple of more races, but I have said it before, Tony Jr. is Nowhere near the  crew chief that his father was. I have my doubts that he ever will be. That was just a really dumb call in my opinion!

Crossing The Finish Line

Here is how they crossed the line.

FIN	ST	CAR	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	PTS/BNS	LAPS	STATUS
1	24	9	Kasey Kahne	Dodge	Budweiser	PE	100	Running
2	5	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	DISH Network	PE	100	Running
3	14	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	DEWALT NANO Technology	PE	100	Running
4	21	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools	PE	100	Running
5	12	20	Tony Stewart	Toyota	The Home Depot	PE	100	Running
6	8	12	Ryan Newman	Dodge	Alltel	PE	100	Running
7	23	77	Sam Hornish Jr. *	Dodge	Mobil 1	PE	100	Running
8	11	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	Nat’l Guard Citizen Soldier / AMP Energy	PE	100	Running
9	13	8	Mark Martin	Chevrolet	U.S. Army	PE	100	Running
10	19	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Office Depot	PE	100	Running
11	16	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Pennzoil Platinum	PE	100	Running
12	10	43	Bobby Labonte	Dodge	Cheerios / Betty Crocker	PE	100	Running
13	17	5	Casey Mears	Chevrolet	Kellogg’s / CARQUEST	PE	100	Running
14	15	42	Juan Montoya	Dodge	Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit	PE	100	Running
15	2	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	DuPont	PE	100	Running
16	4	1	Martin Truex Jr.	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops / Tracker	PE	100	Running
17	22	84	A.J. Allmendinger	Toyota	Red Bull	PE	100	Running
18	9	07	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	Jack Daniel’s	PE	100	Running
19	6	26	Jamie McMurray	Ford	Crown Royal	PE	100	Running
20	7	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	AT&T Mobility	PE	100	Running
21	18	44	Dale Jarrett	Toyota	UPS	PE	100	Running
22	3	2	Kurt Busch	Dodge	Miller Lite	PE	100	Running
23	20	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	FedEx Freight	PE	84	Out of Race
24	1	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	M&M’s	PE	50	Out of Race

Next week its the Coca Cola 600 from the Lowes Motor Speedway. The longest race on the circuit.

I’ll be back with a preview somewhere around qualifying. Until then stay safe out there on the Big Road!

posted by admin on May 11

Headlines all across the sports pages will read various ways, all of them proclaiming Kyle Busch the winner. But is he really a winner? I’m really not sure he is.

Oh he may have won the race but I really don’t think he is the great winner that everyone thinks he is. You see, Kyle Busch is like a two headed coin, sort of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde kind of deal. When he isn’t happy with his race car or some other competitor, he makes no bones about letting everyone know about it. Last night he called his brakes “pathetic” over the radio. yet he was leading the race and two seconds ahead at the time. Remember when he got his first win in the new car and he called it junk or it sucked or something of that nature? He was standing in victory lane with the first win and he still wasn’t happy. There are hundreds of people that work in some capacity for him to get where he was last night,(Victory Lane) yet during the race he all but called them incompetent, then praises them after the race. Which is it Kyle?

To me he just seems like a big baby when he isn’t doing well. I have a great idea, Maybe Kyle Busch needs to look at his bank account then take a good look at the majority of Nascar fans bank accounts. You get paid Millions of dollars to drive a race car! You are living your dream! You have been truly blessed! Try acting like it for once. Let me put this into perspective so anyone who loves racing can follow me. There are at any given time, MILLIONS of race car drivers on the planet in various stages of their careers. They all have pretty much the same unattainable dream. To be one of the 43 best in the world and drive in the top series on the planet, The Nascar Sprint Cup Series. Kyle Busch is doing just that. As a matter of fact he is, right now, the NUMBER ONE driver in all the world. Yet there are times when he is just not happy about it? I don’t get it.

