Congratulations to Ron Hornaday, who already knew he was the 2009 Camping World Trucks Series champion coming into Friday's race at Miami. Congratulations are in order as well to Kyle Busch, who will win the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship just by virtue of starting today's race.
It would appear that Jimmie Johnson will be crowned with his fourth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championship on Sunday, and it appears that unless he has the most horrible of races, Johnson will make history by becoming the first driver to every win four Cups in a row.
It's impossible to say that Johnson is a lock for the championship, because, as he well remembers from his third lap crash at Texas, anything can happen before the checkered flag falls on NASCAR's 2009 season.
Jimmie Johnson has succeeded in performing one important duty this weekend: He has won the pole for Sunday's Ford 400 at Miami-Homestead Speedway. Starting at the front of the pack was one of crew chief Chad Knaus' main concerns going into the last race of the season. It's a lot more difficult to get caught up in someone else's accident if you're way out in front of everyone else.
Mark Martin must be thinking that yet another chance for that elusive championship is slipping away, and he can only hope for the very worst luck for his teammate Jimmie Johnson. I doubt that Mark is doing that, but somewhere, deep down, he must be thinking it. Mark has come so close before, yet has never grabbed the Cup.
Sunday's race will be the last NASCAR race of the season, and before the end of the day, a new Sprint Cup champion will be crowned.
If that champion's name isn't Jimmie Johnson, the entire racing world, including this fan, will be shocked.
Shocked, I tell you!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
The End of the Season for Some and a New Beginning for Others
The 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup racing season is nearly over, and for me, it seems like the year has flown by. With only one race to go, it appears that Jimmie Johnson will most likely win his fourth consecutive Sprint Cup, and make history in the process.
For many fans, this is somewhat of a sad time, a time to reflect back on what could have been, what maybe should have been, and to know that we won't see the cars back on the track until February, 2010.
For many, this can be an exciting time though. The end of the 2009 season marks the beginning of one of the most frantic times for the teams; the off season.
Much of the usual silly season silliness has shaken itself out, with a few drivers going to new teams for the 2010 season. Now is the time for drivers and crew chiefs to begin to feel each other out, to get to know each other. For many owners, now is a time for finding a new sponsor for next year's races, hopefully a sponsor that will keep the team running the entire year.
For many fans, now is the time to begin to dare hope that 2010 will be a better year for our favorite drivers than 2009 was. I know, because I speak from experience as a Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan.
Dale Jr. was not the only driver that seemed to have only one kind of luck in 2009, which of course was 'bad.' Fans of Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, Kyle Busch and many others understand that 2009 just wasn't the greatest of years for certain drivers. Jeff Gordon fans must be wondering if indeed Jeff will ever win that 'Drive For Five' that has eluded him thus far.
There are teams that won't win the Cup in 2009 that I am impressed with, however. The 14 and 39 cars of Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman come to mind. Basically, this team was completely overhauled in the last off season, and both teams have performed superbly in 2009. The 47 car of Marcos Ambrose was another pleasant surprise this year. Bobby Labonte, who just announced that he would be driving the underfunded 71 car next year, pulled off some amazing qualifying efforts and finishes in that car this year.
From now until that last few minutes before the drop of the green flag at Daytona in February, this so called off season will be one of the busiest of the year for many NASCAR teams.
For many fans, this is somewhat of a sad time, a time to reflect back on what could have been, what maybe should have been, and to know that we won't see the cars back on the track until February, 2010.
For many, this can be an exciting time though. The end of the 2009 season marks the beginning of one of the most frantic times for the teams; the off season.
Much of the usual silly season silliness has shaken itself out, with a few drivers going to new teams for the 2010 season. Now is the time for drivers and crew chiefs to begin to feel each other out, to get to know each other. For many owners, now is a time for finding a new sponsor for next year's races, hopefully a sponsor that will keep the team running the entire year.
For many fans, now is the time to begin to dare hope that 2010 will be a better year for our favorite drivers than 2009 was. I know, because I speak from experience as a Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan.
Dale Jr. was not the only driver that seemed to have only one kind of luck in 2009, which of course was 'bad.' Fans of Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, Kyle Busch and many others understand that 2009 just wasn't the greatest of years for certain drivers. Jeff Gordon fans must be wondering if indeed Jeff will ever win that 'Drive For Five' that has eluded him thus far.
There are teams that won't win the Cup in 2009 that I am impressed with, however. The 14 and 39 cars of Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman come to mind. Basically, this team was completely overhauled in the last off season, and both teams have performed superbly in 2009. The 47 car of Marcos Ambrose was another pleasant surprise this year. Bobby Labonte, who just announced that he would be driving the underfunded 71 car next year, pulled off some amazing qualifying efforts and finishes in that car this year.
From now until that last few minutes before the drop of the green flag at Daytona in February, this so called off season will be one of the busiest of the year for many NASCAR teams.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Johnson On The Verge Of Making History
With only one race left to go in the NASCAR Sprint Cup season, it appears that Jimmie Johnson all but has a lock on an unprecedented fourth consecutive championship. Love him or hate him, Jimmie Johnson is the real deal. He's a great race car driver, with a lot of talent, and he's fortunate to be driving for probably the best crew chief in NASCAR.
Would the 48 Lowes Chevy team won even one championship without Chad Knaus calling the shots from on top of the pit box? It's hard to say, and we'll never know, obviously, but I would find it hard to believe that Jimmie could have achieved so much success without the brainiest crew cheif in the sport calling the shots.
Obviously, it doesn't hurt having a team owner like Rick Hendrick providing excellent equipment and personnel for the team either. Jimmie could have been driving for a third tier team for his Cup career, and it's possible that no one would be talking about him right now.
With only one race to go, it appears that Jimmie has this Cup in the bag, but don't forget what happened to him at Texas. He's not, and neither should you. Anything can happen in this sport, and it won't be over until the checkered flag waves at Homestead on Sunday.
Would the 48 Lowes Chevy team won even one championship without Chad Knaus calling the shots from on top of the pit box? It's hard to say, and we'll never know, obviously, but I would find it hard to believe that Jimmie could have achieved so much success without the brainiest crew cheif in the sport calling the shots.
Obviously, it doesn't hurt having a team owner like Rick Hendrick providing excellent equipment and personnel for the team either. Jimmie could have been driving for a third tier team for his Cup career, and it's possible that no one would be talking about him right now.
With only one race to go, it appears that Jimmie has this Cup in the bag, but don't forget what happened to him at Texas. He's not, and neither should you. Anything can happen in this sport, and it won't be over until the checkered flag waves at Homestead on Sunday.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Fans, Drivers Frustrated. Is This Talladega?
Following NASCAR's announcement that there would be no bump drafting allowed in the corners on Sunday, virtually all of the drivers had to change their strategy, and a lot of fans weren't very happy about it.
Several drivers opted to drop to the back of the field for most of the race, running at only half throttle for many of the 500 miles which made up the AMP Energy 500. There's nothing new about drivers being conservative in the early stages of long races, but many of the fan's favorites never made a move to reach the front of the pack until less than 20 laps to go in Sunday's race.
Points leader Jimmie Johnson ran most of the day in 30th place or so, but managed to survive the late race crashes and finish 6th. Johnson's decent finish practically guaranteed his fourth Cup championship.
For much of the race, the majority of the drivers were content to play follow the leader, apparently not wishing to take a chance on incurring NASCAR's wrath by touching another car at any point on the track other than the straights. The racing predictably began to get interesting in the closing laps, which resulted in two rather spectacular crashes that left Ryan Newman upside down in the infield, and Mark Martin also turning turtle briefly during the resulting green-white-checker finish.
Newman's car was spun across the track, colliding with several cars, including Kevin Harvick's car. The 39 Chevy of Newman then turned backwards, and went airborne, landing upside down on the hood of Harvick's 29 Chevy. As Newman spun into the infield on his lid, he nearly collided with Harvick's car a third time. Harvick, who led several laps earlier in the race, must have felt like his yellow and red Chevy had a bull's eye painted on it.
I've had a theory about the so-called new car, which used to be known as the car of tomorrow. My theory has been shared by other fans and various media types alike, as well as, I'm sure, more than a few drivers. On a race track where speeds of 190 plus miles per hours are the norm, that huge wing on the back does exactly what it's designed to do, when the car is moving in a forward direction, which is provide down force to keep the car on the track.
When the car is moving rapidly in a backwards direction however, the wing acts just like the wing on an airplane, creating lift, and resulting in the spectacular airborne flight that Ryan Newman took on Sunday. Obviously, it appears that the new car is not the perfect solution for keeping not only the drivers safe, but ensuring the safety of the fans as well..
Fans get injured when cars fly up into the air, landing in the catch fence, or in what would be an absolutely horrible scenario, flying over the catch fence.
Fortunately, Newman's car went airborne on the low side of the track, not up against the outside wall, as did Carl Edward's car in the April race at Talladega. Had Edward's car not caught air under it's wing in April, that brave young lady we saw on Sunday's pre-race show would likely not have suffered injury. If nothing else, I would ask that NASCAR reexamine the safety aspects of the wings on the rear of the cars.
As regular readers of this site know, my race day routine involves not only watching the race itself, but following several message boards, and lately, of course, following Twitter closely. The fan comments I have been reading since Sunday's race have been rather predictable. I don't think any race fan wants to see cars simply stay in line and follow the leader for the majority of any race, especially Talladega. "Boring" was a race used by many fans on Sunday.
Unfortunately, quite a few of the drivers expressed their feelings of boredom as well, and several drivers quite frankly apologized for putting on a boring race, at least for the most part. The crashes, though spectacular, were unfortunate, especially when the entire NASCAR world is watching the rescue workers first have to lift Ryan Newman's race car back onto it's wheels, and then cut the roof off the car to extract him. Fortunately, none of the drivers were seriously injured in Sunday's race, though I imagine that Newman will be feeling rather stiff and sore for the next several days.
Talladega has been the site of some of NASCAR's greatest racing in the past. I hope we see it there again soon.
Several drivers opted to drop to the back of the field for most of the race, running at only half throttle for many of the 500 miles which made up the AMP Energy 500. There's nothing new about drivers being conservative in the early stages of long races, but many of the fan's favorites never made a move to reach the front of the pack until less than 20 laps to go in Sunday's race.
Points leader Jimmie Johnson ran most of the day in 30th place or so, but managed to survive the late race crashes and finish 6th. Johnson's decent finish practically guaranteed his fourth Cup championship.
For much of the race, the majority of the drivers were content to play follow the leader, apparently not wishing to take a chance on incurring NASCAR's wrath by touching another car at any point on the track other than the straights. The racing predictably began to get interesting in the closing laps, which resulted in two rather spectacular crashes that left Ryan Newman upside down in the infield, and Mark Martin also turning turtle briefly during the resulting green-white-checker finish.
Newman's car was spun across the track, colliding with several cars, including Kevin Harvick's car. The 39 Chevy of Newman then turned backwards, and went airborne, landing upside down on the hood of Harvick's 29 Chevy. As Newman spun into the infield on his lid, he nearly collided with Harvick's car a third time. Harvick, who led several laps earlier in the race, must have felt like his yellow and red Chevy had a bull's eye painted on it.
I've had a theory about the so-called new car, which used to be known as the car of tomorrow. My theory has been shared by other fans and various media types alike, as well as, I'm sure, more than a few drivers. On a race track where speeds of 190 plus miles per hours are the norm, that huge wing on the back does exactly what it's designed to do, when the car is moving in a forward direction, which is provide down force to keep the car on the track.
When the car is moving rapidly in a backwards direction however, the wing acts just like the wing on an airplane, creating lift, and resulting in the spectacular airborne flight that Ryan Newman took on Sunday. Obviously, it appears that the new car is not the perfect solution for keeping not only the drivers safe, but ensuring the safety of the fans as well..
Fans get injured when cars fly up into the air, landing in the catch fence, or in what would be an absolutely horrible scenario, flying over the catch fence.
Fortunately, Newman's car went airborne on the low side of the track, not up against the outside wall, as did Carl Edward's car in the April race at Talladega. Had Edward's car not caught air under it's wing in April, that brave young lady we saw on Sunday's pre-race show would likely not have suffered injury. If nothing else, I would ask that NASCAR reexamine the safety aspects of the wings on the rear of the cars.
As regular readers of this site know, my race day routine involves not only watching the race itself, but following several message boards, and lately, of course, following Twitter closely. The fan comments I have been reading since Sunday's race have been rather predictable. I don't think any race fan wants to see cars simply stay in line and follow the leader for the majority of any race, especially Talladega. "Boring" was a race used by many fans on Sunday.
Unfortunately, quite a few of the drivers expressed their feelings of boredom as well, and several drivers quite frankly apologized for putting on a boring race, at least for the most part. The crashes, though spectacular, were unfortunate, especially when the entire NASCAR world is watching the rescue workers first have to lift Ryan Newman's race car back onto it's wheels, and then cut the roof off the car to extract him. Fortunately, none of the drivers were seriously injured in Sunday's race, though I imagine that Newman will be feeling rather stiff and sore for the next several days.
Talladega has been the site of some of NASCAR's greatest racing in the past. I hope we see it there again soon.
Monday, October 26, 2009
After Martinsville - Old Points Vs. Chase Points
Congratulations to Denny Hamlin for his win at Martinsville. Winning in his home state of Virginia must have been about as fun as it gets for not only Hamlin, but his entire family as well.
Jimmie Johnson, with a second place finish at Martinsville widened his points lead over second place Mark Martin to 118 points. Jeff Gordon remains in third place, 150 points behind Johnson.
Tony Stewart, in fourth place, is 192 points out, and Juan Pablo Montoya is an even 200 points out of first place.
As close as the Chase is supposed to keep the competition, it would appear that Jimmie Johnson is running away with the points with four races to go in the season.
Let's examine how the points would stack up under the old points system. Tony Stewart would still be in first place, with an 80 point lead over second place Jimmie Johnson. It would seem that Johnson's late season surge, which has worked so well in the Chase, would still see him playing catch up under the old points rules.
Under the old points system, Jeff Gordon would still find himself in third place, though only 117 points out of first place, rather than the 150 point deficit he currently finds himself in. In other words, Gordon would still be a long shot to win his 5th championship with only 4 races to go, but he'd have a better chance than he does now.
Fourth and fifth places would be held by Mark Martin and Denny Hamlin, but they would have virtually no chance whatsoever of a championship at this point, being both well over 400 points out of first place.
Tony Stewart has accepted that the Chase is the law of the land, but one has to wonder how he feels now, knowing that he would have an advantage at this point in the season, were NASCAR still using the old points system.
As for Jimmie Johnson, he's doing exactly what he needs to do to assure himself of his fourth consecutive championship. Late season charges do make a huge difference under the Chase system.
Jimmie Johnson, with a second place finish at Martinsville widened his points lead over second place Mark Martin to 118 points. Jeff Gordon remains in third place, 150 points behind Johnson.
Tony Stewart, in fourth place, is 192 points out, and Juan Pablo Montoya is an even 200 points out of first place.
As close as the Chase is supposed to keep the competition, it would appear that Jimmie Johnson is running away with the points with four races to go in the season.
Let's examine how the points would stack up under the old points system. Tony Stewart would still be in first place, with an 80 point lead over second place Jimmie Johnson. It would seem that Johnson's late season surge, which has worked so well in the Chase, would still see him playing catch up under the old points rules.
Under the old points system, Jeff Gordon would still find himself in third place, though only 117 points out of first place, rather than the 150 point deficit he currently finds himself in. In other words, Gordon would still be a long shot to win his 5th championship with only 4 races to go, but he'd have a better chance than he does now.
Fourth and fifth places would be held by Mark Martin and Denny Hamlin, but they would have virtually no chance whatsoever of a championship at this point, being both well over 400 points out of first place.
Tony Stewart has accepted that the Chase is the law of the land, but one has to wonder how he feels now, knowing that he would have an advantage at this point in the season, were NASCAR still using the old points system.
As for Jimmie Johnson, he's doing exactly what he needs to do to assure himself of his fourth consecutive championship. Late season charges do make a huge difference under the Chase system.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Some Random Thought, and Thank You, Part 2
It was a pretty exciting day for racing, with Timothy Peters winning his very first NASCAR Camping World Truck series win at Martinsville today, and with Brad Keselowski beating and banging his way to a victory at Memphis.
Unfortunately, because the Truck race got off to a late start due to rain this morning in the Martinsville area, the races overlapped a bit. I nearly wore out my clicker flipping back and forth, but managed to see nearly all the action in both races, all the while keeping an eye on the Clemson/Miami football game. (Way to go, Tigers!)
I also wanted to share some stats with you, the kind readers who visit this site. I just pulled some data from my stat counter site, and tabulated some interesting data.
Of the last 500 visitors to the site, the state with the most visitors is the great state of North Carolina, which I suppose isn't surprising, since most of the NASCAR world is centered in that state.
Here's the top 15 locations of visitors to this site over the last few days. Note, some of these aren't US states, you might be surprised to know.
1. North Carolina
2. California
3. New York
4. Ontario (Yeah, that Ontario, as in Ontario, Canada
5. Ohio
6. Pennsylvania
7. Georgia
8. Michigan
9. (tie) New Jersey, Texas
10. (tie) Florida, Connecticut
11. (tie) Virginia, Illinois, South Carolina, Tennessee
12. Washington
13. (tie) Indiana, Maryland, Missouri
14. (tie) Victoria, Australia; Minnesota, British Columbia, Canada
15. (tie) Washington DC, Kansas, Louisiana, England
My sincere thanks to all of you who made the top 15, and to all of you who didn't! Here are some other interesting places readers were when they visited this site:
Prince Edward Island
Saskatchewan
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Nova Scotia
Ostfold, Norway
Zurich, Switzerland
Rajasthan, India
Alberta
Quebec
Catalonia, Spain
Magnisia, Greece
Oslo, Norway
Thanks for all of your visits, and I hope you'll keep coming back!
Unfortunately, because the Truck race got off to a late start due to rain this morning in the Martinsville area, the races overlapped a bit. I nearly wore out my clicker flipping back and forth, but managed to see nearly all the action in both races, all the while keeping an eye on the Clemson/Miami football game. (Way to go, Tigers!)
I also wanted to share some stats with you, the kind readers who visit this site. I just pulled some data from my stat counter site, and tabulated some interesting data.
Of the last 500 visitors to the site, the state with the most visitors is the great state of North Carolina, which I suppose isn't surprising, since most of the NASCAR world is centered in that state.
Here's the top 15 locations of visitors to this site over the last few days. Note, some of these aren't US states, you might be surprised to know.
1. North Carolina
2. California
3. New York
4. Ontario (Yeah, that Ontario, as in Ontario, Canada
5. Ohio
6. Pennsylvania
7. Georgia
8. Michigan
9. (tie) New Jersey, Texas
10. (tie) Florida, Connecticut
11. (tie) Virginia, Illinois, South Carolina, Tennessee
12. Washington
13. (tie) Indiana, Maryland, Missouri
14. (tie) Victoria, Australia; Minnesota, British Columbia, Canada
15. (tie) Washington DC, Kansas, Louisiana, England
My sincere thanks to all of you who made the top 15, and to all of you who didn't! Here are some other interesting places readers were when they visited this site:
Prince Edward Island
Saskatchewan
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Nova Scotia
Ostfold, Norway
Zurich, Switzerland
Rajasthan, India
Alberta
Quebec
Catalonia, Spain
Magnisia, Greece
Oslo, Norway
Thanks for all of your visits, and I hope you'll keep coming back!
Friday, October 23, 2009
The Junior Nation Gets Fired Up
Last Friday at Concord, NC, Dale Jr. answered some questions put to him by the media, and quite frankly, I don't think I've ever heard or seen Dale Earnhardt Jr. sound so down in the dumps.
Dale talked about his season, and the lack of success that the 88 team has had so far. He also mentioned that his current crew chief, Lance McGrew, is not necessarily going to be Junior's crew chief next year.
Much of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s greatest successes have come when Tony Eury Sr. was on top of the pit box, back on the 8 team at Dale Earnhardt Inc. Since then, Dale Jr. has mostly had his cousin, Tony Eury Jr. as his crew chief, and the results have been far from stellar.
Long time Dale Jr. fans know that he worries when he's not performing well, not just because of his sponsors, but because of his fans. That's certainly true of other drivers as well, but probably no driver worries about making his fans happy more than Dale Jr.
When his father died in February of 2001, Dale Jr. wondered if he even would have a job for the rest of the season, and if the success he had enjoyed so far would go away because his father was no longer there to help him. Junior worried about sponsors leaving, honestly thinking that the only reason he had Budweiser and other sponsors was because of who is father was, not Junior himself.
In my opinion, Dale Jr. has more than proven that he is a race car driver in his own right. Most his his 18 Cup victories came after his father's death, including his 2004 Daytona 500 win. There are quite a few drivers currently driving in the Cup series who would love to have 18 wins.
The naysayers have been out in force as of late as well. I've read plenty of comments such as "Maybe Junior should realize he just has no talent," and my favorite, "Dale Jr. is an inarticulate backwoods hillbilly." I just love comments like those.
Richard Childress, the owner of the 3 Chevrolet for so many years, has supported Junior during this time of not-so-much fun. RC has basically said that he still feels that Dale Jr.'s best days are still ahead of him as a driver. I agree with Mr. Childress, who's having problems of his own at RCR. Not one of his four cars is in the Chase this year, and it's rumored that Kevin Harvick, who replaced Dale Earnhardt in 2001, will be leaving after the 2010 season.
Dale Jr.'s car owner, Rick Hendrick, has addressed Junior's performance problems, and likely is working hard on trying to provide a solution for the 88 team. Dale Jr.'s fans have spoken out as well, rallying in support of their favorite driver.
In a petition to Hendrick Motorsports, some Junior Nation fans have asked:
We have suspected for quite some time now that there is a problem somewhere within the 88 team, either in the shop or at the track. The statements released today from Tony Gibson have proven that our gut feelings were accurate. The fans would like this to be taken care of immediately! We the fans thought our equipment would be first class at Hendrick Motorsports. Please act now.Junior nation
Thank you,
If you'd like to check out and even sign the petition, click Here.
It's good to see a driver's fans get fired up to actually go through the trouble of setting up something like this petition, and it's refreshing to know that the Junior Nation is trying to do their part to get Dale Earnhardt Jr. back in victory lane again.
photo credit: Geoff Burke/Getty Images
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