Sponsors aren’t Racers

 

  Red Bull is a perfect example why sponsors should not own race teams. Red Bull is probably the best at what they do, make and market energy drinks. But that’s it.
  They have no business making decisions on the drivers of there race teams. That should be Jaye Fryes job he’s the professional they hired to manage there NASCAR race teams. The big wheel(owner) in Austria made the decision to let A.J. Almendinger go and put Scott Speed in the drivers seat. It was a huge set back for the team, they had just started to turn the corner with A.J. he was qualifying well and had gotten into the top 35 which guarantees the team a starting spot. They were finally going to be able to run competitively and bam in one stupid decision the team was setback two years but thats only if all goes well and Scott Speed steps up his game which hasn’t happened yet.
  I was completely against the swap, I think A.J.’s the drive to be successful in NASCAR in the same breathe I think it just might have been the best thing to happen to A.J., he’s with an owner(Richard Petty Motorsports) that see’s his talent, he’s with an owner that wants to win as bad as he does, and he’s with an owner that has experience in the sport. Those combinations along with A.J.’s attitude is recipe for success.
   I really don’t think Scott Speed will be in Cup to long. Other than Red Bull teams can’t go a season and only run 4 or 5 races and right now thats all your going to get with Scott Speed unless you put someone in the car to get them back in the top 35 and then put Scott in to see if he can hold it there. But Scott is not going to get the car into the top 35.

Roll up your Sleeves Brian and Mike

A bad economy could be the best thing for NASCAR. The price to win or just to run up-front has gotten way out of control. If it wasn’t for a bad economy NASCAR would have ended up like other sports where deep pockets win. It was really refreshing to see good ole’ boy start up teams in the Daytona 500. Its just ridiculous to think to bring a team to ONE race it cost $300,000-$500,000 and thats not including driver and crew chief salaries. Thats just crazy, because it doesn’t make the racing one bit better, the racing is exactly the same. If the cars are all the same and all follow the same rules it doesn’t really matter if they run at 180 mph or 140 mph. It seems to me if NASCAR wants to protect the sport they need to slow everything down, impose rules that make it impossible for deep pockets to have the ability to buy there way into the chase. Bring the racing back to the track. How long did NASCAR think it would go on ? For NASCAR to continue to survive it must be affordable for sponsors. Is it better to have 20 teams with big corporate sponsors that can afford to pay 20 to 30 million a year on just one NASCAR team or is it better to have 50 teams that only need 3 to 5 million a year to sponsor a car for the season ? Me , I say give me the 50 teams. NASCAR may be heading in the right direction this past season they have done things in the Camping World Truck Series that will cut cost for team owners. NASCAR holds all the cards, if they just slowed the cars down 20 mph exspensive technology would no longer be needed. In the Sprint Cup series this NASCAR has severly limited testing, I believe the only testing allowed is Goodyear tire tests so what do teams do (?) they go out and buy a 10 million dollar shaker rig(a platform the car is placed on to simulate different tracks). So now NASCAR needs to hand out shocks and springs at every track then teams wouldn’t get any benefit from purchasing a shaker rig. Sponsors drive NASCAR so Brian France and Mike Helton better start limiting what a team needs to go race, because if sponsors can’t afford to be there teams won’t be able to make payrolls and there won’t be a need for the top 35.

Crew Chief Changes for 2009…..(So Far)

#00 — Ryan Pemberton left to crew chief Brian Vickers for 2009, Rodney Childers comes from GEM to take over
#7 — made numerous crew chief changes in 2008, have heard nothing official, but heard that Kirk Almquist, who came to the team in late 2008, will be back
#8 — TBA, no one named since Gibson left for Stewart-Haas
#10 — Crew chief Mike Shiplett was suspended by the team in late 2008, no word if he returns
#14 [was #70] — Darian Grubbs comes over from Hendrick were he was an engineer, but has crew chiefed before with Jimmie Johnson, garnering two wins
#17 — Chip Bolin goes back to the engeneering side at Roush, Nationwide crew chief, Drew Blickensderfer takes over in 2009
#19 — TBA, former crew chief, Rodney Childers left to go to MWR’s #00 team
#26 — Donnie Wingo, leaves Gannasi to take the crew chief gig for McMurray, Wingo had been a logtime crew chief at Gamassi’s
#33 — Shane Wilson will crew chief Bowyer RCR’s new team
#38 — Cully Barraclough left at seasons end is is back as the car chief on a NNS ride for Roush, no word who Gilliand’s crew chief will be.
#39 — Tony Gibson comes over from DEI, Bootie Barker heads to MWR
#41 — Donnie Wingo left to crew chief McMurray in the #26. #41 has no driver named, nor a crew chief
#43 — Jeff Meendering left and went to Stewart-Haas racing as a car chief. #47 — Frank Kerr will be the crew chief for Ambrose
#83 — Ryan Pemberton comes over form MWR to crew chief Vickers, former crew chief supposedly will take a management role with the team.
#98 — Larry Carter comes over from Roush/McMurray to take over for Paul Menard and this new team.

In Shock and Dis-appointment………

SHOCK !!……………

WOW, I can’t beleive Kyle went out like that. Does he have a chance ?? I really thought that if Kyle didn’t win the chase it would have been because he was driving to aggressive and crashed in a few chase races to get the DNF’s that knock him out of contention. I would have never guessed that equipment failures would be the cause. I would have bet money that equiptment won’t be the problem. He ran 26 races with very little or no equiptment failures then the first two chase races and it’s over, maybe. Is it karma, bad luck, or both.  Can he pull out of this, I haven’t check yet but is it mathematically possible for him to bounce back ?? I sure hope so, he and his team preformed better than any other driver/team for the first 26 races. I think they deserve it.

DIS-APPOINTMENT !!………

I am really dis-appointed in Red Bull decision to release A.J. Almendinger for Scott Speed. It’s going to be another 2 years now before the no.# 84 Toyota will be competitive. I believe its going to take Scott Speed the same season and a half it took A.J. to get comfortable, is Red Bull going to change again because they don’t understand they’re competing against team that have been around for 10 + years and it takes years to gain the respect and knowledge it takes just to be a weekly top 10 team. Drivers respected A.J. he was starting to come into his own veteran status. It looks like Ganassi is going to be the beneficary of Red Bull’s hard knocks. Red Bull made a mistake and I can’t believe Jay Frye was part of that decision, I know the big wheels in Austraila don’t have a clue but I really thought Jaye knew better.

The Chase for the Cup Contenders are Set

               2008 Chase Contenders

1) #18-Kyle Busch 5080 [8 wins x 10 bonus pts]
2) #99-Carl Edwards 5050 [6 wins, 5 wins x 10 pts = 50pts*]
3) #48-Jimmie Johnson 5040 [4 wins]
4) #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. 5010 [1 win, 2nd, 3rd, 3-4ths]
5) #07-Clint Bowyer 5010 [1 win, 2nd, 3rd, 4th]
6) #11-Denny Hamlin 5010 [1 win, 7-3rds]
7) #31-Jeff Burton 5010 [1 win, 1-3rd]
#20-Tony Stewart 5000 [3-2nds]
9) #16-Greg Biffle 5000 [2-2nds]
10) #24-Jeff Gordon 5000 [1-2nd, 3-3rds]
11) #29-Kevin Harvick 5000 [1-2nd, 1-3rd]
12) #17-Matt Kenseth 5000 [2-3rds]

* lost the bonus for win at Las Vegas due to penalty
• To start the Chase, all 12 drivers have their point totals reset to 5,000.
• After the reset, Chase drivers get 10 bonus points for each victory thus far this season.
• Those new totals produce the Chase seedings.
• For drivers starting the Chase with identical point totals, their seedings are determined by the traditional tiebreaker of best finishes beyond race victories.
Courtesy Jayski’s

 

Who do you think will win the Championship ?? 

Post your Choice. Document it Now…. 

Carl’s Mistake……Kyle’s Motivation……

 

    The August night race at Bristol is one of my favorite races of the year. I’m not sure from a fan standpoint if the racing is better or worse since the new pavement. In the past it was a 1 and a half groove race track now its pretty much a 2 racing groove track, in the past to get around someone you had to move them out of the way and that was the cause of alot of fights now with the new pavement and 2 racing grooves you can race around them.

   So I was thinking as we near the end of the race “is this going to finish without somebody getting pissed off” just about the time I thought that with 30 laps to go Carl Edwards didn’t use the 2nd groove to get around race leader Kyle Busch he moved him out of the way just like the olds days(last year).

   In my opinion Carl made a huge mistake, it wasn’t when he moved Kyle out of the way it was on the cool down lap when Kyle came along side Carl and bumped him and Carl retaliated by spinning Kyle out. Don’t get me wrong I think Carl was right in his actions and I would have probably done the same thing it just wasn’t smart. The reason I think it was a huge mistake is Kyle is motivated when he’s been poked with a stick, when he’s poked he usually feels like he’s got something to prove and he usually does prove it. He runs best when he thinks he’s getting the raw end of the deal or when he’s mad.

   Just a couple races until the start of the Chase for the Cup and Carl lit the fuse hanging out of Kyles butt so now Kyle is going to show Carl that 2nd is just the first loser.

Yea Right !!!

A Statement From Joe Gibbs Owner of Joe Gibbs Racing

  First, we want to apologize to NASCAR, all of our partners, all of our families at JGR, and all of our fans for the unfortunate incident that took place this past weekend in Michigan with our two Nationwide teams. A poor decision was made by some key members of our organization, and 100 percent of the blame rests with us.

   “In 17 years we have never had any representative of Joe Gibbs Racing knowingly act outside of NASCAR’s rules, and that is something we consider essential to how we operate on a daily basis. What we have determined is that these individuals involved used extremely poor judgment in attempting to alter the results of NASCAR’s dyno test following Saturday’s Nationwide Series race in Michigan. Although in no way was anything done that might have altered the race outcome, these JGR employees attempted to circumvent the NASCAR rule book and that is unacceptable.

    “We take full responsibility and accept the penalties NASCAR has levied against us today. We had come to the conclusion that we would add to any NASCAR imposed penalties with the minimum being suspension for the remainder of the season for those involved, including our two Nationwide Series crew chiefs. There will also be an additional monetary fine beyond the amount announced by NASCAR earlier today, which will be the responsibility of those involved.

   “We are, however, disappointed that NASCAR chose to place our drivers on probation, as they had no knowledge or involvement of this incident.

   “On behalf of everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing, we apologize again for this most unfortunate situation.”(Joe Gibbs Racing PR)(8-20-2008)

The Garage Area Comment:

I think we all expected better from Joe Gibbs and Joe Gibbs Racing but one of his first comments in his statement was a crock….Gibbs said “In 17 years we have never had any representative of Joe Gibbs Racing knowingly act outside of NASCAR’s rules” there is no way he can make that claim and be truthful. We know teams skirt the rules thats no secret so his comment just makes him look like a liar.    One of the last comments in his statement was…. “We are, however, disappointed that NASCAR chose to place our drivers on probation, as they had no knowledge or involvement of this incident.
It is my understanding that the NASCAR officials took control of the cars when the drivers exited them, so the drivers were the last JGR employees to have access to the gas pedals thats why they were part of the penalty, the six NASCAR officials that impounded the cars did in fact state the drivers were the last to have access to the cars. You don’t have to be a crime scene specialist to figure it out. Most drivers take the heat shields off their shoes before exiting the car, so while doing that you could easily slip a magnet under the pedal without creating suspicion, another blatant lie by Gibbs.
  The smartest thing Gibbs could have done is just say…We’re sorry, I’m sorry, we accept NASCAR’s penaltys we too will investigate and JGR will also penalize those involved. Again I apologize.  Thats it, don’t say anything more. Walk away.

The whole thing was really an ignorant move. Most owners, crew chiefs, and drivers will tell you when luck is on your side and your running as well as the Gibbs teams were you don’t cheat because your being watched, everybody in the garage area is watching you to find out what your doing and half the people in the garage area  think your cheating anyway when your racking up the wins the way Gibbs is. If you do get caught then you’ll really be scrutinized.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Busted and disgusted………..

 NASCAR officials found magnets placed under the gas pedals on cars out of the Joe Gibbs Racing stables prior to a Dyno test after this weekends race the Carfax 250. By placing a quarter inch thick magnet under the gas pedal it will limit the throttle/carburator from being opened 100% in turn causing lower overall horespower on a Dyno test. Both the #18 and the
#20 Nationwide teams  will be penalized for attempting to manipulate the throttle so NASCAR would not get a true horsepower reading when putting their cars on the chassis dynamometer after the race NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said Saturday night. Both the #18 and #20 teams face penalties for what was a blatant attempt to interfere with the inspection process, Hunter also said.

the garage area: So what do you think the penalty should Be ?? Me personally think it should be very harsh….

  It was Nationwide Series teams but they(nationwide and cup) come from under one umdrella Joe Gibbs Racing. Does that taint Kyle success this season, does this taint Tony Stewart titles and for that matter any of Bobby Labonte’s success. This cast a shadow on their success because you have to wonder how many times have they cheated ?? How many times have they manipulated testing info ?? You just don’t know but what we do know is they(employees of Joe Gibbs Racing) are capable of cheating.

 

Also
 
   Did you hear Deny Hamlins comments after Sundays race at Michigan International Raceway ?? He stated several times to a few different media outlets that he’s frustrated because Gibbs and Toyota are so far behind on their engine program. Is he on the same team as Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart ?? How can you say that when one of your teammates is leading the points and has won 8 races and the other teammate is 6th in the points. After Michigan all 3 Gibbs cars are in the top 12 that doesn’t look like a team thats behind in anything. He hasn’t stuck his foot that far in his mouth since a Natiomwide driver (Keslowski) raced him too hard so he made the comment that Nationwide driver should give cup drivers automatic respect.

  A good driver can take the car the crew gives him and with good communication can make adjustments compatible with conditions on raceday and finish the race a few spots better than the car was capable of. Most drivers can take the fastest, best handling car and get a good finish, but what car owners need and what makes a driver great is for a driver to be able use his talent take up the slack for the short comings of the car. Deny can’t do that yet, he does show spurts of talent when condition are perfect.

  Is Deny right are they behind in the engine program but cheating has made the others on the team successful and Deny just wasn’t included in on their rain deer games ??

Tell me what you think…….

It’s Official

  Ryan Newman finally made it official. Newman has signed a multi-year contract with Stewart Haas Racing to drive the #4 Chevy Impala SS, no sponsor was named nor the details of the multi-year contract.
   Many see this as a great combination that will be successful. I just don’t see it. You put 2 drivers together both with crappy personalities and huge egos is the ingredients for one hell of a bomb.

  Tony would have done fine with a younger driver someone he could mentor, Ryan would be better off on single car team or a team like Penske that lets him operate like a single car team. They are both good drivers but together I don’t see it happening Ryan has never been a team player even back in his USAC days. Even at Penske where Rusty was co-owner of his car he wouldn’t share info. Tony has said he has learned alot from Joe and J.D. Gibbs about running a successful team and he’ll model his team from what he’s learned, which is a very smart way of thinking but a driver like Ryan would never make it at Gibbs. I think Tony has made his first mistake, I believe he and Ryan better enjoy this time because by the time the Chase starts next season they will be two very miserable drivers. Making Ryan the big story of the 2009 Silly Season.

What makes a Driver Successful ??

 

   What do you think makes a driver successful ?  In my humble opinion I believe a good Crew Chief can put a driver on the map. A good crew chief can make or break a driver.  A crew chiefs the Coach, Quarterback, and Moral Manager, the crew chief should be the star of the team but because the driver is the face of the team he gets all the credit. Most fans don’t know the name of the crew chief of their favorite driver. The crew chief is working 7 days a week to make his driver successful. 

   Take a look at A.J. Allmendinger he’s been very un-successful since he started driving in the Sprint Cup Series last year, but his luck changed a top crew chief became available about 6 weeks ago. Team Red Bull made their best decision since starting a cup team last year; they hired Jimmy Ellegde when he left Ganassi and Sabates. In the short time he’s been with A.J. he’s made a huge difference in their overall performance, in the past 6 weeks A.J. has actually qualified pretty good and surprisingly made it into the top 35 in owners points(the ones that cout when hover around 35th spot). That’s proof right there the difference a good crew chief can make. I don’t think crew chiefs get enough of the credit for a driver’s success from the fans and media.  I really think the drivers should create a “Crew Chief Appreciation Day” and kiss their crew cheifs a$$ on Main Street Mooresville during rush hour.

**Yesterday I posted in-accurate stats about A.J. Almendinger, I have revised the post so the in-accurate info has been removed. Again I Completely Apologize for my mistake.