THE END RESULT

All in all it was a pretty good race, a few cautions due to the good old tire issue that goes hand in hand with new pavement and a tire company that brings a tire that is too hard time after time. I think that Darlington’s new surface could really turn into great racing by the time the next race comes there. It will take getting Goodyear to bring a tire compound that has a bit more grip though.

Here is how they crossed the line. Notice that Dale Junior finished in the top five! Consistency is the key there.

NASCAR-Sprint-Dodge Challenger 500 Results
Saturday at Darlington Raceway
Darlington, S.C.
Lap length: 1.366 miles
(Start position in parentheses)

1. (6) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 367 laps, 138.6 rating, 195 points, $313,700.
2. (36) Carl Edwards, Ford, 367, 98.1, 170, $241,850.
3. (8) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 367, 116.5, 170, $194,236.
4. (2) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 367, 117.7, 165, $138,100.
5. (15) David Ragan, Ford, 367, 97.5, 160, $123,375.
6. (34) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 367, 89.7, 155, $146,016.
7. (21) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 367, 99.1, 151, $131,941.
8. (24) Travis Kvapil, Ford, 367, 94.8, 147, $121,789.
9. (13) Dave Blaney, Toyota, 367, 100.4, 138, $111,283.
10. (12) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 367, 89.4, 134, $134,858.
11. (25) Jamie McMurray, Ford, 367, 80.9, 135, $95,925.
12. (5) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 367, 95.9, 132, $87,650.
13. (3) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 367, 98.0, 124, $137,061.
14. (22) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 367, 100.8, 126, $116,383.
15. (38) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 367, 67.6, 118, $99,750.
16. (27) Mark Martin, Chevrolet, 367, 70.7, 115, $117,908.
17. (9) Scott Riggs, Chevrolet, 367, 74.1, 112, $99,008.
18. (10) Bobby Labonte, Dodge, 367, 75.0, 109, $119,011.
19. (30) David Reutimann, Toyota, 367, 74.9, 106, $81,300.
20. (33) David Gilliland, Ford, 367, 63.4, 108, $97,333.
21. (4) Tony Stewart, Toyota, 366, 53.8, 100, $125,061.
22. (42) Kasey Kahne, Dodge, 366, 60.3, 102, $109,091.
23. (19) Juan Pablo Montoya, Dodge, 366, 46.6, 94, $107,183.
24. (37) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 365, 51.1, 91, $86,008.
25. (28) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 365, 67.0, 88, $76,950.
26. (31) J.J. Yeley, Toyota, 365, 57.3, 90, $84,675.
27. (26) AJ Allmendinger, Toyota, 364, 48.2, 82, $72,475.
28. (18) Michael McDowell, Toyota, 364, 48.5, 79, $85,872.
29. (16) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 363, 58.5, 76, $82,625.
30. (20) Bill Elliott, Ford, 363, 38.1, 73, $92,795.
31. (17) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 363, 49.9, 70, $71,200.
32. (39) Reed Sorenson, Dodge, 362, 34.4, 67, $98,239.
33. (40) Robby Gordon, Dodge, 361, 46.8, 64, $79,800.
34. (14) Sterling Marlin, Dodge, 350, 50.3, 61, $78,725.
35. (29) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 341, 63.0, 58, $88,475.
36. (41) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 340, 40.2, 55, $78,325.
37. (32) Ryan Newman, Dodge, 295, 39.0, 52, $112,200.
38. (23) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 270, 33.2, 49, $115,475.
39. (11) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 265, 71.7, 46, $116,711.
40. (43) Patrick Carpentier, Dodge, engine, 261, 42.1, 48, $69,625.
41. (35) Kyle Petty, Dodge, 250, 25.3, 40, $69,500.
42. (7) Elliott Sadler, Dodge, 247, 26.4, 37, $95,750.
43. (1) Greg Biffle, Ford, Engine, 234, 108.6, 39, $83,164.

Race Statistics
Average Speed of Race Winner: 140.350 mph.
Time of Race: 3 hours, 34 minutes, 19 seconds.
Margin of Victory: 3.115 seconds.
Caution Flags: 8 for 31 laps.
Lead Changes: 35 among 15 drivers.

