Author: SM Staff

Talladega has come and gone on Halloween and all that can be said is the fans got a good show. Whether it was racing is up for debate. At least the ‘big one’ never happened unless you consider A.J. Allmendinger flipping through the air at the end of the race.

One or more things are clear. The Earnhardt-Childress engines are the class of the field. Where once Robert Yates was the power king of racing engines, that program, now known was Yates-Roush engines, now takes a back seat. It may be in third place by now with Hendrick in second, for that matter. Not one Ford qualified in the top 15 while the Chevys, Toyotas, and Dodges looked down on them. Of course, racing and qualifying are two different animals with Matt Kenseth running up front until the end, but the end result is what is important and Earnhardt-Childress engines had cars in first, second, and third place followed by two Toyota Racing engines.

The racing, if that’s what you want to call it, was spirited. One driver called it luck that the big wreck didn’t happen, but five wide at times was flirting with disaster. And it didn’t happen. The end result was that Jimmie Johnson amazingly came out of this mess with a bigger lead. With Johnson and teammate Jeff Gordon laying back in the field for most of the race, the television network was able to hear Johnson’s crew chief, Chad Knaus, tell him it was time to go and the loyal teammate followed. It pushed the strong Hendrick engined cars to the front and in a position to win. Jeff Gordon thought he had am engine problem and got out of the draft, which proved false. That was probably the only thing that kept Johnson from winning. Gordon discovered that he didn’t have that problem and rallied back to a top ten finish.

That’s another problem. With NASCAR’s rule that once the white flag is shown that the field is frozen on cautions, it becomes almost impossible for the fan in the stands to know who won. Heck, even the TV guys couldn’t figure it out. So, we had two drivers who were running a race having to wait until film or digital photography to determine the winner or the finishing order. In fact, Johnson was listed as the eighth finisher for some time, one place behind his main challenger. After some investigation, Johnson was determined to be the seventh finisher with Denny Hamlin two places behind him. Hamlin instantly went from only two points behind Johnson to 14 points behind. The final determinations were probably accurate, but why not just have a green-white-checker finish so that the fans can actually see who won? I guess that would be too simple.

The argument is that we could have too many starts at a place like Talladega, but isn’t that the point? Why go through all the problem of shotgun starts and making sure folks see the race end without a caution only to have that happen in a case like this? It’s another example of faulty thinking and should be looked at for next season, but it won’t.

Regardless, Clint Bowyer, the guy who won the first race in the playoff system won his second race without penalty and the scoring dilemma continues to exist. Nothing like progress, right?

Well The Amp Energy Juice 500 is over. Hallowdega has given way to All Saints Day and the commercial rate on ESPN has gone back to normal.

The Amp Energy Juice 500 appeared to be an exciting race of side by side balls to the wall racing. With the top contenders not necessarily being chase drivers. Note that I said appeared to be. The reason for that is that there were no fewer than 29 sets of 6 – 8 commercials in the broadcast. Approximately every 3 minutes we went to commercial. We missed 2 restarts and 2 caution flags none of which did we get on replay. I think it’s just a shame they had to interrupt the parade of commercials to show us any of the race at all. Please note the sarcasm here.

ESPN and ABC are the absolute worst when it comes to broadcasting NASCAR. You either wait for the football game. You wait for the baseball game. You wait for tennis, yeah tennis. Or you watch commercials more than you watch the race.

The camera work for Talladega was horrible. Obviously most of the camera work was done from the blimp. Long range shots that made it difficult to identify cars made the race frustrating to watch. For instance, it was incredibly frustrating to try and figure out where your driver was in the line of hot wheels appearing Sprint Cup cars if he was driving a black car. The only easily identifiable black car in the field was the M&M’s Toyota and it was because from the normal camera angle that was used, it had orange polka dots on the hood.

