Around the Track – Las Vegas

What a crazy race this past weekend. Cousin Carl wins #2, and then gets 100 points docked from him all because of a loose bolt.

I dunno I think 100 points and 100 thousand and no bonus points for the win is a little harsh but in section 12-4-A in the 2008 NASCAR handbook………………

Speaking of penalties, Robby Gordon had his penalty withdrawn, but his fine was increased to $150,000 and his crew chief is on probation for the rest of the year.

Thank god Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, and Jeff Gordon are ok, all 4 where hard hits, but Gordon’s had to be the worst looking. Watch the video here

So I found a new web browser, it’s called Flock It’s very impressive to me. It’s built from the same people who brought us FireFox. It’s great for media gurus and bloggers, you can actually have your blog site be apart of the browser, making it easier than logging in every time to the web page. It has this auto detection where you’ll see a pop up telling you to sign in and then sign out and then sign in again and click the pop up and walala it’s added. It also allows you to show the latest pictures you put up in your photobucket, or picasa2 web albums or look at the most recent updated pics of others.

Answer me this: How come Micheal Waltrip can’t finish in the top 25 but his other 2 cars can? Rudi and DJ are doing well they are in the top 20 in points, good job! Also congrats to Brian Vickers for making it in all three races so far. Toyota is showing consistency….when will they get that first win?

Morgen McClure could be back in the Cup series soon. Jayski is reporting that Mr. McClure has 2 big companies investing in him, and one Latino sponsor. Best of luck to them guys.

Kyle Busch may run the full Nationwide Season. But he respectfully said he may not since he may be taking up some other younger drivers seat time. Don’t do it Kyle, it’ll be a darn shame if ANOTHER Cup contender wins the Nationwide championship. It’s like stealing candy from a baby and I do not like it. You wanna race? fine…but I think they shouldn’t be allowed to run for the championship after 2 seasons in a competitive Cup ride.

Remember all the talks about the idea of California being reconfigured into a plate track? ISC, the track’s parent owner, has squashed that idea and said there are no plans for major renovations. So maybe track president Gillian Zucker needs to think twice. She wanted to know what the fans thought…well about every fan I talked to said it was stupid. I am wondering how well she knows her NASCAR….

Hot Rod legendary builder, Boyd Coddington died last week. He’s the old guy with the hawiian shirt on American HotRod. Although Chip Foose is my favorite custom car builder, Boyd was an excellent guy in the industry and although he had crazy near impossible deadlines he did not sacrifice quality in his work. The cause of death is still unknown, he was 63.

Dale Earnhardt Jr will drive a retro Mountain Dew Paint Scheme at Darlington, it’s sweet looking, looks like DW’s #11 Mountain Dew car….wait…Darrell drove that Mountain Dew Car when he was with Hendrick….coincidence? I think not. All 4 HMS cars should have a retro scheme at the Coke 600. The #5 being all white with the yellow nose, Jeff having the original Dupont Scheme Ricky Craven drove in the Busch Series in the early 90s. Have Jimmie racing the #25 Folgers colors which was dark blue when Tim Richmond drove it.

You think AJ Allmendinger will be out of a ride by the end of this year? Serously, he hasn’t raced a race yet this season, and failed to make over half the races last season. I think Red Bull should build a car for the Nationwide Series and have him run in that, get some experience and continue to try and enter him in the Cup races each weekend. This guy needs some seat time. UPDATE: Mike Skinner is in the ride until further notice. Red Bull has said they have not given up on AJ but want to get the #84 into races.

There’s 7 former IndyCar Series drivers in NASCAR. Do you know who was the first? Mario Andretti and AJ Foyt were the first two. But out of the current 7, Robby Gordon was the first to take the step into NASCAR and eventually into the Cup Series. His first race was in the 1991 Daytona 500, and his first full time ride came in 1997 with team SABCO (now Chip Ganassi racing with Felix Sabates) droving the #40 Coors Light car. Tony Stewart followed soon after that, driving in the IRL/IndyCar Series for 4 seasons (1996 to 1999) and the NASCAR Busch Series for 3 seasons (1996-1998). Tony made his full time Cup Series debute in 1999 with Joe Gibbs, driving the #20 Home Depot Chevy.

The current 7 drivers are:

1. Robby Gordon
2. Tony Stewart
3. Juan Pablo Montoya
4. AJ Allmendinger
5. Sam Hornish Jr
6. Dario Franchitti
7. Patrtick Carpentier

• Jacques Villeneuve * (status in NASCAR is pending)

Next Race Information:

Sprint Cup

• Atlanta
• Time: 1:30pm Sundy
• Channel: FOX

Nationwide Series

• Atlanta
• Time: 1:30pm Saturday
• Channel: ESPN2

Craftsmen Truck Series

• Atlanta
• Time: 8:30pm Friday
• Channel: SPEED

Special Paint Schemes:

• #07 – DirecTV
• #7    -  Valvoline
• #10 – Cintas
•  #16 – Jackson Hewiit
• #18 – Snickers
• #19 – Best Buy
• #20 – 10th Anniversary Home Depot
• #26 – Irwin Tools
• #28 – Zaxby’s
• #40 – Fastenal
• #42 – Big Red Gum
• #45 – PVA.org
• #48 – Kolbalt Tools
• #77 – Penkske Truck Rental
• #99 – Aflac

Official – IndyCar/Champ Car Merg

So it’s official now,  The IndyCar Series and the Champ Car Series (formerly CART) unify as one leauge.  Here is the summary of the deal. 

• The Indy Racing League is poised to absorb teams/drivers that had been competing in the Champ Car World Series.
• An initial orientation session for prospective teams was conducted Feb. 25 by Indy Racing League presidents Brian Barnhart (competition and operations) and Terry Angstadt (commercial division). All nine Champ Car World Series teams attended.
• Conquest Racing (former Champ Car Team) announced plans to compete in the opener with a two-car team at the season opener in Homestead
•  Additional teams are in the process of acquiring equipment and preparing cars for the opener
• IndyCar Series officials expect others to join by the opening of practice for the 92^nd Indianapolis 500
• Discussions are proceeding to incorporate races in Edmonton, Alberta, and Surfers Paradise, Australia, Long Beach, and at Twin Ring Motegi
  • The IRL Regulars will race at Twin Ring Motegi on April 19th
  • The Champ Cars will race one final time at long beach
• Champ Car World Series teams that are participating in the IndyCar Series will compete on the streets of Long Beach, using their 2007 equipment, for IndyCar Series points and prize money
• All current IndyCar Series events and ’08 scheduled Champ Car events will be reviewed for the ’09 schedule.
• Assisting transitional teams is the TEAM (Team Enhancement and Allocation Matrix) program, which provides a $1.2 million foundation per car for full-schedule operations
  • The Program for Teams with the financial ability to compete all season will be a one-year Honda basic engine lease agreement and two Dallara chassis from a pool of new and used cars to the extent of the pool available for up to two seasons.
• Transitional CCWS teams will be paired with regular IndyCar Series teams for technical assistance
•  Meetings have been scheduled with representatives of the Edmonton and Surfers Paradise events regarding ’08 races

• The IndyCar Series will purchase various non-tangible assets, such as intellectual property and historic records. Also, it will purchase the CCWS medical transporter

•  Individual meetings will CCWS teams expressing interest in competing in the IndyCar Series have been scheduled
• Cosworth, the Champ Car World Series engine supplier, will continue supporting other racing ventures
•  The Champ Car Atlantics development program will continue on its own
• The Indy Pro Series will continue as the stepladder series to the IndyCar Series
•  George intimated his preference for a 20-race 2009 season
• IRL officials expect between 8 to 12 cars to be added to the 16-car IndyCar grid for the season opener

Read the full transcript and story on IndyCar.com

Around the Track – California

So the Cup race is over, seriously is this the longest race ever? No wonder they called a marathon. It took 4 days to do 2 days of racing and when it was all said and done, the winners where Kyle Busch (Trucks), Tony Stewart (Nationwide), and Carl Edwards (Cup).

Top 12 in Points:

1. Kyle Busch
2. Ryan Newman
3. Tony Stewart
4. Kurt Busch
5. Carl Edwards
6. Kasey Kahne
7. Kevin Harvick
8. Jimmie Johnson
9. Greg Biffle
10. Jeff Burton
11. Brian Vickers
12. Martin Truex Jr.

Rest of the Hendrick Gang:

• Jeff Gordon – 14th (114 behind)
• Dale Earnhardt Jr – 23rd (149 behind)
• Casey Mears – 42rst (240 behind)

I feel bad for Casey Mears, was running strong at both Daytona and California and wrecks out of both races after running well in both races.

Congrats to Edwards, I expected a tougher challenge from Gordon when Edwards was trying to pass but I guess you can’t do much for a guy who seems 5 mph faster than you.

I don’t get Jeff Gordon’s cars. They always look so dominant in the beginning of the race, and then as the race wears on, the team either plays catch up on the car or the car just goes away. But a solid top 3 finish is a lot better than a 39th at Daytona.

Also Gordon had some luck on his side also, in case anyone missed it, he BLEW UP on the last lap, I didn’t realize that because the camera was so focused on Edwards cursing to victory. So us Gordon fans must be thankful of that yellow.

Speaking of Gordon, what happened to Robby Gordon is not fair, everything matched up but for somehow the nose was not approved by NASCAR yet, he got docked 100 points for this and a $100,000 fine.

Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway, yup, about as lame as it gets. Hopefully there will be a different sponsor for next years race.

Danica Danica Danica! The racing world will be talking about her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Hey…gotta get attention to the sport somehow right? Here’s the link: http://www.indymotorspeedway.com/danica4.html

Could this be the next great female driver? Jeff’s a proud father

So the other day I was telling my buddy how I wonder if the COT could flip over…well San Hornish answered that for me when he ran into Casey Mears and flipped him over.

I think the Auto Club 500 trophy is very cool! One of the best unique trophies on the circuit I think:

Kyle Bush becomes the first driver in NASCAR history to lead both, the Cup Series and the Truck Series points at the same time.

Speaking of Shrub, man he can drive! He may drive a Toyota but the way he handled that car in Monday’s race makes me wonder, how good was that car? He went 4 wide, on the apron, and passing cars any way possible except backwards.

I think the COT is coming around and becoming better and better as teams continue to adjust on it and figure it out, give it more down force and we’ll have a great race car. California’s race proved it is worthy, side by side racing happened and even three and four wide racing, which barley happened last year with the car.

They are talking about tearing the turns up at California to fix the drainage for the track, and Micheal Waltrip came up with a crazy/stupid idea…”Make it a restrictor plate track” Of course track president Gillian Zucker, thought the ideas was a good one. Mikey likes it because that’s the only race he can run competitive in. The track has seen it’s best racing since it was built. There’s the old saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Fox Sports responds to this, read it here

Next Race Run down:

Next Race: Las Vegas Motor Speedway- UAW-DODGE 500 (Cup)- /Sam’s Town 300 (Nationwide)

Time:

• Sprint Cup:
  • Sunday, March 2nd
  • 3:30pm est/12:30pm pst time
  • Fox/FoxHD
• Nationwide:
  • Saturday, March 1rst
    4:30pm est/1:30pm pst time
    ESPN/ESPN2
• Craftsmen Truck Series:
  • off weekend

Last Years winner: Jimmie Johnson

Race Picks: Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch

Dark Horse: Brian Vickers, David Reutimann

Johney Sauter will replace John Wood this weekend at Vegas in the #21

———

Would you like me to give input on anything?Certain topics you want me to discuss, let me hear it! Leave me a comment or email me at jdb119@msn.com with the subject: NASCAR BLOG.