Next week we are off to the home of speed, the Lowe’s Motor Speedway and the Sprint All Star Race. It will be another night full of action as that is always a great weekend. No points, just Big Money and the desire to be the best. The gloves come off next Saturday Night.

Until then have a great week and don’t feed the bears!

2 Comments

• At May 12, 2008, 18 is # 1 wrote:

  Spoken like a true Junior Nation fan. You whiners are much worse than KB. In the end, Busch will end up with way more victories than Jr. because he is hungry and Jr. is not. KB races much more like Dale Sr., but Junior Nation has so idealized Sr.s memory and sanitized his legacy. I personally look forward to watching all of you uncomfortably squirm for years to come.

• At May 12, 2008, Tim wrote:

  I never said that he isn’t hungry, or that he doesn’t have talent. As a matter of fact Kyle Busch can drive the wheels off of just about anything he can get a hold of. I think you are a bit jaded and didn’t see the whole point that I was making. When Kyle is doing great he is very happy and sings praises, but when things are even remotely un-smooth, he turns into the spoiled brat and takes it out on anybody that gets near him. I could care less if he won every race this season, I just want him to act like a mature adult about it. He could take some lessons from Mark Martin.

posted by admin on May 10

Hey everybody, I’m back with the starting grid for tonight’s Dodge Challenger 500 at Darlington Raceway! Before I get to that, Did you see the Nationwide Series race last night? Did you see Kyle Busch get spun out and wrecked? I almost fell out of my chair laughing at the whole thing. When they interviewed him afterwards he was a little baby about it wasn’t he? How soon he forgets that he did the same thing just last week. It was nice to see Tony Stewart get his first win at Darlington even if it was in the Nationwide Series. I really like his car in that series. I’m not a big fan of Old Spice but the paint scheme is cool on the car.

Well all in all I thought it was a great race, that is for the old “Twisted Sister” cars. The new track surface looks great, I just thought that Goodyear should have brought a softer tire with a bit more grip.  But you know that ain’t going to happen, we can’t expect good ole Goodyear to do something right now can we? There were plenty of cautions in that race last night, I think seven or eight was the total, so you can expect there to be about 75% of that number tonight. Maybe more if Kyle Busch has anything to do with it. As I have said before, tire management and a balanced setup are going to be a key factor tonight. I’m not sure if fuel mileage will be a problem with the new car as it seemed to be last night in the Nationwide Series. I think last night’s fuel mileage problems were crew chief created by not choosing to come in and pit. Will anybody gamble with fuel tonight? We will have to see.

THE LINE UP

Here is how they qualified for tonights race. Notice where Junior is?

NASCAR-Sprint-Dodge Challenger 500 lineup
After Friday’s qualifying; race Saturday
At Darlington Raceway, Darlington, S.C.
Lap length: 1.366 miles
(Car number in parentheses)

1. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 179.442 mph.
2. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 179.357.
3. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 179.206.
4. (20) Tony Stewart, Toyota, 179.076.
5. (2) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 178.965.
6. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 178.809.
7. (19) Elliott Sadler, Dodge, 178.129.
8. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 178.071.
9. (66) Scott Riggs, Chevrolet, 178.064.
10. (43) Bobby Labonte, Dodge, 177.775.
11. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 177.736.
12. (31) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 177.659.
13. (22) Dave Blaney, Toyota, 177.307.
14. (40) Sterling Marlin, Dodge, 177.134.
15. (6) David Ragan, Ford, 177.109.
16. (01) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 177.109.
17. (78) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 177.077.
18. (00) Michael McDowell, Toyota, 177.070.
19. (42) Juan Pablo Montoya, Dodge, 176.822.
20. (21) Bill Elliott, Ford, 176.778.
21. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 176.638.
22. (1) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 176.606.
23. (77) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 176.581.
24. (28) Travis Kvapil, Ford, 176.568.
25. (26) Jamie McMurray, Ford, 176.498.
26. (84) AJ Allmendinger, Toyota, 176.473.
27. (8) Mark Martin, Chevrolet, 176.359.
28. (83) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 176.283.
29. (5) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 176.170.
30. (44) David Reutimann, Toyota, 176.126.
31. (96) J.J. Yeley, Toyota, 175.848.
32. (12) Ryan Newman, Dodge, 175.666.
33. (38) David Gilliland, Ford, 175.578.
34. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 175.528.
35. (45) Kyle Petty, Dodge, 175.172.
36. (99) Carl Edwards, Ford, 174.494.
37. (55) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 174.253.
38. (07) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 174.241.
39. (41) Reed Sorenson, Dodge, 173.644.
40. (7) Robby Gordon, Dodge, owner points.
41. (15) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, owner points.
42. (9) Kasey Kahne, Dodge, owner points.
43. (10) Patrick Carpentier, Dodge, 175.166.<