Come on ESPN you are suppose to be the leader in sports coverage and this is the second time that you were obviously unprepared and ill equipped to deliver a suitable broadcast that was way over funded by the amount of commercials. You didn’t have Elliott Sadler’s wreck at Pocono and the entire Talladega race was horrible. There to date has not been a replay to show what actually triggered or happened to the 43 car of A. J. Allmendinger. Other than we watched him flip wildly and the slam the wall.

NASCAR for the last couple of years has been concerned about the drop in TV ratings and the drop in the number of tickets sold. They don’t seem to be able to come up with the reason. If I may be so bold as to suggest to them that they watch the same TV broadcast that their fans at home watch I think they might find the reason. The interruption of the broadcast of commericals for the race is minimal. No one wants to sit and watch the same commercials over and over and over. The third or fourth set people change the station. They turn to NFL coverage where there are 1/4 as many commercials.

People are not going to buy a ticket to come and see the type of racing that they see on TV. The race itself maybe excellent if you are there in person, but what is shown on TV is so broken up and follow the leader in appearance that it’s boring. Perception is reality. And the perception is that NASCAR has become a choppy half hearted manipulated show and not a race at all. The penalties to Bowyer after Richmond only served to solidify that. Without the penalties Bowyer would be 5th in the points and still mathematically in the hunt. With the penalty it’s all Harvick, Hamlin and Jimmie.

The appearance is that they manipulated the championship with the penalty. Especially since they claim they had warned the team numerous times. If that is the case why did you wait until the first chase race to penalize the team and take them out of contention for the championship? There was either someone you didn’t want in so you let it go so that Bowyer would get the last spot or you didn’t take him seriously until he won and you realized oops this messes up our plans. Note that I said it is the appearance. But again Perception is Reality. That reality hurts TV ratings and ticket sales. It hurts fan loyalty.

The race itself what we saw of it was exciting. There were many stand out performances. For instance, Jeff Burton in his 31 CAT Financial Chevrolet, Burton was lightening fast and would have no doubt been a contender for the win had he not got caught up in the accident with Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Dale Earnhardt Jr was well Dale Jr again. He was burning up the track and his competition. He was smooth. He was in control. He was calm and he was calculating. Then he misjudged Jeff Burton’s drop to the middle and caught him with a bump draft too far to the right. Taking them both out of contention for the win. But Dale Jr led 24 laps, more than any other driver. And he showed a lot of class when he exited his car and immediately went to the Infield Care Center to apologize to Jeff Burton.

Kevin Harvick’s dramatic run for the win in a badly damaged Realtree Chevrolet was inspiring. It certainly shows he has the never say die attitude of a champion. It also shows that his pit crew and team also have that same attitude.

Clint Bowyer has never given up. Not with the penalty. Not with the micro scrutiny. He has come to the front when he had the car and made every effort to win. His fight to the checkers attitude won him the Amp Energy Juice 500. He won by a bumper. He won in literally a photo finish.

Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon stroked their way to strong finishes. They waited around the back markers and played it safe all day long until Chad Knaus made the announcement it was time to go. Then they went to the front with Johnson pushing Gordon. When Gordon thought his engine was failing he quickly ducked out of the draft line so as not to take Jimmie with him when the engine let go. But it didn’t let go. The misinterpertation of the problem did however, end the shot at the win for both drivers.

The Sprint Cup drivers avoided the big one for the most part. Although the wreck on the last lap came close how close we really don’t know because we didn’t actually get to see it. But at least, this time Talladega didn’t become a million dollar junkyard despite speeds in excess of 200 mph. Perhaps this should be a point of reference for Robin Pemberton and NASCAR. The drivers are capable of more than you give them credit for. And when you let go, they take off and low and behold all is well.

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Congratulations to Clint Bowyer on an exciting victory and to RCR for having the class of the field once again at the super speedways. Congratulations to Kyle Busch on his Camping World Truck Series win. And most of all congratulations to Dale Earnhardt Jr on showing he is every bit as talented and classy as his Jr. Nation thinks him to be.

