Rowdy People

Start and Park-ers have hit a ridiculous level

Somebody please explain to me how the Start & Park-ers are good for this sport? I don't get it.

I already know the teams get paid a certain amount if they just qualify in. I know this is how teams can make money. I know times are tough in this current economic climat. Fine, as somebody who is unemployed, I can sympathize with that.

However, as a race fan? I think it sucks that it is allowed to happen.

This weekend it seemed to elevate to a whole new level of ridiculous. In Saturday's Nationwide race (if I remember correctly) there was one pit stall full of spectators. No pit crew, no war wagon. Obviously a Start-and-Parker. Whoever it was in the announcers' booth that dubbed the S&Ps "Cash for Clunkers" pretty much nailed it.

Today's race? With Mike Wallace not even having a pit crew in his pit area and getting black flagged? Freaking RIDICULOUS!!!

I even got into a quasi argument about it with Kenny Wallace via Twitter. I'm sure I'm not the only one chiming in, but I noticed after a while he refused to comment further on it.

How is this good for the sport?

Is there something I'm missing on this?

Jimmie & Chad remind me of...

Alright, I have to say it, because if I don't, I'm gonna explode.

Here goes:

Its a good thing that Jimmie Johnson doesn't sound like a complete doofus, because if he did, he and Chad would remind me even more of Pinky and the Brain than they alread do.

"They're Pinky and The Brain
Yes, Pinky and The Brain
One is a genius.
The other's insane. "

Chad's a genius, I guess Jimmie could be marginally considered insane (like all race car drivers hehe)

Still, not every team could take an ill tempered car 3 laps down, take advantage of the Lucky Dogs like they did, and get a top 15. That was sheer genius. And insane. (Chad is Rad! hahahaha!!)

Some good, some bad, all opinion (mine) on recent events

First the bad:

JPM's Rise & Fall:
Part of me can't help but feel that JPM was robbed. The technology that is used is most likely accurate on the speed it detected in Pit Road, but that doesn't change how I feel. JPM was screwed. Most likely, did it to himself, but still. Ouch.

Denny Falls Apart:
Ok, Denny didn't but his car did. Good grief! Speaking of guys who can't buy a break! WTF happened to his car? Why did it fall apart like that? Somebody was asleep at the wheel in the garage.

Kyle Hits The Wall:
That was a shocker. I thought he was going to keep marching up to the front.

Jr. Goes 'Splodey:
Can't help feeling bad for a guy who, while feeling like he was tied to the back of a car and dragged around the racetrack a few times, managed to secure a 3rd starting position, only to have the car continue to fall back until it finally gives up the ghost and explodes.

Jeremy x 3 + headshake...
The ups and downs of whats been going on with this guy. From getting the suspension lifted to the claim that his 2nd test was also found containing meth, to the report that other tests showed no meth, and the amount allegedly found would have been fatal, to finding out the suspension was reinstated, now the news about selling the company... just... wow. What a roller coaster. Whether he did meth or not, it would seem he's finished in NASCAR.

The Kinda Sad Stuff:

Matt Crafton:
Did anybody catch his post-race interview Friday night? That was a dejected and disappointed man.

The Good Stuff:

How about that Joey Logano?
That kid did a great job in finishing 12th after starting in the back of the field.

Kyle Busch.
What? You heard me. I give the guy props for giving an interview after hitting the wall. And while you could tell he was disappointed (who wouldn't be?) it showed a valiant effort at walking his talk from earlier this week. I haven't watched the NNS race yet so I don't know what his interview was like last night or if he did one.

(Honestly, after my "whiner" blog, a lot of my hostility towards Kyle has gone away... at least for now. It proved to be very cathartic.)

Colin Braun:
Getting the pole at ORP, finishing 5th... very respectable. AND getting Carl Edwards' NNS car set up, & Edwards going on to win the race, good stuff! He set up the car before Carl's other win (Milwaukee?) this season. How long before we get to watch him working on setting up his own NNS car for a win?

Ron Hornaday:
Wow! 4 in a row, a new record for the Truck series! Then a top 10 finish in the NNS race. Great runs for Ron Hornaday and KHI.

Speaking of Kevin Harvick...
Awesome run for Happy on Sunday. FINALLY getting up to the top 10. Glad to see one of the RCR boys do well.

And last but not least:
Jeff Burton didn't get collected in a double file restart (shootout style... blargh!) accident.

Sorry if this seems disjointed or off... I've been feeling kinda craptastic today.

Happiest Crew Chief in NASCAR?

Has to be Alan Gustafson. Crew Chiefing for his hero Mark Martin, and taking him through 4 wins when previously it had been years since Mark's had one.

Congratulations to Mark Martin and the #5 team on dominating the field tonight. I haven't watched the race yet, but I was kinda following the lap by lap on NASCAR.com. I'm still going to watch it tomorrow morning just because it sounds like it was an interesting race.

I would LOVE to see Mark Martin make the Chase, and have a chance at the Championship. Lots of respect for that guy.

Way to go, Joey! And some other ramblings.

First of all, Way to go, Joey Logano in pulling off that victory at Chicagoland Friday night. That was a gutsy call by crew chief Rogers to stay out on that final caution. Way to hang on to the lead with older tires and pull away from the guys with fresher ones.

I honestly can't wait for this kid to get his feet under him on the Cup side. I have a feeling the 2010 season is going to be a Joey Logano year. I'd be surprised if he doesn't make the chase next year. Really. For somebody thrown into the Cup series earlier than expected, he's not doing too shabby. Having Greg Zipadelli as a Cup side crew chief is a HUGE advantage for this kid.

Now on to other things...

My opinion of Martin Truex going over to MWR next season? Good for him!! I hope he has a better opportunity to succeed in that camp than he has at TEI, or EGR or whatever the heck its called over there. I was shocked that he signed on for another year last year. Good luck in the 56 in 2010. Good choice. Mikey may not be the best driver, but he seems like he's getting it together as a team owner.

Hey, look, Twisted!!! I'm going to write about Kyle Busch again! ;)

In my last blog I really ripped in to Kyle Busch. This has probably labeled me as a 'hater' in the eyes of a lot of people on this site. That's not the case.

Let me backtrack a little...

I try to give EVERYBODY a fair shake on the track. I've even started to like some of the drivers I've previously hated. JPM and Brian Vickers for example. They may or may not be drivers I'll cheer for but at least I can watch a race and hear their names without snarling.

Even good ole Kyle Busch had a fair shake at the beginning of the year with my personal 'new season, clean slate' philosophy.

He's managed to get back on my "bad" side. Thursday's press conference was strike 3. Strike 1 being the guitar incident, strike 2 being his pit road behavior at Loudon. Not only did he hit Menard's crew, he almost took out the jackman and front tire changer of Clint's crew. Bill Ferguson (the jackman) had a video of it on his blog. I was FURIOUS when I saw that. Strike 2 was probably the worst of them all. His little comment about "time on pit road being too precious" as in more precious than the safety of the pit crew members had me very close to the M&M bag voodoo doll stage that I mentioned in my other blog.

Way I look at it, if Kyle B does something to really impress me, I'll blog about it. But when he really pisses me off, believe me, its gonna end up here too.

And just to prove that, here's some nice things to say about Kyle Busch:

I give him props for his creation of the Kyle Busch Foundation and his work with the kids at St. John's home. I'm always glad to hear about how drivers are "giving back" to the community, and he is no exception.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again... Kyle Busch is a VERY talented driver. Sometimes watching him start from the back and fight his way up to the front, whether he wins or not, just makes me shake my head. Makes me wonder when the other drivers are going to 'catch up' to him.

I'll also give him props for giving Joey Logano advice on driving in the NNS and Cup Series. He and Denny Hamlin have been very helpful to that kid, as I'm sure several others in the garage have.

None of the above comments are written grudgingly.

So, while my feelings about Kyle are not 'love/hate', they're more described as 'admiration/infuriation'. I admire his skill and off track activities, but at the same time he does things that infuriate me.

Other drivers have fallen into that category. Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch to name a couple. I'm gaining more respect and admiration for Tony Stewart every week. Kurt's showing more signs of maturity too. So there's hope for his little brother.

So, while I'm passionate about this sport, I'm not the type of fan that, once I "hate" a driver, I hate him forever. They're human, I'm human. They do things that I either think are pretty cool, or really piss me off. I get mad for a while, I get over it. Often what helps me get over it is the ability to vent.

And ramble. Sheesh... too much coffee this morning.

Here's to an exciting race tonight!

Geez, what a freaking whiner!

This afternoon I caught parts of the press conferences on SPEED from Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch regarding the last lap wreck at Daytona. First Tony says they spoke and were on the same page, then when they switched to Kyle, I don't even think they were in the same bookstore, much less the same page!

Found the story on NASCAR.com and this particular quote from Kyle was rich...

""NASCAR can take a step in looking at it and if the second place driver dumps -- quote unquote -- the leader, then black flag his ass," he said. "He doesn't get the win, you know. If he's on him from behind and moves him out of the way and there's no wreck then fine he can win the race but if you're up along side the guy and you dump him then I say black flag him and give the win the third-place driver."

Wow, so if, according to Tony, they were ok after talking, and were on 'the same page' as he said, Kyle just showed some truly hypocritical and two faced behavior there. He really threw Tony under the bus. Not cool.

I'm sorry to all you Kyle fans out there, but he came across as a spoiled, whiny, petulant little poor sport. Geez, if my driver said something sounding like this, I'd be embarrassed!

I can't help but think of all the times Kyle has wrecked somebody, put them into the wall, turned them, caused big accidents, and run over pit crew members and been so unapologetic about it, yet when it is his sorry arse being put into the wall, all of a sudden the person who did it should be black flagged?

Get real. You can't have it both ways. And you know if this were mandated, and he were the one getting black flagged, he'd be complaining up to high heaven about it.

I don't deny that Kyle is an incredibly talented driver in whatever he gets behind the wheel of, but this spoilsport attitude of his is what really turns me off from liking him. I try, I gave him a new chance at the beginning of the season, and I was doing ok until he ran over Bill Ferguson in the pits a couple weekends ago, and now this.

I hope Tony Stewart keeps this in mind... so much for being on the same page.

At the end of it all, though I'm not very fond of him, I am glad that Kyle didn't get hurt. I'd hate to see any driver get injured.

Open letter and Proposal for Buck, Bass & Cutler

Alright you guys,

I've been a member of this site since early 07, and you've never once come out this way to Infineon for one reason or another. That's cool, I can deal with that. Its a long way to travel for a weekend.

However, I have a proposal for you.

If you provide me with the proper press credentials next year, I will be your Infineon Correspondent for the Rowdy Nation. I'll buy my own tickets, all you have to do is get me the press creds to get me in to the press conferences, garage, etc. (press pass, hot pass, whatever it is) I'll take pictures, write articles, do a phone interview with your for the podcast, you name it.

I'm dead serious.

If you won't make it out here, let one of the Rowdy Nation represent. I'm not saying INSTEAD of other well known personalities, but alongside it.

Really.

You have about 51 weeks to make it a reality. The sooner you decide to do this, the sooner I can start getting my act together for it.

Who better to represent the Rowdy Nation for this race weekend than this twisted redhead? Hmmm?

Think about it, guys. This could be a lot of fun for all of us.

Congratulations, Tony Stewart! & other thoughts

Wow, gotta give a big round of applause for Tony Stewart, taking his own car to Victory Lane at the All Star race last night. Simply incredible. I really thought Ryan Newman was going to do it until the wreck that ultimately took Jeff Gordon out.

So, I was cheering for Matt Kenseth to win, but I couldn't help but cheer when Tony Stewart passed him and claimed the victory. As a Matt Kenseth fan, I'm kinda disappointed, even though Matt was doing a great job. I hope I'm not betraying the MK Nation by being happy for Stewart.

Tony Stewart's just one of those guys I can't help but like. Last year when JGR moved to Toyota, I could see how miserable it made Tony. But when he finally made that decision to become an owner/driver, going back to the Chevy camp... that relief was equally obvious. Much as I like Toyotas... Tony's just not a Toyota kind of guy.

Other thoughts on the race...
I could have been just as happy to miss most of the race and watched the last 10 laps. The shootout beforehand was more exciting! I think I dozed off during part of the race, didn't miss much.

I thought the All Star race was supposed to be one of those 'balls to the wall, all or nothing' type of races. This seemed like more of a glorified test session with the 'real' race lasting only 10 laps. Can't blame the guys though... with testing banned, what else can they do?

My main driver, Clint Bowyer and his team are definitely experiencing the growing pains of a new team. They did great those first few races (not including California), then all of a sudden... frustrations galore. They had a GREAT car for Talladega, only to get wiped out in that first 'big one' (of which two of my other favorites were largely responsible... AAAARGH!!). The best thing I can say about Talladega is it REALLY gave me a lot more respect for the rest of Clint's crew on the work they did to get that car back out to the track to finish the race to keep the DNF held off.

I became even MORE of a fan of the rest of the #33 crew that day. Sure, I cheer for the driver, but the TEAM is just as important. In my eyes they have proven they deserve to be there and are still the champion caliber they showed themselves to be when they were on the NNS side.

Clint's Jackman, Bill Ferguson, keeps a blog going that gives the fans the point of view of the over the wall gang. Its good stuff to read. He's also been an active member of the fan forum as his schedule permits. Gotta love the guy for taking the time to keep the fans in the know.

Ultimately Clint's DNF run came to an end at Darlington. Part of me can't help but be relieved about this. Why, I can't say. It wasn't good in the points area because it took him out of the top 12 in points (yeah, yeah, there's still time to bring it back.. but still!!!), but there's this part of me that keeps thinking "ok, THAT little piece of added pressure is gone... let's just focus on getting that car up to the front and getting in some WINS and top 5s like I KNOW this team can do!".

Time to start dancing around the bonfire again.

Yay Jeff Gordon!

While Jeff Gordon isn't my #1 favorite driver, he is solidly in my top 5 and has been since I started watching NASCAR racing. He is my husband's favorite driver, so I'm happy to cheer for him.

Let me tell ya, I was screaming my fool head off for him to win today at Texas.

Congratulations, Jeff Gordon for breaking your winless streak, and getting that Texas Monkey off your back!

Jeff Gordon winning, Matt getting 5th and Jeff Burton getting 9th... 3 of my top 5 finished in the top 10. Awesome!

My other 2 being Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick, well, I'm guessing they're happy to get knock the dust off their boots from the Texas track. Better luck in the Fall, guys!

Fantastic run by Tony Stewart too. Good to see him do well in his own car. Its only a matter of time until he gets that 14 in to Victory Lane.

On to Phoenix in a couple weeks. They all do well there, and I can't wait to see it!

Just...WOW!!!

Ok, I'm starting this blog by stating that I decided before the beginning of this 2009 NASCAR season by giving ALL drivers a clean slate. All the ones I've been ticked off at, growled at when I've seen their name, hated on... all that we as race fans do regarding other drivers that we develop dislikes for.

That of course gave all drivers an equal opportunity to tick me off anew at the beginning. Ironically the first one to claim that dubious honor is Dale Jr. for that stunt that took out several good cars in the race. Mistake, or deliberate, it still made me wonder "what the HELL was he thinking?"

Now before the Jr. Nation decides to descend on me with pitchforks torches and beer cans, let me tell you that I really don't give a rat's patootie who it was, that move was asinine. It could have been ANYBODY doing that and it would have pissed me off. Even if it was one of my favorites.

However, I bet the penalty would have been a lot more severe if it was performed by anybody but NASCAR's sweetheart. By contrast, Leffler was screwed in Saturday's Nationwide race for doing the same thing and losing 5 laps. I can only imagine the pissing and moaning if Jr. had been slapped with the same penalty.

Again, put the pitchforks and beer cans away. Normally I like Jr. I'm less than fond of the hype behind him.

Looking at it in another context... Jr. deliberately ran into Brad K. coming off pit road after Brad made his asinine move leaving his pit. Are we seeing a more temperamental side to Jr. now?

Wow, vented more on that issue than I meant to, so on to what I originally meant to write about.

Rainout victory or not, I am positively ECSTATIC that Matt Kenseth won the Daytona 500! Or is that Daytona 380? No matter, he was lucky to be in the right place at the right time, and he was good enough to get there to begin with.

During that wreck Jr. caused I saw Matt right behind it and cringed inwardly because he's been taken out by similar incidents. I was very relieved to see him drive out of it undamaged. Seeing him take the lead shortly afterward was very gratifying.

Now granted, I prefer a race to run to its conclusion and not be cut short, but I really can't complain too badly about the results from this. Matt Kenseth wins, and a couple other of my favorites were also in the top 5.

Speaking of my favorites... How about that Clint Bowyer in that bright yellow #33 Cheerios car? New ride, new crew chief, "new" pit crew (over from the NNS series), top 5 finish in their first series race? I hope that is a sign of things to come from this team, because Clint deserves it. I loved the Hamburger Helper commercial. Hate the product, but the ad was funny.

Props to Kevin Harvick. His car was giving him fits earlier, and to get it back up to 2nd... AMAZING work on his and the crew's part.

And I have to give props to AJ Allmendinger for his making it to the top 5.

Felt really bad for Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin. All of the Gibbs drivers, actually since Joey Logano was taken out of the race too. Kyle and Denny were running strong, and running cleanly. Its a shame they were taken out of the race, even if it would have meant a different winner for the race.

Now, I know a question on a lot of people's minds is going to be 'did NASCAR call the race too soon because of the rain?' Maybe. Maybe not. But after that fiasco with Fontana last year, they probably opted to err on the side of caution.

Speaking of Fontana... time to grit our teeth and bear it next weekend. Then again, maybe it will actually be an exciting race weekend this year. Or what was that about flying monkeys?