Failed to Qualify
44. (70) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, 174.798.
45. (34) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 174.105.

Race coverage starts at 6 P.M. central time on FOX

There is a live leaderboard, pit command and other cool stuff going on during the race at Nascar.com

Some of that content is subscription based.

If you have Siruis Satelite radio you can tune to channel 128 for all your race coverage there.

Until next time, stay safe out there and thank you for what you do to keep this country running!

A special wave of the hand to anyone out there driving a “LONESTAR”. Stop by Bama sometime and give me a ride in it!

Peace

posted by admin on May 8

Its that time of year again, time for “The Lady In Black” to come out and play. Its no woman of human proportions, its the egg shaped Darlington Motor speedway. A new look, A new time of day, and a new lease on life? Well that question will have to be answered after we see the ticket sales figures on race day.

The Darlington Motor Speedwaywas built in 1950 and held its first race the same year. Then at a mile and a half, it was the first Super Speedway on the circuit that at the time was dominated by short tracks. Today, with there being more tracks larger than that, it is considered an intermediate speedway. Nascar terms Intermediate speedways as tracks with an overall length of more than a mile but less than two miles. Darlington is an odd shaped track as it was built to avoid a minnow pond of all things, that the land owner at the time didn’t want to disturb. That is how it got its historic “egg” shape. The minnow pond is long gone now but the egg shape remains. Darlington is known for high speeds due to the high banking in the turns, it is banked at 25 degrees on both ends. With the turns being so different due to the egg shape, tire management has always been a key factor at Darlington. If you have your car handling great in turns one and two, it is probably a hand full in turns three and four. Therefore balance is the key here.

NEW TRACK SURFACE AND LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION

The lady in black has been resurfaced since the last race there last year so there is the issue of grip not being there for the first race. It usually takes two to three races on a new surface before you see any two or three wide racing on any track. So with that in mind, will this be a boring single file race? Could be, but with it being the first time we will be racing under the lights the excitement level may be amped up enough to overcome the new pavement problem.

WHO IS FAST AFTER THE FIRST PRACTICE SESSION

Practice times are in for the first practice session and look who is on top of the first speed chart.

Look up top though and see who is in third!

I have a burning question on my mind, Do any of you think that if Dale Earnhardt Junior gets near Kyle Busch during the race, that there might be a little retaliation? Or do you think that after all the seasons  Junior has under his belt,  he may have better control over his emotions now? I am finding that one hard to call.

Here is what is going on at the track if you want to tune in and check it out.

Cup series final practice is Friday at 2 P.M. eastern time on SPEED.

SPEED is also carrying Cup Qualifying Friday night at 5 P.M. eastern time and that can also be heard on MRN radio all across this country.

The Dodge Challenger 500 will be on FOX Saturday night with race coverage starting at 6 P.M. eastern time.

I will hopefully be back on here after qualifying to give you a brief rundown of the starting grid and any news that comes in between now and then.

Until then stay out of trouble out there and mind the weather as severe weather just naturally comes with spring.