That said, to all the competitors in all the series thanks for giving us everything you have to give, you are our heroes. Most importantly, thanks to all the families who shared their loved ones with us so we could cheer our favorite driver and favorite teams. You are the true heroes of the sport and we are forever in your debt.

Sunday is known as the AMP Energy Juice 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Corporate NASCAR pulled their heads off their shoulders and became too corporate again Saturday when Robby Gordon, who’s Speed Energy Toyota will roll off from the 42nd position Sunday, had an issue with his new energy drink and Sunday’s race sponsor AMP Energy.

Of course, NASCAR will say the incident that I am about to tell you about had nothing to do with the race sponsor and will say it was something they can’t discuss.

Robby Gordon had his personal truck parked in the owner/driver parking lot at Talladega Superspeedway. Nothing should have been wrong, yet when Robby went to find his truck something was wrong.

“It’s gone,” Gordon said. “I guess it’s in some impound yard somewhere. But it’s my personal truck.”

Why would they tow his personal truck? Because Gordon had his Speed Energy logo on the truck, trying to promote his energy drink introduced this weekend a little bit more.

Corporate NASCAR has gone way too far.

Watching Undercover Boss last Sunday Night on CBS, a crew member on a Michael Waltrip Racing team had told NASCAR Vice President of Corporate Marketing Steve Phelps that NASCAR had become too corporate and he would like to see that change. Phelps had said it would be hard but they would try working on that.

Too bad the Hollywood urban legend told to their fans last Sunday night was just that.

We all know NASCAR and the International Speedway Corporation (who runs Talladega Superspeedway) are run by the same people and the ultimate decision came down from the NASCAR people.

NASCAR already regulates series sponsorships without allowing another major gas company or cell phone company to sponsor a team due to their ties with Sprint and Sunoco. What’s next, if you have a sponsor on a car that is a rival to the race sponsor, their logos will have to leave the track and you will have to find a new sponsor for that weekends race?

Shesh! Can anyone tell me why NASCAR is losing fans?

What started as a relatively calm weekend got its green flag with Camping World Truck Series. Side by side racing was the course for the day. Bump drafting in trucks whose bumpers do not line up requires skill and caution. In a series that touts itself the entry level NASCAR touring series, this field was split with experience and relative inexperience.

It was that inexperience that caused most of the issues on the day, with wrecks on pit road entry and finally the big one which saw Ron Hornaday flip 5 times in the Kevin Harvick Inc. No. 33 Chevrolet, after being collected by Todd Bodine who spun after an attempt at bump drafting by Grant Enfinger went bad. Hornaday was unhurt but the truck itself was destroyed.

However, there was light in the darkness, the first person to Hornaday was fellow competitor Todd Bodine. It is that kind of concern, friend or not, that shows that through the years Todd has learned what it means to be a champion. His concern and his actions showed the class of a champion and spoke highly of the human being and man that he is.

The truck race had the closest finish in Truck series history since the implementation of electronic scoring, with Kyle Busch winning by .002 seconds over Aric Almirola; however, the finish was not without controversy. Kyle got sideways, due to air turbulents, just before the start finish line, and ended up with the left side tires below the infamous yellow line trying to save the truck.

Almirola was understandable disappointed and stated, “It says plain as day in the rule book you can’t improve your position going below the yellow line. But NASCAR said no penalty to Busch because Kyle’s truck was sideways when he was next to me, that’s what made him go below the yellow line. I don’t have a clear understanding of the (yellow line) rule, I guess. A part of me feels that I got robbed.”

Busch after watching the replay stated, “I was already alongside him well before I got below the line. Judgment call. It’s on NASCAR.”

Kyle Busch used good judgement. Although many fans have already begun saying it’s controversial and have began making negative statements about Kyle, the finish, and of course NASCAR’s ruling on the incident. The bottom line is that by exercising that judgement, he saved a major wreck that would have taken many of the front runners if not all of them out at the finish line.

At that point in the race, the odds of someone getting hurt were astronomical. The situation would have been along the lines of the 1993 Talladega crash of Rusty Wallace only with more trucks involved. By choosing to control the truck by moving two tires below the yellow line, Kyle Busch avoided that for himself and all of the competitors on the track with him.

Sometimes I think that we get so use to disapproving of a specific driver, in this case Kyle Busch, that we just out of habit disapprove. That we don’t watch the replay and look at it from a unbiased point of view.

In the past, I have said that although Kyle is an extremely talented young man in the race car/truck, his immaturity and lack of judgement hurts the publics ability to take him seriously in a positive way. But Kyle Busch is growing up. He is maturing. He is growing. Not only as a man but as a driver as well. He used judgement that benefitted not only himself and his effort on the race track but protected his fellow competitors as well. I will call a spade a spade. But this time it’s a diamond.

Kudos to Kyle Busch and his team on one of the most dramatic and hard fought wins of the season in the CWTS. You earned it and you deserved it.

There will be more races and other opportunities for Aric Almirola. His talents also were show cased today. His move to JR. Motorsports next year will only continue to polish his obvious talents and increase his prowess in both the Nationwide Series cars and the Camping World trucks.

His disappointment will stay with him. This will be a race that he looks at for a long time and thinks I let that one get away. But there are plenty of those in every career. What makes the mantle of a champion is how he deals with them. Does he learn from them and grow, or does he spend the rest of his career pinning for what could have been.

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Other notable performances in the truck series today were Ken Schrader who managed to show the “younguns” that the old dog still knew plenty of tricks and led the race in Kevin Harvick Inc.’s #2 Chevy before finishing 11th with a truck that was badly damaged in the big crash with 4 laps to go.

Also, congratulations to Jennifer Jo Cobb on showing the prescence of mind to keep her cool when running out of gas and coming back to finish 23rd 4 laps down in her drivenmale.com/Driverboutique.com Ford. She ran in the lead pack through the early part of the race before running out of gas before halfway. She showed herself to be an extremely capable driver and not just another pretty face in her first attempt at Talladega.

Tomorrow as the world prepares for the spookiest night of the year, Halloween, the Sprint Cup series will tackle Talladega. As is the case with the trucks, the Sprint Cup competitors will hold their breath and use all the talent and skill available to them to avoid “The Big One.” Who will come out on top here? Will it be a Chase contender? A spoiler? Or will JR. Nation finally be appeased with their first win since 2008? Only the spirits of Hallowdega know for sure.

Tune in to see the filmette by AMP Energy Juice called “The Legend of Hallowdega” before the race. The short film by renowned director Terry Gillam features David Arquette and Terry Kirk, as well as appearances from some of NASCAR’s legends and the driver of the Hendrick Motorsports, Legend of Hallowdega, #88 Chevrolet, Dale Earnhardt Jr. You can watch previews at the site, www.legendofhallowdega.com.

Finally, thoughts and prayers go out to the family, friends and associates of Jim Hunter, NASCAR’s Vice President of Communication, who passed away last night at the age of 71 after a long battle with Lung Cancer. He had an impact on the sport that we love that will long live after him. It was his direction and support that helped create many of the stars of today in our sport. He cared about them and the fans and all the people that worked in and around NASCAR. He will truly be missed.

In a show of respect, Talladega Superspeedway will lower the track flags on property for Jim Hunter; however, they can’t lower the U.S. flag without a decree from the Alabama Govenor. There was no word on whether that was requested by NASCAR. The speedway also announced Sunday morning that their press box will be renamed to honor Hunter.

The Fourth Turn will be back after Sunday’s race with observations and insights on the AMP Energy Juice 500. Until then, to all the competitors in all the series thanks for giving us everything you have to give, you are our heroes. Most importantly, thanks to all the families who shared their loved ones with us so we could cheer our favorite driver and favorite teams. You are the true heroes of the sport and we are forever in your debt.

Rumor has it that Lance McGrew will be off the pit box for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the #88 Hendrick Motorsports team in 2011. And I’m sure most people saw this as an imminent move, including myself.

The chemistry between the crew chief and driver just hasn’t worked like it has for Earnhardt Jr. in the past, such as it was with Tony Eury Sr.  Granted, they have had some pretty descent runs, like at Martinsville last Sunday.

Since McGrew has been promoted to crew chief in May ’09, Earnhardt has only recorded ten top-10 finishes. Not a fantastic record by any means since Earnhardt recorded sixteen top-10s in his first year at Hendrick Motorsports in ’08.

Because of his solid record in ’08, that proves that Earnhardt is not the problem, as I have heard from a number of people. In the offseason between the ’08 and ’09 something occurred with the #88 team. With what, I honestly do not know. If we did know, Rick Hendrick would have already fixed the problem. But the results in ’09 and this year show something is amiss with the team. That problem is McGrew.

Now, do not misunderstand me, I am not bemoaning McGrew as a crew chief because I think him a very capable one. But my point is, McGrew and Earnhardt do not seem to work and communicate well together at all. Instead, they argue and bicker over the radio like feuding siblings almost constantly. Anyone who has tuned into the #88 radio knows what I am referring to.

Apparently, this will not do when they are attempting to race for the win week in and week out. Now the obvious and most difficult question: who is to replace McGrew? I have always been a strong advocate for Tony Eury Sr., with whom Earnhardt won the majority of his races with. However, Eury Sr. has explained that he has no desire whatsoever of becoming a full time Sprint Cup crew chief again.

What about Ron Malek, the #48 car chief, whose name has come up quite recently? A great candidate , considering how well and dominate the #48 has run for the past several years. However, many #48 fans would probably be upset by this and say “Wait! You can’t take him! Look how well Johnson is running!” True, but may I point out that really, only two of the Hendrick cars are running well and in the Chase for the championship, Johnson and Jeff Gordon.

Johnson, obviously, is an extremely talented driver, and I concur that whoever is Johnson’s car chief, he can still accomplish amazing things behind the wheel. It is better to have all four Hendrick teams running well than just two outrunning the others every week.

What about Alan Gustafson, Mark Martin’s crew chief? Another crew chief who has proven himself in being able to win races. He appears to be the leading candidate for the job, even though both Gustafson and Rick Hendrick have denied that he will move to the #88.

Let me explain why. When Kasey Kahne comes over from Red Bull Racing to replace Martin in the #5 in ’12, he will most likely bring Kenny Francis, his current crew chief, along with him. There is almost no doubt that that is what will occur. That would mean that one of the Hendrick crew chiefs would be out.

Chad Knaus will remain with Johnson, Steve Letarte will remain most likely remain with Gordon, so that leaves either McGrew or Gustafson out. Therefore, Gustafson seems to be the choice for Earnhardt.

So, my conclusion? The most logical move would be to move Gustafson to the #88 and McGrew to the #5 for next year. Why not keep Alan with Mark, who work and communicate extremely well together, and move Malek to crew chief for Earnhardt in ’11? It makes no sense because in ’12 Gustafson would be out of a crew chief position, unless it was to work that Malek would be the crew chief for the #88 in ’11 and then Gustafson in ’12. That also makes no sense. Once Kahne and Francis arrive in ’12, move McGrew back to his original position with Hendrick Motorsports.

If Rick Hendrick does indeed move Gustafson to the #88 and McGrew to the #5, then he has a better chance of getting all four cars back in contention to win races and pursue a championship for the organization. Rick Hendrick is an intelligent owner and he will do what he believes will benefit his organization as a whole.

So, how do you solve a problem like Dale Jr.? Alan Gustafson is the answer.