Big Stories of 2009

Since it's the summer, and I'm already bored, I decided to write a blogpost... It's been forever!
Anyways, I'll go through the big stories of 2009 so far.

1) Tony Stewart get his first win as an owner. I think this is really big and it really says something about the team and what Tony has brought to the table. Haas CNC racing was a nobody in racing. Tony goes over there and right off the bat he's running well as well as Ryan Newman. Stewart Haas Racing finally got their first win at the All Star race with Tony. That was pretty cool. This past weekend was pretty funny with the whole "Billy Bad Butt" deal. Haha!

2) Jeremy Mayfield tests positive for drug test. This was a big shocker, and as most people do, when i first heard that I thought "Wow! Jeremy Mayfield doing cocaine, etc. Unbelievable!" It is still unclear what the WHOLE story is. As you know, there are two sides to every story. It is really turning into an ugly "he said, she said" type deal. Jeremy says the positive test was a result of mixing prescription medicine with an over the counter medicine (Claritin). Nascar says there is no way that that would result in a positive. Jeremy says NASCAR still has not told him what he tested positive for, while Nascar declares they have told him face to face. Who do you believe?
Some people are saying Nascar needs to go ahead and release the substance that Jeremy tested positive for to the public. They say it is just making Nascar look bad by with holding this information. As a result of this whole ordeal, Mayfield has hired a lawyer and they are considering taking legal action if necessary.
This also raises to question of whether or not Nascar should have a list of banned substances. Some drivers say yes (Jeff Burton, Ryan Newman) and some say no (Kasey Kahne). As Kasey put it in an interview the other day "I'm healthy. I eat normal food and drink water and a little bit of Budweiser and that's about it so I'm fine the way it is." haha!

3) Joey Logano. I don't wanna jump the gun or jinx Joey, but he is really starting to improve...BIGTIME! At the start of the season he was struggling, but now as we are going to some of these tracks for the second time, he is really starting to show what he has learned...and it's obviously a lot! He's starting to live up to all the hype!

4) Dale Earnhardt Jr. Where do I start? It has just been bad race after bad race for Jr. From pit road mistakes to just not running well, he has truly experienced everything. Some say it is Tony Eury Jr, his crew chief. I don't know who the blame lies on becasue i don't follow Dale Jr that closely, but something is up and if I were Rick Hendrick, there would be MAJOR changes to that team.
During the 600 I heard the announcers, who were discussing this topic, say that Jr's team is running something different or doing something different than the other three Hendrick teams. Well, whatever they're doing, I'd stop it! It's obviously not working. There comes a point when you have to face facts. The other three teams (the #5 of Mark Martin, the #24 of Jeff Gordon, and the #48 of Jimmie Johnson) have all won at least one race a piece. Mark's already won two and his first season isn't even over. Dale's only won one so far in the 2 seasons he has been with Hendrick. It's hard to deny Hendrick's success with the three teams, not to mention the satellite teams (Stewart-Haas). The only answer is Dale Earnhardt Jr. has GOT to step up.

Photos:

Tony Stewart- Rusty Jarrett/ Getty Images for NASCAR

Jeremy Mayfield- Jerry Markland/ Getty Images for NASCAR

Joey Logano- John Harrelson/ Getty Images

1st Victory in Two Years for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Bud Shootout

Well last Saturday was the 2008 Bud Shootout. It was filled with lots of good racing. Before I start talking about the race, I would like to talk about one of the practices that happened before the race got started. The final practice for the Bud Shootout was Friday night. It was jam packed with action. First it started off with Clint Bowyer spinning out Ryan Newman. That took out Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Ryan. So with the last practice, they had to pull out a new car which they had no driving time with. Then Tony Stewart tried to squeeze in next to the wall and Kurt Busch making it three-wide. There wasn't enough room, so they wrecked. It wasn't that bad though. Well when they were headed to pit road, Kurt started ramming into the side of Tony Stewart. They were immediately called to the "Oval Office", that's the NASCAR hauler. They were still bickering about it, and Tony allegedly threw a punch at Kurt. Anyway, they let them go and told them they would meet in the morning after everything had cooled down. The final punishment was both of them were put on a 6 week probation. And let's not forget this isn't the first ontrack confrontation they have had. Remember Bristol? lets just say that these two aren't the best of friends

Now for the actual race. It was great racing. I wasn't too pleased with Kasey Kahne. Absolutely no one would draft with him. They would shuffle him around until he was in the middle, and then no one would draft with him so he dropped to the back. It was very frustrating. I was rooting for Dale Jr. to win or Tony Stewart. Both of those would have been memorable. For Tony it would have meant that he won the Bud Shootout on his first try with Toyota. That ould have been huge for Toyota. On the other hand, for Dale Earnhardt Jr., it would have been even bigger. Dale Jr. did win. I was so excited for him. That was big. It was his first race with Hendrick Motorsports. Wow that right there says how great that team is. To be able to hire a new driver and then that driver to win "right outta the box"...that was great. He had been with the company his father founded, but left at the end of last season because of he and his stepmother, Teresa Earnhardt. I know that was tough for him, but man did it pay off. It was emotional to see him whenever he came to victory lane. Rick Hendrick was there. Everyone was there. It was cool. He was grinnin' from ear to ear. That is the first time we have seen a true smile on his face in a LONG time. They all talk about "Oh, I'm excited to be driving with this team...we're gonna have a great season.", but they say it with the dullest faces. This was amazing. I know he was happy. This was his first win since the middle of 2006. Let's not forget how he got the win Saturday night though. His teammate Jimmie Johnson bumped him twice, which was just enough to slide past Tony Stewart for the win. Hendrick Motorsports will be even better than last year.

tag: Kasey Kahne, Hendrick Motorsports, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Nascar, Rick Hendricks, Daytona, Nascar Sprint Cup Series, 2008 Bud Shootout

NASCAR Changes in 2008

Changes for 2008

There are a lot of changes coming up for the 2008 season. I thought I'd make a list of some of the changes, since Daytona is only a couple of weeks away.

1) Both of the top 2 Nascar series got name changes. The Nascar Nextel Cup Series is now the Nascar Sprint Cup series. The Busch series is now the Nationwide series.

2) There are A LOT of team changes! Definitely the biggest change is Dale Jr. leaving DEI, the company his father started, going to Hendrick Motorsports. With him going to HMS, that meant somebody had to go. Unfortunately that person was Kyle Busch, which I think was a major mistake on Rick Hendricks part.

3) Of course there are just as many or more sponsor changes. The biggest one would be Budweiser leaving Dale Earnhardt Jr. They chose to sponsor my boy, Kasey Kahne! Elliot Sadler, Kasey's teammate also has a new sponsor deal going on. Instead of just one primary sponsor, he will have what is called a tri-mary sponsor, with Best Buy, Stanley Tools, and McDonald's on the hood at different races. Amp Energy Drink will sponsor Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the most part. Now of course there are others, but I won't go into detail about that.

4) Joe Gibbs Racing is changing to Toyota! This was a big shocker when it was first announced. Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, and now Kyle Busch are all apart of this team. At first the question was, how will they do? Toyotas didn't do too hot last year, but after the first couple of test sessions, it was clear that changing to Toyota wouldn't be a problem for their team. Kyle Busch is at the top of the speed charts. This guy is so talented. He is driving a Toyota for the first time, and this is his first year with JGR. I think he is out to tell the world that Rick Hendrick made a mistake by firing him!

5) One rule that Nascar announced this year is that all the cars outside the top 35 (aka Go or Go Home Cars) will qualify together at the end of qualifying. It used to be where you drew a number, and if you were lucky you got to go last, meaning that if you were outside the top 35, and you drew to go 1st, you were basically guaranteed a ticket headed home. I personally don't like this rule. The folks outside the top 35 now have a better chance at getting the pole, and I don't think that's right. But I did agree that something needed to be done for them. For the drivers inside the top 35, they will continue to do the draw thing. Now some of you may be asking why you would want to go last. Well when you go last (later in the day), the track has cooled down. Sometimes not very much, sometimes significantly, depending on the weather and when qualifying is. So to put it simply: the cooler the track is, the more grip you have, the faster you go.

Now those are basically the only changes in Nascar. If I think of any more I will put them on here.


tag: Kasey Kahne, Nascar, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, Rick Hendricks, Toyota, Elliott Sadler, Sponsor, Daytona, Nascar Sprint Cup Series, Nascar Nationwide Series

Johnson Secures Championship Title

Johnson Secures Championship Title

Sunday's race in Homestead started off with Jimmie Johnson having to finish 19th or better, which is not that hard for that team. They laid back most of the race. They didn't push it. All they wanted to do was finish the race to tie down the championship. They ran 6th-10th most of the day. I'm very happy for them. They finished 7th. They had pretty good pit stops. Everything was in line for them to win it. They deserved it. They earned it. Jeff Gordon finished 2nd in the points. He was out 77 points...the largest in Chase history. Jeff Gordon ran very good during the chase. Jeff Gordon and his team earned more points during the chase than any of the other chase winners when they won. Despite all this hard effort, it was his teammate who was a tad bit better and ended up walking away with the trophy. Chandra Johnson, Jimmie's wife, was crying after he crossed the finish line. Chad Knaus, Jimmie's crew chief, walked over and hugged her. It really shows they are all family. They seemed like they were all in a dream. This is the second Championship they have won in a row. Right after he crossed the finish line, he screamed over the radio, "We are gonna tear it up tonight!!", so I'm sure they had a huge party Sunday night. they are already thinking of next year and winning another championship. Chad Knaus said over the radio, "I can't wait for Daytona."

tag: NASCAR, Teammates, Hendrick Motorsports, Jimmie Johnson, Homestead, Jeff Gordon, Chad Knaus

Hendrick Domination

Hendrick the Invincible Team

Hendrick Motorsports has dominated Nascar all season. It is plain to see they know a lot more about the Car Of Tomorrow, or the COT, than the other teams. There are 36 races this season and we have completed 35. The last race is at Homestead. Of the 35 races, the Hendrick group has won 18 of the races...almost half of the races. Kyle Busch, who leaves Hendrick next year, won the first COT race, which tells us the Hendrick guys have done their homework on this new car. Of those 18 wins, Jimmie Johnson has won 10 of them. He has amazing talent. Jeff Gordon has only won 6 this year. Jeff Gordon, however, has won the most poles this season with 10 poles. He was very good early on, but lately, it has been Jimmie who has been impressing us. Jimmie has won the last four races. It seems like nothing they do could possibly go wrong. It is not surprising who is leading the championship points. Jimmie Johnson is leading with Jeff Gordon in second. It is pretty clear, though the Chase is still not over, who will win the Championship. Jimmie is ahead by 86 points. And guess who won the championship last year? Yep, you guessed it Jimmie Johnson. It is no surprise who the last driver to win back-to-back titles was...Jeff Gordon. There is a pattern here. Maybe we should go back and see how they got so good.

The Beginning

When Jimmie Johnson was first starting out in Nascar, he struggled like any rookie today does. He was driving in the Busch Series. One day he got up the nerve to walk over to Jeff Gordon and plain out asked him for advice. Gordon kept in touch with him and later offered him a driver development deal.

They are still close friends today. As we have seen many times this year, often teammates aren't close at all, so it is strange to see them both friends on and off the track. Because they are teammates and they do share information, I think that is what makes them unbeatable. They get the same cars from the same place. The difference is just that the drivers like different setups. A lot of the members on the teams work for both Jimmie and Jeff. For instance the other day on NascarNow, they said a guy works for Jeff all through the practices and everything, but when it comes Sunday, he changes tires for Jimmie. It shows they don't keep a lot of secrets from each other. They come into every race knowing what the other driver has.

The Key to Success

At a recent test in Atlanta, both Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson decided to skip it because they were in the middle of the chase, and they wanted their team to rest up. At last weekends race in Phoenix, after Jimmie Johnson won, Jeff Gordon came over and praised him and basically said that it's over. He wasn't saying that he was giving up just that Jimmie's team is so good, and it is plain to see that they, Jeff and his team, aren't keeping up. That right there is what I think makes that team so successful. They have a lot of respect for one another. They are professionals. they are mature, and this shows that this is what makes them so successful.

Jimmie had never won at Phoenix, but he did get his first win there this past weekend. He also has never won at Homestead, but in an interview this week, he said he truly feels like he can win Sunday. If he does win Sunday, that will be his 5th win in a row. He has already joined a list of greats who have the most wins in a row. His career is not yet at its peak though. He will continue to be an amazing driver along with his teammates. I feel sorry for the guys competing against him.

tag: NASCAR, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Teammates, Hendrick Motorsports