theStewartFan

Typing again

2011-10-27T10:57:00.000-04:00

Good morning world. I had been a NASCAR blogger for a few months a few years ago, but stopped due to general laziness. I’m not going to sit here and use the writers block excuse, I usually have more to say than the keyboard can capture due to my poor typing skills. I typed a blog called theStewatFan, and enjoyed it. But that was then (the Home Depot #20), and this is now (Office Depot #14). I still love JGR, Home Depot, and the color scheme of orange and black. But the only constant is change, so change I will. I lost the URL of The Stewart Fan, so that also has changed. Now on to my post. The plate racing is as good as I’ve ever watched. I’m not saying I’m a fan of the two car draft, or pack racing, but I don’t sit down with 20 laps to go. Isn’t that what we all want? Isn’t that what we watch for? But I think the best racing is to come. It seems to me that the current racing is due to the new surfaces as much as anything. As the surfaces wear in, we will transition back into pack racing. But the most exciting racing will be what comes in between as the drivers discover the changing conditions allow them to “pack up” a little more every race. Soon enough it’ll be four cars lined up, then six, and so on. It’s gonna be great! If you want to get rid of the plates, my answer would be to get rid of two cylinders. Hey, they’re stock cars, right? And the majority of the cars we’re driving are V6 engines. I can hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth now. Yes, I’m aware that “there’s no replacement for good ‘ol displacement”. But while we’re swallowing fuel injection, knock the plate tracks down two cylinders and let them open those injectors wide open. The advantages are obvious. Slow the cars down (I’m guessing not by much. I’ll bet we can get a 6 banger up to 180), and don’t restrict the air flow. It opens up “Have at it boys” up to the the whole race shop. And it should do the same for the drivers, allowing them to use the gas pedal to step out and pass on their own like on non-restricted races. This doesn’t help the smaller teams (or any of the teams for that matter) in the money department. These aren’t the best economic times to run a race team anyway, much less add another bullet to the budget. Having to acquire a whole new engine for these four races might mean they don’t race, and I’m not happy with that. Nothing would make me happier than your comments on this idea. Let me have it! I have pretty thick skin, and am open to the good and bad on this idea.

Pocono Predictions

2010-08-01T08:00:00.000-04:00

I know it’s been awhile since I put something up here, but I’m just going to jump in today. The past is the past. In the words of my favorite all time radio personality Don Geronimo, “Ever Forward!” That would put us on our way to Pocono, PA. As always, I’d like to thank Racing-Reference.info for having the data for me to sort through. Tony knows this track. It’s brought him victories, and he’s shown his ass here. In the last ten races here, he’s got the best average finish (7.9) of anyone. That’s surprising considering this has been Denny Hamlin’s playground for awhile. Four wins in nine starts and leading almost eight times as many laps as Tony. In the last ten years, no one matches the four wins. Kurt Bush has two, a handful of others have one. Ryan Newman and Kevin Harvick have finished the last ten races on the lead lap. They’re the only ones that can say that. Ryan has one win here (2003). Harvick would really like a win to go with that points lead. Thinking that open wheel experience would help here, I looked at Juan Pablo’s numbers. They started off real rocky, but since putting the Target stickers on the car, he’s got all top tens. Jimmie Johnson has no wins here (ever), with a best finish of third. He has no DNF’s here. Jeff Gordon has many good finishes here (1 win) and only 2 DNF’s. In fact, the only driver in the chase that doesn’t have good numbers here is Greg Biffle. Even Mark Martin (13th), Earnhardt Jr. (14th), and Newman (15th) all have good numbers. The Biff’ might want to step it up here or he’ll take a points hit here. I usually finish my blogs with two things, my prediction and something derogatory about Robby Gordon. I’ll start with my prediction. If Tony unloads well, and that hasn’t been the case lately, he’ll be hard to beat. I’d pick Harvick as the dark horse. I don’t believe in the “He’s Due” theory, but it just might apply here. As for Robby, I’ve said repeatedly that he (as an owner) needs to put someone else in that car on the left-turn-only venues. He’s decided to put P.J. Jones in the car here, one of the only people with worse numbers than Robby himself. But I still think he’s doing the right thing. Way to go, Robby!

Poked!

2009-09-24T08:16:00.002-04:00

Consider the bear officially poked. With a disappointing effort all around on the 14 team, expect a new resolve come the green flag at Dover. I'm imagining new checklists for everything in preparation for the Monster Mile. New strategies for success throughout the organization. Not just a few tweaks here and there, but a real cleaning up of the whole operation. We needed this, and this was the perfect time for it. Dover is going to separate the field more one way or the other. The concrete track and tire combo doesn't make Dover the crap shoot it used to be. It's drivable and the massive wrecks just aren't what they used to be. Tire management will be a factor, and for people who like a flat tracks, this ain't it. Having 2 of the 3 one mile tracks back to back in the Chase might not sound like a good idea, but the difference between the two venues is huge. I'm looking for a new and improved SHR to arrive at Dover. I hope I'm right.

Chase Analysis

2009-09-09T12:21:00.001-04:00

Like you needed one more opinion on who might make it in… And you could go out and get this stuff yourself…. Still I went to a few pages (Jayski and Racing-Reference) and put some stats with the clinch scenarios for myself, and now you can read them.

Denny’s in. Even if he wasn’t his average finish of 9.6 would probably put him in. But he should be up front taking points from someone trying to get in. So will Tony (Average finish of 10th) and Gordon (7.7). Those three and Johnson (a lousy 18.7 av finish, but 3 wins here) will have reason to be up front thanks to the format awarding those 10 points on the other side. It’s the only way Tony doesn’t give up the points lead going into the chase. It’s checkers or the wrecker for these 4 guys. This Chase thing might not be so bad?

Now for the contenders. Without help, Carl needs to finish 24th or better. In 10 starts his average finish is 19th despite only 3 top 10s. But based on the average, he’s in. On his own, Kasey needs to finish 21st or better. He got his first win here and has an average finish of 18.5. I’m not a big proponent on momentum, but if it helps, he’s got some. Kurt needs a 20th or better. An Average finish of 18.7 puts him in. He’s also got one win at RIR. Juan Pablo hasn’t done too well here. He averages 27.8 and needs a 18th or better if no one helps him. I’ll predict he’s out. Ryan needs a 16th with an average finish of 11.7. Needless to say I’d love to see him in. Both SHR cars in the chase would be awesome. I’m saying he’s in.

Mark, everyone’s feel good favorite, needs a 12th with an average finish of 11.9. That’s a close one. I’m not a big believer in momentum, but I’ll bank on his experience and equipment. He’s in. the Biff needs an 11th, but his average finish is 15.8. Even though that’s a bit upside down, I’m going to predict he’s in based on who’s behind him. He might fall a few spots, though. Matt is the same way. He needs a 2nd place to be guaranteed a spot (Av Fn 16.7) but he’s safe based on the people behind him. He will probably need a DNF from Montoya to lock it up.

Out of the top 12 sits Brian Vickers. I think that’s where he’ll stay. His average finish is as bad as Montoya’s (27.8). But I said that Montoya’s out, so I’ve got to replace him with someone right? In 14th place sits NASCAR’s current bad boy in Kyle Bush. Love him or hate him, he’s got and average finish here of an amazing 6.7! With some bad luck for others (or lack of momentum, your choice) I say Kyle’s in.

The Throwback Guy

2009-08-20T18:29:00.003-04:00

Here's a link to check out to find all your favorite old jerseys. Obviously I don't watch much football until after Holmstead, but.....

Professional jerseys from NFL, NHL, NBA, & MLB teams. Buy jerseys at cheap clearance prices. Get up to 40% off retail jersey prices.

Give 'till it feals good!

2009-07-18T08:40:00.003-04:00

We are hosting an online fundraiser where a ticket purchaser can win any item listed below. Drawing will be on July 30th. Those same tickets purchased will also put them in the Grand Prize Drawing on October 05 for a 2010 Chevy Camaro. The winner and a guest will be flown down to Charlotte and treated to a personal tour of SHR, and lunch followed by the presentation of the Camaro and the keys directly from Tony.

Coke Add

2009-07-01T22:04:00.000-04:00

I wanted to share the following sneak preview with you. The infamous Coca-Cola “brand managers” have returned to the race track, unleashing their latest attempt to sabotage Coke Zero and the NASCAR® drivers who promote the brand’s REAL Coke taste and zero calories. After humorously failing in previous commercials to solicit help from the drivers in keeping Coke Zero from taking the checkered flag and further encroaching on Coca-Cola’s turf, the brand managers have switched tactics by offering to “help out” this time. They go on to suggest that the drivers, including the likes of Tony Stewart, Jeff Burton, Greg Biffle and Denny Hamlin, “use the one part of the car that no one has bothered to use for sponsorship yet” – the windshield – to make a bold statement for the Coke Zero brand. The brand managers elicit a wide range of reactions as they pitch their idea to members of the Coca-Cola Racing Family and drape a giant Coke Zero sticker over the windshield of their cars, covering it almost entirely. The ads were loosely scripted, allowing for plenty of give-and-take between the drivers and the improv actors portraying the brand managers. Two 60-second versions of the Coke Zero “Cover Up” spot will debut during the TNT race broadcast of the Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola on July 4th at 7:30 p.m. but you and your readers are invited to see it today along with behind-the-scenes footage from the making of the shoot. Visit http://tinyurl.com/cokezerocoverup.

New Years Predicitons

2009-01-03T08:42:00.006-05:00

I've never done this, and I picked a heck of a year to start. It has been an edge of your seat off season if you are a junkie for NASCAR news like me. I'd like to think I'm an up to date kinda guy when it comes to NASCAR. If a NASCAR question comes up at he office, I'm the guy they ask (not very regularly, and usually it's a joke like,"Which way do they turn again?"). Hope they don't ask too many for a few months as I get used to new drivers in new cars with new sponsors.

I guess the easiest prediction would be to say that the Jimmie Johnson Juggernaut will continue to roll. What's to say he can't go on winning as long as the combination of him and Chad keep at it? I used to give the majority of the credit to Chad for Jimmie's success, but I'm beginning to believe in the chemistry thing a bit more. The unspoken words between the two are worth a thousand spoken. The ability to be best friends/family and professional business partners is something very few can pull off. Sorta like a mullet. You know; business in the front, party in the back. Jimmy and Chad have that. Maybe even better than Tony and Zippy or Jeff and Ray had it.

Along that same line, I believe that Jr. will have another mediocre year. He'll win a few and make the chase, but I don't believe he'll progress in his quest to win a Cup championship. His relationship with Tony Jr. is just not what it needs to be. I can't describe it to you, but I hear it in there voices when they talk on the radio, and so can Mr. Hendrick. We'll see how many times he has to step in on their conversations this year before he decides this has got to change. It's not going to be easy, and the wailing and gnashing of teeth by the Jr. Nation will be huge. But I believe after a few sleepless nights, he'll wake up one morning and smell the proverbial coffee. They'll be a nice niche for Tony Jr. somewhere else in HMS.

I about wrote the season off as a test session for Tony's new team until the announcement of Darien Grubb as his crew chief. I can only hope that their level of chemistry is somewhere in the rang of the three mentioned above. If they can get near that level of communication, I believe there's a chance for Tony to get into the chase. We know that Darien has seen these HMS cars before, and Tony has the raw talent. Lets hope that the last peice falls into place.

Please remember

2008-12-17T10:45:00.000-05:00

I’d like to blog a little off the topic of NASCAR if you will allow me just this once. I’m an information junky. And it really doesn’t matter what information it is most of the time, just as long as it’s new (or just new to me). Needless to say NASCAR news is right up around the top of my list. Because of that fact, not a day goes by when I’m not on Jayski.com. His page has been what I consider the backbone of NASCAR news for years. Other pages have flowery stories about different topics, but if you want just the meat and potatoes, you go straight to Jayski. It’s the Google of our sport. Growing from a budding blog style page, to being picked up by a major news organization.

While crawling through the mass of information available on this site, I came upon a list of birthdays for the month of December. The list is restricted to NASCAR drivers, media, teams, and his family and friends. It does have one other stand out I’d like to remember here. Jesus Christ is listed as born on December 25^th. I thank and applaud him for it. In this politically correct world, there’s a lot of pressure on people who publish to the masses to leave out such details in order not to offend some readers. Mr. Jayski is courageous enough to ignore this type of pressure.

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” Luke 2:11 KJV. Merry Christmas from Toni, Chelsey and I. Please help spread the Good News and celebrate Christmas for the real reason for the season. See more here.

Dave

theStewartFan

Dear Santa...

2008-12-14T19:10:00.005-05:00

I was listening to Sirius NASCAR Radio (which I do all the time now) This morning, and they asked people to call in and act like a Secret Santa. What would you get your favorite driver for Christmas. So I called in and added my two cents. I thought I'd blog about it now.....

My gift to my favorite driver wouldn't actually go to my favorite driver per say. My gift would be whatever secret setup book Chad Knaus has that makes that Jimmy Johnson Chevy fly magically appear under the Christmas tree of Darien Grubb. I'm sure this little book of tricks is hidden away somewhere, even from Mr. Hendricks. He's got some plausible deniability on these secrets, and likes it that way. Tony and Rick are good friends, but Rick isn't in it to give away wins. Open books only open so far in some cases. I'd like to think they'll open all the way, especially given the fact that the testing ban could hurt Stewart-Haas Racing more than most. New team times new chassis divided by no testing just doesn't add up to me (I'm real bad at math).

Anyway, I'd like to add that I love Sirius NASCAR radio. I've had satellite radio since XM first came on the air. I've always liked it, but I love it now. I love Dave Moody's show. Before listening to his show, I could have gone a few weeks without satellite. Now if it broke, I'd go buy another that day so I could hear his show that afternoon. I call in as Dave from Dover every once in awhile. One day I might try to get a shamelss plug for my web page.

Just change the channel!

2008-11-11T12:14:00.003-05:00

Move that soap box over here.......

I've heard a lot of griping on the NASCAR channel of my satellite radio about the last 30 or so minutes of the race being switched to another network. I myself consider this a minor inconvenience, as I had to make sure it was on the right channel when I turned on the TV anyway. If you have a TV that just automatically tunes to the race, drop me a line with the make and model. Otherwise, you had to do the same thing you did when you turned on the TV in the first place to watch the end of the race. Big deal; quit your wining. If you missed the end of the race because you weren't paying enough attention to notice, you weren't really watching the race anyway. NASCAR's ratings aren't going up either. A trend that they TV people are probably watching when they make their decision to cut to another channel. I'm sure they used the situation to make as much money per second as they possibly could. Don't think that's going to change under the new administration. No redistributing of the wealth is coming from that.

