Time for Danica to GO……

   It’s time for Danica Patrick to hang up her helmet. She just hasn’t shown any sign of improvement in the last 4 years driving a NASCAR. Let’s be honest she’s only in NASCAR because of her Gender. Say what you want but that’s the reason there are a lot better NASCAR drivers in the 2 lower NASCAR series. It made sense 4 years ago to put a female in the drivers seat to open up NASCAR a little more to women and potential sponsors. She looks great in a driver suit. Many fans like to look at her, but that’s it.

                            

 

   But you’ve got to show some potential once you arrive in NASCAR’s Top Series, by Stewart Haas continuing to employ her as a driver past this point is hurting the series. Eventually she’s going to get hurt or sadly hurt someone else. No other driver would get the free pass that she’s getting today. She just doesn’t have the talent to drive in NASCAR for a top team. Many other drivers deserve that opportunity. Maybe a start and park team is the best place for her, she’ll bring a sponsor to a struggling team. NASCAR will still have a female driver and nobody gets hurt. Who knows maybe then she can grow as a driver.

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Blocking

For the last two weeks there has been a lot of talk about blocking, because Joey Logano blocked Tony Stewart on the final restart of the Sprint Cup race in Fontana California.

Give me a break, first of all Tony is the last one that should be complaining. Does anybody really believe that Stewart won his 3 championships by playing nice ? Does anyone really believe he hasn’t thrown a block or two in his career ? Come on….What about Tony’s block at Talladega, ohh but as Tony says “it’s a little different deal” yeah it is when it benefits you, huh Tony.

O.K. here’s the deal. Joey did nothing wrong, absolutely nothing wrong. Let’s say were running a 300 lap race, lap 200 you don’t throw a block but lap 280 and I’m running for the lead you better bet your ass I’m blocking. Your going to have to go over top of my car to get in front of me, I’ve drove for many years so I speak from experience. I’m not going to let you drive by me your going to have to work for it and I mean really work for it. Tony knows that, this is racing millions of dollars are on the line.  Tony has a short memory, his thinking has changed since he left Gibbs to partner with Haas. Think back to Tony ignorant years. 

The Grapevine….

Hearing that Denny Hamlin will miss at least the next 4 races after a hard crash into the inside retaining wall at California’s Fontana Speedway. The speculation from insiders at JGR is that former Sprint Cup Series driver Elliot Sadler will take over driving duties for Deny Hamlin in Deny’s #11 Fed Ex Toyota.

Fast Facts ….Sunday’s Race at Talladega

Johnson wins at Talladega: #48-Jimmie Johnson won the Aaron’s 499 Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway for his 1st win of 2011, and the 54th of his career. Johnson, #33-Bowyer, and #24-Gordon came across the finish line 3 wide, with Johnson .002 seconds ahead of Bowyer and .039 second ahead of Gordon. The finish ties Ricky Craven’s 2003 Darlington win as the closest finish since electronic timing was implemented.
#88-Earnhardt, Jr. finished 4th, #29-Harvick, #99-Edwards, #16-Biffle, #5-Martin, #34-Gilliland, and #20-Logano.
There were 88 lead changes among 26 drivers; 6 cautions for 24 yellow flag laps.
The attendance is listed as 115,000, down from last years 123,500.
**Scheduled Race Re-Air: SPEED, Wednesday, April 20 at 12:00pm/et

Race Fast Facts – Talladega:
Jimmie Johnson won the 42nd Annual Aaron’s 499 , his 54th victory in 335 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.
This is his first victory and fifth top-10 finish in 2011.
This is his second victory and ninth top-10 finish in 19 races at Talladega Superspeedway.
Clint Bowyer (second) posted his fifth top-10 finish in 11 races at Talladega Superspeedway. It is his fourth top-10 finish in 2011.
Jeff Gordon (third) posted his 18th top-10 finish in 37 races at Talladega Superspeedway.
Andy Lally (19th) was the highest finishing rookie.
Carl Edwards leads the point standings by 5 points over Jimmie Johnson.
The margin of victory of 0.002 ties the closest margin of victory (Darlington – 3/16/2003) since the advent of electronic scoring in 1993.
The 88 lead changes ties the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series all-time record of lead changes set at Talladega (4/25/2010).

Two records tied at Talladega: Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway tied two Sprint Cup Series records – number of lead changes and closest margin of victory. There were 88 lead changes at the start/finish line, tying an all-time NASCAR record set in last season’s April event at Talladega. The final lead change occurred on the last lap – eight of the last 12 Talladega races featured a last-lap lead change. Jimmie Johnson edged Clint Bowyer by .002 seconds, which matches the closest margin of victory since the inception of electronic scoring in May 1993. That mark was originally set at Darlington Raceway on March 16, 2003, with Ricky Craven beating Kurt Busch. Since 1993, every race at Talladega finishing under green – 29 in all – has had a MOV under .400 seconds. Passing numbers – for the lead and otherwise – also were high. There were 159 green flag passes for the lead all around the race track, with a total of 11,025 green flag passes throughout the field.

Times are a Changin….

I’ve always directed my support to the underdog, the guy that didn’t have a chance. I think in part because the reward is so great when they pull off the win and there is very little dis-appointment when they don’t run well. Believe it or not there was a time when Jimmie Johnson didn’t win, that’s when I was a Jimmie Johnson fan. Once Jimmie started to win I moved on. It’s not that I just pick a loser, I pick a driver or team that is capable of winning but just hasn’t got it together enough to put one in the win column.  I can’t stand to see the same group of guys fighting for the win every week. I love a close finish, I know this is going to sound crazy but I would rather see a close finish with my driver losing than my driver winning by 5 car lengths. What I love about racing is the “race”, the battle, the bumping and banging.

This season is starting to take shape and it looks like NASCAR’s efforts over the last couple of years to level the playing field is starting to pay off. At least judging by the point standings it is. Judging by the point standings it looks like it’s going to be an awesome season, we’ll see some first time winners, we’ll see some guys who haven’t won in a while, and the fans will get to witness some great finishes.

1. TONY STEWART 113

2. KURT BUSCH 113

3. CARL EDWARDS 106 

4. JUAN PABLO MONTOYA 106

5. RYAN NEWMAN 103 

6. PAUL MENARD 96 

7. MARTIN TRUEX JR. 95 

8. DENNY HAMLIN 95 

9. A J ALLMENDINGER 94 

10. DALE EARNHARDT JR. 91

Just take a look at the points, look at Menard, Truex ,Allmendinger and even Earnhardt these guys are getting it done. Now I smart enough to know this doesn’t  mean they’ll finish the season in these positions. But it may be an indication that the playing field is becoming more level and that these drivers and teams have stepped up their game.

So for me it looks like it’s going to be a great season. Publically I’m behind Allmendinger but just between you and me I’d love to see Menard and Vickers in Victory Lane this season.

I’m not sure if it’s time to eat my words yet, because as some of you may know I’ve been very critical of the decisions NASCAR has made over the last couple of years but it would appear the steps they have taken has leveled the playing field a little.

Stick and Ball Sports

This post is off topic for this blog but I had to weigh in. As most of you already know Pro Football team owners and the players and their union are at odds over how they’re going to split up the take(money). Many years ago I was an avid Football and Baseball fan, I’ve been a season ticket holder of the Dolphins and the Chiefs and went to countless baseball games. Spent thousands on all the garb (shirts,hats, and anything else that advertised my teams). I felt that I was an asset to my team because of my support. But not anymore, I won’t even watch a game on T.V. not even the Super Bowl, World Series, or the Stanley Cup. I don’t miss them a bit. Your probably thinking he wasn’t much of a fan. But that’s the point I was, 10 years ago I would have never thought of missing a game. But that’s how angry I was. The breaking point was another threat of a strike and it seemed to be happening every 3 or 4 years. I was growing very tired of every year ticket prices going up and every 3 or 4 years owners and players fighting over MY money. I know it sounds stupid but I likened it to me walking through the stadium and the players and the owners mug me and then they run back to their hideout and argue over how they’re going to split up the money they just robbed from me, both sides ready to put a bullet in each other over more money than they actually need..I know it’s crazy but that’s how I thought of it. Anyway the threat of a strike seemed to happening more and more. And I’d continually see where players were getting millions of dollars and the owners raking it in on merchandise and T.V. deals. As I said earlier ticket prices were going up, parking fees going up, and for god sake even the price of a cup of hot beer was going up. Then just when you think they’ve squeezed you dry, the city and team want to upgrade or build a new stadium by raising your  taxes.  In a sport that generates BILLIONS of dollars for team owners, players and their respective leagues it’s taxpayers that have to flip the bill for their workplace the place they make the BILLIONS of dollars. Wouldn’t it be great if you needed a building for your business and taxpayers paid for it ? Anyway that picture is why I said screw’em, You’ve got admit football and baseball teams stick it to fans. It’s just ridiculus for a player to make milllions of dollars a year or excuse me for about 7 months worth of work, I don’t care what he can do with a ball or how fast he can run.

I’ve still got NASCAR, back when I became a dedicated fan(1980) of NASCAR  it was a sport that the competitors participated for ”the love of the game”. Today some of NASCAR is clouded by money but it’s truly a sport that the love of the sport is what drives most of the drivers. Most drivers struggle to get to a level where it pays the bills.

Sports, Christmas, and Sex has been ruined by Money.

Kahne at Red Bull

Take a look at the #4 Red Bull Racing Toyota that has been prepared for Kasey Kahne.  http://twitpic.com/3fwkk3

I’m still not real sure what all this means, what I mean is Kasey signed with Hendricks to drive a Chevy in 2012 when Mark Martin vacates the #5 car. Red Bull is a Toyota team with a tremendous amount of Toyota support, so how did Red Bull get Toyota to sign off on the deal that was brokered buy Hendricks (a Chevy guy) (?). I can understand why Red Bull and Hendricks did it. I believe Red Bull will be switching to Chevy in 2012 or 2013 and if the top Chevy team (Hendricks) needs a favor you do it. But why would Toyota go along with it, Kasey and his cronies will be in perfect position to learn about what makes Toyotas so fast. There’s more to this story than meets the eye.

Is it Too Obvious…..

There are a number of teams Marcos Ambrose could drive for but Richard Petty Motorsports(RPM) keeps floating to the top. Marcos has already annouced that he won’t be back in the JTG toyota #47 next season which JTG has already announced that Bobby Labonte will pilot the #47 next season. Those announcements are very telling because a driver doesn’t give up his ride unless he’s already got another solid deal done. Although there are many teams that would love to have Marcos they’re B and C teams. So Marcos wouldn’t give up his ride with a good B team(JTG) where he’s comfortable and in the middle of building a solid program to go start over with another B team. So that says he’s got a solid deal with a A team. The list of (A) teams  gets a little shorter and really there’s only one team with an empty seat. The only empty seat is at RPM Motorsports but there are a few (A) teams that with a sponsor could add another team. So that RPM naturally comes to the top if we’re making bets. But the media has been duped before, now there are 2 top owners that would love to go to 4 teams. That would be Gibbs and Childress. I don’t think Childress could pull it off without the media finding out because too many crew members at Childress have close ties to the media. Gibbs could pull it off without anyone knowing they’ve been successful in the past about keeping things quiet.  Most likely Marcos will be at RPM because it’s so obvious but maybe too obvious but RPM hasn’t made any other attempts to contact other drivers. Lastly RPM runs Fords, Ford was instrumental in bringing Marcos to the Cup series. So I’m going to keep my eyes and ears focused on Gibbs with my finger on the pulse at RPM.

You’ve Gone TOO Far Carl….

I’m speaking of the incident at the end of the Nationwide race in St. Louis Saturday. Carl seems to be having a hard time distingushing the difference between an intentional bump and just a racing deal. This is the second time Carl has decided to retalliate on the track, Saturday Keslowski got loose and bumped Carl, so Carl gathered it back up and caught Keslowski(leader) and used his bumper to not only spin Keslowski out and take the win but also took out about 8 cars who had nothing to do with the feud ruining the cars and their days.

We all know that NASCAR wants the driver to mix it up and show their true emotions but Carl has gone to far. NASCAR needs to suspend Carl, Period. It’s clear that Carl will go to whatever lengths to retaliate and that’s going to get someone hurt or even worse get someone killed.

I used to be a huge fan of Carl not because of his driving skills but because of how he handles himself. But after the Keslowski deal Carl has lost me as a fan. I never seen a driver retaliate the way Carl has, he clearly is not worried about NASCAR. The sanctioning body NASCAR is becoming more an more a joke, drivers aren’t afraid of breaking the rules they know that all NASCAR will do is impose a fine, lose some points, and put them on probation. The only thing the drivers are worried about is the points. So if a driver isn’t going to make the chase he really has nothing to lose because the loss of points won’t matter and they know NASCAR won’t suspend them. Kyle Petty said it best Sunday before the Brickyard, “Lindsey Lohan wishes NASCAR were judging her case because she’d only get probation no matter how much she screws up.”

That Sucked!!!!!!!!!

I couldn’t get to my computer fast enough. Kevin James and Adam Sandler just did the  mocking the Command, were they trying to be funny ? I don’t get it, it was embarrassing to watch one of those I feel sorry for them I can’t watch. Then, I don’t know who she is but the female commentator for TNT come on afterwards to insult my intelligence and says “that might be the best command I’ve ever seen”. Does she think children are her audience ? I believe the tracks is responsible for the Command so it may be time for NASCAR to handle that and have a little higher standard.

I’m all for having a little fun an tweaking the command to fit the person but the Adam Sandler, Kevin James show was just embarrassing.