|| *Comments on the 2013 NRA 500:* First Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Last Page | View All On One Page View the most recent comment | Post a comment <#post> 1. Daniel posted: 04.12.2013 - 8:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) In using fastest 43: #95 Scott Speed Out using fastest 43: #32 Timmy Hill The Baroness of the Backmarkers is woefully slow again. 2. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 04.12.2013 - 8:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Great job by Richard Petty Motorsports, hopefully Almirola has a Kansas 2012-esque car tomorrow night. 3. Kenny posted: 04.12.2013 - 8:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Damn Kurt 2nd jr 6th and Austin 12th(in the 51 car no less)I got a grate felling this gonna be a GRATE race :D 4. AveryNH posted: 04.12.2013 - 8:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Busch Brothers sweep the front row for the second time in their careers. The only time they've done this previously was for the Shelby 427 at Las Vegas in 2009. Both times Kyle won the pole. 5. cjs3872 posted: 04.12.2013 - 8:42 pm Rate this comment: (1) (5) How long will it be before we see some kind of engine restrictions, like restrictor plates, on these cars at these type of tracks? The pole speed was over 196 MPH, and the track surface at Texas is more than a decade old. That's jut too damn fast for his size of track, not just for competition, but also for safety. We've already seen drivers in each of the top two series have to sit out due to injury, and at these speeds, especially in the Cup Series, the tires just will not last, and I expcect several blow outs tomorrow night. And with Charlote looming in the not-to-distant future, we could see laps exceeding 200 MPH there, and possibl over 205 at Michigan, and I hate to say this, but I would not be surprised if someone in the Cup Series is injured worse than Denny Hamlin was at California because of he speeds and potential tire blow outs. NASCAR has got to slow these cars down, and they may have to resort to a restrictor of some kind. They changed the gearing of the cars to slow them down, as well as use a harder right side tire, which also slows them down somewhat, and they still ran over 196 for the pole. I have a bad feeling something terrible is going to happen, if not at Charlotte, then at Kansas or Michigan due to the speeds and potential tire problems I expect, if NASCAR does nothing further to slow the cars down. I think restrictor plates on the banked, mid-sized tracks may be in order in the not-to-distant future for driver safety, at the very least, which was why they were first introduced in 1970. 6. Paul posted: 04.12.2013 - 8:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kyle Busch wins his 12th career Cup pole in his 300th start. In both his 100th and 200th career Cup starts, his finishing position was one position away from his starting position. He started 8th and finished 7th in his 100th career start at Watkins Glen 2007, and he started from the pole and finished 2nd in his 200th career start at Pocono 2010. Judging by how fast he's been at Texas, in Thursday's test, today's practice, and now qualifying, there's a good chance he could finish within one position of his starting position once again tomorrow night. Busch brothers share row 1, RPM drivers share row 2. Very disappointing qualifying run for Greg Biffle, who qualified 35th after being in the top 2 in both test sessions yesterday, and ranked no worse than 9th in the two practice sessions earlier today. Certainly not where last year's winner planned on starting tomorrow night's race from. 7. Mr X posted: 04.12.2013 - 8:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) How about a skinnier tires to slow the cars cjs, not harder ones. 8. cjs3872 posted: 04.12.2013 - 9:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What I said Mr X, was that they used a harder right side tire, as well as changed the gearing to limit RPMs, and they still ran over 196 for the pole. And running a skinnier tire is a bad idea, and if you watched the races at Charlote and Atlanta at the end of the 1993 season, you'd understand why I say that, because they tried that, and it proved disastrous. There was no competition at Charlotte, and the finale at Atlanta was a wreckfest. So NASCAR already knows that won't work. But doing the opposite and using wider tires, as was once suggested by Humpy Wheeler will only increase the speeds even more, increasing the chances for speed-related disaster, so that wo't work either. Reducing the size of the engines would simply cost the teams too much, and that took over four years to effectively do the last time it was done. I think NASCAR may have to use restrictor plates, use a mandated rev limiter as has been done in IndyCar racing, or really clamp down on the gearing to slow the cars down, because the cars have got to be slowed down. The last time the weight of the cars was reduced like this was in 1987, and there were a number of bad crashes and some injured drivers that year due to the higher speeds, not to mention what happened at Talladega that resulted in the return of the restrictor plates at the sport's two fastest tracks. 9. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.12.2013 - 9:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Actually, if you make the tires wider there is a line where the friction will outway the grip. 10. murb posted: 04.12.2013 - 9:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The RPM cars definitely look fast this weekend. It would be awesome to see one of them (I would prefer Aric, but an Ambrose oval win would be cool too) pull it off. 11. Benjamin Lowe posted: 04.12.2013 - 9:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) How about increasing the downforce of the cars, Increasing the weight of the cars, Putting that roof strip & wicker bill spoiler from the 2000 Winston 500 on the cars. It might make the racing at the intermediate tracks much more competitive. 12. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 04.12.2013 - 9:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Tapered Spacer? 13. Mr X posted: 04.12.2013 - 10:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) That is a fair point cjs, but the tires aren't at the same point they were at in 1993. Through suspension and chassis geometry, aerodynamics, and engine power they are getting more and more speed out of the same contact patch they have had for years. Despite the fact that I hate the tires that Goodyear has consistantly brought to the track for the last two years as they don't suit what puts on a good race but their level of development is clearly incredible. Goodyear could develop some narrower tires that could put on a show and still reduce the cars ability to stop, corner and accelerate off the corner thus slowing lap times. However my ultimate fix for this problem is simple but will never happen. Mark Martin said it in an interview after being involved in the big one at some talladega race in the 90's, I can't remember which one but he said that the cars had outgrown the plate tracks, however as the years have to gone by more and more tracks have become out grown. This brings me to what Danny Sullivan said on Wind Tunnel shortly after Dan Wheldon's death. He said there were two things that he said race cars should have, big power and low downforce. His reasoning, it makes the cars harder to drive. Reducing the cars straight line speed will reduce the speed down the straight, not in the middle of the corner, where speeds in race trim sit at about 155-175mph at TMS. In order for NASCAR to slow the mid corner speed through plate the cars would need to have no more the about 425ish horsepower. Which would help keep racing close mid corner but would severely reduce the effects of handling, and all but eliminate any effects of drafting. IMO it's bad enough that NASCAR has two tracks where the cars run wide open and the cars merely cruise around the track. The last thing NASCAR needs is more of them. Most of the recent injuries to drivers have more been a result of hitting a concrete wall vs the safer barrier. Really at this point what NASCAR needs given the capability of these cars is more short tracks, and more road courses which wouldn't hurt my feelings. 14. 18fan posted: 04.12.2013 - 11:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kyle ties his career high of two poles in a season and the first time he's won multiple poles in an odd numbered year. 15. cjs3872 posted: 04.12.2013 - 11:43 pm Rate this comment: (1) (2) But NicoRosbergFan, making gthe tires wider would still increase cornering speeds, which in turn would increase straightaway speeds, which would increase lap speeds. When IndyCar speeds jumped in the mid-60s, it was due almost entirely to wider tires, as aerodynics really didn't become a factor until 1969 or 1970, yet the speeds went up 20 MPH in those six years, largely because the tires increased in size. A few years ago, Humpy Wheeler said that 15" tires would make the racing better, which I disagree with because it would increase speeds. And Mr X, I disagree partly with the theory of reducing the aerodynamic for one reason. You can only go so far before the car would produce lift, even while going in a straight line, at which point the cars would literally become undriveable because the wheels would actually be off the ground. Neil Bonnett made this point during the 1992 Daytona 500 broadcast. So the cars have to have downforce, because if they don't, you couldn't race them that good. Does the term "5 & 5 rule" from 1998 mean anything? They took away downforce from the cars that year, and the racing was worse than in any othr year I can remember. But when they put downforce back into the cars at the season finale at Atlanta, they put on possibly that season's best race because they could actually race. And also, you're incorrect about saying if you reduce horsepower that it would eliminate the effects of drafting. Actually, the opposite is true. It would dramatically increase the effects of drafting because the car in front would no longer have the power to pull away. The Daytona 500s from 1967-'71 show this. The 1967 Daytona 500 was the most competitive race up to that time, with drafting and slingshot passing practically all day, but starting in 1968, the combination of more powerful engines and better aerodynamics effectvely eliminated the effect of drafting in the Daytona 500 from 1968-'70, but when restrictor plates came to be in 1971, that severely limited the horsepower, but it dramatically increased the effect of drafting to the extent that it took almost 400 miles for anyone to gain any kind of advantage, and there were an astonishing 48 lead changes, nearly one every four laps for the entire race with the same style of cars with which there was virtually no effect of the draft the previous few years. The only difference was a lack of horsepower because the engines were choked off and they were going 10 MPH slower than in 1970. 16. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 04.13.2013 - 12:06 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) This website is becoming the battle of thumbs up/down lol. 17. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 12:16 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Again, I'm just lost as to why the webmaster thought it was a great idea to implement the thumbs up/thumbs down system on this site. Who DIDN'T see that system getting abused to all hell? Trolls and those who have vendetta against other people here will just thumbs down any comment they come across... #11-After Dale Earnhardt's death, I'm sad to say I DOUBT NASCAR will ever bring back the roof strip and wicker bill. A damn shame, really... 18. Mr X posted: 04.13.2013 - 1:41 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) I am well aware cjs that the air going under the car effectivly creates lift. I am talking about a low level of downforce, for example todays F1 cars produce between 2 and 4 times their own weight in downforce at 200mph, however 25-30 years ago an F1 car produced maybe 1000lbs total at that speed. I totally agree that the car has to produce some downforce at speed but, it doesn't need to be an amount where you can run anywhere near flat out at an intermediate even in qualifying. I have also said in the past that there is a sweet spot with downforce, making a car racable but also making it so it doesn't punch a massive hole in the air. In 1998 they took downforce away from 1997's version of a nascar stock car, move the calender forward 15 years and you have a different story. Teams have made steady gains over the years, and it got to the point where I feel the cars were far too stable at speed. That being said what NASCAR has done for 2013 is a huge improvement, it produces downforce, but as Larry Mac mentioned during a practice session earlier this year, that it closes the hole it punches in the air much quicker then the Gen five car, similarly to the way the dimples on a golf ball help to reduce the size of the low pressure mass behind a golf ball which as you seem to be an avid golf fan I'm sure you are well aware of. In theory this should help the car behind with the aero push issue however Denny Hamlin's comments after Phoenix would suggest otherwise. That being said I think as much as anything the better racing could be a product of a slightly softer tire, and the fact that the teams don't quite have there arms around this new car leading to some unstable set ups. I've blasted NASCAR before for making huge rule changes that "put all the teams back at square one" before. It give the richest most powerful teams the edge because they make huge gains right away, like HMS in 2007. However I would like to point out a new danger that I have come to realize, too much time with the same car leads to over refinement of said car. Specifically in 2012 where every car went round the track on a rail, all race. IMO that was the biggest problem in 2012. We saw races run without any kind of spins or incident, and even though having a 7-9 start and parkers every race and the cars generally had no ability to stay close together had an obvious effect it doesn't speak for all of it. Jimmie Johnson had half a dozen single car spins all on his own in 2011, but in 2012 there were few examples of jaw dropping incidents, and not that I watch racing for those incidents but they are part of racing, and frankly I'd rather watch drivers fight for the win on ablsolute limit over something that resembles a railway locamotive. Also when I said reduce the effects of drafting I was more talking about the lower speeds then the lower power levels. Either the effects of drafting are all about fluid dynamics and thusly is much deeper then that. The effects of air resistance beceme exponentially greater at speed. On average a normal road car only takes about 20hp to cruise at 60mph, however it takes about 300hp to cruise at 160mph, and despite having a thousand horsepower a Bugatti Veyron can't reach 260mph. Generally the greater the load created by aerodynamic drag the greater the effect of the draft once that load is removed, if all other effects are removed higher speeds will always increase the effect of drafting. Another major factor that's never mentioned is simply combination of the engines ability to produce torque and thus horsepower as the RPM's increase, and the cars gearing. Unlike an electric motor that produces 100% of it's torque at any RPM, the internal combustion produces torque in a curve. Truck engines are designed to make low end torque, a racing engine is designed to produce torque up high in the RPM range, because that's where it operates, and horsepower is simply calculated via a mathimatical formula based on the amount of torque produced at any given RPM. Torque(in ft-lbs)*RPM/5252.1=Horsepower at RPM. (400ft-lbs*4000RPM/5252.1=304.6hp at 4000RPM for example.) If an engine produces peak power at 9000RPM and is geared to hit that RPM at top speed while not drafting the effect of the draft may be cancelled out some due to the increase in speed pushing the RPM past the horsepower peak. These cars also have cowl induction which means the engine breathes air from the high pressure area at the base of the windshield, however if in the draft the high pressure area disappears that will, also have an effect. Again it's fluid dynamics and there are a million different factors, and different cars as a result will behave differently behind or in front of other cars. 19. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 5:52 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) "Really at this point what NASCAR needs given the capability of these cars is more short tracks, and more road courses which wouldn't hurt my feelings." NASCAR is way overdue on adding more road courses to the schedule, especially now that pretty much every Cup driver knows how to drive on them. I'm glad that the Nationwide Series has three road courses (9.1% of their schedule) and the Trucks are returning to road course racing this year after a 12-year hiatus, but I think there could be 1-2 more road courses added to the Cup schedule as well, and one of them would have to be added to the Chase so that one of every type of track has a Chase date. They could certainly move Sonoma or Watkins Glen back during the season and put them in the Chase, but I would like to see them add an event on Indy's road course, which by having a Chase date could basically kill two birds with one stone by adding both a road course and Indy to the Chase (although it wouldn't be the Brickyard 400). I thought Montreal would have made for a great addition to the Chase by adding some international flavor to it, but it sounds like the owners of the track are pretty shady characters, as seen from the way NASCAR was unable to reach a deal to return to CGV in 2013. As for the short tracks, I'm excited that NASCAR seems to be returning to its roots in a way by adding more short tracks to the Truck Series, which will hopefully soon become a reality in the Nationwide and eventually Cup Series as well. Having multiple dates at Iowa was a great move, as was the return of Rockingham (not technically a short track, but a great addition nonetheless) and heading to Eldora for dirt track racing. NASCAR was also in talks with Greenville-Pickens Speedway last season, which gives me hope that they will return to the legendary southern short track in the near future. Possible other short tracks that aren't unlikely to return are IRP (which should still have a Nationwide and Truck date) and South Boston. I'd also love to see Hickory Motor Speedway back on the schedule. I say the more short tracks, the better, and the same thing goes with road courses. Bringing in some old fan favorite short tracks, as well as reaching different areas with some of these road courses (Road America, Mosport, and Mid-Ohio) can only mean good things for NASCAR and trying to re-excite the fans and bring ratings back up. Good for the fans, good for the promoters, and good for NASCAR. Win-win-win IMO. 20. Benjamin Lowe posted: 04.13.2013 - 6:40 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well they need to bring back the roof fin & wicker bill and add more & weight and downforce to the cars. Unless those changes are made the racing at the 1.5-2.5 mile tracks will continue to be boring. 21. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 6:45 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Seriously, if you watch NASCAR drivers run the Rolex 24, they usually are the worst drivers behind the car to the extent that sometimes they lose an entire lap or more during the stints the NASCAR drivers run... I think it's the fact that we've had almost the exact same drivers (Even backmarkers) for almost ten years, so now the drivers are all familiar enough with Sonoma and Watkins Glen to not make mistakes... Remember that the CGV races almost counted as sit-coms. 22. Red posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:03 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Men like speed, that's why they race, set land speed records, do burn outs, ski down steep moutains, it's an adrenaline rush that can't be matched by watching. But we have all driven our cars fast at some point, which makes us love racing. We know how it feels to make it through a traffic jam and come out leading the pack. That's what makes me like any form of racing, I know it's got to be a kick butt feeling to do it with 8 or 9 hundred horse power at your disposal. Look at motor cycle racing, those guys know if they wreck it could turn ugly! They are men who love speed and racing. So stop belly achIng and enjoy watching the race. I know if I was talented and rich enough I'd be doing it no mater what the risk too. 23. RaceFanX posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:13 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This race caused a lot of controversy before the teams even arrived at the track because of its title sponsor, American gun lobby the National Rifle Association. At the time the race took place the USA was having a debate about gun control following a school shooting a few months earlier in Connecticut. After the NRA picked up race's sponsorship NASCAR took a lot of flack with Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy even mouthing off in the week before the race FOX and network owner Rupert Murdoch should not televise it so as not to promote guns. FOX and NASCAR thankfully did not take Sen. Murphy's advice. In Sen. Murphy's defense Texas Motor Speedway really didn't help out their case in the controversy by having the traditional 'six shooters' loaded with blanks in victory lane (which was done for years before the NRA got involved but still an issue). NASCAR did say they would look over their race sponsorship policy after this. 24. Bronco posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:39 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This is Kyle Busch's fourth track record I believe, the others are Fontana (which still stands from 2005), Phoenix from last fall, Bristol last month and now a record at Texas. 25. jabber1990 posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:02 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) which road courses (other than CGV) would you like to see added to the schedule? and if CGV was added when would you like to add it? 26. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:20 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Christopher Murphy's Facebook Page is a hoot right now. Don't mess with NASCAR and Texas. 27. Mr X posted: 04.13.2013 - 1:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Not much to do with NASCAR but did anyone else watch qualifying at shanghai last night, specifically Q3. It was the weird, nobody wanted to go out. Kimi Raikkonen was the first out and he started his hot lap with about 54 seconds left in the session, as a result nobody got more then one hot lap before the Q3 ended. Nico Hulkenburg and Sebastian Vettel never even set a time only so they could have choice of tires for the start of the race. Jenson Button only cruised to 2 minute time on prime tires to beat Vettel, and Hulkenburg. Speaking of which somebody mentioned this a few weeks ago for NASCAR which I absolutely support, and that's for Goodyear to provide multiple tire compounds for the races. 28. cjs3872 posted: 04.13.2013 - 1:34 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Actually Mr X, NASCAR used to allow teams a choice of tire compounds and allow them to change during the race, something that ended up being decisive in the 1969 Daytona 500 when LeeRoy Yarbrough, with a softer tire, caught Charlie Glotzbach to win the race. But the tire fiasco in the 1972 Talladega 500 was what probably put an end to that. What happened was that the more heavily backed teams ran a faster tire that proved to wear out within just a few laps, while the "privateer" teams with smaller budgets couldn't run the same tires, which resulted in the smaller teams having a huge advantage because the faster cars had to make many more pit stops, which allowed James Hylton and Ramo Stott, driving Junie Donlavey's car, to battle for the win. Third place, represented by Bobby Allison, was five laps behind, and Richard Petty was more than ten laps behind due simply to the high number of tire changes they had to make during the race, despite their cars being much faster than Hylton's or Stott's. After that fiasco, NASCAR went with a single tire compound for 1973, and quite honestly, it's for the better. 29. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 1:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hell has frozen over... I agree with cjs... Imagine nowadays with much faster cars all the craziness that would happen with multiple compounds. Drivers on the soft tires will start hitting the wall 15 laps into a stint. Not good because then there are more pit stops than should be necessary. 30. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 04.13.2013 - 2:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The F1 tyre situation is starting to get a tad bid worrying. Looking at the track during FP2, after about 20 laps you probably won't see any offline overtaking in Shanghai due to the marbles. Not to mention the issues of tyres coming close to delaminating in Malaysia. 31. Cornys posted: 04.13.2013 - 3:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Am I really the only one who doesn't see an issue with the fact that qualifying times spiked 6 MPH? To me it just sounds like they are going faster. Cover all the walls with higer fences and SAFER barriers and let the risks be as they may. It's racing, not a cake walk! 32. DaleSrFanForever posted: 04.13.2013 - 3:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) They definitely need to add the weight back. They also need to implement some tricks to reduce downforce. Extend the greenhouse portion upwards by two inches, raise the fender heights another inch, get the nose off the ground (perhaps the most important thing), and lower the spoiler. The best racing has been when horsepower exceeds downforce. The straightaway speed is fine. They just need to slow down in the corners. They are too glued to the corners. They need to slow down their cars cause that is what makes good racing. 33. Cornys posted: 04.13.2013 - 3:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Edit: I'd be saying something different if the speeds had spiked to 210, because that's just stupid, but for crying out loud. It's 196 which means a top speed of.. 204.. Heck.. Come to me when you see 220MPH like in the Indy 500 (without a roof as well). Then I'll complain! 34. Cornys posted: 04.13.2013 - 3:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) One other thing, downforce does need to be reduced, but the weigh doesn't need to come back. Raise the front ends and cut the spoiler like they have done at Daytona and Talledega. Watch them wrestle the cars! 35. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 04.13.2013 - 5:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) "Really at this point what NASCAR needs given the capability of these cars is more short tracks, and more road courses which wouldn't hurt my feelings." I do agree with this statement. However, there are even short tracks that I think can lose a date or two. Quite honestly, I think Kentucky should be dropped from the Cup schedule, Dover's spring race, Richmond's spring race as to give it's fall event a more-important feeling. I don't know how the racing at Kansas will be. If it ends up turning bad due to the repave and Gen-6 cars, yes, as much as I hate to say it, scrap a date from it. Michigan needs to lose a date. If Pocono loses a date, which I wouldn't support, then lengthen the race it will still have back to 500 miles. And I'll go on a limb to say this, but cut the Daytona July race, and replace it with a Daytona July race on the Daytona Road Course. Everyone seems to forget that course. If we just cut out those, and threw in the Indianapolis Road Course, Road Atlanta, Kansas's infield road course, and some assorted short tracks *NOT dirt tracks. That is NOT progress* - - - - - I have seen these car's speeds going up and down and up down for the last six years, watching these speeds intently. Yes, something needs to be done, but no, not restrictions on engines. They have not proven to be any permanent fix. Need I go down the list of injuries that drivers have sustained in Restrictor Plate Races? I say that Nascar needs to co-operate with these tracks, and put SAFER barrier all around the track, on every wall, with the exception of the walls on pit lane. SAFER barrier walls on pit lane would be pretty redundant, right? I also say that Nascar goes back to the winged COT/pre-winged COT and look something over that I noticed. The winged COT seemed to have more of a urge to break into billions and billions of pieces, as did the cars from 2000~ish to 2007. I noticed that these newer cars don't seem to break nearly as much. All of that energy dispersing might help in crashes. More Downforce? Uh? Less Downforce!? Tire changes!? Gah! You have to be a freaking rocket surgeon to understand how these changes would affect the racing and speeds! 36. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 6:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Am I really the only one who doesn't see an issue with the fact that qualifying times spiked 6 MPH? To me it just sounds like they are going faster." I really don't have an issue with it either. It's just the product of the Gen-6 car. 37. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 6:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "You have to be a freaking rocket surgeon to understand how these changes would affect the racing and speeds!" Or a brain scientist. 38. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bobby Labonte is sick and may need a relief driver to finish the race for him. Mike Bliss, who will park his #19 car early in the race, is expected to relieve Labonte in the #47 car during the first caution period, and the seat in the car has been fitted specifically for Bliss just for this occasion. 39. Alex posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike Bliss will park and get in the 47 after the first caution because Bobby Labonte has the flu. 40. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) On Nascar Raceday, the "fans" "picked" BoB to win the race tonight. lol 41. Rexrobe posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Not too sure why 196 is a problem and the IRL raced here with race laps over 225 safely. And the best, and simplest, formula for Nascar's problems is the 3 inch rule - take one inch off the front valence, one inch off the spoiler, and add one inch of ride height. 42. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The #2 and #22 cars had parts confiscated. Stay tuned. 43. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Danica's "impressive run"? Chris Myers, you are outta here!! 44. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) "The #2 and #22 cars had parts confiscated. Stay tuned." Wow, I wonder what will happen. Thanks for the info David, since Fox is too busy to report this because they are talking about BoB's "impressive" 12th place run last week. 45. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Thanks for the info David, since Fox is too busy to report this because they are talking about BoB's 'impressive' 12th place run last week." You are welcome. Ironically, the info was tweeted by a NASCAR.COM writer. 46. Eric posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) David, Destroyahirismix666, and Cornys, At most tracks would agree with you, but not at Michigan. There is serious issue at Michigan with the gen 6 car coming up though. The only reason the 2nd cup race at Michigan last year was slower for qualifying is the tire goodyear brought for the 2nd cup race. This year, goodyear can't do nothing for making the speed at Michigan less than 200 MPH. I matter of fact could see the Qualifying speed hit 205 to 210 MHP for a whole lap in Qualifying. That is a big concern because there was tire problems during the first cup weekend at Michigan last year for practice before Goodyear brought different tires for the race. 47. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) "Wow, I wonder what will happen." What he's really thinking: "Sweet! Anything to penalize that punk Logano!" (May have been censored) 48. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Best drivers in the world"? Myers, you are so outta here!! 49. Eric posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rexrobe, NASCAR doesn't like like race speeds over 200 MPH and that is a well known fact. What happened to Bobby Allison in 1987 put a scare into NASCAR. The race I am talking about is the spring 1987 Talladega race. The Qualifying speed for that race was 212.809 MPH by Bill Elliott. 50. cjs3872 posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Guys, the reason 196 (and it might be as high as 203 at Kansas) is too high is the weight of the cars. Cornys mentioned comparing 196 to 220+ for IndyCars (which is also too fast for those cars at a 1.5 mile track). But there's a big difference, and that is the size of the cars, and 200 MPH at a 1.5 mile track is far too fast for a stock car. At those type tracks, they should not be going any faster than 180-185. 200 is fine for Daytona or Talladega, but not Texas, Kansas, or Charlotte. They can't hardly put on a competitive race at those speeds without throwing cautions to spice up the activities, and there's a much greater risk of injury. There have already been two drivers sidelined by injuries this year, and unless the cars are slowed down, there might be even worse injuries than those that have already been suffered this year. Remember that when speeds went up in the late 1980s the last time the weight of the cars was decreased to this degree, there were some bad accidents and injuries suffered to some marquee drivers, including Bobby Allison, Richard Petty, Neil Bonnett, Buddy Baker, and Ricky Rudd, and others also had specactular crashes. And remember that one of the drivers starting the race at Texas, Michael McDowell, had a crash in qualifying exactly like the one that killed Gordon Smiley at Indy in 1982 a few years ago at Texas. Now while I don't expect anything like that, the fact that there have been some brutal crashes the last few years, combined with the increase in speed this year brought on by racing lighter cars, gives me great cause for concern on these mid-sized tracks where speeds up to 205 MPH on the straightaway can be attained. Frankly, I'm worried that someone could quite possibly be killed in the next couple of years if something isn't done to slow the cars down, which would greatly affect the drivers racing today, much like the crash that killed Dale Earnhardt, Sr. in the 2001 Daytona 500 and three others like it in 2000 affected the drivers racing at that time. 51. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "What he's really thinking: "Sweet! Anything to penalize that punk Logano!"" lol, Well, as a Brad fan, I'm actually more concerned about that. If they were to lose Paul Wolfe to a suspension, I think that would be a serious blow. And yeah, I hate Logano, but this can also get bad for that team too since they've been so strong this year. I'd hate it for the guys that work on that car. 52. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The signal is a little sketchy here, can anyone tell me how many times FOX has referred to this race as the "NRA 500", if at all? 53. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "The signal is a little sketchy here, can anyone tell me how many times FOX has referred to this race as the "NRA 500", if at all?" Karl Malone just screamed it at the top of his lungs for the command. Meanwhile, they give the command without Logano there. The 22 is still at the gas pumps. 54. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I was joking anyway, murb. 55. 12345Dude posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DW thinks this is the best car we have ever had. Oh boy. 56. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Fastest car we've ever had? Waltrip, you're outta here!! 57. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) I'm glad Karl Malone said "Gentlemen, start your engines!" instead of the usual "Drivers, start your engines!" in his command. It makes the drivers sound far more prestigious and noble being introduced as "gentlemen," as opposed to just simply "drivers." Now he didn't say "Lady and gentlemen..." in his command, which would have been more accurate, but I'd like to see that type of command make its way back into mainstream. 58. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #40: I wouldn't be surprised if the NASCAR Raceday "fans" have picked either Junior or Danica to win every single race so far this year. 59. RaceFanX posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Unless the NRA bought TV ads during the race FOX will go out of their way not to mention their name, that's their policy for every race sponsor. Karl Malone, who has an R-R page believe it or not, saying it live is something beyond their control. 60. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Paul, while "gentlemen" does sound more noble, does it really accurately describe the majority of the drivers in the field? 61. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:45 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Maybe they should say "Gentlemen and immature children, start your engines!" 62. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The #22 cannot catch a break tonight, and the race hasn't even started yet. Wow. 63. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeff Burton's car reminds me of his brother Ward's. 64. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I hope they show the Bobby Labonte - Mike Bliss driver change when it happens. It's always interesting to see that happen since it is a pretty rare occurrence. Hopefully they won't shun the 47 car because it isn't being driven by one of the cash cows. Unfortunately, I can see them doing that. 65. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Also, Gordon's Dupont car that just has generic "Cromax Pro" font on it makes me sad, and I'm not even a Gordon fan. 66. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) All year, I haven't noticed the speed difference between the COT and the Gen-6. Until now. These cars are FLYING!! 67. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dale Jr is running 44th, according to Fox's ticker. 68. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) As a Jeff fan, it's sad to see his career coming to an end without the sponsor he turned from a major corporation (like Boeing) into a household name (like Wal-mart). 69. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) When was the last time they actually ran more than 43 cars? Wasn't it 1997 at Sears Point? Time for my weekly caution predictions (I don't think I did this last week)...I predict there will be 5 cautions today. Three for BS debris cautions. 70. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I can see a lot of cars getting lapped in this race, especially if there's a long green flag run. Gordon's car just isn't doing it for me. 71. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 7:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Except for Mark, all of these guys are f*gs... and I don't say that lightly. The men are gone and replaced by boys... sad considering Jimmy Thompson remarked how Daytona separated the brave from the weak after the boys are gone... Jimmy, they're all boys now. Karl should have "Toddlers, start your engines" because at least toddlers are more mature than the spoiled rich brats out there right now. 72. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:00 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "I like the 12 drivers that did double duty last night." - Larry Mac I don't. 73. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:01 pm Rate this comment: (4) (0) Bobby Labonte, 50 years old and battling the flu, is faster than Danica Patrick... 74. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Except for Mark, all of these guys are f*gs" So you're putting Gordon, Burton, and Labonte in the same category as the "less mature than toddlers" drivers? 75. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:02 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Yes, I do think they are quite immature... Burton and Gordon have a history of whining. I guess putting Bobby Labonte in that is unfair though... he's not a whiny self-entitled brat. 76. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:03 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Lap down in a Hendrick car. Good job, Miss. 77. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) BoB is already a lap down... 78. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Vickers is looking good in the 11 car. 79. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Burton and Gordon have a history of whining." Do you remember the 1997 spring Busch race at Richmond, when Jeff Burton threw a hissy fit after Jason Keller gave him the bump 'n' run in the final laps? Burton was quite the whiner and self-entitled Cup driver in his day. 80. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I didn't watch the Busch series back then, but I can believe it. He's not as obviously self-entitled now because he, in all his whininess, is now one of more mature guys out there in spite of being one of the slowest cars week-to-week. 81. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) BS debris caution #1. 82. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Here's a debris caution. No idea if it is legit or not. 83. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) NRF, you amaze me. You think Jeff is immature and you're still a fan of his? Why? I am genuinely curious. 84. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Josh Wise, a driver who finished in the top five in the #7 Nationwide car without fuel mileage playing a role, gets the lucky dog. Bobby Labonte will most likely be relieved by Mike Bliss under this caution. 85. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Okay, they haven't shown the reason for the caution yet, so it's officially deBriS in my book. 86. 18fan posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) In that race Keller bumped Burton out of the way to take the lead, then Keller threw the race away in turn 3 on the last lap when he drove in too hard and Mark Martin went by him, and then Burton intentionally wrecked Keller. 87. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:11 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Jeff gained a spot on pit road. 88. JG24FanForever posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Is anybody else stoked about the Chinese Grand Prix? Ham vs Alonso with a dash of Gothness from the Iceman II. Terry Labonte is the original Iceman. 89. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It's in my blood from when I was little. Jeff has a reputation for whining. Even when the criticism is true about a driver "and the 34 is down a driver," he always does it in a demeaning manner. The thing I think about really is Bristol 2006. Now what a mature guy would have down is take off the helmet, get out of the car, and ask in a calm manner "Now why did you do that?" And then if he got a sassy answer THEN he knocks him down. 90. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) How much says the announcers keep saying "Kyle Busch has lead every lap" even though David Ragan stayed out to lead a lap? 91. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:15 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I am not proud of Jeff for Bristol '06. 92. JG24FanForever posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Swervin Stenhouse! 93. Jarrett88fan posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Can't wait for The Rock tomorrow afternoon. No Pierre Debris sitings needed. 94. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ricky Stenhouse crashes. ...Why do I get the feeling Danica will beat him for RotY? 95. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 18fan, and after he intentionally wrecked Keller coming to the start/finish line, he either went to confront Keller or was confronted himself by Keller's crew members on pit road, and had to be escorted back to the Cup garage for final practice by a NASCAR official. For a driver who hadn't even won a Cup race at that point in his career, he certainly thought he deserved better treatment than that. The 2011 Nationwide and Truck Series champions wreck. 96. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Stenhouse and Dillon crash. 97. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) No "BS caution" there. 98. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Swervin' Stenhouse!! 99. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "...Why do I get the feeling Danica will beat him for RotY?" No, because Stenhouse has been decent (and will only get better) on the tracks where you can't just hold it wide open for the whole race. Bobby Labonte parks it. Absolute shame. 100. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:18 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Neither am I. On the flip side, I still don't see where people say Jeff dumped Kenseth at Chicagoland later that year because Kenseth was running so much slower that he was actually in the way at that point in the race AND Jeff had the car glued to the bottom of the track. Sounds like a racing incident to me between a fast car and a car struggling to maintain pace. 101. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike Bliss does not get out of his car at all, and thus, Bobby Labonte has had to retire from the race as there is no one to relieve him. 102. OldSchoolNascarDude1 posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) When was the last time that we have saw a Cup driver retire due to "fatigue"? 103. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:20 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "I am not proud of Jeff for Bristol '06." I am. Nico, I'm not going to say in regards to Jeff being a whiner, because he is, but I'm surprised you would include him as a "f*g," since you categorized every driver except for Mark and Labonte as such. Speaking of Labonte, apparently he has no relief driver available, so he just pulled his car into the garage. What the hell? They couldn't pay someone off and have them drive a decent 3rd tier car for the rest of the race? Labonte gets no respect. 104. Benjamin Lowe posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (4) I am going to make a bold prediction by saying that Homestead was Jeff Gordon's Last Victory. 105. Bronco posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) How could the #47 team not get have a backup driver ready who wasn't already entered in the race? 106. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Bobby Labonte parks it. Absolute shame." Wow. Cannot believe it. 107. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) The way I look at is this: remove Mark and Labonte, and I have more testosterone in my blood than the rest of the field combined... of course, BoB has more estrogen than the rest of the field combined, but that's different. These guys don't act like men anymore. Their actions on and off the track are the actions of children playing "Grown up." 108. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Nico, I agree about the Gordon/Kenseth incident at Chicago '06. Kenseth had the lapped car of Casey Mears on his outside and his car was tight, meaning that he couldn't accelerate out of the corners very fast, especially with a car on his outside. I'm not sure if I would classify that as a racing incident per se, but it was definitely unintentional. 109. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "How could the #47 team not get have a backup driver ready who wasn't already entered in the race?" Apparently they had Mike Bliss ready to go. He was gonna park the 19 and then climb in the 47, but I guess there must have been some miscommunication or something between the teams. Surely there is some other driver hanging around in the garage that can get in the 47. Why don't they just grab one of the guys that has already parked like McDowell or someone? 110. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:24 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "I am." I mean, I'm not proud of his post-race actions. I mean, it seemed like Kenseth was going to apologize to him. Jeff could have at least listened to him before he shoved him. 111. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) McDowell just pulled his car into the garage, so maybe the #47 team could put him in the car. 112. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Kenseth should have waited and let Jeff cool off before he approached him, which he admitted in his interview that he wished he would have done that. Sure, Jeff shouldn't have shoved him, but Kenseth was asking for it by coming up to him so soon, and I'm on record as a fan of both drivers. 113. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Agreed... but Jeff still at least should have removed the helmet. That's called respect . 114. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Brian Vickers is in fifth. 115. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:29 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Hendrick must be freaking out... Jeff just ran two laps in a row faster than Jimmie. 116. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:29 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) For what it's worth, Bobby Allison said in recent years that he would have done the same thing as Jeff and kept his helmet on as well. In fact, Bobby did just that during his fight with Cale Yarborough in the 1979 Daytona 500, as he kept his helmet on during that fight too. 117. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And here I thought Jeff was holding his team back on the 1.5-mile tracks. I mean, this is only the fastest 1.5-mile track on the circuit, and yet he's been running top five all race. Funny how that happens. 118. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) That's because they fear having their face broken. 119. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) But Bobby's helmet was an open-faced helmet. 120. Alex posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The 47 already has the car set up for Bliss so they're just waiting for him to beat 2 cars to pass the 44 in owner's points and then he will park. 121. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Didn't contemplate that Paul... Good point. Regardless, Bobby had to know he was against a champion boxer. 122. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Kenseth should have waited and let Jeff cool off before he approached him" Okay. I can go along with that. 123. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I've said this before regarding the #11 team and I'll say it again: Why not make a deal with Kenny Wallace? He's at the race track every week, is about the same size as Labonte, and has nothing else going on. Why not make a deal with him and ask if he can drive the #47 car? It doesn't matter if he's competitive or not because he would be driving an uncompetitive car. All this is doing is costing Labonte a ton of points because his team made a deal with a driver that had a different agenda in this race, which is to gain points in the owner's points. 124. 12345Dude posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The first time ever Mike Bliss and the 19 team decide to run the full race. Right when Bliss was supposed to fill in for Labonte. Also DW I'm curious, do you think this new car is fast? 125. JG24FanForever posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeff didn't keep his helmet on at Texas in 2010,knowing full well that Jeff Burton could probably whip his ass,but good. 126. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:36 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) I think Jeff could have taken Jeff at Texas 2010. ;) 127. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:37 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Jeff could have beaten Jeff if they both had their helmets off, but then again Jeff might have beaten Jeff. 128. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Michael McDowell is too big to fit in Labonte's seat. I agree with DW. This was a terrible plan by JTG Daugherty. 129. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Carl Edwards' engine is pretty sick, and not in a good way. 130. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) So basically the next person out of the race is gonna get in the 47 it sounds like, lol. 131. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Danica is already two laps down...what a shock. 132. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Stenhouse came back from the garage and brings out a caution the very same lap. 133. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Caution for Ricky Stenhouse...having a tire rub. 134. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) As Eddie Allison once said, "You don't get in front of Donnie Allison when he gets angry and emotional, because he'll kill you." 135. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:40 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Have Danica pull into the garage and drive the #47. It's not like she's going to gain any points in this race anyways, plus that car would be more suitable for her level of talent. 136. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "This was a terrible plan by JTG Daugherty." It's Brad "Man, I Wish We Wouldn't Have Killed Our Deal With MWR" Daugherty, so it's not surprising. Caution for Stenhouse smoking or something. 137. JG24FanForever posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeff couldn't take Jeff,but Jeff would definitely beat the hell out of Jeff. 138. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:41 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I think Jeff may win this thing... that says a lot about how far the 24 team has come this year from last. 139. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Matt Kenseth's pit is in flames. 140. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Have Danica pull into the garage and drive the #47." I think that's a good idea. She needs to be humbled like that. Small fire in Kenseth's pit. 141. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Fire in Kenseth's pit. Damn, this has been a pretty interesting race so far. And now Gordon is in the lead too. 142. Benjamin Lowe posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Why didn't the cup guys just use the Nationwide car for this race It might have made for a much better show then what were seeing now and besides the cup guys have stolen just about everything else from the Nationwide series. 143. JG24FanForever posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "As Eddie Allison once said, "You don't get in front of Donnie Allison when he gets angry and emotional, because he'll kill you." I read that in Bobby's biography: Miracle. Bobby makes Richard Petty: "the racer" out to be evil in that book,but if you read what he has to say it's easy to believe. 144. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I guess he wasn't in the lead, but he did restart in the front row. Truex and Kyle seem to have the best cars so far. 145. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) McDowell is shown in the 47 on their ticker. 146. 18fan posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) McDowell is in Bobby Labonte's car. 147. hyperacti posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I wonder if Jeff will ever not be abused on a restart 148. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Gordon and Johnson are going backwards. 149. Kenny posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Lmao @ the Jeff beating Jeff comments XD 150. JG24FanForever posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And yet another Jimmie Johnson mistake. 151. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Hendrick must be freaking out... Jeff just ran two laps in a row faster than Jimmie." Speaking of which...someone said earlier this week that Hendrick was favoring Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson's teams over Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s and Jeff Gordon's. Well, as it turns out, they may be right, as Kasey Kahne has the highest average percent of fastest laps this season, as well as the highest average rank in green-flag speed. Johnson ranks second and third in those categories, respectively. By comparison, Jeff ranks ninth and fourteenth, and Junior ranks sixteenth and seventh. 152. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:49 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) No Mike Joy, we don't visit Homestead in the first half of the year. 153. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 48 looks terrible. 154. JG24FanForever posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Johnson is such a badass. 155. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) McMurray's in the top five. Solid job. 156. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Once again DW is harping on the "New, Fully Mature Kyle Busch"... 157. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) They are showing McDowell in the 47 and Kelly Bires in the 98, lmao 158. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Did anyone see Kenseth's crew member's shoe on fire? That must have been thrilling. 159. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Now they're showing the driver of the #98 as "Driver Out". 160. RaceFanX posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) McDowell is now driving the #47 in relief of Labonte. 161. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bobby Labonte must have caught his virus from Eric McClure. 162. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wow, Jeff's in third?!?! 163. 18fan posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I was thinking about Mike Joy saying all the tracks in the chase are visited in the first half of the season and saying to myself that Homestead only has one race. 164. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Now they're showing the driver of the #98 as "Driver Out"." John Driver Out is my new favorite driver. He can't be any less mature than any of the other guys out there... 165. 12345Dude posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:53 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) I remember when Gordon HATED Texas. This used to be his Achilles hill. You think he's not motivated from Martinsville? He had that race last year and wanted to win it for Hendrick for his 200th win and for what tragically happen with his family. And he had to watch Johnson dominate last week. 166. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Not only is Homestead not visited in the first half, neither in Chicago. 167. joey2448 posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Holy hell, Jeff Gordon is fast! I thought for sure that that 24 car would drop like a rock at the beginning and finish a mediocre 20th! Whoohoo! I echo the remarks about Labonte's situation....poor planning on who was going to drive his car after he got out. Oh, and about the F1 Chinese Grand Prix, I am so looking forward to that race tonight, what with the tire situation. 168. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:56 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) Go Jeff! [I'm still a Jeff fan in spite of all comments] 169. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Looks like another Kyle Busch Show tonight. Truex is really good too. Two guys who are notorious for beating themselves. Should get interesting later. 170. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) That's reassuring, NRF. 171. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truex is starting to hear the Jaws theme play as he looks in his rear-view mirror. 172. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:59 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Oh, baby... this may be one of our great "Jeff Gordon Never Say Die" moments in the making. 173. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 8:59 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "OH MY GOD!!!! STENICA ARE NEXT TO EACH OTHER ON THE RACE TRACK!!! LET'S SHOW THEM EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE BOTH LAPS DOWN!!!" 174. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Maybe what the #10 team needs is a driver who knows how to hold onto the wheel in the corners, because Danica isn't strong enough to do it over 500 miles. 175. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Danica is suffering from a loose race car yet again. And of course DW blames the car for the problem, not the driver. 176. Kenny posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) I just herd Danaca sounded like she was gonna cry did anyone els hear that? 177. 18fan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It's time for the weekly Danica update, as she get blown by by Stenhouse's damaged car. 178. MarkMartinFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I find it hilarious that Ricky Stenhouse Jr just blew by Danica even after he crashed. 179. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kenny, that's exactly what I was thinking. It could have been a nervous laugh, but it sure sounded like she was in tears over the radio. 180. Kenny posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Lmao 181. 18fan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Carl Edwards looks like he's off the pace. 182. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kvapil's car looks pretty sweet. 183. JG24FanForever posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) No. 184. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) FOX got Kyle Busch's most recent win wrong. They said he won Bristol, not Fontana. ...Can FOX get ANYTHING right? 185. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Both BK cars are sponsored by Dr. Pepper; Reuti's car is red and Kvapil's car is silver. Really nice paint schemes. 186. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Truex looks in mirror... *Jaws theme plays*... shows Truex sweating bullets. 187. The Final Gear posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I really like how they say Keselowski and Danica are doing similar things with the wheel and yet the difference between both of them is noticeable. Keselowski beats her by at least 3 to 6 tenths per lap, that's a huge driver difference. Guess that shows you something, and you could argue that equipment is equal, if anything it favors Danica. 188. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:06 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Reverse comments #183 and #184... 189. JG24FanForever posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I don't care Neither should you I have a pounding headache and a hole in my shoe 190. 18fan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Junior is the fastest car on the track right now. 191. Peter posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hey did anyone catch on the ticker next to #98 it just has 'Driver Out'? thought it was hilarious 192. Benjamin Lowe posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:07 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) In the words of Cenk uygur OF COURSE Danica is the problem and always has been 193. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jaws devours 194. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) McMurray's being held on pit road for pitting with the rear tires outside the pit box. 195. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:07 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) "Both BK cars are sponsored by Dr. Pepper; Reuti's car is red and Kvapil's car is silver. Really nice paint schemes." One of my all time favorite schemes is the old 26 Dr Pepper Busch car that Bobby Hamilton Jr, Ron Hornaday, and Kevin Grubb all drove. The BK ones tonight definitely are cool though. 196. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) murb, don't forget about Lyndon Amick, who drove that car to begin the 2002 season, before being replaced by Hornaday. 197. TS1420 posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeez, Smoke's just trolling around with the likes of Blaney & Gilliland. SHR needs a cancer operation, starting with Miss Princess and ending with Mr. "I've Crew Chiefed For 3 Of The Best Drivers On The Circuit And Did Very Little With Them". 198. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) That's a unique way of pitting by Stewart. 199. Kenny posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Lmao @ David y'all are cracking me up tonight XD 200. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Stewart is gonna be pissed about that pit stop. You're right Paul, I forgot that Amick also drove that car. 201. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Benjamin, are you a fan of The Young Turks? 202. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Lmao @ David y'all are cracking me up tonight XD" You can count on us. Stewart's stop is "under review". 203. Benjamin Lowe posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I have seen a few episodes Paul I love how Cenk gets Pissed off at our so called leaders. 204. JG24FanForever posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What's the point of nailing Stewart when he's already running like a joke? 205. 18fan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) That pit stop kind of sums up how bad Stewart's year has been, and it has little to do with luck and more to do with being slow and some bad driving by Smoke, such as that. 206. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I think all FOX broadcasts should just have multiple small cameras on screen, and then we can choose which small screen to enlarge and cover the full screen, since they usually can't do it themselves. 207. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:13 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Busch looks in mirror... *Jaws theme plays*... shows Busch sweating bullets. 208. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) For a race that's completely being dominated by two people, this is really interesting. Lots of stuff going on. 209. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Brad made an unscheduled pit stop for a loose wheel. 210. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Was it two years ago that Stewart was running like garbage in this race? Or was that Charlotte? 211. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:14 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Ah, yes... it's the 13th. 212. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm hoping this race goes green the rest of the way. 213. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Was it two years ago that Stewart was running like garbage in this race? Or was that Charlotte?" They all look the same, so I don't know. 214. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Normally I'd be worried about watching Shrubby gain time that fast... except it means he destroying his tires. 215. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I like how Kasey Kahne has this reputation of being a great 1.5-mile driver, and yet he's running back in 14th, 20 seconds behind the leader. Could it be that he's dependent on the strength of his equipment? 216. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Marty Reis wouldn't be able to tell, anyway. 217. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) *Reid* 218. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:17 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Plus Nico, he's got the driver who baby's his tires better than anyone running in 2nd. 219. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bob's so talented she's 3 laps down... and an identical car is in second closing on the leader. 220. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Now both Ganassi cars are running 30th and 31st. Shame, McMurray had such a good run going earlier. 221. Kenny posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Shit yeah jr going for 5th 222. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) deBriS 223. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) To hell with your damn debris cautions. 224. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:19 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Caution thrown due to boredom. 225. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I wasn't the least bit bored. But then again, my favorite driver was calmly running in 2nd. Maybe a few Kandy Kahne fans were getting restless. 226. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Why is it if second place is closing quickly on the leader and the leader is media darling (Shrub, Junior, Kahne, etc) the mystery debris always shows up? 227. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jaws will be back... 228. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:22 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Stewart isn't being penalized because NASCAR couldn't possibly penalize him anymore than he has done to himself by hiring a lime green cancer. 229. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Remember guys, this is an SMI track. Palpatine (whoops, I mean Bruton) is probably pulling some strings. 230. Benjamin Lowe posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:23 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) Danica is well a bunch of things that Chris Jericho said to Stephanie McMahon during the Attitude Era. 231. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Gordon was running in 2nd before the caution, and apparently the previous adjustments made the car WORSE. Competition beware. Gordon's running in 2nd and his car isn't running all that great. 232. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) If Bruton Smith is Emperor Palpatine, than who is Darth Vader? 233. Mr X posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Holy crap Jeff Gordon's crew is actually being productive tonight. 234. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Danica is well a bunch of things that Chris Jericho said to Stephanie McMahon during the Attitude Era." BOTTOM FEEDING!!!!! 235. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm thankful you didn't use Jericho's actual words B Lowe... Also, don't forget to get your F1 picks in before 2 AM! 236. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well, I did see the truck, and the official did pick up something. 237. 18fan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Gordon is also getting great pit stops tonight. I think he could be the guy to beat by the end of the race. 238. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "If Bruton Smith is Emperor Palpatine, than who is Darth Vader?" I don't know. I was just referring to Bruton's age. Seriously, I just found out he's 86. Can't he just go away already? 239. The Final Gear posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Danica is well a bunch of things that Chris Jericho said to Stephanie McMahon during the Attitude Era." So does that make Stenhouse Jr. Triple H? 240. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Let's make Stenhouse Dallas Diamond Page and Danica is the whore standing on the outside of the ring cheering him on. 241. Kenny posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I gotta say that fire thing in kennsith pit looked cool once you see it again 242. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Carl is slow. 243. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Edwards is not up to speed on the restart. 244. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Let's make Stenhouse Dallas Diamond Page and Danica is the whore standing on the outside of the ring cheering him on." Kimberly Page was hot. 245. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I just found out he's 86." He's one of those guys who never die, like Palpatine. Carl Edwards got blown by on the restart. 246. AveryNH posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Guess I havent missed too much. Just got done helping some friends move. Hope either Gordon or Truex can give Kyle a run for his money. 247. 18fan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Almirola has been solid all night. 248. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:29 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Fine, then Ricky is Dallas... only with a not so hot woman. 249. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Both RPM cars are running in the top ten. 250. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Here comes Jaws... 251. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "So does that make Stenhouse Jr. Triple H?" lol "A NO GOOD LYING BITCH!!!!!!" 252. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Seriously, does no one else notice the similarities between Jeff Burton's car tonight and Ward Burton's car from 10 years ago, at least from the front end? 253. Kenny posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mid race report next 254. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) David, they even both run at the tail end of the lead lap.. 255. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Apparently Carl's seat belt came unbuckled on the restart, so he had to back up through the field so he could buckle it. Nothing wrong with the car on the restart. 256. 18fan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:32 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I hate the stupid mid-race report. 257. Benjamin Lowe posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I think That Bill Belichick is more comparable to Emperor Palpatine at least in The NFL. 258. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bruton Smith will live to be 130 years old, long enough to claim the title of the world's oldest living human being. 259. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ward's excuse was mediocre equipment, Jeff's excuse is age. 260. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Still have no idea why this Mid Race Report is necessary. 261. JG24FanForever posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:34 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Jeff Gordon is Obi Wan Jimmie Johnson is Darth Vader Rick Hendrick is Emperor Palpatine Brad Keselowski is Luke Skywalker(Gordon predicted he'd win the title last year!) Dale Earnhardt is Han Solo David Pearson is Boba Fett Richard Petty is ? Jimmy Spencer is Jabba the Hut or Pizza the Hut:) 262. AveryNH posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I noticed that too David. With that rear bumper shot it reminded me of ward's pontiac from 2000. Also no darrell it better not be the 18 263. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DW anticipates Kyle Busch putting together an absolutely perfect race. He'd be happy if Kyle won every race and Danica finished second. 264. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Ward's excuse was mediocre equipment" And what turned out to be a scumbag owner. 265. JG24FanForever posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Jimmy Spencer is Jabba the Hut or Pizza the Hut:)" Anybody familiar with Space Balls? 266. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:35 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) And Darrell Waltrip is Jar Jar Binks. 267. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) You HAVE GOT to be KIDDING me. No one at Fox is even considering Jeff Gordon to win? Wow. "The last time Kyle led the halfway lap, Kurt won" These are called factoids. Completely useless for predicting the winner of the race. 268. Benjamin Lowe posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Lets hope that Kyle Busch turns into Tony Romo in the last 100 miles. 269. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) *Jaws theme accelerates* 270. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Oh yeah!!! I remember when we did the Star Wars comparisons for the title battle last year. Brad = Luke Skywalker Wolfe = Han Solo Penske = Yoda Hornish = Chewbacca Gordon = Obi Wan Jimmie = Vader Hendrick = Palpatine Knaus = Grand Moff Tarkin 271. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Richard Petty is...Yoda? 272. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Doesn't look like Kurt Busch is going to win. 273. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kurt Busch blows up. That's a shame. Could have contended for the win. 274. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kurt Busch's engine fails. And here comes Jeff Gordon! 275. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kurt Busch is done. Meanwhile... Da-dum, da-dum, da-dum, da-dum, da-dum... 276. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hey, look, Johnson gained a spot on that last lap, as did Almirola, and Ambrose, and... oh, wait, where's Kurt? Thank you murb. 277. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Gordon vs. Kyle: Round 3. (Phoenix '11, Richmond '12) 278. 18fan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kurt's been fast a lot this year, but hasn't had a lot to show for it. 279. Kenny posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) That sucks for Kurt :( 280. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Da-dum, da-dum, dumdumdumdumdumdumdumdumdumdum coming out of the water! 281. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I still think Kurt is a dark horse for the Chase this year, especially if he gets a win, probably at a restrictor plate track or a road course. McDowell's slow. 282. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Gordon going for the lead. McDowell in the 47 is slow on the backstretch. 283. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) McDowell blows up. Don't tell me Jeff blows up next... 284. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Aaaaaaaaand... He's got it!! 285. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) No Larry Mac. Jeff Gordon's nickname is not "Big Daddy." 286. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hey, I thought cjs said that Jeff wasn't going to be a contender for the win at all and that he would get a midpack finish? 287. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Go Wonder Boy! 288. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Spoke too soon. 289. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dale Jr. thinks his battery is dead. What a shame. 290. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) There's no way Jr didn't speed coming into the pits right there. 291. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Junior now has mechanical gremlins. 292. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) *chant* REFUSE TO LOSE! REFUSE TO LOSE! 293. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truex is closing in on the top 2. 294. Kenny posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) SHIT!!!!!!!!!! 295. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Gentlemen, we present tonight a "Jeff Gordon Never Say Die" moment. 296. 18fan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeff better enjoy his lead, because that 56 car is flying right now. 297. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Junior was too fast entering. In his defense, because he had no battery power, his tachometer wasn't working, so he couldn't have known how fast he was going. 298. Bronco posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Really bad luck for Dale Jr, for the second straight week. 299. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Attack of the Dale-o-meter. 300. 12345Dude posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Obviously it's going to be Kyle vs. Jeff. But I've been looking at the lap times Jimmie is flat flyin'... don't count him out. Paul, I'm a big Young Turks fan. 301. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ever since the sun went down, the leaders haven't been able to get far away from the rest of the field. 302. cjs3872 posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Schroder51, it seems that Gordon and ahne switched cars, because it's Khne that seems to be struggling whle Gordon is up front. Usually on these types of tracks, it's the other way around. Also, it looks like the Wood Brothers are having their best run so far this season with TRevor Bayne, as he's hovering in the top 15 while trying to keep his nose clean. 303. joey2448 posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I thought Gordo was going to get a mid-pack finish too, but I am (glad to be) proven wrong! 304. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The distance from Jeff to the field grows... 305. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Gordon loses the lead because he pitted a lap after Kyle and two laps after Truex. 306. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) He'll get it back. Jeff "Never says die!" 307. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Awesome, they put an in-car camera in Reuti's car. 308. Mr X posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) There's a fuel rail leading tithe carburetor. Haha, classic. 309. Mr X posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) To the carburetor 310. 18fan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jimmie and Kenseth will be factors before this race is over. 311. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Travis Kvapil is running in 19th place. Great run for that team. 312. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 93 reporting debris... oh looks who's the first car one lap down... 313. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kyle Busch just hit the wall. No caution. 314. JG24FanForever posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jimmie is .3 tenths faster a lap than the Top 3. 315. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) He barely touched it. That was pretty lucky. 316. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And just as JG24 types that, Johnson just lost .400 seconds to the leader that last lap. 317. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 9:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) He got lucky, but he lost a ton of time to the leader. 318. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "He got lucky, but he lost a ton of time to the leader." It's alright, he'll get it back during the next Bruton caution. DW just almost said "Scared the shit out of him" before he caught it, lol 319. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Speak of the devil, a caution. 320. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Just as Jeff catches Truex, the caution comes out. Go figure. 321. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Reutimann in the wall. Tough break. Both BK cars have been running well tonight. 322. JG24FanForever posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Horse-shit cautions really piss me off. 323. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Caution out for Travis Kvapil just barely touching the wall... 324. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And now Kyle Busch gets a great opportunity to fix his car's damage. 325. JRacingFast posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 321. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:02 pm Rate this comment: (0 "Reutimann in the wall. Tough break. Both BK cars have been running well tonight." He barely hit the wall.....ive hit snowbanks harder then that and kept on running...... 326. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) NAPA must really want to win this race. 327. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeff's car seems like it can't get any better, but he says it's too tight. Wow. 328. Bronco posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hopefully Truex makes up for losing Kansas and Atlanta last year by winning today. 329. JG24FanForever posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "And now Kyle Busch gets a great opportunity to fix his car's damage." F1 should have debri cautions so the all the teams can have a shot and instantly becoming the fastest car on the track because of a fake interruption. 330. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I don't think Gordon's car is ever good enough for him until he gets the lead. 331. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Haha, oh Montoya. "F1 should have debris cautions so the all the teams can have a shot and instantly becoming the fastest car on the track because of a fake interruption." Nah, they actually have credibility. Plus, I think the marshals enjoy it when the drivers have problems just so they can watch them squirm. 332. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:11 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Hey guys, Danica's really moving up! She's up to 29th! 333. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm officially rooting for Almirola in this race. After that, I'm going for Kenseth, Gordon, Truex, and Busch, in that order. 334. 18fan posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeff wants this race to go green to the end. If that happens, he will most likely win. 335. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Did FOX really just say Jimmie Johnson is having a bad race? He's running 6th! 336. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Great runs for Almirola, Ambrose, and Bayne. All three RCR cars are in the top 13. 337. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Any race that Jimmie Johnson doesn't lead at least 100 laps is a bad race for him to the media's standards. 338. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike Bliss finally parked it. 41 cars are still running. 339. Smiff_2 posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Man, I'd *really* love to see Truex finally break the drought. But can he? We shall see.... 340. 18fan posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:15 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Truex has everybody covered on new tires. 341. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) He "burps" it? Waltrip, get outta here. 342. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) If it goes green and Truex gets passed by Busch and/or Gordon, he really needs to not mentally check out like he usually does in those types of situations. If he can stay together upstairs, he can win this race. 343. OldSchoolNascarDude1 posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I get the feeling that one of the key contenders will have an engine issue before it's all said and done. 344. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I thought I saw a bottle on the track just before they went to commercial. Oddly enough, it looked like it was standing up. 345. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Get over yourself, Truex. 346. Kenny posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hey guys tries laped Danica talk about it amouseing me XD 347. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Why are they updating Montoya in 24th place? Who cares? 348. JG24FanForever posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Any race that Jimmie Johnson doesn't lead at least 100 laps is a bad race for him to the media's standards." Any race he doesn't win is a bad race for Lord Vader. 349. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ambrose and Burton spin out. 350. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wow. That just got interesting. 351. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ambrose and Burton crash. BAD BREAK for Truex. 352. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Caution. This changes everything. 353. 18fan posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Horrible break for Jeff Gordon, the story of the last year and a quarter for Jeff. 354. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truex is one of those guys that catches bad breaks only when he's leading. 355. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I think we're gonna have an oddball winner. Like Vickers or Newman or someone like that. 356. Smiff_2 posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) WOW, what a break for Truex! Did you see that tire!? 357. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Nevermind. Neither Truex or Gordon are in trouble. 358. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Spotter didn't tell Burton to slow down Ambrose's spin, and he wound up running into the back of Mark as he slowed down. Terrible break for Burton. 359. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Terrible break for Burton." What's new? 360. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Actually 18fan, I think that was a great break for Gordon. He's still being scored in 3rd place. 361. 18fan posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I didn't realize so many cars had to come in behind Gordon, so it was neutral to good for Gordon. 362. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I keep forgetting that Vickers is in that #11 car. Great run for him tonight. 363. joey2448 posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) But since Truex and Ky Busch both pitted as the caution came out and Gordon was still on track, that means they can take the lead when Gordon pits and be back in front, right? Damn it all! And I thought this was gonna give Gordon the lead with fresh tires! 364. 12345Dude posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This re-start is going to be great. Can Gordon win at the track that he used to despise? Will Truex finally break his winless streak? Or will he choke? With Kyle lose another race in which he lead the most laps?(if that happens he would of won 7 of the last 32 races he led the most laps) 365. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) FOX FAIL. Gordon didn't take over the lead after Kyle hit the wall, he only took over 2nd place. 366. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) If any of you guys have scanners or have a way to listen to the in-car audio, be sure to tune in at Kansas. It was a total bitchfest last year, and it could be just as much with these new cars next week. 367. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Ah HA! Mike Joy just called this race the NRA 500. 368. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) How did Carl get back to 6th? Great rebound for the #99 team. 369. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) How did Carl get back to 6th? Great rebound for the #99 team. 370. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Great run for Ryan Newman as well. His teammates on the other hand... 371. Mr X posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) When will NASCAR in fox end. 372. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Let's show the 29th place car right before an epic late race restart. 373. Kenny posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Why do you guys hate NASCAR on fox? If I had my way it would come hear all session 374. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Nemechek is slow. Damn, I was pulling for him to finish this race. 375. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Aw, man! Nemechek's done. 376. JG24FanForever posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:55 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "Why do you guys hate NASCAR on fox?" Danica Waltrip 377. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jaws is closing in on Shrub. 378. Mr X posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 209 races to go 379. JRacingFast posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Did Larry Mac just say that the number 11 team could still make the chase based on owner points???? Coulda sworn its just driver points that matter there. 380. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Flat tire for Gordon. F*** this. 381. 18fan posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Gordon off the pace. Wow. 382. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! 383. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeff Gordon has a flat tire. DAMMIT. 384. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:59 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Gordon flat tire. I hate that for all of you diehard 24 fans. 385. Kenny posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) I've aways liked DW(not the DW your talking about) 386. JG24FanForever posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) Have a good week guys,i'm outa here. 387. 18fan posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeff Gordon 2012-2013 luck right there. 388. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 10:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Is it a flat tire or an engine failure? 389. TS1420 posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:00 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Flat tire for 3rd place Jeff Gordon.... LET'S GO TO COMMERCIAL! 390. New14 & 88Fan posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DAMN IT ALL!!!! 391. joey2448 posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DAMN IT ALL!!!!!!!!! 392. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And of course it happened just after the pit road entrance. 393. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Gordon is done for the night, destined to finish 39th. I predict he misses the Chase this year. 394. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Oh man, that's a terminal problem. He's in the garage. 395. Paul posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Gordon just pulled into the garage. 396. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And he's in the garage as well. 397. Benjamin Lowe posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) If it wasn't for Bad Luck Gordon would have no luck at all. 398. Kenny posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Right front hub burned up 399. Alex posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (3) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! 400. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) deBriS 401. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well, Jeff's out and so is the caution. I guess I'll pull for Truex. 402. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Caution comes out to help Kyle Busch win this race. 403. 12345Dude posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) There better of been debry.... "Why do you guys hate NASCAR on fox? If I had my way it would come hear all session" Are you high? 404. Anonymous posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) f**king debris caution talk about no damn luck for gordon what about Truex 405. beau posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) what the hell's the caution for? they don't want truex to win? 406. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I really don't see Truex winning this race. I think this caution is gonna cost him. He's one of the worst at overcoming adversity. 407. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kyle is going to FLY on this restart. 408. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And DW will be so happy if Kyle wins. 409. Blue posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) "Caution comes out to help Kyle Busch win this race." Let's hope so. 410. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Two races, two final debris cautions help the same driver 411. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) At least Truex is still on the racetrack. Jeff isn't so lucky. 412. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mark hits the wall and keeps going, but the caution still comes out. Same thing as the Kvapil deal earlier. They just want to shake up the ending, like always. 413. Kenny posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 12345Dude It's better then ESPN(and I know how much you guys HATE ESPN thou ill say TNT is ok(I like KP) 414. Blue posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Why isn't Michael Waltrip sticking up for his driver? 415. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ESPN is remotely tolerable after they got Bestwick. 416. Mr X posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The only way that Martin Truex Jr can win a race is if nobody else gets a shot at him in the very late going. I highly doubt he'll win tonight. 417. joey2448 posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yeah I'm pulling for Truex to break his streak now that Gordon's out. Both Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson gained positions on that stop....Again, damn it all. 418. Blue posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bestwick is my favorite commentator. 419. Rusty posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truex got a raw deal there with another BS debris caution by NASCAR. But he did blow that restart. 420. Alex posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kansas 2012 all over again.. 421. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Brad's probably gonna get a top ten out of this race. Chicken Shit = Chicken Salad 422. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truex is actually catching him. 423. Blue posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Chicken Shit = Chicken Salad" Disgusting = Delicious 424. Anthony posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeff had a top5 car all night no fair. Wait till Kansas Jeff will be right back. 425. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Forget Kansas, it's more like Atlanta last year. 426. Bronco posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Kansas 2012 all over again.." More like Atlanta 2012, I think. 427. Benjamin Lowe posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:16 pm Rate this comment: (2) (1) Martin Truex is the Definition of a guy who Refuses to win 428. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:17 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Ridiculous. 429. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:17 pm Rate this comment: (1) (2) I get this feeling Kyle Busch might win 10 races this year...all before the Chase. 430. 12345Dude posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I didn't mean to attack your opinion but DW makes me want to rip my hair out. I don't dislike ESPN like others here do. You have to realize most of the people watching Nationwide on ESPN are casual fans. They want to hear about the cup guys not the people they don't know. Obviously they could do it less, but I can understand it. 431. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:18 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) "Martin Truex is the Definition of a guy who Refuses to win" Instead of "Refuse To Lose", it's "Time To Lose". 432. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:18 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) I should have gone to sleep. 433. Kyle Busch's winning bow posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) Yes!! 434. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:19 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Ha! Those fireworks were right on top of Kyle's burnout. 435. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:20 pm Rate this comment: (2) (1) I honestly predict that Truex will never win another race. 436. Kenny posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:20 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) 12345Dude I thought what you said was kinda funny 437. Benjamin Lowe posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:20 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Kyle Busch reminds me of the Prequel Version of Anakin Skywalker a totally unlikeable Jackass. 438. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) How much money do people want to bet that TMS demolishes the backstretch grandstands before the fall race? That was probably the least full grandstand I've seen at a race in a long time. 439. Jacques Debris posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:21 pm Rate this comment: (2) (1) Jimmie Johnson is my favourite driver, but I'm glad I could help the next best thing tonight. 440. 12345Dude posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:21 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "12345Dude I thought what you said was kinda funny" Haha OK good. I thought I was a little harsh I don't know I'm a really sensitive person so that's probably why. 441. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:22 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Holy crap, a piece of nonexistent debris has found this website. 442. RCRandPenskeGuy posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:22 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Kyle Busch gets his 2nd win in the last 3 races. He's had Interstate Batteries on board for both of them. Forget about all his Nationwide success, he's up for a good year if he keeps up this pace in Cup... but then comes the Chase and his career performances there... so yeah. Martin Truex once again fails to win a race that he should have won. There should be no excuse for him to not have won by now with MWR, considering how killer their equipment has been within the past year. Turning chicken shit into chicken salad? Yeah, I think that sums up tonight for Brad K. 443. AveryNH posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Poor Truex. I feel like hes gonna cry. I'm off to watch snl and later the f1. I'm beginning to find kyles voice annoying 444. joey2448 posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Now this next week all we'll hear about is "Why do NASCAR fans hate Kyle Busch?" like they did this last week with Jimmie... HOW did Edwards finish third??? If anything, this race is most like Atlanta last year, not Kansas. If Brian Vickers had the results he gets in a partial schedule for a full season, he could win the championship. 445. 12345Dude posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Martin said it perfectly the clean air is everything. This is why the Gen 6 car is a piece of crap and this is why these tracks like Texas are a piece of crap. I don't want to sound so negative but I'm sick of every race everyone saying clean air is everything. It's so hard to pass. We would hear it a lot more if NASCAR would fine them. 446. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:25 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Truex says the race was over when the 18 beat him out of the pits. Uh, Martin? You do know there was another restart after that, right? I like Martin personally, but he has to be one of the two or three worst at closing out races. He should have at least three wins in the past two years (Kansas and Atlanta last year, and tonight), but he has none. 447. Kyle Busch's winning bow posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (13) 111 wins baby!! 448. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Is NASCAR going to fine Truex $25,000? 449. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And you guys know it. I hate Joey Logano. But HELL of a run by him tonight. I give him and his team props. They were still at the gas pumps when they gave the command. Also, don't get too depressed guys. ROCKINGHAM TOMORROW!!!! 450. Kenny posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) Hey has anyone seen DSFF I don't thank he's been hear at all tonight 451. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:29 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) "Hey has anyone seen DSFF I don't thank he's been hear at all tonight" Pretty sure he's working. 452. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I doubt DSFF is even awake right now. 453. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:30 pm Rate this comment: (4) (1) "111 wins baby!!" No. He's got 26. This "111 Combined Wins In All Three Series" garbage is... well... garbage. 454. Kyle Busch's winning bow posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yes!! 455. Anonymous posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kyle Busch's first 500 mile race win since 2008. 456. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:32 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Oh yeah, DSFF has night shift. P.S. Somebody (likely the Kyle Busch 111 wins idiot) is thumbs downing random comments again. Look at Post 450, why the heck is there any reason to thumbs down that comment? Asshat. 457. Kenny posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:32 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Ah that would explain it :) @ David I like you your funny @ the final gear do you have a FB I'd like to talk to you 458. 18fan posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:34 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Great recoveries by a lot of guys in this race. But it is always good to watch Kyle win. 459. Kenny posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:34 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Wtf did I do?(seeing how I'm 450)I'm also a KB fan 460. Anthony posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (4) Jimmie Johnson 400th start win Kyle Busch 300th start win this is absolutely THE WORST RACE EVER THAT I HAVE EVER SEENVIN MY 13 YEARS OF BEING A NASCAR FAN!!!!!!!!!! I never ever want to see that again EVER! I'm defnetly pissed right now because Jeff Gordon had the best car just doesn't win a race just right there it's tough to see Jeff not 3rd this will ABSOLUTELY PUT JEFF NOT COMPETE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!!!!!! BECAUSE SINCE 2010 HE'S BEEN AN ABSOLUTE MINOR!!!!!!!!!!! DAMMIT DAMMIT ALL!!!!!!! WHY CAN'T WE BE THE GREATEST WE WON 13 RACES IN ONE YEAR IN 1998 NOBODY WOULDN'T STOP US RIGHT THERE WE WON FOUR RACES IN A ROW IN A ROW!!!!!!!!!!! JEFF GORDON IS OLD HE SHOULD ABSOLUTELY RETIRE AFTER THIS SEASON DEFINETLY BY FAR WHAT ANYBODY SAYS ON THIS PLANET!!!!!!!!!!!!! JEFF GORDON WILL MAKE HIS 700th START @ DARLINGTON HE HAS TO WIN HE HAS TO WIN HE HAS TO WIN THATS ALL I SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 461. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) I'm just saying somebody keeps thumbing down random comments like your post in 450. Not you. 462. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "@ David I like you your funny" Aww, shucks. 463. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:38 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) "Jimmie Johnson 400th start win Kyle Busch 300th start win this is absolutely THE WORST RACE EVER THAT I HAVE EVER SEENVIN MY 13 YEARS OF BEING A NASCAR FAN!!!!!!!!!! I never ever want to see that again EVER! I'm defnetly pissed right now because Jeff Gordon had the best car just doesn't win a race just right there it's tough to see Jeff not 3rd this will ABSOLUTELY PUT JEFF NOT COMPETE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!!!!!! BECAUSE SINCE 2010 HE'S BEEN AN ABSOLUTE MINOR!!!!!!!!!!! DAMMIT DAMMIT ALL!!!!!!! WHY CAN'T WE BE THE GREATEST WE WON 13 RACES IN ONE YEAR IN 1998 NOBODY WOULDN'T STOP US RIGHT THERE WE WON FOUR RACES IN A ROW IN A ROW!!!!!!!!!!! JEFF GORDON IS OLD HE SHOULD ABSOLUTELY RETIRE AFTER THIS SEASON DEFINETLY BY FAR WHAT ANYBODY SAYS ON THIS PLANET!!!!!!!!!!!!! JEFF GORDON WILL MAKE HIS 700th START @ DARLINGTON HE HAS TO WIN HE HAS TO WIN HE HAS TO WIN THATS ALL I SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! " Oh my. 464. Cooper posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:38 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Impressive Performance by Kyle Busch! Think he is finally putting it together. Definitely a championship threat! Joseph Logano is finally developing into the driver he is capable of. Penalties will be coming for both him and his teammate, Brad Keselowski. By the way Brad, has made some really interesting comments regarding NASCAR. He says that NASCAR is targeting him and his team behind the scenes. Very good race in my opinion. Clean air is still an issue and always will be because of the competitiveness of the car but I'm very happy with the Gen 6. 465. Watto posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:39 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Murb, the race WAS over once he was beat out of the pits. Kyle had a comparable car, and with that few laps to go, being the leader on that restart was everything. If Truex restarted as the leader, the race was his to win. if Kyle Busch restarted as the leader, the race was his to win, despite Kyle pulling away the previous two runs. Kyle Busch's pit crew has been the best in NASCAR for years, and Truex can thank NASCAR for getting screwed out of this one by their ridiculous caution call with 20 to go. That was at least the second ridiculous caution call that was made that race... the Kvapil incident where he barely touched the wall didn't warrant a caution at all. I really hope Truex's bad luck streak ends soon, because this is truly insane. 466. Jarrett88fan posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) So many cars were on edge during the race. Johnson early on and Mark Martin nearly pancaked the wall with 20 something laps to go. The cars are way too fast and after 6-8 laps after a restart they fan out. For example, Mark Martin restarted 8th with 45 laps or so to go and fell out of the top 10 twenty laps latter while fighting that super loose car. If the 18 and 56 were on another planet, it seemed all the cars 3rd-16th were pretty much equal and the only way a car fell back is if it fought the effects of major understeer or oversteer. What happens between now and the beginning of the Chase for the #18 team, assuming with this win and one more, matters very little. From Chicago through Homestead is where it counts, Brad knows this, Jimmie knows this, the question is, does Kyle Busch know this when the pressure is on? 467. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Anthony, I'm not one to use fad expressions, but you mad bro? 468. Alex posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Awh boo hoo, you're favourite driver had a bad race. You should definitely rage in all caps, it'll change the outcome. 469. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Anthony has mental issues. Kyle Busch's winning bow is either A. A troll or B. Someone from ESPN. 470. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Remember folks, this is the same person who prayed for Jimmie Johnson to have a fatal crash in this particular race when he was dominating Martinsville. 471. 12345Dude posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) " By the way Brad, has made some really interesting comments regarding NASCAR. He says that NASCAR is targeting him and his team behind the scenes." That's really stupid. Why would NASCAR do that? What exactly is he saying I'm curious. 472. Benjamin Lowe posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:42 pm Rate this comment: (3) (1) Anthony do us all a favor and GO AWAY 473. Anonymous0 posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I would go with option C which is both. 474. Kenny posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:42 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) @ 460 I felt like that at tony Stewart(man I was pissed after that race)I never in my life felt such anger I know how you feel 475. Watto posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) " if Kyle Busch restarted as the leader, the race was his to win, despite Kyle pulling away the previous two runs." that's my quote - to correct myself, I meant to say "despite Truex pulling away the previous two runs." 476. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Murb, the race WAS over once he was beat out of the pits." Well, the 18 beating him out of the pits certainly didn't help matters. But he still lined up right next to Kyle on that last restart. He could have gotten a good jump and hung with Kyle, but he totally blew it and almost lost 2nd to Carl. So as much as that last caution and the 18 beating him on pit road bit him, his bad restart officially ended it for him. 477. Jarrett88fan posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:46 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Also, don't get too depressed guys. ROCKINGHAM TOMORROW!!!! - This all the way. It is ironic how Chase Elliott was the fastest truck in Happy Hour at the track his dad won his (likely) final Cup race in 2003. 478. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:48 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "Remember folks, this is the same person who prayed for Jimmie Johnson to have a fatal crash in this particular race when he was dominating Martinsville." These are the moments where I wish we had to take a mandatory test to be able to use this site. 479. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Truck Series once again looks to be the series to watch this year. I'm just hoping that Darrell Wallace and Joey Coulter don't get kicked out of KBM because the sponsors once again insist on having Kyle racing the truck... 480. Benjamin Lowe posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:49 pm Rate this comment: (2) (1) If I were the webmaster Anthony would be banned from this comment board for life. 481. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (3) With this win, Kyle Busch ties Fred Lorenzen in career wins. Kyle isn't fit to be on the same track as Lorenzen. 482. murb posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) By the way, on 478 I was referring to that idiotic all caps rant, not you Schroeder. 483. 18fan posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:55 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Lorenzen is one of the bigger "what ifs" in NASCAR. He could've put up so much better numbers had he not retired in 1967 at age 32, right in his prime. He was still competitive when he came back in 1971, but wasn't the same. He would either be already in the Hall of Fame or one of the next inducted if he hadn't retired. 484. Cooper posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) After Saturday night's race, Brad Keselowski addressed the possible NASCAR penalties that will hit his team and Penske teammate Joey Logano this week: Brad Keselowski after tonight's race: 'I have one good thing to thing to say and that was my team and the effort they put in today in fighting back with the absolute (expletive) that's been the last seven days in this garage area,' Keselowski said. 'The things I've seen over the last seven days have me questioning everything I believe in. I'm not happy about it. I don't have anything positive to say and I probably should just leave it at that. "There's so much stuff going on you guys have no idea, you have no (expletive) idea what's going on. That's not your fault. I can tell you there's no team in this garage with the integrity of the No. 2 team. And the way we've been treated over the last seven days is absolutely shameful. I feel like we've been targeted over the last seven days more than I've seen a team targeted in my life.' 485. David posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) On the bright side, I picked Kyle to win in 24over48's game, but so did five other people. 486. Schroeder51 posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:56 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) If I were the Webmaster, not only would Anthony be banned, but this thumbs up and thumbs down system would not exist here. It's just begging to be abused. Take it from someone who has personal experience being hardcore trolled on Youtube by someone who made TWENTY-THREE different Youtube accounts to dislike each and every one of my videos on an old account I had twenty-three times apiece. 487. TS1420 posted: 04.13.2013 - 11:56 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Congrats to Kyle on the sweep, his 2nd of the season, and more importantly, his pit crew for that insanely fast final pitstop. I think Kyle would have beat Truex off pitroad even without that #1 pitstall with that fast of a stop. Suck's for Truex. Seems like he'll never win another race. Poor Gordon. If Jimmie has a golden horseshoe, Jeffy must have a black cat that broke a mirror and was born on Friday the 13th. What a run for Cousin Carl. He had all sorts of bad crap happening to him and he brought home a 3rd place finish when it was all said and done. Something need's to change ASAP at SHR. Danica needs to go away and Addington needs to join her. I give the race a 7/10. 