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Tag: Chase

  • The New Keselowski – Can He Win It All?

    The New Keselowski – Can He Win It All?

    [media-credit name=”Matt Laflair” align=”alignright” width=”224″][/media-credit]Fans used to be split on Brad Keselowski. Some loved him, especially when he drove for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Nationwide team. The kid who hit everyone but the pace car in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, riled the feathers of drivers and even got Carl Edwards airborne at Talladega (and had a few run-ins with Cousin Carl thereafter) has grown up, put on his best face and become a fan favorite. How does such a tremendous turnaround happen? Talent and a little PR work.

    Just look at how he handled finishing second at The Glen. Nothing but class. While far more mature and championship drivers wanted to whine about adverse conditions on the track in the final lap. Keselowski faced the camera, looked straight into it and declared the finish as close to heaven as possible. Just like his former rival, Edwards, he was honest and proved that he was a racer, not a Chaser. It was refreshing.

    I credit Keselowski’s rise with his move to Penske a couple of years ago. The No. 2 Dodge driver had a reputation of doing controversial things.  From the lack of restraint at Talladega, to having his father, former Sprint Cup driver Bob Keselowski, appear on national television accusing Edwards of trying to kill his son (which of course the younger Keselowski had no control over). All of a sudden Brad was correct and professional in everything he did. The Captain had spoken. We saw this attitude over the last two years. Kurt Busch acts up? Gone. A.J. Allmendinger fails a drug test? Gone. Brad has been smart enough to pick his battles and a star is in the making, if you ask me.

    No one knows how the switch to Ford in 2013 will go, but I’m betting on Brad Keselowski. He may win the Sprint Cup Championship this year, but as long as the Penske organization can get the cars as good as they have been this year, you can expect Brad to be in the hunt. Penske engines have been good, but the addition of Yates power might make them even better. Rest assured The Captain (Roger Penske) won’t let things get too far behind.

    Can the great change in the Keselowski attitude lead to a championship in 2012? It would be great to see Dodge go out as a winner. It would be great to see The Captain win his first championship, but Keselowski has a few hurdles to jump. There’s the elephant in the room, Jimmie Johnson. He will probably have the lead coming down to the final ten races. There is Matt Kenseth, who seems to be on a mission, and his teammate Greg Biffle, who is very hungry. Of course there is Junior Earnhardt, who without a couple of equipment failures, would be right up there. My money’s on Keselowski, which is foolish. My heart says Kenseth or Keselowski, but my mind says Johnson. It should be interesting.

  • After Two Races, What Have We Learned?

    After Two Races, What Have We Learned?

    [media-credit name=”Simon Scoggins” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Two races down and what have we seen? It’s confusing, but we’ve have had one race dominated by Fords and Chevrolets, and another dominated by Toyotas and Chevrolets. What do we make of this? One has to understand that Daytona is an entirely different animal from the rest of the circuit, save Talladega. It appears that the Roush-Yates engines are the way to go at the restrictor plate tracks, and after only one of the real races, the verdict is out.

    I don’t get the euphoria the media gives the current winner of any race. Denny Hamlin might have wintered in Arizona and got his head straight. He had a good car in Avondale, Arizona on Sunday, but he was bailed out by a stronger car running out of fuel. Matt Kenseth might have won Daytona, but it might have been more luck than skill, not to take away from either victory. That’s the way racing goes. A lot of it always has to do with luck and even skill. It’s just the way it goes. So where are we?

    Much of it has to do with what happens next. Las Vegas is key and Bristol is a crap shoot. We won’t know much until we get to California in three weeks. And then we probably will have to look to Charlotte to get the full picture. So far, it’s an open field. A lot will depend on what happens in the soon appeal of the NASCAR penalties given to the No. 48 team after Daytona, regardless of what you think about Johnson, Knaus, and Hendrick Motorsports. That team is a force in this series. The 25-point penalty is big, So far, no date has been established for the appeal. Regardless of what anyone thinks, a lot depends on this decision. The Johnson-Knaus team is formidable.

    I have a real problem in talking about points this early. The media loves it because it gives them something to talk about, but when did we get to the point that points and the Chase was more important than who won the race on any given Sunday? If last year’s championship proved anything else, it was that winning was important. It was the tie-breaker in the closest championship in history. Maybe, the lesson here is that nothing matters until the final ten races, and that bothers me. In stick and ball sports, it works well, but in racing, it’s almost that the individual races don’t matter. Denny Hamlin won Phoenix. Big deal. All that matters is how many points he got. That is NASCAR in the 21st Century. Win a bunch and have a few poor finishes, and you are dust. In the old days, the winners were given all the spoils. Winners were important. Nowadays, it only matters until the final ten races.

    We’re a long way from that, and hopefully exemplary performance will determine the season champion, but I’d wish we could worry about that in August instead of March. I’m a fool and I know I’m daft, but I wish that. Unfortunately, I’m in the minority. Bad deal for me,

  • Lessons Learned in the Two Duels

    Lessons Learned in the Two Duels

    [media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”281″][/media-credit]The two Gatorade Duels are over. The 150-mile qualifying races saw the field go back to pack racing, the kind of racing preferred by the fans, and little “two car tango.” In fact, the drivers couldn’t do much pushing because their cars overheated. Elliott Sadler had overheating problems during his race and Jimmie Johnson was spewing water while pushing Greg baffle. In the end, NASCAR had it all figured out, and accomplished what they set out to do. We did, however, learn some things.

    First, the Fords are fast. Doug Yates, who supplies all the engines for Ford stockers, seems to have come up with the most horsepower at least at this restrictor plate track. But the car with the horsepower doesn’t always win, as we saw in the first duel. Marcos Ambrose and Carl Edwards should have had the brute force to win this one, but it was Hendrick powered Chevrolets that won and finished second. In fact, the Hendrick power plants put seven cars in the top 10 in both races and Ford had only five. Earnhardt-Childress put four cars in the top 10 and Toyota Racing Development only two, both in the second duel. Dodge scored only two top 10’s. And yet Kyle Busch showed power in winning the Budweiser Shootout on Saturday night. To sum it up, don’t give the race to Ford drivers just yet. It’s anyone’s game.

    Second, there are going to be a lot of cautions on Sunday. With a smaller spoiler, downforce will be lacking and no human is skilled enough to bump draft and push another car without making the occasional mistake. We saw it in the Shootout and we saw it today. And remember, many drivers just did not go all out today while they will in the latter stages of the Great American Race.

    Third, Tony Stewart just seems to have the knack for getting to the front and staying there at Daytona, so I look for him to be a factor and maybe even is your winner on Sunday. He’d better pay attention to Marcos Ambrose, though. Ambrose has learned the formula at these restrictor plate tracks. After finishing a strong third in the Shootout, he also finished third in the first qualifying race today. The same could be said for Kevin Harvick, Regan Smith, and Jimmie Johnson. And that’s leaving out Polesitter Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, who dominated the second duel, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who is always good here. Want the truth? It’s anyone’s game.

    Finally, the overheating problem will continue unless NASCAR makes changes in the cooling systems before the race. I’ve been told that this is not likely to happen, but who knows? It is supposed to be a lot cooler on Sunday in Florida, but we may see a lot of overheated cars try to push the limit. The dominant theory is that in the last two laps, the drivers don’t worry about whether their engine gets hot and spews water. That could result in disaster if an overzealous driver goes too far and blows up at the front of the pack at 200 mph. Let’s hope “cooler heads” prevail.

    As I write this, we are only 61 hours away from the green flag of the Daytona 500. It was a long off-season, but from what we’ve seen, the competition is better and all looks well for a very enjoyable Daytona 500. My only hope is that we can go at least this race without the words points and Chase being used in a sentence by the voices and talking heads on the race broadcasts. After all, this is the Great American Race. The winner should not be known as the guy who is leading the points, but rather the guy who won the race.

  • Where Is the Excitement?

    Where Is the Excitement?

    There is more excitement on the NASCAR scene than I’ve seen for ages. We have a real championship battle and enough drama to make the daily soap operas cringe in fear, but yet there doesn’t seem to be any buzz about this final run. And I wonder why. It mystifies me.

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”221″][/media-credit]Tony Stewart has moved to within three points of a third championship, coming from a position that can only be described as futile. He’s won four of the eight races in the Chase and still people seem unmoved for some reason. I thought the excitement of someone else, anyone winning a NASCAR championship would be exciting to fans, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Far from it. Maybe it’s the participants.

    If you took a poll of NASCAR fans, I suspect most would vote for their favorite to be Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Jeff Gordon, and maybe even Kevin Harvick. Unfortunately, none of those guys are going to win this year. Jimmie Johnson, the guy who has won the last five championships, might even get a few votes, just because. Instead, we have Carl Edwards in the lead, if only by a minimal margin fighting the “great bully,” Tony Stewart. Both are great drivers and worthy of a championship. In fact, Stewart is a two-time Sprint Cup champion and Edwards has won the Nationwide championship. So, what’s the problem?

    Maybe it has to do with the whole system. Stewart languished far to the back of the standings until the Chase started. Finally, he caught fire while Edwards used consistency, the reason the points systems has worked forever, to stay at the top of the charts. Edwards has only one win, something that is really strange considering the equipment he has, and yet despite a better average finish and overall performance, is struggling to hold on. While the favorites have been good, they find themselves hopelessly out of the running to an also-ran during the regular season and a guy who just finishes in the top five for most of the season. Kind of like the year Matt Kenseth won the championship with one win. It’s just not fan inspiring. Yes the St. Louis Cardinals won the MLB championship with the same scenario, but that is baseball and not racing. For years, racing has been based on track championships and those always took a season and crowed the champion and not over the last 10 races. Pulling NASCAR into that system is only going to be problematic.

    I find it exciting. We have a horse race with the bully Stewart telling Edwards to watch his back and making it come true. We have the consistent Edwards coming close, but falling prey to the NASCAR rule about bonus points, which I’ve always thought was stupid and not productive, And the fight is on.

    With two races to go, it’s anyone’s championship, and like those Cardinals, it appears that only a bad day by Stewart will decide the championship. The Texas Rangers had those bad days, and it’s only a bad day from either Stewart or Edwards that will decide the championship.

    ***

    Kyle Busch was parked by NASCAR for taking the truck of Ron Hornaday, Jr. out during a caution during a caution flag on Friday night. Busch was also banned from participating in the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series races on Saturday and Sunday. Regardless of how fans felt about this turn of events, it robbed Busch of any chance of finishing other than last in the Chase. Many feel that is justice, and maybe they are right. The bigger issue is Busch’s future with Joe Gibbs Racing in the Sprint Cup Series. Sponsors have been patient with Busch over the years, but will this be the last straw? Time will tell, but this writer’s opinion is that this might have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.

  • Johnson Inches Closer With Just a Little Help

    Johnson Inches Closer With Just a Little Help

    Dover International offered a nice respite from the cookie cutter mile and a half tracks, but the winner was a surprise, at least to me. You just can’t count anyone out this year. Many had Jimmie Johnson left for dead and had already crowned Tony Stewart, but Stewart returned to his 2011 form and Johnson finished second. Carl Edwards had the fastest car, and but for a driver mistake, might be leading the pack. Such is the 2011 Chase. It’s unpredictable.

    [media-credit id=26 align=”alignright” width=”238″][/media-credit]Still, I feel Johnson is in the driver’s seat. Johnson, after a couple of bad performances coupled with the leaders falling back to the norm, is back in the race. That’s bad news for the rest of the field. You might blame Edwards for this turn of events. Edwards dominated the Nationwide Series race on Saturday and appeared to be doing the same on Sunday, but a mental mistake cost him the win and left him third in the race. Champions rarely make these kinds of mistakes. In an earlier column, I asked if the No. 99 team was ready to be Sprint Cup champions. I stand by my conclusion then. The mistake cost Edwards two positions and the point lead and allowed Johnson to close in on a sixth straight championship.

    Kurt Busch spoiled the party. The former champ took the ball and ran with the Edwards mistake. He was able to win and keep Johnson behind him. Matt Kenseth’s team made an error by taking on four tires when everyone else took two. Kenseth probably had the second best car, but that call from the crew chief once again allowed Johnson to gain another position. This is how championships are won. Putting space between themselves and Johnson is all important. Those two teams didn’t do that and allowed the five-time champion to inch closer to another title. It was almost scripted.

    Of course, there are the wild cards in the final seven races. Talladega is one place where any one of the nine leaders can have a bad race (I’ve already written off Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Ryan Newman, and Denny Hamlin). I would consider the short track at Martinsville a wild card, but Johnson’s track record there, as well as the fact that Kenseth and Edwards don’t run well there, tends to be in his favor.

    Unless the Roush-Fenway teams of Edwards and Kenseth get their act together, the champion will be a battle between Kevin Harvick, Johnson, and Kurt Busch, but you just never know, as we’ve seen this year. Brad Keselowski could return to his latter season hotness, Jeff Gordon could go on a win streak (which I really doubt),Kyle Busch could revert back to his mid-season form, or Edwards and Kenseth could surprise, but I doubt it. It’s down to Harvick, Johnson, and Kurt Busch, and you know who my money’s on.

    Johnson chided the media after Dover with marked comments. He is a confident fellow. It would be good for the sport if someone else won the Cup, but you can’t argue with performance. The thing that bothers me is that’s it’s almost like other drivers are helping “Old Five Time” to another championship. Sure, they don’t mean to, but the result is the same. Give the trophy to Johnson and let’s race the rest of the season.

  • The New Simpler Point System…Or Not

    The New Simpler Point System…Or Not

    NASCAR tied very hard to make the point system easier to understand for Joe Fan. Apparently, it didn’t work with the revelation today that Jeff Gordon qualified for at least a wild card entry into the almighty Chase for the championship. Huh? The one point difference in positions was supposed to simplify the standings so that fans could understand where their favorite driver was during the season. Then, NASCAR threw in a curve ball with the wildcard. I guess it sounded like the NFL and MLB, so it had to be good, right?

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”246″][/media-credit]It has now become so complicated that even those that have followed the sport for years cannot tell you who will be the 11th and 12th qualifiers or even the leaders for those positions right now. It appears that Brad Keselowski will make the short list, but who is the leading candidate for that 12th man? The question usually follows with an answer that it takes algebra, calculus, and solid geometry to solve. Not much different than the old system? Well, at least that system was based on who had the highest points and positions 1-12 were easy to determine. Now? Not so much.

    The powers that be meant no harm. They wanted to reward winning and get away from the consistency tag that the point system has always had. They started a few years ago when they created the Chase and watched it become a monster before their eyes. From the first race at Daytona, the Chase talk began and has continued. The final ten races are all that matter. Trying to add a bonus for winning made sense until so many first-timers won. Just like it appeared that the Chase was an answer to Matt Kenseth’s one-win championship, this appeared to be an answer to Jamie McMurray’s dream season of last year. McMurray won three big races and did not make the Chase, so the rules were changed. My guess is that no one will admit that, but it’s pretty clear that NASCAR wanted to include the guys who won races since the Chase had taken most of that emphasis on winning away. And now we have the new system with its confusing wild card addition. Look for more changes next year. Someday, they’ll get it right. Or they’ll go back to Bob Latford’s original system and say the heck with it.

    One more comment or two on last week’s races in Bristol. Attendance was light for the Nationwide Series on Friday night, but attendance was good for Saturday night’s Cup race, though not a sellout. There were plenty of empty seats. I think of lot of the reason for this is that the media continues to make comments about how Bristol will be a knock them out race and tempers will flare and all that. That used to be the case, but Bristol is now more like Charlotte. Passing is available on the inside and the outside these days and the one groove track that used to be is gone. That means less beating and banging and less excitement for the fans. That kind of racing is now only found in Martinsville, Virginia. The drivers love the new Bristol and the media is quick to say how much better the racing is on the new surface. They apparently haven’t convinced the fans who pay admission. Just listening to the crowd after the race said it all. They’re not impressed, and that is the bottom line.

    Finally, all the talk about Carl Edwards getting his contract with Roush-Fenway behind him and being able to race better isn’t working out. Edwards has been a non-factor in the races since he decided to re-up with RFR, dropping from first in the standings to fourth with fifth-place nipping at his heels. Just goes to show you that these are machines they are piloting and anything can happen in a race. Just ask Brad Keselowski.

  • Matty’s Picks: Pure Michigan 400 Vol. 14 – Michigan – August 21, 2011

    Matty’s Picks: Pure Michigan 400 Vol. 14 – Michigan – August 21, 2011

    The NASCAR Sprint cup series heads back to the two-mile D-shaped superspeedway situated in the Irish Hills region of southeastern Michigan for the second and final time of the 2011 tour. Being one of the fastest tracks on the NASCAR schedule (with corner entry speeds in excess of 205 mph), NASCAR races continuously draw upwards of 125,000 fans to the 1,400 acres that makes up the MIS complex.

    The wide sweeping corners of Michigan International Speedway were not very kind to my picks in the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 back in June, so I am looking to rebound and continue my short streak of solid picks this weekend.

    Watkins Glen Recap

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”235″][/media-credit]With last week’s race being at the track that I am most familiar with, there is no reason my picks should have played out any differently than they did. Watkins Glen International is the track that I call home, and the race Monday reinforced my decision to travel to the races each year at the historic 2.45-mile road course at The Glen. No matter where you were situated along the track on Monday Morning, there was action in front of you.

    First, Kudos to WGI in their efforts to improve fan-viewing areas in erecting new grandstands (which look more like 6-story towers than grandstands) in turns 1, 10, and 11. I climbed to the top of the grandstands in turns 1 and 10, and they truly enhance the historically-difficult fan’s viewing perspective at Watkins Glen International. My family has sworn by the same seats in the Ninety Grandstand for the past 15 years, and I believe they will be seeking to make the change to one of the three brand new monstrosities ISC has erected at The Glen when NASCAR makes its return in 2012.

    None the more fitting for my home track, Monday’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen boasted my best results of the season thus far with a win for my Winner Pick and a 4th place Dark Horse finish.

    Marcos Ambrose went into the weekend at Watkins Glen as the favorite for not only me, but for many writers in the racing industry. It was only destiny for Ambrose to win a Sprint Cup race after coming so close so many times throughout his brief history in NASCAR.

    Ambrose had a sniff at the track record during qualifying, only to be outdone 69-seconds later by his teammate A.J. Allmendinger, and then again by Kyle Busch. This meant that Ambrose would start third for the Cup race, but wasted no time showing why he was many people’s pick to win at The Glen.

    I will quote my column from last week, “Ambrose has the car to beat this weekend…he’s going to win.” Now I’m not trying to toot my own horn on this one, but that was a ‘Nostradamus of NASCAR’ pick last week (Almost as solid as picking Dale Jr to win the Fan Vote in the All-Star Race back in May).

    The No. 9 car didn’t get the win very easily on Monday, coming from third on the Green-White-Checkered start to taking the checkered flag for his first victory in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Marcos Ambrose had this to say in Victory Lane on Monday “Just a dream day. The sacrifices you make, we all make to get here, Todd and all the team, the Petty family, my family to get here, to be a contender in the Cup Series, to finally get to victory lane, it just is a dream come true for me.”

    My Dark Horse Pick also faired well on Monday, finishing fourth. Martin Truex Jr.’s car was “just a bit off” on Monday morning. He had enough to run towards the front of the pack all day long, but fell just short at the end when the checkered flag flew.

    Truex explained the chaos of the final restart after his fourth-place finish “I’m not really sure exactly how the last restart went. All I know is I was three-wide so I was kind of paying attention to the guys around me and not so much what happened up in front. I know I saw Kyle (Busch) way out off the curb off of (turn) one so I knew he was in trouble, and they were two-wide under him I guess. I was just glad to get out of there alive. I was a little nervous that last three-white checker.”

    As I said before, it was a great weekend for Matty’s Picks at The Glen marking my two best picks yet this season. I hope I can carry my momentum into Michigan this week with two picks even better than last week.

    Michigan Picks

    Winner Pick
    Since I picked a Chevy and a Toyota to win in June, I’ve decided to pick the other two makes this week at MIS despite two JGR Toyotas finishing in the Top-3.

    For my winner pick, I’m going with the runner-up of June’s race at MIS. Three of the four Roush Fenway Racing cars were in the Top-5 earlier today in Sprint Cup practice. Matt Kenseth is also one of three active drivers that average a Top-10 finish at Michigan; Carl Edwards (6.2), Kenseth (9.5), and Denny Hamlin (10.0). He has two wins at the track, his last coming in 2006, and also has a Top-5 finish in his last two starts at MIS.

    Kenseth was quickest in practice earlier this afternoon, edging out Ryan Newman by just 6-thousanths of a second. Matt Kenseth is sitting in fairly good shape as far as the Chase is concerned, but his third win of the season could be on the horizon this weekend at MIS. Look for Kenseth to be aggressive in his march towards the front, but conserve a Top-5 for his points run.

    Dark Horse Pick
    I think I’m going to get some backlash on qualifying this next driver as my Dark Horse pick for this weekend, but the numbers are the numbers.

    Brad Keselowski is arguably the hottest driver in racing right now, but has never finished better than 24th at MIS. Following a crash that could have possibly ended his season or his driving career, Keselowski has been on a mission to prove his toughness and existence in the Sprint Cup Series. Many drivers in the garage gave him props last week for his courage to not only stay in his car for the weekend, but to take the Blue Deuce and finish second.

    Since his horrific crash in testing at Road Atlanta, Keselowski has a win at Pocono and a runner-up finish on Monday at Watkins Glen. He sits atop the leaderboard for one of the two Wild Card spots in the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup with his two wins. A win on Sunday would all but seal-the-deal for his Chase hopes, and put the Blue Deuce in contention for a Driver’s Championship, something no other driver of the Miller Lite Dodge has ever been able to accomplish.

    Brad Keselowski will put his average finish of 27.5 at Michigan behind him this weekend and put the Blue Deuce in the Top 5 for the fifth time this season.

    On a side note, I was glad to see all the drivers involved in the horrific crashes on Monday at Watkins Glen International walk from their cars under their own power. It is really unfortunate that drivers have to find those dangerous spots on the track before the owners of the facility do, but hopefully WGI will continue to improve the safety in and around the track. I commend the track on what they’ve done so far, and am 100% certain they will investigate the incidents at the facility very closely, and institute an action plan to alleviate the dangerous situations we saw on Monday.

    Until Next Week…You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!!!

  • A points system an Alabama mathematician can work out

    A points system an Alabama mathematician can work out

    It has been an interesting off-season in NASCAR, and I’m not just talking about the snow in Dallas. We learned things, like the best mathematicians hail from such places as Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, and the Carolinas. For more than 30 years, afficionados in those locales have been able to figure out the sport’s points system, but it was deemed too tough for the newbees to master.

    [media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”189″][/media-credit]So, that brings us to the latest revamp of the way NASCAR determines its season champions. One point to the 43rd placed entry, 43 points for the winner, a 3 point victor bonus, a point for leading a lap, and one more for leading the most. I’m guessing that should be easy enough for those beleaguered Princeton and Harvard types to decipher.

    The top ten make the Chase, have their points rejigged to 2000 to put them out of reach of the mere mortals, with three bonus points for each win up to that point. Among those sitting 11th to 20th, the most wins combined with the most points determines two more wildcard Chasers. If that proves too much for a potential fan to figure out, might I suggest soccer as a sport of choice. I mean, all one needs to is a field, a ball, and two pairs of rubber boots to play and the point count is usually so low anybody can calculate the winner.

    In case you are wondering, according to my calculator, Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick would have tied for the most points in the Chase using the new system, with Johnson getting the nod based on wins. You can’t get much closer than that. In a perfect world, wins should be worth more, but fans would quit watching if the final events merely led to a coronation. Too bad they can’t promote each race based on its own merits, but this is not a perfect world.

    In a perfect world, Tony Stewart could take a working holiday to Australian and not get into a dust up. A flying helmet followed by some flying fists highlighted a trip that apparently also involved some actual racing, but no one is too interested in that aspect of the story. If that did not provide enough gossip, then surely the court ruling that makes the details of the Brian and Megan France divorce public should. Hey, it is not that I don’t love hearing things that are none of my damn business. I mean, I am human after all.

    Crew Chief Frank Stoddard has a new racing team. That should give us another contender for that single point for each race, provided they qualify, before parking due to handling or vibration issues, or just not having enough money to buy tires or fuel to run an entire event. At least we won’t see anymore catch cans leaving the pits, as the new fuelling system eliminates that can and the guy holding it. No doubt another example of technology eliminating American jobs.

    We hear Mark Martin will keep racing beyond 2011 and his tenure with Hendrick. Hopefully he really will get a chance to actually race, and not be just a part of the not-ready-for-prime timers. You just don’t tie a race horse, even an aging one, up to a beer wagon.

    Sometimes the champagne set isn’t worth getting tied up with. Richard Petty Motorsports lives again, but no thanks to former partner George Gillett. After taking over Ray Evernham’s operation, merging it with Petty’s, Gillett is now long gone. It only took him three years to hit the bricks in NASCAR, only four years before losing his Liverpool soccer ownership, and just over nine before walking away from the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens. Anyone else notice a trend here?

    Yet, some things last. Like a big track at Daytona, engines roaring to life, and a multitude of drivers, owners, crews, sponsors, and fans getting together to open yet another NASCAR season. The track is the same, but new asphalt now covers it which should make things very interesting when action resumes in a few short days.

    There are questions that we seek answers to. Is Jimmie Johnson going to raise the hardware again come November, or is it Jeff Gordon’s turn for five. Maybe Tony Stewart, or a Busch brother has a date with destiny, or a fairy tale finish for Mark Martin? Will we see a return of Dale Earnhardt Jr to prominence? Will we notice a difference in the cars with a more streamlined splitter and factory inspired noses? One thing is for certain, with the curtain dropped on football and baseball still a few months away, the time for the cars to return has returned. You don’t have to be an Alabama mathematician to figure out that this is a good thing.