Examining Chase Possible drivers, Part One

Just an informal examination of the Chase possibilities for Drivers that currently have a shot at the Chase for the Cup.

1. Kyle Busch. He's the media's favorite, and has won 7 races this year for his new owner, Joe Gibbs. Kyle seems to do exactly everything right except when he does everything wrong. He can win a race and still irritate fans, even his own, just by his force of personality that seems to run from none to sarcastic, but no better than that.

2. Dale Earnhardt Jr. He's run under the radar, according to at least one article I've recently read. He's won one race but manages to stay 2nd in points. Dale Jr. is probably feeling more pressure than he has in his entire career, according to the media and the press. According to Dale Jr., he's just having fun.

3. Carl Edwards. He's won 4 races now, and treated us all to his famous back flips. Were he to win the Cup Championship, I'd love to see him do a two and a half gainer off the stage at the Waldorf-Astoria, in a tuxedo.

4. Jimmie Johnson, who won all there was to win last year, except what his teammate, Jeff Gordon won. Jimmie only has 2 wins this year, but Jimmie and Chad Knaus seem to have figured out to race this new car. I just hope Jimmie doesn't go golfing before the end of the season.

5. Jeff Burton. How can you not like Jeff Burton? He's one of the most honest guys in the garage. He's won a lot of races, not really this year, but in his career. Right now he's the top guy at Richard Childress Racing, in number of points. Harvick fans are a little upset about that too.

6. Jeff Gordon. It's almost the middle of August, and Jeff hasn't won a race yet this year. Think about the 'yet' part though. Watkins Glen? He's even money to me to win the race.

7. Kasey Kahne. He's a two time race winner in 2008, but none of the Dodges has seen any real consistency this year. They might win a race, but they might finish 35th or worse at the next race. Are there cup holders in that car for the Budweiser?

More in a day or two.

New Feature here.

Careful readers of this blog maybe sometimes miss some of the links that I post on the left side and at the bottom, so I will add a plug for this blog's latest feature, the Jimmy C Message Board. This board is primarily about Nascar, of course, and it's a place where you can discuss racing. There are also forums for general discussion, where you can talk about just about anything. There is also a Blogging forum, where you can discuss this blog, your own, or anyone else's. We have a Rant and Rave forum, where you may just let it all hang out, within reason of course!

Right now, this is not a board you have to join in order to post. You may register, of course, and that makes posting an easier process. We have also included another special feature, which is our Semi-Private forum. You must be a member of the authorized group not only to post here, but to read it as well. The SP forum is largely by invitation only, so you will need to either know a friend who is already a member there, or you will have to convince the forum moderator that you can can be trusted not to violate forum policies, such as spamming, sexual content, or just plain stupidity such as hatred.

All forums are moderated. Our intention here was to have a safe place where good people can talk about just about anything on their minds. This forum is not driver specific, and you may talk about any driver or team that you wish to. New forums will be added as the desire for them may dictate.

There are many great message boards out there. Some of them are driver specific, but for now ours won't be. All I ask is that we keep this on a relatively PG rated format. Spammers and their messages will be removed. People posting porn or links to porn will be removed. People making personal attacks on other posters will be removed. If you've ever been a member of a driver's message board, you already know the drill. Behave as if your favorite young child were reading everything you write, and you will be fine.

As I have said, you do not need to be a member read or to post, except in our Semi-Private forum. The Racing, General Discussion, Blogging, and Rant and Rave forums are open to all. This is an experiment that we hope to build upon and create a comfortable, safe environment for all who participate.

Come join us, won't you?

Trouble in Paradise?

As anyone knows who's read the blog or seen my posts in various places, I am a Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan. That's not debatable. I will defend Dale Jr. as long as he wants to drive a race car or own a racing team. He's a very likable man, and has a lot of talent. He's his own man, not just Dale's son, but he has a career and business interests all his own.

After the Pocono race on Sunday, Dale Jr. reportedly exited his 88 Amp Energy Drink / National Guard Chevrolet and slammed his helmet to the ground. Frustration is expected from a driver who had a top 5 car all day and finished 12th, coasting over the finish line out of fuel. But it apparently was not the fuel issue that had Nascar's most popular driver upset.

In the closing laps of the race, Dale Jr.'s car kept getting looser, or to the uninformed, the rear wheels did not want to stay attached to the pavement as Earnhardt Jr. negotiated Pocono's 3 tight corners. Dale Jr. complained about that loose condition on his last pit stop, and apparently his crew chief, Tony Eury Jr., made changes that actually loosened the car further, rather than tightened it up. Fuel mileage aside, and having a top 15 finish, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was obviously very frustrated and annoyed.

Dale Jr. and Tony Jr. are cousins. They have been known to fight and bicker, because in truth, they are like brothers. They grew up together. Tony Jr. took over for his father as crew chief for Dale Jr. when his father, Tony Eury Sr. relinquished the top crew job. In 2004, Dale Jr. won a lot of races, but things fell apart between Tony Jr. and Dale. As a result, they finished the season without the much sought championship and were basically not on speaking terms with each other.

2005 brought Dale Jr. new crew chiefs, and not much success on the track. In 2006, it was announced that Dale Jr. and Tony Jr. had patched up their relationship, and Tony Jr. would be on top of the pit box. The two have been together since then, except for brief stints where Tony Gibson, currently the crew chief for Dale Jr.'s old ride, the 8 Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet.

In 2008, Dale Jr. left the company that his father had built to allow his children to have a place to race. In his move to Rick Hendrick Motorsports, he insisted that Tony Eury Jr. be his crew chief for 2008. After winning the Budweiser Shootout, and a Daytona qualifying race, Dale Jr. has run a rather consistent season, finally winning a points race at Michigan, just barely.

Over the last couple of weeks, at both Indianapolis and Pocono, Dale Jr. has not been very happy with all of his crew chief's decisions. At Pocono, Dale Jr. was noticibly upset. Is this the beginning of another split with Tony Jr.? We all certainly hope not, but one has to wonder.

Darien Grubb, who has filled in as crew chief for other teams at Hendrick Motorports, is in his own right a race winning crew chief. He spends a lot of time on the 88 pit box during the races. What he and Tony Eury Jr. talk about during the races is not known, or even if they talk at all. One would assume that Darien has some input, but at exactly what level, I don't know.

I guess what I'm getting at is the age old question for every Dale Jr. fan. Do the cousins work well together, really? Is the crew chief getting the wrong clues from the driver? Is the driver not giving good feedback to the crew chief? Should Jr. decide that family loyalty just isn't enough, and work toward winning races and championships at all costs, regardless of who's calling the shots on top of the pit box? I don't know the answers at all.

My hopes are that Rick Hendrick listened to Dale Jr. on the radio the last couple of weeks. I hope that this week, before heading to Watkins Glen, Rick will sit down with Dale Jr. and Tony Jr. and talk out what they need to do to inprove the perfomance of the team. The 88 car is currently 2nd in points, and though that's a great thing, they will have to be nearly perfect for the final races of the season, during the Chase for the Cup, to have even a chance of winning the championship. The main thing is that the driver and the crew chief have GOT to be on the same page during the race. The crew chief needs to get good information from the driver, and the driver has to be able to trust his crew chief.

I'm not sure that Dale Jr. and Tony Jr. are at that level yet, at least on trust. I hope they will be able to make it so for the remaining races this season.

If you need a new home on the Internet

Make it here. The New Jeff Gordon Pit Board is a great place to be. You don't necessarily have to be a fan of the guy that's won 80 something races and 4 championships, but If you want to meet nice people who love Nascar, this is the place to be. Heck, I'm a fan of the 88, but I'm a member of the Jeff Gordon board, because I've met some great people there. The person that started it just wanted a nice place for people to meet and talk. We meet there and talk.

There are a lot of boards devoted to a lot of different things on the Net. If you like to talk about Nascar, go check out the Jeff Gordon Pit board. You'll have fun there, even if you're not the greatest Jeff Gordon fan in the universe.

In other news, my cable TV is not operational right now. I just chatted with a customer service rep, and she told me there had been massive storm damage in my area this past weekend. That's funny, because I did not see a drop of rain here. I did not hear any thunder, or see anything like lightening in the sky. Things that make you want to say "huh."

Here's some stats on the drivers after Pocono. Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch have not won every race this season, contrary to what you might see on TV. Kasey Kahne has won a race. So has Kurt Busch. So has Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jimmie Johnson's won two, Ryan Newman won the Daytona 500, and yet he's leaving the 12 after this year. Denny Hamlin has won a race. So has Jeff Burton. It's just Nascar, and things happen.

Next week we go to the road course at Watkins Glen, and we once again test the drivers on their ability to turn right as well as left. Jeff Gordon is tied with Tony Stewart with 4 wins each at this track. Everyone says Tony is due to win a race, but I really think that Jeff is due this time. Hendrick horsepower and Jeff's skills as a road racer make him my current favorite this week.

I guess we'll just have to see though. I used to hate road course races, but now I look forward to them. We get to see our drivers shine on tracks they don't run most of the time. Jeff Gordon is a true racer, and he can win on virtually any track.

R.I.P, Skip Caray

I know this is a departure from the normal Nascar stuff, but I read today with great sadness that longtime announcer for the Atlanta Braves, Skip Carey died in his sleep yesterday at age 68.

Since I was a child, I've loved to listen to baseball games on the radio. Baseball does, or at least used to have the perfect pace for radio. Skip Caray was always one of those announcers that made you feel like you were at the park, watching the game.

Skip certainly had the pedigree for being a great baseball announcer. His father, Harry, was one of the most famous baseball announcers of all time, having served as the voice of the Chicago Cubs for many years. I used to listen to Harry when I was a kid, and that's probably why I proudly wear, among others, a Cubs hat to this day.

Skip is survived by his wife and 4 children, two of whom are also professional broadcasters. Son Chip is an announcer for the Braves for TBS. Son Josh calls games for the Class A Rome Braves.

I will always remember Skip Caray's humor and his ability to make even a boring game interesting. Many times, I think we as sports fans just never appreciate the people who bring us the events until they are gone. Fans of the great Jack Buck probably know what I'm talking about. I'm still a huge fan of his son Joe though. Growing up in the Upstate area of South Carolina, I listened to long time announcer Jim Phillips call the Clemson football games on the radio. I had the pleasure of meeting Jim several years ago, when I was doing some work on the campus at Clemson University. Jim didn't know me from Adam, but he was very gracious and chatted with me for a few minutes. When he died suddenly a few years ago, I was very saddened, because for me, listening to a football game on the radio would never be the same again.

I feel much the same way about the Braves games now. I'll still watch and listen, and Pete Van Wieren and Joe Simpson have always done a great job. But it's just never going to be quite the same without Skip.

Was there a secret memo from Nascar?

Due to prior commitments, I did not get to watch much of Sunday's race at Pocono on TV, but I did get to hear roughly one third of the actual race coverage on Motor Racing Network, Nascar's "Voice of Nascar" radio program. I like MRN and all the crew. They provide the next best thing to actually watching a race, and MRN's coverage has always been top notch.

But I've got a question to ask. I don't remember the particular details, but on two different occasions, I heard of a driver making contact with the wall or with another driver's car, and having to come to pit road to change tires. The MRN guys were stepping all over themselves to make it very clear that the tire damage was caused by a fender rub, or contact with the wall, and most definitely NOT because Goodyear had provided an inferior product, which to many seemed to be the case at last week's Indianapolis race.

I am not sure of the exact details of MRN's relationship with Nascar. MRN is not the only service which provides radio coverage of Nascar events. Performance Racing Network also covers a handful of races for Nascar. I assume that Nascar licenses the radio broadcasting rights to both networks, and as such, probably have a clause in their respective contracts that Nascar is indeed the star of the show, as is Nascar's right, it would seem.

The broadcasters seemed to go overboard about the tire deal though. Though obviously I wasn't at the track or in the broadcast booth, I had images in my mind of sheets of paper posted within view of everyone who had a microphone that read, in very large print: REMEMBER! IF ANYONE HAS TIRE PROBLEMS TODAY, IT'S NOT GOODYEAR'S OR NASCAR'S FAULT!"

I have no way of knowing for sure whether this was the case or not, but I had to laugh out loud when several of the broadcasters, including the anchor, turn reporter and pit reporter all repeated the same thing: "The tire had problems because of damage from the wall or from a collision with another car. It was not because the tire was a bad tire."

I know that many people, including myself, have been critical of the way Nascar and Goodyear basically screwed up the second biggest race of the year at Indianapolis. I wasn't then, nor am I now willing to condemn both entities as being washed up though. Even multi billion dollar corporations make mistakes now and then, and Indianapolis was an embarrassment for both companies, without a doubt. But one has to wonder about what was said prior to the race at Pocono, and who said it, and what penalties would be levied if the instructions weren't carried out to the letter. All I know is that the MRN reporters literally took turns making sure that neither Nascar nor Goodyear were to blame for any tire problems in yesterday's race.

I'm sure that the problems that occurred at Indy will be ironed out before next year's race. I imagine there will be adequate testing there before next July. This year, only 3 drivers tested there for Goodyear, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. was one of them. Dale Jr. said that tires were wearing out after 5 laps, and he thought at the time that well, heck, this is just a test, Goodyear will fix this before we actually race here. It appears that Goodyear knew that they had a problem with the Indy tire well before the actual race, but apparently took no measures to fix the problem. Why that was allowed to happen, I have no idea, but I doubt that it will happen, at least at Indianapolis, ever again.

A lot of people have put blame for the tire problems on the new car, or what used to be referred to as the Car of Tomorow. It's heavier, has a higher center of gravity, and puts much more weight on the right side of the car in the corners than did the old car. Nascar has decreed that the new car is here to stay, and I imagine this has created nightmares for Goodyear's research and development people trying to make racing tires that will work with the new car.

What I see as a possible solution for this is that Nascar and Goodyear work in conjunction more on tire testing. Goodyear hires it's own test drivers, and Nascar, through the actual racing teams, provides a test car from every manufacturer for Goodyear's use. Goodyear, with their dedicated team of test drivers, will test on every track at which Nascar runs races. They test 180 days a year, if necessary. Goodyear will be able to try what they think will be their best tire, and if that tire doesn't work, they make a new one and test them again. The actual racing teams will be allowed to test as well, as they have in the past, with whatever Goodyear determines to be the tire they will use for the actual race.

Will this cost more money? Of course it will. But in the long run, Nascar and Goodyear should reap the rewards of putting on better races than the debacle which was the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.

The Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 from Pocono: It's Anybody's Race.

With NASCAR's longest stretch and NASCAR's tightest corners, at least from an oval-track point of view, Pocono gives it all for your enjoyment!

This is the second time our NASCAR friends visit Pocono this season. It's one of the tracks closest to the world's biggest market, New York City. It's also a very unique track. There are only three corners instead of the traditional four. Yes, it's a triangle. It's somewhat superspeedway and somewhat road course.

Of the current drivers, Bill Elliot has won here more than anyone, with a total of five wins. Jeff Gordon has won here four times, and Dale Jarrett and Bobby Labonte have both won at Pocono three times.

Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Jeremy Mayfield, Terry Labonte, Kurt Busch, and Kasey Kahne have each won twice.

Pocono is one of those tracks that makes purists ask one question, "Why do we run here twice?"

The answer is simple.

Besides Watkins Glen, Pocono is the closest track to New York City, the country's largest market. Pocono has two race dates until someone gets stupid and lets NASCAR build a track on Staten Island.

Not that a New York City connection would be bad. I say build a short track, out in the hinterlands of New Jersey, and make it as close to Bristol as they can make it. High banked turns, maybe one-half or three-fourths miles in length.

Put a roof over it, just to make sure all the racing that is advertised will happen. It can be done. Put in about 250,000 seats, and make it the world's largest rain free arena. It could be done.

I like Pocono and I hate it at the same time. I like it because it's a challenge to the best stock-car drivers in the world, but I hate it because I've seen some good drivers in bad accidents on this track.

I just pray that we don't see any bad accidents this week.