488. murb posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:00 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Brad's conspiracy rant is pretty interesting. Not too sure what exactly he's talking about because other than the inspection deal before this race, I hadn't heard anything about stuff going on in the garage with them. 489. Jarrett88fan posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:00 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The KBM sponsors don't know their heads from... if they believe having Kyle drive 15-20 truck races a year on top of a full Cup schedule and 25 Nationwide Series races makes any sense at all after a few years of running this charade. Hopefully, as Mike Joy alluded to, the best thing that happened to Busch was missing the Chase, AGREEING TO LOSE at Richmond last September because the #18 team has been on fire since the Chase began last year. With as much natural racing talent as Busch has, it is a damn shame he doesn't have at least one Cup championship for his team. Bad Attitude, over-extending himself, mental maturity, killer instinct, etc. are valid reasons why Kyle Busch doesn't have a Cup. However, 2013 might be the year of redemption. 490. Jarrett88fan posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:07 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Schroeder 51, Sounds like you had attracted an online succubus. Those are the reasons people despise social media for the agitating trolls out there they obvious made your life terrible. Stuff like that is utterly ridiculous. 491. Johnny Footlong posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:08 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Phantom caution hands Cryle the win, reminds me of when they used to do that for Jeff Gordon back in 2007. Buck Frian France and his money-grubbig minions @Schroder51: if those were music videos by great bands such as Led Zeppelin or Queen, or even a somewhat OK band like Poison or the Foo Fighters, it could have been Justin Bieber disliking them out of jealousy 492. DaleSrFanForever posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:10 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Got to listen to about halfnof it on PRN on the Sirius app on my phone. I truly hate it for yyou Gordon fans. Remember how we were talking about how Jeff has never been snakebit? Not anymore. These last few years he has been paying the penalty for all the things that went right all those early years. 493. Cooper posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:12 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Brad is not very happy right now! He knows something that obviously a lot of others do not know. With the penalty last week and the constant supervision by NASCAR officials in his garage area, NASCAR is targeting Brad and the #2 team. Brad is a fighter and I'm behind him 100%. Time to go to war. Brad needs to go out next week, balls to the wall. I'm expecting a 25 point penalty and 100,000 fine. Let's take this to a whole notha' level. I'd like to give a shout out to old Jamie McMurray. He was faster than a 16th place car. He was Top 10 all night and was much faster than the cars around him all night. He is still a driver that can get it done. 494. Anonymous posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:13 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) By far the best race so far this year by BK Racing 495. murb posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:14 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I'd like to give a shout out to old Jamie McMurray. He was faster than a 16th place car. He was Top 10 all night and was much faster than the cars around him all night. He is still a driver that can get it done." I said it last week, but if he can win a race (especially with guys like Gordon and Stewart seemingly struggling), he can get a Wild Card and make the Chase. 496. 13 posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jamie Mcmurray had a 5-8th place car but did he speed on pit road or what that got him a lap down. He and Brad had fast cars but took forever to catch the good breaks they needed. 497. NadeauFan91 posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:21 am Rate this comment: (2) (2) @460 CAPS LOCK IS FUN! MAYBE I'LL DO THIS NEXT TIME JUNIORS BATTERY DECIDES TO FAIL ON HIM! IT WILL MAKE ME LOOK CREDIBLE IF I USE CAPS!!!!!1111 498. cjs3872 posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:22 am Rate this comment: (3) (0) For those that say the caution at the end cost Martin Truex, Jr. the win, who's to say that Kyle Busch wouldn't have caught and passed him anyway? Busch was one second back and closing with 20 laps remaining, and you know that, as ended up happening, Martin Truex, Jr. would find some way to lose it. Now you know why Michael Waltrip is grooming Alex Bowman to be in that car within three years. And by the way, that wasn't the only questionable caution in this race that interrupted a great battle for he lead. Another came out earlier just as Truex was about to be passed by Jeff Gordon And also, I wonder if Jeff Gordon's broken left front hub is something we're going to see more of as a result of the speeds and the greater physical forces exerted on these cars as a result. This may have been the first of a number of such failures that we see in the coming weks, especially with Kansas, Darlington, and Charlotte coming up in the next seven weeks. And I don't truly think NASCAR would have done what they did to the Penske teams unless someone else tipped them off (Chad Knaus, perhaps?) because that seemed like a rash thing to do that close to the start of the race. How Joey Logano ended up in the top five and Brad Keselowski finished in the top ten after going two laps down is beyond me. 499. 18fan posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:24 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jaime was penalized for not having his back tires in his pit box on a pit stop. It was a shame for him. The 1 car has been fast at most races this year. 500. 83andJoe posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:29 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The #22 went to the back of the field because they were late to the grid (because /of/ inspection). 501. 12345Dude posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:32 am Rate this comment: (0) (2) I think the people who run NASCAR right now are the worst owners of any series in the history of sports. I'll make the post tomorrow why I think this if the Brad conspiracy thing goes into more discussion. But what is Brad talking about? Why the hell would NASCAR want to screw Penske racing over? If anything they would be helping Dale and hurting Jimmie. Brad is the exact thing this sport needs. NASCAR is going to fine Brad 10 billion dollars because of this though. They will secretly fine him (even though they have said they don't do that anymore) so no more word about "NASCAR rigging the sport" happens. If I was NASCAR I wouldn't penalize Joey or Brad anything. Because all Brad will do is talk more about about NASCAR is rigging the sport. That is the last thing they need. I think this could be good discussion. Do you guys think NASCAR is rigged? 502. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:33 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) If I'm JGR I get Interstate to sponsor more races. Norm Miller's company and his Green cars seem like a good luck charm for the 18 team. 503. Anonymous posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:38 am Rate this comment: (5) (0) "These guys are all f*gs" - NicoRosbergFan Spoken like a true Christian. Seriously Nico, you are the biggest hypocrite on this forum. You constantly criticize today's drivers for whining and being immature, yet ALL YOU DO is whine and make idiotic comments. I can't believe you're old enough to be in college, because you have the maturity level of a 10 year old. Please do everyone a favor and just shut the hell up. 504. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:40 am Rate this comment: (4) (1) I just find it hypocritical than a fan of Nico Rosberg is calling others gay... 505. David posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Anonymous, he especially despises people who criticize without a username. 506. 12345Dude posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:42 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) Don't even pay attention to a monster like that Anonymous. It's not worth your time. 507. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:44 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Was it just me or was there a lack of aerial shots in the race coverage tonight? If so then why? 508. 83andJoe posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:47 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #19 sponsor: Humphrey Smith Racing (plain white car with one Plinker Tactical logo on the TV panel). 509. JG24FanForever posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:47 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I left earlier forgetting that I have an F1 race to watch and "commentate" on. Jeff Gordon was the 6th highest in driver rating despite a placing of 38th! I hope Alonso doesn't f**k up like he did in Malaysia. 510. Benjamin Lowe posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:49 am Rate this comment: (4) (0) BTW If I were in Charge of this site I would Ban NicoRosbergFan from the comment page as well. 511. murb posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truex's car was too low in post race tech inspection. 512. Cooper posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:52 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Brad's number 2 car was selected as the "Random" post race inspection car. Yeah. Okay. 513. 12345Dude posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:53 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) It looks like Martin Truex Jr's car was too low and fill face penalties. Also Washington politicians wouldn't allow the race winner to shoot off guns like they do at the end of every race! The NRA controls all the politicians which means there won't be any new gun laws, but the NASCAR race winner can't shoot the guns off into the guy in celebration. HAHAHA!!! 514. 12345Dude posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Murb you beat me to it! 515. 12345Dude posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:56 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "guy in celebration. HAHAHA!!!" Meant to say into the sky in celebration. There not actually allowed to shoot people once they win the race. Just wanted to clear that up. 516. JG24FanForever posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:59 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Silver Lining: Jeff Gordon cracked 21 consecutive seasons with a 100+ laps led. 517. Cooper posted: 04.14.2013 - 1:01 am Rate this comment: (5) (0) The #18,#56, and the #2 cars are being taken to the NASCAR R&D centre. Wow! Damn, NASCAR is on a witch hunt right now. I'm expecting John Darby to show up in my driveway with a tow truck tomorrow. Geesh. 518. Anonymous posted: 04.14.2013 - 1:07 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) "Anonymous, he especially despises people who criticize without a username." I started following RR forums in 2011, but rarely post. Honestly, people like NicoRosbergFan have discouraged me from posting and getting involved in the discussions, because I know he'll just attack anyone who disagrees with him via a slew of angry, irrational comments. He's been doing that for several years now, and someone needs to call him out on it. I'm all for free speech at RR, but when certain posters are creating a hostile environment that discourages others from participating, that is a problem. I think 90% of the posters here are intelligent and reasonable, so it's a shame that we have to deal with a few boisterous bad apples that try to ruin it for everyone else. 519. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 04.14.2013 - 1:13 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Just checked, Interstate won't be on the 18 until the July Daytona race. 520. Jarrett88fan posted: 04.14.2013 - 1:22 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Funny how the post race inspectors confiscate the top cars from each manufacture, but somehow the #2 gets sent to the R&D center. 521. Paul posted: 04.14.2013 - 1:25 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) I turned my TV and radio off as soon as I saw Gordon pull into the garage. I didn't care to see or hear how the race ended right then and there, but I managed to blow off some steam by gaming it up a bit on NR2003. On a good note though, I have gotten the hang of driving those old 1950s convertible cars on the Daytona Beach course, especially by improving my shifting points entering the corners, and managed to lap the entire field in a 30 lap race, so that definitely put me in a good mood. :) I'm not surprised that Kyle Busch took the win away from Martin Truex, Jr., or what may be more appropriate, Truex losing a race that he definitely should have won. This is the 4th time in the last year that a Truex brother had the car to beat at the end of the race, and wound up losing in the end to a JGR driver; Truex, Jr. lost at Kansas and Atlanta last season to Denny Hamlin, and his younger brother Ryan lost a Nationwide race at Dover to Joey Logano. I guess a caution came out late in the race that allowed Kyle to get the lead, but this only adds to Truex's reputation of being unable to win a race. He has more Nationwide championships (2) than he has wins at the Cup level in going on his 8th full-time season (1), and I just don't see that number changing at the rate it's going. Congratulations to Kyle Busch, winning his 2nd Cup race in the past three races after winning just once all last season. He becomes the 4th driver to win in his 300th career Cup start and ties future Hall of Famer Fred Lorenzen on the all-time wins list with his 26th career win. I also want to say that I feel happy for 18fan, as he had the (un)fortunate privilege of participating on a comments page with a bunch of Gordon fans (myself included), and managed to survive the evening to see his favorite driver win in the end. I'm glad that at least one of us got to see a happy ending to tonight's race. I sure am glad that this wasn't the final race of the weekend, as we get to see the Trucks do battle at The Rock tomorrow afternoon. Love the Truck Series, love Rockingham, and love day races. With only one Cup driver in the field, this is pretty much guaranteed to be a great race from my perspective. 522. David posted: 04.14.2013 - 1:27 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeff Gordon and his team are averaging a 12.0 running position with 10% of the race to go, but they have a 20.0 average finish. That's a drop of 66.7%. 523. 18fan posted: 04.14.2013 - 1:31 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Paul, I honestly thought through most of the middle stages of this race that Gordon was going to win, and I would've been perfectly fine with that (Jeff is probably my 3rd choice to win a race, behind Kyle and Matt Kenseth). 524. Eric posted: 04.14.2013 - 1:43 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kyle Busch is now cup 2 wins away from tying Future NASCAR Hall of Fame Driver Rex White. 525. Jon posted: 04.14.2013 - 2:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 24th david reutimann 25th dave blaney 26th david ragan 27th david stremme and just to make it weirder, two more drivers with names starting with D finished 28th and 29th... danica patrick and dale earnhardt, jr. respectively. just noticed it thought it was really random and weird. 526. JG24FanForever posted: 04.14.2013 - 2:14 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I was wearing my #3 hat tonight and Gordon DNF'd from third and tied Dale Earnhardt in career DNF's with his 95th. 34th career Mechanical failure resulting in a DNF 6th career 38th place finish All on the 5th anniversary of his final last place finish back in 2008 in this event. Kyle Busch matches the old Master Fred Lorenzen,with his 26th career win Kyle also led the most laps in a race for the 35th time in his career Interesting race with yet another Jeff Gordon epic failure+Kyle Busch at his peak. 527. 12345Dude posted: 04.14.2013 - 2:26 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "on the Daytona Beach course" Paul I have been looking for NR2003 beach course track for a gazillion years. I've checked everywhere and asked a lot of people no one has it. Could you give me the download link? 528. Kubica fan Ireland posted: 04.14.2013 - 2:27 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jgr and Busch especially have the high-downforce tracks figured out which is key for the chase. Tonight was further proof Logano can make the chase on merit.Stewart is outside the top20 in points, if he does not get a win he will struggle to make the chase. 529. JG24FanForever posted: 04.14.2013 - 2:32 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Everybody still up: Go to NBCsports F1 time!! 530. Paul posted: 04.14.2013 - 2:45 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Could you give me the download link?" I got mine at rustyfx.com. You may have to register on the site at first, in order to access the downloads section. After that, just go to the top left of the screen where it says "NR2003 Addons," at which point a drop down menu will appear. Click on "Dirt and Rally Tracks" and then just scroll down until you see "Daytona Beach" on the left-hand side. Click on that and the download will begin. Word of advice: Be sure to have the informative best line show up on track at first to learn the proper braking points, as it can be pretty hard gaining traction on sand. It can take some getting used to, especially if you use manual transmission like I do, but it's a lot of fun once you get a few laps down. I would also set the A.I. difficulty pretty high, like at 100% or higher. I had mine set at 90% and I had about a 10 second lead after just 2 or 3 laps. Hell, I even got distracted at one point, took my eyes off the screen, and drove off track into a fence, and I still lapped the entire field at least once and lapped 28 of the 38 other cars at least twice. So set the difficulty very high if you want a challenge. "All on the 5th anniversary of his final last place finish back in 2008 in this event." By the way, Gordon left that race in 14th place with a wounded back and went on to qualify for the Chase. He's currently 15th in the points. Don't anybody count him out to make a Chase comeback over the next month. We saw last fall that the key to finishing up front at Kansas is to baby the car while exiting the corners, and since Gordon may be the best driver at doing that, look for him to be a contender and hopefully make up valuable lost points from Texas. 531. Paul posted: 04.14.2013 - 2:56 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Lewis Hamilton wins the pole. No big deal. :) Does anyone else wish that NASCAR had a similar qualifying procedure for their road course events? Perhaps they could have five qualifying sessions: Session 1: Odd-numbered drivers based on speeds from practice (about 22-24 drivers). Session 2: Even-numbered drivers based on speeds from practice (about 21-24 drivers). Session 3: The fastest 10 drivers from sessions 1 and 2, making a total of 20 drivers in session 3. Session 4: The fastest 10 drivers from session 3, with the fastest driver starting from the pole. Session 5: A last chance qualifier between drivers who didn't advance from sessions 1 and 2 that sets up the lineup for positions 21 to 43. The 16 fastest drivers would automatically qualify for the race (positions 21 to 36), while positions 37 to 42 would be determined via owner's points, and position 43 determined by either past champion's provisional or the fastest driver not already in the race. Each session could be 10 minutes in length, so it would already take less time (or perhaps about the same amount of time) than qualifying, while making it more interesting and appealing to fans that would like a change in pace in how qualifying works out, especially since road course qualifying in NASCAR is generally a bore. I'd love to see NASCAR adopt the Formula One-style of qualifying. 532. JG24FanForever posted: 04.14.2013 - 3:08 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The first lap was dynamite! 533. 18fan posted: 04.14.2013 - 3:08 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm not ready to count out Gordon for the Chase. This race should be a very encouraging sign for Gordon fans and Gordon himself. 534. AveryNH posted: 04.14.2013 - 3:08 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Can't wait to see how everyones tires do today. Should be a very interesting race boys 535. 18fan posted: 04.14.2013 - 3:09 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Webber pitted on the first lap. That shows how quickly they want to get off the softs. 536. Mr X posted: 04.14.2013 - 3:10 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yeah NASCAR could do a lot to make qualifying more interesting Paul. 537. JG24FanForever posted: 04.14.2013 - 3:12 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Alonso passed him on the outside! Massa also got him. 538. Sky Warrior posted: 04.14.2013 - 3:23 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) "I'm expecting John Darby to show up in my driveway with a tow truck tomorrow. Geesh." Cooper, what the heck have you been up to recently? As a Gordon fan, I'm really PO'd at tonight's race, another build up to something great and all the air went out in the late going. I have but one thing to say about tonight in that case: Brad Keselowski, you are the biggest hypocrite I've ever seen. How long last year did he whine about the Hendrick rear end housing? And now that he's been caught with an illegal one of his own, he whines about being singled out unfairly. I want to like Brad, I really do. But between a full schedule of Buschwhacking and the hypocracy, I just haven't been able to like him since mid-2010 539. Paul posted: 04.14.2013 - 3:33 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Great car control from Kimi after getting knocked off track by Sergio Perez. 540. JG24FanForever posted: 04.14.2013 - 3:36 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mark Webber is definitely being punished for disobeying Vettel-Orders in Malaysia. 541. Paul posted: 04.14.2013 - 3:39 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Shouldn't that be the other way around as far as who should be punished for disobeying team orders? 542. JG24FanForever posted: 04.14.2013 - 3:42 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm just kidding:) 543. Paul posted: 04.14.2013 - 3:44 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sorry, didn't catch that at first. But it's just Webber's luck to get screwed out of a win by his team and "teammate," and then fall out of the next race from a mechanical failure. 544. 18fan posted: 04.14.2013 - 4:27 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Who of the drivers currently in Chase spots (Jimmie, Brad, Kyle, Biff, Carl, Junior, Kahne, Bowyer, Logano, Menard, Kenseth (WC) and Harvick (WC)) is most likely to fall out? I think the two most likely to fall out are the RCR drivers. I think Matt will get into the top 10 in points and Jeff will either get into the top 10 or get a couple wins or both. Harvick, McMurray, Newman, Stewart, Truex, and maybe Almirola will fight for wild card berths. This was Kyle's 10th win with Dave Rogers as his crew chief and 22nd with JGR with now 5 multi-win seasons in 6 years with JGR and 6 in his 9 full-time seasons with at least one win in every season. 545. Paul posted: 04.14.2013 - 4:42 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) Hell yeah! Alonso wins and Hamilton holds off Vettel for the Podium. Totally worth staying up for this race. 546. JG24FanForever posted: 04.14.2013 - 4:44 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hell f**kin yeah! Great Great race! 547. 18fan posted: 04.14.2013 - 4:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Great racing, just not for the lead because Alonso was immaculate. That was a great battle at the end with Kimi taking 2nd with a damaged nose and Lewis holding off a fast charging Vettel for the final podium spot. 548. jabber1990 posted: 04.14.2013 - 8:29 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) I have said all this before Fox in my opinon does the best because the three guys in the booth have the best chemistry, at least they did when I started watching in 2002 but DW, Larry Mac and Mike Joy all have emotions, which is good I do miss Hammond in the hollywood hotel, and back on the cup drivers doing double-duty look at it like this in 2012 the cup drivers cut down on double-duty, look how shitty the racing was in 2012 on the cup side, the nationwide races were still fine, but the cup races sucked....I see a connection 549. jabber1990 posted: 04.14.2013 - 8:33 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I think ESPN is all "hey look NASCAR" just to draw people into the sport, but I have noticed, even on my local news (which is a diffrent story) that depending on who the sportscaster is they may or may not mention the race watch yoru local news broadcast (unless your from Chalottte, NC, or the south) and tell me you dont notice that. its hard to get fans when its so heavily critisised maybe we should stop talking about sports where the people get DUI's and get away with it, and they rape women, and play the race card to get away with everything. unless you like sports where people do drugs in which case...Jeremy Mayfield, that one driver who kept getting DWI's and that one nationwide driver who was busted with meth 550. Peter posted: 04.14.2013 - 8:47 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Poor Martin Truex; I think he has lost them just about every way possible in the past six years. By far the most snakebitten driver in cup 551. JG24FanForever posted: 04.14.2013 - 9:01 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Great racing photos! JG and Big E: http://assets.speedtv.com/images/article_assets/106/1067501/1067501_article_img_large1.jpg Jim Clark: http://home.wanadoo.nl/crab/jim%20clark.jpg Curtis Turner 1968 Sports Illustrated cover: http://www.claremontshows.com/catalog/publications/sportsillustrated/1968/68-2-26.jpg All Legends: http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/multimedia/photo_gallery/1202/classic-daytona-500/images/yarborough_andretti_petty_pearson.jpg Bill France and Curtis Turner from the 1950 Mexican Road-Race event: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iBxAzFjPTxU/SEGHDiwPMQI/AAAAAAAACgM/AleUmul4w6c/s400/Bill+France+%26+Curtis+Turner+hitching+a+ride.jpg 552. Anthony posted: 04.14.2013 - 9:28 am Rate this comment: (2) (1) Jeff Gordon is always & will always be THE greatest driver there is I have no idea why I was so upset @ comment #460 because I would rather see Jeff Gordon be more competitive than anyone on the circuit because I don't wanna go winless that's happen 3x to Jeff (1993, 2008, 2010) & in those season 2008 &'10 he finish ahead guys who won races. I cannot get upset I just can't do that because even though I am a Jeff Gordon fan theres someone in school I take 101% trust in my best friend & love one Marina. Marina is so pure good hearted everyday in school she would lower my stress by giving me hugs 3x a day & not just that we love to talk to each other & all that stuff. My best friend Jonathan stole that from me but she still is my best friend & she knows that & still gives me hugs. But there comes a time Jeff Gordon will be consistent & not even A contender. Jeff Gordon needs o be an Absolute Contender this season. Because this Jimmie is no contender he's just another guy out of town. Jeff Gordon is your main man & yet Jeff will beat Jimmie this year THIS TIME! Jeff has only once finish ahead Jimmie that was in 2002. I gave Marina a poem I <3 her to death she's my best friend until one of us dies. Jeff Gordon must win the championship & any cost. Here was the news Late Night Trouble TEXAS 500 - Texas Motor Speedway. Finish: 38th Recap It looked as if Jeff Gordon was on his way to his 300th career top-5 finish. He led 15 laps at Texas Motor Speedway, but was running behind Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr with under 30 laps to go. But he suddenly slowed with a tire problem and subsequently pulled behind the wall with a wheel bearing issue. Gordon posted a 38th place finish -- his lowest since the 2012 Daytona 500. Gordon started 8th and moved into the top-5 by lap 30. A debris caution on lap 35 brought the field to pit road. Gordon gained a spot on pit road and restarted in 4th place. He dropped a spot prior to the second caution for Ricky Stenhouse's spin in turn 3. As the race neared the 70-lap mark, Gordon settled into 4th place. He took 3rd from Martin Truex just before the next caution waved on lap 81, which brought the field to pit road. Gordon gained a spot in the pits and restarted on the outside of the front row. However, the inside line powered by and Gordon dropped to 5th on lap 88. He regrouped and took 4th from Brian Vickers on lap 92 and moved around Matt Kenseth for 3rd on lap 98. After a round of green flag pit stops on lap 130, Gordon ran in 2nd place. Gordon eventually tracked down Kyle Busch and took the race lead on lap 188. He made a green flag pit stop on lap 200 and returned to the race in 3rd place behind Martin Truex and Busch. He took the runner-up spot from Busch on lap 217. A caution at lap 222 brought the field to pit road with Gordon exiting in 2nd place. He fell to 3rd after the restart, but again began running down the leaders on the longer run. A caution with 54 to go came during a green flag pit stop sequence. Gordon had not yet pitted prior to the caution and restarted in 3rd place. However, the wheel issue forced him to the slow with 28 laps to go. It was his 2nd DNF in 7 races this season. He dropped to 15th in the series standings. Turning point A tire problem with 28 laps to go forced Gordon to slow on the track. Following the pit stop, he went to the garage with a burned wheel bearing. JG's comments ON THE SUSPENSION FAILURE "I'm not sure maybe a burned wheel bearing or something. No signs. Just went down the back straightaway and went to go to the brake and the brake pedal was spongy and the car just didn't turn. I thought I had a left-front tire going down. Man that was unfortunate. That Cromax Pro Chevy was awesome fast. It was so much fun to drive and what a great job this team has done to prepare for this weekend and hopefully more to come on these mile and a halfs with more cars like that. We'll learn what happened and we'll try to make sure it doesn't happen again. Most importantly, we know we have a fast race car and we know we can put another fast race car out there on the track." WHAT DO YOU KNOW FOR SURE WHAT HAPPENED? "I don't know for sure. We won't ever know for sure until we pull it all apart. It's just unfortunate for it to happen that close to the end and to be running that good. I'm pretty upset. This team has just worked so hard to try to claw ourselves back into the points; and we had a great weekend last weekend and we were having a great day. The racing in the passing is difficult when you've got three cars all running the same speed out there. I've never seen three cars just sit there and run the same lap time after the same lap time; and run in the same line, too. I was trying to deviate from my line and made a few gains on Kyle (Busch), so I thought I might have a shot at him before this thing was over. I don't know about Martin (Truex, Jr.), but we won't know." 553. Cichon posted: 04.14.2013 - 10:02 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Did the announcers even mention Trevor Bayne at all yesterday? He was on the lead lap the whole race. 554. Cornys posted: 04.14.2013 - 10:22 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) Am I the only one who is completely ****ed about the amount of FAKE caution flags in this race?! I counted 3 cautions which were needed (17's spin after the first fake caution, the 9 and 31 spinning on the back, and the car which lost an engine). I understand that a green flag race like last year makes fans bored, but when you atificially make a race exciting it makes the excitment seem. well.. fake.. 555. Anonymous posted: 04.14.2013 - 10:26 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Kyle Busch went out guns-a-blazin' from the start and won the NRA 500. 556. Draconiator posted: 04.14.2013 - 10:26 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "But there comes a time Jeff Gordon will be consistent & not even A contender. Jeff Gordon needs o be an Absolute Contender this season. Because this Jimmie is no contender he's just another guy out of town." Anthony, Jimmie won 5 of the last 6 championships. IN A ROW. And he only lost the last one because of a mistake in the pits at Homestead. 557. DaleJrFan posted: 04.14.2013 - 10:26 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) There was no reason for that last caution, Martin just barely scraped the wall and I didn't see no debris. I was wanting Truex to win his first race in almost 6yrs and he possibly got cheated out of it. I also saw where Nascar didn't refer to the race as the NRA 500 but he Texas 500. I wonder if Nascar wants the government to take people's guns like some people do. Jr had a good run going and had a possible shot to win but a top 5 for certain gone bad by a bad battery. Crap happens though. 558. Anonymous posted: 04.14.2013 - 10:27 am Rate this comment: (3) (0) Truex got cheated plain and simple. 559. Anonymous posted: 04.14.2013 - 10:34 am Rate this comment: (2) (1) @501: So because Brad will whine about the sport (in which he WON the championship last season) being rigged, NASCAR should go light on him and his team? Cheaters are cheaters, whether they are the drivers and teams you root for or the ones you hate. If Brad wants to whine about the sport being rigged, they ought to just fine him, not give in to him. I realize Brad is this site's collective favorite driver now because he won a championship and he's not Jimmie Johnson or Hendrick affiliated, but just try to imagine the scenario if this was Hendrick caught cheating. You all would be calling for Knaus to be banned permanently and for Hendrick teams to be disqualified from the 2013 Chase. 560. Anonymous posted: 04.14.2013 - 10:36 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @556: Jimmie's good, but he only won 5 out of the last 7. Did you forget the Stewart-Edwards duel? 561. 13 posted: 04.14.2013 - 11:05 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) what happened to Menard he was running 11th with like 10 to go 562. cjs3872 posted: 04.14.2013 - 11:25 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Cichon, I tihnk one reason Trevor Bayne was rarely mentioned is that the Wood Brothers run so infrequently. But they were very comptitve last night, running in the top 15 until getting caught out on that one caution flag. But I know one driver that will be happy not to see him again for a while is Juan Montoya. The three-wide pass Bayne made on Montoya was the second amazing pass he's made on him in less than a year. He also passed Montoya on the short chute at Indy last year, and you don't make passes on the short chute there. That's why I'm so puzzled at how conservative he often races, because it seems more and more like he's racing with a leash around him, both with Roush's Nationwide effort and in the Wood Brothers' car. We've seen what he can do when the bridle is taken off him, the Nationwide race at Texas in the fall of 2011 being a perfect example. But too often he races as if he's being held back, especially when he's in the #21 Cup car, because he's hesitant to race with those that are racing for points, since he's not. 563. Rusty posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:03 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) As a Kurt Busch fan, this race was frustrating. Sucks to see such a great run ruined. But at least the 78 showed they can run top 5 at 1.5 milers. 564. cjs3872 posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rusty, it's funny how a team's performance can improve when you have a proven champion in the car that's not washed up, one that's won on every type of track except for the plate tracks, and the only thing that has kept Kurt from winning one of those races is circumstances, because he's finished up front a lot, espcially in the Daytona 500, where he's finished second three times and nearly won it on occasions other than his second place finishes. Kurt deserves a lot of criticism for his tirades, but he deserves just as much credit for his on-track performances, especilly this year with a team not of the caliber of the others running up front. I wouldn't be surprised if Kurt seriously contends at Darlington, where he's nearly won and where his team actually has won. 565. 13 posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ryan Newman has been the best SHR car this year with 4 top 10s but other than those hasnt finished better than 31st 566. David posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:30 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) "I realize Brad is this site's collective favorite driver now because he won a championship and he's not Jimmie Johnson or Hendrick affiliated, but just try to imagine the scenario if this was Hendrick caught cheating. You all would be calling for Knaus to be banned permanently and for Hendrick teams to be disqualified from the 2013 Chase." Actually, that is overstating it quite a bit. Chad Knaus is a cheater, no doubt, but he is still very successful. I would just like to see Jimmie Johnson go one season without Knaus. Just one, and then let's see what he can do. And Brad is a favorite of ours because of his "tell it like it is" style. He doesn't gloss over NASCAR's faults. He is also a very intelligent driver. 567. cjs3872 posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And 13, that shows just how much trouble that organization's in, not that Ryan Newman's a bad driver because he isn't. I've put a lot of the blame on having Danica Patrick there, but their problems go deeper than that. There's something going on with the #14 car, and it's been going on for more than a year now that just isn't right. Tony Stewart's just not competitive and his crew chief Steve Addington is just not getting the job done. I wonder how much longer Tony's going to put up with running in the middle of the pack, because we know he's a Hall of Fame driver, but his cars have, for the most part, been terrible for nearly 13 months, and only Stewart's driving ability has kept as competitive at some of the tracks as they've been. It's almost as if the type of car Addington builds is just not the type of car Stewart likes, and as a result, is just not comfortable with it. Something has to change with the #14 team, and soon, or Stewart will be in for the worst season of his career. 568. murb posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) If Brad and the 2 team had a history of stuff like this happening (like the 48 and Hendrick do), it would be different. Trust me. 569. cjs3872 posted: 04.14.2013 - 12:42 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Actually David, I wouldn't be surprised if it was Knaus that set things in motion regarding the Penske team last ight, because NASCAR wouldn't have taken such action unless they were somehow tipped off, and Knaus is just the kind f person to do something like that. The only other person I can think of that might pull such a stunt might be Jack Roush, simply because he's already getting tired of the Penske team outrunning his cars just seven races into the season. Roush has been the ONLY competitive team Ford has had for several years, and now that his team has been consistently outperformed by another Ford team, and he just can't take it. If Penske had been the top dog at Ford for years like Roush has been and suddenly another Ford team outperformed his, Penske would just go to work and get his cars better, but Jack Roush is one that will use dirty tricks, as we've seen for many yars, from his accusing Ray Evernham of doctoring tires at Loudon to sabotaging Robert Yates, and other things he's done over the years, so if I had to say who was behind what happened to the Penske cars prior to last night's race, I'd say that Chad Knaus and Jack Roush are the likely culprits. 570. Mr X posted: 04.14.2013 - 1:01 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Honestly I've got visions in my head of Tony Stewart's team going belly up at some point in the next few years. They've gotten progressively worse every year since 2009, and Tony Stewart looks like he's getting pretty tired of struggling. Kevin Harvick should be quite concerned with what's going on at SHR. 571. murb posted: 04.14.2013 - 1:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I agree with you Mr X, it doesn't look good for SHR. Danica's albatross qualities certainly aren't helping matters. I don't see it getting any better over the next couple of years. 572. Paul posted: 04.14.2013 - 1:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Those were some great pictures, JG24. I always love seeing pictures of The Man in Black and Wonder Boy together (a.k.a. Batman and Robin). Jim Clark looks a lot like James Dean in that picture. You might say he was a "rebel WITH a cause," having won 25 races and two championships in Formula One. Seeing Curtis Turner and "Big" Bill France sitting next to a cactus while wearing sombreros: Priceless. That picture of Petty, Pearson, Mario, Cale, and LeeRoy just screams greatness. Between the five of them, they have won 14 Daytona 500s and 20 professional racing championships (NASCAR, F1, CART, USAC, IROC). That might be the greatest racing picture I've ever seen, although the group picture from 1985 All-Star Race and the infamous "Tim Richmond/Neil Bonnett johnson" photo from the 1987 All-Star Race are right up there with it. 573. cjs3872 posted: 04.14.2013 - 1:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Actually Mr X and murb, other than Hendrick Motorsports, very little seems to be solid in the Chevrolet camp all of a sudden. There are the struggles at Stewart-Haas Racing, as they've fallen behind, and the rumored sell of EGR to John Menard, which could cause not only problems there, but also cause major financial and sponsorship problems for Richard Childress Racing as well, especially if that means another move for Paul Menard from RCR to what's now EGR and taking the sponsorship money with him, and those are three of the four major Chevrolet teams. The other of course, is Hendrick Motorsports. All of a sudden, the Chevrolet teams other than HMS are not on solid footing at all. If EGR is sold to John Menard, the loss of sponsorship money would almost certaily force Childress to make a move on Furniture Row Racing just to keep his own team afloat. And I'm pretty sure that John Menard can't run a NASCAR team. After all, he tried once before with Robby Gordon in 2000 and failed miserably. In other words, if John Menard does buy EGR, that could have devastating consequences on the Chevrolet teams, and on the Cup Series as well. 574. Eric posted: 04.14.2013 - 1:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I have a couple theories on what is happening with Stewart Haas. I have to wonder how much information Hendrick is sharing with Stewart Haas after Stewart Winning the chase. The 2nd theory is I have is Stewart himself in terms of changing of personnel 2011. Tony has been firing and getting a rid of people starting in 2011 including Darian Grubb. The start of the firing started in June of 2011 with Bobby Hutchens as Director of Competition and Greg Zipadelli taking his place in 2012. The 3rd theory could be Stewart's Focus. It is possible that being an owner/driver is catching up to him. Stewart doesn't have 550 cup starts, so he should be in his prime still. 575. 18fan posted: 04.14.2013 - 1:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I think Paul Menard had an axle problem in the last couple laps. 576. CBASS posted: 04.14.2013 - 2:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor updates #16 3M/ Filtrete #43 Eckrich/ Operation Homefront #9 DeWalt Tools/ Stanley #31 CAT 336E H Hybrid Excavator #30 Lean1 Healthy Lifestyle Shake #51 BruceLowrie.com/ Realtree #33 Justin Original Workboots/ BSG #78 Furniture Row/ Serta #47 Bush's Best/ Kingsford/ Scott Products 577. jabber1990 posted: 04.14.2013 - 2:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) "he's a very intelegent driver" be honest with me...is anyone in NASCAR really "stupid" I dont think you can get to this level (or even in the National Series) being stupid Conspiracy Theory time: since a Penske Driver beat Hendrick last year could they be out to get them? especially since Brad beat Jimmie Fair-and-Square 578. jabber1990 posted: 04.14.2013 - 2:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) it says alot when you cheat...and you STILL fail 579. David posted: 04.14.2013 - 3:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) There is a middle ground between intelligent and stupid, jabber. Sometimes a driver will be extremely talented (Kyle Busch), but can't hold it together under pressure. 580. cjs3872 posted: 04.14.2013 - 3:29 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) 18fan, if Paul Menard did have an axle problem, then that would be two cars that had stress-related suspension failures late. The other being the left front hub failure that knocked Jeff Gordon out of the race. The speeds the cars are running, combined with the better grip and areodynamics, is putting a greater strain on the parts, and we may be seeing more failures for that reason. They may actually be overtaxing some of the mechanical pieces due to the physical strain that's being placed on the cars this year. If what I believe is true, the latter part of the Southern 500 and Coca-Cola 600 could be very interesting because there might be numerous parts failures. This was the first 500-mile race where the cars were stretched, because the Daytona 500 is a restrictor plate race, which is generally easy on mechanical parts. But with two fatigue-related failures in the last 50 miles in this race, the races at Darlington and Charlotte could have unusual finishes and maybe a surprise winner because of that. 581. Jim Davis posted: 04.14.2013 - 4:52 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) "...so if I had to say who was behind what happened to the Penske cars prior to last night's race, I'd say that Chad Knaus and Jack Roush are the likely culprits." Absolutely amazing. The 2 and 22 are caught with illegal rear end housings. The likely culprits are not Paul Wolfe and Todd Gordon as you might suspect. No, it would be naive to think that the crew chiefs of those cars had anything to do with it. The real culprits are Chad Knaus and Jack Roush! cjs3872, you offer a baffling mix of interesting insights and brain dead conspiracy mongering, sometimes in the same post. 582. Paul posted: 04.14.2013 - 4:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jim, I think what cjs meant is that either Chad or Roush tipped NASCAR off about possible rules infractions that the Penske teams made, not that they fixed the cars themselves. Obviously the blame goes directly to Paul Wolfe and Todd Gordon if these cars are in fact illegal. 583. cjs3872 posted: 04.14.2013 - 5:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm not certain that either Roush or Knaus tipped NASCAR off about the irregularities, Paul, but given the way they operate, Roush and Knaus are the two likeliest to have tipped NASCAR off about the irregularities because of their own desires, Knaus' for retribution for last year and Roush because he wats to be the #1 Ford team, and both have a history of shady dealings. and what happened to the Penske cars would not have happened if NASCAR had not been tipped off, because of the timing of it. Someone told the NASCAR officials or inspectors, and they're the likely ones to have told NASCAR about the infractions. 584. ch posted: 04.14.2013 - 5:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor Changes: 11 - March of Dimes / FedEx Office 27 - Quaker State 30 Lean1 Healthy Performance Shakes 31 Caterpillar 336E H Hybrid Excavator 42 - Target 43 - Eckrich 48 - Lowe's 87 - Advanced Technology International 585. Jim Davis posted: 04.14.2013 - 5:54 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) "Jim, I think what cjs meant is that either Chad or Roush tipped NASCAR off about possible rules infractions that the Penske teams made, not that they fixed the cars themselves." Yes, Paul, I know what he meant. It's just astonishing how he jumps right to Knaus and Roush without even mentioning Wolfe and Gordon. He never even considers how Knaus and Roush would have any clue about what might be going on with a competitor's car. How does he imagine how Knaus and Roush would know anything about the rear end housing on the 2 and 22? Does he thinks they sneak into their garage at night? Have an informant in the Penske organization? And if somehow Knaus and Roush did know about the illegal rear end housings why shouldn't they report it to NASCAR? Are they really supposed to turn their backs on rules violations by their competitors? If Paul Wolfe somehow knew that the 48 was equipped with a larger than legal fuel cell would anyone think less of him because he reported it to NASCAR? In short, there is absolutely nothing to connect either Roush or Knaus to the whole situation with the rear end housings of the 2 and 22. But a lack of facts never stops cjs from fantasizing about Knaus' thirst for "retribution" or Roush's animosity towards the other Ford teams. If I had to guess, and of course this is only a guess, this situation is a case where the rules are vague, Wolfe and Gordon thought they were within them, and NASCAR decided that they weren't. 586. 12345Dude posted: 04.14.2013 - 5:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) OK I'll do that Paul thanks! I think it would really be stupid of Menard to leave RCR. His driving style fits perfectly. And what does this say about RCR? Bowyer leaves, Harvick leaves, and now MENARD might be leaving. I think this is a big indicator that the days of RCR being a competitive team might be numbered. Which makes me wonder about Ty and Austin. Would they leave RCR if the teams starts to struggle? 587. Benjamin Lowe posted: 04.14.2013 - 6:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Next Sunday the Kansas Speedway presents the Marty Schottenheimer 400. 588. jabber1990 posted: 04.14.2013 - 6:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) hypothetically if Logano and Brad started the race 3 laps late would they still have been allowed to start? would they have been credited for taking the start? 589. Richie61NYfan posted: 04.14.2013 - 7:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Tony Stewart after 7 races is mired 22nd in points. He has never started out a season this bad. Last year he had 2 wins in 7 starts. He is qualifying good but can't keep up with the changing track conditions. He will need some wins and hope for bad finishes for others to make the chase. Time to switch crew chiefs around ? Time is running out and he can't afford mistakes or bad finishes . Time to sign Kyle Larson for the future maybe? 590. 12345Dude posted: 04.14.2013 - 7:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Don't forget that Stewart was 3rd in points with 2 wins in the first 6 races last year after Martinsville. So something has gone wrong since Martinsville. I think what's really hurt Stewart was his ego and not having Zipadelli as his crew chief. He and Zip got in a series of fights at the end of his last year at Gibbs and that's why Zip stayed with Gibbs. Look at Kanaus and Jimmie. They were on the brink of being separated and they looked at the big picture. Another reason why Jimmie is better than Smoke. 591. cjs3872 posted: 04.14.2013 - 8:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) No 12345Dude, Jimmie's overall record against Tony's alone puts him ahead. Five championships to three (ironicaly, Stewart's last two championships bookended Jimmie's five straight), and multiple wins in every one of the sport's biggest races, while Tony only has his two Brickyard 400 wins, a total that Jimmie has doubled. Jimmie has two Daytona 500s, two Southern 500s, two wins in the Talladega spring race, those four Brickyard wins, and is the only driver ever to win the Coca-Cola 600 three years in a row. And for those that say that Hendrick Motorsports ahas something against Tony for beating them for the championship in 2011. Not only is that not true, but they actually helped Tony a great deal. When it became obvious that Jimmie Johnson was no going to win a sixth successive title and none of the other HMS teams were going to win it either, their whole emphasis the last month of the season was to get Tony the championship since they were using Hendrick equipment. They may be less pleased with the treating of Darian Grubb, and the loss of Grubb has hurt Stewart-Haas much more than anything else has, and certainly has hurt the team more thn Stewart could ever have imagined. Also, I wonder if the fact that Kenny Francis is one of HMS' crew chiefs has something to do with that. And of course, Kasey Kahne had an off night at Texas, as he never contended at any time, though it's obvious there had to be some information sharing between the 5 and 24 teams because Jeff Gordon was the only HMS driver that had any real shot at winning. Usually, it's the other way around. 592. Bronco posted: 04.14.2013 - 8:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truex is quite possibly the unluckiest current driver in NASCAR. Here's a list of races that he probably should have won by now, or at least had a much better finish in. 1) 2007 Fall Atlanta race - Dominated the race, but rear ended Hamlin after the 11 car sputtered on the restart, and ended up with a crash DNF. 2) 2009 Fall Atlanta Race - Won the pole and again led the most laps, but ended up a lap down after not adapting to the track conditions 3) 2010 Daytona 500 - Probably had the third strongest car in the field, but got moved off the bottom by Harvick on a GWC restart which opened the door for McMurray to line up on the front row for the final restart. 4) 2010 Homestead - Led a bunch of laps and was probably the only other driver that could keep up with Carl Edwards, but I think he ran out of fuel on a pit stop and ended up 11th. 5) 2011 Spring Richmond race - Was headed for a top 5 finish for sure with 40 to go, then had to pit for a vibration, then had to come in again for missing a lug nut. This was the race where he threatened to fire the entire pit crew. 6) 2012 Spring Kansas race - Dominated the race again, but the track changed and the car became looser, allowing Hamlin to catch and pass him. 7) 2012 Atlanta race - Was in contention to win yet another Atlanta race and was leading when the caution came out for (ironically) the #1 car's blown tire, and lost the lead in the pits to Hamlin again. This was probably the most similar one of his losses to yesterday's Texas race. Apart from Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon, I don't know who else has lost that many races in that time. However those two have made up for it by still scoring wins at the other occasions while Martin is still looking for a follow up to Dover 2007. 593. AnonymousEFR posted: 04.14.2013 - 8:15 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) #186, #207, and the f--king race name... Well, a fan ended his life via firearm in the infield during the race. Seriously...my goodness... 594. cjs3872 posted: 04.14.2013 - 8:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bronco, could it be a curse associated with his current car number (56)? Only once has it ever won a race in NASCAR's top series, and that was with the driver most assocaited with it, Jim Hurtubise, at Atlanta all the way back in 1966. And you could say Truex is snakebit, but I don't see it that way, particularly last night because Kyle Busch was probaly going to catch him anyway, and possibly force Truex into a mistake, which would have allowed Kyle to pass him. But trust me, time is ticking for Truex in that #56 car, and if he doesn't win this year, I believe he's out of that car next year. I go back to 2009-2010. Truex could not win a race in the #1 car, but Jamie McMurray comes in and wins three races at showplace tracks, including the two biggest races of the year. Truex does not win any of those races. The one race you can truly say he was snakebit in was the race at Atlanta last fall when a late caution robbed him and then his pit crew screwed the pit stop up, knocking him out of a chance to win. But Ryan Newman or even Mark Martin could be headed to the #56 car if Truex doesn't win this year, depending on which way MWR wants to go with that. If MWR wants a full-time driver, he could go with Newman, but if he wants to mentor a young driver, he could put Martin in the #56 car with Brian Vickers moving over to the #55 full-time. 595. 18fan posted: 04.14.2013 - 8:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truex had a flat tire in the 2010 Homestead race IIRC. 596. murb posted: 04.14.2013 - 9:02 pm Rate this comment: (2) (1) AnonymousEFR is right, apparently some drunk guy killed himself in the infield late in the race after some type of dispute. That's just a travesty. I hope you're happy, Senator Chris Murphy. You're probably glowing that a life was taken at an NRA sponsored event. Now you're going to get on TV and talk about how you were right and about how Nascar and the NRA and everyone involved should be shut down because of this. I wasn't able to give my opinion on this earlier this week like some of you guys did, so here it is now: All of these politicians need to GTFO and focus on fixing our country instead of wasting time debating stupid shit like sponsors for sporting events. Let these companies make their own decisions, stop trying to get an upper hand over your rival political party, work together, and DO YOUR f**kING JOBS!!! 597. Benjamin Lowe posted: 04.14.2013 - 9:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Well Said Murb Well Said 598. David posted: 04.14.2013 - 9:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Thank you, murb. We need you in Washington. Too bad you're not old enough. 599. Benjamin Lowe posted: 04.14.2013 - 9:30 pm Rate this comment: (4) (1) All of our political leaders can Bite my shiny metal ass. 600. David posted: 04.14.2013 - 9:32 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) What are you, C-3PO? 601. Schroeder51 posted: 04.14.2013 - 9:37 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) No, he is Bender from Futurama. 602. murb posted: 04.14.2013 - 9:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "No, he is Bender from Futurama." lol, That sounds a lot more accurate for Ben Lowe. David, there's no way I could keep sanity if I was in Washington. I wouldn't be able to deal with all of the shadiness that goes on there. Plus, I'd probably be thrown out for pissing off the President or something, lol 603. David posted: 04.14.2013 - 9:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) "David, there's no way I could keep sanity if I was in Washington. I wouldn't be able to deal with all of the shadiness that goes on there. Plus, I'd probably be thrown out for pissing off the President or something, lol" That's fair. The Senate has to approve practically everything the President does. If I were there, I would vote against everything, haha. 604. Bronco posted: 04.14.2013 - 9:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "But Ryan Newman or even Mark Martin could be headed to the #56 car if Truex doesn't win this year, depending on which way MWR wants to go with that." I disagree, races like this are enough to convince MWR that Truex will win again, it's just a matter of when. If he was totally off each week like Burton/Montoya are then he would be in trouble, but Truex is probably doing enough to keep him safe. I think Truex will again in his career, but that his next win will be a fluky one, where he wins either because of rain, the leader having a problem in front of him, or by taking advantage of some last lap chaos at a RP track. Truex is rapidly approaching Bill Elliott's record of most starts between wins, which was a winless streak that lasted over 7 years. 605. Schroeder51 posted: 04.14.2013 - 10:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A random fun fact for this race: Landon Cassill tied Baxter Price for the most career starts in NASCAR's Cup series-90. However, if Cassill sticks around and can get a better ride in the future, I'm sure he WILL get a top 10 at some point... 606. jabber1990 posted: 04.14.2013 - 10:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) sorry, David... you made me do this http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y163/jabber1990/racingrefrencething_zpsffc13a60.png 607. Anonymous posted: 04.14.2013 - 10:13 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) @596: NRA is a company now? 608. cjs3872 posted: 04.14.2013 - 10:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Not if he continues to prove he can't close out a race, Bronco. A lot of people have bagged on Ryan Newman in recent years for not getting in position to win often enough, but in his years with Stewart-Haas, when he's gotten into that position, he's usually taken advantage of it. No matter how well he runs, Truex has got to prove he can finish out a race, or he's in trouble and deserves to be. He's safe in the #56 car only if he can finish out races. Not doing so was one of the reasons Ganassi let him go, and look what that got him in 2010? A driver (Jamie McMurray) that can actually close the deal when he gets close, though he hasn't gotten close in recent years. And the Mark Martin angle has to do with developing a young driver, not unlike what his role was at DEI/Ginn Racing in 2007-'08 with Regan Smith and Aric Almirola. If Waltrip releases Truex and moves Martin over to the #56 car, that means he wants to develop a young driver. If he either keeps Truex or releases him and puts a veteran in that car ful-time, that means he's not interested in trying to develop a driver in the immediate future. But Truex must win to keep his ride, and the only way he can do that is if he can actually finish out a race. 609. jabber1990 posted: 04.14.2013 - 10:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) how can we say SHR isnt as good as it was in 2009? I mean yes 2010 wasn't as good as 2009, BUT Stewart won the Championship in 2011, and he won it fair-and-square, he beat another just-as-good driver speaking of Stewart, IF SHR folds where will he go? I mean he's Tony Stewart, so it should be easy to find a ride, 3 championships, team owner, future hall of famer 610. jabber1990 posted: 04.14.2013 - 10:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) speaking of 2011, I just realised this did 2012 mark 3 seasons in a row where the championship was determined by a head-game? 2010: Hamlin choked at phoenix, then choked harder in Homestead, either by an idiot crew cheif or by blinking in front of Jimmie 2011: Stewart just beat Edwards, not sure if Carl choked, or blunk, but he did go down running 2012: Jimmie blunk. 611. cjs3872 posted: 04.14.2013 - 10:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Maybe jabber1990, because Stewart won five times (including the All-Star Race) and was always seemingly in the hunt in 2009, but he's been mostly invisible on the track since he started driving cars that have been set up by Steve Addngton around the spring of 2012. Heck, the Wood Brothers have had a top 15-caliber car almost as often as Stewart has this year, and they've only run three times this year. 612. David posted: 04.14.2013 - 11:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Passing efficiencies for Saturday's race: Greg Biffle - 62.89% Landon Cassill - 59.65% Joe Nemechek - 59.26% Brad Keselowski - 57.76% Kevin Harvick - 55.17% Ryan Newman - 54.88% Joey Logano - 54.79% David Reutimann - 53.97% Kasey Kahne - 53.70% Jeff Burton - 52.52% Jimmie Johnson - 52.29% Clint Bowyer - 52.23% Martin Truex, Jr. - 52.00% Carl Edwards - 51.67% Matt Kenseth - 50.81% Mark Martin - 50.67% David Gilliland - 50.56% Trevor Bayne - 50.25% Aric Almirola - 50.00% David Stremme - 50.00% Danica Patrick - 50.00% Dave Blaney - 49.62% Paul Menard - 49.45% Travis Kvapil - 48.89% David Ragan - 48.59% Josh Wise - 48.04% Brian Vickers - 47.62% Jamie McMurray - 46.46% Casey Mears - 46.05% juan Pablo Montoya - 44.85% Marcos Ambrose - 44.72% Kyle Busch - 44.12% Timmy Hill - 44.12% Tony Stewart - 42.55% J.J. Yeley - 40.00% Dale Earnhardt, Jr. - 39.78% Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. - 37.93% Jeff Gordon - 36.45% Austin Dillon - 34.88% Kurt Busch - 34.74% Mike Bliss - 31.58% Bobby Labonte/Michael McDowell - 30.43% Michael McDowell - 29.41% 613. David posted: 04.15.2013 - 6:57 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y163/jabber1990/racingrefrencething_zpsffc13a60.png" Hmm... C-3PO was my first thought, seeing as how he's one of the few humanoid robots in science fiction, and I'm a huge Star Wars fan. 614. epzik8 posted: 04.15.2013 - 7:19 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) I was so mad after this race on Saturday night. I was rooting for Martin Truex because he hasn't won a Cup race in six years, and that win is his only Cup win to date. Instead, Kyle Busch got yet another undeserved win (at least in my opinion). I'm tired of Kyle winning everything. I want to see some new winners every week. The other reason I was rooting for Martin is because he drives for Michael Waltrip, who is one of my all-time favorite NASCAR drivers. I also want to see a car with NAPA sponsorship back in victory lane because of its association with Michael. I usually watch the post-race celebration and interviews at the end, but on Saturday I was so mad that I turned off my TV right after Kyle took the checkered flag (and I was really tired, lol). But I did like that Kyle's car had the Interstate Batteries sponsor, which was the #18's main sponsor back in the day. No offense to any Kyle Busch fans reading this. I'm just not a fan of him myself. And I hope Martin won't end up just being another "one-win wonder" as I call them, but it looks like that's what will happen. 615. jabber1990 posted: 04.15.2013 - 8:53 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) @epzik8: yea, its pretty unfair when somebody with a faster car beats somebody with a slower care 616. Scott B posted: 04.15.2013 - 11:29 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was one of those weekends where there was as much action behind the scenes as on the track. The confiscated Penske parts have already been discussed, and Brad's comments show he's not over the whole Twittergate incident. Plus, Truex's car was too low in post-race inspection, with the team floating a highly implausible excuse about the shock not rebounding. The #47 team gets burned waiting for a relief driver they thought was lined up, how exactly did that happen? Of course, when they finally do get a relief driver, the engine blows, leaving them in next-to-last place... when the guy who was supposed to relieve Bobby Labonte completes a couple extra laps, then parks for the day. That team has got some serious problems. Guy who had the worst weekend, though, might be Scott Riggs. He DNQ'ed for both the Nationwide and Cup races. 617. Anonymous posted: 04.15.2013 - 11:47 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) @610: How are pit problems, mechanical failures, and Talladega crashes even remotely construed as blinking? Johnson did everything he could last year. 618. Scott B posted: 04.15.2013 - 12:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #588 "hypothetically if Logano and Brad started the race 3 laps late would they still have been allowed to start? would they have been credited for taking the start?" Great question. If a team simply had a mechanical problem with a car that had been approved, I'm pretty sure they could go behind the wall, fix it, and join the race already in progress. In the case of a delay caused by a failed inspection, I'm not 100% certain. Since the team is responsible for bringing a legal car to the track in the alloted time, they might forfeit their right to a starting spot by failing to do so. I'd expect that the drivers would be credited for the start if they run any laps at all, even if they don't take the green with the rest of the field. The only way I know of that a driver can race and not be credited with a start is in a relief-driver situation. Anyone know for certain what the rulebook has to say about this? 619. Joe Fan #87 posted: 04.15.2013 - 12:33 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) ^2011 Bristol Nationwide when JJC refused to S&P, Chris Lawson ended up starting that race, way after it started, and ran a few laps. 620. Cornys posted: 04.15.2013 - 1:15 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) I felt as though this was a growing pains type of race for the Gen-6 car. There were a lot of mechanical problems up front (88, 24, 78). There seemed to be a lot of weird pit road problems which I still cannot explain fully as well. Am I the only one who misses long green flag runs that end for a reason other than "debris" or "83 brushes the wall"? This race would have played out completely differently had NASCAR not thrown the first caution. It may have gone caution free, but that would have been just fine by me. Maybe that way drivers will actually have to drive the whole race to gain positions rather than just driving safely in order to stay on the lead lap and then contend at the end. Debris cautions for no reason other than excitement makes races boring until the end and a few minutes at restarts. You know that time gained really doesn't translate to anything unless it's a position gained. Even then it doesn't really matter that much because everything gets jumbled up on restarts. It takes three or four positions to really make up ground now with the way that NASCAR throws cautions. I'll compare it to how I feel about the chase. I feel like the first 26 races only matter if you have bad luck, and in that case you need to get on it and fight back. I've truly liked the chase up until recently, because I wasn't old enough to really remember what it was like before hand. Thinking of it now though I realize what I missed before the Chase. Every single race every driver is fighting for their end of season points position. Watching the Nationwide Series and Truck Series I really notice how much I wish there wasn't a chase. Sadly, there were two incidents in this race and the average green flag run was only 37 laps. It should have been over 100! People with short attention spans wouldn't like it, but races that are 3 hours long aren't for people with short attention spans! 621. Cornys posted: 04.15.2013 - 1:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Not even the truck race on Sunday could go without a debris caution. :X 622. DaleSrFanForever posted: 04.15.2013 - 2:15 pm Rate this comment: (5) (0) Alright guys, you know me, I love me some Brad and just plain don't like Denny. One thing that always makes me smile is thinking about Denny saying all that crap about Brad in '08 and '09, saying he would never be a good driver in Cup, then Denny goes out and epically loses his head and chokes away the 2010 Cup against Jimmie, in a situation where it is clear that Denny "blunk" (love it jabber, that made me laugh) then two years later Brad found himself fighting the same dynasty and was actually behind going into Phoenix, but never faltered while Jimmie blunk to become a Cup champ. BUT............. It was announced today that Brad won't be fined for calling out NASCAR, saying they were unfairly targeting him while Denny got fined for saying far less. In my opinion, that is bullshit, and Denny should be angry. Do I think Brad should be fined for his comments? In a vacuum, no. But if NASCAR insists on fining Denny for saying something minor like he did (and they did iinsist), then Brad should definitely be fined. Personally I am glad Brad has lashed out. The whole penalty just reeks to me. Them saying they violated "the spirit of the rules" which means they didn't break a rule, they basically brought a "T Rex" type car to the track is total crap to me. Either you broke a rule or you didn't. And why was it suddenly illegal a few hours before race time? But the fact is fair is fair. If Denny was fined, Brad should be too. Oh, and who said personally in a public statement that what Brad did was alright while defending the Denny fine? Brian France himself. Calling him a tool and an idiot and incompetent is an insult to all tools, idiots, and incompetent folks out there. 623. cjs3872 posted: 04.15.2013 - 3:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Cornys, you might also be able to add the #27 car to those running on the lead lap that had a menchanical problem, as his dropping back at the end may also have been a result of a suspension problem. But what happened to the 78 and 88 cars is something that can happen anywhere. I'm more concerned about the fatigue-related problems that Jeff Gordon and Paul Menard had, because while this was the first500-mile race with this new car, it was at a track where speeds fell off. Kansas could be a test, though it's only 400 miles, but those fatigue-related problem should worry the competitors at Darlington and Charlotte, because the speeds have not fallen off at either of those two tracks and they'll be going faster there than they've ever gone before, unless NASCAR steps in, which they should, and may have to if the speeds at Kansas are as high as everyone thinks they're going to be. After all, the race at Darlington is 500 miles and the one at Charlotte is 600 miles. If Saturday night's race is any indication with two fatigue-related failures in the last 50 miles, there might be lots of late race trouble in those two races due to fatigue and the increased amount of physical forces that are acting on the cars, more than ever before. But the fear of such trouble may be greatly reduced after Charotte, which is the most demanding race on the entire circuit anyway, and that will be enhanced this year with the increased speeds and increased grip the cars now have. 624. cjs3872 posted: 04.15.2013 - 3:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) DSFF, the Penske cars were deemed illegal before race time, probably because NASCAR was tipped off about it, and again, the most likely candidates to have tipped NASCAR off about this are Chad Knaus and Jack Roush because of their history of dirty dealiings. That's the only logical explanation. 625. Jim Davis posted: 04.15.2013 - 3:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) "...probably because NASCAR was tipped off about it, and again, the most likely candidates to have tipped NASCAR off about this are Chad Knaus and Jack Roush because of their history of dirty dealiings." You're just making stuff up. Why would anyone need to tip NASCAR off? Why couldn't an ordinary pre-race inspection reveal the issue? How would Roush or Knaus or anyone else outside of the Penske team have any clue about the rear end housing of the Penske cars? If NASCAR was tipped off about it how would that constitute a "dirty dealing"? "That's the only logical explanation." You and logic are total strangers. 626. Jim Davis posted: 04.15.2013 - 4:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Either you broke a rule or you didn't." It's rarely that simple. I've never seen the NASCAR rule book; few people not directly involved with the sport have. But lesser series do have their rule books posted online and they invariably have clauses to the effect that not every situation can be anticipated or that the rules cannot cover every situation and that the officials have considerable leeway for personal judgements, etc. For example from: http://www.cra-racing.com/tech/2013CRARulebook.pdf you have "OFFICIAL DECISIONS 1. Any situation not specifically covered in these rules will be acted upon by the official or officials in charge at the time, whose decision will be final and binding on all participants. 2. Any disagreement over technical questions or operations will be resolved by series officials. When decision is rendered, decision is final and binding 3. Continuous developments in racing may necessitate changes which cannot be anticipated at the time rules are formulated. If necessary, rules may be updated, changed, deleted or added to at the discretion of the officials. 4. At certain events, to encourage participation of local competitors, the officials may alter the rules for those cars to try and create a level playing field for cars that might fall outside of the normal rules. Official's decisions are final." I would bet heavily that the NASCAR rulebook has similar clauses. I think this will turn out to be a case where the rules are vague and/or ambiguous and the Penske team and NASCAR aren't seeing eye to eye about the proper way to interpret them. 627. cjs3872 posted: 04.15.2013 - 4:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Because Jim, Chad Knaus and Jack Roush have a history of dirty dealings. I would not be beyond either of those two to have given NASCAR a subtle hint about something like that. Remember that Brad Keselowski did exactly that regarding some of the Hendrick cars last year, so that kind of thing is hardly unprecedented. I would also consider someone from Joe Gibbs Racing a potential rat in this case, but I don't really believe that JGR would stand for anything like that. I believe for NASCAR to do smething like that, they would have to be looking for something specific, and the only reason they'd be looking for somethng specific would be if they were tipped off by a rival team about Penske's suspension settings. But enough about that. Nothing about what happened in Texas really matters now because of what just happened in Boston with the terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon today, which has killed at least two, severely injured dozens more, and some of them may not make it. All this talk about cheating is nothing compared to what's going on in Boston right now. 628. Daniel posted: 04.15.2013 - 4:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kansas entry list: -Sam Hornish Jr. in the #12 -Regan Smith in the #51 -Elliott Sadler in the #81 629. Jim Davis posted: 04.15.2013 - 4:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (3) "Because Jim, Chad Knaus and Jack Roush have a history of dirty dealings." And exactly how is that relevant? Do you consider it "dirty dealings" to point out a rules violation by a competitor? "I would not be beyond either of those two to have given NASCAR a subtle hint about something like that." And exactly how would they gain any knowledge of Penske rear end housings to give subtle hints about? And why would NASCAR need any subtle hints? Why couldn't they discover the issue during their inspection? "Remember that Brad Keselowski did exactly that regarding some of the Hendrick cars last year..." So now Keselowski has a history of dirty dealings? 630. cjs3872 posted: 04.15.2013 - 4:39 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Jim, in the case of Chad Knaus and Jack Roush, it's not only their history, but also their potential motives. And by the way, Brad Keselowski is not exactly a saint either, because he has a history of doing some things that aren't on the level, either, but it's not on the level what of Knaus and Roush have done over the years. And as for how other competitors might be aware of what may be going on. In the case of the rear-end housing, it can sometimes be seen in plain sight by how the car is driving, and if such a competitor is behind a car with an odd setup, they can radio to their crew what's going on, and sometimes they can alert the sanctioning body that way. In fact, that's how Keselowski got wise to what the Hendrick teams were doing with their rear-end housings last year(the 5, 48, and 88 anyway, because I don't think the 24 team was doing it). And when that happens, NASCAR is obliged to check for the sake of fairness and competition. I never said that tipping off NASCAR is wrong. I'm just suspicious of the timing of it. After all, why wasn't that searched for and/or found before the cars ever hit the track? 631. cjs3872 posted: 04.15.2013 - 4:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Especially Benjamin Lowe, in light of what happened about two hours ago in Boston at the finish line in the Boston Marathon that has killed at least two and injured at least two dozen others, which I brought up in post #627. Again, nothing related to what happened at Texas this past weekend really matters in comparison to what happened in Boston today. 632. Jim Davis posted: 04.15.2013 - 5:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Jim, in the case of Chad Knaus and Jack Roush, it's not only their history, but also their potential motives." Motives shared by every team in the garage. "And when that happens, NASCAR is obliged to check for the sake of fairness and competition." NASCAR is obliged to check for the sake of fairness and competition even when that *doesn't* happen. "I never said that tipping off NASCAR is wrong." You said it was "dirty dealing". You also said that "I don't really believe that JGR would stand for anything like that." Joe Gibbs racing would never stand for pointing out a competitor is cheating? 633. cjs3872 posted: 04.15.2013 - 5:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jim, that may not be the case here with Knaus or Roush, if they were the ones that tipped off NASCAR of what the Penske teams were up to. But they're not beyond dirty dealings, not that this would be such a case. In fact, they have a history of it. And NASCAR is obliged to check generally for the sake of safety and competition, but they would only check and recheck a specific area if tipped off. And as for you saying Joe Gibbs Racing, or any other team for that matter, standing for pointing out that another team is cheating. First of all, that's the job of the sanctioning body, not any one team. Secondly, what would it say for a team to beat a team that cheats, and do it fair and square. That would really send a message, and the right one. And by the way, a Gibbs car (the #18 of Kyle Busch) won the race fair and square, and the car that finished second was not completely within the confines of the rulebook, as the second place car of Martin Truex, Jr. was found to be too low. Now I don't think the #56 team cheated, but still the car was not entrely in the confines of the rulebook, either. And that's the biggest and best way to stand up to those not entrely in the confines of the rulebook, beating them without having to resort to fudging the rules. 634. DaleSrFanForever posted: 04.15.2013 - 5:42 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) What gets me is the explanation that they "broke the spirit of the rules". By all accounts, there was nothing illegal on the car and it passed every inspection until the pre race, then they decided they didn't like the way it was mounted. Every time this has happened in the past where a car had nothing illegal but exploited the "gray areas" to break the "spirit of the rules" (The Winston 1997, Michigan last year) that team was allowed to race the car, dominate, either win or be on the way to a sure win until the motor broke, then not be penalized, then NASCAR releases a "new technical bulletin" telling all teams that whatever they were doing is now illegal. The fact NASCAR took something away that wasn't illegal and are considering penalties is a crock. And the fact they won't fine Brad while sticking up for Denny's fine is a crock. Inconsistency yet again. NASCAR can never be taken seriously as a true legislative body until they fix this. As for the Boston deal, I have no idea what to say. Obviously I am praying for the victims and their families, but I just can't shake the feeling of "What's Next?". How many of these are we gonna have to endure? Is my town next (from the small town of Newtown to the big city of Boston, nowhere is safe)? What is wrong with people? When did America turn into the Middle East (bad economy, bad leadership, palpable political unrest, constant attacks, lingering feeling of the inevitable next attack)? I just feel sick. 635. Jim Davis posted: 04.15.2013 - 6:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "But they're not beyond dirty dealings, not that this would be such a case. In fact, they have a history of it." And now Wolfe, Gordon, and Penske have a history of it. "And NASCAR is obliged to check generally for the sake of safety and competition, but they would only check and recheck a specific area if tipped off." Really? Why not? You're contradicting yourself. First, you claim that finding cheaters is the job of the sanctioning body and not any one team and now you're claiming that they only check for cheaters if tipped off. Which is it? "Secondly, what would it say for a team to beat a team that cheats, and do it fair and square." So let me see if I follow you here... The Penske teams were generously giving their fellow competitors an opportunity to display their superior racing prowess by beating illegal cars when "dirty dealing" Knaus and Roush selfishly robbed them of that opportunity by tipping off NASCAR. Is that about right? "That would really send a message, and the right one." I think your contention that Penske's competitors don't mind if Penske cheats because it makes their own victories that much sweeter is not defensible. But I suspect that you will, indeed, defend it. 636. murb posted: 04.15.2013 - 6:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Just saw a video of "Brainless" Brian doing an interview this morning. The lady asked him if Brad would be fined, and here's what he said: "No he won't be fined, because we allow the drivers to speak their minds." UM, THEN WHY THE HELL DID YOU FINE DENNY FOR SPEAKING HIS MIND YOU f**kING MORON?!?!?! I'm 100% with DSFF, their constant inconsistency is why they aren't being taken seriously. The NFL, MLB, and NBA all have their fair share of crooks holding down the fort, but at least they (for the most part) stick to their guns when it comes to rulings. Nascar has to be the most wishy-washiest sanctioning body in sports, bar none. And I for one am sick and tired of it. And in a related story, I guess there's a pretty good chance that Paul Wolfe, Todd Gordon, and even the Penske Competition Director will all be suspended because of this. Even the competition director too? Is this situation worse than the countless times HMS has been caught with stuff? Because I can't recall any of their competition directors or anything like that being suspended. What a joke. Also, thoughts go out to everyone affected by the Boston Marathon bombings. Things like this definitely make me ashamed to be a human in this world. Such a shame. 637. cjs3872 posted: 04.15.2013 - 6:26 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) If that's the case Jim, then Knaus and Roush are only denying themselves that chance. And of course, they don't like it when anyone cheats. What I was saying was that, if they can beat a team that cheats and play by the rules doing it, that tells the other teams in the garage area that they don't have to cheat to win. How many times over the years did the Wood Brothers win races against cars that were likely cheated up, yet there has never been a hint of cheating on their part, and the same is true regarding RCR when Dale, Sr. drove there. Earnhardt quite often beat cheated-up cars, yet no team he was ever on was ever accused of doing anything against the rules, as far as his car is concerned. And by the way, Penske has a long history of fudging the rules himself, going at least as far back as the 1974 NASCAR finale at Ontario, CA when Bobby Allison won in an AMC Matador that was later found to have illegal roller tappets. And it was Penske's first legendary driver, Mark Donohue, that coined the phrase "the unfair advantage". But guys like Penske and Rick Hendrick always get the benefit of the doubt because they're also known to be gentlemen and highly respected competitors, unlike others who are known not to be nice guys and aren't respected quite as much. Fair or not, that's the way it is in all sports, not just racing. Also, I did say that it's up to the sanctioning body to find out if anything is going on, and it always has been, but they'll usually check and recheck certain, specific areas if certain teams have been complaining, or if it's so far out of whack that the officials can actually see it themselves. There's a difference between a general inspection and searching for something specific, and NASCAR seemed to be looking in a very specific area on the Penske cars at Texas. And by the way, there have been problems with he inspection process this entire season, even with teams not known for any fudging of the rules. Even the #47 car of Bobby Labonte had trouble getting through inspection prior to one race, and I highly doubt that team's up to any chicanery. I still think there's a problem with the inspection process this year, and numerous cars, even those nobody would ever expect to have aything wrong with them, have had trouble in inspection this year. 638. murb posted: 04.15.2013 - 6:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) On Nascar Race Hub, they had a tagline at the bottom of the screen that said, "Martin Truex Jr: The King of 2nd Place". OUCH!!! As a competitor, I can't imagine a worse nickname. Especially if it's given to you by a bunch of media jerkoffs. 639. AveryNH posted: 04.15.2013 - 7:01 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Such an incredible shame. The Boston Marathon is a holiday here in New England and for something as tragic as this to occur is just astounding. I was watching and turned it off after 12:30. I found out probably at 5:30. A cousin of mine who lives in the city was competing today, along with a handful of my friends. Fortunately they pulled through alright. I've walked those streets, seen those buildings. It's inconceivable to me that we've become such a twisted society. I agree with murb, days like today make me ashamed to be a human. Days like today don't feel real. I haven't felt this way since Sandy Hook back in December. Which also says how much of a shame this is, the fact that I can so easily recall the last time I was this physically stunned and awed by the abuse of mans god given power is despicable. Godspeed to all the victims. And may justice be brought to the perpetrator whomever they may be. 640. Joe Fan #87 posted: 04.15.2013 - 7:01 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Seems to be first race where the BK cars really didn't have problems, and finished kinda decent. 641. Jon posted: 04.15.2013 - 7:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) is "dirty dealings" trying to make your car faster? by any means necessary? yeah i don't think anyone in the garage area besides jack and rick are guilty of doing that, ever. 642. cjs3872 posted: 04.15.2013 - 7:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well, given the events of what happened in Boston, I think it would be good to see someone like Martin Truex, Jr. or Joey Logano win at Kansas this coming Sunday, given that they're the drivers among those that can contend that are from closest to Boston, particularly Logano. Truex and Logano might be racing with the heaviest hearts Sunday. Certainly whoever wins will most likely extend their condolences to those in the Boston area, but I would imagine that Logano and Truex would be emotionally be hit hardest by these events since they come from the northeastern part of the country. 643. cjs3872 posted: 04.15.2013 - 7:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) No Jon. I would consider "dirty dealings" to be flatly accusing someone of cheating without any real proof, as Roush did in 1998, or hiding or stealing information from someone you're supposed to be teammates with, as Knaus has done for practically his entire tenure at Hendrick Motorsports. And anyone willing to do things like that will go to literally any length to win. That's what I mean by "dirty dealings", and by the way, team orders is right along those lines, such as what happened at Richmond last fall. And Jeff Gordon still beat those dirty dealings to make the Chase ahead of Kyle Busch and Toyota. 644. DaleSrFanForever posted: 04.15.2013 - 7:58 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) They really need to make a SPEED doc called "The Day: Richmond 2012". Just a great REAL storyline that played out in dramatic fashion with a ton of subplots, Refuse To Lose vs Agree To Lose, The Old Jeff Gordon vs The New Jeff Gordon, snakebit driver vs snakebit driver. Of course, as you all know, I also think they should do "The Day: Atlanta 2011". Aside from the EPIC FREAKING BATTLE in the end between the sport's two best drivers, Kyle, The New Jeff Gordon, on Labor Day weekend at age 26 with a chance at a million dollar bonus, just like The Old Jeff Gordon did in 1997. Oh, and who won the race? The Old Jeff Gordon. 645. Jarrett88fan posted: 04.15.2013 - 8:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This is sickening right now. A win by Joey (no fan of Logano at all) or Martin (winners persevere and drive with heart) at Kansas would absolutely help, albeit a tad bit, heal New England. Our American revolutionary experience centered around Boston and it is the oldest large city in the U.S. Much of our collective cultural heritage is in and around Boston. In addition, such figures as John and Sam Adams, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the Kennedy's were from the region. 646. Jim Davis posted: 04.15.2013 - 8:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "If that's the case Jim, then Knaus and Roush are only denying themselves that chance. And of course, they don't like it when anyone cheats." Which, of course, means that they are exactly like everyone else. Really, cjs, I don't see the point of going further. Your reconstruction of the incident seems to be: Someone on the Penske team decided to cheat to make their cars faster. But rather than cheat in a manner that would not be obvious to their competitors, they decided to cheat in a fashion that would be obvious during the practice sessions. They counted on their competitors not reporting this to NASCAR because they assumed that their competitors would welcome the chance to demonstrate their racing prowess by winning over cheated up cars. And, of course, there would be no chance of NASCAR finding this out on their own during inspections since they never pay any attention to any area unless a competitor specifically points that area out. But the Penske team's generous display of sportsmanship was all for naught because those dirty dealers, Chad Knaus and Jack Roush, had to spoil everyone's fun by tipping off NASCAR. I find it flabbergasting that you can't see how mindblowingly preposterous that is. 647. cjs3872 posted: 04.15.2013 - 8:26 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Neither do I Jim, neither do I. And as I said, Penske has a long history of breaking the rules, and in some cases, flat out cheating. The most imfamous case being the traction control they used in 1994 to dominate the IndyCar season, something one of that team's drivers, Paul Tracy, admitted to years later. 648. JG24FanForever posted: 04.15.2013 - 8:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I also think they should do "The Day: Atlanta 2011". Aside from the EPIC FREAKING BATTLE in the end between the sport's two best drivers, Kyle, The New Jeff Gordon, on Labor Day weekend at age 26 with a chance at a million dollar bonus, just like The Old Jeff Gordon did in 1997. Oh, and who won the race? The Old Jeff Gordon." Gordon's win broke the tie he had with Cale Yarborough for all-time wins in the annual Labor Day event with his 6th. It was also a much overlooked 70th anniversary of the last pre-war race,that was held in Atlanta,at Lakewood speedway. A race won by a driver that Bill France at eightie years old said was the greatest driver he ever saw and added: "and i've them all" named Lioyd Seay. That's quite a bit of historical significance that gets unnoticed,and he beat Jimmie Johnson to break the Modern victory total record to boot. That race is one of the 20 greatest of all-time,if not better. Gordon's car control display is also the best since maybe Tim Richmond in the 1986 Southern 500. 649. Paul posted: 04.15.2013 - 9:03 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) This back-and-forth banter between cjs and Jim Davis reminds me of the mini-feud between Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin from earlier this year. I don't care who wins, I don't care who loses. I just want it to stop. One person makes assumptions and predictions, and the other knocks that person for making those assumptions and predictions. Enough already. A good nickname for Martin Truex, Jr. would be "Next Week's Winner," which would be a play off of the nickname that the Dallas Cowboys were given in the late '60s and early '70s, which was "Next Year's Champions." There are too many races titled "The Day" as it is. I'm surprised someone involved with NASCAR hasn't copyrighted that phrase yet, possibly to promote their upcoming book about that movie. (hint, hint) One name that I think would be good for Atlanta 2011 is "It Ain't 1997 Anymore," which I think is good for several reasons. First off, it isn't 1997 anymore, both literally (obviously) and figuratively because NASCAR has done a complete 180 since 1997 when it was still a legitimate sport, to now when it's basically "sports entertainment" (As a wrestling fan, I HATE those words.). Also, unlike the 1997 Labor Day race ('97 Southern 500), the driver who had a shot at winning $1 million by winning that said race did not win. And the driver that did win, Jeff Gordon, did so not by running into the hard charging 2nd place driver, but by actually racing him and straight up beating him on the track, proving that he still is the man. It ain't 1997 anymore, and I think the storylines involved with this race fits perfectly with that title. As for Richmond 2012, I can't think of a better title than "Refuse To Lose!" (exclamation mark intended). "The Old Jeff Gordon" had a car that didn't even deserve to finish in the top TWENTY in that race and should have never been in reach of making the Chase with 100 laps to go. Yet his crew chief made probably the best decision he's ever made by cutting the chain that connects to the rear sway bar shortly after the red flag was lifted, which is a great metaphor for how Jeff drove the rest of that race as he was driving like a man that had finally been unchained the rest of the way. While one "Jeff Gordon"'s crew chief made a great pit call, the other one's crew chief made a horrible call by keeping Kyle out instead of pitting under caution. End result: Kyle dropped like an anchor through the rest of the field, falling from 4th to about 18th, the last car on the lead lap, and lost a lap in the process. Now he wasn't the only driver who was left out under that caution, but he did have the biggest meltdown out of all the drivers left out, and the result showed. He even went over the radio and said something to the tune of "You know what to do" to his crew chief, and a couple laps later two true wingmen and chokers, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex, Jr., made a "pit stop" to allow Kyle to pass them. Truex's was far more inexcusable because he had just made a legitimate pit stop just a few laps earlier. It didn't matter however, as Jeff went on to finish 2nd and Kyle finished 16th. The better driver finished higher in that race, and the better driver made the Chase. Now that I think about it a little more, this race's title could instead be "Three." "Three" referring to the number of points that Kyle missed the Chase by. Here's another thing that should have (if it hadn't already) haunted Kyle Busch from that race: Jimmie Johnson was also left on the race track during that caution, the same one that Kyle stayed out during, and he finished three positions (3 points) higher than Kyle did. Ouch, that's gotta sting! Had he kept his composure instead of melting down the way he did, it could have been him who finished 13th and made the Chase instead. Also, the number three was of course Dale's number, who I think would be proud of the way Jeff drove through the field en route to arguably the greatest 2nd place finish in NASCAR history, and was the driver who finished 2nd to Jeff in that exact same race 12 years earlier. Whichever the title, that's one race that should have a title, and I think it's a travesty that the media seems to have forgotten about it already. I'll bet they won't even mention it in two weeks when the series heads back to Richmond because they don't want to remind us that Kyle Busch isn't perfect. Plus, mentioning a meltdown like that wouldn't fit well with this "New Kyle Busch" bullshit that they continue to shove down our throats. Whatever. At least the memories from that race haven't totally been swept under the rug. 650. Paul posted: 04.15.2013 - 9:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I like how if a college football team gets caught cheating years after the fact (USC, soon to be Auburn), they get their championships and accolades stripped, and have their achievements denounced. But if a professional sports team gets caught cheating (Patriots, Junior Johnson, Hendrick, Penske), they get to keep everything and are almost celebrated for their cheating accomplishments. Money talks, kids. Money talks. 651. Benjamin Lowe posted: 04.15.2013 - 9:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Paul your not the only who's annoyed by this constant bickering by CJS & Jim Davis. 652. cjs3872 posted: 04.15.2013 - 9:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Paul, there are even sports like baseball that, as Skip Bayless put it last year, even romanticizes successful cheating, and he points to Gaylord Perry as a prime example. The thing about it is that, when you watch the events as they happen, it's almost impossible to tell in most circumstances who is cheating and who isn't, but most situations involving cheating aren't really known until years later. The Bill Elliott case in 1985 was a perfect example of this. He dominated the speedways that entire season, and it wasn't for nearly 25 years exactly why they dominated the way they did. They were illegally tampering with the air and fuel flow into the engine, thus giving them an insane horsepower advantage over everyone else. Bobby Allison, a driver who had many dust-ups with the officials himself, said that Elliott have have had as much as 100 more horsepower than he had during the 1985 Winston 500, and not even Waddell Wilson's car could keep up, and he was always a wizard when it came to tuning engines, and he never resorted to cheating. But the fact that Elliott's "secret advantage" wasn't known for almost 25 years is a prime example of someone cheating and nobody knowing exactly what is was they were doing and getting away with. 653. JG24FanForever posted: 04.15.2013 - 9:23 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) "The Bill Elliott case in 1985 was a perfect example of this." You forgot to mention that the car also had a 7/8 scale body:) 654. JG24FanForever posted: 04.15.2013 - 9:37 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Here's an article by Tom Jensen about Bill Elliott in 1985: FOXSports.com on Lycos presents three excerpts from former NASCAR Winston Cup Scene executive editor Tom Jensen's new book, Cheating: An Inside Look at the Bad Things Good NASCAR Winston Cup Racers Do in Pursuit of Speed. Part I examines 's 1985 and what his team did to win 11 races but fall just short of the Winston Cup championship to Darrell Waltrip. If Dale Earnhardt, Richard Childress, and company attracted a lot of scrutiny during their halcyon days in the 1980s, it was even worse for during his famous 1985 season, when he won 11 races and became the first driver to claim the $1 million "Winston Million" bonus by scoring victories at Daytona, Talladega, and Darlington. When Elliott came back from two laps down under green-flag conditions to score an improbable victory at Talladega, his car became the target of rumors, speculation, and increasingly zealous post-race inspections for the rest of the season and beyond, a degree of attention that to this day the team says cost it the 1985 Winston Cup championship. The team spent so much time trying to rebuild its cars after post-race inspection that burnout set in, leading to a slump late in the season, especially on short tracks. But on the superspeedways, Elliott's Thunderbird was untouchable. There were many theories about why Elliott ran so well at superspeedways: Some said engine builder Ernie Elliott coaxed more horsepower out of the team's Ford engines than anyone else; others say it was aerodynamics. "Everybody thought he was doing something crazy," Humpy Wheeler, the president of Lowe's Motor Speedway, said of Elliott's all-conquering Ford Thunderbird. "In February 1985 at Daytona, somebody came up to me and said, 'Bill Elliott wants to see you in his trailer.' So, I went over there. "He said, 'I don't know what to do with this car. It is absolutely flying, and I know they [NASCAR] are going to come down on me. And I haven't done anything to this car.' "I said, 'Well, you've just got to run it like it is and let things work themselves out.' What it was was what we ended up calling ducktailing. That car body was so aerodynamic that, when the air came off the back of it, rather than come straight back it was coming back like this [Wheeler brings his hands together in a Vshape]. That's why people couldn't draft him. They'd get up there to draft that car and it would just stop them. That was not an infringement of the rules as much as it was simply a different body style that did a quirky thing, which led to a lot of people cheating that year to try to catch up with him. It caught up with him at Talladega, because he makes two laps up under the green. That did it. That right there ushered in the [new more aerodynamic] back window for the GM cars the following year, but there was a tremendous amount of cheating going on in that period trying to catch . And, for a while, he didn't know what he was doing." Or did he? Aerodynamicist Louis Duncan thinks he did. "Bill Elliott's car was so fast at Talladega that it lapped the field under green twice. He obviously had many good things. He had good pit stops, he had good motors, good bodies, everything about the car was really right," Duncan said. "At that time, there was a long template, a wooden template, no cross templates and no specific height measurements. That particular car probably maxed out the gray area without being officially cheated up. It was actually a smaller car than the rest of the Thunderbirds. The roof height was lower and the body was narrower. It had been lowered and narrowed so that it was approximately 7/8 scale of a full-size car." Duncan said, in his mind at least, aero work did not constitute cheating. "Cheating is where you have an illegal shock or you do something that's intentionally against the rules. NASCAR allows gray areas and a little bit of leeway and a little bit of tolerance on the templates," he said. "Working within that tolerance and leeway is not cheating, it's working ... to make your car as good as you can make it." Arguably, Duncan's interpretation is a liberal and charitable one. Almost any reasonable person would conclude that if, and it's a big if, Elliott's car was indeed substantially smaller than those of the competition, it would constitute a substantial and illegal advantage. Not that it would be the first time anyone had tried such a trick, of course, Smokey Yunick's 1968 Daytona car was undersized, and in the early 1960s, teams already were trying to drop the noses of their race cars as low as possible at superspeedways. When asked if it were possible to get away with running an undersized body back then, NASCAR Managing Director of Competition Gary Nelson, who in 1985 was a crew chief competing against Elliott, put it this way: "All I know was I had the same opportunity to put my car through the same inspection process that Elliott's car went through. They were just smarter than me that day." He declined to elaborate. To this day, remains vague on the specifics of his 1985 performance. "We were able to bring the sport to the next level and focus on certain things that either other people didn't think of or weren't willing to work for or whatever," he said at Daytona in 2001, a loosely phrased way of saying he outfoxed the competition. Whatever the source of Elliott's success, his car passed both pre- and post-race inspection at Talladega that day, so by NASCAR's definition it was legal. But the team came under incredible scrutiny for the rest of the 1985 season. "I think that [Talladega] said a lot to NASCAR about what we could do and the potential that was there," said Bill's brother Dan, who built gears and changed tires for Elliott's team, which was owned by the late Michigan industrialist Harry Melling. "I honestly think that's the reason the car was picked apart after a lot of wins. "The only blessing I can say that we had was, I guess, some of the inspectors were real fair-minded about the competition. They [NASCAR] did a lot of things that year specifically aimed at us, just to slow us down. The only thing that slowed us down was physical burnout, because there were so few of us." The team's dominance even earned them a stern rebuke from NASCAR President Bill France Jr. At Darlington in the spring of 1985, the Elliotts were summoned to France's office at the track. "Very little was said," recalled Dan Elliott. "The only thing I can remember him (France) saying was, 'You will not come here and stink up our show.' He said we could win the race, but not by a lap. In other words, we wouldn't embarrass the field." This was exactly the same kind of heavy-handed treatment that Kiekhaefer endured in the mid-1950s and would encounter in 1998: Win a lot and you become a target of the inspectors. "Elliott came in there and won 11 races in '85," said Bob Moore. "Everyone was sure that Ernie found an illegal way to get a lot of horsepower. Talladega was a perfect example. There is no way they were supposed to be able to do what they did at Talladega. [NASCAR] supposedly destroyed four or five engines trying to find out, so Ernie couldn't put 'em back together. A lot of people are under the impression that they let Elliott get away with it, or in 1998, they let Gordon get away with it, or they let Petty get away with it. That is not the case. NASCAR is doing everything they can." Ultimately, Elliott and his team set many records in 1985, but came up 11 points short of a Winston Cup title. Whether they lost the title because NASCAR put them under such intense scrutiny or whether they won as often as they did because they had an edge over other teams is open to debate. Likely, it was both. And if that wasn't enough controversy for one season, there was the inaugural running of "The Winston," a high-dollar no-points race NASCAR bills as its all-star event. The racers who compete in it have their own, more blunt description: They call it "checkers or wreckers." Win or crash trying. In the second excerpt from Tom Jensen's Cheating: An Inside Look at the Bad Things Good NASCAR Winston Cup Racers Do in Pursuit of Speed, the author looks at another memorable -- and questionable to some -- 1985 race, The Winston's maiden voyage. Find out why some questioned Darrell Waltrip's win, and get crew chief and fellow NASCAR on FOX analyst Jeff Hammond's take on controversy. 655. cjs3872 posted: 04.15.2013 - 9:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well JG24FF, I don't know about the 7/8 scale body, but Dan Elliott flat-out admitted what they were doing regarding the air and fuel flow into the engine, which to me, constitutes as blatant a level of cheating as is possible. Yet, they not only got away with it, but it may still not be known what they were doing if Dan hadn't blurted out what it was they were doing with their engines. They would not have destroyed the competition the way they did if it weren't for the tricks they were doing with their engines, because that was worth more than anything they did aerodynamically would ever have been worth. It was, however, mentioned early in the 1985 Daytona 500 that others were wondering what they were doing aerdynamically since their car had not been to a wind tunnel, and although that gave them some degree of an advantage over the competition, it was not nearly the advantage that the team's doctoring of the engines gave them. Again, tht goes to the old Mark Donohue line "the unfair advantage", but what the Elliotts were doing was blatant cheating, and they got away with it, not from aerodynamics, but from what they did to improve the performance of their engine. 656. Cornys posted: 04.15.2013 - 10:25 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Yeah, the suspension parts comments are definitly valid. This is either going to require stronger parts or lower speeds if so. We'll see moving forward. I'd expect Kansas speeds to approach or exceed 200MPH average in qualifying, but in the race I don't see any times faster than 194MH on average with corner entry at around 200. That's not bad really. I just hope the tires and the suspensions will hold up to it. I don't see speed at Kansas being an issue. NASCAR has already said that it's alright for 215MPH corner entry at Michigan. There they'll probably be right back at 203 average or maybe a little more even, but the big question is now: how much will the tire stand? I love the higher speeds, but not because it makes better racing, but just because it's amazing and exciting. Albeit dangerous. I wish they'd reduce the height of the rear spoiler or something to make the cars harder to handle and less able to corner, but even so I love the speeds. As long as the cars and tires can hold up to the abuse, and it remains mostly safe for the competitors (almost 100% safe for the fans though please), I'm just fine with it :) Will this Kansas race be like the crash fest last Fall? I hope not. At least there won't be any debris cautions if so. :X 657. Bronco posted: 04.15.2013 - 11:00 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "On Nascar Race Hub, they had a tagline at the bottom of the screen that said, "Martin Truex Jr: The King of 2nd Place"." Mark Martin is the undisputed King of 2nd Place. Martin Truex only has 6 2nd finishes after his last win, while Mark Martin has 5 2nd place finishes in the championship alone, and 2nds in all the sport's major events. 658. Paul posted: 04.15.2013 - 11:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "while Mark Martin has 5 2nd place finishes in the championship alone, and 2nds in all the sport's major events." Actually Mark never finished 2nd in the Coca-Cola 600, but he does have two runner-up finishes in the fall Charlotte race. Other than that, you are exactly right. And to Mark's credit, he finished 2nd in the championship and in some of the sport's biggest races to some of the best drivers ever. He finished 2nd in the points twice to Dale Earnhardt ('90, '94), and once to Jeff Gordon ('98), Tony Stewart ('02), and Jimmie Johnson ('09). He also finished 2nd in the '89 and '92 Southern 500s to Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip, respectively, and the '98 and '09 Brickyard 400s to Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, respectively. And while I wouldn't say that he is in Mark's league as far as being a Cup driver is concerned, Mark did finish 2nd in the '07 Daytona 500 to Kevin Harvick, who I think is one of the five best big race drivers in NASCAR today. And what may be just as, if not more, impressive than how many times he finished 2nd and to whom he finished 2nd in the points is the number of years in between Mark's 2nd place finishes. His first runner-up points finish came in 1990, and his most recent runner-up points finish came in 2009. Likewise, his first runner-up finish in a "major" came in the 1989 Southern 500, while his most recent one came in the 2009 Brickyard 400. That's a spread of 20 and 21 seasons, respectively! Not to mention the fact that he won five majors himself (including two Winston 500s) over a 10-year period ('93 to '02). It's a shame he doesn't have a Daytona 500 or a NASCAR championship to his credit, otherwise Mark Martin's career would have been perfect. Plus, he may have the cleanest record of all active drivers, and definitely one of the cleanest records in the history of auto racing. Best driver to never win a NASCAR championship that actually tried to win a NASCAR championship in NASCAR history, and the best to never win one in the modern era. 659. Eric posted: 04.15.2013 - 11:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Cornys, The tires are not going to handle the abuse for Michigan. Remember that Goodyear brought a different tear between cup qualifying and the race last year at Michigan. The practices for the race weekend for the 1st Michigan race showed tire problems and Goodyear brought in a different tire after cup qualifying as a result. 660. David posted: 04.16.2013 - 12:17 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) I didn't miss much. Jim and cjs, just let it go. What matters is that NASCAR took the Penske Racing parts, and that's all there is to see. What does it matter if someone tipped them off? 661. Paul posted: 04.16.2013 - 12:43 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) cjs may have a point about NASCAR being tipped off, as the Associated Press just released a story stating that there is gossip in the garage that Hendrick Motorsports tipped NASCAR off about the Penske cars. Both teams were next to each other in the garage this past weekend, with the #48 and #2 teams sitting next to each other and the #24 and #22 teams sitting next to each other in the Texas garage. The story goes that members from the #48 and/or #24 teams were eavesdropping on one or both of the Penske teams' radio transmissions during practice, and told NASCAR to take a look at their cars once practice was over. Again, this is just gossip as this point, but the fact that this is actually being reported on and not just a fan conspiracy seems pretty suspicious to me. If this story is in fact true, and members of HMS did indeed tip off NASCAR about the Penske cars, I wonder what Roger Penske's reaction will be given the fact that he and Rick Hendrick are good friends, and there's talk that one of Hendrick's employees basically snitched on Penske's team. I still don't understand how a team could be penalized for having a car that was found to be in the gray area in the pre- and post-race inspections, as opposed to a car that was actually illegal (like the #56 car was). As it stands right now, the talk in the garage is that both Paul Wolfe and Todd Gordon are likely to be suspended for this, and both Brad and Joey will be docked points as well. 662. murb posted: 04.16.2013 - 12:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wow. CJS must be some type of wizard or something. 663. cjs3872 posted: 04.16.2013 - 1:22 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Paul, if the AP is right, then I would have to say this may be revenge for what started at Indy last year when Brad Keselowski was complaining about the rear ends on the Hendrick cars, which was Brad's first shot across the bow of the #48 team, something that lasted practically the entire Chase. Also, I highly doubt that it would be the #22 car that drew the complaint, since Joey Logano is not feared anywhere near as much as Brad Keselowski is. Jimmie Johnson might let that and the end result of the championship go, but Chad Knaus is never one to let anything like that go. And also, Roger Penske and Rick Hendrick may be friends, but their employees are hardly friends. Remember the fierce rivalry that festered for years with Rusty Wallace and Jeff Gordon? And if Chad Knaus will undercut members of the same organization he works for (which he's done for years), what do you think he'll try to do to a competing organization? 664. Schroeder51 posted: 04.16.2013 - 2:48 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) Confirmed: cjs IS one of the fabled "Racing Gods" we've heard so oft mentioned. 665. Cornys posted: 04.16.2013 - 8:26 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm aware of that Eric, that's why this Gen-6 at Michigan worries me. We know they won't bring the fast qualifying tire from the early summer race last year because the heat just melted it. Do they have a compound that will hold up to it this year? Possibly. Let's hope so. It's Michigan though. It was covered by snow all winter and the surface has probably aged a bit. I just see it being a little faster than last year despite the much faster cars. Who knows, the draft effect might be great enough there this year to actually make the race very exciting like this year's California race. It's hard to tell though until the cars actually hit that track. Of course, this is all taking into account the fact that suspension parts will probably not continue to be a problem. The teams will learn from the failures of this week and come back next week with a stronger piece than the one that broke. If they don't they're probably not doing their jobs very well. 666. Daniel posted: 04.16.2013 - 9:20 am Rate this comment: (0) (2) That's it. I'm done with Cup. I can't stand these inconsistent rulings, false yellows, etc. I'm sticking with trucks and that's it. 667. Bronco posted: 04.16.2013 - 11:28 am Rate this comment: (3) (0) Also, Brad Keselowski's comments after the race are just laughable. He goes on a rant about how NASCAR is allegedly targeting him and his team(just like how supposedly they targeted Jeremy Mayfield)? Yet for some reason, Brad is "outspoken" while Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin are known as "whiners". Can't figure that one out. I cannot believe that Kurt Busch got suspended for a race for bluntly answering that reporter's dumb question at Dover last year and that Denny Hamlin got fined for making some very harmless comments after Phoenix, yet Brad got away with both the nature of his rant and the language that he used. It's poetic justice that both the #2 and #22 had parts from their cars confiscated, after Brad basically accused the HMS teams of cheating after the August Michigan race last year. He also has no right to complain about the bad penalty for pitting outside the box that he was given at Martinsville. If anyone remembers, he was on the good side of NASCAR's bad ruling last summer when Elliott Sadler was unjustly black flagged during the Indy Nationwide race which handed the win to Brad. 668. cjs3872 posted: 04.16.2013 - 12:33 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Bronco, if I remember right, Kurt got suspended because he threatened that reporter while on probation for his post-race antics at Darlington. The incident itself would likely not have resulted in a suspension, but the fact that he was on probation, combined with the he threatened that reporter, was what got him suspended. And I can't agree more on the Denny Hamlin situation from Phoenix. If NASCAR's unfairly targeting any driver, it's Hamlin, because he's not afraid to speak his mind about NASCAR, and now he's been fined at least twice for it. And as for the Penske situation, isn't it ironic how things tend to boomerang in this sport? Last summer at Indy, Keselowski questions the legailty of the rear ends that Hendrick was using, though they were deemed legal by NASCAR, something that changed at the start of the Chase, and now if the AP story is to be believed, it was one of Hendrick's teams that ratted out Penske this week at Texas. Also in that story, it was mentioned that it was never said that what Penske was running was illegal, so if NASCAR does punish Penske severely, they may have to do some explaining themselves, because Hendrick was never disciplined for their creativity regarding the rear end set-ups they used last year. In other words, if Penske is disciplined for an infraction that may not have been an infraction, they may actually have a chance to win an appeal. 669. New14 & 88Fan posted: 04.16.2013 - 1:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) CJS, Kurt's words were "It keeps me from beating the shit out of you" when Bob Pockrass asked if probation affected the way he raced. The question was loaded but Kurt could of handled that a lot better. "He also has no right to complain about the bad penalty for pitting outside the box that he was given at Martinsville. If anyone remembers, he was on the good side of NASCAR's bad ruling last summer when Elliott Sadler was unjustly black flagged during the Indy Nationwide race which handed the win to Brad." A bullshit penalty is still a bullshit penalty regardless of who is effected by it/benefits from it, it was BS of NASCAR to penalize Sadler for jumping the start at Indy when he didn't and it was BS of them to penalize Brad for pitting outside the box at Martinsville when he clearly didn't. 670. cjs3872 posted: 04.16.2013 - 1:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Agreed, New14 & 88Fan. A bad call is a bad call, no matter who it happens to. However, in the case of what happened at IMS last year in the inaugural Nationwide race there, while I agree that Eliott Sadler should not have been black flagged beacuse he was being pushed by Austin Dillon (which brought on a rule change in which any driver that pushes the second place car ahead of the leader can also be black flagged), the rule as it was written states that all Sadler had to do to avoid a penalty was to give the spot back. Frankly, I think the real problem there, which has continued, is the games that continue to be played on the restarts, and there's one remedy for that, especially on a big track, and that is to initiate the restarts farther away from the S/F line. After all, there was never a problem on a restart that I can recall when the restart was initiated closer to, if not in turn four. but these days, there is at least one jam-up every race due to the games that are played on the restarts. In fact, the much bally-hooed blocking incident between Joey Logano and Tony Stewart at Auto Club Speedway was the result of the games that Kyle Busch was playing on that particular restart, which nobody ever talks about. He was clearly trying to trick Logaon to pass him before the S/F line, thus effectively incurring a 1-lap penalty, but Logano was too wise for that and slowed up, which allowed Tony Stewart to get a run at him, and the rest is history. And speaking of penalties, does anyone else think that one of the cautions during the middle of this race was thrown just to allow Jamie McMurray to get a lap back that NASCAR unfairly penalized him for having work done outside the pit box? The rule regarding that is a 1-lap penalty, but McMurray was essentially penalized 2 laps for that infraction, since it came on a green flag stop. I believe once NASCAR discovered that error deep into a green flag run, they threw a "debris" caution just so McMurray could get a lap back he should never have been penalized for in the first place. 671. Paul posted: 04.16.2013 - 3:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) cjs, I think you're right about NASCAR throwing a caution just so Jamie McMurray could get one of his laps back. In fact, I think Mike Joy even mentioned that on the broadcast after the caution was thrown, as we saw McMurray go around the leaders despite not being the lucky dog. 672. cjs3872 posted: 04.16.2013 - 4:07 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) And it's not that NASCAR hasn't done something like that before. The most glaring case coming in the fall race at Rockingham in 1995, the frst 400-mile race run there. During a round of green flag pit stops, NASCAR improperly brought Dale earnhardt in because they thought a lug nut was loose, and when it was discovered that NASCAR made an error, they threw the caution so Earnhardt could get back on the lap he belonged in. That's probably what that caution n question was for in the race at Texas. They needed to throw that caution to get McMurray back on the lap he belonged in. It's odd that something like that has to be done in an age of electronic scoring. I think NASCAR should think about penalizing drivers laps in an automated fashion, such as has been done in IndyCar racing for generations, and if it's discovered that they've improperly docked a certain driver a lap, they can give it back in an automated fashion without disrupting the flow of the race. Come to think of it, that might have been the caution that was thrown in the middle of a battle for the lead between Martin Truex, Jr. and Jeff Gordon, which ruined that battle for the moment. 673. Mike Daly posted: 04.16.2013 - 6:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) cjs3872 - not only are the speeds a safety issue, they are too fast at almost every track for good racing. The Nationwide cars run the tapered spacers and thus have noticeably less horsepower - and in their Texas 300 were able to pass a lot more. The only other change needed is to get the draft working on the intermediates again - I'm still puzzled why the roof blade isn't used. 674. 13 posted: 04.16.2013 - 7:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) seeing as Kyle Busch is in the truck race mt picks are Kyle for truck and Joey Logano for cup most likely will change when i watch practice 675. cjs3872 posted: 04.16.2013 - 8:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike, I've been saying for quite some time that they need to drty up the cars in the Cup Series to allow the draft to be effective on the 1.5-2.5 mile tracks, and slowing them down will make the racing better. History shows that. But what does NASCAR do? They do the exact opposite. They give the competitors more aerodynamic cars that punch a smaller hole in the air, giving the competitors less to draft off of, though the larger rear blade undoes some of that by leaving a bigger hole. That's one of the reasons why the racing has been better this year, because the bigger rear spoiler leaves a bigger hole in the air, which is mystifying why NASCAR uses a smaller spoiler at the plate tracks, because the smaller spoiler just leaves everyone in place because they can't get the momentum to pass. And instead of slowing the cars down, NASCAR speeds them up, and we may see most of the field qualify at over 200 for this weekend's race at Kansas, but that doesn't make for good racing. Tom Sneva said that in the late 70s and early 80s, and it's just as true now as it was then. Slower speeds and poorer aerodynamics make for much better competition than higher speeds and greater aerodynamics, and it's always been that way. Also, there's sad news fro the spots world as Pat Summerall, who many consider the voice of the NFL on television and was the voice of both the Masters and the U.S. Open (tennis) for CBS for an entire generation (or two), died today at 82. I find it ironic that Summerall would die just two days after one of the five greatest finishes in Masters history, considering that he commentated in that event for 28 years, and that was probably his favorite non-NFL event to cover. Ironically, this year's Masters, much like the first one Summerall covered for CBS in 1968, had a scorecard controversy. But sportscasting lost one of it's greatest. Frankly, there needs to be more Pat Summeralls and Vin Scullys an fewer yellers, cheerleaders, and homers doing sports. As Vin Scully and Jim McKay have always said, a sportscaster is a reporter, and reporters, especially those for natonal networks, are supposed to be impartial, except for the most unusual of crcumstances (such as the 1980 "Miracle on Ice"). R.I.P. Pat Summerall. You and your style of commentary will be dearly missed. 676. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.16.2013 - 9:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Goodbye, Pat Summerall. You were one of the best. Let's just wait for penalties before we pass judgment on anyone. I will join the minority who thinks Kes is just being a whiner about the whole thing. 677. jabber1990 posted: 04.16.2013 - 10:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) is it bad/disrespectful the only thing I can think of Pat Summerall is Golden Tee Golf, and those Frank Caliendo Jokes 678. cjs3872 posted: 04.16.2013 - 10:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jabber1990, it depends how long you've been a sports fan, and what sports you watch. But I remember Summerall as not only the voice of the NFL on television, but also the lead commentator for golf and the U.S. Open tennis tournament on CBS for many years. He even did the NBA Finals in 1974, the first year CBS had the NBA after a long time on ABC. Summerall preceeded Brent Musberger as the lead NBA commentator for one year. He also narrated some NFL Films presentations and narrated four Masters videos, including the oficial video for the 1986 Masters, considered by his partner Ken Venturi to be "the premiere Masters" on the CBS broadcast. Summerall also narrated the official highlight package for the event in 1998, '99, and 2000 before handing back to Chris Schenkel for the next two years before Jim Nantz took over. And of course, Summerall did 16 Super Bowls, 11 as the lead broadcaster and five more as an analyst alongside Ray Scott, and his calls of the John Stallworth TD in Super Bowl XIV, Marcus Allen's legendary 74-YD reverse field YD in Super Bowl XVIII, and the final Super Bowl play he ever called, Adam Vinatieri's GW FG in Super Bowl XXXVI were all vintage Summerall calls, as he let the action on the screen speak for itself, saying a lot by talking very little. As I said, today's younger TV commentators can learn a lot from watching a game broadcast by the likes of Summerall and Vin Scully. They let the action speak for itself while trying to explain what was going on and just reporting on the action instead of trying to become part of it. 679. Cornys posted: 04.16.2013 - 10:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Even the truck series has fake yellows.. :x 680. Joe Fan #87 posted: 04.17.2013 - 12:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Penalties for the 2/22/56 http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/articles/2013/04/17/nascar-docks-penske-drivers-truex.html 681. Anonymous posted: 04.17.2013 - 12:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) for the next 7 races (all-star race) we will see how good Brad is without his great crew chief personally im a big fan and i dont really expect a drop in performance. and the same goes for Logano. 682. cjs3872 posted: 04.17.2013 - 12:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well, the penalties have been handed down from the goings on from Texas, and they're the same penalties as before, which I have a problem with. First, as I've said, the 6-point penalty handed down to Martin Truex, Jr. is a ridculous number. It should either be 5 points, 10 points, or a stiffer fine and no points at all. I know why they came up with 6 points, but 6 is an odd number, so I think it should be 5 points, 10 points, or a stiffer fine and no points at all. As for the Penske penalties, this is the one I have a real problem with, because unless they were caught bolting them on illegally, there should be nothing but a harsh rebuke, because in that AP reprort, NASCAR's Robin Pemberton never even used the word "illegal" about the rear-end set-up. Penalties that harsh should be for things that are found to be illegal. If was for something "unapproved", which this appears to be, then there should be penalties, but not this harsh, especially the 7-race suspension handed to each of the team members involved. And if it is a severe anough violation to warrant that kind of suspenion, I'd suspend the members for longer than 7 races, more like half the season, and this does not appear to be that kind of violation. If what was reported is true, I don't think we've heard the last of this situation, because there's going to be some sort of retribution, because Penske's team knows that they were ratted out, and only they know exactly by who, though if the AP report is true, we can all figure out who did it. 683. New14 & 88Fan posted: 04.17.2013 - 1:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Both Paul Wolfe and Todd Gordon have been suspended for six races(including all-star race) along with the 2 and 22 teams' car chiefs and engineers. Both teams were also docked 25 driver and 25 owner points. Seeing how Brad and Joey do without their crew chiefs should be interesting. 684. David posted: 04.17.2013 - 1:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "6 is an odd number" Where have you been? Six is an even number. (joking) I think you meant to say "obscure". 685. cjs3872 posted: 04.17.2013 - 1:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Either way David, six is an unusual number of points to penalize a team for an infraction of any kind. And if the Penske cars don't perform well without the seven people who have been suspended for the next seven races present, then we may not see ANY Fords run up front for the next two months with any kind of consistency, because the Penske cars were the only Fords able to run up front consistently. Just look at what's predictably happened to Roush's team this year, and you'll see what I mean. The 16 and 17 cars have both struggled, and the 99 car, while a front runner some weeks (and a winner at Phoenix), has been an also-ran in other races, and without Roush, Penske is Ford's only other hope and if they're adversely affected by this, we may not see any Fords run up front consistently for a while. This was not just a severe blow to ther Penske team, but also to Ford, because there is only one other Ford that has even proved it can run up front at all this year, which is the #99 of Carl Edwards, so the Ford fans had better hope this doesn't severely affect the performnce of the Penske teams. 686. DaleSrFanForever posted: 04.17.2013 - 1:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I have a feeling this appeal is gonna get ugly. 687. AveryNH posted: 04.17.2013 - 1:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well the Cup series penalties aside, Ron Hornaday was fined only 25 points and $25,000. That is very light considering the actions he took at Rockingham on Sunday. I was fully expecting a race suspension. Once again NASCAR never ceases to amaze. 688. murb posted: 04.17.2013 - 1:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Damn, the 2 and 22 teams are gonna have to pick some random guys off the street to be their crew chiefs, since Nascar suspended just about everyone in the Penske organization for this. What a cluster. 689. Jarrett88fan posted: 04.17.2013 - 2:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The sanctioning body of NASCAR is sitting on a PR time bomb as the appeal might get extremely ugly. As CJS stated, the ripple effect will ensnare all Ford teams. Meanwhile, Hendrick and JGR will likely dominate the next few months before the Chase. I wouldn't be surprised if the morale at Penske trickles down to Sam Hornish's Nationwide team. 690. cjs3872 posted: 04.17.2013 - 2:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Especially Jarrett88fan, if they're doing the same thing to the #12 NNS car. But then again, the rules there regarding suspension set-ups might not be the same as it is in the Cup Series, since they're still using the Gen 5 car, as far as I know. And DSFF, I do expect an appeal, though I do not know if one's been filed yet. If this is appealed, and I expect it will, I do expect the penalties to be reduced, especially the suspensions. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised it the suspnsions were overturned, as was the case regarding Chad Knaus at Daytona last year. And by the way, how many times in recent years have suspensions been overturned because the the panel thought that was too heavy-handed a punishment? I know that Knaus alone has had suspensions overturned at least twice for that reason. NASCAR's far too heavy-handed some of their punishments in cases like this. As for the Ron Hornaday, Jr. situation. That's not quite the same as the Kyle Busch sitation at Texas in 2011 because the Kyle Busch situation was the first of three races run that weekend, and he was never actually suspended, but instead "parked" for the other two races, which actually helped to determine the outcome of the Nationwide race that weekend the way it played out. And fines can't be at the same level in the lower divisions as they are in the Cup Series. And a $25,000 fine is a BIG fine in the Truck Series, probably even bigger than $100,000 is in the Cup Series, and 25 points is a big penalty because it means that Hornaday actually lost points in that race, even compared to what he started the race with. And if Jeff Gordon wasn't sat down for the finale last year at Homestead for what he did at Phoenix, which ended up taking three other cars out, then Hornaday should not be sat down for the next Truck Series race. If he had been, then that would show a lack of consistency on NASCAR's part, but not sitting Hornaday out for the next race actually is consistent with what they did late last year. 691. Bronco posted: 04.17.2013 - 2:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "First, as I've said, the 6-point penalty handed down to Martin Truex, Jr. is a ridculous number." The reason they penalized the #56 team 6 points is as follows: Under the old points system, (used until the end of the 2010 season) the maximum amount of points a driver could earn in once race was 195. And under that system Truex would have been penalized 25 points for a minor violation. In the new system the maximum number of points a driver can earn is 48. So 25/195 and 6/48 is still one eighth, which is about the same ratio. Likewise under the old system, major penalties, such as what the 2 and 22 teams got slapped with were 100 points out of 195. Under the new system they're worth 25 out of 48. 100/195 and 25/48 is still roughly the same ratio, so the weighting of the penalty is still the same. If anyone remembers, Kyle Busch was penalized 6 points for something after the June 2011 Pocono race so the penalty is consistent with what has been dealt out before. 692. David posted: 04.17.2013 - 2:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "And if Jeff Gordon wasn't sat down for the finale last year at Homestead for what he did at Phoenix, which ended up taking three other cars out, then Hornaday should not be sat down for the next Truck Series race. If he had been, then that would show a lack of consistency on NASCAR's part, but not sitting Hornaday out for the next race actually is consistent with what they did late last year." cjs actually makes a terrific point (no pun intended) here. 25 points is exactly what Jeff Gordon was docked last year, so I have no problem with Hornaday getting the same punishment. 693. Bronco posted: 04.17.2013 - 2:57 pm Rate this comment: (1) (2) As for Truex, I hate that he got a penalty since losing the race and being so far down in points is bad enough. But he's no stranger to this type of penalty, this is the third time in his short career that he's lost points for car related violations. As for Brad, all I can say is what goes around comes around. He's the guy who vocally bitched last year about how the HMS cars were running trick rear end set ups and using them to win most of last summer's races. He also talked about how his team competes with integrity and doesn't believe in bending the rules blah blah blah - and then goes out and gets slapped with a considerable penalty. As talented and accomplished as Brad is, you wouldn't know it by hearing him talk. Honestly, just go back and watch his press conference after Michigan last year when he says "we don't want to be the guys that get the big penalty" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ5T_Xn6sJM It all starts somewhere around the 15:30 mark. Also since people love to discredit Jimmie Johnson's championships because of his crew chief's history, might this be a bad time to start questioning the legitimacy of Brad's championship last year? Who know how else they cheated last year and got away with it? 694. Paul posted: 04.17.2013 - 3:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I have no problem with NASCAR not suspending Ron Hornaday, and in fact I hope they penalize drivers for intentionally wrecking a competitor the same way for all future incidents. Penalizing a driver a full race's worth of points for intentionally wrecking another driver gets the message across to that driver, punishes them the same way (if not more) as a one-race suspension would, while at the same time not hurting the team by making them have to search for a replacement driver and getting sponsorship approval for that driver in the process. I think the penalties given to the #2 and #22 Cup teams were ridiculous. Both teams' crew chiefs, car chiefs, and engineers will be serving a 6-race suspension for "breaking the spirit of the rules," yet to my knowledge not a single penalty was given to the #48 team for flat-out breaking the rules at Daytona 2012. I guess the Penske teams haven't done a good enough job of buddying up with the NASCAR officials, as Rick Hendrick is good friends with John Middlebrook, who was in charge of the appeals process, and "conveniently" was able to persuade Middlebrook to reverse his decision after one meeting (with a big smile on his face as he left the meeting). I'll be interested in seeing if Logano ends up missing the Chase by less than 25 points, as he is now outside the Chase by just eight points in 14th place, and I can't imagine him being able to stay on the role he's been on as of late after several key members of his team have been suspended for 1/6 of the season. That is, unless of course he, Brad, and the entire Penske team uses these suspensions and harsh penalties handed down on them as motivation and suddenly go out on a tear in spite of NASCAR. I don't think that will happen, but it will be something very interesting to watch out for in the next few months, and I hope both teams can stick it to NASCAR with some great runs in the next seven races. 695. Paul posted: 04.17.2013 - 3:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I think the Kyle Busch suspension, when looked in hindsight following the similar Jeff Gordon and Ron Hornaday retaliations, should teach drivers that if you're planning on running two or three NASCAR races in a given weekend, you had better not do anything stupid before the race in your series because NASCAR could park you for the duration of the weekend. Gordon was parked for the rest of the Phoenix race after his retaliation (although the damage that he suffered was too much for him to return anyways, given the few number of laps remaining in the race), and Hornaday should have been parked for the rest of the race at Rockingham after his retaliation under caution. Both drivers were essentially parked for the rest of that weekend and were penalized within a few days after their respective incidents. Kyle Busch was parked for the rest of the weekend as well, but unfortunately for him his weekend wasn't over when he made his retaliation, which included the Cup race, the series that actually matters to him. So for future reference, if you're going to do something stupid like make an on-track retaliation, make sure to not do it the day or two before your series race if there are multiple races that weekend that you are participating in because you may be parked for the duration of the weekend. 696. AveryNH posted: 04.17.2013 - 3:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yeah I suppose the circumstances where a bit different. And to be fair, Hornaday did express regret for his actions directly after the race. Whereas Kyle stuck by his. The Penske penalty is outrageous though, I think we all agree on that. And yes according to Jaysk.com Roger Penske has stated his intent to appeal. 697. cjs3872 posted: 04.17.2013 - 3:28 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Bronco, I've mentioned that I know how NASCAR got to the 6-point penalties for the type of infractions that Martin Truex, Jr.'s team was guilty of. It's just that fining them six points, instead of five or ten, seems odd. In the case of the 25-point penalties for the more severe infractions, at least the number seems like a magical number, unlike six. And Paul, the suspensions handed down to the seven membrs of the Penske orgainzation are actually 7-race suspensions, not 6, the seventh race being the All-Star Race. And I hate to say this, especially for all the Keselowski fans out there, but this now casts a shadow on the legitimacy of Brad's championship, because if they were doing the same thing then and they got caught doing now, then they won the championship by not playing by the rules, much as the team they beat (and the one that more than likely turned the Penske team in, if you believe the reports) did for so many years. And it's not that the Penske organization hasn't been guilty of cheating before. You have the roller tappets ncident at the 1974 NASCAR finale, using traction control during the 1994 IndyCar season, which one of Penske's own drivers even admitted to years later, the Jeremy Mayfield fuel fiasco in the 2000 Talladega spring race, for which he won the pole, Rusty not being allowed to qualify at Pocono for one race the because of how the roof flaps were tampered with by the same Robin Pemberton that is now the chief inspector, the question of the legality of the engines Penske used at Indy in 1994. And frankly, I believe he was cheating in the 2006 Indianapolis 500, though I can't prove that. After all, there was no way Sam Hornish, Jr. should ever have been able to make up more than a full second and pass Marco Andretti on the final lap unless there was something going on with Sam's car. But they really don't check those cars out the way they do in NASCAR, so it's much easier to cheat in IndyCar racing than it is in NASCAR. 698. Anonymous posted: 04.17.2013 - 3:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 6 Point Penalties have always been the norm for small violations such as this since the 2011 points system change. 699. murb posted: 04.17.2013 - 3:36 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "And frankly, I believe he was cheating in the 2006 Indianapolis 500, though I can't prove that. After all, there was no way Sam Hornish, Jr. should ever have been able to make up more than a full second and pass Marco Andretti on the final lap unless there was something going on with Sam's car." Or, you know, Marco could have just choked it away... 700. Bronco posted: 04.17.2013 - 3:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Bronco, I've mentioned that I know how NASCAR got to the 6-point penalties for the type of infractions that Martin Truex, Jr.'s team was guilty of. It's just that fining them six points, instead of five or ten, seems odd." If you know how NASCAR arrived at the 6 point penalty then what do you find odd about it? Agin it's not the number of points that matters, it's the weighting of the points deducted when compared to the maximum number of points available on any given race. For all their faults, this is one area that NASCAR has actually been consistent with. 701. Paul posted: 04.17.2013 - 4:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) "but this now casts a shadow on the legitimacy of Brad's championship" It's no different than any of Jimmie Johnson's championships, possibly at least one of Jeff Gordon's championships ('95), or those six Junior Johnson championships that were won between '76 and '85. Fans may put asterisks next to them in history, but the sport and media will still recognize them and probably think more highly of them because of their ability to cheat and get away with it. Although it will be pretty hypocritical if the media starts to think less of Brad's 2012 title because of this infraction, since they haven't done anything of the sort towards Jimmie Johnson's titles. Of course, I myself look at Brad's 2012 title with an asterisk anyways because the stat sheet shows that Johnson should have won the title that year (even though Brad scored the most overall points). I like Brad and I'm glad that he was able to outgun Johnson and prevent him from winning a 6th title, but I truly believe Johnson was the deserving champion of that season. "Rusty not being allowed to qualify at Pocono for one race the because of how the roof flaps were tampered with by the same Robin Pemberton that is now the chief inspector" How convenient. Cheat in NASCAR, get promoted to chief inspector. I guess it was alright when Rusty won 17 poles in three years, but now when another crew chief of the #2 Miller Lite team is bending the rules, all of a sudden they're getting 7-race suspensions. A cheater and a hypocrite; he's perfect for the NASCAR office. "I believe he was cheating in the 2006 Indianapolis 500, though I can't prove that. After all, there was no way Sam Hornish, Jr. should ever have been able to make up more than a full second and pass Marco Andretti on the final lap unless there was something going on with Sam's car." Going by the fact that Hornish has 19 IndyCar wins and three titles to his credit, whereas Marco only has two IndyCar wins and a best points finish of 7th in seven full-time seasons, I'm going to give Hornish and Penske the benefit of the doubt and say that the better driver and team won that race. 702. cjs3872 posted: 04.17.2013 - 4:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) But Paul, there's no way he should have been able to do that all in one lap. And let's not forget that they had a pit fire with about 100 miles to go in that race. He got caught up with a late caution and trid to pass Marco and was blocked, but that put him about 1.2-1.4 seconds behind on the last lap as a result and was still able to make up that much ground in less than a lap and pass him to win the race. There are three theories as to why that happened. I mentioned the first, which was the fact that Sam's car wasn't entirely legal. I've not heard of a single car in the history of the Indianapolis 500 that's ever been inspected after the race. The second was that Marco drove too conservatively, trying to save fuel because he was close to out. (He got in tht position by not stopping on the final caution period.) And the third, and it would be quite a shame if this was the case, but it's also possible that Marco was told by the offcials to let Hornish pass him because of his blocking maneuver on the next-to-last lap to avoid a post-race penalty for blocking. Of those three, I'll always trust the first one more than the other two, especially considering Penske's history of not always following the rules, and it was the Indianapolis 500. And also, let's not forget who preceeded Pemberton as NASCAR's chief inspector. It was Gary Nelson, who had an even more shady past than Pemberton did, though Pemberton was guilty of the only rules infraction that actually cost a driver a championhip, as he was the crew chief on Mark Martin's car at Richmond in 1990 when thesituation with the spacer occurred. Martin was penalized 46 points for the infraction and he lost the championship by 26 points. After that episode, NASCAR decided to stop taking points away for years, fearing that it might cost another driver a championship. It wasn't until the Jeremy Mayfield episode at Talladega in 2000 (with Penske Racing) with the illegal fuel that NASCAR took points away from a competitor again. 703. Scott B posted: 04.17.2013 - 4:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I guess I'm one of the few not surprised by the severity of the penalties to the Penske teams. One of the big rule changes in the offseason was increasing the maximum camber in the rear, in exchange for getting rid of the crabbed body mounting. They are sending a message to teams that no premeditated tampering with this will be allowed, even if it is a "gray area" violation. So, by making an example of Penske, they are setting up two things: 1. Rear end geometry is now up with fuel tampering, oversized engines, and a few other cheats considered more serious than others. 2. "Spirit of the rules" violations will now be treated the same as "black and white" rule violations. So while it's not exactly what NASCAR has done in the past, I had a feeling a 25-pointer was on the way. 704. David posted: 04.17.2013 - 4:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "After that episode, NASCAR decided to stop taking points away for years, fearing that it might cost another driver a championship. It wasn't until the Jeremy Mayfield episode at Talladega in 2000 (with Penske Racing) with the illegal fuel that NASCAR took points away from a competitor again." I didn't know that. Interesting. 705. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.17.2013 - 5:23 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) People call for Hornaday and Gordon to be suspended for their respective incidents because Kyle Busch was. Remember, folks, that Kyle Busch was on probation when he did that; Gordon and Hornaday weren't. That was the difference. 706. cjs3872 posted: 04.17.2013 - 5:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yes David. As far as I know, NASCAR did not take points away from a competitor after Mark Martin's 46-point penalty at Richmond for 10 years. And by the way, although he wasn't workng on Mayfield's car at the time of the fuel infraction, Robin Pemberton was still Rusty Wallace's crew chief, and thus working for Penske when the fuel infraction on Mayfield's car took place in 2000. I just wonder how many more times that NASCAR oversteps it's bounds in temrs of the severity of the penalties before action is taken to remove those issuing the penalties. After all, NASCAR got a stern rebuke from John Middlebrook concerning the penalty to Chad Knaus at Daytona last year, and here they are, overstepping it's bounds yet again. It wouldn't surprise me if they got another stern message from Mr. Middlebrook this time if the appeal gets that far. After all, the parts that are at the bottom of this aren't even illegal, from what I've heard, and this kind of sanction should only be for something that is illegal, such as an oversized engine, illegal engine, fuel, or tire modifications, an oversized fuel cell, traction control, etc., and not for something that the crew chief was trying to do with a part of a car which is as old as racing itself is. 707. David posted: 04.17.2013 - 5:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Remember, folks, that Kyle Busch was on probation when he did that; Gordon and Hornaday weren't. That was the difference." If you refer to the Darlington incident, he was on probation for only four races for it. 708. cjs3872 posted: 04.17.2013 - 5:53 pm Rate this comment: (4) (1) But David, didn't Kyle do something later that year that got him on probation the rest of the year? I do remember that was the year he did 128 on a country road and got a speeding ticket for that, and probably a wreckless driving charge on top of that, but I'm not sure if that's what got him on probation the rest of the year, or whether is was another skirmish on a track that got him on probation the rest of they year in 2011. I do know that Joe Gibbs and his sponsors were none too happy about the 128 MPH incident in May of that year. And that 128 MPH speeding ticket occurred while he was on probation, so tht might have been it, though I can't say for sure. 709. murb posted: 04.17.2013 - 8:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "but I'm not sure if that's what got him on probation the rest of the year, or whether is was another skirmish on a track that got him on probation the rest of they year in 2011." It might have been the incident with Joey Coulter at Kansas that led him to get punched out by Childress, but I'm not completely sure. 710. David posted: 04.17.2013 - 8:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I went back and searched through Jayski's list of penalties. Busch's role in the Coulter incident did not violate his probation. 711. NASSCR posted: 04.17.2013 - 10:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) NASSCR is a new free online stock car simulation game, first race is on 4/22/13! Sign up today! 712. DaleSrFanForever posted: 04.17.2013 - 11:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Penske released a short press release saying they will appeal and will not comment until then. For some reason, I have a feeling they have something up their sleeve for this appeal. Very businesslike in their approach. 713. jabber1990 posted: 04.17.2013 - 11:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) of course they would use an infamous cheater and make him competion director...he knows what to look for, somebody whom is perfect and does no wrong will not really think about that "hold on, this is illegal, but in order to make this illegal that means they have to tamper with this *checks it* wow its illegal, which also must mean that *checks that too, and the thing next to it* this and that are illegal" 714. jabber1990 posted: 04.17.2013 - 11:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) im not defending anyone here, but the diffrence between Busch Vs. Hornaday, Gordon Vs. Bowyer, and Hornaday Vs. Walllace are simple Busch was going full-speed (200) under caution and was told to stop.... Gordon was going too slow (and had a black flag, but thats a diffrent story) and was going like 100-120 Hornaday was going legal speed, but still did it at like 120MPH so there are similaries and diffrences 715. jabber1990 posted: 04.17.2013 - 11:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) wait Conspiracy Theroy time: 2011: Kyle ruined somebody's season... so NASCAR ruined his! 2012: Jeff may have ruined Clints Season, BUT he was already out of the championship so really its not punishing anyone 2013: I got nothing. 716. JG24FanForever posted: 04.17.2013 - 11:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Here's another annoying,but so what? list for ya. The new list of Crown Jewel races are as follows: Daytona 500,Labor day/November/Mother's day Southern 500,Spring Martinsville,Bristol Night,Spring Talladega,Sonoma,Brickyard 400,World Coke 600,Firecracker/Pepsi/Coke Zero 400 and finally the Labor Day Atlanta race. That's 10 total events with each version of race track. Total wins: Jeff Gordon: 33 wins--with at least 1 win in each and at least 3 in 8 races. Dale Earnhardt: 22 wins--with 4 Bristol Night wins and 3 Coke 600's.s. Darrell Walrtip: 21 wins--with 7 in the Bristol Night race and 5 World 600'Dale Richard Petty: 20 wins--with 7 Daytona 500's and 6 Spring Martinsville win's. Cale Yarborugh: 19 wins--with 5 Southern 500's and 4 Daytona 500's. Bobby Allison: 17 wins--with 4 Southern 500's and 3 Daytona 500's. Jimmie Johnson: 17 wins--with 4 Brickyard 400's and 2 Southern 500's David Pearson: 16 wins--with 5 Firecracker 400's and 3 Southern 500's Championships Top 5: 1. Richard Petty 7--(1964,1967,1971-72,1974-75,1979) 1. Dale Earnhardt 7--(1980,1986-87,1990-91,1993-94) 3. Jimmie Johnson 5--(2006-2010) 4. Jeff Gordon 4--(1995,1997-98) Most wins in a season with tie breakers: 1. Jeff Gordon 6--(1995-99,2001) 1. Richard Petty 6--(1963,1967,1970,1971,1974-75) 3. David Pearson 4--(1966,1968,1973,1976) 3. Darrell Waltrip 4--(1979,1981-82,1984) Most seasons Leading the most laps in a race the most: 1. Jeff Gordon 9--(1995-96,1998-99,2001-04,07) 2. Richard Petty 7--(1962,1964,1967-68,1970-71,1975) 3. Dale Earnhardt 5--(1986-88,1990,1993) 3. Cale Yarborough 5--(1974,1976-78,1980) Most Poles in a season: 1. Jeff Gordon 6--(1995-96,1998-99,2001,2007) 1. David Pearson 6--(1964,1968,1973-76) Best Average finish is season crowns: 1. Dale Earnhardt 8--(1980,1986-87,1989,1991,1993-95) 2. Lee Petty 7--(1950-51,1952-54,1957-59) 3. Jeff Gordon 5--(1998,2001,2004,2007,2009) 3. David Pearson 5--(1966,1968-69,1973,1976) 3. Richard Petty 5--(1967,1971-72,1975,1979) Jeff Gordon has the highest single category total win 9 seasons of Dominating the most races. Big E was the Ty Cobb of the series by racking 8 Batting Championships or best average finish in a season. 717. Paul posted: 04.18.2013 - 12:07 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "4. Jeff Gordon 4--(1995,1997-98)" No love for 2001? 718. JG24FanForever posted: 04.18.2013 - 12:10 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "No love for 2001?" My token post gaff:) 719. JG24FanForever posted: 04.18.2013 - 12:22 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) The 8 worst average career worst average finishes: Only driver's with a 100 starts or more are present. 1. Michael Mcdowell 37.783 in 120 starts 2. Mike Bliss 31.431 in 153 starts 3. J.J Yeley 30.517 in 174 starts 4. Scott Speed 30.468 in 111 starts 5. Tony Raines 29.728 in 169 starts 6. David Stremme 29.228 in 171 starts 7. David Gilliland 28.629 in 229 starts 8. Kevin Lepage 28.298 in 201 starts The bottom line. 720. 18fan posted: 04.18.2013 - 12:27 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) For reference, Kevin Conway has a 33.8 average finish in his 31 Cup starts. 721. Paul posted: 04.18.2013 - 12:46 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Speaking of the Con-man, in 28 Cup starts in 2010, he had an average start of 40.3, a best starting position of 32nd, and was among the fastest 36 qualifiers only three times. In fact, in his last 11 starts of that season, he had a best starting position of 40th! And he had another 8-race streak of starting 40th or worse that season. It's a shame that today's qualifying system wasn't in place back then because this guy's worthless ass probably prevented a few teams from making the field and collecting enough cash to stay afloat. Here's another interesting tidbit: In his three start-and-parks in 2011 while driving for Joe Nemechek, he had a worst start of 32nd (his best start in 2010) and had an average start of 24.7, so maybe he was better off start-and-parking than he was actually raci--err, driving around the track for three hours. Perhaps the most bizarre part of his whole Cup career is that IT HAPPENED. It was so brief that if you weren't there to witness it (which I'll admit I wasn't since I wasn't watching hardly any NASCAR in 2010), you probably don't even realize that he ever had a Cup ride. I remember seeing him in the Busch Series a couple times in '07, where his one top 20 finish season with JGR didn't impress me one bit, and so just the fact that a sponsor actually approached this guy about running a full Cup schedule in 2010 amazes me. Oh well, at least he can say Jeff Gordon noticed him on the race track once. ;) 722. murb posted: 04.18.2013 - 12:49 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) "he had an average start of 40.3, a best starting position of 32nd, and was among the fastest 36 qualifiers only three times." Sounds familiar... 723. JG24FanForever posted: 04.18.2013 - 12:57 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Sounds familiar..." At least Danica can brag about overtaking Tony Stewart at speed for position at Martinsville this year. 724. murb posted: 04.18.2013 - 1:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "At least Danica can brag about overtaking Tony Stewart at speed for position at Martinsville this year." You're right about that. That was definitely her best race this year (I refuse to count Daytona because it's a plate track - it's all about the car there, not the driver). If there is one thing I give Danica credit for, it's that while she has been bad, she has been nowhere near as bad as Kevin Conman was. She looks like a Cup champion compared to him. 725. Paul posted: 04.18.2013 - 1:28 am Rate this comment: (2) (1) "She looks like a Cup champion compared to him." Let's not get carried away here. 726. murb posted: 04.18.2013 - 2:04 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Let's not get carried away here." Fine. I don't know how many of you guys have seen the show Dual Survival (one of the few reality shows that I can actually tolerate), but I'm gonna use one of their analogies to settle this Danica vs Conway thing. Would you rather have a turd sandwich (Conway), or a turd sandwich with mustard (BoB)? The mustard one is probably better. But overall, they are still both turd sandwiches. So it's kind of like a stalemate. Both are terrible. 727. Scott B posted: 04.18.2013 - 2:10 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) But Conway had a (meaningless) ROTY Award, which Danica is unlikely to match. 728. Scott B posted: 04.18.2013 - 2:15 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Then again, Conway never won a "most popular driver" vote, Danica probably will. Call it even. 729. Scott B posted: 04.18.2013 - 2:26 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) #719 Interesting list. I think Tony Raines actually did OK for the awful Cup rides he had, and usually didn't trash the equipment. 730. Paul posted: 04.18.2013 - 2:45 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Tony Raines also finished 6th in the Rockingham fall '03 race in an unsponsored car. I've always considered Raines to be a great choice for a small team to include in their lineup. He doesn't trash his equipment, provides good information back to the team, and can give you a really good finish every now and then. He gave BACE Motorsports their only top ten finish in Cup at Rockingham '03, gave Hall of Fame Racing their first oval top ten at Charlotte '06 (and was the only driver to earn multiple top tens for HOF), gave Front Row Motorsports their first top five and top ten finish in the Nationwide race at Talladega '09 (and is still the only FRM driver to earn 3 top tens in a season), and gave TriStar Motorsports their first speedway top ten finish at Gateway '10. He also had that near win at Michigan '05 before he ran out of fuel, is the only driver to qualify that awful #73 Cup car back in '09, surprised everyone by qualifying for the 2012 Daytona 500 on speed in an unsponsored FRM car, and did a really nice job of maintaining the #70 Nationwide car in the top 30 in points last year when Johanna Long was out of the car. He's not a great driver by any means, but he certainly is a respectable driver with a good reputation of being a clean racer and is very dependable out on the race track, especially for the smaller teams in need of a good finish. Personally, I think he's the best driver to never win a Nationwide Series race (excluding Cup drivers like Rusty Wallace who never put much effort into winning a Nationwide race). 731. Kubica fan Ireland posted: 04.18.2013 - 5:44 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jg24fan why is Martinsville spring a major and not the autumn event.I would include one of the Richmond events and the glen also.Don't think Petty won the Night race as it only ran under lights from 77 onwards.The night race really only gained major status after 95 with Earnhardt Labonte and the speedways expansion into one of the 5 biggest nascar tracks and the fans making it their number 1 race to attend.The list just proves Gordons greates quality his versatility.Johnson only needs the coke zero 400 Bristol night race and Atlanta race to complete his set.He has won every other event at least twice except Sonoma.Johnson has improved his versatility as his career has progressed. 732. Bronco posted: 04.18.2013 - 11:28 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This the first race on a 1.5 mile race track where Dale Jr finished outside the top 10 since Homestead 2011. Despite missing Charlotte and Kansas last year, he scored the most top 10s at 1.5 mile tracks last year and had the best average finish. By comparison he had only one top 10 at 1.5 mile tracks during the Lance McGrew era, and it came in the 2010 Texas spring race. He was out to lunch at pretty much the rest of those kind of tracks. 733. Sean posted: 04.18.2013 - 12:31 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "using traction control during the 1994 IndyCar season, which one of Penske's own drivers even admitted to years later" Paul Tracy. PAUL TRACY. I'm not exactly sure he's the most reliable source especially because he frequently has an axe to grind about everything. After Penske fired him for unknown reasons (supposedly because he was criticizing Penske for not switching to the dominant Reynard chassis/Honda engine/Firestone tire quickly enough and sticking with Penske chassis/Mercedes engines/Goodyear tires for far too long), it wouldn't surprise me if he'd say pretty much anything... I think PT DOES have a point about the 2002 Indy 500 however, and it's not like there haven't been a TON of disputed Indy 500s over the years. "the question of the legality of the engines Penske used at Indy in 1994." Unfortunately, they were legal but greatly violated the spirit of the rules because Tony George had a fetish for allowing stock block engines with an equivalency formula that carried into the early crappy IRL years. However, justice was served in '95 when TG outlawed those engines and both Penske cars ended up missing the race since they hadn't done enough development work on their chassis because they spent all the time focusing on their engine and minimal time on their chassis in '94... 734. cjs3872 posted: 04.18.2013 - 2:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sean, the 2002 Indianapolis 500 wasn't even the only disputed Indianapolis 500 involving Penske, because the most controversial Insy race of them all, the 1981 event, also involved Penske. However, in both cases, the right decsion was ultimately made. The one position (not a 1-lap, but a 1-position) penalty given to Bobby Unser in 1981 was overturned, and the right call was also made in 2002 as well. A split-screen replay by ABC showed that Helio Castroneves was indeed ahead of Paul Tracy at the moment of the caution on lap 199. There's no doubt that Tracy is in the process of passing Castroneves, but at the moment of caution, he hadn't gotten in front of Helio yet, so the right decision was ultimately made on both occasions. An I'm not entirely sure those engines Penske used in the 1994 Indianapolis 500 were entirely legal. Remember that there's never been a car inspected after the Indanapolis 500 that I know of, and there were cries that the engines were not entirely legal, so if teams wanted to, they could cheat at will during the Indianapolis 500. And that, combined with the traction control they were using (I believe Paul Tracy on that one), was what resulted in them missing the race in 1995. There's even a chance that the engine they used would not have adequately worked without traction control because of the insane aount of power, though I don't really know about that. And remember that in 1995, the only reason they failed to qualify was that they just wouldn't run down the straightaways. Actually, their cars handled okay in practice, but they were going virtually the same speed entering he corner that the were exiting the previous corner, and that's why they failed to qualify. But had they qualified, they might have been factors because their cars did handle reasonably well. Al Unser, Jr. proved that in the Michigan 500 later that year by losing on the final lap to Scott Pruett. 735. Cooper posted: 04.18.2013 - 2:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hey, anyone here going to the Richmond race next week? I know DSFF lives in the area a bit. Never been to a NASCAR race under the lights so I'm really stoked. Was wondering if anyone else was attending? 736. David posted: 04.18.2013 - 7:47 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Shocking statistic of the week: David Stremme ran 16 fastest laps last Saturday at Texas. 737. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.18.2013 - 8:13 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Shocking statistic: they probably were all under caution 738. DaleSrFanForever posted: 04.18.2013 - 8:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I've never been to Richmond. A little bit too far for me. But everyone I have talked to that has ever been there says it is an awesome track to watch a race at. As long as it isn't the old February race lol. I have one buddy that was at the Feb 1990 race (the Mark Martin Race) when it was like 15 degrees out. Says he has never been so miserable (us Southerners hate anything beklow 50, below 40 is complete misery for us). 739. David posted: 04.18.2013 - 9:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Shocking statistic: they probably were all under caution" Shocking statistic: No, they weren't. 740. cjs3872 posted: 04.18.2013 - 11:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Races like that one are why that race was ultimately moved to May, DSFF, and may also be a reason why attendance got so low that Rockingham was taken off the schedule after the 2004 race there. It was simply unbearable to go to those races, so attendance figures dropped and NASCAR was forced to either move the date or leave the facility entirely. Actually, moving that race to Auto Club Speedway, unlike what they did with the Labor Day weekend date, was not a bad idea at all. Now the second and third races are both run in the west to avoid such weather problems. Actually, that was one reason why NASCAR started the season at Riverside, CA for 12 years before making the Daytona 500 the season opener in 1982. And even then, the 1974 season opener was postponed after about one-tenth of the distance was run and completed one week later, which may have given Bill France, Sr. the idea of cutting 10% off the race distances for the races in the first half of the season that year due to the energy crisis. 741. Paul posted: 04.18.2013 - 11:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "(us Southerners hate anything below 50, below 40 is complete misery for us)" It's been no higher than the mid-40s all week, and I've taken a couple walks through the neighborhood the past few nights in weather that's just above freezing, wearing only a sweatshirt over a t-shirt. Just a typical early spring up here in Minnesota. "I have one buddy that was at the Feb 1990 race (the Mark Martin Race) when it was like 15 degrees out." Speaking of cold weather races, one of the coolest races I've ever seen was the spring Bristol race in '06 when it was red-flagged for snow. It's pretty weird for me to see snow in a southern state (even if it was in March, which has been one of the snowiest months up here in recent years), and it was pretty cool seeing the drivers and crews having fun with it by having snowball fights with each other and the fans, as well as building snow mounds on pit road. The FOX crew did a good job of making that red flag period fun to watch too. I'd like to see another snow-delayed race just to see if the drivers and crews make fun with the situation like they did in 2006 again. 742. Mr X posted: 04.19.2013 - 12:22 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'd be happy with temps in the forty's, Winnipeg is on a roll, namely about 40 consecutive days of below average temps. Although its supposed to return to normal in the next week or two we have yet to get above five celcius this year, ten is average at this time. About 80% of my yard still has a foot of snow which won't fully disappear until May, and the ground will be saturated until June. This IMO has easily been the worst winter since 1997. It's proof that karma exists, after one of the shortest mildest winters on record in 2011-2012, we more then doubled last years snowfall aswell, 80cm to 180cm. Here's to a hot summer or a move south. On a lighter note a much higher quality version of the 2011 Advocare 500 is up on YouTube as some of you may already know. 743. Paul posted: 04.19.2013 - 1:29 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yeah that's rough, Mr X. The only snow we have here in Winona are the mounds of snow that have been plowed to the outer edges of roads and parking lots, which are getting smaller and dirtier every day. My mom and sister are in Buffalo, which is about 180 miles northwest of where I am, and they got a ton of snow just the other day. Apparently the schools were closed yesterday, so there must have been a lot of snow since that rarely happens around here. One thing I will say about the AdvoCare 500 (a race to which I have given the prototype nickname "It Ain't 1997 Anymore") is that I am so glad I got to witness it live. I watched the final 10 laps of that race a few months ago, and I don't know if it was the commentary from ESPN or the fact that I already knew the end result (I'm leaning towards the former), but it just wasn't the same watching the replay as it was watching it live. I'd love to hear the PRN coverage of that race, as I'm sure their call over the radio was a lot better than ESPN's blandness and lack of excitement over those final 10 laps. Then again, since ESPN is the Kyle Busch network, their lack of excitement while watching the two of the top ten greatest NASCAR drivers ever (and the two best today) duke it out on that rough, slippery surface at AMS could be attributed to the fact that Kyle Busch wasn't going to win that race and they wouldn't get to bask in his greatness as he wins the $1 million bonus from Sprint for winning that race. Nevermind the fact that true greatness was happening right in front of their eyes. (I like Kyle, but he's as much of a victim of the media's love for him as Dale Jr. is of the media and his fans' love for him.) That being said, I still feel grateful that I got to witness that entire race from start to finish, and get to see the most recent Atlanta day race to date (all Atlanta races should be run in the daytime), featuring the two best drivers in NASCAR today duke it out for those final 10 laps. Jimmie had the faster car, but Jeff refused to be denied his 85th career victory, passing Darrell Waltrip for the most wins in the modern era and tying Bobby Allison for 3rd on the all-time Cup wins list. The two of them had me literally on the edge of my seat the entire time, and the finish was well worth the wait. Nobody got spun out or hit the wall, and neither driver made contact with each other. Just good, hard, clean racing between two champion drivers on a race track that's surface was almost inviting one of them to slide into the other one. In short, it was a moment that would have been perfect for Marty Reid to make a "History" reference while calling the race. Enough said. Other than the 1999 Daytona 500 when he made a daring pass on Rusty Wallace and held off Dale Earnhardt for the win in the final 10 laps, the 2011 Atlanta race was my favorite Jeff Gordon victory. 744. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 04.19.2013 - 8:23 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Richmond is a good track and a wonderful facility. The only problem with the track for both dates is frequent precipitation. Best seats in the house are the Commonwealth tower and Mezzanine, although Veranda is really good as well. 745. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 04.19.2013 - 8:24 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Also, much of the track's grandstands suffer from the "Beer Waterfall" effect that many tracks do. Other than that it's great. 746. David posted: 04.19.2013 - 12:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Two bits of news: - The brother of Hendrick Motorsports machinist Andrew Collier was killed last night in Cambridge. - Darrell Waltrip will be the grand marshal for the upcoming race at Sonoma. 747. NicoRosbergFan posted: 04.19.2013 - 1:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I predict that this weekend's race will be a Hendrick gimme. 748. Cornys posted: 04.19.2013 - 1:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Practice speeds in the opening moments of practice at Kansas show lap averages at 185.255 MPH. So much for being 200 MPH.. or 212 MPH entering the corners.. Unless they are in race trim. Pole last year was 191MPH in the Gen-5 car. 749. DaleSrFanForever posted: 04.19.2013 - 2:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) We get snow here sometimes. Usually from late December through mid March, each year we get one really good snowfall of 6 to 8 inches (or as you call it in Sota, a slow April Tuesday). Of course we also get those awful ice storms occasionally. 750. Paul posted: 04.19.2013 - 3:10 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Now that the weather has warmed up (and by that I mean the temperature has gone from the 10s and 20s to the mid-40s), I've started to walk the 12 blocks from campus rather than use the bus or drive. On my way back, it was sunny, cold, windy, and hailing all at once. Meh, at least it isn't snowing. The ironic thing about my state's name is that while it has the "sota" (soda) part in the name, we refer to all our of soft drinks as "pop." If you call it "soda" up here, you'll get some weird looks from people. The only people that call it "soda" are Yankees, Californians, and from what I hear, Eastern Wisconsinites as well. Three types of people that we don't particularly care for. To all my southern friends out there, is it true that you guys refer to all soft drinks as "coke"? In NASCAR news, Jimmie Johnson has publicly denied his team telling on Penske to NASCAR. Sorry JJ, but you and your team have long since lost the benefit of the doubt from me. Also, today is Jack Roush's 71st birthday. In the past I have criticized Roush for his recent habit of dumping his younger drivers, but have since lightened my stance on this issue because a lot of those younger drivers (Darnell, Braun, O'Quinn, Kluever) were dumped because of sponsorship reasons. In fact, Roush tried really hard to keep those drivers by putting them in part-time Nationwide rides even after sponsorship was lost for a full-time season. That being said, Roush is responsible for giving about 1/5 of the Cup roster (9 drivers to be exact) their first big breaks in NASCAR, which to my knowledge is the most of any car owner in NASCAR. For that reason, along with his seldom tendencies to cheat up his race cars, I've got to commend him on being one of the more respected owners in NASCAR. I don't like everything that he's done over the years, but when compared with "nice guy" owners like Rick Hendrick (criminal), Joe Gibbs (almost non-existent developmental system), and Michael Waltrip (a fully clothed whore), it's hard to dislike "The Cat in the Hat" too much. 751. cjs3872 posted: 04.19.2013 - 4:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Paul, I agree that the #48 team has lost any benefit of the doubt, as far as the thing about them ratting out the Penske team, but even if they did rat out the Penske team, it's entirely possible that Jimmie may not know anything about that. After all, many of those that don't like the #48 team harbor no ill will toward Johnson himself, but rather Chad Knaus, the most underhanded crew chief there's bee in all the years I've watched NASCAR, which is nearing 25. Saying that, the Hendrick team is racing this weekend with sad hearts, as the man who was gunned down last night, which started the chain of events tht prompted the lockdown of Boston today, was the brother of one of those that works for Hendrick Motorsports. In other words, Hendrick Motorsports is now indirectly involved in whole terrorism situation in Boston, since a family member of one of their own was gunned down by the suspects, and if I know HMS the way I think I do, you can bet that there will be a lot of HMS representation at the funeral. And Paul, the thing Me and a of other people dislike about Roush is how he seems to have an attitude problem, especially in the way he treats his drivers. Doesn't Matt Kenseth seem a lot happier this year, now that he's racing for Joe Gibbs, who actually treats his drivers like people instead of tools. I also think Trevor Bayne seems to enjoy himself a little more when he races for the Wood Brothers than when he races in the Nationwide Series for Roush. His biggest problem seems to be that he's racing with a leash around his neck (from a figurative point of view, of course). For instance, you would think that when he races for the Wood Brothers, that they would take more chances on strategy to get him up front, but they don't, instead they just seem happy to run 20th, when their cars seem capable of a little more than that. Since they became afiliated with Roush, I've not seen the Woods take one chance to get their car up front via pit strategy, nor have they taken a late-race gamble with pit strategy to try to steal a better finish when the situation presented itself. This is something the Wood Brothers used to constantly do, but not since they became affiliated with Roush, which leaves me to believe that Roush wants them to succeed only to a certain point. After all, not counting the 1996 All-Star Race, the three wins prior to the 2011 Daytona 500 for the Wood Brothers all came through pit strategy. 752. Eric posted: 04.19.2013 - 4:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Paul, You are correct about the eastern part of Wisconsin calling soft drinks "soda". I was brought up calling soft drinks "soda" matter of fact. I know first hand knowledge from parents what soft drinks should be called. My Dad always called soft drinks "soda" since he always live in the eastern of Wisconsin. My Mom on the other hand, didn't always call soft drinks "soda" because she grew up in a different part of Wisconsin. My Mom called soft drinks "pop" before she moved to the eastern part of Wisconsin as an adult. 753. Paul posted: 04.19.2013 - 4:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) cjs, I'm not saying I don't have ill feelings towards Roush for the same reasons you just listed. But just based strictly on his historically great driver development program compared to lesser ones, or lack thereof, for teams like JGR and to a lesser extent RCR, along with his hesitance to breaking the rules when compared to Hendrick and Penske, it sort of balances things out in the end between how I feel about him and how I feel about other car owners. 754. MStall41 posted: 04.19.2013 - 4:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Not sure if this is the right spot to post this, but you may wanna keep an eye on the truck race tomorrow. The trucks are going wide open around Kansas and the draft is massive, meaning that we could see Pack Racing (it'll look different on 1.5 miler, but it will be pack racing) on a 1.5 mile track...at least in the trucks. Can't wait, should be very interesting 755. Paul posted: 04.19.2013 - 4:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) There were a few Truck races last year when there about 8-12 trucks running in packs on the intermediates. The Truck Series undoubtedly has the best racing in NASCAR right now, and one of the reasons for that is because the trucks can run close together the way they do. The Nationwide Series has some close racing, but not nearly as much as the Trucks, and Cup has little to no close racing on the intermediates. 756. MStall41 posted: 04.19.2013 - 4:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Cup would put on a fantastic show this weekend if they threw plates on the cars 757. Eric posted: 04.19.2013 - 4:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) MStall41, Plates can't be thrown on the cars because of the speeds right. I do think plates will start to be part of the cars at least at one of the intermediate tracks 8 to 15 years from now. Texas Motorspeedway Surface was repaved in 2001 according to the Texas Motorspeedway archive Jayski has. That means Texas Motor Speedway is due sometime in the next decade to get repaved and that means the speeds by my estimation would be anywhere from 205 to 210 MPH in qualifying based on the potential differences the cars could have in horsepower if the 6th gen car still exists in 2021 to 2030. 758. Eric posted: 04.19.2013 - 4:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Before cjs3872 tries to correct me about Atlanta, there is a reason why Atlanta can't get a plate. Atlanta was repaved in 1997 and is due for one some time this decade to be repaved again. I saw no to plates because Atlanta has a race on Labor day weekend unlike the March and October/November date it had. Geoff Bodine's record speed at Atlanta happened in November for Qualifying. That month is much cooler than late August/early September is and that means speeds are slower for labor day weekend as a result even as a night race. 759. MStall41 posted: 04.19.2013 - 4:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well, the one intermediate where plates will be a near certainty if its repaved is Atlanta. The way that track is built, it's like a mini-superspeedway. The track has those long, sweeping turns that are extremely conducive to wide-open racing, which opens things up for drafting. I'm not sure I follow your first comment, but you are also right about Texas being another possibility for future plate racing. 760. Joe Fan #87 posted: 04.19.2013 - 5:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @ #750 Yes, some people in the South (well around here at least, which is Central Florida), call all soda a 'coke'. I do it sometimes lol. I usually call it a soda. My mom is from Indiana and always called it pop. My dad called it pop a lot even though he's from Florida, so I'm surprised I don't call it pop. 761. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 04.19.2013 - 5:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) We essentially saw a form of pack racing at Vegas last year much like the IROC cars always had in the final years of that series on 1.5 milers. No surprise the same is happening at Kansas, tomorrow's race in going to be very, very good. 762. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 04.19.2013 - 5:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Stenhouse sets the track record. 763. murb posted: 04.19.2013 - 6:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Just turned on the tv to see the 24 backing into the wall. Definitely a backup car. 764. murb posted: 04.19.2013 - 6:28 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Kenseth on the pole at Kansas!!!! 765. Benjamin Lowe posted: 04.19.2013 - 6:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeff Gordon Ladies and Gentlemen Jeff Gordon 766. Eric posted: 04.19.2013 - 8:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Cornys, There is a couple things to look at Qualifying Speed. The winter at Kansas can cause the racing surface to age a little bit since it does snow in Kansas. Kansas fall race date last year was later in the cup season than they had in the past in terms of the fall. That the meant the temperatures were cooler for the fall race last year than they are normally. That means the speeds would be very tough to beat. 767. The Long Shot posted: 06.26.2013 - 7:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Withdrew: none 768. Anthony posted: 09.14.2016 - 9:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Remember I used to rant on this page. I cried in laughter when I saw it again! 769. Anthony2 posted: 01.18.2020 - 7:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Total domination by Kyle Busch & MTJ. Leading 313 of the 334 laps between them. 770. Rich posted: 12.19.2020 - 10:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip were the commentators. Steve Byrnes, Matt Yocum and Krista Voda were the pit road reporters. Jeff Hammond was the roving reporter. Chris Myers and Michael Waltrip were in the Hollywood hotel. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: