|| *Comments on the 2011 Crown Royal Presents the Matthew & Daniel Hansen 400:* View the most recent comment <#154> | Post a comment <#post> 1. Schroeder51 posted: 04.30.2011 - 11:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Man. Jeff Gordon can just NOT have two good races in a row. 2. Anonymous posted: 04.30.2011 - 11:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) But wait, how did Kyle Busch win when he wore out his equipment so badly, right Ryan? Ahahahahahahahahahahahah 3. McGannahan Skjellyfetti posted: 04.30.2011 - 11:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Blaney finished 13th!! 4. KyleB18 posted: 04.30.2011 - 11:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Now THAT is how you win a race. Stay out of the way of all the idiots wrecking each other, spinning tires on restarts, and going 4 wide into a corner, then drive your butt off to take and keep the lead, save your fuel, cruise to the victory. Well done Kyle, well done. 21 wins. 25 years old. Now tied at 29th on the all time win list. This pretty much solidifies Busch in the Chase, 2 wins should be enough for a wild card even in the event of a bad slump. And just to mess with people, this is Busch's 8th NASCAR win this year, and he's either leading or tied for the lead with the most wins in all 3 series, not that those kinds of things it matter ;) 5. Eric posted: 04.30.2011 - 11:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kyle is now tied Jeff Burton, Benny Parsons, and Jack Smith with 21 career cup wins. I hope Jeff's back isn't sore after hitting the wall after without a safer barrier. Dave Blaney gets his best finish since the 2008 fall race at Dover. 6. Jarrett88fan posted: 04.30.2011 - 11:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) NASCAR.com's Facebook Page had this headline: ??"Kyle Busch has matched Richard Petty with three consecutive spring victories at Richmond. It was his 21st career victory." They forgot to mention the "overall" 94th Kyle Busch win what with his making "history" and whatnot. Haha! A few cars like the 88 and 31 had to pit late for fuel while running in the top 10. David Ragan drove like a driver racing for a ride or at least the same as he he did in 2008, nearly tying his best career finish. I'm impressed by the "off" race Jimmie Johonson had this week... 8th place after practicing and qualifying poorly and spending more than half of the race a lap down or running in the 20s. 7. Hatethe48 posted: 04.30.2011 - 11:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) Woohoo! Go Kyle! Championship-caliber win indeed 8. Eric posted: 04.30.2011 - 11:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I forgot to mention that Kyle Busch also is tied with Bobby Labonte in career cup wins. 9. Anonymous posted: 04.30.2011 - 11:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What happened to Menard? 10. New 14&88 Fan posted: 04.30.2011 - 11:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeff Gordon can't buy a break(or have two good races in a row) They need to rename this race the Kyle Busch 400, this is now his third win in a row in the spring race.Strange how Kyle and Denny have RIR just about all to themselves, yet Stale Bread is always leagues behind them(with a team that has three Richmond wins of its own). Dave Blaney finishing 13th puts Tommy Baldwin Racing in the Top-35 for Darlington, that team has really impressed. What does Martin Truex Jr. have to do keep a good run going.... 11. Jarrett88fan posted: 04.30.2011 - 11:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Quote of the race: Jeff Gordon after wrecking, "Ahhh that hurt. I tell you what, I find the worst fricken places to hit the damn walls. I think we're done dude." 12. JimmieJohnsonsNeatlyTrimmedBeard posted: 04.30.2011 - 11:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well, The Beard had a rough week, but he still somehow managed to finish 8th. I'll take that after what was an unusually sloppy race for Jimmie and the gang. Pretty impressive drive by Kyle. I don't know what else to say...I mean, I was seriously impressed by some of the moves he made, especially on those restarts, and those few laps about halfway through the race when he was battling Gordon.... Dang. Hey Busch, keep distracting yourself with the Nationwide series, please? That much raw talent kinda scares a little bit, I don't want to see it combined with laser focus. 13. Red posted: 05.01.2011 - 12:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Martin Truex Jr is the anti-closer. Whether it's bad luck or just losing the handle on the car, Martin always seems to fade at the end of the race. He's done this regularly in both the #56 and #1 rides, and I don't understand why. It's a shame because he's one of the more likeable drivers in Cup today, and it would be nice to see him contending for wins on a regular basis. Terrific to see Dave Blaney bring the #36 home in 13th, and secure a spot in the top 35. A bit of redemption after their Talladega heartbreak, and a good start for their newly signed full-time sponsor Golden Corral. I have been David Ragan's harshest critic, but I have to admit he's starting to actually look competent this year. I guess when your career is on the line it lights a fire under your ass. Also nice to see Kasey finish 3rd, as he's run well this year but hasn't had the finishes to show for it. This race may have set a record for the number of damaged cars that still ran competitively. There must have been 15 cars running out there with duct tape, bare bond, or spare sheet metal. Gotta love short tracks where aerodynamics don't matter. 14. Lugnut18 posted: 05.01.2011 - 12:04 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #9 Was involved in the crash with gordon and kenseth, then had a slight overheating issue 15. 00andJoe posted: 05.01.2011 - 12:08 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #9: He got caught up in the Jeff Gordon wreck. - Dave Blaney's best finish since he was 12th at the fall Dover race in 2008. 16. roygbiv posted: 05.01.2011 - 12:11 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Have to give credit where credit is due. Kyle Busch drove one of the best races of his career tonight. I was waiting for him to wreck himself or wreck someone else on some of those restarts but he never did. Great run for Dave Blaney as well, they're locked in to the top-35 now. 17. AllHeDoesIsWin posted: 05.01.2011 - 12:13 am Rate this comment: (0) (2) Way to go Kyle and Denny, loving the Gibbs 1-2 finish. Those guys own Richmond, and the short tracks in general. 18. RaceFanX posted: 05.01.2011 - 12:17 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ryan Newman got into polesitter Juan Pablo Montoya early in this one and it resulted with Montoya taking a dent hit into the wall and causing enough damage to ruin his shot at the win. Montoya was ticked and after repairs that left him a few laps back came back out and deliberately spun Newman. The fueding led to Ryan taking a trip to the NASCAR hauler after the race to see if Juan would be getting a penalty like Newman thought he deserved. On a better note, Newman had a slightly different look on the #39 Chevrolet this week to pay tribute those involved with US Army's Medicine programs. Robby Gordon's sponsor was the movie "Fast Five," the fifth installment in the "Fast & Furious" franchise. The movie opened the day before this race and features a climatic car chase involving many Dodge Chargers, the production version of Gordon's race car. 19. Eric posted: 05.01.2011 - 12:19 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kyle will be racing only 22 to 24 Nationwide races this year based on what I read earlier in the year. What he need to do is cut it down even more. Kyle has been a natural at short tracks since he was at Hendrick. You only could imagine what Kyle could do if the cup schedule had Iowa, instead of a 2nd Kansas cup date. Kyle's focus isn't the only problem. Kyle always had championship talent, but his maturity has been a question mark with him at times. Kyle is in very good company at in cup wins with him being tied with Jeff Burton, Bobby Labonte, and Jack Smith with Kyle being almost 26 years. His Maturity in the past might have prevented him from getting even more wins and champions. It is very possible that the best of Kyle Busch still isn't here yet. Some drivers were at their best in their 30's based on past trends in Nascar. Jeff Gordon is the exception to the rule. 20. 18fan posted: 05.01.2011 - 12:20 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Not coincidental that Kyle Busch skips the Nationwide race then comes out and dominates the Cup race. 21. Unser1 posted: 05.01.2011 - 12:20 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rowdy's first win with the blue M&M's Pretzel paint job. 22. Pacer posted: 05.01.2011 - 12:23 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dave Blaney and the Tommy Baldwin team have a great run the race after they landed a major sponsorship deal from Golden Corral buffet restaurants that is supposed to have them on the car for the majority of the remaining races this season. What a good way to start off a new deal. 23. Eric posted: 05.01.2011 - 12:24 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I meant to say "Kyle is in very good company at in cup wins with him being tied with Jeff Burton, Bobby Labonte, and Jack Smith with Kyle being almost 26 years years old." instead of "Kyle is in very good company at in cup wins with him being tied with Jeff Burton, Bobby Labonte, and Jack Smith with Kyle being almost 26 years". 24. KBM18 posted: 05.01.2011 - 12:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Not coincidental that Kyle Busch skips the Nationwide race then comes out and dominates the Cup race." Uh...Yes it is. I assume you're a Kyle Busch fan by your name, but you don't seem to be familiar with his career. Yeah, he should cut back on his Nationwide schedule. But to suggest he wouldn't have won or dominated this race just like he did, if he had run the Nationwide race, is just ridiculous based on his history at this track and in NASCAR in general. 25. dUDE gUY posted: 05.01.2011 - 12:33 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "What does Martin Truex Jr. have to do keep a good run going.... " I don't know. He's had so many good runs go bad the last few years in so many different ways. Tonight's must have stung extra badly, as he had an excellent top 10 run spoiled when a wheel stud broke with about 25 laps to the finish. I think he may break through soon though, possibly at Dover in a few weeks. Clint Bowyer narrowly missed having a top 5 finish tonight. If he had though, it would have been his third in a row, a career high, and just his second Richmond top 5, his first being his Win in the '08 spring race. Kyle Busch just dominated tonight. Started 20th, took the lead on lap 90 and pretty much owned this race from then on. Denny Hamlin also had a solid run all night, leading laps and finishing second. Not a huge fan of Hamlin, but it was a finish that team needed pretty badly. David Ragan gets his first top five of the year, even after being a lap down about halfway through this race. After getting the lucky dog late, he tore through the lead lap traffic and crossed the line in fourth. 26. JimBeam posted: 05.01.2011 - 12:46 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I hate to say this, but I'm starting to like Kyle Busch a little bit. Well maybe "like" isn't the correct word, but I think I finally "get" what others like about him. He's just exciting to watch. And it's fun to root against him. It's like he's a necessary evil, and NASCAR needs a guy like that. You might even say I hated him so much that I started to like him. Not as a person, no, but as a driver the sport would be lacking a certain....spice without him. This might be a bad analogy, but imagine you're a Yankees fan. Sure, if the Red Sox weren't there you might win more, but isn't that rivalry something you actually start to enjoy after awhile, in a sick way? Somebody help me out here, I'm so conflicted! 27. JP88 posted: 05.01.2011 - 1:50 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ragan with a good 4th and DAVE BLANEYYYYYYYYYYYYY with an awesome 13th...see what getting sponsorship can do for you...Blaney's gonna get 2 top 10's this year and I have a feeling he's gonna transfer in the open. Regan Smith finally had a decent finish in 17th and the tough hit parade keeps coming for Jeff Gordon and Martin Truex. And boy was JPM a little pussy, just running away from his interview and getting out of the track before Newman got to talk to him, he really is unbearable. I don't know how anyone likes him. 28. Anonymous posted: 05.01.2011 - 2:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "And boy was JPM a little pussy, just running away from his interview and getting out of the track before Newman got to talk to him, he really is unbearable. I don't know how anyone likes him." I do. He's a passionate, world class driver with a short fuse. Kind of like a Colombian Tony Stewart. He didn't owe an interview to anyone, and Newman wasn't heading to talk to him anyway, he was heading to the NASCAR hauler. After a frustrating race in which he had the pole-sitting car and his night got ruined early, I don't blame him one bit for getting the hell out of there before saying or doing something he might regret. Plus, everything I've read about him says he's a great dad and family man outside of the track. I'm not surprised at all that he has an enormous, global fan base. 29. Anonymous posted: 05.01.2011 - 3:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "tay out of the way of all the idiots wrecking each other, spinning tires on restarts, and going 4 wide into a corner, then drive your butt off to take and keep the lead, save your fuel, cruise to the victory." to be fair, the people who were spinning their tires in front of Kyle were doing so because he was lifting their rear wheels off the ground... he ran a great race though 30. irony posted: 05.01.2011 - 3:44 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Montoya finally retaliates against Newman. It seems like Newman has wrecked him more times than can be coincidental. Wish Jr would of kept his top 10 streak going, which he had the performance to do. He has been starting slow and finishing strong in every race this year. They need to start unloading well and he can return to 2004 form. Yet another race where Johnson came back for a good finish after struggling early. That is still the best team/driver combination and in no danger of being knocked off the top. Another race by Harvick that struck me as being R&D. He's usually strong at this type of track but there's always room for improvement. 31. MrWeirdAndPointlessStats posted: 05.01.2011 - 4:10 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Terry Labonte - 22 wins Kurt Busch - 22 wins Bobby Labonte - 21 wins Kyle Busch - 21 wins Couldn't help but look at that and find it interesting for about a minute. On top of the obvious older brother-younger brother similarity, you have the similarity in the names, with the Labonte's and their 2 syllable names ending with 'y', and Kurt and Kyle with the 1 syllable 'K' names. Savor that while you can, the win numbers won't stay like that for long, I bet. Mr. WeirdAndPoinlessStats out! 32. dirtfan9628 posted: 05.01.2011 - 4:39 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "to be fair, the people who were spinning their tires in front of Kyle were doing so because he was lifting their rear wheels off the ground..." He was up on so many drivers bumpers because someone further ahead in line spun their tires, on multiple occasions. It happened so many times in the latter half of the race I can't remember the details of every single one, but it happened at least 4 times on a restart, and none of the times Busch was immediately behind the driver who spun their tires. The first incident, Hamlin is leading, spins his tires, Busch was on the outside and has to fall back to avoid a penalty because he passed before the start line. While trying to get his track position back quickly, a caution comes out. I forget who he couldn't get around, but I want to say maybe Kahne? The second incident, Kenseth spins his tires, causing Reutimann on the outside to slow and bunch up several cars including Busch, behind him. This one I think caused "the big one" further back in the field. Busch was riding the back of Edwards pretty hard, who was stuck immediately behind Reutimann. The third incident, I believe it was Earnhardt Jr. that spun his tires, causing Busch to basically bump-draft Bowyer into turn 1 because they were so bunched up behind him. Bowyer got a little lose, but didn't come close to wrecking. The fourth incident... was it Truex maybe that spun his tires on this one? Someone got a bad restart, and that was the one Busch used as an opportunity to pass a bunch of cars in the first few laps, by passing them on the outside. The drivers in each of those incidents might be mixed up (because seriously, for about 50 laps there nobody on the track seemed to understand how to drive, it was getting too confusing to keep track), but those are the guys I remember spinning tires on restarts at some point, and Busch was never riding their particular bumpers coming to a restart. Now the people immediately behind these drivers is a different story.... there was a lot of contact, but never "hey, I'm going to push you out of the way" type of contact, and him doing that never caused an accident. You could tell Busch was starting to get frustrated though, because he had this awesome car, and everyone kept wrecking behind him or the guys ahead kept fudging the restarts, and he just seemed to get mired further and further back. I imagine him in his car shouting, "Jesus christ, do you guys want me to start the race!? I actually know how to do it!". Something was propelling him, because he drove like a man possessed to grab that lead the final time, and never gave it up. 33. Kurk posted: 05.01.2011 - 4:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Montoya finally retaliates against Newman. It seems like Newman has wrecked him more times than can be coincidental." It seems like Montoya has wrecked everybody else more times than can be coincidental. 34. Dodge posted: 05.01.2011 - 6:04 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Montoya has to be the stupidest driver there is. Everyone was expecting him to retaliate and he did and made it obvious while doing so. But I guess NASCAR didn't think it was obvious, as they didn't put Montoya in the penalty box, like they have done for others in the past. Early in the race, when Montoya and Newman made the first bit of contact, Newman was trying to pass on the outside and Juan gave him NO ROOM. Ryan's spotter went to Juan's to apologize and explain what happened it sounds like. Of course, Juan wasn't having any of it. Supposedly, Juan tried to dump him a little bit later, never saw any video and then a little later, Juan succeeded. Another reason why Juan will never be a serious championship challenger in NASCAR with the way he races. I got a good laugh at what Ryan said after the race about how Juan shows no class at all and he probably doesn't remember much. 35. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 05.01.2011 - 7:25 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I bet Kyle Busch is wishing there were more short tracks in the chase. He either seems to run poorly or have awful luck on the intermediate circuits which dominate the chase once again. Joe Gibbs Racing had a great night, and even Joey Barrichello had a pretty impressive run (after being turned by JJ). 36. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.01.2011 - 8:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) No surprise here. JGR continues their domination of Richmond. Nobody else is in their league at this track right now. Kyle kicked everyone's ass and continues his trend of early season success, but I wouldn't call it a "championship caliber" win. He had the dominant car on a track he has an excellent feel for, and dominated. He is damn good. Now he has to put it together. Although I know Kyle is very young, I wouldn't automatically assume he will keep up this pace for the rest of his career. JGR will go cold eventually. Every organization does. Roush did in '09 and '10. HMS did last year (even though the 48 still won the championship, that tells you about all you need to know about that team). And this is the first time since '08 that he is the top performing driver at JGR. And again, if we are comparing him to the golden standard for young drivers doing well in Cup, Jeff Gordon, there is no comparison. Love Montoya running out of the track as fast as he could to avoid Newman whipping his ass. This reminded me of the Bristol NWide Busch/Brad deal. JPM was at fault in the first one for cutting across Ryan's hood, then tries to wreck him once, then does it. I can't stand Newman, but he should be mad about this. Truex has yet another good run submarined by some mechanical issue from MWR's shitboxes. Going to them was a horrible career move. I can't believe he bought Mikey's bullshit. Him and Reut could be winning a few races a year in good equipment, and they have a lot of good people at MWR, yet they still can't get out of their own way. Maybe if their owner focused more on them and not annoying the shit out of everyone by being a commentator they could fix these little issues that no team should have. "Well, The Beard had a rough week, but he still somehow managed to finish 8th." That car was crap and they still finished 8th. They could barely stay in the Top THIRTY for the first 250 laps and got and 8th out of it. But you know what? I'm not surprised. They are simply the class of NASCAR. THAT was a championship caliber performance from the 5 time champs. And that is why they will win it yet again this year. Seriously, they have no competition in this area. What they are competing against is history (omg, did I get hired by ESPN or something?). The real question with them is "How many in a row?". 7? 8? Can they match John Force's 10 in a row? Nobody in Cup currently can touch them, and the new talent pipeline is drier than Dale Jr's winless spell. 37. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.01.2011 - 8:32 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I bet Kyle Busch is wishing there were more short tracks in the chase." No, because if they did, the 48 team would shift their focus to their short track program and win most of those races. When motivated, JJ and the 48 team can easily handle Kyle and the 18 team. 38. Anonymous posted: 05.01.2011 - 8:34 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) dirtfan9628: Tge two restarts I'm thinking of are the Truex one and one of the Dale Jr ones. Truex got straight jacked up by Kyle Busch early in the restart, which is why he had such a bad restart and Kyle went to the outside. Truex wasn't getting held up at all and wasn't exactly having a poor restart. Same thing happened with one of the Dale Jr restarts where Jr wasn't getting held up by anybody. Not that big of a deal, but it's considered kind of cheap to just lift someone's rear wheels off the ground in order to capitilize. Easily could've been accidental or Kyle trying to anticipate it right. Kyle drove a phenomenal race for the most part so I'm honestly not trying to talk crap. As for Montoya (unrelated to dirtfan), I think he's a stereotypical bully. He does his dirty work on the track and will never try to straighten things out in the garage. I've never been a fan because of his "never do wrong" attitude and the way he carries himself. I worked for a few teams back in 07/08, and I haven't forgotten the way Montoya treated people. He was a first-class jerk almost any given time I saw him, including to his own team. Also denied fans' pictures and autographs left and right the majority of the team. 39. Anonymous posted: 05.01.2011 - 8:36 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) majority of the time* 40. Evan posted: 05.01.2011 - 9:09 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The race had two moments the Juan Montoya-Ryan Newman contact and the big wreck which put Jeff Gordon out of the race and took out a bunch. Truex led his first laps for some time which was a welcome sight. It was the Joe Gibbs show up front while Joey Logano's night was ruined by Jimmie Johnson in the battle of hammers and nails. Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin 1-2, pretty much the same way it was all night. Credit to them, enjoy it but where ya gonna be come Chase time? Not fearing JGR right now. 41. Cooper posted: 05.01.2011 - 9:53 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Cooper's interesting fact of the race: --The 9 cars on the lead lap was the lowest amount at Richmond since the fall race in 2002 which only had 7. You don't have to look this up because I already did. 42. Pam posted: 05.01.2011 - 10:16 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jimmie Johnson comes back after being a lap down in an ill handling car to finish 8th. Jimmie comments on Twitter "That's called making chicken salad out of chicken Sh&#!!!!!" 43. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.01.2011 - 11:24 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Apparently during this race Kurt Busch had, even by his standards, one hell of a radio tirade towards his team. Does anyone know where I can find the audio of this? I really wanna hear this. 44. Cooper posted: 05.01.2011 - 11:52 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) # At one point during Saturday night??s race, Kurt Busch was so frustrated and upset with how he was running, he took it out on his team, saying on the radio: ??We??re like a monkey (having relations) with a football.???? Hopefully somebody recorded the whole radio conversations.... 45. RLB posted: 05.01.2011 - 12:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Jimmie Johnson gets an 8th mostly through attrition not because he's just that good,Kyle Busch crushes the field and people can only degrade it because it isn't the hype machine gimmick chase,does anyone get the concept that winning races is what really matters anymore? no? yeah I guess it's true that collecting points and winning abbreviated championships is all that matters these days. 46. Cooper posted: 05.01.2011 - 12:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I sort of agree with RLB. I don't know where I said it before, but winning races are more important than winning championships. In my opinion this is the only sport where the championship doesn't mean that much more compared to winning in the "regular season". Winning races are whats important, not collecting points. 47. CarlEdwards99 posted: 05.01.2011 - 1:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "No surprise here. JGR continues their domination of Richmond. Nobody else is in their league at this track right now. Kyle kicked everyone's ass and continues his trend of early season success, but I wouldn't call it a "championship caliber" win. He had the dominant car on a track he has an excellent feel for, and dominated. He is damn good. Now he has to put it together. Although I know Kyle is very young, I wouldn't automatically assume he will keep up this pace for the rest of his career. JGR will go cold eventually. Every organization does. Roush did in '09 and '10. HMS did last year (even though the 48 still won the championship, that tells you about all you need to know about that team). And this is the first time since '08 that he is the top performing driver at JGR. And again, if we are comparing him to the golden standard for young drivers doing well in Cup, Jeff Gordon, there is no comparison." agree on both points. To me, Kyle Busch is a Tiger Woods type talent. Not that he is as great at racing as Tiger is at golf, but that he is a "front runner". When things are going good he dominates like nobody else, but when things are a little off and he has to comeback and grind for a win, he doesn't handle it well as other top drivers on the circuit. For your point about the career pace he's on, funny you should mention that. This week I was reading some of the sports illustrated archive stories on their website and there was one story by Ed Hinton after the 94 season where it talked about how Earnhardt was going to crush Petty's 7 championship record. There was another story by Hinton after Gordon's historic 98 season, how just not was Gordon likely to beat Petty's 7 championships, but he had a chance at Petty's 200 win mark. Point is, nobody stays on the same pace their whole career and careers have it's ups and downs. 48. potatosalad48 posted: 05.01.2011 - 2:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Very impressed with the 36 team. After their so close but yet so far finish at Talladega, he backs it up with a 13th place finish and gets his team into the top 35. Also, Jimmie Johnson turned chicken sh*t into chicken salad, as mentioned earlier. 49. CarlEdwards99 posted: 05.01.2011 - 2:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) " I don't know where I said it before, but winning races are more important than winning championships. In my opinion this is the only sport where the championship doesn't mean that much more compared to winning in the "regular season". Winning races are whats important, not collecting points." if winning races meant more, the 48 team wouldn't go in R&D mode for about 2/3 of the season. And because of that very reason, championships mean a lot more than wins. Everybody gives their best effort towards winning the championship, but not everybody gives their best effort towards winning the race. Some at the top of the points that feel comfortable in their position might do some R&D like the 48, others who are racing to get in the chase are racing for points instead of racing for the win. The ultimate goal of every team and driver is the championship. 50. Cooper posted: 05.01.2011 - 2:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I don't know CarlEdwards99. I can't really support my point, but if I was a racer I would have a hard time focusing on something 6 months away when you have to focus on the current race. Maybe I'm wrong but if a driver has a chance to win a race over securing a certain amount of points, they're going to choose to win the race 99% of the time. But that's just my opinion. ---Junior Johnson has 50 wins, and people don't discredit him for not winning a championship. ---Mark Martin has 40 wins, and people don't discredit him for not winning a championship. But a lot of people(including myself) discredit drivers like Kenseth and Busch for winning championships, because you don't have to dominate to be a champion. Is Kenseth or Ku. Busch a better driver than Junior Johnson or Mark Martin, of course not. Winning a ton of races is a lot more impressive than winning a championship and I'll always cheer for guys that want to win races and not chase a goofy point total. 51. 18fan posted: 05.01.2011 - 2:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I believe that Jimmie at the end had about a 15th place car once he got back on the lead lap. He passed many cars who got wrecked and picked up two more spots when Burton and Junior had to pit for fuel at the end. Great run for the Dinger. 52. RCRandPenskeGuy posted: 05.01.2011 - 3:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kyle gets his 21st career Cup win, tying him with Jeff Burton and Bobby Labonte in the win column which is pretty impressive since Kyle is still 25 and Burton and Labonte were well into their late 30's when they reached 21 wins. Of course you have to consider the fact that they didn't get a ride with a powerhouse Cup team when they were only 16 years old. Looked to me like that JPM/Newman wreck was JPM's own fault. I may not like Newman, but that was more of JPM being JPM. David Ragan has had a decent year so far, as he reached 3 top 10's already in 9 races. That's already the same amount of top 10's that he had in 2009 and 2010. He's still not that impressive, though. 53. RLB posted: 05.01.2011 - 3:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The 48 team goes into R&D mode for 2/3 of the season and that automatically devalues the individual races? it's simple the answer is no, and for the love of god people stop using the stupid excuse for Johnson's lack of success at tracks not in the chase(Bristol,Road-Course's,Michigan)as the reason why he can't win or dominate saying he doesn't care, it sounds imbecilic to say a racing driver doesn't want to win a race because it doesn't help him win a championship. 54. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.01.2011 - 5:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) First of all, check the win column and tell me who has won the most races over the last 2 years? The last 3 years? The last 5 years? The last 10 years? You'll see the same name every time. Jimmie Johnson wins more than anyone else by a mile. He might not always win the most in a given year, but he is the only person who can light it up for more than one year at a time. So the "he doesn't win races" holds absolutely zero merit. Since 2004, he won the most races 3 times ('04, '07, and '09) and came within 1 or 2 wins of the year's win leader in all of the others. In 2008 Carl won 9 races, Kyle won 8, and JJ won "only" 7. Carl and Kyle have won a combined 12 since. JJ has won 14 alone since. Kyle is in his 7th season and has won his 21st race. In JJ's 7th season (2008) he had already won 33 races entering the year as well as two championships. Yeah, JJ was older, but he had almost the same amount of stock car experience. The bottom line is JJ is NASCAR's biggest winner since his arrival in '02 by a long shot. Period. End of discussion. Just because every other year some driver jumps up, puts a big number in the win column, then disappears for the next year or two or longer (Newman in '03, Biffle in '05, Kahne in '06, Edwards and Shrub in '08, and Hamlin last year) doesn't mean he isn't a winner or just strokes for points. During the cha$e, when it truly matter, do you know who has by far the most wins? Yep. BTW, do you know how many times Dale Earnhardt won the most races in a season? Twice. In 22 years. What set him apart in his day was the same thing setting JJ apart nowadays: his ability to consistently put up solid win totals year after year after year after year while those around him couldn't put up more than one or two good years together. And what sets Dale apart from JJ is the fact that Dale never had the best equipment (except in '87, his most dominating year). From '85 to '95 he never won less than 4 races except in 1992 when aliens abducted him to study and clone him for their superior race they were creating for their home planet. Considering they only ran 29 races per year back then, that is like 5 and a half wins nowadays. He only won the most races in a season twice over that stretch, but if you look at the totals over that time, Dale leads by a mile. Kinda like JJ now. 55. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.01.2011 - 5:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) " it sounds imbecilic to say a racing driver doesn't want to win a race because it doesn't help him win a championship." Of course they WANT to win those races, but races are won and lost back at the shop. And in the 48 shop, they primarily focus on the tracks in the 10 raaces that will determine the champion. And championships are what it is all about. "and for the love of god people stop using the stupid excuse for Johnson's lack of success at tracks not in the chase(Bristol,Road-Course's,Michigan)as the reason why he can't win" Then how do you explain Kyle's inabilty to win races after August? 3 Spring Richmond wins, none in the Fall. 2 Spring Dover wins, none in the cha$e. A Hew Hampshire summer race win, none in the cha$e. A Spring Atlanta win, none when it was in the cha$e or now on Labor Day. A Talladega win in the Spring, shut out in the Fall. 56. Jarrett88fan posted: 05.01.2011 - 5:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Winning is vital, except it is more important at specific points in the season. Given the points system drivers and teams have to work with in 2011, winning 2-5 races and staying in the top-20 in points through 26 races is where its at, even if a team is inconsistent as hell. However, once the Chase starts, top-5s and leading laps with a win or two thrown in are what matters. Its not that Jimmie and company don't care about dominating and winning at races that aren't their best or in the Chase, they certainly cared at Talladega in 2011, Sonoma 2010, Indy 2006/08/09, etc. Its that they as a team can maximize or minimize their performance in any given race-weekend for the first 3/4s of a season. They needed to win at Talladega given the close calls at Peoenix, Auto Club and Martinsville. Essentially about 1 in 3 races in the first 26 are R&D for the #48 team. Another third falls in the "good points day" category and the final third is the "go for broke and win" type. Its almost a science. Blinded by science!!! 26 race breakdown for the #48 team: 1/3 "Good points days" 1/3 "Let the rough side drag and win" 1/3 R&D +/- 1% in any category 57. Jarrett88fan posted: 05.01.2011 - 5:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Post 54 and 55 are salient and totally hit the mark! BTW, do you know how many times Dale Earnhardt won the most races in a season? Twice. In 22 years. What set him apart in his day was the same thing setting JJ apart nowadays: his ability to consistently put up solid win totals year after year after year after year while those around him couldn't put up more than one or two good years together. And what sets Dale apart from JJ is the fact that Dale never had the best equipment (except in '87, his most dominating year). From '85 to '95 he never won less than 4 races except in 1992 when aliens abducted him to study and clone him for their superior race they were creating for their home planet. Considering they only ran 29 races per year back then, that is like 5 and a half wins nowadays. He only won the most races in a season twice over that stretch, but if you look at the totals over that time, Dale leads by a mile. Kinda like JJ now. 58. Red posted: 05.01.2011 - 6:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "The 48 team goes into R&D mode for 2/3 of the season" It drives me insane that so many fans believe this ridiculous myth. Since the first year of the chase in 2004, Jimmie Johnson has more REGULAR SEASON wins than any other driver has total wins! Since 2004 Johnson: 29 Regular Season Wins / 48 Total Wins Stewart: 22 Total Wins Ky Busch: 21 Total Wins There is no rational argument for devaluing JJ and the 48 team's success. They have dominated the last decade of Cup, whether you go by championships, wins, or laps led. Laps led since 2002 Johnson: 11,261 Gordon: 8,821 Stewart: 8,528 Again, JJ wins by a mile. Maybe after Jimmie retires he'll finally get the respect he deserves. 59. Jarrett88fan posted: 05.01.2011 - 6:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) * In 9 seasons, only once has Jimmie won the most races and he did so to outpace Gordon's championship caliber consistency in '07. 60. Jarrett88fan posted: 05.01.2011 - 6:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) That is right Red. Since 2006, they win 4-6 races in the first 26 and have 14-16 top 10s which is hardly due to "going into R&D mode for 2/3 of the season" because they couldn't put up those type of numbers. 61. Red posted: 05.01.2011 - 6:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "In 9 seasons, only once has Jimmie won the most races and he did so to outpace Gordon's championship caliber consistency in '07." Actually, JJ has won the most races in three seasons: 2004, 2007, 2009. 62. Cooper posted: 05.01.2011 - 6:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Let's say the whole chase thing was gone and points were strictly taken out of the equation. How many races would Jimmie and the #48 team win? I would say slighty above their average. Jimmie has raced 9 full seasons and wins an average of 6 races per season(54 Race Wins/9 seasons). So let's give them an extra win that they could've gotten if they didn't work on R&D. 7 wins would most likely be their total. Is there any other driver and team that could go out and get 7? The only solution to the Jimmie equation would be driver #18. That's the great thing about Jimmie and the #48. They win and collect points. Those two things together are lethal, and no other team can turn that switch on and off. Which brings me my point. Jimmie and the #48 team go out to win. They don't leave the race shop saying to themselves..."Hopefully this racecar can run in 15th so we can have a good points day". Every team and drivers goal is to win every race when they come to the track. 63. RR posted: 05.01.2011 - 6:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "It drives me insane that so many fans believe this ridiculous myth. Since the first year of the chase in 2004, Jimmie Johnson has more REGULAR SEASON wins than any other driver has total wins!" I would say that it exists because while he is slightly ahead of the pack during the regular season, he blows them away during the Chase. Chase Wins 1. Johnson (19) 2. Edwards (8) 3. Biffle (7) 4. Stewart (6) 5. Hamlin (4) Laps Led 1. Johnson (3422) 2. Kenseth (1715) 3. Stewart (1613) 4. Edwards (1477) 5. Gordon (1454) It's clear that Johnson peaks during the Chase races, and the fact that he goes to such a higher level during the last ten races (when compared to the first 26) suggests that he may be at the very least not going 10 tenths every single race. Also, I do think that Kyle Busch sub par stats in the Chase (average finish of 19.5, good for 16th among active drivers; only one win) should be noted when assessing his career. 21 wins is nothing to scoff at, but he's got to have at least one good Chase performance for him to be ranked among the best. 64. Jarrett88fan posted: 05.01.2011 - 6:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I stand corrected Red. Cooper- Excellent point in noting the 48 combining wins and collecting points. Even when they don't have the best car, like Phoenix last November, they use strategy to get the best possible finish they can. DW in his prime had this, Earnhardt had it too, etc. 65. 00andJoe posted: 05.01.2011 - 6:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Owners Points by Best Finishing Team Car... 1. Childress, 370 -. Roush, 370 3. Hendrick, 366 4. Gibbs, 362 5. Stewart-Haas, 310 6. Petty, 309 7. Penske, 289 8. Earnhardt-Ganassi, 285 9. Red Bull, 262 10. Michael Waltrip, 242 11. JTG-Daughtery, 198 12. Front Row, 172 13. Furniture Row, 169 14. Phoenix, 155 15. Robby Gordon, 137 16. Wood Brothers, 136 17. Tommy Baldwin, 136 18. FAS Lane, 132 19. Germain, 132 20. TRG, 132 21. Max Q, 84 22. Whitney, 45 23. HP, 29 24. Rusty Wallace, 24 25. NEMCO, 24 26. Inception, 10 27. K-Automotive, 9 28. Leavine-Fenton, 6 66. Anonymous posted: 05.01.2011 - 6:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Regan Smith continues to impress with his qualifying efforts, but still can't back them up. 67. Anonymous85 posted: 05.01.2011 - 7:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Once Again Jimmie Johnson turns Chicken S*it into Chicken Salad he even said as much on his twitter page after the race. When he turned a 20-25th place car into an 8th place car 68. Anonymous85 posted: 05.01.2011 - 7:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It seems like it will be Carl Edwards that will be Challenging Jimmie Johnson for the Title. The only way for Edwards to be Johnson is for Edwards to do to Johnson what he did to keselowski last year at Atlanta and Gateway and hope that Nascar will look the other way (which I dont think they will) 69. 18fan posted: 05.01.2011 - 7:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This examines Jimmies performance in terms of wins at chase tracks: Chicago: No wins, 1st year in Chase. New Hampshire: 3 wins, 1 in the fall but that was pre-chase. Dover: 6 wins, 3 chase wins. Kansas: 1 win, will be interesting to see how the 48 approaches the June race.) Charlotte: 6 wins, 3 chase wins. Talladega: 2 wins, no chase wins, seems to always avoid trouble while others don't Martinsville: 6 wins, 4 chase wins Texas: 1 chase win, 1 win Phoenix: 4 wins, 3 chase wins. Homestead: No wins, hasn't really needed to win and showed he can in 2010. 70. Smokefan05 posted: 05.01.2011 - 8:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Since i missed most the race (studying and trying to fix an 8 year old Xbox) I might as well join in on the discussion. Congrats to Mr. Busch for winning. Mr. Ragen finishing 4th (i think you'll still get fired) Dave Blaney (are we going to start ragging on his team owner for S&Ping all those times? They are now able to run full races because of S&Ping and as well as being sponsered) "26 race breakdown for the #48 team: 1/3 "Good points days" 1/3 "Let the rough side drag and win" 1/3 R&D +/- 1% in any category" you missed one thing "final 10 races: just win baby." "Maybe after Jimmie retires he'll finally get the respect he deserves." Some people don't respect Earnhardt, Petty, Pearson, Jeff Gordon, etc. Some people don't know the meaning of the word respect. "Regan Smith continues to impress with his qualifying efforts, but still can't back them up." He can Q very well, bring the car home in one piece but can't win. I've said this before, the #78 bunch are getting better but if they want find Victory lane they will need a better driver. The #48 crew does do R&D for the first 26 races but usually are able to have a decent night when doing so. But from what i saw yesterday they either went too far into R&D or just missed the setup. I watch practice and #48 crew weren't very happy. 71. TimmyH posted: 05.01.2011 - 8:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "First of all, check the win column and tell me who has won the most races over the last 2 years? The last 3 years? The last 5 years?" Guess who's 2nd in all those categories? Oh no, Busch doesn't yet measure up to one of the top 5 drivers of all time, that must mean he sucks! Talk about being a sore loser, the only way you can make yourself feel better is by white-knighting a driver you've repeatedly claimed to hate. Pathetic. And you're spinning these facts so hard and fast to try to make Busch look bad, I'm surprised you haven't passed out from being so dizzy. By the way, where did Keselowski finish last night? Looks to me like he's now just 11 points ahead of David Gilliland in points. DAVID GILLILAND....of FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS. Keselowski is one more bad pit stop in 9 races away from having fewer points than DAVID GILLILAND. Or another way to look at it, David GIlliland is one fewer start and park away from scoring MORE POINTS THAN BRAD KESELOWSKI a quarter of the way through the season. So no wonder you have to graft onto to Johnson's success, it's all you have right now. And did I mention Gilliland has 2 more top 10's than Keselowski, while driving for FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS? Hey, I have an idea, Penske should put Gilliland in the #2! 72. Matt G posted: 05.01.2011 - 8:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) How does Richmond get away with NOT having a SAFER wall on the inside of the backstrech? Wrecks happen there all the time. That needs to change by September. 73. JimBeam posted: 05.01.2011 - 8:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "The bottom line is JJ is NASCAR's biggest winner since his arrival in '02 by a long shot. Period. End of discussion." "Wow, you're totally right," replied no one, because nobody was arguing otherwise. 74. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.01.2011 - 9:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Guess who's 2nd in all those categories?" Go read post #63 and see who isn't even in the Top 5 in the relevant categories for the races that matter the most among the drivers of the era in which he drives. "Oh no, Busch doesn't yet measure up to one of the top 5 drivers of all time, that must mean he sucks!" How many times have I praised his performance. I just think we hear too much about him making "history" and him being "great" from the media. I am lashing out against all the hyperbole surrounding him. He has done a hell of a job, but to be "great" or "historic", you shouldn't be so badly outdone by one of your own peers. " Talk about being a sore loser, the only way you can make yourself feel better is by white-knighting a driver you've repeatedly claimed to hate. Pathetic." I never claimed to "hate" JJ, although I really hated seeing him win so much for a long time before I finally woke up and realized I was watching true greatness and a truly historic dynasty right before my very eyes and should pay attention to it. I'm not a fan, I have no #48 or Lowe's merchandise, and I don't cheer for him when I go to races. But I certainly respect him and feel he doesn't get the due he deserves. He will go down on the Mount Rushmore of NASCAR drivers, he is in his prime, yet he gets covered much less than other drivers with MUCH less accomplishments. The person who is the "face" of today's NASCAR is Dale Freaking Junior. How many times has JJ won since Dale's last win? I don't even feel like looking that up because I don't feel like counting that high. And how do you get this "makes me feel better?" It's actually kinda depressing that he has NO competition. "By the way, where did Keselowski finish last night?" Terribly. As I have mentioned on his driver page. Ever since his move to Penske I have bemoaned how bad he has done. I'm not trying to make him into anything he isn't. And why are you bringing that up? Because you are a troll just looking for a reaction. ""Wow, you're totally right," replied no one, because nobody was arguing otherwise." Go read posts 45 and 53. Seriously, what bridge do you guys come from? 75. Anonymous posted: 05.01.2011 - 9:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Maybe I'm wrong but if a driver has a chance to win a race over securing a certain amount of points, they're going to choose to win the race 99% of the time. But that's just my opinion." Well yeah being that you make the most points when you're in victory lane. It's not that people aren't trying, it's just that sometimes they're on a different agenda and trying bigger gambles when they have the safety net of the Chase reset to fall back on. ""Wow, you're totally right," replied no one, because nobody was arguing otherwise." Actually somebody was arguing otherwise, based on remarks thrown out where it was said that "winning races is what really matters" and not "collecting points and winning abbreviated championships". I guess it's another Kyle vs Jimmie thing, and he didn't realize that Jimmie's got Kyle beat in the win column too, even during the first 26. Makes the argument kind of funny, eh? Apparently winning is what matters, not Jimmie collecting points... oh wait. 76. JimBeam posted: 05.01.2011 - 9:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Go read posts 45 and 53. Seriously, what bridge do you guys come from?" It's hard to understand what the hell RLB is saying, since he can't seem to write a coherent sentence, but I don't see anybody anywhere saying Kyle Busch has won more races than Jimmie Johnson. There is however an odd amount of praise and discussion being focused on Jimmie Johnson here though. I had no idea so many of his fans would be so threatened when someone else wins a few races, that they would feel the need to come here and do everything they can to steal focus away from Kyle Busch's win or repeatedly beat into the ground the well known fact that he's more successful than everybody else in the garage. 77. Bronco posted: 05.01.2011 - 9:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Good job by David Stremme to qualify for the race with a new team, and for running the distance rather than pulling it in early. Dale Jr's 7 race streak of top 12s comes to an end, thanks to having to pit for a splash of fuel inside of 10 to go. Dave Blaney scores the best ever Cup finish for TBR after having a shot to win Talladega with their new sponsor. Its nice to see him getting a decent ride that will allow him to run full races. Martin Truex got screwed out of a top 5 by making an unscheduled pit stop for a loose wheel or something. 78. Cooper posted: 05.01.2011 - 9:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Anonymous is right. Jimmie wins more races and collects more points simple. There is really no argument. But I think what RBL was getting at is Jimmie runs eighth because of certain circumstances and he's the one getting praised while driver #18 is not getting the attention after a dominating win. But that is what reputation and history is all about. Jimmie deserves the attention because he's a five time champion, while Mr. M&M's is not. Whether or not it's Jimmie stepping up, or other teams stepping down, the #48 team always ends up winning. And yesterday was the reason why. Jimmie was a 30th place car but through positioning, adjusting and luck they got an eighth place finish out of it. Did they deserve it? No. By driver rating they deserved a 21st. Let me ask the next question. Let's reverse roles. Put Rowdy in the #48. Where does he finish? My guess is not nearly close to what Jimmie got out of it. 79. 00andJoe posted: 05.01.2011 - 9:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #71: "Or another way to look at it, David GIlliland is one fewer start and park away from scoring MORE POINTS THAN BRAD KESELOWSKI a quarter of the way through the season." ...the fact Gilliland hasn't start-and-parked makes your argument slightly odd. 80. JimBeam posted: 05.01.2011 - 9:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Actually somebody was arguing otherwise, based on remarks thrown out where it was said that "winning races is what really matters" and not "collecting points and winning abbreviated championships"." But wasn't that in response to someone else trying to say this win means less because it didn't come during the Chase? I really don't get what everybody is trying to prove here. Is no one allowed to say Kyle Busch is a good driver, or that this was an impressive win, without some Jimmie Johnson fanatic swooping in to brag about his stats compared to Busch's? I'm starting to think Johnson's fans are more insufferable than Busch's these days. Or maybe it's just fans of other drivers living vicariously through his success, so they can use it as a basis for their arguments to make all the drivers they hate seem like they suck. 81. 00andJoe posted: 05.01.2011 - 9:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) -Tommy Baldwin Racing ties the team's best finish (13th at Daytona July 2010 with Steve Park). 82. Anonymous posted: 05.01.2011 - 10:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "...the fact Gilliland hasn't start-and-parked makes your argument slightly odd." Didn't he start and park at Texas? I don't remember him being in an accident, but he only ran 44 laps that race. It doesn't say it was any sort of mechanical issue, so he must hit the wall pretty bad for them not to go back out, if that's the case. Either way, I was surprised by that statistic. I definitely think of Gilliland's team as a field-filler that can only really compete at the restrictor plate tracks, but Keselowski drives for a premier team. 28th in points? Man.... what happened to that team? I used to think that whoever it was around these boards that was always bashing Keselowski was exaggerating when they said they thought he would be out of that ride by the end of this year, but now I don't think that is out of the realm of possibility. And where could he go from there? Maybe Red Bull? He better start picking it up or he's going to find himself on the hot seat. 83. Red posted: 05.01.2011 - 10:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Is no one allowed to say Kyle Busch is a good driver, or that this was an impressive win, without some Jimmie Johnson fanatic swooping in to brag about his stats compared to Busch's?" Nobody here is saying that Kyle Busch isn't a good driver, and nobody is saying his Richmond win wasn't impressive. I think what irks people is the media's fixation with Kyle "making history." His NASCAR win total is highly inflated by dabbling in the lower series, and he hasn't even sniffed a Cup title. Yet we have idiots like DW slurping his jock and constantly updating us on Kyle's "run through the record books" despite those records being of little significance. 84. DerekJeterPumpkinEater posted: 05.01.2011 - 10:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "-Tommy Baldwin Racing ties the team's best finish (13th at Daytona July 2010 with Steve Park)." And with that, as well the emerging discussion about Keselowski, it's time to update the "interesting stat" I mentioned after Talladega: Brad Keselowski's best finish this year is 15th. Of the 32 drivers who have been in every race, now only Robby Gordon doesn't have a higher finish. Gordon's best is 16th. Blaney was the other full-time driver who didn't have a higher finish, until his 13th at Richmond. Part-time drivers Bill Elliot and Trevor Bayne also have a better finish, and Terry Labonte has equaled it. 85. 18fan posted: 05.01.2011 - 11:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @Red, I can't take anything DW says seriously because of the all the smoke he's blown up all of our asses over the years. And then you have Michael Waltrip and Phil Parsons who are really pumping up Kyle's "overall win total". His 21 Cup wins already make him a top line driver, yet the announcers think that we need to use his win total to think that he is the greatest of the era, which he is clearly not but he races more and more personable in front of the media than Jimmie so the media wants Kyle to be the greatest and not Jimmie when actual performance shows that Jimmie is clearly the greatest of this era of 2002-present, taking the torch from Jeff Gordon whose greatness era was 1995-2001. 86. 00andJoe posted: 05.01.2011 - 11:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #85 - Gilliland wrecked at Texas, pretty hard actually. 87. 00andJoe posted: 05.01.2011 - 11:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Er...I meant #82, clearly. =P 88. Bronco posted: 05.01.2011 - 11:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Didn't he start and park at Texas? I don't remember him being in an accident, but he only ran 44 laps that race. It doesn't say it was any sort of mechanical issue, so he must hit the wall pretty bad for them not to go back out, if that's the case." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dhx8waagvsk 89. CarlEdwards99 posted: 05.02.2011 - 3:28 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I don't know CarlEdwards99. I can't really support my point, but if I was a racer I would have a hard time focusing on something 6 months away when you have to focus on the current race. Maybe I'm wrong but if a driver has a chance to win a race over securing a certain amount of points, they're going to choose to win the race 99% of the time. But that's just my opinion." as competitors they no doubt want to win and will pick their chances to do so, but I've heard driver/crew chief conversations over the radio specifically mention racing for points and focusing on the championship when making pit calls. So they are certainly mindful of the championship throughout the season and view it as the ultimate goal. 90. CarlEdwards99 posted: 05.02.2011 - 3:40 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) ---Junior Johnson has 50 wins, and people don't discredit him for not winning a championship. ---Mark Martin has 40 wins, and people don't discredit him for not winning a championship. Junior Johnson isn't a fair comparison to today, because during his time not everybody raced the full schedule (some years NOBODY raced every race) and winning the championship was as much about entering the most races as it was actually performing at a high level in those races. Just as I said in a previous post that today not all drivers race for the race win on a given day, during Junior's time not everybody raced for the championship. For Mark, he is a unique case, in some ways I think not winning a title helped how he's viewed, because everybody focuses on "greatest driver to never win a title" and people make sure not to degrade his accomplishments because of not winning the championship and put him on a pedestal and he kind of gets viewed in his own separate light. 91. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.02.2011 - 6:37 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) It would have been cool if we had killed him in the week before this race named after two American soldiers, one of which got killed in duty. We could have had a really fun celebration for those two. Oh well, I still thank Crown Royal for honoring our troops the way they have. 92. Cooper posted: 05.02.2011 - 10:17 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'd just like to say that I know a lot of people on here don't agree with a lot of things I say. And their are people on this site that I don't agree with either. But that's what America(and all free countries) is about. It's about believing in yourself and speaking your voice. Your entitled to say what you want without any punishment and unfortunately some countries do not allow that. On September 11th, Bin Laden and Al Qaeda tried to take that fundamental right away from us, and finally now almost ten years later it feels like we have finally taken it back. 93. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.02.2011 - 11:32 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I know in the big scheme of things killing Bin Laden is not the end, but is a kind of closure. Feels good to know he is no longer hanging around, inspiring those that think like him, knowing he got the better of us for a brief period and lived to tell about it. Within the terror community, he was a towering figure of strength and inspiration. He was the Dale Earnhardt of terrorists. Knowing the Navy SEALS walked right in to his place and put a bullet in his head has to be demoralizing. This doesn't fix everything, and it certainly doesn't bring back the peope taken away by his orchestrated attacks, but hopefully it will provide their families some closure. 94. Talon64 posted: 05.02.2011 - 5:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "By the way, where did Keselowski finish last night?" About as terribly as Kurt Busch did. Keselowski had the two spins and then overheating problems which were probably caused by that, and then Kurt finishes 3 LAPS DOWN in 22nd. I'm pretty sure Brad was only 1 lap down at the time while Kurt was already down 2. You've got to start questioning now whether Kurt can even make the Chase, he's run like crap the last few weeks and his only top 10 in the last 5 races was because of pit strategy. Kyle Busch gets his 21st career Cup win, tying him with Jack Smith, Benny Parsons, Bobby Labonte and Jeff Burton for 29th all time (8th among active drivers). It's the 4th straight season that Kyle Busch has posted multiple wins, the 2nd longest active streak; Jimmie Johnson's won at least 3 races in 8 consecutive seasons. The FOX broadcast said Kyle's 21 wins are the 3rd most by a driver before the age of 26, behind Richard Petty and Jeff Gordon; Petty had 22 wins while Gordon had 35. This gives him the 2nd most wins in Cup since he moved up full time in 2005, but Jimmie Johnson's 40 wins is just 1 off of equaling 2nd (Kyle with 21) and 3rd (Tony Stewart with 20) combined. It's Kyle's 3rd win at Richmond, his 2nd most at any track; it ties him with 6 other drivers for 7th all time, including Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Dale Jr. and Terry Labonte with whom he's now tied for the active lead. It's his 11th top five in only 13 starts there, giving him a 4.9 average finish. Kyle moved into 28th all time in laps led with 6,390, only 108 behind his brother Kurt for 26th. He's also 2nd in laps led since 2005 (Jimmie leads with 8,467). This is the 10th 1-2 by JGR, their 2nd straight at Richmond (Denny 1st, Kyle 2nd in 2010 Sept. race). Denny Hamlin gets his first top 5 of the season in 2nd, the 11th of his career. Hamlin needs just 1 more top 10 to reach 100 for his career (196 starts). It's his 6th top five in 11 starts at his home track. Kasey Kahne gets both his best finish of the season and best finish with Red Bull Racing in 3rd, just his 3rd top five in 15 Richmond starts. It's Kasey's 50th career top five in 261 starts. It's Red Bull Racing's first top 5 since Brian Vickers' win at Michigan back in August of 2009, a span of 57 races and 114 total starts without one. David Ragan ends his 86 race top-5-less streak (Talladega, October 2008) with a 4th place, his 2nd top five at Richmond in 9 starts (the only non-plate track where he has multiple top 5's). Carl Edwards gets just his 2nd top 5 in 14 Richmond starts (but 2nd in the last 3 and 3rd straight top 10). It's only his 7th top 5 in 42 career short track starts (2 wins at Bristol). Clint Bowyer gets his 5th straight top 10 finish; he's gone from 24th to 7th in the standings over that stretch. It's his third 6th place finish in the last 4 Richmond races, his 6th in 11 starts (9.5 avg fin). AJ Allmendinger gets his best finish of the season in 7th, his 2nd straight top 10 at Richmond (28.3 avg fin in first 7 Richmond starts). Jimmie Johnson gets just his 2nd stand-alone top 10 at Richmond (3 wins, 5 top 5's) in 19 starts, but a career-best 3rd straight top 10 there. Tony Stewart gets his first top 10 in the last 6 races, his 16th top 10 in 25 Richmond starts but 1st in the last 4 races there. Brian Vickers gets his 3rd top 10 of the season, as many as he had in the first 11 races of 2010 before he had to sit out due to his medical problems (3rd top 10 in 13 Richmond starts, 2nd in the last 3). But 4 finishes in the 30's has him 26th in the standings. After no top 20 finishes in the first 5 races of 2010, Joey Logano has 3 finishes of 13th or better in the last 4. Dave Blaney gets his best finish at Richmond since he finished 11th in this race in 2007 driving for Bill Davis Racing (finished 4th in 2006 Sept. race for BDR). 95. 00andJoe posted: 05.02.2011 - 6:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Darlington entry list is up! 47 cars entered: Stremme in the #30 Schrader's still in the #32 T.J. Bell in Joe Falk's #50 Toyota Derrike Cope in the #75 Dodge Scott Riggs in the #81 Chevrolet, a second Whitney Motorsports car Brian K. in the #92 96. Anonymous posted: 05.02.2011 - 10:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The battle for the 35th spot in owner's points is interesting. After this race, the #32, #13, and #71 are all tied for 35th but the #32 gets it due to have better finishes. The #13 is also locked in at Darlington due to the Wood Brothers not being entered. 97. RCRandPenskeGuy posted: 05.02.2011 - 11:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "And then you have Michael Waltrip and Phil Parsons who are really pumping up Kyle's "overall win total". His 21 Cup wins already make him a top line driver, yet the announcers think that we need to use his win total to think that he is the greatest of the era" Exactly. He already has great enough statistics in Cup alone for the media to pump him up and have credibility. To combine his win totals from all 3 series and compare it to what past legends did in Cup alone is total bullshit. The cha$e however, is a different story. In 40 races as a cha$e competitor, he hasn't won and hasn't been in contention for the title come Homestead. 98. 00andJoe posted: 05.03.2011 - 3:34 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #96: Not only that, but the 32 and 13 have to go to the team's -third- best finish to break the tie! 99. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.03.2011 - 9:42 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Exactly. He already has great enough statistics in Cup alone for the media to pump him up and have credibility. To combine his win totals from all 3 series and compare it to what past legends did in Cup alone is total bullshit." Exactly. Kyle is DAMN GOOD. I think in his career he will reach all time great status in time. I don't know why they have to twist meaningless lower Series stats to make him that way now. I understand they are probably tired of talking about how good the 48 team is, but just give Kyle time. He still had a lot to learn, but I'm guessing he probably will. Things like how to deal with pressure and how to have a night like JJ and Smoke had last night where they took cars that handle worth a flip and still got Top 10s. And seriously, I really want to hear Kurt's radio rant in this race. Apparently it puts all his other F-bomb laced tirades to shame. He personally attacked a lot of Penske's top management people. I gotta find this. 100. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.03.2011 - 9:42 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) *didn't handle worth a flip 101. Smokefan05 posted: 05.03.2011 - 12:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Got an interesting question to ask, whos streak will end first: JJs 5 Cups in a row? Or WRC driver Sebastain (sp?) Loebs 7 championships in a row? Edit: Mr. Loeb would have 8 in a row if he didn't lose in 2003 by 1 point. 102. Talon64 posted: 05.03.2011 - 4:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Loeb's streak will end before JJ's. Loeb's Citroen teammate, Sebastien Ogier, has back-to-back wins in the first 4 WRC rallies of the season and if he hadn't failed to finish in Mexico he'd be leading the points right now; as it stands he's only 5 points out of the lead (uses the F1 point system, plus bonus points for finishing in the top 3 in the final stage of the rally). While we're talking about rally, Kimi Raikkonen's already showing improvement this season in WRC. He only had 25 points and 5 points finishes in 11 events last season, but he already has top 8 finishes and 18 total points in all 3 of his rallies this season; 8th in pts, best of anyone who hasn't run every rally so far in 2011. I'm hoping he can sneak in a podium by season's end, he still has at least 5 WRC rallies left on his 2011 schedule. 103. Talon64 posted: 05.03.2011 - 4:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Loeb's streak will end before JJ's. Loeb's Citroen teammate, Sebastien Ogier, has back-to-back wins in the first 4 WRC rallies of the season and if he hadn't failed to finish in Mexico he'd be leading the points right now; as it stands he's only 5 points out of the lead (uses the F1 point system, plus bonus points for finishing in the top 3 in the final stage of the rally). While we're talking about rally, Kimi Raikkonen's already showing improvement this season in WRC. He only had 25 points and 5 points finishes in 11 events last season, but he already has top 8 finishes and 18 total points in all 3 of his rallies this season; 8th in pts, best of anyone who hasn't run every rally so far in 2011. I'm hoping he can sneak in a podium by season's end, he still has at least 5 WRC rallies left on his 2011 schedule. 104. RCRandPenskeGuy posted: 05.03.2011 - 11:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "And seriously, I really want to hear Kurt's radio rant in this race. Apparently it puts all his other F-bomb laced tirades to shame. He personally attacked a lot of Penske's top management people. I gotta find this." I'm kind of curious to hear it too. I heard that Kurt blasted the Penske management as well. I got the feeling that I'd have had to listened to his radio during the race though. "Got an interesting question to ask, whos streak will end first: JJs 5 Cups in a row? Or WRC driver Sebastain (sp?) Loebs 7 championships in a row?" Unless something major happens in NASCAR Sprint Cup to where JJ's streak will end, I'm willing to bet that Loeb's streak will end first. 105. RLB posted: 05.03.2011 - 11:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jimmie Johnson has had the most podiums in a season 6 of his first 9 seasons 2003,2004,2006-07,09-10 Jeff Gordon won the most races in a season 6 of his first 9 seasons 1995-99,01 Jimmie Johnson won the championship 5 times in his first 9 seasons 2006-10 Jeff Gordon won the championship 4 times in his first 9 seasons 1995,97-98,01 Jimmie Johnson won the most races 3 times in his first 9 seasons 2004,2007,2009 Jeff Gordon had the most podium finishes in a season 5 of his first 9 seasons 1995-98,01 Jeff Gordon won the most races and the Title in a season 4 of his first 9 seasons 1995.97-98,01 Jimmie Johnson won the most races and the Title in a season 2 of his first 9 seasons 2007,2009 I hope this "comparison" isn't too boring Total single season: most wins,most poles,most laps led,best avg. finish Jeff Gordon 6 most wins,6 most poles,6 most laps led,5 best avg. finish 23 total Jimmie Johnson 3 most wins,1 most poles,3 most laps led,1 best avg. finish 8 total 106. RLB posted: 05.03.2011 - 11:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) anybody notice Gordon had the 7th best driver rating despite DNF ing with a 39th? 107. Jimmie Johnson the King of Kings posted: 05.04.2011 - 7:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) JJ will rule forever!! his 12 consecutive titles will crush Richie Evans Nascar record 8 straight championships, and then he'll do the unthinkable by beating NHRA funny car master John Force's 10 consecutive championships, and finally retire after title 12, finishing his career with a season points average finish of 1.62 becoming the greatest driver in world racing history. 108. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.04.2011 - 12:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) As you guys know, I respect JJ and stand up for him when people try to play down his accomplishments or try to put other drivers in his era ahead of him, but even I've gotta say that is far out there. 109. JimmieJohnsonsNeatlyTrimmedBeard posted: 05.04.2011 - 1:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I don't even know that he'll win the championship THIS year. He's pulled out a few squeakers, and luck has played a role, especially at the chase race at Talladega. I just want to see 2 more titles sometime before he retires, but I feel like if he ever slips into a slump it will last awhile to balance out these last 5 years, so I'm enjoying this while I can. 110. Smokefan05 posted: 05.04.2011 - 2:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Post #107 Wow. Talk about drinking the Kool-aid. Its fans like that make people not like him. The only "king of kings" is WWE wrestler Triple H. :-P Oh and for when it comes between Loeb and Jimmie. Loebs run to me is more impressive because unlike *some* Americans, Rally is a tough sport to do. Even with all the current fancy stuff in the cars (and 4WD) its still difficult to do. For 7 years Loeb has ruled over the WRC landscape (and he has had a good team and car do it) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Since i've thought about this during his post i figured i'd look up who has more Championships in a row. Steve Kinser won 11 straight championships in WoO from 1983 to 1994. John Force won 10 straight championships in NHRA. (already brought up) Loeb has done 7 straight from 2004-present Micheal Schumaker won 5 straight from 2000-2005 ANd well Jimmie has done 5 straight from 2006 to present. So in the grand scheme of things, Jimmie can only match the said streaks above not beat them. 5 in a row is stil impressive but it was before. (unless he isn't human and can win 12 in a row then i guess he would the greatest ever) But of course ESPN (and other media members) will not look this stuff up. They would just proclaim JJ "greatest ever" and move on. 111. RCRandPenskeGuy posted: 05.04.2011 - 3:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I know it sounds like a bit of a stretch, but I never thought Jimmie would remain undefeated for this long, even after he won the 2008 title. I wouldn't be surprised if he wins two more in a row to match Loeb's current streak, but predicting his streak will last longer than that IS stretching it... by a landslide. Every great team's dominance ends at some point. 112. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.04.2011 - 4:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The biggest thing about JJs streak is that I don't see anyone on the horizon that can stop him. Of course luck can always be a factor, but the 48 always seems to put themselves in the position where the odds of being on the bad end of luck are the lowest. But the way I see it is if they can win it last year with the 11 and 29 being clearly superior, and the fact nobody can put two good years together, I see this lasting a long time. I'm sure somebody will eventually pull a" Kurt Busch in '04" and end the streak, but they will still be the dominators. Smokefan, JJ seems to have mostly escaped the espn hype machine. I guess he isn't controversial enough. 113. Cooper posted: 05.04.2011 - 4:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I predict that it ends this year. I just don't think it's possible. I thought winning 3 in a row would be a stretch, nevermind 6. All it takes is one team to not make a mistake during that 10 race span and just have good runs. In addition probability continues to decrease. What the teams need to do to defeat Jimmie is to come up with a target finish that is needed to win the championship. Denny Hamlin and the #11 were on the right track last year by going into each race with a set goal. Now, I'm going to use my intellect with statistical information to figure out what is needed to beat "The Streak". Statistically, here are the stats from all 5 of his championship winning seasons in the final 10 races. 2006---1 Win, 5 Top 5's, 6 Top 10's, 10.8 Average Finish---WORST 2007---4 Wins, 6 Top 5's, 8 Top 10's, 5.0 Average Finish 2008---3 Wins, 6 Top 5's, 8 Top 10's, 5.7 Average Finish 2009---4 Wins, 7 Top 5's, 9 Top 10's, 6.8 Average Finish---BEST 2010---1 Win, 7 Top 5's, 9 Top 10's, 6.2 Average Finish Now let's take out his worst and best seasons in the chase to reduce the skew in the information. This leaves us with the following: 30 Races, 8 Wins, 19 Top 5's, 25 Top 10's<---These stats are the X-Factor In the Chase there is an 83% chance Jimmie will be in the Top 10, a 63% chance they'll be in the top 5 and an amazing 27% chance of victory (At this pace the #48 team would smash every driver and team in history in this category). So if you would like to match Jimmie and the #48 you will need at least: 2 Wins, 6 Top 5's, 8 Top 10's In the last 10 races dating back to Homestead only one driver satisfies this parameter...Carl Edwards, who has exactly matched Jimmies pace. You know what this means, it is a rarity to be able to pull off these stats at anytime in the season and to do it exactly within the 10 Chase races is rediculous. Trying to beat Jimmie Johnson is improbable. You have to run your own races and race yourself, to beat Jimmie. You can't look at the points and gauge your day against Jimmie. The best strategy in my opinion is to ignore what Jimmie is doing and only focus on your team and production. 114. Jimmie Johncena posted: 05.04.2011 - 4:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hey Guys the Champ is here 115. Anonymous85 posted: 05.04.2011 - 5:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hey since we are talking about wrestling lets talk about Chris Benoit and that fateful week in late June 2007 that was as devastating to pro wrestling as February 18 2001 was to NASCAR 116. Smokefan05 posted: 05.04.2011 - 5:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Hey since we are talking about wrestling lets talk about Chris Benoit and that fateful week in late June 2007 that was as devastating to pro wrestling as February 18 2001 was to NASCAR" WWE has completely removed Beniot from their history after that happened. Which is sad but in the eyes of fans, he'll be remembered (for better or worse). Cooper that is an interesting details you've laid out. Carl appears to be the only guy to dethrone JJ. ""The best strategy in my opinion is to ignore what Jimmie is doing and only focus on your team and production." Agree and if he is front of you, you pass him. Smokefan, JJ seems to have mostly escaped the espn hype machine. I guess he isn't controversial enough." Or Jimmmie is just so boring. Or other drivers are making "history", or maybe ESPN just doesn't give a poop about it (like everything else NASCAR related) 117. Talon64 posted: 05.04.2011 - 5:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) um no let's not talk about the guy who killed his wife and son because his brain was literally mush from his years of wrestling. "Jimmie Johnson 3 most wins,1 most poles,3 most laps led,1 best avg. finish 8 total" Something to add to his most laps led, Jimmie's the first driver to lead the series in laps led in 3 consecutive seasons since Dale Earnhardt did it in 5 straight years from 1986 to 1990. In case your wondering, despite putting up 10 wins in 1997 and 13 wins in 1998 he didn't lead the most laps in either seasons (Dale Jarrett in 1997, Mark Martin in 1998). Earnhardt combined for 12,435 laps led out of 48,052 laps run in those 5 years (2127, 3357, 1778, 2735, 2438) means he led 25.9% of the laps run over that span. In the last 3 seasons Jimmie's led 5512 (1959, 2238, 1315) of 31996 laps, or 17.2% of the laps run. To put this in better perspective, in 2009 he was the first driver to lead over 2000 laps in a season since Jeff Gordon in 2001. In fact only 3 different drivers have led 2000+ laps in a season since 1995: Jeff Gordon 3 times (1995, 1996, 2001), Dale Jarrett once (1997) and Jimmie Johnson once (2009). 118. Anonymous85 posted: 05.04.2011 - 5:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) If I offended anyone by saying the name that has been forbidden to say in the world of wrestling I apologize. 119. Talon64 posted: 05.04.2011 - 7:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And by "the guy" I mean Hardcore Holly. If you don't get the joke, the WWE replaced every single mention of Chris Benoit on their site with Hardcore Holly when it happened. 120. Anonymous85 posted: 05.04.2011 - 7:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Post 119 I rarely go to wwe.com or watch wrestling anymore I can't remember the last time I watched a full episode of raw or smackdown because wrestling has really fallen to pieces 121. Jimmie Johnson the King of Kings posted: 05.04.2011 - 7:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jimmie Johnson has never finished last. Never been outside the Top 5 in points. Could arguably have 7 straight Titles. Average finish at Phoenix is 4.8. 4 consecutive Charlotte Motor Speedway wins. 54 wins since 2002 2nd Tony Stewart and 3rd Jeff Gordon combine for 52 hahaha!! 4 consecutive Chase wins in 2007. Won 40% of the chase 3 times 2004,2007,2009. he's the best racer ever period. 122. Cooper posted: 05.04.2011 - 7:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) My favourite stat is the random "Average Finish at Phoenix" 123. Talon64 posted: 05.04.2011 - 7:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jimmie Johnson's career win % is 6th best all time among drivers with at least 100 starts at .161. Only Herb Thomas, Tim Flock, David Pearson, Richard Petty and Fred Lorenzen sport better ones, and only Petty and Pearson have more total career wins. Based on what he's already done Jimmie's one of the top 5 most successful drivers in NASCAR history. Right now he's in a dead heat with Jeff Gordon and behind only Earnhardt, Petty and Pearson IMO. BTW that's most SUCCESSFUL, as in purely based on stats. But I think he could be top 5 in terms of GREATEST drivers by the time his career is over. 124. Anonymous85 posted: 05.04.2011 - 10:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) If you want further proof of the WWE's incompetence then watch smackdown Friday and see what they do to their current champion Christian 125. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.04.2011 - 10:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I still don't see Carl as a threat to the 48 team. Mentally, he is unstable and streaky. I don't think he can put 10 championship caliber races together when the pressure is really on. That is one of the many things setting JJ apart from his competition: his ability to thrive under pressure. While other drivers lose their heads in the pressure cooker of the cha$e, JJ stays cool and doesn't beat himself. Last year we saw Denny Hamlin completely fold under the pressure after they were unable to finish the 48 off at Phoenix. He still had the points lead and a faster car with one race left, and he was totally defeated. There is no way the 11 team should have finished behind the 48 in the cha$e (same for the 29), but they came through. As I said, I'm not sure how long "The Streak" will last, but the 48 will be the team to beat for many more years. "Something to add to his most laps led, Jimmie's the first driver to lead the series in laps led in 3 consecutive seasons since Dale Earnhardt did it in 5 straight years from 1986 to 1990." That is another amazing Earnhardt stat. For his career, he led more laps than Darrell Waltrip or David Pearson. When he won, he did it in style. He also did it in cars without the best horsepower (except in 1987) or resources in NASCAR's competitive peak. That's why, as amazed as I am by JJ, he needs to keep doing this and just shatter records before being placed next to Dale. He is definitely Top 5 ever now, but he needs a little more. "Earnhardt combined for 12,435 laps led out of 48,052 laps run in those 5 years (2127, 3357, 1778, 2735, 2438) means he led 25.9% of the laps run over that span." That is incredible. "54 wins since 2002 2nd Tony Stewart and 3rd Jeff Gordon combine for 52" As is that! And that is why I rank JJ so high even though he has the best crew chief and the best owner and a sponsor to make sure he has never lacked for resources. The fact is he gets the job done every single year. No points finishes worse than 5th for his whole career? More wins than the next two combined? 5 straight titles? Are you kidding me? 126. RLB posted: 05.04.2011 - 10:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeff Gordon won 47 races in 5 years 1995-99 .291% Jimmie Johnson won 35 in 5 years 2006-10 .191% Jeff Gordon has 4 wins at 13 tracks and look at the tracks he's won on Darlington 7 wins(nobody else has more than 3 since 1993, Jeff's debut) Martinsville 7 wins Daytona 6 wins(all-time record for plate wins at Daytona) Talladega 6 wins Sonoma 5 wins Bristol 5 wins Charlotte 5 wins(won all 3 600's from the pole) Indianapolis 4 wins Watkins Glen 4 wins Pocono 4 wins Dover 4 wins(won the last 3 500 mile events at the track) Atlanta 4 wins Rockingham 4 wins(took last track sweep in 1998) I think Gordon is the greatest all-around driver, just not the greatest at season's end,that title belongs to Johnson who is easily the sports all-time greatest finisher. 127. Smokefan05 posted: 05.04.2011 - 11:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "That is incredible." Kyle Petty is sueing you for copyright DSFF. :-P Post #125 Good grief amazing what people look up now a days. Excellent stuff. :-) 128. RCRandPenskeGuy posted: 05.05.2011 - 12:02 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "The biggest thing about JJs streak is that I don't see anyone on the horizon that can stop him." Me either. Frankly, I think the only driver capable of putting up a similar career is Denny Hamlin. Since his rookie year of '06, he's always made the cha$e and has always won at least once each year, and has the ability to be wildly consistent, as he's never had less than 18 top 10's when running the full season. But even he couldn't capitalize on the chance to win it all last season. Jeff Gordon put up awesome numbers just like Jimmie back in the 90's, as RLB pointed out, but he doesn't seem like the same hungry winner anymore. "Statistically, here are the stats from all 5 of his championship winning seasons in the final 10 races. 2006---1 Win, 5 Top 5's, 6 Top 10's, 10.8 Average Finish---WORST 2007---4 Wins, 6 Top 5's, 8 Top 10's, 5.0 Average Finish 2008---3 Wins, 6 Top 5's, 8 Top 10's, 5.7 Average Finish 2009---4 Wins, 7 Top 5's, 9 Top 10's, 6.8 Average Finish---BEST 2010---1 Win, 7 Top 5's, 9 Top 10's, 6.2 Average Finish" This says it all. The fact that his WORST average finish in a 10 race cha$e span is 10th is damn impressive. "If I offended anyone by saying the name that has been forbidden to say in the world of wrestling I apologize." You didn't really offend me. I don't care the least bit about wrestling, nor do I ever have the desire to watch it regularly. I did hear about what Benoit did back in 2007 though, and how anyone can even look at him favorably, I am baffled. 129. 18fan posted: 05.05.2011 - 1:28 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #125- You can also factor into the equation that Jeff ran less races in 1995-1999 than Jimmie ran in the last 5 years. That is why I put the Johnson-Knaus "dynasty" behind that of Gordon-Evernham, although the Rainbow Warriors only won three titles, they led the series in wins five years in a row and won 10 races three years in a row(since then only Jimmie in 2007 has won 10 races in a season). It is hard to compare the Earnhardt-Shelmerdine partnership to Gordon-Evernham or Johnson-Knaus mainly due to the fact that the cars were still very unreliable in the mid 1980s, but they would be my #3 driver-crew chief combo. Some interesting facts about Jimmie and Jeff: They both joined Hendrick with a brand new team and essentially a rookie crew chief(Chad had been the crew chief for Stacy Compton in 2001). Jimmie was driving for Hendrick at a better period in their history than Jeff was when he broke in, but the main reason that Jimmie's rookie stats were better than Jeff's were because of Jeff's 11 DNFs, mostly due to crashes. Jeff still had more top 5s in 30 races in 1993 than Jimmie did in 2002 in 36 races. 130. Talon64 posted: 05.05.2011 - 6:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "You can also factor into the equation that Jeff ran less races in 1995-1999 than Jimmie ran in the last 5 years. That is why I put the Johnson-Knaus "dynasty" behind that of Gordon-Evernham, although the Rainbow Warriors only won three titles, they led the series in wins five years in a row and won 10 races three years in a row(since then only Jimmie in 2007 has won 10 races in a season)." Winning percentage would reflect the difference in races run. Jimmie's is .194 the last 5 seasons (35 wins in 180 races), versus .292 for Jeff Gordon from 1995-99 (47 in 161), which really swings things in Jeff's favor. 131. RLB posted: 05.05.2011 - 8:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeff Gordon also dominated the most difficult races in that age,if you take the Sonoma,Watkins Glen and Southern 500 events he won 7 consecutive from 1997-99 Johnson has a total of 2 wins in these 3 events. Jeff Gordon won 4 straight Southern 500's, but maybe more impressive is his winning 6 straight Road-Course events and led the most in all 6 He also led the most laps at Sonoma 5 year's straight 1998-02 132. Smokefan05 posted: 05.05.2011 - 8:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Winning on the roadies 6 straight times is amazing. I honestly don't see Jimmie doing that. If they are any driver/s that could do that it'd be either Robby or Tony. Based on past experience and road course success, those 2 would most likely do something like that. (yeah Robby couldn't do it now based on the fact that he is driving his own stuff and Tony while still a good road racer, he getting toward the end of the line.) 133. Cooper posted: 05.05.2011 - 10:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Road courses are currently irrevelant to the Sprint Cup Series. They have absolutely no impact on the champion and that in itself is a crime. A driver needs to possess talent on all types of racetrack and currently NASCAR is negating that. Technically Jimmie Johnson could skip both races if he'd like to. NASCAR has ignored the fact that most fans want a chase race to be a road course. And franctly I'm very surprised that NASCAR hasn't done anything yet. A road course is exactly what NASCAR wants and needs... ---Action, Strategy, GWC's, Random drivers running well, contreversy I really question what goes through the "higher educated" minds that run this sport. Sometimes I think a 4 year old kid could do a better job than what's currently being done. Does anybody have any idea why a road course is not included in the chase? For heavens sake they have a Talladega Tag-Team race in the chase but they don't allow right turns? 134. Smokefan05 posted: 05.06.2011 - 1:52 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I really question what goes through the "higher educated" minds that run this sport. Sometimes I think a 4 year old kid could do a better job than what's currently being done." I honestly wounder if any of us have a business degree of any kind. Sometimes i honestly wounder what would happen to NASCAR if the fans ran it. Oh wait what i already know what would happen. Oh and a 4 year old kid has already run a Motor racing series, his name was Tony George. And that 4 year old kid is trying (and may have already) gotten back into the IRL 135. Anonymous85 posted: 05.06.2011 - 3:31 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) at post 134 Open wheel racing is a lost cause 136. Cooper posted: 05.06.2011 - 9:27 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Smokefan05, I do have a business degree.(Just recently graduated a week ago) But considering I'm unemployed it's currently useless. 137. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.06.2011 - 10:22 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yeah, I definitely owe Kyle Petty a rights fee :) I'd love to see a road course in the cha$e. Along with Martinsville, Sears Point has become the new Bristol. We saw that last year with Brad K causing, by my unofficial count, 83 wrecks or spins. I'd like to see it with a date in the final 10. They should have replaced the the Fontana cha$e date with Sears Point. But instead they replaced it with yet another cookie cutter. I have no idea why. Actually I know exactly why. ISC (aka nascar) owns Chicago, they don't own Sears Point. Once again business gets in the way of common sense. ISC does own the Glen, but I don't think it is nearly as exciting as Sears Point. BTW, they need to bring back the carosel there. 138. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.06.2011 - 1:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) By "there" I was talking about Sears Point. 139. RLB posted: 05.06.2011 - 1:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I like that you call it Sears Point I think the carosel track was great, but I like the one used in 1998-00(mostly because Gordon won all 3)the best. 140. Smokefan05 posted: 05.06.2011 - 2:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Smokefan05, I do have a business degree.(Just recently graduated a week ago) But considering I'm unemployed it's currently useless." Fair enough, but i doubt the rest of us do. (i'll be proven wrong again i know it. :-P) Too me it takes more then common sense (which there is nothing common about common sense) and business degree to run a multi-million dollar racing series (see Tony George for exbit A). "at post 134 Open wheel racing is a lost cause" Ya think? 100 years the Indy 500 has been around................. what else is there besides that? Great racing? Nope. History and luster can only take you so far now a days. Indy 500 serious lacks what used to make it great. 141. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.06.2011 - 4:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I like that you call it Sears Point" That's what it will always be to me. Just out of curiosity, what exactly is "Infineon"? Of course I never called Charlotte "Lowe's" either. It was always Charlotte to me, and now it is again. "but I like the one used in 1998-00(mostly because Gordon won all 3)the best." IMO that was the worst. Then again, if Earnhardt had won those 3 years I'd probably love it too. I just loved them going downhill for that sweeping left hander, then hauling ass up the drag strip into that off camber 180 degree left hander, then going downhill through the esses like they still do. Of course that is also the place that Dale passed Mark in '95 for his only road course win. Hmmmmm. 142. Jarrett88fan posted: 05.06.2011 - 6:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I too love Sears Point, although my favorite driver generally sucked there over the years. Save for winning the pole and leading the first 18 laps '01 at Watkins Glen, before wheel-hoping into the kitty litter, Jarrett never tasted even a top-3 finish on a road course. I love the ride along driver cameras, the test of skill, reverse pit stops and pit strategy involved with Sears Point and Watkins Glen. 143. RCRandPenskeGuy posted: 05.06.2011 - 11:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The racing at Sears Point is awesome almost every year, despite the fact that my #1 favorite driver (Biffle) has never done anything worth a flip there. I liked the way the track used to be designed, but no particular problem with its current layout either. 144. RCRandPenskeGuy posted: 05.06.2011 - 11:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Also, in my opinion there needs to be at least one race at every type of track in the cha$e. That would be a truer test of a champion, because if they succeeded at a variety of tracks through the regular season, then the chances are they will in the cha$e as well, if they did their homework of course. 145. RLB posted: 05.07.2011 - 3:25 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) or you could just do away with the chase then you wouldn't have to worry about it not being versatile(beating a dead horse, sorry)am I right? oh wait... 146. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.07.2011 - 11:27 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "or you could just do away with the chase then you wouldn't have to worry about it not being versatile(beating a dead horse, sorry)am I right? oh wait..." In any conversation of "How to make the championship system better", getting rid of the cha$e is already implied. 147. the_man posted: 05.08.2011 - 9:10 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) David Ragan on a 4th place finish: "That was a really good run for our UPS team. We got held up in the pits early in the race under green and had to fight back a bit after going a lap down, but our guys did a great job tonight. I??ve got to thank everyone back at the shop for putting together a great car for us tonight. The key tonight for us was forward bite. Our UPS Ford could get around the corner really, really well. We??d stay just about even with everyone for 10 to 15 laps and then we could just really rocket off the corners and get by some of those guys. I like racing at the short tracks, and to come here and get a top-five finish when you know your car is a top-five car, feels good.? 148. bryan posted: 05.10.2011 - 11:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) As i read down the list as i see No one talked about David Stremme with his new Cup team #30-chevy he started 16th and finshed 34th place for the new team and they did not have there own pit box they used 1 from Rusty Wallace as mike joy said on fox:: well have a good day bye 149. Robert Nelson posted: 07.12.2012 - 8:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) F1 points: Kyle Busch 102 Carl Edwards 102 Jimmie Johnson 81 150. Anthony posted: 07.02.2017 - 7:33 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) The second caution in this race on lap 189 was absolutely ridiculous. Kurt Busch was really loose and under the cover of a commercial they decided to throw the caution to conveniently keep Dale Jr on the lead lap. 151. JSPorts posted: 07.02.2017 - 9:08 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Brian Keselowski & K-Automotive Motorsports were the only DNQ in this race. They attempted one more race in a Dodge, then scaled back to part-time in a Chevy. He only attempted 2 races after this all year. 152. JakeD posted: 12.17.2019 - 10:25 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The pile-up on lap 301/302 happened on the backstretch, while it's listed as happening on the frontstretch. 153. Anonymous posted: 05.24.2020 - 10:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This weekend from Richmond marked one of only two times since 1997 that both richmond races had under 10 cars finished lead lap in same weekend. the fewest for cup series since 2002. 154. Rich posted: 12.19.2020 - 9:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip were the commentators. Dr. Dick Berggren, Steve Byrnes, Matt Yocum and Krista Voda were the pit road reporters. Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond were in the Hollywood hotel. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: