Newman's Sponsor?

Anyone see the press conference today from MIS? Did they announce Newman's sponsor(s) for the #4 car?

Newman is a great addition to the Chevy stable; I've got to believe that having Tony and Ryan on board will attract top garage talent for support.

As long as Chevy and the sponsors pony up the cash, I expect Stewart-Haas to make some noise in '09

• 9 Comments

Praying to Kyle?

I'm confused and I need your help to explain what Kyle means when he says "The good lord is praying that we're able to keep our car up front every week?"

This follows a statement after his Daytona win that "the gods were praying down on us tonight?"

What is he talking about?

I'm sure those post race press conferences can be tough following a long race but something about both of those comments rubs me the wrong way.

• 14 Comments
• Kyle Busch

Our Brickyard Drive-By...

On way home from North Michigan, we found ourselves 30 minutes from IMS, 35 mins. from green flag racing. SO, as any good dad and NASCAR fan would do, we high-tailed over to the speedway to see the fly over and hear the full field come down the front stretch on the first lap.

Although Georgetown Road was blocked, we drove through the adjacent neighborhood and pulled right up to the Turn 4 entrance. Just as we hopped out of the car, we heard the singing of the National Anthem and then, 4 F-15's flew right over head...very cool timing!

We jumped back in the car and stopped by the Pagoda entrance where my wife and kids walked right in (no tickets) and watched the green flag fly and cars come screaming by on Lap 1. The interesting thing about showing up just prior to the race was that we probably could have parked for free and certainly could have walked right into track for nothing. Maybe the gate attendants knew Sunday's race was going to be a stinker!

It was a fun pit stop on our long journey (900 miles) home...check out the pics on my home page.

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• 10 Comments

KP's Silence

The No. 43 gets spun out and we hear nothing from Kyle Petty...good on him. Far cry from Rusty doing Nationwide races...

• 6 Comments

HMS Announcement Tomorrow; Mark Martin

Speculation is that Martin Martin will be named the driver of the No. 5 and most likely for the full '09 season. I'm confused; didn't we (NASCAR Nation) have the big farewell tour for Mark 2 years ago? I thought Mark wanted to spend more time with his family and away from the grind that comes with racing a full season. Why come back for a full season? AGAIN?

I know why Mark wants the HMS ride; commitment to winning and performance. But what does Hendrick get out of the deal? Is Martin really that much better than some of the other options out there? I've got nothing against Martin; he's a great ambassador for the series and still has the skill to get it done. I just don't get why HMS brings him in for just another run for a championship.

Help me out here...

• 6 Comments
• Hendrick, Mark Martin, No. 5, Confused

Big Brown, Kyle Busch and Too Much Hype

For the past week, ESPN hyped Big Brown's run for the Triple Crown. We heard from both the over confident trainer and a jockey who said he'd never ridden a better horse; that was until Saturday afternoon. By the time the field hit turn three, it was over! Last place for the prohibitive favorite; the horse that was supposed to recreate Secretariat's convincing victory and claim the elusive Triple Crown after 35 years trotted across the finish line. Now we're left with with just questions...was it the lack of steriods? or the cracked hoof? starting along the rail?

Now to the other over-hyped sports story of the week: our friend Kyle Busch running his own version of the triple crown; and again this weekend, the prohibitive favorite finished last. Maybe now the racing media will focus on some other stories like GEM's/KK's resurgence or Jeff Burton's consistency. Shrub's weekend started poorly with his wreck on Sat. morning during practice relegating him to his back-up machine and ended with last place today. I'm sure questions will be raised about too much racing in one weekend or not focusing on #18 but in the end, Kyle didn't perform and he opened the door for some other guys to inch closer to him in the Sprint Cup standings. I think the next couple of weeks will be interesting for Kyle; he's got company on the super speedways, and Sonoma might the perfect opportunity for someone to push him around a little bit, Jeff Gordon or Juan Pablo Montoya? I can't wait to see how he handles himself and if the hype machine begins to sputter.

• 23 Comments
• Big Brown, Hype, Kyle Busch, TRIPLE CROWN

Another Classy Statement from Kyle...

Buck Fever said on a recent podcast that he's starting to enjoy Kyle's lighter side of playing the "villian". I'd have to agree on things like bowing to the crowd after a win or during the All-Star Race intro's...but let's not forget to point out his TRUE colors when makes statements like this after today's Nationwide race when asked about his run-in with Jason Leffler: "I just have a teammate that can't stand to be No. 2," Busch said. "I don't know what Leffler was thinking there."

Really, are you sure Leffler wrecked you because he doesn't like being number 2? What happened to "racing deals" like Kyle's at Richmond? I can't wait to hear the shrub apologists this time around...

• 6 Comments
• Kyle Busch, leffler, Dover, Nationwide, JackAss

SI Reports that Tony is headed to CNC

ESPN has this as Breaking News on its ticker and I just received a text from Jayski...will do some more digging but is this going down to open the door for Joey Lagano?

Here's the SI link: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/tom_bowles/04/23/stewart/index.html?eref=T1

• 4 Comments
• stewart, CNC, Legano

Bobby Labonte's Marketing Company and General Mills

As I read the news about General Mills moving to RCR from Petty Enterprises, I started to wonder what Labonte's involvement was in this deal. Back in late 2007, Labonte founded a marketing company and his first client was General Mills and Cheerios; see link: http://autoracingsport.com/nascar/cheerios-becomes-1st-client-for-bobby-labontes-marketing-firm/

Okay, so today I read that Labonte and Petty heard about General Mills decision to leave Petty just the other day...hmm! Robbie Loomis then goes on to say that he’s never felt better about the future of Bobby Labonte and Petty Enterprises...hmm!

Something ain’t right…

Whether Bobby stays with Petty or moves with his current primary sponsor AND client to RCR makes no difference to me. He’ll always be one of my favorites. I just find this story fascinating with all of the connections. Labonte: current driver of the #43 Cheerios Dodge, part time driver of the un-sponsored RCR #21 Nationwide Series Chevrolet and finally, President of Breaking Limits, LLC (marketing co. representing General Mills in NASCAR).

What do you guys think?

• 5 Comments
• General Mills, Cheerios, Petty, RCR, Breaking Limits, LLC

You may not like the way he says it; but people listen...

Several media outlets and fans like us here at Rowdy have wondered if Stewart will be fined for calling out Goodyear on Sunday. A former champ now says Goodyear and NASCAR should listen up.

From Jayski:
Jarrett backs Stewart's comments about tires: Dale Jarrett on Tuesday called on Goodyear to listen carefully to Tony Stewart's complaints about the tires the company has produced this season. Although some drivers believe Stewart went overboard in his criticism of Goodyear following Sunday's race in Atlanta, Jarrett said the manufacturer needs to start constructing a better tire for Sprint Cup racing. "I have no problem with what Tony Stewart said. I'm a huge supporter of Goodyear and all that they have done over the years, but somebody needs to wake up right now and listen to these guys," said Jarrett, the former series champion who is retiring following Sunday's race in Bristol. "We're talking about race drivers that have a huge amount of talent and very seldom complain about things like that."(see full Associated Press report for more)(3-12-2008) Comment here about DJ's career - Jayski.com

I also read that Goodyear has decided against bringing the Atlanta tire to Texas and will run last season's Texas tire. I'm all for driver safety but we pay to see racing. I've been to many races (Cup, Busch and Truck) and have never witnessed (in person) worse racing action. My 10 year old was ready to go at the midway point and I assured him it would get exciting near the end. Wrong! Although I do appreciate the fact that guys like Kyle, Tony, Biffle and Junior can handle a car under such conditions, we paid to see racing. Hopefully this deal gets figured out quickly because like Tony said, we're in for a long season if that's what we get from NASCAR every week.

• 6 Comments
• Atlanta, Jayski.com, Jarrett, GoodYear, stewart