If I had to place the blame on anything making the race so long that the network had to consider switching networks, I would blame the tow truck drivers that cleared the two cars that had joined together in what appeared to be some sort of mating ritual. I watched some guy from the safety crew with a fire extinguisher stand in front of the exhaust pipe which was on fire for a good 30 seconds before he decided that the thing in his hand could possibly help with the situation, and finally put out the flames. Then a 20 minute red flag to clear a few cars off the track? If that had happened in NYC, they wouldn't have had to throw the caution. A crew would have cleared that before they picked up the pace car on the next time around. What are they trying to do out there? Hook up to the front car and pull it one way, the back car the other way, and drag them off the track. The cars are wrecked! No ones gonna say, "Man, this car is in remarkably good shape after that other car landed on top of it." It's gonna need a lot of new sheet metal no matter what. Grab on to whatever piece of the cage is closest to the tow truck, and haul it outa there. I can deal with a 60 minute caution to fix the safer barrier or to attend to someone medically, but for a wrecked race car? A truck with a push bumper could have plowed them off the track in seconds. a little bit of speedy dry, and we're racing on the same channel we started on.

the 11th best car finished ....... 11th

2008-09-23T14:52:00.003-04:00

The Dover race was the best in recent memory. The weather was perfect all weekend which left rubber on the track for the cup cars to play with. Tony didn't waist much time climbing through the field behind Montoya, but couldn't seem to get around him. On the first long run, he was able to out drive most of his competitors as the handling of the cars went away. Some people might say his car was better on long runs, I wish that had been the case. With the big Red car behind him, it was time to follow the ATT car around for awhile. Just like before with Juan Pablo, he was able to pass every car Jeff Burton was passing, but not able to get around the 31. He was stuck in an average 11th position. I'm sure it was frustrating to be able to pass all those cars, but not pass the only one he needed to. The car was doomed to finish 11th. His last challenge was Michael Walthrip. Again able to keep up with the 55, but not able to pass him. The NAPA car did run good, and I'm not a big MW fan. Mike finished 10th, and Tony finished 11th. Never a threat for the lead (even Mikey led a lap!). That might seem like a good run for the chase, but Jeff Gordon averaged a top 5 in the chase last year and finished 2nd.

The black hat villain (Kyle Bush if you just started watching NASCAR yesterday) blew up and the crowd went wild. The white hat hero (Jr.) blew a tire and the crowd cried out. The Roush cars ganged up on Jimmy and treated him like a high school chess player. They pretty much gave him a weggie and took his lunch money, all in half a lap. And last, Robbie Gordon didn't disappoint by taking out Jamie McMurry in what would have probably been a top 5 car. All in all and epic story of agony, defeat, and an 11th place finish.

Please give to find a cure

2008-09-18T09:30:00.001-04:00

www.DavesMSRide.com

It's almost that time when I'll be getting on the bicycle and riding to the beach again. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society will use funds collected from the MS Bike Tour to not only support research for a cure tomorrow, but also to provide programs which address the needs of people living with MS today. Because we can fight this disease by simply riding a bike, because we have chosen to help thousands of people through a contribution to the MS Bike Tour, we are now getting closer to the hour when no one will have to hear the words, "You have MS."

Please give a little or as much as you can at www.DavesMSRide.com. For those of you who have already given, Thank You so much.

--
Dave Guenthner
www.DiamondScents.com
info@diamondScents.com

The Olympics and NASCAR

2008-06-08T21:11:00.004-04:00

Always a fan of the VA boys in NASCAR, I'll post this info sent to me from ATT about Jeff's support for the Olymipc games.

AT&T is celebrating Team USA as it prepares for the 2008 Olympics Games in Beijing by introducing a new paint scheme for Richard Childress Racing’s No. 31 AT&T Chevrolet, the racecar driven by NASCAR Cup Series veteran Jeff Burton!

Last Thursday (6/5/08), Jeff Burton circled Pocono Raceway in the new paint scheme, which features the AT&T USA five-ring logo and images of U.S. Olympic Team hopefuls gymnast Nastia Liukin and swimmer Michael Phelps.

Click Here for images of the event and the new No. 31 paint scheme.

AT&T is proud to continue its support for NASCAR and Team USA. Burton, Liukin, and Phelps are all doing amazing things this year, and we look forward to their future successes!

Also, Team USA enthusiasts who want to stay connected to their favorite U.S. athletes such as Liukin and Phelps should be sure to check out AT&T blue room to enjoy webcasts of events and exclusive interviews with AT&T U.S. Olympic Team hopefuls. Both Liukin and Phelps are featured in AT&T Tips and Training program episodes, which provide fans access to sport-specific training tips from select U.S. Olympic Team hopefuls.

17 Laps

2008-06-02T16:47:00.000-04:00

I watched my first Dover race from the stands this year, and 17 laps was all it took for it to go bad. From our seats in the middle of turn of 3 and 4, 16 rows up, we could see all of the track with the exception of a short section right in front of us, as it was hard to see over the wall. We had pretty good seats for lap 17, though. We saw Elliott Sadler come out of turn 2 sideways after contact with David Gilliland. Dover being the “Self Cleaning Track”, Elliot didn’t stay up against the outside wall. Another quirk of the Monster Mile is it gets narrow coming out of the turns. These two factors gave Tony not much of a chance to avoid Sadler in the first place. He came out of turn two where the normally fast line has you drift up towards the wall. As the 19 car started to slide down to the inside, I imagined Tony staying high and cruising around and continuing the race. That dream did not materialize. “Go low” is what I heard on my Fan View Scanner. Tony’s spotter didn’t have the view we had. We could see right down the back stretch, and the spotter had to look over the garage area to see what was happening. And go low is what Tony did; right into the side of the Best Buy car.

We had a full and fun weekend, even with the race ending very early. We did TrackSide Live on Friday, watched part of the Nationwide Race from the pits on Saturday, and had good seats for Sunday’s race. We met some new friends who were more than just a little hospitable, letting us park and hang out with them at their RV. We enjoyed watching Joey Legano race, and bought the first of probably many of his souvenirs. He looks like he could make the Joe Gibbs racing stable even more powerful than it is now. No pressure, Joey.

The fuel is a lie!

2008-05-25T14:34:00.003-04:00

As I watched the Nationwide race last night, I didn't once again fall for the drama that the announcers try to build in to the race. "The top 12 cars don't have the fuel to go the distance", they'd say. "By our calculator, they're short 4 laps." Well, your calculators suck. Not only did they finish the race (and they almost always do), but the winner did 14 burnouts and 22 victory laps (I'm exaggerating, of course).

The teams know that if they run out of fuel, they ain't gonna finish in the top 25 or so, and they'll come and get fuel. Please leave the drama to the teams, drivers, the track, the weather, or whatever real life quandaries that actually might have some effect on the race conclusion. I don't mind your opinion, after all it's part of you're job (and worth a lot more than mine), but I'd rather you state it and move on. Put your calculators away up in the booth. If you were that good, you'd be on a pit box.

That said, Kyle Bush continues to show his talent as a driver. He also had a crew chief that somehow knew those old tires could hold off a charging Denny Hamlin. I'm sure that kind of tire strategy might end up in tonight's race.

Glad that's over with

2008-05-18T17:48:00.002-04:00

If you've read my past posts about this event, you'd know I'm not a big fan of the All Star event. I would dump it myself, but I'm sure I'm the minority on that one. I don't even give it the satisfaction of calling it a race. I'll admit, I watch it, but I would probably watch the Cup cars run anything and anywhere. I'm a NASCAR fan after all. I'm glad the Tony was racing a backup car and not something they had set up for a starter at any point. It appears that JGR had a few other agendas for the event. All three JGR cars seemed to be running an experimental engine package that, at some time during the weekend, expired. I'm not sure if they put another test package back in Tony's car to race with, but he was not doing too bad towards the end. Much like Darlington, where cautions are the rule and not the exception, a yellow towards the end would have benefited him greatly. Again, it didn't come. In an event billed as a winner take all as if they're gonna be wrecking every lap, they went pretty much caution free towards the end. Now let's get back to points racing!

Here he comes!

2008-05-11T16:49:00.005-04:00

It 's really nice to see Dover Speedway doing more things that will only really effect the true fans. I have seen them double the size of there sky boxes, which are just filled full of non-race fans. I watched the fall race in a sky box, and when it was time for Carl to do his flip, I was the only person in my box still there to see the race. Everyone else had left an hour or so before the race ended. These aren't race fans.

The new FanZone and Monster statue (which will be holding a full sized car) will probably never be seen by the high rollers, and that's fine by me. Us real race fans will enjoy it. I took this picture myself on Mother's Day.

Give 'till it Helps

2008-05-10T15:50:00.001-04:00

The NASCAR Foundation’s NASCAR Day program is May 16, 2008 and has become one of the most important and fastest-growing traditions in the NASCAR Family. In 2007, NASCAR Day raised more than $1.6 million from the combined fund raising efforts of NASCAR fans, NASCAR partners and companies worldwide.

Right now, NASCAR fans can show their support by visiting their local participating The Home Depot store to make a $5 donation and get their 2008 NASCAR Day collectible lapel pin. Pins will be available through NASCAR Day on Friday, May 16. Fans will receive a $5 bounce back coupon with their pin to use on their next purchase of $50 or more at The Home Depot.

FanView Review

2008-05-07T07:00:00.004-04:00

I rented one of these things at Richmond, and here's my take:

A lot of race views, but I’m trying to watch the race! It would have been the next best thing to the TV if I wasn’t watching from the stands, but I was. 5 stars for ease of use. I found the perfect combination of listening to the DirecTV channel of Tony Stewart as they covered Tony-specific stuff the whole race. They did seem to hype it up a bit, saying he was charging through the field when he was habitually in 10th the entire race, but that’s DirecTV’s problem, not the FanView. The problem with that is it lost communication with the DirecTV drivers with 30 laps to go. At that point it jumped to the MRN radio with Tony on priority scan, which was the next best thing. After reporting the “glitch” to the trailer I turned the unit in to (and receiving a receipt proving I turned it in), the Gentleman gave me a voucher for one free use of the unit good for a year at any upcoming race. I’m sure I’ll get it again based on that.

It wasn’t much more that a scanner other than that. I did use the stats button to track who was a lap down a few times to see who was pitting with Tony, info I would not have had handy without the FanView unit. Given the frequency list for the DirecTV driver channels, my scanner would have sufficed. Now at larger tracks where you can’t see much more of the cars except for what’s rushing by you in a moment (Pocono and the road courses come to mind), this thing would show you quite a bit of the racing you’d miss without it, including replays. If you’re gonna try one of these things (and I would if I were you), I’d get one early in the day before lines get long just before the race. They gave me a military discount when I showed them my ID. Rumor is there is a Sprint customer discount also if you show them your phone. If you attend 5 or more races a year, purchasing one might be an option to consider. It would pay for itself in fairly short order.

Reflections of Richmond

2008-05-04T16:18:00.005-04:00

Richmond as a whole was again a great experience. Great track and facility. I’d recommend it to anyone, especially for a first race. I’ve got to go see more of the races here. We really enjoyed it. We saw a few friends we’d only knew online and we hope to see again. We wandered through all of the trailers and concessions. We were on SPEED Trackside. We had great seats on the Start/Finish line. The weather was great during the day, and held throughout the race. Just a great day for a race that ended with a great race.Richmond just refuses to disappoint.

Tony had a lot to think about during the race. He asked for more forward bite, and they adjusted. He asked for more, and they made more adjustments. This went on for most of the race. And then the electrical problems started. Tony was as busy as an air traffic controller, monitoring gauges, flipping switches, and driving a car that just didn’t seem to perform. He could get to tenth, but it just wouldn’t climb any higher. Basically he finished 4th because 4 cars in front of him fell back, and he just wouldn’t give up on his car. After 4 adjustments, we finally got some good feedback from him, and he started to pass cars. All in all a very hard fought 4th place finish for the 20 car.

It was an old school domination of a race except for the fact that he didn’t lap the field. Denny had it won, but for the same reason I’m a N ASACAR fan, he didn’t. If you don’t stick around for the last turn of the last lap, you can’t be sure who won. I was waiting for him to get out of the car and lay down in traffic. Instead he got penalized for purposely bringing out the yellow. My call would have been to come in for tires after dropping out of the top 10, but I blow stuff up for a living, so throw my opinion where ever you’d like.

You’ve got to ask yourself, “Would Dale Sr. have raced Dale Jr. in the same position (with quite possibly the same results)?” The answer is a resounding yes. Was Kyle out of place under Jr.? No. Could’ve Jr. given him some more room? Sure. Why Wasn’t Jr. Protecting the low line, anyway? Who knows?

Who does Michael Walthrip think he is teaching someone a lesson at Richmond? In 42 starts, he’s got 0 top 5’s and only 2 top 10’s. He missed the last three races here. I’d think there’s a better driver out there to show someone the ropes at RIR. I’m glad they parked him.

Just Another February . . .

2008-02-25T15:31:00.006-05:00

....and no win for Tony. The 24 hours at Daytona is followed by the 24 hours at California. I'm sure I'm not alone when I backseat drive and say they made a real bad call starting the race yesterday. I blow stuff up for a living, so don't take my word for it. I'm sure the 11, 5 and 88 really would like an explanation to why their race cars are all wrinkled up. They were definitely the biggest losers today. The 24 jumps 24 spots ahead in the points to 14th. If you're gonna make a comeback after Daytona, this is the place to do it. Every race, it gets harder to make it up. Kyle Bush is the only one to finish both races in the top 5, and it shows as he takes the points lead. Tony goes from third, well, to third with his 7th place finish. He seemed to be able to move around just after restarts, but when the car in front of him got a lead, he was just stuck there. The last time I saw Carl Edwards do a flip, it was in person here at Dover. I was trying to see how many shrimp I could eat before they kicked me out of the sky box. He finished way out in front. If you thought Daytona was boring (and I read that a lot; don't feel the same), then hook yourself up to a defibrillator and shock yourself back to life.

And with one lap to go.....

2008-02-17T23:16:00.011-05:00

Needless to say I'm not as disappointed as Tony, but I was on my knees after that one. It's a real heart breaker to be in that position at that point in the race. But he wasn't up there the whole time, and he didn't have a lot of good things to say about his car most of the race. Thanks to a friend with TrackPass on NASCAR.com, I was able to listen to him all but cuss at the car for some time. But in true championship team fashion, Zippy and co. were able to put the proper screws to it and get him in a position to win it.

I think Tony went low to pick up a push he knew he wasn't gonna get from the 12. He didn't realize that Kyle lost all of his momentum after being forced under the yellow line and having to lift. We'll never know, but I could have seen a huge wreck if Tony would have attempted the block on Ryan with Kurt attached. Given one more lap, Kyle would have been able to give him that push. I gotta look on the bright side a little, we're 136 points ahead of where we were this time last year. Here's to finishing in the top 3 all year.

Congratulations to Ryan Newman and Rodger Penske. He started this journey when he entered a car in the 1972 Daytona 500 with Mark Donohue behind the wheel of a AMC Matador. 18 laps into it, a push rod got too short (broke). Roger's been trying ever since. And I'll recognize the two Evernham cars in the top 10. Sadler had a terrible run going and finished up front.

You're the greatest Toni.

The Duals are Done

2008-02-15T19:21:00.001-05:00

The Duals are Done
I'm actually emailing in this post. If it works well, you might see me blogging more from different locations. Back to the post. The Duals were as exiting as the Shootout, but the Championship is still not on the line. I've never been a big fan of non-points events. It's like playing online poker tournaments for free. No real risk for putting it all out there. But every lap in the Daytona 500 will count towards the big picture, the Sprint Cup (That's what they're calling it now, right?). Jr has the chance to make history like Tony did last year by winning the Shootout, his dual, and then the 500. We all know how Tony finished that up last year (Dead Last!).

I've told people for years that if Tony finished second to Jr. in every plate race, I would be happy. The plate races are huge points gambles as far as I'm concerned. Leading a lap and finishing second is as good as a win in my book.

That about says it all...

2008-02-13T20:13:00.002-05:00

Thanks NASCAR, for clearing up what happened in the hauler after Kurt unceremoniously rammed Tony numerous times in Shootout practice. Punishing them the same says it all. I'd like to say I call them like I see'em. I looked at the incident many times before I made a judgment that Kurt flat out blocked Tony up into the wall causing the accident. That in itself was uncalled for in a practice setting. The way Tony has had his car up against that outside wall ever since has solidified my opinion. Kurt's reaction was down right stupid. Tony, on the other hand, showed an amount of restraint not seen very often; but I guess it didn't last. I'm going to believe the rumors that Tony acted out against Kurt in the hauler, based on the equal penalties. After all, NASCAR is always "Fair and Balanced" (don't sue me FOX NEWS!) when it comes to penalties. Would they?

Happy Valentines Day, Toni

Can the car make a difference?

2008-01-31T23:56:00.000-05:00

How much of a difference can a change in manufacturers make, really. Well after digging through some numbers, I came up with these facts. Tony has made nine starts in the Daytona 500; 4 in a Pontiac, and 5 in the Chevy. In the 4 Pontiac races, he never lead a lap. He never failed to lead a lap in any of the Chevy races. In the Pontiac, he only completed every lap in one race. Until last year, Tony had completed every lap run in the Chevy.

I'm not expecting the Toyota to be that much better or worse, especially in COT trim. Just seemed interesting when I looked at the Daytona 500 stats by themselves without the July race numbers mixed in there.

More Crash Data

2008-01-19T09:07:00.000-05:00

Using the stats put together again by USA Today we can see another place where championships are won and lost, and who just seems to be a nuisance on the track week in and week out. Tab 2 of the graphic shows crashes by driver. Rick Mears is quoted saying, "To finish first you must first finish." I'll add that a clean race car can help quite a bit. You don't see many wrinkled up race cars in those Victory Lane photo's. David Reagan had 22 crashes last year. That's over 60% of his races, and the largest number of crashes in one year as far back as 2003. It was his rookie year though. Second behind him? You guessed it, Robby Gordon. 16 crashes in '07 to beat out all of the other rookies. The data gathered only included drivers that started 30 races or more. I was looking for some other names when I realized that fact. I couldn't expect them to include all active drivers for the last 5 years, that would be quite a list. The fewest crashes is a tie with Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon having only 3. Kevin had the least number of DNF's this year, also. Others I'll mention are Rookie Paul Menard with only 6, and J. J. Yeley who went from 17 in '06 to only 9 in '07. Clint Bowyer also cut his numbers in half from 10 in his rookie year to just 4 in '07. A lesson to any young driver looking to make the chase and win races in only two years. Keep that sponsors name looking good on the side of your car, and you'll go places.

Tony is Fast

2008-01-15T13:01:00.000-05:00

'Course we knew that. But these are the first numbers we have to show that Tony will be competitive in 2008. Doing his own testing for the first time in years, I'm sure the single car testing was boring, but the speed figures should have had him sleeping pretty good last night. His fastest lap on day 2 was 185.094, faster than Jimmie Johnson, who was fastest on day one last week. A change in temp can possibly make this much difference, and I'm not sure of the weather differences between both tests. I was stuck in Wisconsin (I'll tell you what the weather was like there: FRIGID!!) due to a broken plane, or I might have gotten to this post last night. Testing the afternoon on day 2 should be a little more interesting as there'll be some cars to draft and pass in the new body style. Trying to beat J.J. Yeley's fastest speed (187.359) in drafting last week will be the numbers I'm looking for. Honorable mention goes to Jr. having the only Chevy (no Ford's, 1 Dodge)in the top 10. Of course, his teammates tested last week.

The Pit Stop

2008-01-11T20:11:00.000-05:00

If you're a member of Infield Parking, then you're aware of the hiatus they are taking, leaving us addicted members looking for some web attention. One of the IP members started The Pit Stop on the Ning social networking site so we can get a fix in the mean time. IP's been down a week and is scheduled to be down one more. Come by and see what we've done with the place. Just click on the badge above.

1st test session

2008-01-07T20:48:00.000-05:00

Seeing Kyle Bush in the top 10 in both sessions gives me a good feeling about the Toyota program JGR has put together. A few other Toy-motors are up there with him. There was no doubt that Toyota would give 100% to this program, and it would eventually yield results, but there would be a curve. This is a sign that they might be turning the curve. I'll sleep a little easier knowing Tony has an excellent chance to join Kyle at the top of the speed charts. Any guess where Robby Gordon finished? In the bottom 10. Great guy, super team owner, just not smart enough to hire a driver.

Crash Data

2008-01-06T18:56:00.000-05:00

I’d like to start this entry by giving credit to the source of facts and figures that I’m going to give my opinion on. The USA Today has again published it’s year end crash data report. It’s the kind of raw, non-opinionated data you don’t normally find from and inside the Washington beltway news source, with just the numbers themselves left to speak. The opinion I will take care of here. The first chart shows accidents and cautions per race. There was an average of 6.7 accidents per race in ’07. That’s just a .1 increase from last year. Average from 2001 to ‘07 is 6.18.It appears there is no real spike or valley in this curve. Rule changes like the chase where there are two chances to lose the championship, and the green/white/checker have not increased the accident rate. Unexplained cautions during a race has been the topic of some controversy in the past few years, but the records here show that the number of cautions per race hasn’t fluctuated to reflect this conspiracy theory. Cautions per race for ’07 are the same as ’06 at 9.6, and actually down from 2005 where there was 10.4. Average since 2001 is 8.85. There is a ton more I’d like to write about this article, and I’ll keep hammering away at it. Anyway, because of the unfortunate cancellation of the Dakar Rally, it appears Robby Gordon will test at Daytona. Fortunately, it won't be in the same session with Tony. Life is still good.

Question answered!

2008-01-03T18:40:00.000-05:00

Seems like Tony is going to man the stick for the testing session at Daytona. I for one am glad to see it. It shows me the commitment of him and the team to bounce back from a year that could've gone better along with the fact that they've switched manufactures. You can read the article at SceneDaily.com

I'm looking forward to the New Year

2008-01-01T14:33:00.000-05:00

I haven't been this optimistic about a New Year in a long time. 2007 didn't treat me too well in the life department, but it's behind me. And since there's nothing but NASCAR on this blog, that's all I'll say about that. I'm looking forward to the coming year and NASCAR season as much as anyone who's favorite driver switched to Toyota can. It's going to make my year as a Tony Stewart fan as tumultuous as it possibly can. I hope that the boys down at JGR have figured this car out over the off season. It'll be interesting to see if Tony, who traditionally doesn't test at Daytona, gives Mr. Wingtips (Dave Marcus) the bench for at least some of the testing. The one thing I'm sure of is that if the car can make it to Victory Lane, then we'll see some fence climbing (I mean, interviews from the flag stand!). It would make it an interesting season to see him develop the car for a few races, just make the chase, and then have his usual romp of the field in the fall. Better yet, let's win Daytona and show them all they really needed was the right driver!

Hi Toni!

And as the curtian falls.....

2007-11-12T11:26:00.000-05:00

Although we were Theoretically out of it weeks ago, the math caught up with us. Quite a charge to the front at the start, just couldn't seem to get out IN front. I think they're having trouble getting a winning car together this year. I'm sure Tony can pass these guys, but there just doesn't seem to be enough gas pedal under his right foot these days. The pit stops were,....well, you saw them. I didn't see Tony having to work the wheel a lot, so that tells me the car wasn't too loose (or too fast). Remember, I blow stuff up for a living, so that's my layman's opinion. It would have been interesting to see what clean air (the lead) could have done for the car; but if you can't qualify higher, or get the track position, it really doesn't matter. Tony's voice in the post race interview (at least he finished high enough to get one) told me the story. Bring on next year and we'll see what we can do in the Toyota. I'm sure he'll have fun at Homestead, but he's not expecting much and is happily looking forward to a few weeks off.

Tony's "I Told You So!", The other Denny Hamlin.

2007-09-30T12:50:00.000-04:00

When Tony spun (and he did) Denny earlier this year, I wasn't happy about the way he talked about Denny Hamlin, and nobody else did either. His comments on his teamworks and driving ability came as a shock to everyone. Tony got lambasted by all for his out lash at the Rookie of the Year. I defended him against my feelings about what he said, because I don't see what happens out there through the windshield of a stock car. It was almost like he was bottling things up about how he felt, and then the cork blew. At the Dover race, the cork blew for Kyle Petty. Things seem a little different now. Almost no one took what Tony said seriously, but now that someone with a different view has come out against Denny, it's a different tune. Kyle was extremely upset to the point of physical confrontation at the actions on the track. I can almost hear Tony say it. "I told you so!"

Toyooooomygoodness!

2007-09-05T22:21:00.000-04:00

Yea, it's been awhile since I posted anything here. Can't say when I might post anything again, but that's not why I'm typing this tonight. This will be my official reaction to the switch from GM to Toyota by JGR. I've always embraced change but this is a little much. To take a championship driver and put him in a car that has not proven itself doesn't seem to make much sense. It wouldn't make sure who the driver was, but the fact that it's MY driver hits home. I have a lot of faith in the JGR organization to be confident that this change was looked at from every angle and had many more benefits that I could possibly list on this blog, much less see as an average fan. Al I want to see is Tony climb the fence at the end of a NASCAR event. He could drive a Yugo for all I care.

Who's hot at LMS

2007-05-22T19:23:00.000-04:00

The numbers have been crunched in my spreadsheet, and here are the results. As always, I credit Racing-Reference.info for the baseline figures, plus I figure in a few of my own. I usually don't include drivers with less that 10 starts, with a few exceptions. The young guns are so impressive these days that I can't just ignore there averages, even if they don't have a lot of results to average.

If you think Jimmie Johnson owns all the numbers here, well, your almost right. In 11 starts he's got 10 top 10s and 5 wins. An average finish of 5.8 beats all the rest. He also has an average start here of 8.2, lowest of all active drivers. The one race he didn't finish in the top 10, he did not finish (DNF).

The only driver with multiple starts without a DNF is Carl Edwards. He's only started 4 races here, but he's finished every one on the lead lap with an average finish of 6th. No win to show for it, but been in position to win with two 3rd place finishes.

Other winners here include Martin (4 in 44 starts), Gordon (4 in 28 starts), and Jarret (3 in 40 starts (pre-Toyota)). Labonte, Burton, Kahne all have 2, but Kahne has done it with only 6 starts. Expect to see him riding the wall all night. Stewart, Kenseth, and McMurray all have one.

The lowest DNF average goes to Tony Stewart. He's only not finished 6% of his starts here. Jimmie's in second on this one with 9%. Robbie Gordon's best finish is 16th twice in 13 starts with DNFs in almost half of his races here. Somebody find this fine car owner a driver.

My pick? Tony Stewart of course. If you want a second opinion, you could use a hair cut. But if I had to pick another, I'd go with Mark Martin and that Chevy Mr. "Deep Pockets" Ginn puts underneath him every week. You can't count out the HMS guys any week (can you Race Chick), and this won't be any exception. My other prediction is the Bush Brothers will tangle again, and both loose.

Alright! I feel I can start blogging again.

2007-05-21T16:08:00.000-04:00

I didn't stop blogging in protest to the All Star Race, but I've never liked the event, and now that it's over I think I've got some writing to do. Really, I've hated the event as long as I've been a fan (1999). The idea of a race that doesn't get you any closer to a championship is worthless. I get things back like "It's just a fun race", and "It's for the million dollars", but I just ain't buyin' in. If every dime went to a charity, I'd probably start to watch. But making the rich richer for no apparent reason doesn't appeal to me, and the fact that it's an All Star galla event won't change that. Now the Coke 600? different story altogether! A test of endurance for every car, part, driver, and team member. NASCAR's version of a marathon. That's all I've got to say for now.......Film at eleven.

The Bristol Stomp

2007-03-20T02:41:00.000-04:00

It’s hard to be disappointed when, at the end of a race, the fastest car won. I could see that in Tony with his post-race interview. Sure he was upset that he was pinched into the wall in the closing laps. But Jimmie’s car was as good in one set of turns, and better in the others. That adds up to an eventual pass for the win in any contest. With laps lead (bonus points), and a chance at the win, it was all and all a great effort by the 20 team. It was the kind of effort that makes a team even hungrier for their first win of the season. Tony jumps seven spots in the points to sixth. As the season gets longer, it gets harder to catch the point’s leader. These top 5’s and bonus points have made it a lot easier to see the chase and championship a possibility for the Home Depot Chevy.

It’s finally here. Amongst all the fan fare to go with a mountain of criticism, the Car of Tomorrow is upon us. Although maybe not the greatest overall change in the cars, it’s got to be one of the biggest single change since the “Strictly Stock” category disappeared. It’s definitely NASCAR history in the making. I for one am happy to see it hear, if only to get over it. I’ve not had too many kind words to say about it, but I’ll sit hear and like it with the rest of you. It will be interesting to see a few of them all wrinkled up after the usual Bristol race antics. They say the splitter on the front of the car is made of a material that is all but indestructible. We’ll see first hand on Sunday.

Having almost nothing in the notebooks to look back on should make for interesting race strategies. Fuel mileage isn’t usually an issue hear, as cautions towards the end of a Bristol race are as common as commercial breaks. But crew chiefs should be scratching their heads wondering what tire wear and track position will do to his team. Dialog between the driver and crew should be interesting, as decisions on when to pit and what adjustments need to be made will take a bit more thinking. Luck could definitely show its face at the last minute and put an unlikely driver in Victory Lane.

…with Vegas in the rear view mirror,

2007-03-12T18:24:00.000-04:00

Tony captured another top 10 to help stop the bleeding from Daytona. He did not lead a lap at this race (no bonus points), nor was he really ever a threat to win. But good tuning had the car right at the end, and a 4 tire stop is always my call. My theory is if you have to bring the car to car complete stop, and there are 7 guys there with a jack and wrenches in their hands anyway, then get 4 stickers on there.

Tony jumps 8 points in the standings to jump ahead of Robby Gordon. I hear they’re still interviewing all the drivers he hit during the race. Maybe he’ll find a sponsor in that line. It’s cheaper to just paint the car black, but that’s not payin’ the bills. I’d like to have seen Ward get some owners points to get into the top 35, and this was his first chance to do it, but it only took Robby 9 laps to squelch that.

NASCAR’s version of “The West Coast Swing” (it’s a golf thing) is over, and we get racing back to the right coast (at least closer), and in the right time zones. When the races start that late, I can make Sunday pretty productive around the house. But that’s one of the reasons to be a NASCAR fan, so you don’t have to be so productive on Sunday. On the other hand, this was a weekend I had to go into work, so it starting at almost 5 PM meant I could get home without missing too much. Next week I’ll be back on schedule, and it’ll be that way until the grass starts requiring some attention.

There are 51 cars on the entry list for Atlanta, and yes, some of them are still Toyotas. Home Depot’s home track is my favorite race to watch on TV. The whole Joe Gibbs stable is good here. I expect some laps lead out of the 20, and a win is definitely a possibility anytime the orange and black spins up at AMS. Bobby Labonte is also a favorite there. If Petty can screw together a good ride, look for him up front. Speaking of favorites and the left coast drivers; it’s time I looked at my fantasy picks. I left’em alone for Vegas, but I’ll be rearranging things now that Vegas is in the rear view mirror.

HotPass review

2007-02-24T08:45:00.001-05:00

It’s almost time for the race in California. This would be the second chance for me to use the DirecTV HotPass if I’d have elected to buy it. I’m still not completely sold. We’ll see if I miss it at all this weekend. That might be the clincher. Here’s my brief review on my experience from last weekend.

First, I’d like to point out that if I didn’t have a bigger screen TV, the deal would be off. With the split screens, they effectively turn my 56 inch TV into 3 20 inch TV’s. Not that I can’t see them, but I can’t imagine the 3 screens split up on a smaller screen. And second is I’m not able to view the race in HiDef on HotPass. Call me a whiner if you’d like, but I bet those who think so don’t watch the races in HiDef now. It does make a difference.

Being able to switch from the HotPass broadcast audio to the Fox broadcast was an excellent decision, and the option I probably used the most. When Fox was replaying events on there channel, it was nice to just switch audios for that period of time without having to switch away from the split view. My biggest complaint with DirecTV over cable is the 3 second lag I get when I switch channels. Three seconds is an eternity during a NASCAR race, and missing that much is long enough to miss the bump on Tony even in slow motion.

I liked individual announcing crews, and thought they did a very good job. Jr.’s crew was a little different from the others. You would swear they were “in the family” somehow. They announced the race as if they were part of the team. “Our car is doing great.”, or “We’re moving to the front”. The other announcing crews were not so possessive, but did a great job.

I guess the thing I’ll miss the most is the video of the race during the commercials. I’m not sure whether there will be commercials during the paid broadcasts, but for the free preview, there were. They ran it in the split screen so that I could watch Tony race. I was able to see at least one of the race events (Dave Blaney take out Kenny Wallace) on the small split screen while the Fox coverage was at commercial. I’ll have to find out if they’re gonna have commercials on the paid coverage. That might be a clincher.

Ouch!

2007-02-18T20:15:00.000-05:00

Last place? It's a tough way to start the season. I think Kurt could've lifted to avoid him, but I'm not in any position to make that call. Kurt hit him, plain and simple, but Tony got below the yellow far enough to get himself loose. My call is that Kurt thought he would wash up the track fast enough to drive underneath him.

This was one of the more entertaining plate races I can remember. I give some of the credit to Goodyear for their tire combination. Hearing that the cars had to be tuned different for more handling was great. I think we saw more of a drivers race at Daytona than we have seen in the past. I'd like to see that again in the summer.

I watched the DirecTV coverage, and took some notes on my experience. I'll put that in a separate post. I'll just say for now I'm a least considering buying it, and I wasn't until I tried it out.

And 2 Smokin' Races! (er,..barrels,..whatever!)

2007-02-15T20:47:00.000-05:00

The Duals put together some good racing, and I'd like to just mention some names and what I thought about them in these races.

Tony Stewart: In a word; Winner. He looked great out there. All I wanted to see is him bring the hardware on Sunday. Notice once again that he didn't climb the fence, saving that for Sunday. This is the best Qualifying position he's had since 1999 (2nd), and that's got to instill just a little more confidence in the whole organization. Just like he did in sprint car's, he's about to make a "Daytona Triple Crown". If he wins, he'll be the first driver to win the Shootout, his Dual, and the 500 in the same year.

Michael Waltrip: There needed to be a time when he put the whole cheating thing behind him and got back to racing, and I for one am glad he didn't wait very long to get that process started. It's not going to disappear overnight, but he had two choices: move on or quit NASCAR. Toyota or not, I'm glad he's in the race.

Robby Gordon: (you knew this was coming) How about that half-assed comment about being partially responsible for the wreck. BUT!, someone else must have checked up and forced me into that position. Proving once again he's half the man (and driver) that Dale Jr. is. I think he's sniffin' that fresh roll bar padding.

Dale Jr.: His post wreck reaction was poised, and racing his way back into a great finish is the quality all Championship drivers have. He took a second, did a damage assessment, brought it in, and got back out in the race. It would have been easy to park it, knowing that it's only a 150 miler and improving his position would be hard. Easy to park it knowing it's a 500 miler on Sunday, and qualifying position wouldn't mean that much. He didn't quit. If I wasn't sure that this guy was capable of bringing home a Cup trophy before, I am now.

Next post will be theStewartFan stats, just like last years. I've been digging through the figures the Racing-Reference.info on the almost 4000 drivers they have stats on. It's really quite impressive.

....And just think,

2007-02-11T11:51:00.000-05:00

...their best cars were on the hauler! I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy that just a little. Maybe it was the racing withdrawals, maybe it was Tony putting on a driving clinic for the rest of the field. Either way, it was a show. But it's a 36 race race season, and there's 36 races still to go.

Speaking of having the best cars in the Hauler, Toyota better be hidin' somethin'. Dale Jarret being a past champ gets him in regardless, but Bill Elliot was hoping he had some speed so he wouldn't need it, letting Bill use it instead. I hope for Toyota's sake, that Dale isn't the only one in the 500.

Jr. owning up to the wreck was a show of character usually reserved for an elder racer; really a class act. Someone deserving of team ownership (you here that, Robby Gordon?). But it won't do anyone any good if he didn't learn something from it. Apologies only go so far, and if made him a better racer for the experience, then apology accepted. And I think it did.

And then there's Tony. If only the Daytona 500 was a night race. I hope they have that fuel cut off problem behind them. With all the bad luck in practice, he was able to pull off the 9th quickest lap. A top 10 qualifying effort wouldn't hurt, but tony doesn't really qual that good here. He knows it's not that important in a 500 miler, but I'd like to see it. Tony didn't climb the fence last night. I hope he's saving it for the 18th.

Tony didn’t seem too thrilled?

2007-02-09T21:08:00.000-05:00

At the drawing for position for the starting grid at the Shootout, Tony didn’t seem too thrilled. I’d like to share my thoughts on the Budweiser Shootout. I’m going to watch it ‘cause Tony’s on the track, and I want to see him win. But if I had a race team that I had to prepare for the biggest race of the season, I wouldn’t waste one minute of my time, my driver’s time, my cars, or my money. This is a show, and that’s it. It gets you one hour closer to the season faunally, and that’s it. No points = no championship implication. It’s the equivalent of the Pro Bowl, but it’s run before the season; something football wouldn’t consider doing because of possible injuries to the star players. What kind of rating does the Pro Bowl get? Maybe they should reconsider?

The same goes for the All Star Challenge. Change the format on this circus act all you want. I’ll watch for the same reason; ‘cause Tony’s behind the wheel. But you’ll never see me on the edge of my seat like a point’s race. Points win championships, and that’s what I want to see Tony win.

New Chase for more Drivers?

2007-01-23T19:51:00.000-05:00

No, I don't think so. There was a very bad police show on for a season or two where a female cop solved all the mysteries with one thing in mind. "Always follow the money", she'd say. Well, bad acting aside, she had a good philosophy. More cars in the chase means more major sponsors on the TV those last ten races. And when the 400 point back door into the chase didn't work, they dropped it like a bad habit. Then open the chase up to 12 drivers and we're sure to make a few more bucks, I mean sponsors happy, I mean fans happy. They identified a bottleneck in their ability to rake it in, and opened it up a little.

At least the "old" chase had some resemblance to the "old" points system. It tightened up the top ten, but it left out the teams that didn't have a shot at it anyway. This "bottomless" numbers game could open up the championship to a driver that never had a chance with ten races left. And this staging by wins thing? Where does that leave a driver who traditionally wins a number of the last ten races? Where's the advantage of winning these races after the staging has already been set?

I was a huge "Chase Hater" when it came out, and I ended up changing my mind after two seasons. We'll see if I'm wrong about this one too. Now back to Infield Parking! I might need some therapy to get me off that thing.

from RacingMilestones.com

2006-12-30T09:06:00.000-05:00

Amateur Fishermen Win Inaugural Ryan Newman Foundation Celebrity Charity Fishing Tournament STATESVILLE, N.C.- NASCAR Nextel Cup drivers Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart shared big fish stories with over 300 fisherman at the inaugural Ryan Newman Foundation Celebrity Charity Fishing Tournament at Blythe Landing in Huntersville, NC on Saturday, December 16, 2006. Make sure and go read the entire article.

Christmas Eve Survey

2006-12-24T10:32:00.000-05:00

Why not, I'ts Christmas!

What's your name?	Dave
Do you watch NASCAR?	Yes
If yes, which series?	All Cup, some Bush (or whatever it will be), a few Truck
Who's your favorite driver?	Tony Stewart
What's your favorite team?	JGR
What's your favorite sponsor?	Home Depot
What's your favorite make and model?	Chevy MC, although I drive Chryslers
How long have you been watching NASCAR?	Since 1998
Do you like restrictor plate races?	No
If yes, which is your favorite track?	N/A
What is your all-time favorite track?	Atlanta
Do you like the road courses?	Not really, but I watch.
If yes, which one is your favorite?	N/A
Would you rather watch a 2-mile track race, or a half a mile track race?	In person: Half. On TV: 2m
Have you ever made plans for the weekend based on the NASCAR schedule?	36 times a year
Which do you like the best : Superspeedway, short track, or road course?	unrestricted superpedway=Atlanta
Is your TV always on the Speed Channel?	yes, accept when the race is on
Are you obsessed with NASCAR?	yes
Are you obsessed with one or more of the drivers?	I'm theStewartFan;...your call
If yes, who?	see above
Are you obsessed with cars?	yes
Would you give up your left nut to get to drive around your favorite track with your favorite driver?	Since the Vasectomy, why not?
What do you think about Rusty and Mark's retirement?	Good timing
Who do you think will be the next to retire?	Robby Gordon, I hope.
Do you think Martin Truex Jr. would be an AWESOME driver for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series?	yes
Since NASCAR had the "NASCAR'S sexiest driver" thing.... who do /YOU/ think is the sexiest NASCAR driver?	Dave Marcis
Is NASCAR your favorite sport?	yes
What do you think it would be like to race for a living?	Very busy and stressfull, but I'd do it.
What's the fastest you've ever gone in a car?	150
What's your /DREAM/ car?	Too many to list, I'd own 100s if I had the means.
CREATE YOUR OWN! - or - GET PAID TO TAKE SURVEYS!

It's about "TIME"

2006-12-17T22:52:00.000-05:00

Time Magazine has recognized myself, and everyone else who uses the web to project pieces and parts of themselves as their "Person of the Year". So If you're included in this group (and you know who you are), join me in taking a bow and trying to do a little better that Kyle Bush with our acceptance speeches.

What's in a Crash?

2006-12-14T21:49:00.000-05:00

I love looking at numbers, and this definitely qualifies. Thanks to USATODAY for this insight into what a crash means to NASCAR. You can go their to see the big picture, I'm just going to dig out what was interesting to me.

Over the last 5 years the rate of accidents hasn't changed all that much, but it was highest in 2005 and came down slightly in 2006. It might be a larger influx of rookies the last wo years; and if that's the case it shouldn't go down in 2007.

Accidents cause the highest percentage of DNF's. Doesn't seem a strange thing to say, but an accident doesn't immediately result in not finishing. You blow it up (2nd largest cause of DNF's), and you're on the trailer for sure. But if the car isn't toast, seams like most teams try to get it back out there for as many points as they can get. Maybe I'm wrong on this one, or maybe it's just the teams actually going for a championship that get the wrenches out. No other cause of DNF's had more of a 5% chance of resulting in an early trip home.

Turns 2 and 4 is where the drivers get back on the gas hard, and where all the action is. That's where you get your seats if you want to be able to see the sheet metal fly. It's where I enjoy seeing the drivers recover from what seems like a sure wreck. Biffle, for one, is great to watch as he's rarely pointed in the right direction coming out of turn 4, and can some how bring it back from certain doom. I've seen him so sideways at Dover his team started to pack up his pit, only to watch him get up on the wheel and finish the lap.

No surprise that the short tracks lead in the number of accidents followed by the two 1 mile tracks. The big tracks are right in the middle all grouped together, and the cookie cutters are all through the list. Las Vegas and California seem to be th easiest on the fab shop.

The tab labeled Crashes by Driver tells the story of who had a good season almost as well as the points. The chasers are at the bottom of the list (least amount of crashes). It might have been interesting to see the stats after 26 races, as some people did better in the chase (Tony), and some people didn't do so well in the chase. It definably tells the story on Yeley, Nemecheck, Mears, and Robby Gordon. Yeley leads that pack with 17 crashes in 2006. I felt that I was being a little critical of J.J. throughout the season, but he wrinkled up a bunch of race cars, and here's the stats to prove it.

The tab marked Cautoins by Lap has some interesting figures in it, also. The two races at Martinsville had 194 caution laps, while both Pocono races don't add up to 60. The biggest difference I see is the amount of cautions between the Bristol race early in the season, and the Bristol race in the Chase. Seems like a lot of points racin' going on along with people being much more cauttiuos around the Top 10.

All and all a great job of compiling stats for me to dig through and blog about. Don't take my word for it. Go check it out for yourself.

Virginia is for RACERS!

2006-12-10T08:56:00.000-05:00

Thanks to SportingNews for bringing us the story on our VA boy Ricky Rudd returning to the seat. I normally wouldn't blog about such news, but I think it's a bright spot in the what seems like a week of only bickering about rules and ratings. I spent the majority of my younger days in ole' Virginie, even if it was inside the DC beltway, and still refer to it as home. I've watched many a NASCAR Weekly Racing Series race at the Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas, VA. I've always been a fan of all the VA boys in the sport, regardless of team or car. It was a great day when Jeff Burton freed himself from Rousch and Ford, so I didn't have to hold back the cheers. Even with Ricky in a Fusion, I'll be gunnin' for him.

There's no place like home

2006-12-09T11:20:00.000-05:00

My favorite sign these days is "Welcome to Delaware". Even when visiting the sunny gulf coast of Florida, it's nice to come home. Even if it is 34 degrees and windy. My flight was changed a few times, but not really delayed more than an hour. That seems to be better than average these days. We actually had to change the type of plane we flew in on so it could land in the windy conditions.

While I was about, I used the opportunity to view my page from different computers and browsers. I adjusted the page so each was viewable in their unique combination. It resulted in a little less reading area, but better viewing in the different combinations.

I joined the new forum on Infield Parking as StewartFan1. It didn't let me use theStewartFan 'cause it's too long and StewartFan wasn't available. Anyway, I'll keep an eye on that; but not to the point I'll slack off here. Maybe I'll see you over there, although I much prefer the blog format to Myspace.

Shows Improvement

2006-12-02T20:36:00.000-05:00

I definitely found this years banquet more palatable than the last. The drivers didn't use the teleprompter as much this year, as evident by Kyle not getting his girlfriend's name on the first try. Tony didn't use it at all, as he chose to bring his speech to the podium on paper. Jay made a comment about him missing rehearsal, don't know if that was true or not. I love Jay Mohr. I think he's hilarious. I hope he's back next year. And his impression of Christopher Walken was the greatest. Everyone in the room is so out of place in there fancy get ups, they couldn't get the jokes. That didn't change from last year. Jewel put on a great performance, but it seemed to be lost on the crowd also.

I had planned to listen to what Tony had to say and call it a night, but stuck around until sleep took over after Denny's speech. I have a feeling we better get used to him being up there for many years to come.

I'll be out of town for the week on biz in FL. If I can get to a non-Govt. computer, I might be able to chime in. Most of the training we do in my job is miles from anything.

Alright! It’s time to get SERIOUS about getting SIRIUS.

2006-11-30T21:10:00.000-05:00

After reading an article over on Frontstretch.com, I’ve decided to make the move from XM to SIRIUS satellite radio. Go read it for the details.

Sure you’d expect a NASCAR channel to broadcast the races, but they’ve sweetened the deal for theStewartFan (or anyStewartFan for that matter) by having Tony on a live show for 2 hours a week. In fact, the first installment just ended. Add to that live scanner feeds for 10 cars during the race. I’ve wanted to be able to get Tony’s scanner feed at home while watching the race, but most venues for this don’t include #20. I’d think if Tony’s doing a show for them, that they’d include him in the line up. I’m wondering how, if any, this broadcast will be edited for content. To have the race on TV with the scanner feed coming over the satellite sounds pretty cool if I can get Tony and Zippy yackin’ back and forth.

I’ll have to look at the rest of the SIRIUS lineup, as there are quite a few of XM’s channels I like. I will still get quite a few of the XM channels at home over my DirecTV. I would never consider buying it for the sole purpose of the NASCAR channel, but I'm sure they've got all the music and news I've come to love on XM. I’d like to get a portable receiver, also. That way I could go from car, to house, to work, and even to the Dover race with it. I’d been looking into the XM versions, but now that it’s time to switch, I’ll put that plan in motion right from the start. I was one of the original XM customers, and still have the first Delphi receiver they came out with. But change is good (COT?, not!), and it might be time for some of that “good”.

Who’s watching this thing?

2006-11-26T14:48:00.000-05:00

I will watch the banquet. Not because it’s a good piece of television, but I’m too big a fan to just ignore it. And it’s a Friday night, what else is on? I think this whole thing is torture for viewer and driver alike. I gotta ask; whose idea was it to dress up NASCAR drivers in tuxedos and parade them around NYC for a week? Why have the banquets at the Waldorf Astoria? Why make these guys read speeches off a Teleprompter? They look like marionettes dangling from strings while they’re trying to deliver the prepared dialogue. This is in direct conflict to why we watch these drivers in the first place.

I for one would move the festivities to some place a little more tepid weather-wise. Someplace that could have a live audience in a city that actually supported NASCAR. Atlanta and Charlotte come to mind. Someplace closer to the team’s homes would make it more commuter friendly for them and their families. Even 'Vegas would be a better choice than NYC. Imagine the party they’d put on for them.

I’d bet there isn’t one person out there that wouldn’t rather see (insert your driver’s nickname here) in jeans, boots, and a sports coat; no tie. Any thing's better than a monkey suit and a bow tie. These guys give unprepared interviews in fire suits after 500 mile races all year. It’s part of being a driver in racings highest division. The people we see on stage at this thing are not the drivers we know and love, but a cardboard cutout shoved on stage. Remember Rusty; he looked like he was in The Hall of Presidents at Disney World, and most drivers share that look up there.

How’s ‘bout we do the whole thing commercial free and unedited on Pay-per-view. Let the drivers say what they’ve wanted to say all season without apprehension. Let’s face it, if you’re a 3 year old in a house where the race is shown on TV, you’ve heard a few expletives. That’s the (insert name from above) I want to see.

We’ll have it in the Georgia dome. We’ll invite the top 35 teams to sit on the field surface in order of finish, and sell out (hear that Brian France $$$!) the stands to screaming fans. The chase teams will sit at one end next to the stage. It’ll be just like a race. Sponsors and souvenir trailers ($$$), track food and beer ($$$), lines for tickets and parking ($$$), the whole shebang. Color Guard, Benediction, The National Anthem, and even a flyover if the roof is open. We’ll have a green flag at the start, and everyone will pile out when the checkered flag waves. Now that’s NASCAR, and I’d pay to see that.

I’m a Denny Hamlin fan!

2006-11-21T20:14:00.000-05:00

Congratulations on his winning Rookie of the Year. It was a great field of rookie's this year. He also broke Tony Stewart’s record for highest finish by a rookie in the point’s standings. I can't wait to see what Denny's got for us next year. The combo of he, Mike Ford, FedEx, and JGR is awesome! I'm not predicting a sophomore slump for him, that's for sure.

That said, let's compare his last 10 races in his rookie year to Tony’s last 10 races in 1999 (Tony’s rookie year). With 10 races to go, Denny was 30 points behind the leader compared to Tony’s 377 point deficit. Tony scored 1578 vs. Denny’s 1377. Tony had 3 wins and an average finish of 10th place. Denny’s average finish was 12.1 and his highest finish was one 2nd. In fact, Tony’s “chase” stats in his rookie year were better than all the chasers this year; including Jimmie. It's pretty obvious that Tony had much more to overcome to get higher in the rankings in '99 than Denny did this year.

Am I looking to put an asterisk on Denny’s record? No, but there’s 88 more days until Daytona, and I’d like to occupy this space with something in the interim. The record book is full of asterisks labeling stats from before and during the modern era of NASCAR, as there were very drastic changes in the early ‘70s. The Chase format was a huge change in how we crown our champion, and will inevitably bring on a few asterisks.

Turn out the lights

2006-11-19T22:03:00.000-05:00

The season comes to a close with a new NEXTEL Cup champion in Jimmie Johnson. Congratulations on a season where being able to rebound from bad things seemed to be the theme. Those who could rebound did really well, and those who couldn't watched the chasers from the outside. True championship teams are constantly using their talent and attitude to look past the bad, and see the finish line despite events where others just pack it up.

Tony finished the year whooping up on all the non-chasers for 11th place (said with much sarcasm). Even though it was the worst finish in his NASCAR career, I believe it has matured him quite a bit. Maybe I'm just looking on the bright side, but I believe he's got a better picture and respect of what it takes, day in and day out, to get the championship back. His addition of a workout program is just one sign that he's realized what kind of crowd he's in and just how competitive he plans to be next year. And now he's in love? Rebounding, as mentioned above, is one thing we didn't see enough out of Tony and the HD Racing team this year. When they fell into a hole, they couldn't seem to dig out of it. Homestead showed it, but I think Richmond was the biggest example of not being able to dig down for that extra something. Tony wasn't a threat to lead this race even once. They did get a 15th place finish out of it, but I think we all expected more out of him here at Homestead.

For those of you flying your Robby Gordon flags after his Baja victory, you can put them away after he finishes another stock car race on the trailer for a total of 9 DNFs this year. If this guy is so good at racing in the desert, then maybe he should stay out there. He has a co-driver in the truck; maybe he needs one in his car, too. He could borrow one of those Wally's World cars.

I'm sure there will be a few more interesting things to blog about before next year. Wonder who Ray will wear to the banquet? How many crew chiefs will be waking up to pink slips in the morning, only to be scooped up by Toyota. Will they announce at the banquet that the COT was just a big joke? All good questions. Be sure to tune in to check the count down timer at the top of the page, and to see if I typed anymore nonsense on this page.

Homestead stats

2006-11-16T22:10:00.000-05:00

I’ll list the chasers by % Top 5 finishes, because anything else isn’t going to count if Jimmie has a half way decent showing. Homestead isn’t our chasers favorite place, as none of them have a win here, and other than Mark, their top 5’s aren’t looking very good either.

Mark Martin has started all 7 of the races here, not a surprise. He has 4 top 5 finishes, the most of any driver to race here, not just the chasers. The rest have been 10th or worse with 1 DNF. That brings his average finish to 11.6.

Jeff Gordon has 6 top 10s in 7 starts, 3 of them top 5s. His average finish is 9.6, only one of four drivers sporting an average lower than 10.

Jeff Burton; 7 starts with 3 top 5s; that’s about it. I’m glad he made the chase, I’m a Virginia boy, but he’s way too far out to make a difference.

Jimmie Johnson as 2 top 5s and 3 top 10’s in 5 starts. His average finish is 15.6, and he does have 1 DNF. With only needing a 13th to clinch, the people in line to dethrone him don’t have the numbers to do it. Jimmie’s stats look like a stock ticker with all of its ups and downs. We’ll have to see which way it goes on Sunday.

Kevin Harvick is the only chaser who’s finished on the lead lap every race here. He also sports the lowest average finish at 9.4. If there’s an outside chance someone competes for Jimmie’s quest for the cup, it might come from here.

Matt Kenseth is the only driver with a great shot at unseating Jimmie, but his Homestead stats predict it won’t happen. Only one top 5 in 6 starts with an average finish of 25.5.

Kasey Kahne has raced here twice, qualifying 4th and 3rd, but finishing 38th and 16th Kyle Bush started his only race here in 4th, but finished 41st.

Denny Hamlin has one start here from the 42nd position, and improved on it to finish 33rd.

Dale Jr.’s stats here are just terrible. 0 top 10s in 6 starts, and only 3 finishes on the lead lap. The only bright star on him is he’s finished all 6.

Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards are the only other drivers to complete every race they’ve run here on the lead lap with Kevin.

Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle are the only drivers to have multiple wins here (2 each). Bobby Labonte, Kurt Bush, and Bill Elliot have one a piece to account for all 7 races.

Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards join Jeff G. and Kevin with average finishes lower than 10.

My prediction for the winner comes with one number; 120. Chassis #120 is the same car that won at Kansas, Atlanta, and Texas. If confidence in your equipment counts for anything, look for Tony to get to the front and stay there.

The Old Homestead

2006-11-15T19:47:00.000-05:00

Homestead doesn’t have much time to look back on, having only 7 Cup races here, but that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s no history to look back on here.

History comes with the first race here in 1999. Tony Stewart broke two rookie records here. Not only did he win this event in its inaugural event, but it was his third win in his rookie year. This was a record for number of wins for a rookie. It was also the first time the Cup series saw a rookie win back to back races. He finished 4th in the points in his rookie year, the highest in NASCAR’s modern era. Sounds sort of like Denny’s year.

Not much else to write that won’t be covered in my stats post. Hopefully I’ll get that up tomorrow.

Change just for changes sake.

2006-11-13T20:41:00.000-05:00

I've decided to view most of my fellow NASCAR blogger's blog with the use of a RSS reader. I did have them all listed in a folder in favorites, and would open all 30 or so at the same time and scroll through them. The news reader (I use Google Reader) lets me keep up with all of them without bogging down my DSL connection or hogging up all of my computer's resources. I'm playing with the comment section also, so it might be off line until I'm done screwing that up. Of course you know, if you visit this page frequently, that I can't leave it alone for a whole day. I'm constantly changing something. It's sorta become my hobby for the time being.

1000 flags over Phoenix

2006-11-12T21:53:00.000-05:00

It’s almost like they were trying to wear out the flagman today. This is only the fourth double digit caution Cup event in the 21 races at PIR. The last two times that happened, Dale Jr. won. We got to see every flag they got up there. The red flag came out for a long clean up at the end of the race, the 07 car got the black flag for damage sustained, and the 7 got the Blue/Yellow most of the race for just being him. Robby chose to ignore it, and most of the field had to move him out of the way.

Jimmie did a great job combining racing with protecting his lead. It looks like a lock for a championship, but we all know a 99 cent (insert name of insignificant car part here) could bring it all crashing down. The chase has done its job and made the last race a must see to the last lap.

Tony couldn’t seem to do the most important thing you have to be able to do in a NASCAR race; turn left. He seemed to be able to drive around between 13th and 20th, and ended up somewhere in the middle. If you didn’t turn over to CNBC after the race to see his post race interview about the contact between him and Jamie, then don’t bother to comment.

Kyle Petty finished 11 spots in front of Sterling Marlin in the 14 car to help him in the race to finish inside the top 35 in owners points.

PIR Stats

2006-11-09T23:09:00.000-05:00

We’re gonna go with the chasers listed by % Top 5’s this week, ‘cause I think that’s what it’s gonna take to either catch the leader, or pull away with a comfortable lead for the last race. I’ll list a few honorable mentions as I see fit after them.

--Dale Jr. has finished half of his eight races here inside the top 5 to include 2 wins. But his average finish (17th) and 25% DNFs tell a story of inconsistency at this track. He’s up front when he’s on the track though, as he has the highest % of laps lead among the chasers.
--Jeff Gordon gets home in the top 10 40% of the time, and he’s got the other stats to match. 8.9 for an average finish, 80% top 10s and 80% lead lap finishes. He doesn’t have a win here, and a new wife to dedicate it to. Look for Jeff up front at the end (right behind #20).
--Mark Martin is the only chaser to start all 20 races at PIR. An average finish of 9.4 is only beat by HMS drivers, and not by a whole position, and they only have one more start combined. And in all 20 races he only has 1 DNF. He’s also got 1 in the win column.
--Matt Kenseth has the highest DNF% with 37.5. 1 win and 50% Top 10s don’t go far enough to polish out the fact that he has finished this race early quite a few times. He won in 2002, and finished here 3rd last year, but he finished 36th, 42nd, and 32nd the 3 (where you at, 'Dawg) years before that bringing his average finish up to 20th.
--Jeff Burton is the only other chaser here with multiple (2) wins. He’s seen 14 races here, and finished every one. Average finish is 11.6, even with an average start of 23.5. He obviously knows how to pass cars here, a feat not too many drivers have figured out.
--Kyle Bush has one win in three starts, and that one win was the fall race last year. He was on the pole in the spring race, but finished 36th.
--Kevin Harvick has lead only .5% of the laps he’s turned here, but one of them was the last one as he won here in the spring. No DNFs here, but only one other top 10 to his credit.
--Kasey Kahne has yet to lead a lap at this track, but he’s finished every time. He’s got one top 5 in his 4 appearances.
--Jimmie Johnson has finished all 6 of his starts on the lead lap. He’s also got the best average finish of the chasers at 8.7. One top 5 and 4 top 10s.
--Denny Hamlin has started both of his races here inside the top 6 with one pole, but doesn’t have a top 10 to show for it. I’ve heard he likes his chances here. Hope he knows something the stats don’t show.

--As for non-chasers: Tony’s got the highest finishing average with 10.3, He, Kurt Bush, and Dale Jarrett have wins here. Elder Bush and Biffle get a lot of laps in clean air here with both over 20% laps lead.

--My pick for the win is Tony Stewart on his way to winning the last 4 in a row. He’s in a different car this weekend, but back in the Atlanta/Texas car for Homestead.

By the time I get to Phoenix

2006-11-08T20:18:00.000-05:00

The 1988 Checker 500 was Phoenix International Raceway’s first Cup event. Alan Kulwicki started it in 21st. Ricky Rudd lead most of the race in the Quaker State Buick, but the motor wouldn’t last. Alan won the race, with Terry Labonte in 2nd, and Davey Allison in 3rd. It was Alan’s first Cup win in his first start here, and the birth of his famous Polish Victory Lap. He raced here a total of five times, and completed every lap. Davey would come back to win it twice (‘91/’92), and Terry once (’94).

The first race here also marked the last race that Benny Parsons finished. His last start would be two weeks later in Atlanta where he crashed 134 laps in. Indy car legend Johnny Rutherford would also make his last Cup start here. Dale Earnhardt won the race here in 1990 in a race that saw the lead change only once. Average number of lead changes over the 20 Cup races here is 13.65. Tony Stewart has the fastest average speed for the race winner at 188 MPH in a race that had only 2 cautions. Average cautions in the 20 races run here is 6.8, with 11 being the record.

Hope this helps you answer the trivia question on Sunday. I’ll get some stats out soon so you can get your office pool bids in.

Maybe a kidney bean?....

2006-11-07T17:59:00.000-05:00

I've been making it a weekly thing to go out onto Google Maps and look at the upcoming track and just see what it, and the surrounding area look like from above. I had been thinking about showing on the blog before, but figured anyone could do it. I'm making this one exception, because I found the shape of this track interesting. I didn't realize it was such a strange shape. Not quite an oval, but not quite a tri-oval. It's sorta got a turn 5 thing going on.

The surrounding area is interesting, too. There is a bit of life north of the track in the form of Avondale, AZ. But if one of those NASCAR fans gets drunk and picks a southern route, he’s got quite a walk through a mountain range before he hits another paved road.

I’m thinking I might make a link list for all of the track maps. You could use it to find stuff around the track if you’re headed there.

Deep in the Heart of Texas

2006-11-05T22:39:00.000-05:00

Texas has its 12^th different winner in as many races. Tony ran away with another one as Zippy and the guys put a great car under him. It was the same chassis as last week, and we expect to see it again in 7 days. Giving Tony credit comes in the outstanding restarts he was able to pull off all day. He was able to obtain a sizable lead every time the green flag dropped. It was an all around textbook run by the team. Much of the middle of the race wasn’t too exciting, but some great teams stepped it up to challenge for the win. Jimmie Johnson went against the grain by taking four tires when most took two, including Tony. It was the right call as he was the only one able to catch Tony after the green white checkered restart. Given Tony’s great car, and Jimmie being able to finish ahead in the points, I believe he made the decision to “point’s race” at the end to finish 2^nd. It’s only another 5 points, and this is a hot topic in NASCAR as they look into giving more points for a win.

Jimmie is your point’s leader with a 17 point lead on 2^nd place. Matt Kenseth came home 12^th after a rough weekend, and slips to 2^nd in the points. Dale took another not-so-pretty race and turned it into a 6^th place, enough to gain him a spot to 3^rd in the points. Denny Hamlin didn’t have the day he expected here, but was able to finish 10^th. He slips a spot in the points and is now 80 points out. It looks like these four are in the foot race for this years NEXTEL Cup.

Kyle Petty finishes 11^th, and gets into the top 35 in owner points. We’ll get to see what the team can do now that they don’t have to concentrate so much on a qualifying setup. Terry Labonte was in the spotlight for his last race at his home track. He didn’t have a car able to finish up front. Not a memorable race, but it almost immediately fades away in the many great memories Terry will always be known for.

Get mad, Mark!

2006-11-04T19:13:00.000-05:00

Suffering from the same type of accident twice in three weeks has got to very frustrating. Going under a car pitting from the middle of the track isn’t something that’s common, and now the same team has a second car destroyed by it. Going to a back up car can’t be the fate Mark was expecting, but it looks like he’ll except it with the same grace he has all of the misfortune he’s experienced the last 6 races. I for one would have rather seen him get a little riled up about the second one, after everyone saw what happened one late night in Charlotte only two weeks ago.

NASCAR, where’s our brake light?

Always forgive, never forget

2006-11-01T20:13:00.000-05:00

I'm guessing some of you are here to see my reaction to NASCARs decision. Am I happy NASCAR found Robby guilty? Yes. Do I think the punishment was severe enough? Didn't really care about that in the first place, and still don't. I do think it was important that this is now a punishable offense, and some precedence has been set. Some have rambled on about how this is the way it's always been. I for one am an advocate for righting wrongs, but enough about the Car of Tomorrow. Please consider this chapter closed for good, and read the stats below.

TMS stats

2006-10-31T22:49:00.000-05:00

These stat posts tend to get a little long, so I’m going to just list the highlights. I’ll list the chasers this week by average finish starting with the lowest, and then throw in a few other stat standouts. The brackets after the name show (Average Finish / Number of Starts). No one has more than one win here, so one win is an accomplishment at TMS.

Denny Hamlin: (5.5 / 2) 1 T5, 2 T10, and 0 DNFs. Lowest amount of starts.
Jimmie Johnson: (7 / 6) Continues to impress with his stats. 83% T10s and 100% lead lap finishes.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.: (10.8 / 8) 1 win to go with a high 75% T10’s.
Matt Kenseth: (12.1 / 8) 1 win and a low 12.5% DNFs.
Kevin Harvick: (13.4 / 7) only 2 top 10s, but 0 DNFs.
Mark Martin: (13.5 / 11) 1 win, but lowest % lead lap finishes with 45%
Jeff Burton: (17.5 / 11) 1 win, shares low 9.1% DNFs with Martin.
Jeff Gordon: (17.5 / 11) nothing spectacular, all numbers are middle of the pack here.
Kasey Kahne: (20 / 4) 50% T5’s (one of them a win) and 50% DNFs in 4 starts.
Kyle Bush: (25.3 / 3) 0 T10’s, but 0 DNFs.
Tony Stewart (13.4 / 9) has 66% T10’s and 2 DNFs, both for engine failure with less than 50 laps left.
Greg Biffle (24.4 / 5) has lead 20% of the laps he’s turned here, but DNFs 40% of his races here.
Kurt Bush (13.3 / 7) has 71% T10’s and no DNFs.
Ken Schrader and Dale Jarrett have started all 11 races here, and have 0 DNFs.
Ward Burton (20 / 8) should be back in the 4 car; 1 T10 and only 1 DNF.
"Texas" Terry won this race back in 1999. I'd love to see him do well this Sunday for his last race at his home track. He is the consummate gentleman of the sport, and in my opinion THE example for every other driver to emulate. That goes for Tony and Robby.
And for all of you defending Robby Gordon’s (28.8 / 6) talent in a stock car after my post from Atlanta; his best finish is 20th, laps led is 0, and not one finish on the lead lap. Better start writing his name on his uniform parts and loose items in the car, I smell a late race caution for debris.
Make sure you take note that I always include stock car when mentioning the lack of Robby Gordon’s talent. I understand that his talent in other motor sport disciplines is exemplary, but as it says under StewartFan at the top, this page is nothing but NASCAR, and I try to keep it that way.

Does that seem any shorter, oh well.....

Who is Robby Gordon?

2006-10-30T21:37:00.000-05:00

Am I upset with Robby Gordon? No, and I’ll tell you why. I’ve come to expect this type of behavior from him, for this is who he is. When he decided to cheat his way back onto the lead lap; that’s who he is. When he vehemently denied it on TV; that’s who he is. He looked like an eight year old who just broke mommy’s favorite vase while playing baseball in the living room. To expect anything different from him would be an exercise in futility. This type of behavior is going to continue as long as NASCAR lets him get away with it. Trapping him (like the rat he is) behind a hauler wasn’t too classy, either. I could have done without that. Am I upset? You bet, but it’s with NASCAR, and not Robby. NASCARs blind-eye approach to this issue is nothing short of spineless. It opens the door for more acts like this to infect the sport. As a governing body, they have failed in their duties. They have shown a chink in their armor that others like Robby will attack knowing that precedence has been set in their favor. They have lost a bit of my respect for their authority, along with any driver who agrees with Jeff Burton. I hope that Jeff doesn’t let this go as easy. He is considered an elder in the ranks, and should be able to rally a few in support of his cause. Pointing out Robby Gordon’s shortcomings used to be a StewartFan ritual. At the end of every post I’d show his terrible stats at whatever track was coming next week. He’s now scored another top 10. One he cheated to get, and one NASCAR let him have in spite of it.

My new favorite track!

2006-10-29T20:32:00.000-05:00

It’s got it all: day racing, night racing, fast racing, multi-lane racing, green flag pit stops thanks to not so many cautions, areo and handling, fuel and tires. Tony “Smokes” them all with a dominant win along with the most laps lead. That would usually make for a boring race, but I think you’ll agree, it was fun to watch. Joe Neme”wreck” didn’t think that taking out Montoya at the Bush race was good enough; he had to beat up on Gordon here. Jamie McMurray probably could use a pair of polarized sunglasses for the next Atlanta race. I’ll bet Jeff buys him a pair. Through all that, Jeff comes home in 6th. The cream rises to the top with T5's for Johnson, Dale, and Kenseth. I'm really interested to see where Tony is in the non-chase format. I'll check Jayski tomorrow, he'll have the info for me. The "luck" runs out for Kasey, Mark, and Kyle. Harvick might just have to be "happy" with a Bush Championship this year. Burton is also had some problems that leave him 84 points behind the leader. He was pretty upset after the race for what we will call "Padding-Gate". What can I say about Robby Gordon that I haven’t said before? He sucks, and it looks like he’ll be caught for causing a caution with a piece of roll bar padding. Not sure at this point if he actually did it, or if he got the free pass for the caution, but you are not awarded the free pass if you caused the caution. He swore he didn’t do it on national television, but the video tape looked pretty conclusive. My predictions: Todd wouldn’t finish the race, and a JGR car would win. I don’t believe Todd had a car that would have finished anyway, but he’d have hit something if he did. Denny was down a few laps, but made them up and finished strong in 8th. J.J. Yeley finished 16th. At least the fab shop doesn’t have to build him a new car for Texas. Tony’s workout program is paying off; If not on the track, on the fence. I think he’s happier about getting to take that 8 foot tall bear trophy than winning the race. And then I turn the channel just in time to see the Raiders beat Pittsburgh. I’m gonna be a trash talker Monday. What a day.

Marketing Genius!

2006-10-28T14:43:00.000-04:00

It hit me as I was reading Jaynelle’s Track Talk. Why would Chevy and Dodge come out with new car models for the COTs? Wouldn’t it be great if the car manufactures could market two different models of cars in the same year? What if there was someway we could not only sell more Monte Carlo’s, but also sell more Impala SS’s? I’ve got it. We’ll use the fact that NASCAR’s going to run two different types of cars next year anyways to field two different models, effectively raising the sales of both. If "What wins on Sunday, sells on Monday" holds true, they stand to make a pretty penny. I can just here the guy from the Guinness beer commercials,…GENIUS!! Please don’t consider this some conspiracy theory; just chalk it up to marketing genius. On another note: I’m using BlogRolling for the links in the sidebar, and I love it! I’ve read post on how their system wasn’t that reliable, and sometimes links wouldn’t show up. I hope this is a thing of the past, ‘cause I really love the service. Especially the price; as their isn’t one.

It's time for Hotlanta

2006-10-26T21:09:00.000-04:00

Time for your stats as filtered through the StewartFan. Thanks to Racing-Reference.info for the base line stats. We’ll look at the chasers first, and then a few stat standouts. We’ll list them by number of starts at Hotlanta.

Mark Martin has 41 starts here. He can lay down the fast lap, as his average start is 10.4. He finishes inside the top 10 51% of the time, but the rest of those races he rarely finishes on the lead lap. It’s either feast or famine. He has an average finish of 3^rd in the last 4 races.

Jeff Gordon has 28 starts. He’s got 4 wins, and only Bobby Labonte has more (6) of all active drivers. An average finish of 13.6 is a good mark. He’s coming off a 2^nd and 4^th in the last two Atlanta races.

Jeff Burton has 24 starts. His only good stat here is his low 12.5% DNF number.

Dale has 14 starts. A win and 6 top 5s to go with 57% top 10s all look good. He’s coming off a 4^th and 3^rd in the last two races.

Matt Kenseth has 13 starts. 6 of them have resulted in top 10’s. He’s finished on the lead lap 61% of his races here.

Kevin Harvick has 11 starts. His 1 win, which was his first Cup race here, brought millions of us to tears as it was the first win for the late Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s team since his untimely death only 22 days earlier. It was the start of the healing process for most of us. Only 1 other top 10 and 3 DNFs don’t add up to much, but he made history that day.

Jimmie Johnson has 10 starts, 1 win, and 5 top 5s. One more top 10 and only 1 DNF make him a strong favorite to keep his place in the points or take advantage of anyone who has a bad day. Average start of 9.8 and an average finish of 11.8 make him a stat favorite.

Kasey Kahne has 5 starts and won the spring race here. He’s finished inside the top 5 four out of those five starts. He’s looking for Atlanta to catapult him back into this thing. There won’t be a hungrier driver out there. His average finish is the lowest of the chasers at 9.8. Look for him to ride the rim all day. If the track has a high line, and it does, Kasey will be passing on the right.

Kyle Bush: 4 starts, no top 10s, and 1 DNF

Denny Hamlin has 2 starts with no top 10s. But he’s got a Joe Gibbs car, and JGR has done very well at this track with Bobby Labonte’s and Tony’s cars. Denny hasn’t failed to finish here.

Outside the chase Carl Edwards swept here in 2005, Ryan Newman has an average start of 1.8, Bobby Labonte has 6 wins here (all with JGR), and Tony finishes in the top 10 60% of the time with 1 win.

My pick for the win; Tony Stewart. This is the StewartFan page, and we luvs us some Tony ‘round here. If you’re looking for a second opinion, you could use a breath mint. And I wonder why people won't take me seriously.

Ward vs. “The Onion”

2006-10-24T23:10:00.000-04:00

I got to looking at some drivers stats, and if your watching Morgan-McClure, I’d read on. Ward has started 21 races here, while Todd has 17 starts, not much difference. Neither has won, Ward has one more T5 (3) and 3 more T10s (7), still nothing spectacular. But when it comes to finishing the race, there’s no comparison. Ward has finished 19 of his 21 starts, while Todd has finished just 10 of 17. Wards DNF percentage here is less than 10, a great stat among all drivers, while Todd DNFs 41% of the time. Hey, Morgan and/or McClure, if your looking to get your sponsor on TV (and we know this is what it’s all about) I’d suggest you put Ward in the car for the Atlanta race.

As the owner, Larry, you're 400 points and 4 spots out of a guaranteed spot at Daytona next spring. That should be one of your biggest goals. That should land you a big fat sponsor.

Monday's Musings

2006-10-23T16:06:00.000-04:00

I had to watch this race on and off at work on Sunday, the war doesn’t take a day off. When I looked up at the TV and saw Jeff Burton out of the car, I new things were going to be interesting. I’d like to congratulate Harvick and Kenseth for stepping up and taking advantage of Jeff’s misfortune at a track where neither on of them is very good. I’m sure they’re both glad this race is behind them, along with Burton in the points. Jimmie got every point he could, and Denny put up a great fight for the finish. That part I did get to see.

In the “what the heck are you thinking” category, Morgan McClure Motorsports is going to put Todd Bodine back in the car for Atlanta. You’d think after Todd couldn’t qualify for the race in Charlotte, he’d be in question. And then Ward not only gets in the race, but finishes on the lead lap at Martinsville. You’d think the nod would go to Ward, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. Probably a contract thing worked out weeks ago, but I’m still going to rant about it. At least David Regan will have someone different to hit next weekend, if Todd doesn’t hit him first.

I’ll throw in my opinion on the COT. Scrap this project now and never speak of it again. Find the guy who thought up that whole back wing theory and fire him, re-hire him, and then fire him again! The other parts of this car I don’t like include the front, back, both sides, top, and although I haven’t seen it, I disapprove of the bottom, also. I wouldn’t go so far as to say they’re ugly, but I’d sooner stare at a mud fence for 4 hours. Someone please tell me they’re not serious about putting these things on the track.

I'm StewartFan, and I approve of this message.

StewartFan stats for Martinsville

2006-10-19T18:40:00.000-04:00

If you’re not a Jeff Gordon fan, I’d get a tee time for Sunday around 12:30 EST. Jeff’s got all the stats here. 7 wins* in 27 starts (25%) is a remarkable stat for any Cup driver at any track. 15 top 5’s*, 21 top 10’s*, and 5 poles* makes him the most impressive active driver at this track. Average start is 7.3; average finish is 7.6*. 74% finishes on the lead lap, and has been running at the end of every one (zero DNF’s*). We’ll go through the rest of the chasers, and throw in a few honorable mentions. Jimmie Johnson has obviously taken some tips from Jeff. 88% (only one higher that Jeff) of his finishes are on the lead lap. It’s only added up to one win, but he’s got 8 top 10s in his nine starts. Kevin Harvick has finished all of his 10 starts, but his average finish of 20th doesn’t shine too well. Jeff Burton has finished half of his races here inside the top 10, and has found victory lane once. That’s just the kind of consistency to keep the chase lead going. Mark Martin has 2 wins, 11 top 5s, 21 top 10s, and 3 poles in his 41 starts. He’s got 19,073 laps around the paperclip. 6 DNF’s doesn’t reflect well, but the last one was in the spring race in 2001. His average start and finish here are both 13.2. Matt Kenseth’s numbers here don’t impress; 1 top 5 in 13 starts and an average finish of 17.2. Dale has finished 6 of his 13 starts in the top 10. It’s either feast or famine though, as his top 10 number is the same. 2 DNF’s bring his lead lap finishing average to 69%, and his average finish to 14.4. I think he likes this track and has fun here. We’ll see if the cheers for Ward can give him a run for his money. That leaves us with Kasey, Kyle, and Denny. 10 combined starts, 2 combined top 5s, 5 combined top 10s. They each have 1 DNF. Looks like the young guys have some learnin’ to do. Tony won this race in the spring, so we’re looking for a sweep here at StewartFan. Biffle, Edwards, Stewart, and the elder Bush have finished this race 90% of the time or better. Stewart has 2 wins, Bush has 1. Newman’s average start is 4th (only one better than Jeff), but his average finish is 15th. * indicates the highest (or tied for) of all active drivers.

Carry me back to old Virginny

2006-10-17T20:20:00.000-04:00

Martinsville’s first “Strictly Stock” (Cup) event was held September 25th, 1949. 10,000 fans came out to watch 15 cars race the .526 mile track. Red Byron wins with Lee Petty in second. It was Red’s only start in a Cup race here. One other driver has one win in his only start. 21 drivers have started here and not finished the first lap, one of them twice. 607 different drivers have started a Cup race here, 230 of them never came back, and only 121 of the 607 (20%) have more than 10 starts here. The track has hosted 115 Cup races for 1,407,688 total laps. That’s 740,444 miles around the “paperclip” shaped track. Other than the paving of the track in 1955, the basic design hasn’t changed. Fred Lorenzen won 4 in a row here in ’63-’64-’65; he is the only one to do this. Buddy Arrington started 42 races here, and never finished on the lead lap. But the two names that dominate the history books here are Richard Petty and Darrel Walthrip. They are the only two drivers with double digit wins, a combined 26. Their average start was 10th, average finish 11th. They won 1 out of every 5 races they started here. The only driver to beat that stat is Jeff Gordon, who wins 1 of every 4.

The 1995 Hanes 500 was shortened after some long cautions and a rain delay ran it into darkness. After the rain delay NASCAR sent Dale Earnhardt (who was a number of laps down due to an accident) out on the track to see if it was dry enough to race. He turned a few hot laps and gave them the thumbs up to go ahead. After the race was called, Bill Ingle (crew chief for Ricky Rudd) went over and punched Ted Musgrave in the mouth for spinning Ricky earlier in the race. Ted finished the race in second behind Rusty Wallace. That’s my story based on sketchy details, but I’m sticking with it.

Ward Burton has 20 starts here, and I can’t wait for 21! He might get more of a crowd reaction than Jr..

Proud to be a NASCAR fan.

2006-10-15T20:32:00.000-04:00

I didn't get to see it 'cause I was on the road for the first 50 laps. After watching it I had to share.

Can I get an Amen?

2006-10-15T10:14:00.000-04:00

..::[One weird race in a while is not out of the ordinary, but this is a real string of them. Only 11 cars finished on the lead lap? Pit strategies all over the map? Cars careening into other cars just trying to get onto pit road? It’s time to RANT! Hope Becca doesn’t mind me posting MY opinion on MY blog. ..::[Smaller fuel cells benefit no one except NASCAR’s ability to air as many commercials as they can during the race. They take the driver (who we came to see and cheer for) out of the race and give it to the crew chief, pit crew, and the guy holding the radar gun handing out speeding tickets. ..::[Harder tires benefit no one except those fans who came to see cars hit the wall. These extra cautions give NASCAR even more time to cram in commercials. Neither one of these two things make the racing better, and as a race fan (not a crash and go to commercial fan), I protest. ..::[I’ve blogged this numerous times before, but here it is again. What is the crime in putting a brake light TDC (that’s Top Dead Center for you lay people out there) of the back window of the cars? It absolutely would make racing safer. I think it would make the broadcast better, too. We’d know exactly who tapped the brakes (and when) through the in car cameras. No more post crash interviews with drivers saying “somebody” must have checked up. This might have prevented Mark Martin from trying to split J.J. Yeley’s car in half, and then hitting the wall head on at Mach OMG. I think it knocked him silly (or he’s still taking the Viagra) ‘cause he was way too happy in his post crash interview. ..::[Chalk it up to night racing. It was cold last night which makes cars faster and tracks slicker. I for one would watch every Bush race if it was on Friday night. Doesn’t say much for my social life, but there it is. I’d like to see the Cup series leave Saturday night to the local tracks. I used to have Mike Helton’s cell phone number. Where did I put that?

At least the night races.

2006-10-14T09:03:00.000-04:00

I rarely watch the Bush race, and it’s only ‘cause Tony was in this one that I bothered to turn it on this time. I’m glad that the only time his tires were off the ground this race was when they were changing his tires. He had his troubles mind you, but they didn’t involve any paint being removed from the top of his car. I think I might have to reconsider my tradition of skipping these races, at least the one run at night. Maybe it was a Friday the 13th thing, but last nights race was a mess, along with being rather fun to watch. The ending was exiting, with Casey Mears in his last race in the Texas/Havoline car. His “Spin or Win” theory ended with the first choice in the closing laps, taking out the leader and rendering them both a ways back in the field. Dave Blaney drove through the mess to take his first Busch Series win. But getting the cars lined up for this final run was a challenge that NASCAR had a hard time trying to figure out. After a race that had everyone on different tires and pit strategies, they had to red flag the race to figure out who goes where. They never did get it right. Harvick was scored in 8th place, the first car one lap down, but had to start the single file restart at the end of the line. This put the car scored in 8th place at the end of the field behind the car scored in 38th place. And that was just one of the problems, but they aren’t worth mentioning here. I’ve always liked Carl Edwards. Recently he’s gotten a bad rap for being a little vindictive. I think he got it straight with the run in with Jr.. Last night he was wrecked out of the lead again. He seems to have gone through the emotional cycle, and has returned to the respectful driver we loved when he started. I’ll admit I was not happy with some of his actions lately, and as always, I blame Jack Rousch, but after last night I’m once again a Carl Edwards fan. Kevin Harvick was so upset with his crew’s performance that he mentioned “pink slips” for Monday morning. Even after the race and clinching the Bush Series Championship, it seemed to affect him. He just wasn’t “Happy Harvick” in his makeshift victory lane. He acted more like a car owner than a driver. His habitual smile just wasn’t there. I’m happy for you, Kevin. Now go out there and make a run for the other one.

LMS StewartFan Wanderings

2006-10-10T23:18:00.000-04:00

NASCAR plays a home game of sorts as it goes racing at Lowes Motor Speedway. It’s been home since its first race June 19th, 1960 and has hosted 95 Cup Series races in all. Total cup miles at this track, 50,204. The first race was won by Joe Lee Johnson (no relation to Junior or Jimmie). The 600 mile race took 5 1/2 hours to complete, Kasey’s win in the spring race 4 1/2. Of the 490 drivers to start a cup race here over the years, there have been quite a few of the open wheelers to try their hand. Mario Andretti has 1 of his 14 Cup starts here. Christian Fittipaldi joined in for 1 race. A.J. Foyt has 16 starts with 1 top 5. Gordon Johncock has 4 starts with 1 top 5 along with 2 Indianapolis 500 titles, and is an International Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee. Johnny Rutherford has 4 starts. Bobby Unser took the green flag here just once and finished last. These are great names in Motorsports history. I guess my point is, if you ever sat on your couch and said “I could drive one of those cars.” look at a few legendary drivers who tried. We truly watch the best stock car drivers in the world every weekend. As I dig through all of these past stats, certain drivers stories get stuck in my craw, much like Marty Robbins did last race. Driver story of this post is about Rob Moroso. His first Winston Cup start was in a Rick Hendrick car. After that, his father Dick Moroso, famous for Moroso Performance Parts, sponsored him. It was 1988, and he was 19 years old. He made 2 cup starts in ‘88, and 2 more in ’89 along with the Bush Series Championship (3 straight Bush wins at Charlotte, the link to this track) and Most Popular Driver. In 1990 he went full time in the Cup series, but after 25 of 29 races that year he was involved in an auto accident on his way home from the race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. He was 22. He and the driver of the other car were killed. He was under the influence of alcohol. NASCAR posthumously awarded him the Raybestos Rookie of the Year award. If you can’t see the moral, tear up your driver’s license.

Next post will be current driver stats at LMS. Heads up; Jimmie Johnson averages $232,000.00 a race here in 10 starts. No whining here, Jimmie.

This whole court is out of order!

2006-10-09T21:38:00.000-04:00

After further review, I completely exonerate Brian Vickers of all wrong doing in Sunday’s race. Jimmie checked up and Vickers had no time to react. Jr. ran a perfect line and gave Jimmie a lane to race in. He knew he couldn’t stop it, but he had to put up a little fight, so he came down a half a car width. Jimmie started his pass and was depending on his teammate to follow him, for without the help he could not complete the pass. Jimmie got exactly what he asked for as his teammate followed. Vickers was going to finish second no matter who he followed and stuck to his teammate’s bumper (literally as it turns out). Jimmie saw Jr. come down and got out of the gas. When Brian dove down to follow him, Jimmie got scared (there, I said it) and forgot he was at a track where he just can’t lift. But he did and the rest is NASCAR history. Can’t say I like the win for Vickers, but he can’t give it back. It’ll be sorta like Stewart’s first Championship. His next one will probably be in a Toyota. Time will heal this wound, as it does all others. I’ll have a hard time calling Jr. Jr. anymore (I know it’s a country song, save your breath) after the maturity he showed post race, but I for one won’t start calling him “Junebug”.

It's not too late!

2006-10-08T20:16:00.000-04:00

Points aren’t official until tomorrow. NASCAR can still review the tape and black flag Vickers for rough driving. Never going to happen, but chances are he won’t make it out of Alabama alive anyway. The Drivers Meeting (that he’s not invited to anyway) should be very interesting tomorrow morning.

I think Tony will agree with me that along with the paving, they removed all but the high groove. Who would have thought that a track as wide as Talledega, with room to drive as much as 5 wide in some places, would be reduced to one racing groove. Dale only had to protect the high side against all lone comers. Jimmie made the perfect move on him before Vickers assassinated him, but probably could not have completed it by himself.

Tony tried most of the day to run his preferred line around the bottom, only to find it just wasn’t the fast way to complete a circuit. I liked the team’s pit strategy, but it put him in the mix and he got wrecked out.

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Too late for new plate!

2006-10-08T11:59:00.000-04:00

I can’t agree with NASCAR’s decision to change plate sizes without any practice time. This allows a factor of pure luck on things like gear selection. This makes a crew chief guess on all types of setup options, and not use their gained knowledge which got them here in the first place. It would be much different if this were a race early in the year, but during the chase you’ve bound the top 10 to go with the setup they used during practice with a different plate.

Yes the cars are faster, but I think the safety improvements will allow us to flirt with 200 mph speeds. Better track and wall, along with better tires and driver safety equipment has made a difference in what a crash outcome will produce.

Gilliland’s pole can be attributed to one of 2 different factors. The first is his skill. I don’t know how much he has, but the guy who put him behind the wheel sure thinks he’s got it. I’m sure his opinion on this is worth something; ‘cause mine isn’t. Reason 2 comes to us from the wisdom of old DW; “He doesn’t know what he doesn’t know”. He gets it out there and mashes it to the floor. Not knowing any better can put you at the edge of wrecking, or push you over. This time he pushed the edge. Let’s see if he can keep it this side of wrecked in traffic on Sunday.

NASCAR’s qualifying system has saved us from Todd Bodine starting the race. Those of you watching for “The Big One”, you’ll probably still get it, but the odds have been lowered exponentially. Robby Gordon did make the race and practiced real fast. He should be able to get to the front of the field and take out a majority of the cars.

Juan Watch....sort of....

2006-10-06T22:34:00.000-04:00

Not too shabby with his 3^rd place finish. He led the first 9, suffered some damage on lap 34, and overcame the 4 pit stops it took to repair it to finish very well in the shortened event (more on this later). His veteran crew chief was leading him the whole way in a very “Days of Thunder” kind of story. But that’s not what I wanted to post.

The new surface was obviously smoother. You could not see much of the cars bouncing around on the track as races here in the past. It makes the anticipation for Sunday’s race even greater. Better cars and drivers will put on a great show.

As smooth as the surface was, we still experienced “The Big One”. With less than 20 to go, 2 cars tried to occupy the same spot on the track and collected quite a few more. It was typical Talledega, the track supposedly built on an Indian burial ground. These burial mounds are prevalent in the Talledega National Forest. One story goes that Bobby Isaac actually gave up the lead with 10 laps to go, pulled off the track, and parked his car after hearing voices.

The race was shortened before they could get back to green because of darkness much like Jeff Gordon’s cup win here in 1996. That race was shortened after a rain delayed the start and a horrendous crash in which Dale Earnhardt broke his collar bone ran the race late in the day. No lights here at ‘dega means no racing when the sun goes down. Don’t see this happening again on Sunday ‘cause the cup race starts quite a bit earlier, but it’s not out of the question.

'dega StewartFan Stats

2006-10-04T19:37:00.000-04:00

After creating my chart as seen to your right, I’ve come up with the same stats as anyone else. Jr. wins with Tony in second. But lets look a little deeper anyway, and particularly at the chasers.

This track has been owned by the Earnhardt’s, no question. Dad dominated with 10 wins and Jr. has stepped up with 5 wins in only 13 starts, a remarkable feat in itself. Along with 7 top 5’s, 8 top 10’s and an average finish of 12.2, he has a 61% top 10 finishes. He has lead 23% of the laps he’s run here; no one else comes close to that. He gets out front and stays there. Clean air and everyone wrecking behind him.

Jeff Gordon is no stranger to Victory Lane here with 4 wins, and his other stats are consistently good. Jimmie Johnson has a win to add to the team effort, but DNF's over 50% of the time.

Mark Martin complains about restrictor plate racing because he believes his outcome is not up to him, but to whoever wrecks everyone. If that’s the case, he’s one of the luckier ones. He’s got 2 wins, and his 51.2% Top 10’s is a high mark, with only a few drivers beating it. His average finish isn’t too bad at about 15^th.

Jeff B. and Kevin are about middle of the pack. No wins, but they finish in the top 10 40% of the time and DNF 36% of the time. Kevin’s numbers are slightly better, but Jeff’s on a serious roll in the chase, and I for one hope it keeps going. Throw Matt in with about the same numbers.

Kasey, Kyle, and Denny have a combined 8 starts and 1 finish (out of Kahne’s 5 starts). Hopefully this new surface will come to a few of them, or this could be the race to separate the chasers from the cup contenders. That’s where all of the red is on my chart.

The two outside the chase worth my keystrokes are Tony Stewart and Kurt Bush. Both have a finishing average better than Jr., but neither has a win to show for it. Tony has finished the last 3 races here in second place, 10 top 10’s in 15 starts, and has a finishing average of 11.3. Kurt is right behind him with 8 top 10’s and an average finish of 11.5.

If you haven’t heard the bad news, Todd Bodine is in the race. 8 starts and 1 top 10. Move over Robby Gordon, Todd Bodine is back. This guy scares me when he drives the pace car! Of course the only one who's hit him lately is Tony as he likes to push the pace car every once in awhile. Keep a camera on the 4 car to see "The Big One".

What was Microsoft thinking?

2006-10-03T20:40:00.000-04:00

Never realized how crappy my site looked in Internet Explorer because I use FireFox. I've made a few adjustments to try and make it look acceptable, but this is the best I can do. It still looks much better in FireFox, but it's not so jumbled up in IE now.

StewartFan’s off-the-wall Talledega History….

2006-10-02T21:39:00.000-04:00

1969, like Dover, was the first year for racing at Talledega. Unlike Dover, the winner wasn’t Richard Petty. In fact he wasn’t even in the race.

Out of 74 races held there in NASCAR’s highest division, Dave “Mr. Wingtips” Marcis has the most starts with 61. He won his only race here from the pole in 1976. His total winnings for all 61 starts: $691.227. Jamie McMurray’s earned more than that in just 8 starts. It kills me every time I look at these stats how much more they make now.

One name stands out here at the track stuck out in the middle of a national forest, and it’s (say it with me) EARNHARDT! Sr. and Jr. have racked up an earth shattering 15 wins; 10 for Sr. and 5 for the son. No one else has won more than 4. Even with all of those wins, Jr. will catch his father in earnings with over 2 million with a half decent finish this race. Just unrefuted proof on the growth of the sport in the last 10 years.

Jr. has posted the most impressive number if you ask me. 5 wins in 13 starts is only rivaled by the late Davey Allison who won 3 races here in only 15 starts. We will never cease to wonder what this gift to NASCAR could have achieved had He not had other plans for him. Davey’s first win was here on May 3, 1987. His father was in a horrific crash where his car went airborne into the fence. It was the race that made NASCAR figure out how to slow these cars down. The restrictor plate was brought into the picture for the second time.

Marty Robins had 10 starts here. In case you don’t recognize the name, he was a famous country music singer along with a talented driver. I included a pic for the younger crowd. He disqualified himself from his first race here for running the last 100 miles without a restrictor plate. He refused to accept his 18^th place finish, was awarded 50^th place money, and then fined $250 by NASCAR for his integrity.

Jeff Gordon has 4 wins, but also has the distinction of winning both the shortest race here (343 miles; eventually shortened due to darkness), and the longest (516 miles). Jeff's earnings in his 27 starts here; $2,970,825. That's the most of all of the 399 different drivers who have raced here over the years at NASCAR's highest level.

That’s about all the off the wall stuff I can dig up tonight, time to work on the stats on the current drivers. Just a heads up, Tony has not won a race here, but has the best finishing average of all current drivers.

Too Many Numbers!.........

2006-09-30T11:50:00.000-04:00

Since my days plans were shot at the early hour of 6am, I got a crazy idea of how to use stats to predict an outcome to the season. I’d go back to the stats from the previous races at the 8 remaining tracks, collect all of the finishing points from the Chasers, and add them to their current total. It’s not uncommon to do well again at a track you’ve figured out, and vise versa. Talladega’s new surface might throw a bleeder valve in my numbers, but I believe the restrictor plate will clog the hole.

All the numbers came from NASCAR.COM/Races/Past Races.

So who’s got the big number? With his last finishes at the 8 tracks left in the season, Matt Kenseth scored 1146 points. Add that to his current total of 5333, and he’ll finish in 1^st place with 6479. All you’ve got to do is as well as last year Matt, no pressure.

Mark Martin racked up the most points of the chasers with 1160, but when we add that to his current total of 5276, he comes up 43 points short to finish second once again. I don’t think anyone wants to see that. Mark, please finish in any other position besides 2^nd. I don’t think anyone could handle it.

The rest finish like this:

3. Gordon w/ 6376 4. Johnson w/ 6369 (a huge jump, but no championship) 5. Burton w/ 6283 6. Harvick w/ 6232 7. Kahne w/ 6204 (just not enough 1.5 miler’s left) 8. Earnhardt w/ 6167 9. Hamlin w/ 6067 10. Bush w/ 5127

Bush finishes 636 points back from the leader. His brother did better than that last year, and Kurt sat out the last 2 races. I’ll never have any respect Jack Roush for that decision. Forgiven, yes; forgotten, never.

Tony scored 1180 points in this same stat, beating all others. I’m still anxious to see how he will finish based on the old points system, and how NASCAR will “chase” a new points system trying to keep everyone happy.

Here's a pic of Ms. Motorsports, Tracy Gesselman, and I just after driver introductions. That's Hulk Hogan's son off of my left shoulder. I got some good shots of the Hulkster; I'll put them up with some other posts. I didn't get many shots this race. My camera gave out shortly after Tony did.

I'd love to hear your opinion on if you think this theory can predict the NEXTEL CUP winner. Leave me a comment on whether you think it's got any merit, or if I'm just full of it once again.

My stats for Kansas:

2006-09-27T21:33:00.000-04:00

This track only has 5 starts, so no one really has a good stat average. It is one of the cookie-cutter 1.5 milers, so insert your favorite driver who does well at this size track. Jimme and Kasey come to mind, and they are likely to pull out a few stops to use these tracks to improve their position in the points. Of the chasers, Jeff Gordon has the best stats according to my spreadsheet. The most wins, top 5’s, top 10’s, an average finish of 6th, 12.7% of his laps he’s led, and 100% Lead Lap Finishes. An average start of 10.4 is only beat by 7.something by Jimmie and Denny. Mark Martin has a win here, not much more to impress from him, but he’s seen victory lane, and that’s got to give him some confidence. Kyle, Kasey, Denny, and Jeff Burton have not been able to finish here on the lead lap, nor do they have a top 10. Dale, Matt, and Jimmie have poles here, but that doesn’t seem to be much of an advantage here. Joe Nemechek has good stats here with 1 win and 1 pole. I’m just say’in is all; I here that saying a lot in Delaware. Someone shoot me if I ever say it out loud. Tony is the only one besides Jeff Gordon with 4 top 10’s in 5 starts. His average finish is also very good at 7.6. His 2 top 5’s and 100% finishes on the lead lap make him a contender here.

Bueller?......Bueller?......

2006-09-26T21:26:00.000-04:00

I haven’t fallen off the planet, but my other passion (golf) took over for a few days. I was at the Dover race, and it goes without saying I was as disappointed as Tony when I didn’t see him come back around after lap 10. I didn’t get a lot of pics this race as my camera battery didn’t last much longer than Tony, but I’ll post them along with the next couple of posts. This one is obviously after he spun out, and shows some of the damage.

If you’re not praying for Antonette yet, it’s your turn. Get to it!

I'm a winner!!!!.....

2006-09-23T19:54:00.000-04:00

I finished real close to some one, 'cause it's a photo finish. Not quite sure who second place (or as I call it "the first loser") is, but I smoked 'em. Click on the image to see how you can become a winner, too. Don't forget to look at the Dover Stats below, if you haven't checked 'em out yet. And leave a comment for pete's sake.

Dover stats….

2006-09-21T23:40:00.000-04:00

Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon share 4 wins (the most of all active drivers), an average start of 10^th, and an average finish of 13^th. Martin’s average finish in the last 5 races is much better than Jeff’s, who’s struggled lately here.

Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman both have 9 starts and 3 wins. Their 33% win average is highest among active drivers. They both have 7 top 10’s. Jimmie has 2 DNF’s while Ryan has none.

Dale Jr. won the first race after 9/11 here at Dover. Half of his starts here have resulted in a top 10, and only 1 DNF.

Kyle Bush has 3 races and 3 top 10’s. Hamlin, 1 start and 1 top 10. Great stuff, but not enough starts to make a good average.

Kahne’s stats here are just horrific. 60% DNF’s, the worst of all drivers. 5 starts with an average finish of 25^th.

Kenseth won here in the spring, and Dover’s a pretty popular place to sweep.

RCR doesn’t have very impressive numbers here. 0 wins for both drivers. Shining slightly is Harvick. 0 DNF’s and half of his starts result in top 10’s.

Tony has 2 wins here, both in 2000 and in a Pontiac. His last 3 finishes here are 15^th, 18^th, and 25^th (with Ricky Rudd in the car). He’s got very good averages less these 3 finishes. 0 DNF’s and an average finish of 7^th, even with the last 3 races included. Newman shares the 0 DNF and Average finish of 7^th with Tony.

My pick for the win; Tony Stewart. Honorable mentions go to Newman, Martin, Kyle Bush, and Johnson.

It was 1969….

2006-09-21T18:45:00.000-04:00

Woodstock, the moon landing, and NASCAR at Dover. Richard Petty won that race 4 laps ahead of second. Sunny Hutchens finished second, and never raced here again. Not really important, just kinda strange.

In 1982 they added a 3200 seat grandstand, and for 16 years straight they added more to get to the 140,000 plus they have today.

In 1995 Dover became the first all concrete track on the Winston Cup circuit. It quickly became notorious for eating up competitors, giving it the Monster Mile nickname. It’s considered a “self cleaning track”. With 24 degrees of banking in the corners, if you hit something or someone, you usually slide down the banking. If you hit the outside wall, you almost inevitably are going to hit the inside wall very shortly. Hitting outside, then inside, and then outside again is also an option.

Dover’s always had a pedestrian overpass to allow walking in and out of the infield, even during the race. It’s not a tunnel track, and it doesn’t appear that next years upgrades are going to change that. In 2005 they added a second overpass with seats for viewing called the Dupont Monster Bridge. It’s billed as “The most exiting seat in all of sports” and “The only seat in the world where you look the driver in the eye”. You’re only 29 feet off the track.

Out of 73 races here, 11 have been won from the pole. 59 (80%) have been won from the top 10. Only 7 have been won from outside the top 15, to include both of Tony Stewart’s in his sweep here in 2000.

Dover has a lot of sweeps. If you find the track, and keep from hitting anything, you can win again. Those names with sweeps: Petty (1969-71, the first 3), Pearson (73), Allison (82-3), Elliot (88), Earnhardt (89), Wallace (93-4), Gordon (95-6), Stewart (00), Johnson (02), and Newman (03-4). Greg Biffle won in 2005, but hit the wall during his burnout. I guess this was enouph to knock his car out of whack.

Tomorrow I’ll get together my stats. Right now I’ve got to get my camera, uniform and HMMWV (Hummvee) cleaned up for the race.

Different chase scenarios I was mulling over:

2006-09-20T21:27:00.000-04:00

Tony and team take a week off. Why not? 11^th isn’t going to be a great place to be.
Test at all remaining tracks. Green flag pits to change and test setups. Finish 40 laps down on purpose.
Alternate drivers in the 20. Bring in some fresh talent to try the Cup scene. Everybody’s doing it, or is it just Rousch.

Any one of these would piss off NASCAR, but it’s the bed they’ve made with the chase, and they’d have to lye in it.

One of the reasons NASCAR made the 400 point rule is that they think anyone outside of 400 points can't win a championship anyway. According to Jayski's stats, he'd be 6th in the points after NHIS by the old system. That’s still 451 points out, and in a three way tie with Kyle and Burton. He’s ahead of both because of wins. There are 9 more races to go. How hi can he get? I'll keep an eye on this # for the rest of the season. Just one more way Tony can get under their skin.

At least a threat!....

2006-09-17T20:13:00.000-04:00

Finishing second usually doesn’t put a smile on Tony’s face, but after the streak of races he’s had lately, he can’t be all that mad. His stratagy and postion to win was more like the Tony Stewart we saw in the first half of the season.

His post race interview was very good. He pointed out how much different it is not to just be outside the chase, but outside racing the chasers. If this does have a good point, it’ll give him a different perspective of those outside racing him next year when he’s once again in the chase. Don’t think for a minute he’ll be out next year.

Still didn't get any bonus points. They're worthless now, but 5 would have been a change of pace. Even Robby Gordon got 5.

I’ll be out of town for a few days, so no posts unless I get a renegade internet hookup somewhere on the beach.

But it's a new fan friendly Monster.....

2006-09-15T19:14:00.000-04:00

Dover International Raceway is going to renovate big time immediately following the fall race. Click the pic to find out all the details, then make plans to come see me at a Dover race soon. I'll be in the infield for the race next weekend.

Late on the Stats

2006-09-14T19:51:00.000-04:00

Let’s look at the StewartFan stats for NHIS. We’ll look at the same types of stats we’ve looked at before: % of Lead Lap Finishes (%LLF) and % Laps Led (%LL), and any others I feel like mixing in. We’ll look at the chasers, and a few others with more than 10 starts here. Martin, Gordon, and Burton all have 23 starts here. That’s the most of all active drivers. Martin has a very impressive 87% LLF stat. It’s the highest of all drivers w/ more than 10 starts. He’s finished on the lead lap 20 times! No wins, and he’s only led 5.3% of his laps, but the consistency is there. Jeff Burton’s seen victory lane more here than the rest with 4 wins. Jeff Gordon is right behind with 3 W’s. 2 wins for Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, and a few others. Jimmie’s got both those wins in only 9 starts, finishing every race here on the lead lap, but only leading 2.8% of his circuits, proving that only the 308th lap counts. Tony and Ryan have the highest % of Laps Led with 19% and 20% respectively. Tony with 15 starts, and Ryan with 9. Track position is the name of the game at this one groove track, so being out in front is important. You’ll see some pit strategy early and often. Nothing exiting to say about Dale, Matt, or Kevin. None with a win; none with a % Laps Led of more than 5. As for the baby chasers: Kyle has a win in just 3 starts, Kasey has a top 5 in 5 starts, and Denny has a top 10 in 1 start. Robby Gordon has a win here? Let me look again,…yep, one win. Well, credit where credit is due. Maybe this is where I jump off this band wagon. It was a fun ride. Winner this week; Tony Stewart. If you’re looking for a second opinion, you look fat in those pants. (Sorry girls, but that’s funny) Comments? Who’s your pick for the win? No restrictor plate on my comment section, so fire’m up.

And we didn't land on the moon....

2006-09-14T18:52:00.000-04:00

Someone leave me a comment explaining why NASCAR doesn’t want Kevin in a car? That’s what all of your conspiracy theories come down to. But I’m no expert here, so I’ll wait for your comments before I judge the young man. You’d think we’d be hearing from his team owner a bit more, or maybe his crew chief. Is no one going to stick up for this innocent man? Not that they’d have much say in the micro-universe called NASCAR. Kevin would have shown signs of a concussion that night and would have been hospitalized for it by the track medical team. If he couldn’t understand two requests from NASCAR for a drug test, someone who was with him should’ve straightened him out. I’m not buying his side of the story at all right now. I vote we test Robby Gordon! How many times has this guy hit something in the first 10 laps this year?

You have got to see this.....

2006-09-11T19:02:00.000-04:00

New web site to check every day. CawsnJaws has an awesome breakdown of the commercials in the race Saturday night. This definitely gets a two-turns-up-on-the-track-bar from StewartFan!

My other problem

2006-09-11T17:15:00.000-04:00

My DSL has been down for three days. Sorry for the slow posts and comments. I've just been cut off again from verizon tech support. They asked for a number to call me back, but I know they ain't callin'.