Who to Thank….

I’m not sure which driver to thank David Reutimann or Sam Hornish maybe I should thank both. Thanks to them the Chase is back on. It was just a miracle that Jimmy Johnson wrecks on LAP 3  and it took his team over a hundred laps to get the car back on the track. The #48 team rebuilt the front and back half of the car in under an hour and a half a tremendous amount of work. But because of that crash we still have a contest Mark and Jeff have a chance. This weeks Phoenix race is going to be a nail biter for the #5 and #24 teams because Jimmy historically runs well at Phoenix but as we watched last weekend anything can happen. But again thanks to David and Sam we still don’t know who the Champ is going to be.

Take a Guess…..

Who do you think will be in EGR’s #1 Bass Pro Shops Chevy next season ? The seat of #1 Chevy that’s been piloted by Martin Truex jr. for the past 7 or 8 years is up for grabs and an announcement could be coming this week on who will replace Truex.  A few names have circulated the garage area the past few months and the conversation always end with Jamie McMurray getting the nod, which coincidently is where McMurray started his Cup career subbing for the injured Sterling Marlin.

My personal opinion is it won’t be Mac daddy(Jamie McMurray) in the drivers seat, I hope I don’t ruin his chances because I’m always wrong but I think Bobby Labonte will be the pilot of the EGR #1 Chevy. He seems like a better fit past champion, team leader, huge fan base, and a bit of an outdoorsmen which is something Bass Pro Shops wants. That might be the key because Bass Pro contract ends at the end of the 2010 and they have an eye on sponsoring #39 Ryan Newman who is an outdoorsmen and would be a great fit for Bass Pro unlike McMurray who is not an outdoorsmen, so if EGR does go with McMurray then it pretty much sends Bass Pro to the #39 if EGR goes with Labonte they have a chance of re-signing Bass Pro at the end of 2010. Really it all depends on how confident EGR is about sponsorship in 2011, Bass Pro has only purchased 23 races in 2010 so EGR will have to find a Primary sponsor for the #1 for the remaining 13 races, they have a slew of associate sponsors maybe they can convert one of them to the primary spot.

DAM !!!!!

UNOFFICIAL Sprint Cup CHASE Standings
[after Talladega, Chase race 7 of 10; Season race 33 of 36]:
pos, car#, driver, points, behind, [wins]

1) #48-Jimmie Johnson [6 wins], 6248,
2) #5-Mark Martin [5 wins], 6064, -184
3) #24-Jeff Gordon [1 win], 6056, -192
4) #42-Juan Montoya, 6009, -239
5) #14-Tony Stewart [4 wins], 5969, -279
6) #2-Kurt Busch [1 win], 5936, -312
7) #16-Greg Biffle, 5908, -340
8} #39-Ryan Newman, 5846, -402
9) #9-Kasey Kahne [2 wins], 5834, -414
10) #99-Carl Edwards, 5811, -437
11) #11-Denny Hamlin [3 wins], 5800, -448
12) #83-Brian Vickers [1 win], 5692, –556

It looks like Johnson’s going to get his 4th Sprint Cup Championship, it’ s not a lock yet but it’s gone from drivers needing to consistently perform well to beat him to Johnson has to have some bad luck. If Johnson has a DNF and Martin wins then there’s a chance Martin could win the Championship but it would be a slim chance because let’s say Johnson does have a DNF the #48 team usually rebounds well and he’ll probably win the next one. Johnson needs a DNF then a 20th place finish followed up by a 15th place finish while Martin posts top 5 in the next three events. But back to reality because one thing that won’t happen is for Johnson to run poorly in the last 3 races. Just not gonna happen.

This is from Jayskis

If #5-Martin wins the final three Sprint Cup races [Texas, Phoenix & Homestead] and leads the most laps, he would score 585 points [195x3] for a total of 6649 points. #48-Johnson has 6248, so Johnson needs to score 402 points in the final three race, IF Martin were to win all three. Which is an average of 134 points a race for the three remaining races. Finishing 10th is 134 points. So Johnson needs to finish 10th or better in the three remaining races [or total 402 points], and nothing Martin or any other driver can do to overtake Johnson.

The Right Call…..

At the end of this past weekends Sprint Cup with 1 lap to go #34 John Andretti wreck causing his car to end up against the inside wall at the start finish line when John tried to move the car he only moved about 8 feet towards the racing line and couldn’t move any further, so NASCAR to preserve competition during these Chase races didn’t throw the cautions until the winner Deny Hamlin crossed the finished line which at that time the majority of the drivers were just coming out of turn 4. Although John was a sitting duck out there he does agree with NASCAR’s call as does most of the other drivers. Really the only ones that are complaining are the ones that would have complained had NASCAR thrown the caution.

It’s my opinion NASCAR did make the right call, it’s really simple drivers have spotters to let them know what’s happening on the track ahead of them, NASCAR knew John wasn’t injured. These are Chase races there aren’t any do over, there isn’t  any “we’ll get’em next week” this is it. I’m not saying throw caution to the wind but for the sake of the Championship NASCAR must try and let the race be decided by the drivers. Had this been earlier in the race or a non-chase race then I believe NASCAR would have thrown the caution. I think NASCAR used common sense and good judgment, the biggest problem I see is in February when we get to Daytona the same situation will happen except this time NASCAR will throw the caution and people will be bringing up Martinsville not understanding that there is a huge difference between Race #1 and Race #31.

I’m the first one to cry foul when NASCAR gets it wrong but NASCAR got it right this time.

I was Finally Right…..

It was really an easy one to be right on, speaking of Montoyas dismal run last night at Lowes Motor Speedway. Montoya has never run good at Lowes, to run well at Lowes you’ve got to be up on your game it’s a fast track where the outside walls come up quickly coming out of the turns, a track that makes the driver believe running 3 or 4 wide is possible. Even though I’m not a Montoya fan I feel bad for him because one mulligan takes you out. The chase has come down to about just a couple of drivers with 5 races left. Next is Martinsville guess who runs well at Martinsville ??

My Lowes Picks

Tonight’s (Saturday Oct 17th) Sprint Cup Race at

Lowe’s Motor Speedway,  Charlotte, N.C.

The NASCAR Banking 500,  Presented by Bank of America

 

The Green Flag drops at approx. 7:41 pm EST

 

1.  Mark Martin

2. Tony Stewart

3. Jimmie Johnson

4. Brian Vickers

5. Ryan Newman

 

6th thru 10th

Jeff Gordon

David Gilliland

Brad Keselowski

Kyle Busch

Kasey Kahne

Montoya’s Mulligan

Is this week going to be the week when Montoya uses his mulligan ?? I hope so because I’m not a fan of Montoya. To be quite honest I’m surprised he’s even in the chase and that he’s keeping the momentum going. 8 weeks ago I would have bet good money that he won’t make the chase, 4 weeks ago I would have bet that he’d be out of picture by the time we got to the 4th chase race I just didn’t think the team had it in them and didn’t think Montoya had the talent to be the champion. I still don’t think he’ll be the Champion and again I’m not a Montoya fan or even a Chip Gnassi fan but I am a Theresa Earnhardt and Felix Sabates fan so I’m torn because I would so much like to see Theresa and Felix be in the class of champion car owners.

Montoya has never really run well at Lowes except for his last race there which was earlier this season where he finished with his first top 10 at Lowes, in his five career starts at Lowes he’s finished 28th, 37th, 30th, 34th, and this seasons spring race he finished 8th so he’s not usually a threat at Lowes. To be honest we could really question the strength of his top 10 that day last May because if you remember right the leaders had just pitted and then the race was called due to rain so really if the race wasn’t shortened Montoya would have probably had a 20th place finish. Tonight will tell if the 8th place finish in this seasons spring race was a fluke due to rain or a sign that he’s figuring Lowes out. To my dismay he’s been running fantastic, true champion form but usually every driver has at least one mulligan during the chase and if I’m picking which one will be Montoya’s it this one tonight.

Logano’s Dad

I’m not sure why I missed this one, I forgot all about it but I would still be interested in hearing other opinions. During last Saturdays Nationwide race Greg Biffle ran Joey Logano up the track forcing Logano to scrape the wall. Biffle was paying Logano back for an earlier incident where Logano slid up the track pinching Biffle. It was racing crappola. I don’t think Logano pinched Biffle intentionally but I know Biffle pinched Logano on purpose. But either way nothing serious just racing crappola that goes on between drivers every race sometimes we know about it sometimes we don’t. 

Anyway after the race Logano’s dad was running down pit road on his way to Victory Lane when he saw Biffles car coming down pit road so he veered in front of Biffles car and gave him a sarcastic thumbs up letting Biffle know he wasn’t happy with his ontrack behavior. It was really nothing he didn’t jump out in front of a speeding car, there was nothing unsafe about it, there was no other confrontation it was really nothing a non-incident. But when NASCAR saw it they thought differently, NASCAR takes a very dim view of family members interacting with team member negatively in other words, family members can’t screw with anyone when they are holding Hot Pass so NASCAR yanked his NASCAR Credentials but they did issue him a one day pass so he could attend the next days Cup Race. NASCAR was to decide what type of sanctions to put on Loganos dad this week. What’s your thought on family members interacting with competitors and the punishments they should get when they cross the line??

The Best of the Best

NASCAR announced the inaugural class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame yesterday [Wednesday, October 14, 2009] that includes: Dale Earnhardt Sr., Bill France Sr., Bill France Jr., Junior Johnson and Richard Petty. You might have thought others should have been included in the first class of inductees but one thing that is undisputable is the first five are all Hall of Fame worthy. I would have liked to see Bobby Allison make it in the inaugural class because he and his family gave up so much of their lives to be a part of NASCAR and they did before the big money became such a huge part of the sport. They did it for the love of racing. I would have also liked to see one of the pioneers of the NASCAR drivers someone like Fireball Roberts, Curtis Turner, Lee Petty, or Red Byron who’s still bumping the wall today. Not to take anything away from the France family but I’m not sure I like the idea of them holding 2 spots of the inaugural class Bill Sr. is a lock but Bill Jr. maybe should have come in the next class and that spot going to one of the above mentioned drivers.

NASCAR’s Race Weekend Report

California Race Results…Top 10

1)  #48 Jimmie Johnson
2)  #24 Jeff Gordon
3)  #42 Juan Pablo Montoya
4)   #5 Mark Martin
5)  #14 Tony Stewart
6)  #99 Carl Edwards
7)   #6 David Ragan
8)   #2 Kurt Busch
9)  #33 Clint Bowyer   
10) #29 Kevin Harvick

 

Chase Points after California

1) #48-Jimmie Johnson [5 wins], 5728, finished 1st
2) #5-Mark Martin [5 wins], 5716, -12, 4th
3) #42-Juan Montoya 5670, -58, 3rd
4) #14-Tony Stewart [4 wins], 5644 -84, 5th
5) #24-Jeff Gordon [1 win], 5623 -105, 2nd
6) #2-Kurt Busch [1 win], 5607, -121, 8th
7) #16-Greg Biffle 5540, -188, 20th
#99-Carl Edwards 5536, -192, 6th
9) #11-Denny Hamlin [2 wins], 5509, -219, 37th
10) #39-Ryan Newman 5505, -223, 15th
11) #9-Kasey Kahne [2 wins], 5422, -306, 34th
12) #83-Brian Vickers [1 win], 5377, -351,2 9th

For the Entire Results and Points California Results and Driver Standings

 

 

#5 and #48 taken back to the R & D Center AGAIN

NASCAR takes the #48 and the #5 cars back to their R & D Center in Concord N.C. for the third consecutive week for closer inspection. The winning car and the engines of the top two finishing cars always are taken to the R&D Center. But Martin finished seventh last week at Kansas and Johnson was ninth, but both cars again were taken the R&D Center. Both cars were cleared after inspections in Concord. Martin finished fourth Sunday, but NASCAR officials again elected to take the #5 Chevy back to the R&D Center for additional tests.

 

Kyle Feeling ill

Kyle Busch was sick this past weekend and elected to be replaced after starting the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races. He started both of the races this weekends races to be able to keep the points earned by his cars. After starting the Nationwide race he was replaced by Deny Hamlin who ended up finishing the day by kissing the wall. Sunday Kyle was replaced by start and park driver David Gilliland but not before Kyle had drove his M & M Toyota from the back of the field to about 20th position pitting on lap 61 to make the switch, Gilland who will be driving a fourth Gibbs car for an undetermined amount of races starting this weekend didn’t do to bad Sunday, without running any practice laps Gilliland managed to bring home a top 25 finishing 24th.

 

RPM Ford Program to start

Richard Petty Motorsports has had a Ford in its possession ready to race since after New Hampshire. Most likely AJ Allmendinger will be driving a Fusion at Lowe’s Motor Speedway next weekend or the week after that. Once the #44 car flips over to Ford, it will remain a Fusion the rest of the season. In addition to Allmendinger, Elliott Sadler is expected to drive a Roush-prepared Ford with a Yates engine at Talladega. Whether or not RPM’s proposed merger with Yates Racing goes through, team owner George Gillett has said his team will run Ford’s next season.

 

Restricting the Restrictor Plate

NASCAR will reduce the size of the restrictor plate and allow teams an optional change as a way to slow the cars and try to keep them from getting airborne at Talladega. Sprint Cup Series Director John Darby said Friday at Auto Club Speedway that the restrictor plate will be reduced 1/64 of an inch. The new size will be 59/64 of an inch. Darby estimates it will shave 12 horsepower off the engines. Teams also have been given an option on side wickers, something they hadn’t been allowed to use before at Talladega. Darby said that teams “will be able to add the same little side wicker to the end plate (on the rear wing) much like they do at the downforce tracks. If you look at all the cars in the garage right now on that end plate, all the way out on the back edge they’ve got a little half by half piece of aluminum. That’s eight inches long. It helps in yaw or when the cars are turned. It kind of settles the back of the car down a little bit.

 

Latest on Danica:

Danica’s a hot commodity with team onwers right now. It’s become increasingly more difficult for car owners to find good commited sponsor these days. What Danica lacks in talent is made up for by her marketability. What makes her even more attractive is she already has a relationship with godaddy.com as well as other motorsports sponsors, which in some respects (I hate to say) makes her good for NASCAR because some IRL sponsors may follow her which will be good for the team and teammates because more relationships are built. One thing we talked about last week was Danica’s paycheck they’re were false rumors saying she wanted 1 million per race that turned out to be poppycock, insiders say she’ll make somewhere between $20,000 and $40,000 per race.

 

Ford’s New Engine

Ford will delay the debut of its new Sprint Cup engine, Doug Hervey, who oversees Ford’s North American racing operations, said Saturday. The engine was scheduled to have debuted next week at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Instead, Ford will debut the restrictor-plate version of the engine at Talladega in three weeks. As for the non-restrictor-plate engine, it likely will debut at Texas or Homestead. I wonder if this will have an effect on RPM’s date to switch to a Ford which was slated for A.J. Almemdinger to run a Ford at Lowes.