|| *Comments on the 2012 O'Reilly Auto Parts 300:* View the most recent comment <#65> | Post a comment <#post> 1. Baker posted: 04.14.2012 - 12:08 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Who was it after Bristol that declared the Nationwide championship over? HA Go get em Stenhouse! 2. 10andJoe posted: 04.14.2012 - 12:12 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #70 sponsor: Foretravel Motorcoach #4 sponsor: DERacing.com #15 sponsor: ChristianCinema.com #46, 42, 47 sponsor: The Motorsports Group 3. 10andJoe posted: 04.14.2012 - 12:12 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Caution #4 cause: 'lights' 4. RaceFanX posted: 04.14.2012 - 12:23 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Being from Michigan I have to admit I was pulling for Stenhouse in this one because he had the Pure Michigan Ford, Pure Michigan being the state's tourism campaign. Winning races, that's Pure Michigan. 5. Anonymous posted: 04.14.2012 - 12:48 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Stenhouse manages to rustle up a sponsor but cheap S.O.B. Roush can't put Bayne in a car for the race 6. DaleSrFanForever posted: 04.14.2012 - 12:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Another win for Ricky "The Future" Stenhouse. Cup guys are 1 for 5 this year in NWide. Most compelling storyline in all of NASCAR this year. 7. Kyle posted: 04.14.2012 - 1:00 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) going back to the last 3 races of last season, nationwide regulars are 7 for 9. 8. Daniel posted: 04.14.2012 - 1:13 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Did ESPN ever mention why Jeff Green replaced Eric McClure? 9. Pk84 posted: 04.14.2012 - 1:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bu-bu-bu-bu-but, the Nationwide series is dead! That's all the "experts" on this site have been telling me for the last 4 years! In every.single.thread.every.lousy.week, nothing but complaining for years! How can this be? 10. Kyle posted: 04.14.2012 - 1:28 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) mcclure had stomach flu. 11. DaleSrFanForever posted: 04.14.2012 - 1:36 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Radio talked about McClure and even interviewed him. He said he has had some sort of unknown illness since January and that the g forces were affecting him. Can't believe they haven't figured out what it is. 12. RCRandPenskeGuy posted: 04.14.2012 - 1:50 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I missed it, but congrats to Stenhouse, the future of Roush Racing. 13. Watto posted: 04.14.2012 - 2:27 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Was really hoping for Paul Menard to get this win after such a dominating performance for most of the race, but kudos to Roush Racing's stellar Nationwide program and Ricky Stenhouse on pulling this one out. I felt like Menard may have been the winner had Austin Dillon not stayed out on old tires. 14. irony posted: 04.14.2012 - 2:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well #9, the NW Series is obviously going to be more interesting without Kyle and Carl stinking up the show. Solid run for Johanna Long, who actually maintained close to her qualifying position this time. This happened at a "car" track. Hum. 15. Watto posted: 04.14.2012 - 2:32 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Impressive run for David Ragan who gave that team their best oval run by far. Steve Arpin ties his current career best Nationwide Series finish of 10th, this time on a non-superspeedway track in his first Nationwide race since 2010. Danica's 8th place run is her second-best Nationwide finish, which she earned after passing a number of cars in the final few laps while on new tires. 16. Rusty posted: 04.14.2012 - 3:11 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kurt Busch makes his debut for KBM. He qualified 6th, but dropped to 11th before being caught pitting under caution. He worked his way back up to 11th before blowing an engine late. This was only the 2nd Nationwide series start Kurt has had without managing to lead a single lap, the other being this same event in 2007. 17. joey2448 posted: 04.14.2012 - 3:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Texas Motor Speedway owes Menard a win. Those lights brought out the caution that ultimately cost him the win. Anyway, I think the drivers could still race with a few lights out...I know the commentators were saying that it's different when you're going 190 mph then watching it on TV, but they did it fine for a couple laps. Anyway, it really seems that NASCAR just cannot gain any momentum this year... Between rain, jet dryer crashes, and light malfunctions, there is always something delaying the fun. 18. cjs3872 posted: 04.14.2012 - 6:08 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well, Baker, it sure looked like the way things were going after Bristol, that Sadler might start to pull away since he had half a race on the rest of the field, but Stenhouse really caught up tonight. Unless something really strange happens, like Sadler or Stenhouse getting called up to Cup to replace an injured of sick driver, or getting injured or sick themselves, that it's already been wittled down to those two for the championship, and I give a big edge to Sadler for this reason. He's actually got teammates to help him with information sharing, competition, etc., where Stenhouse may not have anyone else to lean on for the rest of the season, since Stenhouse is now the only Roush driver in the Nationwide Series. The closest thing he may have to a teammate the resst of the season would be Michael Annett in he Richard Petty Motorsports car, which will likely catch up to him before the season ends. The difference this year, of course, is that both drivers are winning races, effectively alternating wins, as each have two wins apiece, and Joey Logano (California) is the only current full-time Cup driver to win a race this year. Shows what happens when Carl Edwards no longer races in the series and Kyle Busch starts his own team. The gap dramatically narrows, though I don't think anyone saw this coming as a result. And by the way DSFF, Cup guys are 1 for 6 this year, with Stenhouse and Sadler each winning twice and James Buescher from the Truck Series winning Daytona. And joey2448, how do we know that the lights cost Paul Menard the win? There's a very good likelyhood that if the race went green the rest of the way that someone like David Ragan might have won on gas mileage, because I'm not sure any of those that had been running up front wold have been able to make it to the finish without a late stop for gas. Certainly the one driver that really benefitted was Justin Allgaier, who stopped with 55 laps to go. He most certainly would have had to stop in the last ten laps for gas, but that caution for the lights going out saved him, as he finished seventh. 19. Spen posted: 04.14.2012 - 7:16 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I have never pulled for Paul Menard before, but I was practically screaming for him near the end. If he'd pulled this off, I'd have looked like a genious for picking him. Unfortunately, he came up short, per usual. He did set a personal best for laps led, though. And an "atta boy" to David Ragan. He ran a good race all day long, and when he stayed out near the end, he pulled right over for his corporate teammate Stenhouse. If Dillon had been as curteous to Paul, the outcome might have been different. Personally, I think that running for a small Nationwide-only team is exactly where David would shine best. He's got the experience to be a great asset to a team like that, and being the team's only driver would allow him to get out of the shadows a bit. And besides, gunning for top tens in this series has to feel better than struggling to get top-25's with FRM. A quietly nice run by Jason Bowles, considering the team. While he doesn't get credit for it offically, Jeff Green got to actually run the full race for the first time since 2010. And when you consider that at the time he took over, McClure was in 36th, two laps behind his nearest competitor, getting a 24th place finish out of it was not bad at all. I'd be interested in seeing how he'd do if he got to run the races more often. He could possibly outpace Bliss. But so long as Eric brings the money, that's not going to happen. 20. DaleSrFanForever posted: 04.14.2012 - 7:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I meant to say 1 AND 5. My bad. 21. Watto posted: 04.14.2012 - 8:44 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) also worth noting that Ryan Truex looked really solid until his engine gave way before eventually blowing up. The kid's definitely a talent. 22. numbah24fan posted: 04.14.2012 - 10:01 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #08 sponsor: Texas Tech/ Randy Hill Racing 23. cjs3872 posted: 04.14.2012 - 11:45 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Spen, David Ragan and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. are no longer corporate teammates, as Ragan no longer drives for Roush. Ragan drove this race for what used to be BrewCo Motorsports (now CG Motorsports) and drives for Front Row Motorsports in the Cup series. Sure, the equipment Ragan drives are still Fords and might be Roush-Fenway hand-me-downs, but that's about as much as Ragan and Stenhouse have in common as far as their alliance with Roush and Ford goes this year. 24. 10andJoe posted: 04.14.2012 - 11:49 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #08 sponsor: Texas Tech University 25. 10andJoe posted: 04.14.2012 - 11:50 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) >Ragan drove this race for what used to be BrewCo Motorsports (now CG Motorsports) GC Motorsports by way of Go Canada Racing, to be precise. 26. 10andJoe posted: 04.14.2012 - 11:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #15 sponsor: ChristianCinema.com 27. BradKeselowski2Fan posted: 04.14.2012 - 12:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) For God's sake, Coach Gibbs, just give up on Brian Scott. He is currently 19th in current points. Just get rid of the 11 car and give Dollar General to Roush so that Roush can have Bayne drive. You know Bayne is going to be a lot more successful then Scott. 28. ch posted: 04.14.2012 - 12:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor Changes: 08 - Texas Tech / Randy Hill Racing 15 - ChristianCinema.com 27 - GC Motorsports Int. / Mercury 29. NazRacePhan posted: 04.14.2012 - 12:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) wondering why the heck Busch had a blown engine, saw him coming own pit road, next thing you know, he's stopped on backstretch? Why not just stay in the pits???? 30. 12345Dude posted: 04.14.2012 - 1:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Being from Michigan I have to admit I was pulling for Stenhouse in this one because he had the Pure Michigan Ford, Pure Michigan being the state's tourism campaign. Winning races, that's Pure Michigan." The same group that said they would sponcer Benson full time in the truck series and then backed out at the last second. Stenhouse wins with 8 cup guys in the race. He is the next mega star in nascar. 31. Kyle posted: 04.14.2012 - 1:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Pure Michigan might not have been able to afford a full-season sponsorship for benson in the trucks. i believe the plan was to attract companies located in michigan to associate sponsor every week and no one was interested. 32. cjs3872 posted: 04.14.2012 - 1:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) BradKeselowski2Fan, what makes you think that Dollar General would want anything to do with a guy like Bayne, due to religiousness and the way he displays it. And you say that Bayne is going to be a lot more succesful than Brian Scott? Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't Bayne already been a lot more successful than Scott? After all he has a Nationwide Series win as well as a win in the Daytona 500 (the only rookie ever to win that event). I would classify that as already being more succesful than Scott. But no high profile sponsor is likely to touch Bayne with a 10-foot pole that isn't already on the car from an already existing deal (much like Motorcraft and the Wood Brothers) due to how he publicly displays his religious beliefs. After all, that's the only reason I can think of why he can't find sponsorship. And 12345Dude, I've been predicting superstardom for Stenhouse for a year now, so I'm not surprised in the least. He just needed to learn how to win. Now that he does, he may be the next superstar, if Roush can get enough money to revive his flagship #6 car in Cup next year, or Stenhouse might also be headed for career purgatory due to lack of rides caused by the top 35 rule, though I think he may be in the Wood Brothers #21 car later this year, possibly as early as July, definately by next year if the #6 car is not brought back. 33. DaleSrFanForever posted: 04.14.2012 - 2:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Next year Dollar General will sponsor Bayne in 1/3 of the Cup races (with Home Depot covering the rest) in JGR's #20 car, so they may as well get used to him. The blown engine certainly wasn't Brian's fault, but overall he is going nowhere. Go ahead and replace him with Bayne so he can get used to the JGR way of doing things. The strong run Trevor will have tonight at Texas in the Cup race (although with the modern day Woods it only has a slight chance of being a strong finish) will only drive this point home further. 34. RaceFanX posted: 04.14.2012 - 2:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Pure Michigan is I think gov't funded, especially in a state with an economy in as much trouble as Michigan's a full season deal is probably too costly. I was surprised they were on Stenhouse's car here as the race wasn't at M.I.S. like their previous one-off with Greg Biffle in Cup was. 35. Thrillsville posted: 04.14.2012 - 4:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #34: I believe that you are right about Pure Michigan being a govt (i.e. 'taxpayer') funded organization and that money could surely be better spent elsewhere. The economy here is quite bad even outside of the expected places like Flint, Bay City and obviously Detroit. I live between Detroit and Flint and even though the area is considered to be fairly nice in comparision to the cities at either end of the corridor business is definitely not booming and lots of jobs have left. It's likely going to take several more years before we recover from 2 terms of ditzy former Governor "Jenny Grandstand" and other politicians of her ilk. 36. RCRandPenskeGuy posted: 04.14.2012 - 4:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) JGR would be a real good opportunity for Trevor Bayne. I think he'd be better off getting away from Roush anyway, seeing as Jack has had many sponsors coming and going like a restaurant since the early 00's. Roush can't even get sponsors lined up yet for his Cup guy who won the Daytona 500 this year and is a former champion. 37. Jon posted: 04.14.2012 - 5:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) i don't think bayne's sponsorship problems have ANYTHING to do with religion. he's far from "in your face" religious, and he's also very well spoken, which should make him a sponsor's dream. he's young and has talent... the only thing i can come up with is roush SUCKS as a businessman, or his marketing dept or whoever is supposed to scrounge up sponsorship $. matt kenseth can't find sponsors with this guy. there has to be way more to it than religion... if that was all it was, why would tim tebow be so damn popular? he's way more in your face religious than bayne is. i realize he's way more in the spotlight, but that's the point to me... bayne isn't out there talking about jesus every 5 minutes like tebow is, yet tebow has made a huge name for himself by sucking at his job. bayne is awesome as a driver and has a great team, yet can't find any $ to run the race. gotta believe there's way more to it than "he likes jesus so no one will sponsor him." 38. joey2448 posted: 04.14.2012 - 5:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Spen, you're "risky" pick of Paul Menard in the Nationwide race nearly came true. That was pretty cool. cjs3872, I'm not saying that Menard would of won this race, guaranteed. But the caution for the lights sure didn't help him. Like Spen, I too picked Menard to win. Also, I think Brian Scott is a talent. His luck this year has been horrible. He had a top-five car at Vegas, only to take a hard hit into the wall. And this race could've ended well for him, but alas he blew an engine. I think his results will pick up soon, and I would not be surprised if he has a successful second half of the season, picking up a win or two, and running up front with guys like Stenhouse, Sadler, and others. 39. hyperacti posted: 04.14.2012 - 5:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What the Nationwide series really needs is more experienced guys running for points full time in good cars like Elliot Sadler. It would be nice if the Gibbs #11 was turned over to J.J. Yeley before the season started. I'd also like to have seen Brendan Gaughan get his hands on the #33 for all the races instead of just running part time. But even better than that would be if Penske fielded a car for Kenny Wallace and Gibbs fielded one for Bobby Labonte. Would love to see those guys competing for the Nationwide series championship. Right now the only two "Fallen Angels" from the Cup series that have competitive rides are Elliott Sadler and Sam Hornish, Jr. They add so much integrity to the Nationwide series though. If we could get a bunch more drivers like that... like Sorenson, Stremme, and Mears, this series would quickly become ten times as fun to watch. Mostly because there's no chase, but that's just my opinion. 40. Eric posted: 04.14.2012 - 6:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jon, Roush for years has a reputation for asking for a lot of money for sponsors. In today's economy, that has burned Jack Roush. 41. DaleSrFanForever posted: 04.14.2012 - 6:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) You are right Jon. Its not like Trevor mentions it in every single interview. And he certainly doesn't "Tebow" before every race on pit road. I also see him as a sponsor's dream. And the controversy from Tebow comes mostly from people arguing whether or not he is an adequate NFL quarterback, not his religious views. And football may be the most Godless sport there is. 42. cjs3872 posted: 04.14.2012 - 6:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Agreed Jon, but he couldn't find sponsorship with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. or Michael Waltrip Racing either, which is how he ended up at Roush, so there must be some reason he can't find sponsorship. Certainly, religion is not the only reason he can't find sponsorship, but it doesn't help him, either. Just look at what happened with Blake Koch and ESPN this past week. But another factor in Roush not being able to find sponsors is his relationship with John Henry, the owner of the Boston Red Sox, and maybe that is holding Roush back because nobody wants anything to do with the Red Sox. There's more layers to this sponsorship thing where Roush is concerned that is being let on. Gibbs might be a good place for Bayne, but Kurt Busch is more likely to be there next year than is Bayne. After all, Kurt Busch's younger brother Kyle is already there, and much like Kyle revived the #18 car, Kurt would likely revive the #20 car. But the fact that Roush has the last TWO Daytona 500 winnes on his payroll, and can't find sponsorship for either is puzzling. Roush may not be a good businessman, but I think his association with the Red Sox is also hurting his cause there. If you don't believe me, just look at what happened to Ray Evernham's and Richard Petty's teams when they aligned with the Montreal Canadiens. Evernham was forced to merge with Petty after 2008, and Petty nearly went out of business two years later. And let's not forget that the teaming of two Cowboy Hall of Fame QBs (Troy Aikman and Roger Staubahch) and the Arizona Diamondbacks was also a disaster, and was the last piece of the collapse of Robert Yates' team, though that team was in deep decline long before then. The fact is that entities from other sports have no idea how racing works, nd team owners that have aligned with entities from others sports have met their end. I just hope Roush isn't next on that list, but the fact that he has gone from 11 full-time teams over three series to just four in two series in just three or four years is very telling, and all that has occurred since he first teamed up with the Red Sox. 43. Ed posted: 04.14.2012 - 9:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #42: You're completely right, Fenway Sports Group has GOT to go. Now, to comment on this race. Paul Menard had a great run, starting from pole and leading exactly half the race, but an untimely caution due to a malfunction in the track's lighting system more than likely ended up costing him the win. Austin Dillon appeared to be in the right spot to capitalize, but his worn tires eventually caused him to slide back to 5th. Danica Patrick restarted 15th, last on the lead lap, with 8 laps to go and finished 8th with new tires. Steve Arpin has a quiet, solid run and nets a 10th-place finish. Dale Jr. struggles to find the handling in a rare Nationwide appearance and is never a factor, finishing 14th. Kurt Busch and Ryan Truex both have solid runs spoiled by blown motors in the last 20 laps. Brad Keselowski spends several laps behind the wall changing the distributor, only to spin into the grass off turn 4 as soon as he comes back on track. Sponsorship keeps Trevor Bayne on the sidelines for this one, which is startling considering he won there last time the series was in Texas. Kasey Kahne nets a 3rd-place finish in his first of 3 races this weekend. Lastly, 24-year-old defending Nationwide Series champion Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., pulls away from the field on the final restart to earn his second victory of 2012 and 4th of his young career. 44. Spen posted: 04.15.2012 - 5:29 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Cjs: Last I checked, Front Row Motorsports is a satellite of RPM, which is in turn a Roush satellite. So that does make Ragan a corporate teammate to Stenhouse, on Sundays anyway, which I'm sure he has to keep in mind on Saturdays as well. Who do you think pushed Front Row into hiring Ragan in the first place? 45. CBASS posted: 04.15.2012 - 10:23 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The #52 actually picked up last-minute sponsorship from Broadway Roofing 46. cjs3872 posted: 04.15.2012 - 12:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Spen, the only reason Ragan is driving for Front Row Motorsports is because nobody else would hire him. Not Penske and not Richard Petty Motorsports, and he was the favorite for both of those rides. I still think Petty made a bad decision hiring Aric Almirola over Ragan for the #43 car, a decision that makes me wonder if Petty isn't just using Almirola as a one year stop-gap until a better possibility comes along for 2103, though who that would be is unknown. 47. cjs3872 posted: 04.15.2012 - 12:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) That should've said 2013. And if Roush really wanted to keep Ragan in the fold, wouldn't he have tried to get him into the Wood Brothers' #21 for this year and let him run the races they weren't going to run with another team? 48. Rusty posted: 04.15.2012 - 2:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) First Nationwide race without Kenny Wallace in the field since the 2008 season opener at Daytona. Sucks he got kicked out of his ride because of sponsorship problems after he had a solid season last year. 49. DaleSrFanForever posted: 04.15.2012 - 8:26 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) The owners of the Fenway Sports Group are d-bags anyways. Everytime somebody leaves the Red Sox, they execute massive smear campaigns to make them look like shit. Examples are Terry Francona and Manny Ramirez. Francona, one of the best baseball managers of the last 20 years, and the guy who brought the Sox two World Series titles after 86 of not winning any, leaves and they make sure every little dirty detail against him got out like him allowing his players to drink beer in the clubhouse when just about every other team does the same thing, and has forever (didn't Mickey Mantle used to drink between innings when he was playing?). As for Manny, yes he opens himself up for criticism with his "Manny being Manny" antics, but thiis was hardly anything new. They were just fine with him when he was bringing home World Series trophies, but he finally got fed up with management (can you blame him?) And suddenly everything he ever did wrong leaks out. Hell, Roush and the Fenway group are a match made in shithead heaven! 50. ch posted: 04.15.2012 - 9:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) FRM is not a satelite team of anybody. They have a partnership with Roush/Yates Engines but nothing else. Yes, you have to imagine that Jack had a bit of an influence in his hiring with FRM being Fords, but it wasn't a command of any type. Mr. Jenkins has done a wonderful job taking FRM from a part-time team to the status that it is today and he has done so without any strong affiliation. I for one certainly applaud him! 51. cjs3872 posted: 04.16.2012 - 10:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) It seems like Bruton Smith is at it again with phony attendance figures. 73,600? Does anyone truly believe that? I saw the race on TV Friday night, and it didn't appear that there were any more than 25,000 in attendance. In fact, it appeared to me that there were more people in attendance for the Truck Series race at Rockingham than there were at Texas. Either that or about 40-50 thousand paid customers came in disguised as empty seats, because that was a depressing crowd. But then again, Charlotte didn't draw more than 30,000 for either one of the Nationwide Series races there last year, and the attendance for the unquestioned crown jewel race of those run at Smith's tracks has also been declining, as the attendance for the Coca-Cola 600 has also been dwindling. And there were reportedly 10,000 fewer people for the Cup race than there were last year. 52. DaleSrFanForever posted: 04.16.2012 - 2:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Cjs, people are voting with their asses. I live an hour North of CMS and have had the opportunites to get free tickets to the 600 and the Fall race, yet I haven't gone there since 2006. The racing just isn't good enough for me to go down there and deal with the other elemens of going to a race (traffic, the weather, etc). And that isn't even considering the ridiculously overpriced tickets. On the other hand, I live about the same distance South of Martinsville, and I absolutely love going there even though I have to pay for their tickets. Missing the Spring race killed me. I love going there even though traffic is worse due to being in such a rural location, and the sun beats you all day. But the racing is FREAKING OUTSTANDING. I don't want to start another Bristol discussion, but it is worth mentioning the fans have voted there with their asses (New Bristol fans, insert joke here). They have decided what happens there is no longer worth it. On the opposite side, they also voted with their asses at Rockingham by showing up. That is why they need to get somebody to take a similar chance on North Wilkesboro. In October 2010 we showed up and packed the front stretch (ironically the weekend of Biffle's last win before this weekend) despite no major Series being there. Put a Truck race there and we will certainly vote with their asses. 53. Rusty posted: 04.16.2012 - 5:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I hate the Red Sox, but I don't mind them hating on Manny. But then again, I'm a Rays fan disgruntled that he got suspended for steroids after playing like 5 games for us. DSFF, I went to Charlotte for the All Star race last year and thought it was fun. The race itself was boring, but I always have a good time going in person. But then again, that was the first time I've been to a NASCAR race since 2007 and it was the first track I attended a race at other than Daytona. 54. cjs3872 posted: 04.16.2012 - 5:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm not disagreeing with you at all DSFF, but I was shocked at the low turnout for the Nationwide Series race at Texas. And then for them (Speedway Motorsports) to say that 73,600 people attended that race when I can see from the broadcast that there were far less than half that many people there. I was going to mention something about the shockingly low attendance anyway, but for Bruton Smith and his Speedway Motorsports crew to flat-out lie about the attendance is what set me off. And I wouldn't say they're saying with their rear ends as much as I would view what they're saying with their purses and pocket books. The recent trend toward a lack of action isn't helping matters, either. Again, there was a race weekend devoid of cautions, because they just can't, or won't race each other. After all, there were just seven cautions during this weekend's races at Texas, and one was for oil on the track, one was for the lights literally going out near turn three, and two more were for debris, yet there was a caution for debris that should have been thrown in the Cup race that was never issued, and that was for the full drink bottle that Juan Montoya hit in the middle of the backstretch. 55. Talon64 posted: 04.16.2012 - 6:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ricky Stenhouse picks up his 4th career Nationwide Series victory and 2nd of the season. Stenhouse only had 2 wins in all of 2011 on the way to winning the championship and now he has 2 in the first 6 races of 2012. Since finishing 19th at Daytona Stenhouse has 5 straight top 10's, including 4 top 3 finishes (8 through all of 2011). Surprisingly this is his first top 5 at Texas in 5 starts, despite a 4.6 avg start (11.0 avg fin, finished 8th and 6th in 2011). Paul Menard earned his 5th career Nationwide Series pole and led a career-high 100 laps (previous best was 85 in his only NNS win back in 2006 at Milwaukee). But he had to settle for his 3rd career runner-up finish. It's his 6th straight start at Texas with a top 10 between 5 different teams (DEI in 2007, Yates in 2009, Roush in both races in 2010, KHI in 2011, RCR in 2012). Kasey Kahne picks up his 4th top 10 in 5 starts this season, including his 2nd straight top 3 finish. Just an aside, I'm amazed that Kahne's still driving the same #38 that he drove back in 2003 with Atkins. Then it merged with Braun and now it's Turner Motorsports. He's driven other NNS cars, mostly with Evernham/GEM and some with JRM and didn't run the #38 from 2006-2009, but since 2010 the majority of his starts have been in the #38. Denny Hamlin finishes in the top 5 for the first time in 3 NNS starts this season. Austin Dillon was the highest finishing rookie in the race in 5th, his 4th top 5 in 6 races to start the season. To put this start in perspective, he only had 7 top 5's as a rookie in Trucks in 2010 (2 wins, 5th in points). David Ragan, in just his 3rd NNS start over the last 3 seasons, gets his first top 10 since a 6th place finish at Phoenix in Nov. 2009; it's his 6th top 10 in 9 Texas starts. Justin Allgaier picks up his 3rd top 10 in the last 4 races, but a pair of finishes in the 30's has him mired in 8th in the standings (17.0 avg fin). It's just his 3rd top 10 in 8 Texas starts. Danica Patrick gets her first top 10 of 2012 in 8th and 4th top 10 in 31 series starts. Michael Annett picks up just his 2nd top 10 of the season, but it's also his 5th straight finish of 13th or better. It's his first top 10 in 7 starts at Texas (16.3 avg fin). Steve Arpin gets his 2nd top 10 in 8 career NNS starts, first with Turner Motorsports. It's the #30's first top 10 since James Buescher's win at Daytona, a span of 5 races without one (Buescher finished 12th, 14th, 14th and 12th in the next 4 races). Points leader Elliott Sadler finished outside of the top 10 for the first time in 2012. Joey Logano finished 15th. He leads the series in laps led with 211, and Cup drivers have led 784 of 1170 laps (67%) so far in 2012. Yet Cup drivers have won just 1 of the first 6 races. 56. DaleSrFanForever posted: 04.17.2012 - 2:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I hate the Red Sox, but I don't mind them hating on Manny. But then again, I'm a Rays fan disgruntled that he got suspended for steroids after playing like 5 games for us." I'd be mad too. As I said, he opened himself up for criticism with his antics. I will not dispute that. But to get the full smear campaign treatment on the way out, the same way Francona did, shows a lot about the character of the Fenway Group. Seeing as how Roush had a revolving door of sponsors even before he hooked up with them, this was not an ideal match. Unless you are trying to build the perfect storm of hateableness (is that a word?) and soulessness within a union. Then it is a great match! "And I wouldn't say they're saying with their rear ends as much as I would view what they're saying with their purses and pocket books." I agree. It is just by proxy they are voting with their asses. They use their wallet to buy the ticket to get the seat to put their ass in. It just sounds funnier to say "they voted with their ass". As for SMI and their pathetic excuses, I heard a great point made on one of the Sirius NASCAR channel shows (not sure what it was called, I just got it). Bruton blamed the threat of rain for scaring off tons of potential spectators. Yet as recently as 2006 the fans damn near packed the place for the NWide race there (as was the norm at the time) and had way more fans than the Cup race this year had, AND IT WAS SNOWING!!!! Then they totally filled the place the next day which was equally cold, just no snow. So the Bristol fans can handle the miserable cold and snow, but the threat of a rain shower on an otherwise beautiful day is too much? 57. cjs3872 posted: 04.17.2012 - 2:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Talon, your statement about the Cup drivers leading two-thirds of the laps (a much lower total than usual) and winning only one of the first six races proves that old racing axiom that there's only one lap that really counts, and that's the last one. After all, I don't think there's been more than one or two races this year (out of 16) in any of the top series that has had the driver that led the most laps also win the race. It's when you lead, not how much you lead that counts, as is being proven again this year. 58. Paul posted: 04.18.2012 - 2:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 8. Daniel posted: 04.14.12 - 1:13 am "Did ESPN ever mention why Jeff Green replaced Eric McClure?" Yes, they showed McClure after he had gotten out of his car during the 1st caution period on lap 46. McClure was interviewed over radio, but not over tv. 59. Rusty posted: 04.23.2012 - 5:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Entry list for Richmond... -Steve Wallace entered in a #4 RWI entry. -Travis Pastrana in the #09. -Kevin Harvick in the #33. -Ryan Blaney entered in the #36 for Tommy Baldwin Racing. -Kurt Busch in the #54 once again. 60. 10andJoe posted: 04.23.2012 - 9:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 44 cars in total at Richmond. - Steve Wallace in the #4, a Rusty Wallace Racing car using JD Motorsports' number and points. - Tanner Berryhill in the #24 - Ryan Blaney in the #36 - Matt Frahm in the #39 - Pastrana in the #99, not the #09, although they are using the #09's points (the 09 is now the 99 for the rest of the year) -no Trevor Bayne 61. NASCARLover22 posted: 09.07.2015 - 9:43 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Withdrew #27 David Ragan Sponsor: Mercury Owner: Steve Meehan Manufacturer: Ford http://www.jayski.com/news/nationwide/2012/story/_/page/2012nns-06texas 62. RWR posted: 09.07.2015 - 2:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What? Ragan finished 6th with the same #27 car. 63. NASCARLover22 posted: 09.07.2015 - 3:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) You're right, my book has Ragan 6th AND withdrawn. That's a REALLY BIG typo right there.... 64. NASCARLover22 posted: 09.07.2015 - 3:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Oh come on... The next chance I have, my NASCAR Chronicle is going in the garbage. 65. Windows Millennium Edition posted: 07.11.2016 - 8:09 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor update: #20 LEGO Batman 2/GameStop ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: