|| *Comments on the 2013 Party in the Poconos 400 Presented by Walmart:* First Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Last Page | View All On One Page View the most recent comment | Post a comment <#post> 1. murb posted: 06.07.2013 - 2:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (11) 48 on the pole after a qualifying rainout. Fantastic. 2. Schroeder51 posted: 06.07.2013 - 2:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This has got to be one of the worst names for a race ever. But, that's what happens when you let the fans vote on what a race should be called... 3. Smiff_2 posted: 06.07.2013 - 2:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Welp, with Jimmie on the pole, our only hope is that the lack of practice time will hurt their ability to get the car where they want it. Otherwise, it's gonna be a looooong day on Sunday :/ 4. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.07.2013 - 2:40 pm Rate this comment: (4) (1) Well, we know this race will be a crapshoot now. What lap will NASCAR through the competition yellow because these pansies need the extra stop to adjust their cars since they won't be talented enough to handle it due to the lack of track time? 5. We need more Onion posted: 06.07.2013 - 2:40 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Probably Junior, Danica and the Robots' fans totally love the name. Also watch out for Menard, he have been solid at Pocono lately and got a top 10 starting spot. 6. AveryNH posted: 06.07.2013 - 2:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Add Mark Martin to the ones to watch list. He did finish second here a year ago and runs traditionally well at Pocono. 7. The Long Shot posted: 06.07.2013 - 2:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Don't rule out Logano, either. Pocono is his best track (defending pole-sitter and race winner), and he's been running well lately. 8. Jim Davis posted: 06.07.2013 - 3:20 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) It looks like Allmendinger has won the "Vegas gives me the same chance as Patrick" booby prize this week. 9. joey2448 posted: 06.07.2013 - 3:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Looks like that rain Pocono had last summer still hasn't left. Let's just call this one early and give Gordo the win again, eh? Please, NASCAR? Good thing about rain at Pocono is that there is still a lot of racing elsewhere this weekend. Trucks at Texas tonight, IndyCar at Texas Saturday night, Nationwide at Iowa Saturday night, and F1 at Montreal Sunday. If the rains hold off enough on Saturday, then the ARCA race too. And it looks like Sunday is the best day for dry weather in Pocono, so it's looking pretty good for a full 400 miles on the Tricky Triangle. 10. cjs3872 posted: 06.07.2013 - 4:18 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) NicoRosbergFan, there might not be a competition caution if they get practice tomorrow and it doesn't rain again between then and the race. And the competition cautions are only so the teams can change tires if they so desire, because NASCAR doesn't want to risk one blowing out because of lack of track time, especially at the speeds they'll be going entering the turns at Pocono. But one thing I'm glad to see is that NASCAR closed the loophole a few years ago teams would use, and that is that they would pit for tires and fuel under green, the stay out under caution and get an unfair advantage that way, since if you're anywhere near the lead at Pocono, you won't lose a lap with a green flag stop, that was a great move. Also, wave-arounds will be crazy at this race for the same reason, there's no real disadvantage to pitting under green at Pocono, and there might even be an advantage in doing so. 11. jabber1990 posted: 06.07.2013 - 4:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "the worst name for a race ever" as well as "presented by walmart" im NOT trying to sound like one of "them" but really? if there is one company that doesn't need to advertise its walmart I had a fight with my uncle about that once, but thats a diffrent story but anyway i've heard people say that some tracks shoudl lose their second date, would it be wise if Pocono lost one date...and the date went back to 500 miles? 12. Bronco posted: 06.07.2013 - 4:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "This has got to be one of the worst names for a race ever. But, that's what happens when you let the fans vote on what a race should be called..." Consider the other two alternatives. 1) Race More. Live Better 400 2) Pocono for the People 400 So I think Party in the Poconos was the best they could have done. With Hamlin starting so far back, I don't think he'll factor into this one as much as he'd like. I'm thinking that this race will come down to the #48, #88, #18 and #20 cars. 13. Kubica Fan Ireland posted: 06.07.2013 - 4:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Gibbs cars have led the most laps in 9 races this year whats the record for a team ? is it Yarborough for Johnson in 76 with 15 times leading the most laps.Gibbs could lead the most laps in 20 races this year. 14. murb posted: 06.07.2013 - 4:50 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) "would it be wise if Pocono lost one date...and the date went back to 500 miles?" I think it should stay with two dates. It's one of the most challenging, most diverse, and most unique tracks on the circuit, and with all of the bland cookie cutters we need as many challenging/diverse/unique races as possible. 15. Mark N. posted: 06.07.2013 - 5:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Take one Pocono race away and add a new track to the schedule. Maybe another road course. 16. Baker posted: 06.07.2013 - 5:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) My wife asked me who threw the first helmet in NASCAR. I told he I didn't know, but I know some people who might know. Well, you are the people I know who might know who threw that first helmet. Can you help me out? 17. TS1420 posted: 06.07.2013 - 5:37 pm Rate this comment: (2) (1) Nap-Time is starting 1st.... Hopefully he is also the 1st one to garage. 18. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.07.2013 - 5:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) To pardoy Jabberwocky... Beware the [emotionless) Juggernaut, my son! This race just might be the site of the next round of satire on this board... though David might be right in saying it should be reserved for NNS races being dominated and won by Kyle Busch. 19. Kyle Petty posted: 06.07.2013 - 5:51 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) It's just plain amazing what these guys can do. 20. The Long Shot posted: 06.07.2013 - 6:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "This race just might be the site of the next round of satire on this board... though David might be right in saying it should be reserved for NNS races being dominated and won by Kyle Busch." Thankfully, not this upcoming race. 21. joey2448 posted: 06.07.2013 - 6:00 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "Take one Pocono race away and add a new track to the schedule. Maybe another road course." If they're going to take a race away in favor of a road course, take either Kansas or Texas. I'd be in favor of that move! Replace Kansas' Chase date with a road course! "Gibbs could lead the most laps in 20 races this year." Some others on this site have mentioned it, but Gibbs/TRD might be tuning down their engines, which means they might not be quite as fast. So while they're currently on pace to get that record, it might not happen. TRD Senior Vice President David Wilson had this quote - "What we're doing and focusing on is durability. I have the entire group at TRD putting performance stuff on the backburner and focusing on nothing but durability" - so they'll probably make it all 400 miles, but might not be as fast. We'll see. 22. Dave N. posted: 06.07.2013 - 6:13 pm Rate this comment: (18) (0) New guy here - it's refreshing to see a site with a comments section that isn't full of people bashing each other. That said, I'm a former big-time NASCAR fan (first race was at Pocono in '89) who started to lose interest after Daytona in 2001. Hadn't been to a race since probably the Spring Richmond race in 2003. My 7 year-old son, however, has really taken a liking to the sport, and last week I took him to his first Cup race, at Dover. And you know what? I really forgot how much I missed NASCAR. I still haven't decided who I'm backing yet (the boy likes #48), even though I was a big Bobby Labonte fan from way back when he got the Gibbs ride. So this is just to introduce myself, just in case you see my handle out there. I'm trying to catch up with what I've missed the past 10 years, so go easy on me. 23. The Long Shot posted: 06.07.2013 - 6:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Welcome aboard, my friend. Glad to see I'm no longer the newest one here. 24. murb posted: 06.07.2013 - 6:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Welcome, Dave N. Since you guys were talking earlier about guys who should be strong this weekend, I think Montoya will be one to watch. He's got some pretty good momentum going and he's always good on the oddball tracks. 25. David posted: 06.07.2013 - 7:58 pm Rate this comment: (4) (1) Welcome Dave N. We take all kinds here. Only two requirements here: 1) You must be a hardcore fan of racing. 2) You must realize Danica Patrick is worthless as a driver. 26. Woodbridge posted: 06.07.2013 - 8:54 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I think Menard will contend this weekend. 27. JG24FanForever posted: 06.07.2013 - 9:10 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Random Stats: Most Top 5 finishes for 2008-present: -1 Jimmie Johnson 86 -2 Kyle Busch 69 -3 Jeff Gordon 67 -4 Denny Hamlin 63 -5 Carl Edwards 62 -6 Tony Stewart 56 -7 Matt Kenseth 50 -8 Greg Biffle 47 -9. Kevin Harvick 45 10. Kasey Kahne 43 11. Clint Bowyer 36 12. Kurt Busch 36 13. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 32 13. Mark Martin 32 15. Brad Keselowski 29 16. Ryan Newman 27 17. Jeff Burton 23 18. Joey Logano 20 19. Juan Pablo Montoya 19 20. Martin Truex, Jr. 17 I wanted to post this because even though Jeff Gordon has spent this era of Nascar in his "Injury years" from 2008-2010 and his "paying the piper" years from 2011-present,he's only 2 Top 5's behind 2nd place Kyle Busch. A faded Jeff Gordon is still as good if not better than Kyle or Denny who are both coming into their prime's. 28. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.07.2013 - 9:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Welcome Dave N! 75% of Jeff Gordon will get a better finish than KyBu unless the race goes perfectly for the 18team. And 50% of Jeff can finish better than Denny any day of the week. Speaking of Denny and Jeff, is anyone starting to get the suspiscion Jeff likewise got a compression fracture in his back after his Vegas '08 wreck? The way Denny is describing his back injury is very similar to the way Jeff dewcribed his afterwards. Anyone else think Jeff just toughed it out? 29. JG24FanForever posted: 06.07.2013 - 9:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Anyone else think Jeff just toughed it out?" For all his boyishness,Jeff is one tough motherf**ker. He won in Sonoma in 1999 with the Flu,and finished 4th at Kansas in 2008 with the Flu,and has never* had relief help or missed a race in 702 starts in Nascar Cup. 30. JG24FanForever posted: 06.07.2013 - 9:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) *No one remembers Todd Bodine getting behind the wheel for a spell for Jeff in the 1993 Bristol Night race. 31. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.07.2013 - 10:08 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) He is a gritty scrappy little shit. No question about that. 32. joey2448 posted: 06.07.2013 - 10:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I think Gordon became a tough driver from driving with some of the tough veterans in the sport in his early years (the '90s, essentially). Guys like Earnhardt and Irvan and Rusty and the Rooster... 33. David posted: 06.07.2013 - 11:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) "For all his boyishness, Jeff is one tough motherf**ker." "He is a gritty scrappy little shit. No question about that." You don't make 702 consecutive starts in NASCAR Cup Series racing without being all of the above. 34. cjs3872 posted: 06.07.2013 - 11:54 pm Rate this comment: (4) (0) And joey2448, that's something that is very underrated about Jeff Gordon, and that's his toughness. You don't win four successive Southern 500s or four successive spring races at Bristol without that. And the drivers Gordon had to race against early in his career is one reason why I put him higher than Jimmie Johnson any day. Johnson never had to battle guys like Dale, Sr., Darrell Waltrip, Ernie Irvan, Sterling Marlin, Dale Jarrett, Terry Labonte, and Geoff Bodine (not to mention Brett) and Johnson only raced against Rusty and Bill Elliott very early in his career. It's for that reason I say that while Johnson has arguably raced against more very good drivers than Gordon had to race against in his heyday, Gordon raced against far more great drivers than Johnson has had to go up against. Gordon got tested early and often against some of the hardest racers the sport has ever known, while Johnson seemingly can't stand getting raced hard by anyone, and gets upset every time he does get raced hard. Of those with 30 or more wins, only Mark Martin and Tony Stewart have spent a great deal of time racing against both Johnson and Gordon, but Gordon raced against Dale, Sr., Waltrip, Wallace, and Elliott, not to mention other hard racers like Irvan and Bodine. Gordon became a tough competitor because he had to be against that group of drivers. Taking nothing away from what Jimmie Johnson has accomplished, but he gets rattled when raced hard, and if someone like Dale, Sr., Rusty, Darrell Waltrip, Elliott, Labonte, or Jarrett saw that, they would have had Jimmie's lunch and eaten it. Johnson may have more good, competitive drivers against whom he has to beat today, but Gordon had more great drivers he had to race against, and it isn't even close. And remember that Johnson has lost championships to aggressive drivers such as Tony Stewart and Brad Keselowski, and he also lost a championship to a driver in Kurt Busch that had Jimmy Fennig as a crew chief, and he was once the crew chief for Bobby Allison, maybe the toughest racer of them all. Compared to the drivers that Gordon had to go up against, Johnson has it easy because most of his rivals crumble under pressure, but if they only stepped back, they might notice that Jimmie has crumbled under pressure during his career, and has made some rather silly, unforced, and unnecessary errors, the most recent of which came just last week at Dover. If Jimmie was as mistake-free as Jeff Gordon, he might have as close to as many wins as Jeff does right now, because he's thrown away a number of races with some really dumb mistakes, mistakes that Jeff Gordon almost never made, and still almost never makes. 35. Bronco posted: 06.08.2013 - 12:29 am Rate this comment: (3) (0) "while Johnson seemingly can't stand getting raced hard by anyone, and gets upset every time he does get raced hard." This, and the fact that Johnson has demonstrated an uncanny knack for losing control of his car makes Gordon the better driver, no matter what the championship count. For being one of the sport's most talented drivers, Johnson wrecks a LOT and its always when he's mired back in traffic and tries to get to the front. 36. Scott B posted: 06.08.2013 - 12:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Anyone keep stats on races affected by weather? I'm wondering if any Cup track is more susceptable than Pocano. Rains always seem to affect practice, qualifying, or race day. 37. The Long Shot posted: 06.08.2013 - 12:43 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I'm wondering if any Cup track is more susceptable than Pocano. Rains always seem to affect practice, qualifying, or race day." Fontana would be a close second. 38. Scott B posted: 06.08.2013 - 12:44 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I guess the plus side is that with 43 drivers for 43 spots, no one gets sent home without even getting a chance to do their qualifying run. So there is a little silver lining to the small entry lists this year. 39. 18fan posted: 06.08.2013 - 1:02 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Martinsville and Watkins Glen also seem to be effected by rain a lot. At Watkins Glen, from 2004-2008 all but one qualifying session (2006) was rained out, plus the 2009 and 2011 races were run on Monday after Sunday rain outs. There was at least one qualifying session rained out at Martinsville from 2008-2011 and the 2010 race was run on Monday. 40. Mr X posted: 06.08.2013 - 1:22 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) Rain is one of the major reasons I love the race at Sonoma so much, I can't speak for NASCAR's entire history there but in my experience watching races, practice and qualifying sessions, I can't recall watching any of them under anything less then sunny skies with a few white puffy clouds. To my knowledge nothing has ever been rain shortened there, which is a better record then what PIR has. Certainly the track least effected by rain in NASCAR. 41. Dave N. posted: 06.08.2013 - 6:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Re: comment 25- hardcore, I was; working my way back there. As for Danica, nice to look at, but useless on the track. Thanks for all the welcomes! 42. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.08.2013 - 6:51 am Rate this comment: (3) (0) Somebody hand Jimmie Johnson a crying towel! He's still not over Dover and how Montoya supposedly cheated. 43. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.08.2013 - 7:53 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) To me, that is the most underrated Gordon stat. 700+ starts, 300+ Top 5s along with his 87 wins, so he has run up front a lot in these long marathon Cup races. Yet only twice in his long career has he blown a sure win with a self inflicted driving error. That is averaging once every 10 years. I told that stat to Kyle Petty once. His response was "that is incredible!". (Ok, that conversation never happened). How many times has JJ blown a race at Dover alone? For all his success there, he has blown two with speeding penalties ('04 if I'm not mistaken, the one where Rick Hendrick made a big stink about needing electronic pit road timing which he immediately got and 2010), this race when he jumped a restart he had no need to jump, and 2011 when he stupidly gave Kurt Busch the outside lane on a late restart. Although, in fairness to JJ, he prefers a loose racecar which leaves him more prone to spinouts. Jeff, on the other hand, prefers a snug racecar. That is why he blows his fair share of right front tires. 44. Anthony posted: 06.08.2013 - 8:14 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeff Gordon has already set a record for most Pocono wins Active & All Time we Talk about Mark Martin having so many Top5s (20), Top10s (34) but 52 starts 7 Runner-up Finishes 6 of the 7 Runner-ups came in the #6 car 1 in the #55 which was last year. Kyle Busch which most of U guys R Talking about, he really needs to step it up because for him to fight for the championship like he did in 2008 winning 8 races but was done early in the chase in 2008 leaving Carl Edwards & Jimmie Johnson to settle it out. Winning Nationwide Races & Truck Races helps Kyle, but when it comes to Sprint Cup he just haves not very good improvement. His best finish with Joe Gibbs was in 2010 finished 8th in the standings (Jeff Gordon would've finish higher than him). Dale Jr once said several years ago saying that running the truck series does not help Junior improve sprint & nationwide efforts although if he would be winning. Now we come to Pocono a place where Denny Hamlin has better talent since he swept in 2006 & 2 more in 2009 & 2010. Denny Hamlin has a driver rating of 115.1 Jimmie Johnson hasn't won since he swept in 2004 (Before the Loop Data was invented) if it were he had the highest driver rating of we don't know? Jeff Gordon will win! 45. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.08.2013 - 8:37 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) How the hell does the best driver [Jeff Gordon] in Pocono history get only 12-1 odds to win?! 46. Jay posted: 06.08.2013 - 10:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Does anyone know if Dave Blaney has sponsorship this weekend? Jayski says his sponsor is TBD. 47. Kubica Fan Ireland posted: 06.08.2013 - 10:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Johnson would not have won dover in 2010 Kyle Busch had improved over the final run before the stops and may well have beaten him fair and square. Gordon should have won dover 98 fuel mileage and new hampshire 2001 Dsff. Johnson lost 2 certain wins at michigan in 09 on fuel mileage and while have only been watching nascar since august 09 2 races Johnson definetely choked 2002 charlotte coke 600 as a rookie and chicago 08 where Kyle beat him on a restart.Johnson gains some points back do for the amount of races ha has won that he should not have e.g. atlanta 2007 texas 2007 phoenix 2007 richmond 2008 vegas 2010 Gordon should have won that too dsff and indy 09. While Johnson might not be as sure a bet as Gordon in his prime he still steals loads plus carlotte 2004 autumn and both charlotte 2005 races. 48. Kubica Fan Ireland posted: 06.08.2013 - 10:21 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Also don't know if this has been discussed before but but do you guys think Johnson will "hit the wall" when it comes to wins around 75-85 like everyone a part from Pearson and Petty has done before him.I think he will need another 10 win season to have a chance at 3 figures. 49. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.08.2013 - 10:35 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) You can't blame the driver for the crew chief's screwups (e.g. fuel mileage). You say Jeff in Loudon 01 was his fault... have you seen that footage? Robby Gordon straight up dumped him (which let to Jeff's infamous retaliation). Isn't ironic how Jeff GORDON played a big role in each race Robby GORDON won :P Fate's a b!tch. 50. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.08.2013 - 10:47 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I forgot... Jimmie Johnson is too high and mighty to accept a crying towel from one of us lowly peons... it'd have to be handed to him by one of his crew, Rick Hendrick, or his wife. 51. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.08.2013 - 10:47 am Rate this comment: (2) (2) Here's a new one for you folks: Prick Spendrick 52. Paul posted: 06.08.2013 - 12:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) During Cup practice today, Adam Alexander asked Kyle Petty and Wally Dallenbach to guess what Jeff Gordon's average finish was from race #14 to race #26 during his 1998 championship season. Kyle guessed 2nd, Wally guessed 10th. Kyle was just a little over, as the answer was 1.85 (!!!). What the hell, Wally? You were Jeff's teammate for 9 of those 13 races in '98. Meh, he must have confused Jeff's God-like reign of terror for Jimmie's "better than everybody else" reign of terror. 53. Bronco posted: 06.08.2013 - 12:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Yet only twice in his long career has he blown a sure win with a self inflicted driving error. That is averaging once every 10 years." Lol, it's more than that. At Watkins Glen in 2007 he locked up the brakes and spun while leading with two to go, throwing away a sure win. In 2010 he was the leader for the GWC at the 600k Phoenix race, instead he got beaten by Ryan Newman of all people. And to go waaaay back, he missed a shift after dominating one of the Pocono races in 1995, which also blew what would have been a definite win. A few weeks later, he led a bunch of laps at Richmond, but again got beat by Kyle Busch on a restart with 5 to go. For the record, he never won in 2010. That's four instances of him blowing sure wins right there, and I'm sure there's a lot more examples if you were to go further back than I did. 54. Eric posted: 06.08.2013 - 1:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) There is a rumor according to Foxsports that there is possible going to be a driver change in the 47 car for Michigan. JTG/Daugherty Racing approached AJ Allmendinger to fill the seat and give a fresh opinion. 55. murb posted: 06.08.2013 - 1:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wow, didn't see that coming. Hopefully Bobby can finally go get a full time Truck ride and start winning again. 56. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.08.2013 - 1:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I know this has been a point of discussion, but I don't count The Glen '07, and here is my reasoning. First off, I feel the 20 car was the best car that day. Jeff was only in that position in the end cause Tony made the same mistake early in the race. Secondly, Tony was hounding him over those laps. I'd argue that was a "forced driving error". At Pocono '95 and Texas '07 nobody was touching Jeff, all he had to do as a driver in those races is make all his shifts and stay out of the wall. Over 500 miles (which both of those races were) that sounds a lot easier than it is. So again, to have just two (imo) in a long career of running up front 12 years apart is incredible, I don't care (the previous sentence was written by Kyle Petty). Those races, Kubica, weren't self inflicted driving errors. At Loudon, Robby pulled and Earnhardt, something Jeff had done quite a few times himself, although usually much more gracefully, which played a big part in Jeff's self admitted whiner reputation when he trashed Robby afterwards. Though in all fairness, it is Robby Gordon, who is liked by pretty much nobody. 57. Paul posted: 06.08.2013 - 1:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) That 2007 Watkins Glen finish was straight out of Bizarro world. Jeff Gordon, one of the all-time best at winning races that he dominates, and in the midst of a sure win on a track at which he had won four previous times, had a huge lead in the points, and was having a career year in the top tens and average finish categories, and he spins out all by himself with two laps to go, throwing the win away to Tony Stewart. Oh well, at least a great road racer won that race anyways. Gordon has had his fair share of races that he should have won that he threw away, but I'd say that his batting average is good enough that it's easy to forget the few times that he hasn't sealed the deal on a sure victory. Also, Kurt Busch wins...final practice. Again. Man, that car is so fast this season, but they just can't seem to put a full race together this season. If Furniture Row was a Nationwide team, they would probably be leading the points because that team is much better on the short runs than long runs. They have the driver and the speed, but they just need to finish. It's a lot easier to get the finishes than it is to find the right driver and search for speed, and I'm confident that they will get those finishes before this season's over. Three of the next four races (Pocono, Sonoma, Daytona) are very winnable races for that #78 team, and if they can put a full race together over the next month, we might just be talking about Kurt Busch as a potential wildcard contender for the Chase. 58. cjs3872 posted: 06.08.2013 - 1:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (4) Bronco, the two instances DSFF refers to are the June race at Pocono in 1995 and the race at Watkins Glen in 2007. The other races you mention are ones that Gordon may have been beat on restarts in, but there was no obvious mistake. In fact, even with a decent restart, he might have been beaten in those races anyway. At Phoenix in 2010, he was in position only because of a strategy move and at Richmond, he was beaten by a driver in Kyle Busch that flat-foots it in the first lap after a restart, so there's no shame in that. But the incidents at Pocono and Watkins Glen were obvious mistakes, and I think the one at Watkins Glen haunted him for many years because the mental block that caused was a big reason why he had trouble closing out races for a number of years. And Eric, if JTG/Daugherty wants wrecked cars, then put Allmendinger in it, but I think Bobby Labonte has actually done alright for a team that has an owner that has admitted that he really doesn't care how well he performs, and the other co-owner was instrumental in practically destroying one of the sport's most storied teams, the Wood Brothers, because the "JTG" in JTG/Daugherty ran the Wood Brothers straight into the ground when JTG was a part-owner of that team. 59. murb posted: 06.08.2013 - 1:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "And Eric, if JTG/Daugherty wants wrecked cars, then put Allmendinger in it" He's torn up Indy Cars this year, but he's been pretty clean and solid in his Cup races for Finch. 60. Paul posted: 06.08.2013 - 1:28 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) Allmendinger has four finishes of 16th or better in four starts this season for Phoenix Racing, and has been apart of...wait for it...ZERO cautions this season. But yeah, he'll totally wreck race cars on a regular basis if given the chance for JTG Daugherty Racing. If cjs says it, it must be true... 61. David posted: 06.08.2013 - 2:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Also, Kurt Busch wins...final practice. Again. Man, that car is so fast this season" My hypothesis about this is that Kurt Busch, when driving for lower-tier teams, will push as hard as he can, because he's used to running up front. Just look at last year with James Finch. He overtaxed his cars badly, leading to crash after crash after crash. He DNFed six times (two engine failures, three terminal crashes, one parked) Now he's with Furniture Row, who has a close alliance with RCR, who "Earnhardt-proofs" their cars. Busch is doing the same thing he did last year, only with cars that can stand up to abuse better. But he has still terminally crashed twice. Anyway, that's just my thought on this subject. 62. David posted: 06.08.2013 - 2:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "And to go waaaay back, he missed a shift after dominating one of the Pocono races in 1995, which also blew what would have been a definite win. A few weeks later, he led a bunch of laps at Richmond, but again got beat by Kyle Busch on a restart with 5 to go." Wait...Kyle Busch was racing Cup in 1995? 63. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.08.2013 - 2:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And how few times has Jeff actually spun-out/wrecked on his own when not under pressure. Has he at all? 64. cjs3872 posted: 06.08.2013 - 2:32 pm Rate this comment: (1) (2) Paul, the reason Allmendinger hasn't been involved in anything in his NASCAR starts this year is because the team he's been driving for only wants him to run about 20th, because that's basically what the Phoenix Racing team is capable of, so as a result, Allmendinger doesn't push it in the #51 car. But I suspect that if JTG/Daugherty hires him, they'll want him to push it a little more, and he's proven in his short NASCAR career that if he pushes it, he's bond to crash. That's why I said if they were to hire him that he'll wreck some of their cars. If they want him to just run 20th, he'll run 20th and not wreck any cars. And David, that's an pretty good analogy on Kurt Busch this season, as compared to last. Now Kurt's still not going to win any races this year because his team is a small team and is deficient in the personnel department, especially in the pit crew, and whatever he gains on the track, he's going to lose in the pits because his team just can not afford the caliber of pit crew that the bigger teams can afford. That was seen in the All-Star Race. He had the best car in the field, but his average pit crew could not perform up to the standards of the pit crews from the bigger teams. And let's not forget that the one race the #78 team did win, they won because of a pit stop they did not make. The only way I see Kurt winning a race this season, other than the plate tracks and road courses, is for them to make a similar gamble late in a race and not pit when the leaders do. 65. cjs3872 posted: 06.08.2013 - 2:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Very seldom, NicoRosbergFan. The only times I can remember him doing that from the lead was at Watkins Glen in 2007 and at Bristol in 2002 when he was going through his divorce and his mind may not have total been on the task at hand. 66. jabber1990 posted: 06.08.2013 - 2:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) remind me, how was Jeff a factor in Robbys third win at Watkins Glen? was that the race he spun on lap 1...and spun on lap 90? and speaking of Robby Gordon and Throwback racing so, Jeff got hit by a Childress car with the Lowes colors on it so, being the fact it was a Childress car that seems pretty full-circle but being beat by the Lowes car? (Foreshadowing) man, we didn't see that coming did we? 67. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.08.2013 - 2:50 pm Rate this comment: (5) (0) Honestly, I don't think anyone could do well in the JTG/Daugherty car. That car is a crapbox with an uncommitted owner. 68. AveryNH posted: 06.08.2013 - 2:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Chase Elliot just won his first Arca race! What a weekend so far for first time winners 69. jabber1990 posted: 06.08.2013 - 3:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) hmmm first time winners? so who COULD be the first time winner this weekend in Nationwide? Cup? I dont see David or Danica winning well Danica MIGHT do ok, I mean we saw her at Martinsville and in the road-courses in nationwide..and those races take actual skill 70. murb posted: 06.08.2013 - 3:20 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Hopefully the first time winners trend this weekend will continue with Almirola on Sunday. 71. joey2448 posted: 06.08.2013 - 3:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I wouldn't be surprised if Danica has a decent run on Sunday. Pocono is one of those quirky places where drivers have to shift, and she runs well at road courses. I think she could muster a top-20 finish tomorrow. "was that the race he spun on lap 1...and spun on lap 90?" I remember that race, he started on pole, with a rookie (Biffle) alongside of him. Biffle drove a little too hard into turn one at the start and spun Gordon out, which left Jeff in last place. He then drove through the field and was up to 3rd on the final lap when he ran out of fuel. Coming out of the final turn on the last lap, he was tagged by Kevin Harvick and crashed before he could finish the race, relegating him to a 33rd-place finish. What a crazy experience! By the way, congrats to Chase Elliott for winning the ARCA race, but I think if Erik Jones hadn't been slowed by a lapped car in turn one with two laps to go, he would be the winner, because he was closing fast! He even brushed the wall off turn three on both the final two laps trying to catch Chase... 72. Kubica Fan Ireland posted: 06.08.2013 - 3:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The 78 has also benefitted from the rcr tie-up rcr are on a good year this year and are the number 2 chevy team at the moment add the fact that kurt is an exceptional driver.Looks like a battle between Johnson Kurt Busch and Edwards tomorrow.Gordons run for the title in 98 is the greatest in the modern era where a great driver and a great crew chief on the same wavelength just reached perfection.Johnson and Knaus can only dream of matching that season. 73. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.08.2013 - 3:52 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) It's official: Labonte out of the #47 for Michigan. God I hope his streak doesn't end like this at the hands of the most ignorant NASCAR owner since Jerry Glanville. 74. David posted: 06.08.2013 - 4:04 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) PLEASE don't let Labonte's consecutive starts streak end. 75. DRF posted: 06.08.2013 - 4:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Geschickter is only interested in $$$ anyways. 76. cjs3872 posted: 06.08.2013 - 4:16 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Actually NicoRosbergFan, if I remember right, Marcos Ambrose actually did do pretty well in that car, doing everything but win on the road courses, and was even competitive at places like Bristol in that car. But they made a huge mistake disassociating themselves with MWR, just as MWR got good, and that's what put them in this hole. But again, you have two owners, one of whom doesn't care how well his team runs, and the other one is so bad that he ran the Wood Brothers into the ground, putting them in such a hole that they still haven't recovered from. And as for Bobby Labonte, I think he'll find work, possibly even in the #32 car his brother has been sharing. Another option, farfetched as it is, would be for Tony Stewart to plug his old friend in the #10 car if it continues to struggle mightily, just to see what that car might be capable of. I remember Red Bull doing exactly that with A.J. Allmendinger a few years ago and inserting Mike Skinner into that car, and the car's performance really didn't improve, which along with a few Nationwide rides Chip Ganassi gave him, gave Allmendinger more confidence that he wasn't the problem in Red Bull's #84 car, and Allmendinger began to at least qualify that car closer to the front, including a couple of front row starting positions, one of which was for the 2008 Brickyard 400. I don't think Bobby will be out very long, though his consecutive start streak may be ending after this weekend's race. 77. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.08.2013 - 4:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Exactly, that #47 SUCKS. If they were still with Waltrip, God only knows where Bobby would be because he did quite well in other field-filling cars, so Allmendinger's probably not going to make it better. 78. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.08.2013 - 4:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Actually cjs, the other race I am referring to is Texas in '07. He led 173 laps and was cruising when he hit the wall, killed the handling, and finished 4th. I still maintain Watkins Glen '07 wasn't unforced. He had to drive to the very edge to keep Tony back. At those other two races he was in a class alone. But I respect the opinions of those who disagree about The Glen. Nico, as for the number of times Jeff has just lost it, we'd have to make a post 1993 exemption. I remember Jeff saying once something to the effect of "I had to back into the wall at every track to see just how hard I could push it". Jerry Glanville. I forgot just how much I hated that guy until I saw that name again. I hated him as a coach. And I was a Falcons fan at the time (this was before the Panthers showed up in my home state)! He turned them into a loud mouth show boating bunch of blowhards who never accomplished anything. They were pretty much a team with 52 Cam Newtons. For all the joy NASCAR has given me (the Earnhardt glory years, Brad's title last year) the NFL has taken as much. The biggest joys I have got out of that were watching teams I REALLY hate losing to teams I usually don't care about (Super Bowls 42 and 46, all of Peyton's playoff one and dones). 79. 83andJoe posted: 06.08.2013 - 4:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) >Geschickter is only interested in $$$ anyways. Actually, it's Daughtery who's only interested in the cash. Geschicker has been around in NASCAR for quite awhile, running Jeff Fuller in the old #47 Sunoco Busch car. I can understand why they did it from a PR-and-cash perspective, but having Daughtery involved in that team has poisoned it. 80. Benjamin Lowe posted: 06.08.2013 - 4:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Speaking of the Atlanta Falcons playoff misfortunes there was one year they were beating the Dallas Cowboys until Danny White transformed into Roger Staubach in the final minutes. 81. Scott B posted: 06.08.2013 - 5:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Comment #67 nailed it. I don't think Bobby is the problem. I'd like to see him keep his consecutive starts streak intact, sure hope if he takes an alternate ride it's full distance and not a start & park. I'm not sure, contractually, what would be available. It would probably have to be a Toyota, and one with no sponsor conflicts. Maybe Joe Nemecheck could put him in a second car and find some sponsorship, at least enough to run a full race? Or, a fourth Gibbs car... they have the money, and a past relationship. 82. The Long Shot posted: 06.08.2013 - 5:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) "Maybe Joe Nemecheck could put him in a second car and find some sponsorship, at least enough to run a full race? Or, a fourth Gibbs car... they have the money, and a past relationship." Nemechek hasn't even brought a second car to the track this season, so that's out, and I can't see Joe Gibbs giving Labonte the 81 ride. My guess is he will run the 51 for James Finch next week. They also have a prior history. By the way, breaking news: Allmendinger will run 5 races in the #47 this year, while Labonte is expected to run the rest. So, he's not losing his ride, but it still shows a lack of confidence in Labonte on the JTG Daugherty Racing team's part. 83. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.08.2013 - 6:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Atlanta Falcons playoff failures (the few times they have actually made it) are borderline legendary. They did have the one huge NFC title game win over that famous Vikings team (sorry Paul) but then got waxed by Elway and the Broncos in his last game as he finished off his career with a Super Bowl MVP performance to cap off back to back championships. Of course that is nothing compared to the playoff failures of my Atlanta Braves. We have that one title in '95 so aren't quite the Buffalo Bills, but holy cow do they know how to rip out their fan's hearts. With the incredible start they are off to this year, my one thought is "how are they gonna kick me in the balls this year in the end?". We had Maddux, Smoltz, AND Glavine for 5 World Series and 15 straight divisional titles and got one title out of that? Yeesh. 84. Eric posted: 06.08.2013 - 6:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I think one thing is certain with the 47 car. Bobby Labonte isn't likely to be back with the team in 2014. If I am Bobby Labonte after what JTG Daugherty Racing, I would find another ride for next year or retire from cup racing. 85. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.08.2013 - 6:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) JTG/Daugherty is run by two douchebags. Of course, Hendrick and Roush are two douchebags too. 86. Baker posted: 06.08.2013 - 6:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) So, can anyone tell me who was the first to throw there helmet at another driver in anger in NASCAR? 87. cjs3872 posted: 06.08.2013 - 6:26 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) DSFF, seeing your thing about Jerry Glanville, I was thinking about asking whether you disliked him from his Houston Oiler days, because the Oilers were dirty team when he was there, and nobody liked him because of his attitude. Even legendary Steelers coach Chuck Noll, who never let his emotions show, got in Glanville's face after a game on one occasion. Then, of course, there was Glanville's icy relationship with Sam Wyche, then the coach of the Bengals, as well as the comments he had his team made, something that led to a 61-3 score that the only apology Wyche made was the missed PAT his team had in that game. (Incidentally, that was the same game in which Wyche made his famous "You don't live in Cleveland, you live in Cincinnati" rant when things were being thrown onto the field.) But 83andJoe, what's worse than one incompetent owner is two incompetent co-owners of the same team, and that's what you have in the #47 team. One doesn't care about how the car runs (Daugherty) and the other (Geschickter) can't run a team, except into the ground, as he did with the Wood Brothers, and the Woods still haven't recovered since then, even with a Daytona 500 win. And also, it's not like the Atlanta Falcons weren't involved in racing prior to Jerry Glanville being there. Let's not forget that the Falcons actually sponsored the car with which Mel Kenyon finished fourth in the 1973 Indianapolis 500 driving for Lindsey Hopkins. And I don't think Bobby Labonte is contractually involved with Toyota like some of their other drivers are, so I think he's free to hook up with anyone. And if Joe Gibbs does run the #81 car next week, it wouldn't be a bad idea to pay Bobby back for the 11 years of service he gave Gibbs, and if that's not possible, I still don't think it would be a bad idea for Tony Stewart to put him in the #10 car if Danica continues to run in the back of the pack, especially now since Stewart seems to be back where we're accustomed to seeing him, and if Stewart can get the #39 car running better (which it definitely wasn't last week). If I was in Tony Stewart's shoes, I would sit Danica down for Michigan and Loudon if someone like Bobby Labonte were available, because it looks like he is available now. And forget all the lip service about Allmendinger replacing Labonte in the #47 car for five races. They've effectively fired the 2000 NASCAR champion. They just won't say it yet. Tomorrow's race will almost certainly by Bobby's final one in the #47 car. Allmendinger is going to be driving that car full-time starting at Michigan. That's something I would take to the bank. Remember what follows Michigan, the road course at Sonoma, which Allmendinger would give that team a real chance to win. I know that Penske has said that Almendinger would drive his #22 car in the NNS road course races, but if I know Penske the way I think I do after all the years I've watched racing, he'll release Allmendinger from those responsibilities if he has a Cup seat. Remember that this is the same man that once withdrew his car during the middle of a race so his driver (Gary Bettenhausen) could be with his brother, who had been badly injured in that race. So I fully expect Almendinger to be full-time in the #47 car starting next week. 88. cjs3872 posted: 06.08.2013 - 6:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yes DSFF, the Atlanta Braves playoff failures go all the way back to 1969 when they were swept by the Miracle Mets in three straight, despite Hank Aaron hitting a HR in each the three games, and then getting swept again in 1982 by the Cardinals. And let's not forget their epic collapse in the 1958 World Series when they were still in Milwaukee, as they dismantled the Yankees in three of the first four games, only to disappear in the last three games, two of which were at home in County Stadium in Milwaukee, then got swept in a best-of-three playoff against the Dodgers in 1959, so the Braves playoff problems even pre-date their Atlanta days. They are, however, the only major professional team sports franchise ever to win championships in three different cities, Boston (1914, in the first 4-game World Series sweep), Milwaukee (1957), and Atlanta (1995). 89. David posted: 06.08.2013 - 6:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "And forget all the lip service about Allmendinger replacing Labonte in the #47 car for five races. They've effectively fired the 2000 NASCAR champion. They just won't say it yet. Tomorrow's race will almost certainly by Bobby's final one in the #47 car. Allmendinger is going to be driving that car full-time starting at Michigan. That's something I would take to the bank. Remember what follows Michigan, the road course at Sonoma, which Allmendinger would give that team a real chance to win. I know that Penske has said that Almendinger would drive his #22 car in the NNS road course races, but if I know Penske the way I think I do after all the years I've watched racing, he'll release Allmendinger from those responsibilities if he has a Cup seat. Remember that this is the same man that once withdrew his car during the middle of a race so his driver (Gary Bettenhausen) could be with his brother, who had been badly injured in that race. So I fully expect Almendinger to be full-time in the #47 car starting next week." While I disagree, I could totally see them saying something like "Based off of his showing at Michigan, we have decided to reevaluate our program and keep AJ in the car on an interim basis". But I don't think it'll happen. And if it does happen, I'll be the first one to say "cjs was right!!" 90. cjs3872 posted: 06.08.2013 - 6:50 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) David, the thing is that they're treating Bobby Labonte like a rookie, because that is the kind of thing you do with a rookie that's struggling, like Danica Patrick, which is why I can see Tony Stewart putting Bobby in the #10 car for Michigan, Loudon, and Kentucky if Danica continues to struggle as badly as she is. But you don't do this to a veteran driver that's won a championship and many of the sport's biggest races (the 1995 Coca-Cola 600, the Brickyard 400 and the Southern 500 in 2000), and a driver that's always been among the most respected in the sport. You don't pull a veteran driver, much less a champion, in and out of the car. That's why I that they've effectively fired Bobby Labonte. They just won't say it. 91. ch posted: 06.08.2013 - 7:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) As an organization, JTG Daugherty Racing is probably the team that I have the least amount of respect for. Daugherty has publically admitted that he has NO intention of EVER building his team into a race winning organization. His theory on racing is to run around 20-30th every week, but to provide partners with a great off track marketing campaign. I know we've had this discussion before because I remember us saying something like, 'look through your supermarket, and tell me which driver you see the most.' It was almost unanimously Labonte and the #47, and this is Daugherty's sole goal for his 'race team.' I do have respect for the Geschickter's, as they have shown a desire to excel based on the past, but every year Daugherty seems to take control of the team and use it as just another way to make $$$. I was actually VERY surprised when I saw that the reason AJ is driving is for the team to gather information about improving the Gen-6 cars the team has. There are a number of questions that popped into my head... 1) Is Daugherty finally going to start running the organization like a proper race team? 2) Has Bobby Labonte really fallen so far behind on the new car that he can't properly decipher what the car needs? 3) JTG Daugherty Racing really has 5 races unsponsored??? 4) What does this say to Bobby about the ownership's faith in him, a past Champion of the series? There are so many ways this story could play out... 92. ch posted: 06.08.2013 - 7:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Referring to my first sentence above, that is, of course, besides Phil Parson's team. 93. jabber1990 posted: 06.08.2013 - 7:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) J.D. Daughtery Runs a team that runs 27th critisies the winning teams 94. Jim Davis posted: 06.08.2013 - 7:09 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "...which is why I can see Tony Stewart putting Bobby in the #10 car for Michigan, Loudon, and Kentucky if Danica continues to struggle as badly as she is." I can see Stewart doing this but I can't see Go Daddy going along with it. 95. 83andJoe posted: 06.08.2013 - 7:17 pm Rate this comment: (2) (1) Reportedly, it's to "confirm" what Bobby is telling them the car needs. Apparently the champion's word for it isn't enough for them. 96. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.08.2013 - 8:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Cjs, Glanville's days in Houston are before my memories really kick in. I just remember his early 90's Falcons stints where he ran his trap constantly, turned the team into his image, brought as much attention to himself as possible (remember them using MC Hammer's 2 Legit 2 Quit, which was huge at the time, as their rallying call? Painful to watch), traded Brett Favre for peanuts (I dislike Favre personally and feel he is massively overrated, but he was a hell of a lot better than anyone Atlanta has ever had including Matt Ryan who is worse than Peyton in the playoffs) and accomplished nothing. They fired him and made the Super Bowl a few years later. I love that. And yes, it is a shame Hammerin Hank only has one World Series ring (won in Milwuakee) for all of his greatness, although that stacked Yanks team of the 40s, 50s, and 60s certainly contributed to that. Same is true for Willie Mays. Oddly enough, when in Boston, the 1914 Braves were the first "miracle" champs overcoming a huge deficit late to make the Series. Another fun fact about the 1914 Braves: they are the only baseball team to clinch a World Series at Fenway Park. They played their World Series home games there because it had more seats than their park. The next year, the massive Braves Park was built, and Babe Ruth's Red Sox teams played their World Series games there. And the two recent Red Sox championships were clinched on the road. 97. The Long Shot posted: 06.08.2013 - 8:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Favre was undoubtedly a very good quarterback, but he was nowhere near the top guns like Elway, Montana, Brady, etc. The only reason he's leading most NFL passing categories (and for that matter, the only reason he's even in the top 5 or top 10) is because of longevity. The trouble with both Ryan and Manning is that when they were on the field, the opposing defenses really only had to worry about the pass and not the run. Indy's run game has been traditionally sub-par, especially in Manning's last few years with the Colts (this year in Denver was another example), and Atlanta's run game for the past couple of years has been downright putrid with "Turner the Burner" in the backfield. 98. 18fan posted: 06.08.2013 - 8:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) One reason the Braves lost the 1958 World Series was that they got extremely cocky after beating the Yankees in '57 and taking a 3-1 lead in '58. I don't remember for sure, but I think it was Lew Burdette and/or Warren Spahn that said they wished the Yankees were in the National League so the Braves could beat them more. Then the Yankees won the last 3 games and the series. Then in 1959, manager Fred Haney, in what has been called one of the worst managerial jobs in MLB history, wore his top pitchers down and eventually lost to a Dodgers team they had no business being tied with. DSFF, the Red Sox did clinch the 1912 World Series at Fenway Park (in Fenway's first season). 99. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.08.2013 - 8:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeez, sounds like the '96 Braves. They won the first two games of the World Series at Yankee Stadium (after getting there with their epic comeback against the Cardinals) then just fell apart, losing 4 in a row including the final 3 games at Fulton County Stadium, launching the Yankees of Jeter Dynasty. You are right, I forgot about 1912. And one thing I will say about Favre, I do admire his longevity and toughness. 100. 18fan posted: 06.08.2013 - 8:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The worst part of the 1996 Braves epic collapse at home was their blown 6-0 lead in Game 4, culminating in Jim Leyritz's game tying homerun off Atlanta's ace reliever Mark Wohlers in the 8th and then Steve Avery walked Wade Boggs to force in the eventual game-winning run in the 10th. 101. Benjamin Lowe posted: 06.08.2013 - 9:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DSFF You ready to see Mr 8 one and done become Mr 9 one and done. 102. 18fan posted: 06.08.2013 - 9:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Baltimore Orioles had several postseason failures in their glory days under Earl Weaver. They won 109 games in 1969 with what is still considered one of the best teams in MLB history, but lost 4-1 (losing 4 straight) to the Miracle Mets and hit a whopping .146 in the series. They did win in 1970, but were assisted by the fact that virtually the entire Reds starting rotation was injured. In 1971 they had an unheard of 4 20-game winners, but lost the World Series in 7 games to the Pirates, who had only 2 pitchers who had won as many as 15 games, including losing Game 7 at home. They lost the ALCS to the A's in 1973 and 1974, then came back to the World Series in 1979, taking a 3-1 series lead against the Pirates. They lost Game 5 in Pittsburgh and then lost Games 6 and 7 at home (scoring 2 runs combined in the 3 games), becoming the last MLB team to date to lose Game 7 of the World Series at home. After missing the postseason in '80 and '81, the Orioles chased down the Brewers, down 4 games with a 4 game series at home against Milwaukee to end the season. Baltimore dominated the first three games and sent Hall of Famer Jim Palmer to the mound in the finale and lost that game 10-2. For all of the success Weaver had from 1968-1982 with Baltimore, he had a lot of failures in big games. 103. cjs3872 posted: 06.08.2013 - 11:31 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) 18fan, I wouldn't call what Weaver's team did in the World Series failures. I would call them chokes, because that's exactly what they were, especially the two World series against the Pirates. The Mets had dominating pitching and miracle plays in 1969, so I won't hold that against the Orioles as much. And when they lost the ALCS to the Oakland A's in 1973-'74, they lost to a vastly superior team. The one thing the Orioles of that era didn't have, especially when Frank Robinson got old, was that one superstar that could put the team on his shoulders like Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell did. They had Reggie Jackson in 1976, but he didn't want to be there, but he was exactly the type of player they needed. And also, the Braves and Dodgers were relatively evenly matched teams in the late 50s, but the Dodgers never got to demonstrate that until 1959, and Walter Alston was a better manager than Fred Haney (or any other NL manager of that era for that matter), and the Dodgers had Koufax and Drysdale, much younger pitchers than Spahn and Burdette, and that's what put them over the top in 1959 against the Braves, and in the 1963 and '65 World Series against the Twins and Yankees despite weak offenses. And DSFF, Jerry Glanville was just as arrogant in Houston as he was in Atlanta, if not more arrogant, and his teams always suffered from a lack of discipline, which was always their downfall in big games. And ch, how can you possibly have respect for the Geschickters, the very people that destroyed the Wood Brothers in the mid 2000s? The Wood Brothers were still a team capable of being competitive when Ricky Rudd was there, but when he left and Geschickter partnered with the Woods, it destroyed one of the most legendary and respected teams in the sport, and they still have not recovered from Geschickter's butchering of that operation, even with a Daytona 500 win after he left, and now I think the Woods could still with 2-4 years, be on the verge of closing up shop, mainly because of the Geschickters' mismanaging of the organization. 104. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.08.2013 - 11:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Nice to see Glanville learned from his mistakes <_< Ben, I would like very much to see one last classic Peyton Manning top playoff seed, best record in the NFL one and done home loss. The good news is he has Wes Welker now, another guy who shrinks in the playoffs (SB 46 and Giselle Brady). Throw in John Fox as coach, a perfect recipe for a playoff disaster. Though it would be hard to top the Baltimore loss. John Fox, the "defensive specialist" (his prevent defense at the end of SB 38 did an escellent job of preventing the Panthers from winning), somehow having his team give up that desperation hail mary pass when all Baltimore could do was throw desperation hail mary passes, the Peyton in overtime throwing a perfect Brett Favre across the body back breaking pick. 105. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 12:01 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) I would LOVE to see Stewart put Bobby into the 10 car to "see if it's the car or the driver" (it's the driver). Too bad that it won't happen. I'm happy for AJ. He's proven to everyone that he deserves more seat time. His runs in the 51 have been really impressive this year, so I'm interested to see whether or not he can put up similar numbers in the 47. As for Bobby, like I said earlier, I would like to see him go run full time in Trucks. Remember, he is a Cup and NNS champion, so if he were to go run full time in Trucks he would be the first guy (other than Biffle in 2005) to ever have a legitimate shot at the "Triple Crown" that's never been done. And if he were to get with a legit team like Turner or Thorsport (or maybe even RCR if Ty gets moved up), I think he would have a really good shot at it. 106. The Long Shot posted: 06.09.2013 - 12:16 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "John Fox, the "defensive specialist" (his prevent defense at the end of SB 38 did an escellent job of preventing the Panthers from winning), somehow having his team give up that desperation hail mary pass when all Baltimore could do was throw desperation hail mary passes, the Peyton in overtime throwing a perfect Brett Favre across the body back breaking pick." Brrrr, don't remind me about that. I still have nightmares about Favre's across-the-body pass from '09 (as do most Vikings fans, I'm sure). Since you're a Falcons fan, DSFF, I'll take it you were rooting against your division rival Saints in that game? 107. Sky Warrior posted: 06.09.2013 - 1:48 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) With Iowa rained out, Joe Nemechek has a decision to make. Does he go to the Nationwide race where he has a chance at a top 10, or run at Pocono where he'll get a finish around 33rd? I'm expecting him to run the Nationwide race because that's where he likes racing more, maybe he'll put Bobby in the 87 tomorrow 108. Sky Warrior posted: 06.09.2013 - 1:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) Why in the world did I say that last comment? Probably because I should've gone to bed 2 hours ago. LOL ignore my last post, thumbs down, whatever 109. TS1420 posted: 06.09.2013 - 2:19 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) I love how old Nap-Time is still crying about his penalty at Dover. The best part is, he is still trying to place the blame on both NASCAR & Juan. This is one of the (many) reasons I dislike Johnson, he never takes the blame for any of his mistakes and tries to blame other people for them. I still remember when he dive-bomb punted Denny Hamlin at Martinsville back in 2009, and he blamed it on Denny.... 110. Paul posted: 06.09.2013 - 2:31 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) I think JTG Daugherty Racing wants to make the switch from Bobby Labonte to A.J. Allmendinger, but they just won't say it publicly or commit to it just yet. If Dinger can get a solid finish out of the car at Michigan, I wouldn't be surprised if that team goes back on their word and puts Dinger in the car for Sonoma, even though they have publicly stated that Labonte would be in the car for that weekend. And this whole thing about Dinger driving the car for the five unsponsored races just comes off as complete BS to me. Labonte drove about the equivalent of one season for TRG Motorsports and Phoenix Racing in '09 and '10 in cars that were either unsponsored or partially sponsored, so I don't buy that as a legitimate excuse for pulling Labonte out of the car. I think they're just looking for an excuse to upgrade their driver and see how well their cars can be with a younger, more aggressive driver behind the wheel, and since they don't have a second car, this is the only way they can do that. I just wish they would have fired Labonte on the spot, instead of dancing around the issue the way that they have. You don't treat a former series champion and one of the most respected drivers in the sport this way. Either keep him for the remainder of the season or fire him right now. You can't be half-pregnant; you're either committed to the issue or you're not, and I'd say JTG Daugherty Racing is half-pregnant based on the statements they have made. Hopefully Labonte can find a ride and keep his consecutive starts streak alive at least for the remainder of the season, as I want that streak to end from retirement, rather than from a mid-season release. There was talk about Stewart-Haas running a 4th part-time car this season, so I suppose it's possible that Labonte could wind up driving for his former teammate for a race or two (Replacing Danica for a few races would be better, but I HIGHLY doubt that'll happen.). Driving the #81 car for JGR is also possible since that team has actually attempted a couple races this season, but I think driving for James Finch or FAS Lane is more likely to happen because of those teams' lack of sponsorship and rotation of drivers, so it might be easier to stick Labonte into one of those rides than SHR or JGR. "They did have the one huge NFC title game win over that famous Vikings team (sorry Paul)" The Vikings lost five players due to injury during that game (including Hall of Fame defensive tackle John Randle), Randy Moss dropped a possible touchdown catch in the endzone in the 2nd quarter and failed to capitalize on a Falcons turnover, allowed the Falcons to cut the deficit to six points entering halftime after Randall Cunningham fumbled the ball inside their own 20-yard line, they had the infamous missed field goal by Gary Anderson, decided to kneel the ball down to send the game to overtime, punted the ball three times in the overtime period, and allowed a career average quarterback in Chris Chandler to drive the Falcons 70 yards down the field with a bad ankle, allowing their kicker named Morten Andersen to kick the game-winning field goal. The Vikings pretty much did everything they could to lose that game against the Falcons, and if you try to lose hard enough, you'll eventually do just that. But even though everyone predicted the Vikings to win that game after posting the best record in the NFL and setting an NFL record for most points scored in a season, I don't lose much sleep over that game because I didn't think we would win the Super Bowl anyways. The Denver Broncos were the best team in football that season, and I think most Vikings fans were expecting us to just make it to the Super Bowl. "I still have nightmares about Favre's across-the-body pass from '09 (as do most Vikings fans, I'm sure)." This is the game that I lost sleep over. The Vikes had just gone through four seasons with a dire quarterback situation and only one playoff appearance, and it was like Brett Favre, a guy who a lot of Vikings fans loved even while he was playing for the hated Packers, just made everything right and the team could do no wrong. When they beat the 49ers at home after a game-winning Hail Mary pass from Favre to backup wide receiver Greg Lewis, with Favre taking one hell of a hit in the process, you just got this feeling that "Oh my God, this team cannot lose. This is OUR year!" And when they swept the Packers that season, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that this team would make it to the Super Bowl. Aside from that one poor performance against the Panthers late in the season (when Julius Peppers decided that it was time to quit going through the motions and actually play up to his potential for once in his underachieving career), they entered that NFC Championship Game with a ton of momentum, blowing out the Giants in the regular season finale and then the Cowboys in the Divisional Playoff game (I guess Keith Brooking took exception to the ass-kicking we gave Dallas in that game.). Unfortunately, the Saints had a bounty on Favre's head, and pretty much killed him that entire game and shattered his ankle (which never healed and ultimately led to his career ending the next season). I remember two specific plays in that game: One was when defensive lineman and cocaine user Anthony Hargrove jumped on Favre after he had already been knocked to the ground by another player, and another was when (I believe) Bobby McCray delivered a vicious blindside hit on Favre while Favre was rolling out after a standard hand-off to Adrian Peterson. Then of course Favre had that ugly interception when he threw the ball across his body, unable to correctly plant his foot because of his ankle injury. I watched that entire game with my dad, and as soon as he threw that INT, our jaws dropped and we were just in complete silence for several minutes. As soon as the Saints kicked the game-winning field goal (To add insult to injury, the Saints kicker, Garrett Hartley, is an Oklahoma alum, my favorite college football team.), we just shut the game off and didn't watch any football coverage for the Super Bowl over the next two weeks (The most over-hyped Super Bowl of all-time, thanks to media darlings Peyton Manning and Drew Brees being in it.). Of course, the Saints beat the Colts pretty soundly in the Super Bowl, so I can't help but think that the Vikes would have won that game had they advanced out of the conference championship round. Add-in the fact that they sucked for the next two seasons, and the pain of the 2009 NFC Championship Game continued to grow and sit there for an extended period of time. Thankfully the team had an exciting and overachieving run to the playoffs this past season (That season finale against the Packers ranks among my all-time favorite NFL games.), which helped sedate some of the pain from the 2009-10 season. They do have a good foundation laid out for the future and signed Super Bowl-winning wide receiver Greg Jennings in the offseason, so there is hope for the near future of the team. I just want it to happen now and put that 2009 NFC Championship Game out of my mind. 111. 18fan posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:53 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) cjs, I was more just talking about how the Orioles seemed to always lose in the playoffs. Sometimes we as fans who criticize certain players or teams for losing in the playoffs consistently even criticize those who lose to superior teams. There is no doubt that the A's were better than the Orioles in 1973-74, but those were just more playoff defeats. About 1959, the fact that Koufax and Drysdale were younger than Spahn and Burdette is one of the places where Fred Haney failed. He had quality young pitching as well, but overused the veterans Spahn and Burdette and it came back to bite him. Plus he platooned Frank Torre and Joe Adcock at 1st base when Adcock was a proven offensive player and Torre wasn't and stuck with Torre even though he hit .228. 112. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:17 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Does any remember 2009 (the year he stole Jeff's pit crew because his sucked!) when Jimmie spun out all on his own at Texas, and then he and all his corrupt fans/supporters/crew/etc blamed it on Sam Hornish for being two lanes below him? Remember how he was still making threats toward Sam and making comments about how Sam should be thrown out of the sport the following year? Robby Gordon would say this about Jimmie: "He's a piece of $#!*!" 113. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.09.2013 - 6:19 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Paul, Julius was in a contract year and that was towards the end of the season. Classic Julius Peppers. Actually try hard the last few games of a contract year, get a big contract, go back to coasting. I was pulling for the Vikes in the Saints game. I was a Falcons fan as a kid (most everyone in our area were Redskins fans, but for me and Dad, the Falcons played in the same stadium as our beloved Braves until the Georgia Dome opened, so we pulled for them even though this was during the Skins glory years with Gibbs and the Falcons were never a major factor). I immediately switched to the Panthers when they came into existance, but never really "hated" the Falcons despite the "I-85" rivalry. Then the Falcons went to the Super Bowl a few years later lol. So the Saints have always been a rival of mine. Unfortunately, in my time as a Falcons fan and then as a Panthers fan, the rivalry was to avoid being last in the division. 114. David posted: 06.09.2013 - 9:48 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Does any remember 2009 (the year he stole Jeff's pit crew because his sucked!)" That was in 2010, and Chad Knaus did the stealing. As a matter of fact, both incidents were in the fall Texas race. Johnson wouldn't crash out AND swap pit crews. 115. cjs3872 posted: 06.09.2013 - 11:17 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 18fan, I think one reason why Fred Haney may have platooned Joe Adcock and Frank Torre (Joe's brother) was that Adcock was not that good under pressure, as he had a miserable World Series in 1957, while Torre had a very good World Series in '57, and that may have stuck in his mind, and who knows, Adcock may have even been injured to some degree. And the thing about the Orioles was that they did not have superstar players in the 70s. The 1979 team was a perfect example of that. They were not expected to do very much at all, but Earl Weaver's platoon system won him the AL East, and then the pennant that year over an equally starless Angels team in the ALCS, but without a true superstar player when it counted, they saw a 3-1 series lead go away because they didn't have the one player that could lift them over the top like the Pirates had in Willie Stargell, and the same was true in '71 when Roberto Clemente lifted Pittsburgh over Baltimore. When you get n a situation like that, that's when the superstar basically puts the team on his shoulders and leads them to victory. Weaver's Orioles did not have that, and it cost them. 116. The Long Shot posted: 06.09.2013 - 11:28 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Classic Julius Peppers. Actually try hard the last few games of a contract year, get a big contract, go back to coasting." That's just a classic example of what most players do in the NFL nowadays. Have a huge contract year, get their big contract, then slow way down in the next year. The only recent exception that I've seen has been Marshawn Lynch of the Seahawks. "They do have a good foundation laid out for the future and signed Super Bowl-winning wide receiver Greg Jennings in the offseason, so there is hope for the near future of the team." I'm extremely optimistic for the future of the team. They're coming off 2 of the best drafts in franchise history (I swear that my pants were a bit wet after that last one; 3 first round picks!), Adrian Peterson is playing like a true Hall-of-Famer, and the addition of seasoned veteran Greg Jennings is huge, as he can help the offense and be a key cog for the next few seasons, and he can also mentor young receivers like Cordarrelle Patterson and Jarius Wright. The only thing this team is missing is a good quarterback. I'm sorry, but I don't believe Christian Ponder has what it takes to be anything more than an average QB. His pocket presence is shaky and his deep-ball accuracy is shocking. If Ponder can't pull it together this year, Minnesota will need to use their first round-pick (or one of them, you never know with Rick Spielman) on a quarterback next year. 117. ch posted: 06.09.2013 - 11:58 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Phoenix racing GM Steve Barkdoll has announced that he has offered the #51 to Bobby at Michigan. And get this, Jacques Villeneuve will drive the #51 car at Sonoma in two weeks. Outta be interesting. 118. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.09.2013 - 12:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) JV at Sears Point? Holy F***ing Son Of A F***ing G****mn B****! 119. David posted: 06.09.2013 - 12:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "JV at Sears Point? Holy F***ing Son Of A F***ing G****mn B****!" Yes, but how do you really feel about it? 120. 18fan posted: 06.09.2013 - 1:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) New broadcast network but one thing does not change. Lead change during commercial. Also, this is going to be a long day with how good that 48 car looks. 121. TS1420 posted: 06.09.2013 - 1:36 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Seriously TNT? That huge ass banner across the top of the screen? And going to commercial just 6 laps into a race? TNT has just put themselves in the same category as BSPN & The Boogity Brothers Circus Fun-Time Variety Hour. Please save us NBC! 122. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.09.2013 - 1:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What did I say about the Toyotas? 123. 18fan posted: 06.09.2013 - 1:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I would rather have Kyle finish 7-10 and not contend for a win than watch him dominate and blow up. 124. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 1:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) You know, there actually are a couple of good things about Villeneuve running at Sonoma. First of all, since all of the current Cup guys now know how to drive road courses, THEY will be in contention for the win, not Villeneuve. So while he'll probably cause his fair share of destruction, I really doubt he'll be up front screwing people out of wins like he's done in NNS over the last couple years. And the other thing is what I just said in that last sentence. He won't be over in Road America screwing deserving people out of good finishes. So I'm actually happy about seeing him run the Cup race instead of the NNS race that weekend. Hopefully he will cross the wrong driver and get put in his place (that's another thing - Cup has Stewart, Harvick, Montoya, the Busch Bros, and even Gordon - all guys you wouldn't want to push around). I would love to see him get taught a lesson. Doing some channel surfing right now between the Cup race and the end of the NNS race. The Cup race seems pretty uneventful so far, so I think I'll stick with NNS until that race is over. Good to see some of the young guns up front battling over there. 125. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.09.2013 - 1:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Thank you TRD for being so incompetent with motors and Penske for switching to Ford who is only good once every 4 years (and this ain't one of them). They have given JJ license to steal this championship. Who is gonna hang with him? Nobody. 126. Schroeder51 posted: 06.09.2013 - 2:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Apparently NASCAR doesn't throw boredom cautions when Johnson is way out in front and dominating a race... 127. TS1420 posted: 06.09.2013 - 2:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) They don't want throw a caution, have Nap-Time blow another restart and then throw a temper-tantrum. 128. New14 & 88Fan posted: 06.09.2013 - 2:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I think this is the first time they've mentioned GoDaddy girl. 129. Schroeder51 posted: 06.09.2013 - 2:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) NASCAR threw a boredom caution to help get BoB back on the lead lap since she was the first car a lap down. 130. Schroeder51 posted: 06.09.2013 - 2:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Someone's blankie was lying in the middle of the race track."-Kyle Petty. 131. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 2:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ... And now back to the Hendrick Appreciation Party In The Poconos Presented by Walmart. Kyle Petty just said the caution was for a blanket or towel that was thrown on the race track. Total joke. 132. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.09.2013 - 2:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I see we have just had our Baroness Benefit Caution (I've been watching Iowa, it had a hell of a finish, nobody has it better than Trevor Bayne right now). 133. Jim Davis posted: 06.09.2013 - 2:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What happened to Kahne? 134. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 2:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kahne had drive shaft problems or something. He was in the garage for like 20 laps but made it back out. 135. AveryNH posted: 06.09.2013 - 2:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I hate this sponsor banner TNT is using above the running order. I already like Coke. Theres no need for it to take up 1/6 of my tv screen! 136. The Final Gear posted: 06.09.2013 - 2:35 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Watching the F1 race instead, it's more exciting than this race right now. That's not saying anything against the TNT coverage, which has been great so far. I'm enjoying the change of pace from the really bad FOX coverage. 137. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 2:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kyle Petty and his "Smart Alec" remarks make this race watchable. 138. Bronco posted: 06.09.2013 - 2:44 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) "I see we have just had our Baroness Benefit Caution" LOL! I love names like this. 139. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.09.2013 - 2:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This is a microcasm in this race of how the chase will be: Jimmie running unopposed. The Fords (which Penske stupidly switched to) have no speed, their Gen 6 model has too much drag, TRD can't build an engine, and nobody else in the Chevy camp is close to the 48. 140. The Long Shot posted: 06.09.2013 - 2:50 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) An interesting coincidence: Ty Dillon dominated the Truck race, but lost. Austin Dillon dominated the Nationwide race, but lost. Sebastian Vettel and Jimmie Johnson are currently enjoying massive front-runs in the F1 and Cup races, respectively. The way the racing gods have been feeling this week, I wouldn't want to be either of those guys. 141. Paul posted: 06.09.2013 - 2:52 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) I love how Kyle Petty takes the time during the race to respond to his haters on Twitter by tweeting back to them. 142. Anonymous posted: 06.09.2013 - 2:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (5) I miss Fox 143. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Newman to the lead through strategy. 144. John Royal posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Caution.. 145. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Caution for fluid from Truex. 146. New14 & 88Fan posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sounds like I missed another TRUD engine failure. 147. John Royal posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DSFF you just did not spoil the Nationwide race winner, right? 148. joey2448 posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I believe this ruins Newman's strategy, right? Someone has got to race Jimmie, instead of just letting him go each time...make him earn a win. 149. Schroeder51 posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) That Dale Jr. texting commercial is really, REALLY annoying... 150. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:25 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) 90% of modern day Nascar commercials are really annoying, lol Hopefully Newman's hard nosed racer reputation will come out right here and he will be a thorn in Jimmie's side. 151. Benjamin Lowe posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:26 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) This Race SUCKS. 152. Kenny posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I was watching the race but my grandpa turned on a baseball game witch is ok with me I'd reather not sit through another jemmie win(and plus I gotta leave for work hear in a while anyway) 153. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:31 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Montoya wrecks himself and Kenseth. Classic JPM. 154. Schroeder51 posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kenseth and Montoya spin. 155. John Royal posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) JPM should have wrecked Jimmie, not Kenseth. 156. Benjamin Lowe posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This Gen 6 Car can't do diddly poo. 157. New14 & 88Fan posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Thanks for ruining Kenseth's race and helping the chosen one JPM. 158. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sorry John Royal, I won't mention that Trevor Bayne won the NWide race in a great late race battle :) Caution. Game over. Jimmie wins. Thanks Juan. Stewart outpowering Toyotas. Game over for the championship. Jimmie wins. What a depressing year. Lol, the announcers: "We haven't talked much about Jeff Gordon today". No shit! You haven't talked about anyone today cause you are always in commercial! Everything you are seeing is Brian France's NASCAR. 159. Jim Davis posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:35 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) The Nos commercial with the showy boxer getting KOed never gets old. 160. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Keselowski and Stewart just almost did the same thing as Montoya and Kenseth. 161. Schroeder51 posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Tony and Brad ALMOST crash. "That was incredible." 162. Kyle Petty posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:38 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) That was incredible! 163. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Blaney spins. Another caution. 164. Schroeder51 posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And Dave Blaney spins. 165. John Royal posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Is that sort of save even possible? 166. The Long Shot posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) WHAT A SAVE! ! Caution for Blaney. 167. New14 & 88Fan posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Great Save by Brad K, too bad it may of cost both of them the race. 168. Benjamin Lowe posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) I think I might go Ultimate Warrior on this race. No better yet I'll go all Undertaker on this boring brutal race. 169. Kenny posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) I do t beleave it as soon as I turn the race off shit starts happioning >:( 170. cjs3872 posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And it looks like some of the veterans are moving up, as Jeff Burton, two days after his nephew's win at Texas, is now seventh and Jeff Gordon, who's struggled all day, is now running ninth. It's the first tine either of them have been in the top ten today. 171. OldSchoolNascarDude1 posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm not saying it will happen today, but since Pocono's personnel decided to cut out the grassy area on the backstretch, there is little room to miss an incident. If some of the frontrunners tangle and block the track, there could be a huge pileup. 172. TS1420 posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Awesome. The 2 cars that looked like they might have something for Nap-Time try to take each other out. Now all we got is: Newman - Who is trying nurse his car to a 38 lap fuel win. Junior - Who won't pass the HMS Alpha Dog. Hamlin - Who is scared of Johnson. 173. cjs3872 posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And Bayne outraced the #3 car to win at Iowa, DSFF, as he showed his inner-David Pearson by laying back on the last run and then showed his speed when he needed it. 174. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) YAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWNNNNNNN 175. Schroeder51 posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Allmendinger spins. 176. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Caution for Allmendinger. 177. John Royal posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kyle Petty's throat-bobble has returned! 178. Kenny posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Welp I'm leaving for work see y'all later bye :) Enjoy seeing jemmie win XD 179. 18fan posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:55 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) C'mon Kyle, beat those HMS cars with the de-tuned TRD engine. 180. The Long Shot posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:56 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) For future reference, until there's 20 laps to go, don't turn on ANY race at Pocono. It will bore you to sleep, especially when a certain 48 car is in front, but the finishes are exciting as heck. 181. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:57 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) It will be funny if Jimmie jumps the restart again. 182. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jr is lurking Trevor Bayne style. 183. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Blaney in trouble again, caution. 184. Schroeder51 posted: 06.09.2013 - 3:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Blaney hits the wall. I can already tell we're going to have multiple green-white-checkereds... 185. New14 & 88Fan posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Blaney in the wall. 186. 29 Car posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Caution..Blaney hits the wall. 7 laps to go 187. The Long Shot posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Blaney hits the wall. Now things could get interesting . 188. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) They only showed one replay so I could be wrong, but it looks to me like Stenhouse caused it. Go figure. 189. John Royal posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:01 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Why are these monkeys letting Johnson go on the outside like that. Just drive alongside Johnson into turn one and push Johnson's car wide up high and he will lose tons of positions. 190. Baker posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I quit watching Cup because NASCAR erked me for far too long. I am celebrating by watching Cup again because of a great call when they actually made a call against a HMS car last week. My favorite driver has had a strong car and now NASCAR seems to be giving the field every chance they can to get the #48 with that quick caution for Blaney there. I'm pleasantly surprised by the race today. I hope Jimmie jumps it again haaha 191. TS1420 posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) "Why are these monkeys letting Johnson go on the outside like that. Just drive alongside Johnson into turn one and push Johnson's car wide up high and he will lose tons of positions." Junior won't race Johnson like that. Mr Hendrick will give him a spanking. 192. John Royal posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yeah, thats why I don't like multi-team operations in this sport. 193. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) JJ, don't jump the restart. If you do, I will scream at NASCAR to penalize you again. You may be my fav, but you still are not above the rules of the sport! 194. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kyle didn't get a good restart at all. With Greg "I'm Content To Finish 2nd" Biffle in 2nd, this one's over unless there's another caution. 195. Baker posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:05 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) And Kyle petty kills me. "...and they're 43 wide going into turn 1" 196. TS1420 posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well that race sucked. 197. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:07 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Congratulations to RoboPrick, RoboHitler, and the entire 48 team on winning the Donny Lia 400 at Pocono Presented by Walmart. 198. Schroeder51 posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:09 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Jimmie Johnson: NASCAR's first 8-time champion 199. The Long Shot posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well...that was good. 200. Ryan W posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (3) Someone blow up Pocono and redo it. Also, if Jimmie takes this car to Indy, then Goodnight. 201. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) He better thank his buddy Montoya for causing that wreck, which basically screwed up the intriguing strategy race we would have had. 202. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:10 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Glad that ordeal is over. 203. Zackary Shawn posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:10 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) I may be in the minority, but it's not the Chase, or the COT, or aero push, or fuel mileages, or Green-White-Checkers, or double file restarts, or phantom cautions that are causing me to lose interest and find NASCAR boring. It's Jimmie Johnson... 204. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:10 pm Rate this comment: (2) (3) Congrats Jimmie. I'm telling you, he's going to try and dominate in every statistic save for laps led and poles. He'd have the championship with the chase, or without the chase, considering the way he is running. I'm not upset, I want Jimmie to win two more championships and 20 more wins or so, but if this happens, I really really will love seeing people throw fits and then turn in the very next week. 205. John Royal posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:10 pm Rate this comment: (2) (2) The best thing about JJ winning is reading this funny and bitter comments, keep em coming! 206. Paul posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:10 pm Rate this comment: (2) (1) Ryan Newman finishes in 5th place, but I was under the impression that he was a worthless fat ass based on the comments on the Dover page... Hyperbole, much? Travis Kvapil picks up a solid top 20 finish. 207. Baker posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The race was good except the guy who ran 1st almost the entire race. The racing from 2nd on back I thought was good for what Pocono has had in the past. I will take a 4th for Stewart, but he had the only car that could contend with Johnson if it were not for the bump from Keselowski. Not mad though it was purely a racing deal. 208. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 198. Schroeder51 posted: Jimmie Johnson: NASCAR's first 8-time champion - - - How many times have I heard that about Richard Petty and Dale Sr? *They woulda/shoulda/coulda had*. If Jimmie wins 7 titles, I'd be shocked. I want it to happen, but that 7th and last one is always the hardest... unless it's 1994. 209. TS1420 posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) At least SHR got 2 cars in the top five (might have been better for the 14, no thanks to Horsemouth). 210. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Stewart and Newman finish 4th and 5th, respectively. Looks like SHR may have gotten their problems under control. Now all they need to do is can BoB and let Bobby Labonte drive the 10 for the rest of the year (I know it won't happen, but I can still dream about it). 211. Benjamin Lowe posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:13 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) MINUS FIVE STARS. 212. Schroeder51 posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:13 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) BoB finishes on the lead lap for only the THIRD time all year...and yet she STILL finishes 29th. But it's NOT a driver problem... 213. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "MINUS FIVE STARS." lol 214. Baker posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:15 pm Rate this comment: (4) (0) I hope someone wrecks the hauler and destroys that car before we get to Indianapolis. 215. Benjamin Lowe posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Of Course it's a Driver Problem Schroder. Danica couldn't drive a race car to save her own life. 216. Schroeder51 posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Here is someone taking me literally once again. How many times do I have to say it: there is no such thing as sarcasm on the Internet. 217. TS1420 posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Biffle... You wouldn't have done anything to Johnson. You love finishing 2nd & hate winning. 218. 13 posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Is there an infield road course at Pocono? if there is then run it instead. 219. New14 & 88Fan posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:18 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "I hope someone wrecks the hauler and destroys that car before we get to Indianapolis." They'll just haul what's left of them back to the shop, combine it into a new car and still win. 220. John Royal posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:18 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "They'll just haul what's left of them back to the shop, combine it into a new car and still win." No, they make it even better car. 221. joey2448 posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:19 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Good race, just hate to see Jimmie in such a higher level than everybody else, but they deserve this win. Every time Johnson celebrates in victory lane, his smile looks fake and forced. Also, does Jimmie Johnson wear tailored race suits? His firesuits seem to fit him perfectly, not like many drivers that wear suits that make them look like bloated walruses. 222. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "How many times do I have to say it: there is no such thing as sarcasm on the Internet." Same thing that happened to me on post 1 on this page, lol At least the next two races should be good. Fontana was the best race all year, so I'm really looking forward to Michigan next week. Hopefully the racing will be similar. And of course Sonoma is the week after that. So I'm pretty pumped. 223. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 219. New14 & 88Fan posted: "I hope someone wrecks the hauler and destroys that car before we get to Indianapolis." They'll just haul what's left of them back to the shop, combine it into a new car and still win. - - - - I could imagine Alan Kulwicki and his team doing that, eating some Hooters take out the entire time. Interesting times indeed. 224. 83andJoe posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:20 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) >Fontana was the best race all year Proof that we're living in the Twilight Zone. 225. The Long Shot posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:21 pm Rate this comment: (5) (0) Our only hope for Indy is if Mike Harmon strolls to the Hendrick shop and steals Jimmie's hauler (with the car still inside). 226. New14 & 88Fan posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I could imagine Alan Kulwicki and his team doing that, eating some Hooters take out the entire time. Interesting times indeed." They probably did lol. 227. Benjamin Lowe posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:24 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Biffle you may have Montana's number but none of his determination, courage & drive to get the job done. 228. Benjamin Lowe posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I know you were joking there Schroder I just wanted to state the real problem with SHR. 229. TS1420 posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:26 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "Our only hope for Indy is if Mike Harmon strolls to the Hendrick shop and steals Jimmie's hauler (with the car still inside)." Hopefully Mike Harmon steals Chad Knaus' Necronomicon Ex-Mortis Race Playbook and distributes it to the rest of the field. 230. Baker posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I missed it or they didn't show the points after 20th. How much ground did Denny Hamlin make up with another Top 10? 231. joey2448 posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) LOL, a twitter account named "Not Danica Patrick" just tweeted this -- "I prefer FOX. But that's just me." "At least the next two races should be good. Fontana was the best race all year, so I'm really looking forward to Michigan next week. Hopefully the racing will be similar." I don't think the racing will be all that similar, since Fontana's track surface is aged, leading to tire wear and guys slipping around and lots of good racing. The surface at Michigan is quite new and fast and it's hard to race side-by-side. 232. Schroeder51 posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) They said he barely made up any ground at all. I didn't see how far behind he was, but basically he's still two whole races out of 20th. 233. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Our only hope for Indy is a repeat of 2009 without JPM's pit incident. Worst thing ever. 234. 18fan posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) He's 76 behind 20th. He needs to win and that team hasn't shown enough speed in my opinion to win. He was only close at Fontana because of much fresher tires. 235. Ryan W posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Best thing they could ever do was change Pocono to 400 miles. Now lets change it to 500Km which would be 125 laps. That would be great and short with all kinds of different strategy. 236. Anthony posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What an idiot (48) 237. Zackary Shawn posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:32 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) It still makes me mad that Chad/Jimmie wasn't part of the big HMS crew swap that happened prior to the 2011 season. 238. The Long Shot posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Hopefully Mike Harmon steals Chad Knaus' Necronomicon Ex-Mortis Race Playbook and distributes it to the rest of the field." Harmon should make his own little additions to it: Chapter 1: Cross-Over Gates Are VERY BAD Chapter 2: How To Park Successfully In NASCAR I think you get the picture. 239. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "How much ground did Denny Hamlin make up with another Top 10?" He's still around the 23rd - 26th range in points if I'm correct. He didn't really make up that much in this particular race. "I don't think the racing will be all that similar, since Fontana's track surface is aged, leading to tire wear and guys slipping around and lots of good racing. The surface at Michigan is quite new and fast and it's hard to race side-by-side." True. In any case, it should at least be a bit better than Pocono. 240. Benjamin Lowe posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:35 pm Rate this comment: (1) (3) 100 bonus points for anyone who wrecks Jimmie Johnson. 241. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:42 pm Rate this comment: (1) (3) Sounds like this race was a shit-fest... glad I missed the comments page too. You had to figure a win was in the fix for them after last week. It happens every time if you follow the WWF plan, and the longer I go the more I believe this sport is scripted within the bounds of drivers not accidentally screwing up and wrecking by mistake against the script. 242. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:43 pm Rate this comment: (12) (0) I might as well say this now. Webmaster, A huge thanks for what you have done. Being able to see what people say as the races in all different series go by is perfect. not just that, if I want to get exact and see who qualified 22nd in Texas, I can do it now. Things like this, which might be unnoticed by most, is huge for me. Not just that, we have alot of different opinions in all of these. People like some, hate others. We verbally dual, we cherish in memories, revel in victories. And you don't go around removing every comment for different opinions and emotional expressions. And now, the site is nearing 10,000 races. That is HUGE. Forget Facebook *Slams face into a book* Forget TWITter, this site is the best social site I can think of. Many heartfelt thanks go out to you, and god bless you in your numerous endeavors. 243. TS1420 posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "It still makes me mad that Chad/Jimmie wasn't part of the big HMS crew swap that happened prior to the 2011 season." The reason why Knaus wasn't shipped off to a different team is because Hendrick knows Johnson wouldn't be half the driver he is now without Knaus. Why do you think he forced them to stay together back in the 2005/2006 off season when they were ready to kill each other? 244. Zackary Shawn posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "The reason why Knaus wasn't shipped off to a different team is because Hendrick knows Johnson wouldn't be half the driver he is now without Knaus." That's the reason it makes me mad. Because I want Johnson to be (less than) half the driver he is now. 245. Anonymous posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @244: Why should what YOU want be important to the team? 246. John Royal posted: 06.09.2013 - 4:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #242 I agree with everything you say. This is maybe the best web community I am involved in. Big thanks of course to the webmasters of all the statistics stuff, but I believe it is the people in these comment boards that make this place truly worthwhile for longer stay. You guys are great! And again thanks to DSFF for spoiling the NW winner so that I don't have any interest seeing the interesting NW race in interesting track without single Cup assburger-driver. Now I can tune in normal NW race next weekend and see Kyle Busch dominating. I already missed that. ;) 247. The Long Shot posted: 06.09.2013 - 5:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) This the ONLY web community I'm involved in. I have no Facebook, no Twitter, no Youtube, no nothing (parents, what can you do?). Many heartfelt thanks to the webmaster for giving us these opportunities to comment. Not to mention, this is by far the best racing database online. Three cheers for webmaster!! 248. Zackary Shawn posted: 06.09.2013 - 5:01 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) "Why should what YOU want be important to the team?" What a completely dumb, ignorant response. NASCAR is a sport and in sports there are teams you like and teams you don't. I don't like Johnson and I wish he didn't perform as well so I expressed my view that I wish he and Chad weren't together anymore. Did I really think HMS was going to read my comment and think "Gee, he wants us to break up our most successful driver/crew chief combination. We better get on that."? No, I merely expressed how I felt on a sports page about a team I didn't like. I'm an Auburn University student and I say how I wish the University of Alabama would fire Nick Saban all the time, like most Auburn fans wish. Do we actually expect them to do so after he's won 3 national championships in the last 4 years? NO. But that's what sports is all about: you like some, you hate some, and you express your view on how you feel. It's all in good fun because hating a team is part of sports. 249. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 5:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I agree. Kudos to the Webmaster and to all of my fellow posters for making this site what it is. It's just so much fun to be on here conversing with all of you. I've learned so much more about the sport through this website. 250. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 06.09.2013 - 5:06 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Iowa >>>>>>> Pocono 251. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.09.2013 - 5:06 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) It's definitely the best website in sports. It's better for it to stay hidden on the sidelines lest it suffer corruption at the hands of NASCAR.com's trolls. 252. Richie61NYfan posted: 06.09.2013 - 5:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #221 Joey , Actually Jimmie gets his firesuits from Tony Stewart. They just press em a lil bit. 253. Zackary Shawn posted: 06.09.2013 - 5:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hearing Johnson's car may be illegal. Not that NASCAR takes wins away or anything... 254. Zackary Shawn posted: 06.09.2013 - 5:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) UPDATE: it passed...unfortunately. 255. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 06.09.2013 - 5:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) My cable died and listened to MRN all day. How bad was TNT? 256. Zackary Shawn posted: 06.09.2013 - 5:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "My cable died and listened to MRN all day. How bad was TNT?" Well the graphic at the top of the screen took up more than 1/4 of the television set and they averaged a commercial every 8 laps or so, but I'll let you make the call on whether it was bad or not. 257. How It Happened posted: 06.09.2013 - 5:14 pm Rate this comment: (6) (3) Mr. Hendrick, the 48 car has a violation after the race. *Hendrick passes $100,000 to the NASCAR officials* Mr. Hendrick, the 48 car passed post-race inspection. 258. Anthony posted: 06.09.2013 - 5:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I feel like Jeff Gordon would miss the chase :( 259. Benjamin Lowe posted: 06.09.2013 - 5:15 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I would also thank the webmaster for all his outstanding contributions in not only creating this website put making it better and better. This has been my favorite place and have discussions with people like DSFF, Paul & CJS. None of this would have been possible without you and for that I give you my sincerest gratitude. 260. Pizza man posted: 06.09.2013 - 5:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Third straight top 10 finish for Tony Stewart. Something tells me that Smoke is starting to fix the problems he's been having earlier this season. 261. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.09.2013 - 5:17 pm Rate this comment: (4) (0) So, let's get this right... Bobby Labonte drives the crapbox 47 and finishes AHEAD of Danica Patrick, the car with the biggest budget in the sport after only the #48, yet HE is the one who gets fired? 262. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 5:18 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "How bad was TNT?" The commercials and those types of things were annoying, but their analysis was excellent as usual. And in addition, I only saw BoB's car on screen about two times total during the whole race. So even though the commercial count was ridiculous, it was a much needed refreshment from The Waltrip Network. I'm looking forward to the next five races. 263. TS1420 posted: 06.09.2013 - 5:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "How bad was TNT?" The Bad - Commercials breaks every 5 laps, a big ass sponsor banner over top the scoring ticker the whole race, "While we were away" the most uttered phrase, confusing camera shots. The Good - Commentary (of course that's a given compared to The Boogity Brothers Band of Merry Misfits on FAUX and The Clueless Vanilla Crew on BSPN) & following where the action was happening on the track 264. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.09.2013 - 5:22 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) ^Where's the ugly? 265. ch posted: 06.09.2013 - 5:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor Changes: 17 - Valvoline Nextgen 19 - Humphrey Smith Racing 20 - Husky Tools 30 - Lean 1 Healthy Performance Shakes 33 - Circle Sport 266. TS1420 posted: 06.09.2013 - 5:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) "^Where's the ugly?" Nap-Time dominating the race? 267. New14 & 88Fan posted: 06.09.2013 - 5:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Whenever they aren't in commercial TNT focuses on all the action on track and not just the golden boys and girl, plus Kyle Petty and Wally Dallenbach make a neat team(Adam Alexandra isn't that bad either). 268. RCRandPenskeGuy posted: 06.09.2013 - 5:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Third straight top 10 finish for Tony Stewart. Something tells me that Smoke is starting to fix the problems he's been having earlier this season." Newman ran up front, too. If this race wasn't telling of whether or not the #10 team's problems are the driver, I don't know what to say. Sucks to see Bobby Labonte get booted out of the #47. Hopefully he can get a ride for all races for the rest of the season so he can at least keep that consecutive starts streak alive. And yes, he's doing a much better job in his situation considering his circumstances than Danica is. I don't think he could win again, but Bobby could still finish Top 10 here and there if he had a better team. Congrats to the #48 team, even if I have been turned off of them even more this season due to Jimmie's Twitter comments. 269. cjs3872 posted: 06.09.2013 - 5:56 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Murb, not only did Denny Hamlin not gain much ground, he actually LOST ground on 20th place in the points, as he lost two points, going from 74 behind 20th to 76 behind 20th, even finishing eighth, largely because Ryan Newman finished fifth and other drivers around 20th in points, such as Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, and Jeff Burton all finished in the top dozen. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., after another sub-par day, is now 20th in points, and figures to drop some more in the next few races. Also, let's not forget that Juan Montoya is another driver that Hamlin's trying to catch, and another that's currently below 20th, and the way he's running, he's going to be a heavy favorite for the road courses, the first of which is in just two weeks, so that's another fly in the ointment for Hamlin, because I think Montoya's got a better chance to make the Chase among those south of 20th, and not just because he's currently higher in points, but he's got two road course races ahead of him that he can get fat on, as well as Indianapolis, so there are three races he can easily win, and I think he WILL win at least one of those three. And even though he was never competitive today, and I don't think he'll be that good next week either, Jeff Gordon crept closer to the top ten, as he's now just 2 points out of 10th. Like Montoya, I think he's waiting for Sonoma to make his move, because he's the favorite among the HMS drivers on the road courses without question, especially Sonoma, where he's won a record five times. But everyone, including Jimmie Johnson, had better be careful, because that big object in the mirror with a #14 on it is coming, and coming fast, as Tony Stewart is back, and back with a vengeance, and as we all know, he's one of the few drivers that has looked that #48 team in the eye and came out on top, so everyone had better watch out for Tony, because he's returned to form. And Benjamin Lowe (#227), I disagree with you about Greg Biffle, because he did all he could, but nobody was going to beat Jimmie on this day, and Biffle was nowhere for most of the race, but used the restarts and rallied to second place at the end. As Harold Elliott once said, the only way they were going to beat Jimmie today was if someone shot his tires out. And speaking of Jimmie, I know most people can't stand him and his team, but to be quite honest, it would be a crying shame if the Chase came around and he lost this championship, because no other team in the sport seems to be even close to them right now, so if it stays this way and he lost the championship because of the Chase, it would be a case of an unearned championship for whoever else wins it, because Jimmie and the #48 team is currently the only team deserving this year. That might change later on, but it's certainly not the case now. 270. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.09.2013 - 5:56 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Yes, the webmaster here is the man who runs the greatest racing discussion community out there. Simply amazing what is being done here. Penske made a massive error going to Ford and using Roush/Yates power. The Ford Fusions are not a good aero car, and the motors are nowhere close to what the Penske engine shop was producing. They were powerful, had unreal durability, and unparalleled gas mileage. Roger should have never agreed to go to Ford unless he could have kept his engine shop. Surely they could have adapted to the Ford. Or tell me what you guys think of this: stay with Dodge. I know they pulled out, but they had a Gen 6 prototype, surely Penske's guys could have fine tuned it to a decent model even without Dodge's support. Throw in their motors, and I think they would be much better this year, even with no manufacturer support. Just my two cents. Surely they could get, at the least, some sponsorship money from Dodge for that. The performance has picked back up to what it was at the beginning of the season, but it is still a 3rd place car at best. I am positive they will get a win or two this year, but I can't see them hanging with the 48 like they did last year, eventually forcing them into mistakes. 271. 4H8ter posted: 06.09.2013 - 6:00 pm Rate this comment: (1) (3) This is officially it. I am DONE w/ Nascar. Jimmie Johnson's going to "win" a 6th championship and mess up the alltime stats even more. So boring. 272. TS1420 posted: 06.09.2013 - 6:10 pm Rate this comment: (3) (2) "And speaking of Jimmie, I know most people can't stand him and his team, but to be quite honest, it would be a crying shame if the Chase came around and he lost this championship, because no other team in the sport seems to be even close to them right now, so if it stays this way and he lost the championship because of the Chase, it would be a case of an unearned championship for whoever else wins it, because Jimmie and the #48 team is currently the only team deserving this year. That might change later on, but it's certainly not the case now." I wouldn't feel one bit sorry if he lost the championship this year because of the chase reset since he took the 2007, 2008 & 2010 championships because of the chase reset when Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards & Kevin Harvick were far more deserving of those championships. 273. Cichon posted: 06.09.2013 - 6:14 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) For once, BOTH BK Racing cars finished! And Kvapil snuck in the Top Twenty. Good run. 274. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 6:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Fords definitely are the slowest of the three makes with the Gen 6 thus far, and even though Penske has been competitive at times, I can't see how they could think that this move to Ford has payed off thus far. Maybe it would have been a better idea for them to stay with Dodge. If Penske's big problem with Dodge was that they were the only team there, I'm sure he easily could have recruited another team to come over. I would think that that would be much easier than having to just give up and go to an entirely new manufacturer. 275. ch posted: 06.09.2013 - 6:25 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Just say this one on Bob Pockrass' twitter... "Juan Pablo Montoya talking about teams struggles about earlier in the year, 'we were behind Danica in points.' said a matter of factly." At least one driver in the garage gets it! 276. Nick posted: 06.09.2013 - 6:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) TRD reduced horsepower hoping to improve part durability at Pocono. Well, this is the first time in 2013 that no TRD powered car finished in the top 5... 277. cjs3872 posted: 06.09.2013 - 6:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) TS1420, that may be true about Jimmie's championships from 2007-'10 (you left out 2009, when Tony Stewart and even Jeff Gordon had a substantial lead on Jimmie when before the points were reset), but that still wouldn't change the fact if someone else beat out the #48 because of the points reset this year, that the wrong team would have won the title, because the #48 is far more deserving that anyone else this year. And yes, the Fords are the slowest of the three makes this year for one simple reason. Their engines simply don't make enough horsepower. They can make them handle all they want (and they're not doing that great a job there, either), but they're down on horsepower just like they were in the 70s and early 80s. I still say part of their handling issues have a lot to do with Matt Kenseth no longer being at Roush, because he was the guy the other Roush drivers, and by extension, their teams, looked to when it came to car setup, and that's why they're struggling. Just look at what happened to Penske after Rusty Wallace retired after the 2005 season. They didn't become a major force again until the second half of the 2011 season, mainly because they didn't have a driver that knew the car itself that well, something that Brad Keselowski gives them now. As for Penske, they had to make the move they made. Dodge was getting out of the sport, and had they stayed there, they would have ended up just like Petty Enterprises did in 1978, and they were uncompetitive with the Magnum that year, so they had to change manufacturers. Chevrolet was out because of their depth of teams, Toyota wasn't much good either because of JGR and the emergence of MWR as a title contender last year, so Ford was their best shot, plus Penske had a relationship with Ford from his first stint with them, which lasted nine seasons. The Fords simply don't have enough horsepower, which was their problem in the 70s and early 80s, and it's their problem now. 278. Anonymous posted: 06.09.2013 - 6:45 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Did Yeley and Nemechek S&P, or were their mechanical issues legitimate? (I didn't see the race) 279. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.09.2013 - 6:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I just wonder if the Penske engineering department could have created a competitive Gen 6 Dodge Charger. 280. cjs3872 posted: 06.09.2013 - 7:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @278, I would say that Yeley may have parked it, though remember that Kasey Kahne broke a transmission or drive shaft on the very start of the race, so it could have been legit, and I would say that had the reason out not have been engine failure that Nemechek would have parked it, but since he was listed as having engine failure, I would say his exit was legit, as well. And also remember that Nemechek has not been doing start-and-parks this year, as he has been doing in recent seasons, so it looks like Nemechek had a real problem. Also remember that Nemechek's car is a Toyota, though we don't know what engine supplier he uses if it was a Toyota engine faliure. Also, it's a possibility that Landon Cassill may have parked it, as well. One question I have is, why was David Ragan in the garage area for as long as he was, because it was never mentioned, which is odd if only because he has won a race this year, something drivers as high as third and fourth in the championship haven't been able to do this year. 281. cjs3872 posted: 06.09.2013 - 7:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And also, Jimmie Johnson had trouble getting through inspection because his car was dangerously close to being underweight, as it made multiple trips through the inspection station, but eventually passed. Tomorrow at the R&D Center might be a little interesting. 282. Cooper posted: 06.09.2013 - 7:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DSFF, in my opinion if Roger stayed with Dodge, and Dodge stayed with Roger they could have had a dynasty. They would have also created a marketing juggernaut with one team/one manufacturer owning the sport. We all knew it was a bad idea, my emotional investment in Brad went straight down hill. This was not a good idea by any means. Again, we don't know the whole story behind this but staying with Dodge should've been Roger's main priority. Now he is basically Jack Roush's whipping boy. Still with all of this, I think Brad is the second best driver in the garage area and I wouldn't trade him away from anybody but there is a strong correlation between driver success and crew chief. I think everybody can agree with this statement when I say "Races are no longer won on the racetrack but they are won in the shop and on top of the pit box". Wasn't like this 10-15-20-25-30 etc years ago. 283. Richie61NYfan posted: 06.09.2013 - 7:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Had Tv on and had Racebuddy with Jimmie and Chad . Princess BoB went 1 lap down on L58. On L64 Chad told Jimmie debris spotted in turn 3 but nobody could see it. TNT goes to commercial then. Call my brother and tell him debris caution and he asked how I know. We wait til commercial ends, low and behold it is a debris caution on L66 .Kyle Petty waits 5 min and explains it was only a simple blankie debris. Princess BoB was thrilled. Great run by Jimmie !! What a statement he made. Also, good runs by Tony and Ryan .Two day test session worked well for them. Oh, I don't think NASCAR will let Jimmie win the championship this year. Go Jimmie Johnson !! Also,if Kasey Kahne didn't have bad luck he would have no luck at all. 284. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.09.2013 - 7:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) Don't get down on Brad and Paul Wolfe just yet. Yes it was an error to go to Ford and use Roush/Yates engines, but they will find a way to stay relevant. Looks like Back2Back is gonna need a miracle, but they still have a ton in the tank. Brad is not gonna just sit there while things fall all to hell around him. Behind the scenes he is a force, and he will find a way to get some things changed. He got things in the right direction in May of 2011 leading to the Summer of Brad, which carried into 2012 when he won the most chase points, most overall season points, and tied for the most wins. He ain't gonna just sit there and run 5th at best every week. Besides, the emotional investment has already paid off in the best way. He beat the 48 head to head last year. Here is the thing: Hendrick is SUPPOSED to win the championship every year. With all the money he has (much of which he got through dirty business) and all the connections in the sport he has bought, there is no reason they shouldn't win it every year. Last year was a triumph of the human spirit. One last thing, despite the lack of wins, front running, many wrecks and many penalties, they are still 9th in points. Last year it took awhile for them to get to the Top 10, and holy cow, in 2011 we were ready to declare Brad's Cup career a lost cause. They'll figure something out. Maybe not this year, but eventually they will. 285. joey2448 posted: 06.09.2013 - 8:01 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) "He got things in the right direction in May of 2011 leading to the Summer of Brad" Lol, this reminds me of that Seinfeld episode...."This will be the 'Summer of George!'" 286. 13 posted: 06.09.2013 - 8:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) David Ragan had brake problems 287. TS1420 posted: 06.09.2013 - 8:26 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I agree not to count Keselowski out just yet. Despite two early wins last year, he didn't start showing much championship contending form until his win at Kentucky. And the year before that he was looking to be yet another Cup Series bust before the summer hit. But Penske did make a horrible misstep by joining the true darkside, Jack Roush. He should have looked at how Roush dismantled Robert Yates race team so he could get their engine program and how he has used all the other Ford teams as his personal guinea pigs. 288. New14 & 88Fan posted: 06.09.2013 - 8:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "But Penske did make a horrible misstep by joining the true darkside, Jack Roush. He should have looked at how Roush dismantled Robert Yates race team so he could get their engine program and how he has used all the other Ford teams as his personal guinea pigs." That's the part of Penske going to ford that still gets me. Their engine department certainly would of been able to squeeze some extra horsepower out of the engines which would of worked to the benefit of ALL the ford teams, instead Rodger pretty mush sold his soul to The Rat in The Hat and other then rear endgate has been pretty much invisible this year. 289. Sean posted: 06.09.2013 - 9:00 pm Rate this comment: (6) (0) "Last year was a triumph of the human spirit." I can understand you saying this based on Brad Keselowski's personality vs. Jimmie Johnson's, but I'm afraid I must disagree. Um, Roger Penske isn't exactly an angel, so I wouldn't exactly trash Hendrick (as much as he may deserve it) without spotlighting Penske's entire record, particularly in IndyCar. While he was in CART, Penske perpetually dominated largely because of conflicts of interest. Each owner theoretically held an equal share of power but in practice, the most successful/richest owners controlled the organization. The owners' greed worked for a while because they were more successful at marketing their series and the races outside the Indianapolis 500 than USAC was, but in retrospect, by the time of the CART IPO in 1998, the writing was on the wall, especially because eventually the teams' sponsors preferred Indy to CART. When all the owners ultimately cared more about their own interests than the interest in their series, how could anyone possibly want to invest in the long run? For much of the '80s, Penske could get whomever he wanted installed as the CART series president, and simultaneously owned race tracks, had connections to engine and chassis manufacturers (and more gallingly, could decide which teams besides his own would receive the most powerful engines), and promoted races on street courses. He then abandoned the series he helped found and controlled and jumped sides, even though he had already finished 1-2 at Indy in 2001 without running the full IRL schedule, and one imagines he could have continued to do one-offs at Indy and win regardless of which series he was competing in. Many fans blame him, not just Tony George, for escalating the situation that led to the CART/IRL split (and for good reason as it was he who scheduled the U.S. 500 at MIS to compete with the Indy 500 in 1996). In addition to managing the competition and deciding which teams got the good stuff, he exploited every possible rules loophole, like in 1994 when he created a performance-based stock-block engine that should have been illegal (which no other owner could afford) essentially buying the race, and Paul Tracy claims that Penske was also illegally using traction control in 1994 which is why they were able to win 12/16 races and have several races where all 3 Penske cars lapped the field several times. Finally, he sold all the tracks he owned to ISC making himself many millions he didn't need, which led to Rockingham losing its Cup and Busch dates, Nazareth being closed (and in a nasty way), and Michigan and Fontana keeping/eventually landing 2 Cup dates and losing their IndyCar dates (where the IndyCar races were great, whether CART or IRL, and the NASCAR races were usually terrible)? Might the Labor Day Southern 500 still exist if Penske hadn't sold Fontana to ISC? Quite possibly. One of the few decent things about the IRL was that Tony George (for a WHILE, at least) took complete control and didn't allow owners to exert the kind of power they were allowed in CART, but that all collapsed even before TG was fired. Penske and Michael Andretti are now promoting races, TG himself owned a team (and probably still effectively runs Ed Carpenter's team in the background), and Penske had enough clout to demand that the race at Belle Isle be restored and get the weekend spot after Indy (as opposed to Milwaukee, the USAC/CART tradition, or Texas, the IRL tradition, which both regularly held much better races) AND insist it was on ABC (just to be in the Detroit market), even though everyone who is honest acknowledges that is and always has been the worst circuit in IndyCar (although this year's races weren't too dreadful). If he wanted to go back to the Detroit market, how about going to a MORE traditional venue which he used to own which had a long string of classic races, MIS? Makes no sense, but it's probably more that it makes no cents and he gets a huge kickback for the Belle Isle race. I think the actual RACING in IndyCar right now is the best in a long time (since CART in 2001 maybe?) but it has many of the same problems CART at its worst did, only with a much smaller audience. And they keep shooting themselves in the foot, with that prime-time ABC Texas race being too dull to inspire any new fans to watch again. Was Penske actually doing anything ILLEGAL, besides whatever cheating his teams have done (and Paul Tracy may not be the most reliable source about traction control)? Probably not. The man is smarter than Hendrick and knows how to do things that aren't against the law but probably should be... I have no idea how corrupt he has been in his businesses. Maybe he has more integrity than Hendrick (which wouldn't be hard) but considering the way he has run his racing businesses, I would not be surprised if he has done stuff just as illegal as what Hendrick has done in his automotive businesses but was just a lot less stupid about it. A Penske championship is not a win for the little guy. He's just as dislikable as all the other powerhouse owners in Cup and IndyCar, none of whom I like. Rooting for Brad may be rooting for a little guy, but rooting for Penske is definitely not. Although he has certainly done positive things for racing (all his innovations in the Mark Donohue years for instance), the way he has attempted to manipulate and manage the competition in open wheel is pretty unforgivable to me, although he doesn't have as much power as he used to, and he never had as much power in NASCAR as he did in CART (because admittedly Bill France, Jr. would not have let him, although he still had SOME power, as indicated by the sale of his tracks to ISC). I do not personally like or dislike Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson (I used to hate them both, and now they just leave me blah, although I certainly respect their talents) but to bash them just because they drive for Hendrick seems wrong to me. I do not think Roush, Childress, Penske, Ganassi, Evernham, Waltrip, and (I'll take heat for these) Gibbs and Yates were likable car owners. Everyone just bashes Hendrick and Roush and lets some of the other owners off the hook. All these teams have had drivers I have liked and drivers I have disliked. I do not judge whether I like or dislike a driver based on whether I like or dislike the car owner, because I find ALL the teams that have been successful (well, Evernham wasn't really successful but he is one of my absolute least favorite people in racing, whom I hate far more than I ever hated Hendrick) in recent years to have stomped on many, many toes. I'm not talking about the Petty Enterprises/Wood Brothers era here... I'm solely talking about the more recent owners (starting with the fly-by-night J.D. Stacy and Warner Hodgdon teams). All of today's owners have more integrity than THOSE guys, but you pretty much have to be corrupt to have a championship-caliber NASCAR team now (at least post-Alan Kulwicki). It sickens me, but it is what it is. Root for Brad all you want, and he does have an interesting personality, but a Penske championship is hardly a "triumph of the human spirit". This is the man who may be responsible for the loss of the Southern 500 thanks to selling Fontana to ISC. He has a complex racing legacy...his increasing the professionalism of teams happened alongside his attempts to manage the competition, although I'll admit he wasn't AS corrupt in NASCAR as he was in IndyCar. Penske is the open-wheel Rick Hendrick, and the man Hendrick chose to build his operation around. I too liked the Emotionless Juggernaut losing and I do like that title, but trashing Hendrick to call a Penske title a "triumph of the human spirit" is a little off-putting. Nothing against you (or Brad) here by the way. 290. 83andJoe posted: 06.09.2013 - 9:04 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) I just find it amusing how so many people seem to think that the only reason Johnson wins is because of "The Call" and bribery, and there isn't a chance that he wins because, y'know, he is actually pretty good. As dull as my shoes after three months of mudskipping, but good. 291. Sean posted: 06.09.2013 - 9:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "the man Hendrick chose to build his operation around." Oops. That doesn't make any sense. I meant to write "the man Hendrick modeled his operation after". I really should proofread my posts, and I'm probably too opinionated about too many things... 292. Bro Jackson posted: 06.09.2013 - 9:15 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Good run for Dale Jr., spending most of the race in the top three and finishing third. The 88 team needed that one. Oh and Zackary Shawn, War Damn Eagle :D 293. cjs3872 posted: 06.09.2013 - 9:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I can't disagree with you more on Penske and Dodge, DSFF. Penske probably knew that Dodge was leaving NASCAR before anyone else did, which is why he decided to change manufacturers. Remember that he was still involved in his first stint in NASCAR when Dodge did the same thing in 1976 and '77, which was when the fortunes of Petty Enterprises started to go downhill. Remember that because Dodge did not have a new car for 1977, that NASCAR had to amend it's rule prohibiting a car for running more than three years by letting the '74 Charger run in 1977. Penske knew that if he didn't change manufacturers, that his team would b on the road to oblivion because he would have no manufacturer support because he would have been running a mark that was not in the sport. Now his decision regarding the engine shop is another matter, because I never agreed with the decision not to continue with his engine building and instead merging with Roush-Yates. I never liked that decision because Penske's cars would be better if he still ran his own engines. I also think one thing that's hurting Penske this year is the fact that his team is assisting the Germain Racing #13 car, which is doing much better than it ever has before, effectively making Germain's #13 a satellite team for Penske Racing, which I believe he's doing to help Casey Mears since he has close ties to the Mears family because of his relationship with Rick, who won four Indianapolis 500s and three IndyCar titles for Penske. In fact, what we're seeing out of Jimmie Johnson is what we would have seen throughout Rick Mears' entire career, had Rick not gotten badly injured at Sanair Speedway near Montreal in 1984, because Rick was doing the exact same things for Roger until that happened. And I think Roger may be paying the Mears family back by helping Casey out with Germain's #13 car this year. Does anyone else think it's a surprise that Mears is doing better this year once Penske went to Ford, because I don't think that's co-incidental. Penske wants to help a family friend, and that's exactly what I believe Casey Mears is to Penske. 294. David posted: 06.09.2013 - 9:16 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I stepped...WAY out. I didn't miss much, though I do want to say this: This is the best racing discussion site on the planet by fifteen nautical miles, and the best social site by twenty. I used to comment regularly on NASCAR.com, but people would always infuriate me with their idiotic/ignorant/stupid/immature posts. I'm not quite sure how I came here. I had come here on a semi-regular basis to view results. I guess one day, I decided to click on the comments page and see what it was like. As a matter of fact, next week at Michigan will mark one year since I made my first comment here. And I have learned so much ever since. Every poster on here has been great in their own way. And the webmaster is the best on earth. Honestly, finding this site was the best thing that ever happened to me as a NASCAR fan. Thank you all. Now for the race...bleh. I listened to the last half on MRN, and needless to say, I was none too pleased with the result. However, after my initial reaction (banging the armrest on my car seat angrily, I got over it mostly. And you know why? The right car, team, and driver won. Johnson led all but 32 laps. That is domination. Unless he made an unforced error, like wrecking or blowing the final restart, he deserved to win, and it would have been robbery if he had not. Cruel irony: I was about to pick Johnson in 24over48's game, before I went with Jeff Gordon. Aaahhh!! 295. Baker posted: 06.09.2013 - 9:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Anyone remember the 2011 Atlanta race when it was hot and slick with the Gordon/Johnson sideways battle? Who am I kidding? Of coarse everyone remembers that race, but does everyone remember how they kept talking about a combined 9 championships going at it? Well Tony Stewart was also with in striking distance of that victory and was a 2 timer at that point. Kurt Busch also finished 4th in that race. The top 4 finishers have a combined 13 championships between them. If Tony Stewart can keep up his current hot streak heading into some of his best tracks(Indianapolis, Loudon, Watkins Glen, Sonoma), and Jeff Gordon can catch some of that 2011 mid season magic(he should have won Bristol and Richmond on either side of that Atlanta race as well) then Brad Keselowski can get his ship pointed in the right direction come chase time we could be in for a real treat. I want to see a 10 race battle between 4 NASCAR champions with 13 champions going tooth and nail each and every week all the way to Homestead neck and neck. I would love to see the 4 drivers quickly separate themselves from the pack early in the chase and string together consecutive Top 5s trading blows at the top of the scoring tower. Obviously I would be cheering for Tony in that battle, but just to see a 4 car battle like that would be a great enough to keep me happy if Tony didn't come out on top. 296. cjs3872 posted: 06.09.2013 - 9:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sean (#289), Jim Stacy was a part of the Petty Enterprises/Wood Brothers/Junior Johnson era, as he got into the sport in 1977 when he bought Nord Krauskopf's K&K Insurance team with which Bobby Isaac once won a championship, and it was Stacy that won the final race for Dodge in the 20th century, with Neil Bonnett at Ontario to end the 1977 season in a 1-2 for Dodge with Richard Petty finishing right behind him. But Stacy's team ran into the same problem in 1978 that Petty's did, which was the Dodge Magnum and the non-support from Dodge, and except for an effort in the 1979 Daytona 500 with Bonnett, Stacy left the sport until buying Rod Osterlund's team during the 1981 season. Warner Hodgdon was also a part of the end of that era, as he got involved, first with RahMoc in 1983 and then Junior Johnson in 1984, and even ran the classic Wood Brothers colors in 1983-'84 on the RahMoc and Junior Johnson cars because he liked the tradition of those colors. Hodgdon also sponsored cars in both NASCAR (for numerous teams) and IndyCar racing, mainly with the Whittington Brothers in IndyCar racing in 1980-'82. And let's not forget guys like J.T. Lundy, Bobby Ginn, and some of the other crooked car owners the sport has seen through the years. Lundy bought into Harry Ranier's team in 1984, which was bought by Robert Yates in 1989 after problems with Lundy's shady dealings invovling horse racing caused him and Ranier to have to sell the team to Yates, and of course, Ginn probably ruined Joe Nemechek's career and nearly did the same to guys like Regan Smith and Aric Almirola with his shady dealings, and as we know, he also was a big part of ruining DEI along with Teresa Earnhardt. 297. murb posted: 06.09.2013 - 9:59 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "Penske probably knew that Dodge was leaving NASCAR before anyone else did, which is why he decided to change manufacturers." I don't buy this. I think Dodge was just as surprised as we all were when Penske bolted. Why would they put a ton of money and effort into developing a brand new race car like they did if they were just gonna leave anyway? Plus, there are rumors that they are looking to get back into Nascar next year. So I feel like their departure after 2012 was because of them not having a team to build around, not because it was their choice. Also, I just want to point out that Sean's comment on 289 is a perfect example of why I love this site. Posters like Sean, CJS, and DSFF have taught me so much more about racing from their comments. This place is just awesome. You can't get that on Nascar.com (just ask David, lol). 298. Kenny posted: 06.09.2013 - 10:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Glade I had to work :) 299. The Long Shot posted: 06.09.2013 - 10:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Cruel irony: I was about to pick Johnson in 24over48's game, before I went with Jeff Gordon. Aaahhh!!" Don't worry. In NicoRosbergFan's game, had Nico gone with his results that he mistakenly picked for Iowa, he would have gone 4/5 on the Top 5 (including the winner) and 8/10 on the Top 10. Instead, using his re-picked results, he was 2/5 on the Top 5 and 6/10 on the Top 10. Sorry, my friend. That's just how it goes. 300. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.09.2013 - 10:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Cjs, I'd argue the Gen 6 Ford Fusion IS this era's version of the Dodge Magnum. With all the aero matching NASCAR does, a car as far off the pace as the Magnum could never be legalized cause it isn't close enough to the other manufacturers. Things have to be much closer nowadays, but they have allowed more tolerances for manufacturer identity with the front grille, and the Fusion is a snow plow compared to the Camrys and the "SS" (how much does Hendrick and Chevy have NASCAR in their pockets that, in this "we are restoring street model identity to the cars and that is that" era, Chevy has a car that isn't even a street car). But anyways, the question is could Penske Racing make their own Dodge Charger? This would allow them to keep using their superior engines that powered them to the 2012 Cup title. Dodge already had a prototype. Sean, those are good points, but they took place in Indy Car. In NASCAR, The Captain has never been hands on like he is with his beloved open wheel teams. He came in and out from '72-'80 then disappeared from NASCAR until 1991, and that was with Don Miller and Rusty pretty much running the team. Even then, he damn near bailed from stock cars yet again right before Rusty's 10 win '93 season (Epic Earnhardt-Rusty Championship Duel II) until Rusty gave an impassioned speech that kept even The Captain tuned in. You know the rest. Open Wheel split, went to hell, NASCAR is where all the eyes went, Penske had little choice but to stay all in, but couldn't win the title cause he was more worried about Indy cause that is where his heart is. When I say the 2012 title was a triumph of the human spirit, that is what I mean. Brad, Paul, the engine shop, and everyone banded together and tackled Nap Time (love that nickname!). 301. David posted: 06.09.2013 - 10:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "You can't get that on Nascar.com (just ask David, lol)." Even the few intelligent fans get drowned out. I feel sorry for them, but nobody's forcing them to stay, either. And yes, comments like the one on post #289 are perfect examples of why this site blows the rest of them away. I wish I knew that much about racing in general, but then again, I've got years to catch up with him. I'm not as old as he is. Sean has to hold the record for averaging the most words per post. Then again, he is a typing champion, so that plays into it. Seriously, you guys are the best. From informative posts to satire battles (so much fun) to respecting each other's opinion to just plain joking around, this site is the best ever. 302. Bronco posted: 06.09.2013 - 10:57 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "(how much does Hendrick and Chevy have NASCAR in their pockets that, in this "we are restoring street model identity to the cars and that is that" era, Chevy has a car that isn't even a street car)." How is the Chevy SS not a street car? The production version of it was unveiled during the Daytona 500 weekend this year, and the car will be hitting showrooms soon. 303. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.09.2013 - 11:00 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) But anyways, this year's title is Jimmie's. He has no competition. And that is a good thing for him. Let's look at his title fights: 2004: Goes against talented but streaky KuBu. Kurt hits a hot streak at the right time and Jimmie can't hang 2005: Red hot JJ goes against red hot Tony and gets Smoked (pun intended) 2006: Unopposed. Despite a bad start to the chase, everyone else collapses badly as JJ finishes Top 2 five times in a row 2007: Goes head to head with Gordon who has a career of falling off championship form once Fall arrives (sorry Rainbow Nation, it is true). Jeff falls off, JJ doesn't 2008: Carl gets wrecked by his teammate at Dega then loses an ignition box the next week. Has to win 3 of the fiinal 4 races just to get close to JJ 2009: Unopposed 2010: The 48 is beat (contrary to revisionist history, the crew swap did NOT make a difference) but Denny executes the worst championship collapse ever 2012: The 48 juggernaut goes against the scrappy Keselowski who tries his best and.... holy shit he beat them straight up 304. 83andJoe posted: 06.09.2013 - 11:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) >How is the Chevy SS not a street car? The production version of it was unveiled during the Daytona 500 weekend this year, and the car will be hitting showrooms soon. And it's also available already as a police model, isn't it? 305. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.09.2013 - 11:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) So the Chevy "SS" is this generation's answer to the Dodge Daytona? 306. cjs3872 posted: 06.09.2013 - 11:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) No DSFF, the worst championship collapses came in 1979 (Darrell Waltrip), 1981 (Bobby Allison), 1985 (Bill Elliott), and 1992 (Elliott again). They were all bigger than Denny's collapse in 2010, which was due more to Mike Ford's mismanagement of the situation than Denny's driving, though Denny was not free of responsibility, especially at Homestead. 307. David posted: 06.09.2013 - 11:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "the crew swap did NOT make a difference" It still was a pretty dirty move by Knaus. "2007: Goes head to head with Gordon who has a career of falling off championship form once Fall arrives (sorry Rainbow Nation, it is true). Jeff falls off, JJ doesn't" FADES. Gordon has FADES. And he didn't really this time; Jimmie just went nuts on the field. 2007 may have been an illegitimate championship, but it wasn't undeserved. Jimmie took advantage of the points reset and destroyed everyone in the back half of the Chase. And that's to his credit. There seems to be a year missing from your list, DSFF. What happened in 2011? I can't seem to remember...oh yeah, the #48 team was *gasp* way off that year, getting outperformed by *double gasp* Jeff Gordon when he wasn't paying Peter Piper the Pickled Pepper Picker. And *triple gasp* Jimmie faded during the Chase, even crashing at Charlotte, and *asphyxiating* finished outside of the top five in points for the first time in his career. Even Johnson has his off years. 308. 18fan posted: 06.09.2013 - 11:38 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) DSFF, Carl caused the wreck at Talladega in 2008, which is why he and Kevin Harvick went at it in the garage the next week at Charlotte. 309. Mr X posted: 06.09.2013 - 11:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Actually the Chevy SS is a street car, which will be going on sale later this year as a 2014 model. Underneath its the same car as Pontiac G8 and both of them are based on a platform that was developed in Austrailia by Holden which is owned by General Motors. The Camaro is also based on this same platform. Personally I don't think Dodge planned on leaving after last year. In addition to what murb already stated Dodge also made some revisions to their engine block midway through last year, going from an open to a closed deck block, which is really a minor change that will really only improve head gasket life. But again the Dodge engine had proved reliable for years prior, and why invest time, personnel, and money if you plan to make everything redundant. In my eyes Dodge was forced out when it became apparent that nobody would be representing them. While I definitely have been disappointed with the Ford FR9 since its debut at Talladega in the fall of 2009, I wouldn't really say that the engine is particularly lacking in power. While it certainly hasn't been the powerhouse we were told it would be it does okay I think. When you don't handle (and none of the Fords do) you're going to exit the corner slower which will cost you speed all the way down the next straight which will make your engine look worse then it really is. With equal reliability it's more powerful then the Toyota certainly. But overall this engine was hailed as the piece that would put Ford back on top in NASCAR, but the fuel mileage has been terrible overall relative to the other engines, it hasn't been the last word in reliability either. Power production has been on par at the best of times with the other engines. It has been disappointing but for me it's no surprise as I'm really not a Ford person. I do prefer GM. Personally glad I only saw about 40 or 50 laps of this one, the Grand Prix in Home Country was definitely a much better race and even that was nothing spectacular IMO. 310. The Long Shot posted: 06.10.2013 - 12:17 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Sean has to hold the record for averaging the most words per post." I'll bet Talon64 would be willing to compile those statistics. "Seriously, you guys are the best. From informative posts to satire battles (so much fun) to respecting each other's opinion to just plain joking around, this site is the best ever." Amen to that, David. "Carl gets wrecked by his teammate at Dega then loses an ignition box the next week. Has to win 3 of the fiinal 4 races just to get close to JJ." It was the other way around, DSFF. Carl was a bit too eager while bump-drafting with Greg Biffle and accidentally spun him out, taking out himself, Biffle, and fellow teammate Matt Kenseth in the process. "Personally glad I only saw about 40 or 50 laps of this one, the Grand Prix in Home Country was definitely a much better race and even that was nothing spectacular IMO." Montreal had a lot of really good passing for high positions (from what I saw of it; I was flipping between that, Nationwide, and Cup), whereas Pocono saw the leaders mainly running single-file, with most of the good passing coming mid-pack. I was hoping that the race would come down to a finish much like the June 2010 race, but unfortunately, Jimmie Johnson spoiled that by having one of the best race cars that I've ever seen at one particular track, period. 311. David posted: 06.10.2013 - 12:20 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) What happened to Menard? He dropped 16 positions from 14th to 30th in the last 16 laps. Also, how dominant was Johnson today? He averaged a running position of 1.238, the highest so far this season. 312. 18fan posted: 06.10.2013 - 12:23 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Johnson's average running position was the 3rd highest in the loop data era, which is since 2005. I'm trying to think of which races can be higher than that. 313. Schroeder51 posted: 06.10.2013 - 12:26 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Menard blew a tire on the last lap and slammed the wall. I think he was running about 15th when that happened. 314. Mr X posted: 06.10.2013 - 12:35 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I could Imagine JJ's win at Fontana in 2008 being higher the then that, he led 228 of 250 laps that day. Menard hit the wall in the tunnel turn either on the last lap or the very late laps due to a blown right front tire. I was annoyed with all the rain in practice and qualifying in Montreal as I think it was the primary cause of what was a quite spread out race. I was also frustrated with Kimi's performance in aswell as Lotus's. They made mistakes at every possible moment all weekend. I was hoping for something more. 315. Paul posted: 06.10.2013 - 12:40 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) The Edwards/Harvick mini-feud had another episode prior to the spring Bristol race in 2010, with Harvick calling Edwards "fake as hell," and Edwards responding by saying that he has no respect for Harvick, and that Harvick is "a bad person." Both drivers reportedly patched things up by the spring 2011 race, saying that they had mutual respect for one another, but that was a rivalry with so much potential that never really went anywhere aside from a few off-track squabbles. That's another thing that NASCAR is missing nowadays: On-track rivalries. The Hamlin/Logano rivalry lasted exactly one week before the two got into each other at Fontana and the ensuing crash knocked Hamlin out of action for four races. The Kurt Busch/Jimmie Johnson rivalry cooled off following the 2011 season after Kurt lost his Penske ride, thus eliminating one of JJ's championship/race contending foes from the foray. The Johnson/Gordon rivalry came to an abrupt halt early in the 2008 season once Gordon got hurt at Las Vegas, which hurt the next three seasons of his career to the point where he became the second fiddle (and now third or fourth fiddle) in the Hendrick camp. And that potentially epic Gordon/Stewart rivalry only lasted for a few years before the two great drivers came to a mutual understanding and respect for one another (Stewart went from turning Gordon post-race on pit road at spring Bristol '01, to apologizing and patting him on the back after their mutli-car wreck at spring Texas '10.). I saw one potential rivalry at Iowa today involving Trevor Bayne and Austin Dillon, in which Bayne roughed up Dillon several times in the closing laps before he took the lead and win away from the dominant driver. It was pretty much the reverse of what you would see in the '90s between the #3 and #6 cars, with the #6 car roughing up and stealing a victory from the #3 car. Other than that, I don't see much potential for a true on-track rivalry in NASCAR these days. Maybe Kyle Larson and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. because of their respective "gunslinger" racing mindsets and USAC backgrounds; but other than that, I haven't seen a rivalry in-the-making among the drivers of today. I think a lot of that has to do with the nature of the sport today compared to how it was decades ago. The drivers today are basically mini-corporations walking around, representing their sponsors, and looking good for the camera. Having a rivalry could result in the drivers looking bad in front of the camera should they allow their emotions to boil over from an on-track incident, and I think that the drivers have been trained to behave in such a way from their sponsors and PR reps. I think this is why so many drivers seem above those of us that watch them on TV. We used to have guys like Tim Flock, Curtis Turner, Fireball Roberts, Fred Lorenzen, Richard Petty, David Pearson, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, Rusty Wallace, and Terry Labonte (just to name a few); drivers who had great talents behind the wheel of a race car, but just came off as regular guys who enjoyed life and were no different that the average blue collar factory worker (other than their high-risk lifestyles). But now the drivers (not all of them, but quite a few who I will not list by name) just come off as being above the fans and that we should just sit back and watch them, and mustn't criticize them in any way, shape, or form if we wish to serve them and keep them happy. It's almost like once they achieve a certain degree of success, whether it be obtaining a Cup ride, gaining a certain level of media exposure, or having a few great seasons, they just become different people, much different than how they were in their early years. I know that some former NFL players (especially those who played in the '70s and '80s) feel the same way about current players. Everybody is just trying to appease the camera, gain sponsors and camera time from the media, and gain notoriety from something other than their play on the football field (such as celebratory dances, posing for magazines, or partaking in reality TV shows, just to name a few). And there are no serious rivalries in the NFL (aside from possibly Ravens/Steelers and most of the NFC East teams against one another) because the players are far too friendly with one another. Everyone is hugging each other after the game, doing things like joking about how much one team kicked the other team's ass, wishing each other luck the next week, and even taking pictures and exchanging phone numbers with opposing players. I see the same thing happening in NASCAR. Everybody wants to be everybody's friend, and hardly anybody wants to ruffle any feathers for fear of upsetting someone. And whenever two drivers do make contact with one another, one of them ends of calling (or even texting, which is far more cowardly) the other driver to apologize for racing them too hard. Kyle Petty said at one point last season that he never apologized to another driver for how he raced them on the track because "My job is to beat you, so why should I apologize for beating you?" I've heard Jeff Gordon make similar comments recently, and I'm sure most of the other veteran drivers like Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, and Bobby Labonte feel the same way. I'm sure you've all seen that NASCAR commercial where various drivers talk about rivalries in NASCAR, with the tagline being "Love your rivals, 'cause you need someone to beat." To me, that commercial is pretty much irrelevant in today's NASCAR because there are no real rivalries. There are recurring incidents on the track between drivers (Gordon/Bowyer, Busch/Kahne, Stewart/whomever blocks him, etc.), but I don't consider any of those to be rivalries (Well, I suppose Gordon/Bowyer could be considered a rivalry, but it only lasted for part of one season before they agreed to leave each other alone.). Fans have to care about one driver beating the other for it to be a legitimate rivalry. Petty/Pearson was a rivalry. Earnhardt/Wallace was a rivalry. Allison/Waltrip was a rivalry. Gordon/Johnson was a rivalry. Ford/Chevrolet was a rivalry. I just don't see any current pairs of drivers (or manufacturers, for that matter) forming rivalries with one another for the reasons I listed above, which is a shame because rivalries add excitement to the sport not only for the drivers and teams, but for the fans as well because it makes us feel like we're apart of the action by pulling for one side against the other. Hopefully that will change and we can get some legitimate on-track rivalries in NASCAR once again (I think Bayne/Dillon and Larson/Stenhouse would make for some entertaining TV), but I'm prepared for the "same old, same old" in NASCAR, with drivers wanting to be each other's friends and not wanting to ruffle any feathers for fear of looking imperfect in front of the camera. 316. Bronco posted: 06.10.2013 - 12:53 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Johnson's average running position was the 3rd highest in the loop data era, which is since 2005. I'm trying to think of which races can be higher than that." Kurt Busch's 2007 Pocono win comes to mind, and maybe even Johnson's Dover win from last year. 317. JRacingFast posted: 06.10.2013 - 1:14 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) TNT's new scoring crawler has the be the most annoying one since NASCAR TV had introduced them......Why the hell does the Sponcer need to take up that much of the top of the TV? 318. Neal posted: 06.10.2013 - 2:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wow. I counted ONE legitimate lead change that wasn't the result of a restart or a pitstop sequence. Hey NASCAR too bad ya can't penalize me for saying the Gen6 chassis is a turd. 319. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.10.2013 - 6:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) My bad, I remember now it was Carl's fault at Dega. But again, JJ does the job in the last 10 while others choke around him. I credit JJ, but he has had help from his competition. 320. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.10.2013 - 7:02 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) When I posted: "Where's the ugly," I was more or less hoping for this response: "Wally Dallenbach" 321. startandparkfan posted: 06.10.2013 - 7:05 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Correct name: 2013 Party in the Poconos 400 Presented by Walmart. Why did Nemechek skip nationwide for the cup race, he is running for nationwide. Especially since he only ran 11 laps. Looks like Allmendinger will be in the #47 at Michigan, Phoenix says that they will put Labonte in the #51. Villeneuve (think thats the right spelling) will be in the #51 at Sonoma. 322. jabber1990 posted: 06.10.2013 - 8:14 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I used to talk NASCAR on Yahoo Answers...but it was full of trolls, the NASCAR haters who will comment how bad NASCAR is right on the comments then the members of Junior nation...which is fine and all, but they act like Junior is the second coming of Jesus and the members of "Hater nation" who think Junior should leave the sport becasue he sucks and other crap...stuff I ignored because it was stupid the people on this site are actually knowlegable, they dont know anythign on yahoo answers, they all just think they do 323. Scott B posted: 06.10.2013 - 10:43 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) #300 "But anyways, the question is could Penske Racing make their own Dodge Charger? This would allow them to keep using their superior engines that powered them to the 2012 Cup title. Dodge already had a prototype." In theory, yes. The Gen-6 body and Dodge engine where already approved for competition by NASCAR. In 1996 Kranefuss-Haas tested and came very close to racing a Lincoln Mark VIII bodied Cup car, which would have been aerodynamically superior to the then-current T-bird. Penske was also a Ford team at the time, and was ready to make the switch. That project was eventually scrapped due to pressure from Ford Racing, which wanted to keep the racing focus on the Ford brand and not Lincoln for marketing purposes (and the car never went through the final approval process with NASCAR, which would have given teams the option of building it without manufacturer's support). With the aero-matching policies of the time, it's likely any big advantage the Lincoln body had would have been legislated away quickly by rule changes quickly, anyway, and I'm sure the teams considered also that when the shelved the idea. In the case of the Gen-6 Charger, the issues would be more with the financial aspect of running a Dodge without direct factory support, and of continuing the engine program long-term as the only team running that brand. Obviously, Brad's championship in Penske's last season with Dodge shows the engine program wasn't an issue in the short term. 324. Scott B posted: 06.10.2013 - 10:57 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) I almost forgot, Cale Yarborough's #98 team also experimented with a Mercury Cougar body in the 1990's, only to have Ford management shut the project down. Too bad, it would have been fun to see. 325. AveryNH posted: 06.10.2013 - 12:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sure enough, took me two minutes and I came across this photo on some message board- http://www.frontiernet.net/~currtail/COUGARCUP.jpg The Bojangles #98 in Mercury Cougar trim. Neat stuff. Gotta love the internet. 326. AveryNH posted: 06.10.2013 - 12:27 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) http://www.markviii.org/LOD2/nascar.htm -Photo and info on the Lincoln project. I always was fascinated by the idea of this car for some strange reason. Maybe just the novelty of it. I think the car and chassis used in the photo went on to Yates and Dale Jarrett won a few races in it, modified of course back to a thunderbird. I had no idea about Yarborough testing the cougar though. I'll have to dig something up on that. 327. Paul posted: 06.10.2013 - 12:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Why did Nemechek skip nationwide for the cup race, he is running for nationwide." Kevin Lepage was actually working with Nemechek all weekend on his Nationwide car. Rather than send Lepage out to Pocono for the Cup race, he sent himself instead since he was planning on going there anyways. He left his pit crew at Iowa for the Nationwide race (who were pulling double-duty themselves, pitting both the #87 and #77 cars), so that could be why he start-and-parked in the Cup race at Pocono. 328. cjs3872 posted: 06.10.2013 - 12:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Paul, do we know that Nemechek did a start-and-park? After all, usually teams that do a S&P have stuff like "vibrations" listed as the official reason for them being out of the race, but Nemechek was listed as having engine problems, so he might have had an engine problem, which would have been a legitimate reason for him being out so early. 329. Paul posted: 06.10.2013 - 1:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) My bad, it was actually an oil pump failure that knocked Nemechek out of the race. 330. cjs3872 posted: 06.10.2013 - 2:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) So Paul, nobody got that right. You for saying it was a start-and-park and the results page for saying it was an engine problem, since it was neither. But you mentioned something in another post about the about-face that took place in Iowa yesterday, with Trevor Bayne roughing up the black #3 car to win the race. Just think about how many drivers wanted to do that in the old days, but didn't have the courage to. Dale Earnhardt, Sr. must have been rolling over in his grave when that happened because nobody, and I mean nobody did that to him, but Bayne did exactly that to his apparent successor in the #3 car. Actually, it was Bayne that looked like the guy that used to drive that car when he did whatever it took to win that race. But also, Andy Petree said something that should really give fans of that black #3 something to concern themselves over. As Bayne was in the process f making his move on Dillon, Petree said that "we'll see who wants it more", and when Bayne showed that he was willing to do whatever it took, Petree basically admitted over the air that Bayne wanted it more an Dillon. That comment must have been especially galling to long-time fans of the #3 car, especially coming from someone that was Earnhardt's crew chief for three years, because nobody ever wanted it more than Earnhardt, and to say on live TV that someone wanted it more than a driver in the black #3 for RCR, must have really been irritating for them. And to see Bayne give it to Dillon after Dillon doorslammed him the lap before must have made people wonder what was going on there, because when Earnhardt was in that car, nobody ever did that to him. Richard Childress may need to give young Austin Dillon another lesson on the history of that black #3 car, because that car was the intimidating car, not the one that got intimidated, or the one that got beat by a driver that wanted it more. And let's not forget that after the NNS race at Bristol last fall, Bayne gave Dillon a piece of his mind after the two of them had a run-in. I think there are a lot of old Earnhardt fans that are very unhappy with how that race turned out, because of how the black #3 got used up. Yes, Iowa was Bizarowurld yesterday for that alone. But at least Bayne got greeted in victory lane by one of the few drivers that actually had the nerve to do that to the black #3 when Earnhardt was actually driving it, Rusty Wallace. I imagine Wallace had some things to say about that bumping and banging Bayne had with Dillon late, given his own history with the #3 car. 331. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.10.2013 - 2:36 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) cjs, the big exception to that is Ricky Rudd. He always was unafraid to bully Earnhardt Sr. "Of course Ricky is the exception! He is the toughest son of a b*tch to ever set wheel on the track." 332. murb posted: 06.10.2013 - 2:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wow, I never knew that teams experimented with Lincoln and Mercury bodies in the 90s. See? You learn stuff on here every day!!! Thanks for sharing that, Scott B and Avery. You're right CJS, Trevor looked a hell of a lot more like Dale Earnhardt with that move yesterday than Austin Dillon ever has. That right there shows why it's a bad idea for Austin to be running that scheme and number. Let him develop his own identity. By him running the black 3, it's not only watering down that car's legacy, but it's also somewhat falsely portraying Austin as an "intimidator" on the track, which he pretty clearly isn't (as evident by yesterday). I hope that doesn't sound like I'm knocking Austin, because I'm not trying to. I just want to see him develop his own identity with his own number and scheme instead of all of this Earnhardt nostalgia stuff. 333. cjs3872 posted: 06.10.2013 - 3:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And Rusty Wallace, NicoRosbergFan. Rusty was never afraid of Dale, Sr. or anyone else, either, which made it somewhat ironic that Trevor Bayne made such a move on the #3 car at Iowa, Rusty's track. And murb, ESPN is pushing all the Earnhardt nostalgia where Austin Dillon's concerned, not Austin himself, though he's certainly playing a significant role in that himself. And speaking of Earnhardt nostalgia, guess who won that nostalgic Daytona 500 on the 10th anniversary of Earnhardt's death in that race? You got it. None other than the man who bullied his way by the #3 car at Iowa Sunday, Trevor Bayne, who gave that race even more nostalgia by returning the Wood Brothers to victory lane in the biggest of all stock car races in a paint scheme similar to the old Purolator colors that Cale Yarborough, A.J. Foyt, and most notably, David Pearson all took to victory in that race for the Wood Brothers. 334. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.10.2013 - 3:17 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Rusty was Dale's personal doormat. Rusty was only tough with his mouth when it came to Earnhardt. Dale was Ricky's personal doormat, though. (sorry, DSFF) 335. jabber1990 posted: 06.10.2013 - 4:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) the last time somebody roughed up the #3 was a 28 year old driver in the truck series Richard Childress whopped their ass 336. cjs3872 posted: 06.10.2013 - 4:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And who would that be, jabber1990? If you're referring to Kyle Busch a couple of years ago, I have news for you. He didn't mess with anyone in a #3 truck in the incident you refer to. The RCR driver he had trouble with was Joey Coulter, who was driving the #22 truck for RCR, sparking the incident you're referring to. Ironically, Coulter now drives for Kyle in the Truck Series. 337. We need more Onion posted: 06.10.2013 - 4:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Finally was able to watch the race and totally wasted 3 hours of my life. But those Mercury and Lincoln experiments are cool and probably more interesting than this race was. I never came across any of those, knew Citroens have started in NASCAR, but not this. Thanks for posting them guys. 338. David posted: 06.10.2013 - 4:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "the last time somebody roughed up the #3 was a 28 year old driver in the truck series Richard Childress whopped their ass" Huh? Joey Coulter never drove the #3. 339. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.10.2013 - 4:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rusty wasn't afraid of Dale. He dumped him in practice at Michigan once and made Dale so ad he chased Rusty around the garage for a while with his wrecked car (this was before the days when they of every practice being televised or even taped, damn it all). He also dumped him at Rockingham in 1989 completing Dale's trifecta of North Carolina misery that Fall along with the engine failure at Charlotte and The Great Wilkesboro Incident Of Eighty Nine. The deal at Iowa was Ashton Bayne offered Trevor some extra honeymoon lovin if he won the race. Just kidding. That is the thing about Austin driving that black #3 car, he better be ready for some comparisons that nobody can live up to. And I think Richard is the driving force behind the "carrying on the legacy" garbage (which BSPN gladly latched on to). He wants to recreate what he and Dale had with his grandsons. Seeing the RCR merchandise trailer for his NWide and Truck teams, it has pics of Dale along with new pics of Austin and Ty, along with a banner that says "6 time Cup Champs '86, '87, '90, '91, '93, '94". Not good for them. They need to establish their own identity. 340. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.10.2013 - 4:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Forgot to mention the restart wreck at Dover '93 when Rusty, 2 laps down from a flat tire and 2nd in the lap down line, knocked Hut Strickland into Dale who was leading causing him to wreck and tightening the points. 341. 83andJoe posted: 06.10.2013 - 5:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 323-326: Wow, I knew about the infamous Hot Rod Lincoln, but I hadn't heard about Yarborough's Cougar before. Neat! 342. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.10.2013 - 5:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Did Rusty ever get in Dale's face? Didn't think so... 343. Daniel posted: 06.10.2013 - 5:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 44 entered at Michigan: -Mike Bliss in the #19 -Trevor Bayne in the #21 -Ken Schrader in the #32 -Austin Dillon in the #33 -A.J. Allmendinger in the #47 -Bobby Labonte in the #51 344. cjs3872 posted: 06.10.2013 - 6:13 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) He certainly did NicoRosbergFan, in the 1995 night race at Bristol. After being flat-out spun out by Earnhardt early in that race, Wallace was so angry that he threw a water bottle at Earnhardt and confronted him personally after the race that night. 345. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.10.2013 - 7:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Tebow to the Pats? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! 346. joey2448 posted: 06.10.2013 - 7:24 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) TEEEEEEEEBOOOOWWWWWWW!!!!! Hahahaha looks like New England's getting a long snapper! 347. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.10.2013 - 7:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Thanks, cjs. It is with sadness I bring the news of John Settlemyre's passing in a shootout with police in Granite Falls, NC. 348. The Long Shot posted: 06.10.2013 - 7:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Tebow's throwing motion takes longer than an entire play when Tom Brady's at quarterback. Yeah, great fit, Belichick. If he's not on the waiver wire by Week 1, I will be severely shocked. 349. Baker posted: 06.10.2013 - 8:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Belichek will not use Tebow as a pocket passing QB. He will be used solely as a gimmick play QB. Most of the time for more teams gimmick plays with a gimmick QB are a bad thing, but with Belichek it can only make the Patriots even more dangerous than they already have been the last decade+ 350. 18fan posted: 06.10.2013 - 8:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I read somewhere that the Pats might try to make Tebow a tight end. 351. jabber1990 posted: 06.10.2013 - 9:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) man, I really suck at this NASCAR history stuff give me some credit, my facts are always half-right I just get my names, dates and faces wrong 352. Anonymous posted: 06.10.2013 - 9:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Weird stat: This was Biffle's first 2nd place finish since August 31, 2008, almost five years ago. 353. Bronco posted: 06.10.2013 - 10:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Weird stat: This was Biffle's first 2nd place finish since August 31, 2008, almost five years ago." Which was another race that JJ dominated and won from the pole. 354. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.10.2013 - 10:15 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Baker, as much as I can't stand the man and the organization, you are right. If anyone can use Tebow as the ultimate X Factor, it is the Evil Scientist himself, Belichick. And what is the Pats biggest weakness? Defending Eli Manning in the final minute of a Super Bowl. What is their second biggest weakness? Toughness up front on offense. They have no bruising runner and their QB, for all his greatness with his arm (so long as it isn't a post Spygate playoff game), is slow as molasses running. He is also extremely soft when it comes to getting knocked around. Tebow will gladly run head first into a brick wall. I was initially sad to hear Tebow went to the bad guys. Now I am sad cause the bad guys picked up a hell of a weapon, somebody who fills their holes nicely. Also we know how much Belichick enjoys making the Jets look dumb (he probably considers the Buttfumble play the highlight of his coaching career, not the Super Bowls). They did diddly shit with Tebow last year. When he uses Tim to confound the shit out of everyone, he will make them look dumb. Again. 355. Zackary Shawn posted: 06.10.2013 - 10:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Just out of curiosity...was I the only one who was disappointed in the way Dale Jr. drove on those last three or four restarts? He could have race Johnson hard, made him earn it. Instead it looked like he just let him go and was content to run second. That really frustrates me when anyone does it and it's even worse when Dale Earnhardt Jr. does it. 356. NadeauFan91 posted: 06.10.2013 - 10:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dude, Johnson was on a rail all race long. There was no catching Jimmie in the end. 357. cjs3872 posted: 06.10.2013 - 10:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Zack, how do you know that Dale, Jr. wasn't trying his hardest? After all, when one car has that kind of advantage on the rest of the field, as Johnson had on Sunday, it's pretty difficult to muster up anything to beat him. Johnson could put 1-1.5 seconds on the entire field in just two or three laps. In fact, I believe there were times during the second half of the race where Johnson wasn't running as had as he could, and he was still the fastest car on the track. there just wasn't anyone that could touch him Sunday. On some of the restarts, he had the field cleared entering turn one. Biffle might have beaten him for second place on the last restart, but second place was all anyone else was going to get, unless something happened to Jimmie's car, because he had up to half a second a lap on the entire field when he wanted it or needed it. 358. Jim Davis posted: 06.10.2013 - 11:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "He could have race Johnson hard..." The only thing Earnhardt could have done with Johnson was to turn hard right and wreck him. One thing that I was puzzled about was Johnson's last pit stop. I could have sworn that his intention was to take 4 tires (like almost everyone else did) but the stop was slow for some reason so they went with 2 to remain the leader. The commentators did question whether 2 tires was the proper call but seemed to think that that was the 48 team's intention all along. What made me suspicious was that even though he took 2 tires he barely beat cars that took 4 off pit road. 359. 13 posted: 06.10.2013 - 11:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) So Johnson will most likely bring this chassis to Indy so not planning to watch that, Its always bad anyway so wont miss much. 360. Paul posted: 06.10.2013 - 11:22 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) I thought the same way, Jim Davis. It looked like a standard 4-tire pit stop for the #48 team since they came out just ahead of the next few cars off pit road, but then the commentators said that the #48 team changed just two tires (not that it made a difference in the end), which I also found to be odd. Not only that, but no explanation was given as to why they came out just ahead of everyone else off pit road, though I think you're right about a possible mistake on their pit stop that let to the 2-tire audible. I'm a bit surprised that an announce team with Wally Dallenbach and Kyle Petty, two very observant announcers due to their long tenures as drivers themselves, wouldn't pick up on that (unless I missed one of them mentioning the slow pit stop). Then again, I don't recall TNT showing any replays of the #48 team's final pit stop, and I wouldn't be surprised if Wally and Kyle were focusing on pit stops made by teams like the #88, #11, #18, #14, and #39 teams to see if they could pull off a pit stop to beat Jimmie Johnson off pit road, as they seem like the types who spend more time looking out the window at the action on the track, as opposed to just watching their monitors. Another thing that I found odd during the race was near the end when TNT aired footage from Montoya's and Johnson's respective pre-race press conferences in regards to Johnson's restart violation from Dover. I can understand why they showed it when they did, since Johnson was restarting from the first row (and he might have been in 2nd at the time to Ryan Newman), but it's almost like they showed it too late because after Wally and Kyle got about five seconds to comment on it, Adam Alexander interrupted them to call the green flag. The timing of that promo spot just seemed odd to me. Also, it's worth noting that Wally and Kyle were basically rolling their eyes at Johnson's comments, especially when he said that Montoya's restart flop was him taking advantage of a "loophole" in the rule book. It's nice to know that not every NASCAR commentator is a kiss-ass these days, but then again I'd be VERY surprised if Wally or Kyle said anything different than what they said for those brief five seconds in yesterday's race. 361. 18fan posted: 06.10.2013 - 11:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The first thing I noticed with the broadcast was that Adam Alexander's call of the start of the race is how you should call the start of the race (as opposed to DW). Plus there was no 5 lap period of following Danica and making excuses for why she is so slow and no open rooting for drivers. 362. Richie61NYfan posted: 06.10.2013 - 11:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) On Racebuddy Chad told Jimmie he was the leader again after a green stop but corrected himself shortly after. He said the 39 was the leader. And oh , by the way he has about a 5 second lead . Jimmie made up that lead in about 10 laps . He did make a statement big time. No way the Biff was going to catch him either. That was also a great save by Bad Brad !Tony didn't complain either. 363. murb posted: 06.10.2013 - 11:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Plus there was no 5 lap period of following Danica and making excuses for why she is so slow and no open rooting for drivers." Yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed only seeing her two times on my screen throughout the whole race. These six races will be a nice vacation from BoB coverage before BSPN comes back. 364. Richie61NYfan posted: 06.11.2013 - 12:00 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yes murb , Was funny when Kyle Petty joked about the "blankie debris " caution after about 5 min. Also someone stated Princess BoB finished 23rd when we know it was 29th. And yes again , No DW swooning about seat time and learning etc. 365. David posted: 06.11.2013 - 12:12 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Princess BoB" You do know what the first "B" in "BoB" stands for, don't you? Baroness. She can't be a baroness and a princess at the same time. 366. Richie61NYfan posted: 06.11.2013 - 12:43 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) LOL David !! I'll have to remember that. Will take another history class to brush up on who is what and who has the rank over the sports writers a few years ago. Any how, I wonder how much of a gag order TNT has on Kyle Petty. We shall see in the next 5 weeks. 367. cjs3872 posted: 06.11.2013 - 12:51 am Rate this comment: (3) (0) A gag order on Kyle Petty? Surely, you jest, because Kyle's going to say what's on his mind, and nobody's going to stop him. That's why he's such a great analyst in my book. He's a lot like Bobby Unser was (and still is, as evidenced by his comments a few weeks ago about A.J. Foyt and the reasons why his team has historically struggled). He's not afraid to say what he thinks, and he doesn't care who it may offend. 368. Richie61NYfan posted: 06.11.2013 - 2:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hope you're right cjs .The BoB fans can't stand Kyle just because he's being honest. Let's face it, NASCAR has gone all in with BoB and it will bite them big time I think. I was led to this site from a search of her career stats and after reading up etc I said "holy chit". What stuck out was 3 poles her 1st Indy car year and none after that with 1 win in Japan that nobody watched and all the media hype since . Then 1st year Nationwide wins pole at Daytona and nothing after. Then to Cup and wins pole at Daytona debut again. Stinks up the joint after. See the pattern set by NASCAR? They will dust off that restrictor plate for her again at Daytona on 7/6 , mark my words. NASCAR has gone all in for that hack that rides in the back. Tony Gibson has to be stewing trying to set up the car for her. She is dumber than a box of rocks when she is interviewed. I also think she has ADD. 369. 83andJoe posted: 06.11.2013 - 3:22 am Rate this comment: (5) (0) And as I've said before, the saddest part of the Danica saga is that she has been hyped so much she HAS to succeed in NASCAR, or she'll take all of the female drivers who DO have talent down with her for the next 10 years. 370. Jim Davis posted: 06.11.2013 - 9:44 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Does the 48 team have a backup driver lined up if Johnson's wife goes into labor on a race day? After looking over who might be available Regan Smith seems like the only viable candidate. He runs for JR Motorsports (connection to Hendrick) in Nationwide, has Cup experience, and filled in for Earnhardt last year when the latter had his concussion issues. I thought of Brian Vickers but I doubt Hendrick would want to give Gibbs that close a look into their operation this year despite the past Hendrick connection. Terry Labonte has the Hendrick credentials and Bobby Labonte also might be available. Have I missed a usual suspect? 371. Scott B posted: 06.11.2013 - 10:14 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) They have not announced a back-up driver for the #48, but have said they will have one in place when the due date gets closer. I'd think Smith would be number one on the list as long as the NNW and Cup dates are at the same track. 372. Scott B posted: 06.11.2013 - 10:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Longshot candidate: Bill Elliott. He's pretty much retired, but Chase is a Hendrick development driver. We can dream about that one, at least. 373. David posted: 06.11.2013 - 10:43 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Does the 48 team have a backup driver lined up if Johnson's wife goes into labor on a race day?" Race babies are usually good children and wait until after the race to be born. :) 374. cjs3872 posted: 06.11.2013 - 11:40 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) A far as a potential backup driver for the #48 car if Chandra goes into labor, that would depend on the track. Sure Regan Smith would be a good choice, but if he's racing in the Nationwide Series on a different track that weekend, he would be out of the question. If that track happens to be a road course, a driver such as Ron Fellows may not be such a bad option, and if it's a speedway, Bobby Labonte (if he doesn't have a ride) or either Justin Allgaier or James Buescher from Turner Motorsports if they're available, but I would saythat Regan Smith would be the logical choice since he drove a Hendrick Motorsports car (the #88) for two races last season, and ran in the top ten at Kansas. But one thing's for sure, Rick Hendrick will go with the best guy available. Remember who Rick had in 2007 at Sonoma when Jeff Gordon was in this same situation, a big points lead and a baby on the way. Hendrick had Mark Martin on standby, something that eventually led to Martin joining HMS for real just a couple of years later, so Hendrick's going to go with the best driver that's available. 375. Newt posted: 06.11.2013 - 12:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @278 & 280, JJ Yeley just told me his transmission legitimately broke during the race, he didn't S&P it. 376. Scott B posted: 06.11.2013 - 12:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 'Dinger might also be a candidate for the #48 standby list if he has no other ride that weekend. I agree with David, though, most likely JJ will not miss any seat time. PS: Aric Almirola was the standby for Johnson baby #1, but he's obviously not available this time around. 377. Scott B posted: 06.11.2013 - 12:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well, nevermind... I guess with AJ splitting time between the 47 & 51 now, he will be spoken for every week. 378. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.11.2013 - 12:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) For one thing, I know the baby's coming soon, but wouldn't be perfect if the baby was due sometime in October and Johnson had to miss a Chase race completely for it? 379. Jim Davis posted: 06.11.2013 - 1:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "For one thing, I know the baby's coming soon, but wouldn't be perfect if the baby was due sometime in October and Johnson had to miss a Chase race completely for it?" I've heard that the due date is the week of Richmond in September, the last race before the Chase begins. I don't think any driver wants to be known as the guy who backed into the championship just because the Johnsons were having a baby on race day. They all want to beat Johnson straight up like Keselowski did last year. Keselowski takes extra pride in his championship because it came against Johnson in his prime. That pride will only grow in the years to come. 380. cjs3872 posted: 06.11.2013 - 1:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well Jim, if that race is the fall race at Richmond, then Regan Smith would be the likely choice, since that is a companion weekend with the Cup Series. However, if Smith is in the position he's in now, leading the championship by half a race (23 points currently), he might decline to focus on the Nationwide championship, and if that's the case, then I'd look for one of Steve Turner's drivers to be the sub, either Justin Allgaier or James Buescher, since neither figures to be in contention for their series' championship at this rate, and Turner Motorsports has ties to Hendrick Motorsports, albeit not very close ties, though they do use Hendrick engines. 381. 83andJoe posted: 06.11.2013 - 1:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Meanwhile, as a note, there's only 28 cars entered in the ARCA race at Michigan this weekend, and three of them are driver-TBA. 382. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.11.2013 - 2:37 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) I had to laugh when I read this Jayski headline: "Mythical Chevy SS Moves Closer to Reality" That's just the headline. The article includes lines like this: "That's right, there's a chance you won't be able to buy the car that has been dominating NASCAR since its debut at Daytona in February, until after the season has ended." Um, what? Wait, there is more: "About the only place the SS hasn't been out front is in dealerships." Is that right? But NASCAR is all about parity, right? They wouldn't let a car that is of much higher street value (once it actually starts to freaking exist) go against other lesser priced models, right? "At more than $44,000 (not including the destination charge or the gas-guzzler tax), the Australian-built SS has twice the starting price of its on-track competitors, the Fusion and Camry." This is what I was talking about when I said the SS isn't even a real car. Chevy is basically gonna put a car out there late in the year with similar lines to the car they have already been racing. This is just making the whole Gen6 deal a joke. And they hammered Penske before Texas for "violating the spirit of the Gen6 car". Isn't the #1 purpose of this car to bring back identity to what people actually drive on the streets? So isn't Chevrolet violating this every second? 383. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.11.2013 - 3:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Well, NASCAR is already controlled by Rick Hendrick's $$, so seeing Chevy themselves now committing similar ethical violations is no suprise. Chevy should leave with the door hitting them in the arse on the way out. Get Dodge back and get them and Ford the split their resources into running Chrysler (I know, not really any stock cars, but they used to run the freaking 300 in NASCAR), Dodge, Lincoln, and Ford on the track with the goal of trying to return to "win on Sunday; sell on Monday." 384. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.11.2013 - 3:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ^I forgot to add Toyota with Lexus in there as well. 385. jabber1990 posted: 06.11.2013 - 4:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I understand this decision was made by people who know more than us, but why doesn't Penske build its own engines anymore? is it becasuse of Jack Roush? and if Penske went to Chevy would they have used Hendrick Engines? or ECR engines? or their own? 386. TS1420 posted: 06.11.2013 - 4:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "For one thing, I know the baby's coming soon, but wouldn't be perfect if the baby was due sometime in October and Johnson had to miss a Chase race completely for it?" I seriously doubt Dictator Knaus would let Nap-Time miss a chase race. 387. cjs3872 posted: 06.11.2013 - 4:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) That's a thorny question jabber1990, but I suspect that was part of the deal that allowed Penske to rejoin Ford this year. However, if Penske was still building engines, Roush would be afraid he would lose some of his customers. Remember that Penske is already assisting the efforts of Germain Racing's #13 car, mainly because he wants to help out Casey Mears, since his uncle Rick won for Indianapolis 500s for Penske, he wants to pay back the Mears family and that #13 car has run well more than it ever has before because of that. But he would probably have had to close his engine shop had he went to Chevrolet for the exact reasons you mention. But it would have been better for the Ford teams to have two competing engine shops because that competition would have meant that the Ford teams would have better engines across the board, but Roush was probably afraid that Penske's engines would be superior, as they were during Penske's first stint with Ford from 1994-2002, so he basically shut Penske's engine room down just as he effectively shut Robert Yates' team down several years ago by making them so uncompetitive that he'd have to merge his team with another team. 388. Kubica Fan Ireland posted: 06.11.2013 - 5:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Using the loop data it shows that Kahne may well have had as fast a car as Johnson.Kahne ran the fastest lap 51 times out of 140 laps while Johnson had the fastest lap 36 times out of 160.Obviously you must take into consideration Johnson was minding his equipment once he built a gap each time. Kahne has also had an advantage over the 48 on the intermediates this year and the only one to really challenge Gibbs obviously the 48 has 2 months to improve for the chase. You can also rule out a toyota winning sunday with their engines tuned down again meaning a hendrick car will almost certainly win, just when I was getting my hopes up for chevy to be beaten in the manufacturers race 389. The Long Shot posted: 06.11.2013 - 5:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) TS1420, there's a story that I once read. A player for the Bears back in 1925 wanted to skip a game so that he could get married, but head coach George Halas refused. Since he couldn't make it on time if he played, the player decided to unveil a crafty plan. On the opening kickoff, the player ran up to the nearest member of the opposing team and punched him in the face, prompting an ejection, so the player was able to get to the church on time. Do you think JJ would risk wrecking a race car so that he could get to the hospital on time? Probably not. 390. 83andJoe posted: 06.11.2013 - 6:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) >Well, NASCAR is already controlled by Rick Hendrick's $$ And, of course, Jimmie got The Call to win Pocono to apologise for Dover. /Grow up./ 391. Zackary Shawn posted: 06.11.2013 - 7:11 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) I will say that I felt like this was less of an aero-push ordeal, as much as it was a Jimmie Johnson just kicked everyone's ass ordeal. 392. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.11.2013 - 8:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I was commenting on this race in particular. I was just commenting on the general question of how Hendrick's team has had one of the lowest totals in point deductions, fine, and suspensions, despite having about 10 more violations than any other team in the Johnson/Gordon era. Sorry, but after Darrell Waltrip's book, you are left questioning Hendrick's team from the day it opened in 1984 as "All-Star Racing." 393. The Final Gear posted: 06.11.2013 - 9:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I've been seeing some places that Truex Jr. won the all star vote this year by 13% and that Danica got in because of rigged voting. Does anybody have evidence of this or was this purely made up? I would appreciate if somebody could link a photo of this because I've seen at least 30-40 comments about this before. 394. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.11.2013 - 9:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ^Sounds made up. 395. cjs3872 posted: 06.11.2013 - 9:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) NcoRosbergFan, the great majority of those violations would be in the Knaus/Johnson era, as Jeff Gordon really didn't have that any serious violations. The two that come to mind were the wheel at Charlotte in 1995, which actually cost the team greatly in the 600, and the manifold at Richmond in 2000, which was somewhat questionable because of the circumstances, because many at the time believed that NASCAR did that to teach Jeff a lesson because he had made some critical comments not long before that, and many thought that NASCAR busted him to send a message not to criticize them. Hendrick had said that he had used that exact manifold a great deal that year and it had been declared legal, but that night they used it and it was declared illegal, which tells me that NASCAR was up to something. The only other significant violations on Jeff's cars that I can think of was that they were caught being too low at Rockingham in 2001 and that fiasco at Sonoma in 2007, which itself may have been a bit fishy. Remember that Brian France said that not being able to qualify mean that they didn't have chance to win, and I think they were also trying to get Montoya in victory lane to boost the international audience, and of course, Montoya did win that race. So for being as successful as he's been, Jeff Gordon has had very few instances where his cars were found to be illegal. Of course, Chad Knaus and Jimmie Johnson have a rap sheet as long as Interstate 10 (which stretches about 2,700 miles from Santa Monica to Jacksonville), and it would be impossible to list all the shady things Knaus has done to his cars, going back to when he was Stacy Compton's crew chief at Melling Racing in 2000-'01, sitting on three front rows in restrictor plate races, two of which were pole positions. The only guys I can think of that might have longer rap sheets than Knaus would be Smokey Yunick, Junior Johnson, and possibly Gary Nelson. 396. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.11.2013 - 11:33 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I know it is just one game, but damn it feels good watching the Spurs kick the Heat's ass like this. I have always liked Tim Duncan. I bleed Carolina blue, and it was tough the way he beat my Heels up for 4 years while at Wake, but I always respected him (plus, like Tyler Hansborough and Danny Green, he was 4-0 in Cameron Indoor, take that dook). He does things the right way. Massively underappreciated. Man I want him to get one ring for his thumb before he hangs it up. And I want to watch, LeBron, Wade, the ridiculous Birdman, and Pat Riley lose. Can't stand any of them. 397. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.11.2013 - 11:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Cjs, don't forget the hubs in '95. As for the carberatour in 2000, here is what it prevented for Dale: -Going 2 for 2 in his final two attempts at the Winston No Bull 5 Million dollar bonus, it would have gone along with the million bucks he got in his final win with the epic comeback in the Winston 500 at Dega -A 3rd victory at the reconfigured 3/4 version of Richmond to go along with his 3 wins at the old half mile Fairgrounds layout. He is already the only guy with multiple wins at each. -A short track win in 4 different decades. He has a win in 4 different decades. -Saving Dale the humiliation of being 2nd among people named Dale Earnhardt in wins at Richmond in 2000 (although June's Spring win there gave us the infamous Big E story of him telling Jr "Great job, I love you, I'm proud of you, now find a way home, I'm leaving"). -Jeff passing Dale for career wins at Dale's best track for wins (Dega) on Dale's birthday (is it not enough that Bodine got his first career win on Dale's birthday?). 398. cjs3872 posted: 06.12.2013 - 12:12 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) DSFF, that's exactly what I was referring to when I brought up the wheel in 1995 at Charlotte. And there's no denying that Gordon was hit with that 100-point penalty for the manifold infraction at Richmond, which actually cost him a spot in the points at season's end. What's suspicious about that whole situation was the circumstances under which that whole situation took place, because Hendrick said that his team used that exact part much of the season, and NASCAR said it was legal, but they won that race at Richmond, and then they said it was illegal. Many think NASCAR did that to teach Gordon a lesson because he was critical of NASCAR shortly before that (I think it had to do with the whole Loudon restrictor plate fiasco), and so NASCAR decided to make an example of Gordon that night. NASCAR has made a habit of doing things like that to drivers and teams that do something they don't like, and it may have bee Gordon's turn on this particular occasion. But for a guy with 87 wins (and I don't think he's through), four championships, at least three wins in every major race on the circuit, and over 300 top 5 and over 400 top 10 finishes, Gordon actually has a relatively clean record when it comes to rules infractions, especially when compared to the likes of Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough (the Junior Johnson connection), and Jimmie Johnson (as I noted, Chad Knaus has a rap sheet as long as I-10). I can count no more than five significant rules infractions over the years (if that many), and only two major ones, the one regarding the wheel and hub at Charlotte in 1995 and the one regarding the manifold at Richmond in 2000. And no, I don't count what happened at Sonoma in 2007 as a major rules infraction, though I do consider it a significant rules infraction. 399. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.12.2013 - 12:45 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Whoops, missed that line about the wheel the first time I read your post cjs. 400. The Long Shot posted: 06.12.2013 - 12:45 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Feeling bored, I decided to compile some random statistics. The crash frequency of each Sprint Cup driver who has started all the races: 1. Marcos Ambrose/David Gilliland: 0.500 2. Dave Blaney/Kurt Busch/Kyle Busch/Casey Mears/Danica Patrick: 0.429 3. Jeff Burton/Kasey Kahne/Brad Keselowski/Jamie McMurray/Ricky Stenhouse Jr./Tony Stewart: 0.357 4. Aric Almirola/Clint Bowyer/Jeff Gordon/Joey Logano/David Reutimann/Martin Truex Jr.: 0.286 5. Greg Biffle/Dale Earnhardt Jr./Carl Edwards/Jimmie Johnson/Matt Kenseth/Travis Kvapil/Bobby Labonte/Juan Montoya/Ryan Newman/Josh Wise: 0.214 6. Kevin Harvick/David Ragan: 0.143 7. Paul Menard/J.J. Yeley: 0.071 I have some more stats that I'll post later on tomorrow. 401. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.12.2013 - 12:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Bottom line for me, I don't look at anything Hendrick Motorsports has done without suspiscion. I still feel Jeff is one of the best drivers ever in NASCAR, and I still feel Jimmie is capable of being one of the best clutch championship drivers (though he can't do it as consistently as drivers like Earnhardt and Stewart). But their success is bought success through dirty business dealings from Rick. And this "Chevrolet SS" is the latest example of rules catering to Rick. Like I've said, I wish Jeff could have raced his career somewhere else. His win total would probably be in the mid to upper 60s instead of the 80s, and he'd have one or two less championships, but I think he'd be respected more. Its not Jeff's numbers that I respect, they have the "Hendrick inflation", but it is how he got those numbers. So many he earned through grit and dtermination. As for Jimmie, if he raced elsewhere, I think his final career championship tally would be similar to Darrell Waltrip's. Remember how Darrell had some really clutch championship closeouts ('81, '82, and '85) along with some not so clutch closeouts ('79, '86, and '89)? I think that would be Jimmie. Like his career now. Sometimes he is very clutch when closing a season out, sometimes he just can't hang ('04, '05, '12). 402. Baker posted: 06.12.2013 - 12:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Those are the only kind words about Stewart I have ever read from you DSFF. Does Turner Motorsports have any alliances with a cup program? The reason I ask is all the talk about a replacement for Jimmie Johnson should his wife go into labor on race day. I would love to see Jeb Burton get a chance in that car at a track like Richmond. I believe he would fair exceptionally well being it is his home state and he runs very well on short tracks. 403. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.12.2013 - 12:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) One other thing, apparently what happened to Kasey in this race was a broken u bolt. According to Brad on twitter, that is the same part they got hammered for at Texas, leading Brad to quip "gotta love those approved parts". HMS = a scam 404. cjs3872 posted: 06.12.2013 - 12:58 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Yes Baker, Turner Motorsports does have some sort of an alliance with Hendrick Motorsports, though it isn't a major one. They use Hendrick engines. And as for who would be Jimmie's likely replacement in case he had to leave the track, and I went over this before in another post, but since the due date is the fall Richmond race, as noted by another poster, the likeliest candidate would be Regan Smith, since he drives for Dale, Jr.'s NNS team and drove the #88 car in the two races that Dale, Jr. was forced to miss late last year, finishing in he top ten in one of them. But if Smith is in the position he's in now, which is leading the Nationwide championship standings by half a race, Smith might want to concentrate on that instead of a fill-in effort in the Cup Series, and if that happens, the two most likely candidates would then be Turner Motorsports drivers Justin Allgaier (NNS) and James Buescher (CWTS), since neither figures to be in championship contention in the series that he's competing in, unless something changes, so Smith, Allgaier, and Buescher would be the three likeliest candidates. Jeb Burton just wouldn't have enough experience, and might be in the Truck Series title fight, so I don't think he's a viable option. 405. Jim Davis posted: 06.12.2013 - 1:00 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "...but I think he'd be respected more." Respected more by whom? Jeff Gordon could hardly be more respected. 406. cjs3872 posted: 06.12.2013 - 1:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) If that's true DSFF, then someone who works on the #5 car didn't do his job because one of the last things team do is to check to see if everything's tight, and apparently, either that part wasn't tight or it was defective. Either way, someone there didn't do is job properly. 407. Jim Davis posted: 06.12.2013 - 1:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "...the two most likely candidates would then be Turner Motorsports drivers Justin Allgaier (NNS) and James Buescher (CWTS)..." I'd be surprised if it was either of these two. Allgaier does deserve a shot at a Cup ride but I think the 48 team is going to want someone with a fair amount of Cup experience in the 48. Allgaier and Buescher have yet to make a Cup start. 408. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.12.2013 - 1:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Besides that, cjs, James Buescher and Justin Allgaier are drivers who know how to conserve the car and run top-5 or top-10 for 90% of the race before charging late, so they are much more likely to bring the car home with a good finish than Jeb Burton. 409. 18fan posted: 06.12.2013 - 1:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Will Roush's slump end at their best track or will Hendrick 2013 domination continue at a track that they are not historically as strong at? Also, TRD said that they went a little too conservative at Pocono and will be a little more aggressive with their engines at Michigan. They said there was no sign of any valve train failures, which has been the main problem with the TRD engines. 410. Baker posted: 06.12.2013 - 1:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) It is going to be a #5, #48, #11, #18 and #20 show all weekend long at Michigan. If Toyota really does have the engine issues figured out I see all Gibbs cars going Top 5 with Jimmie and Kasey and Jimmie more than likely dominating the race and winning by 3+ seconds. 411. The Long Shot posted: 06.12.2013 - 1:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) At this point, Regan Smith appears to be the only viable option for Hendrick. The Turner drivers (Allgaier, Buescher, Burton) aren't experienced enough for Hendrick to even consider them for the ride. Another option could be either Bobby Labonte or A.J. Allmendinger, whichever driver is not running the #47 that week. Brian Vickers, another Hendrick ex, might be considered as well, although the fact that he's now driving for rival owner Joe Gibbs won't suit well with Rick, I'm sure. But still, this is all hypothetical. In all likelihood, Johnson won't have to miss a single race, and we can all sit and watch him dominate en route to a 6th Cup championship. 412. cjs3872 posted: 06.12.2013 - 2:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jim, that's why I say Regan Smith is the likeliest choice, because he has the experience of several years in the Cup Series, as well as having driven an HMS car last year. But if Smith opts out because he's chasing a Nationwide championship, than Hendrick would be really short on options as far as replacing Jimmie, if he had to. He's not going with a Toyota of Ford driver, so that's out, and I'm not sure he'll go with a Chevrolet driver that has ties with, or drivers for Richard Childress, so then he'll have to choose a driver from Turner Motorsports, and of those drivers, Justin Allgaier and James Buescher are the only really logical choices left because of their experience and ties to HMS through Turner Motorsports. Neither Jeb Burton or Nelson Piquet, Jr. are experienced enough and Chase Elliott isn't old enough, so Hendrick would be stuck with either Allgaier or Buescher if Smith opts out, unless he wants to go the retread route, and I don't think he'd really want to do that. 413. cjs3872 posted: 06.12.2013 - 2:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) But what if he opts out to concentrate on winning the Nationwide championship, The Long Shot? Then what other Chevrolet drivers does he have to choose from, because you know that Toyota and Ford aren't going to let him anywhere near their drivers. And I doubt he'd go with a driver that either drives for or is aligned with Richard Childress. That leaves him with the Turner Motorsports drivers or retreads, which would then make either Allgaier or Buescher the only other viable options left, since neither Jeb Burton or Nelson Piquet, Jr. are experience enough, Miguel Paludo isn't good enough, and Chase Elliott isn't old enough, and those are the only other drivers tied with HMS at this point. 414. Baker posted: 06.12.2013 - 2:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Screw experience the car will be locked into the chase anyway and Jeb Burton can drive circles around Buescher, Smith, Allgaier, Labonte, and Dinger. 415. Jim Davis posted: 06.12.2013 - 2:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Jim, that's why I say Regan Smith is the likeliest choice..." I agree but if for some reason Smith is not available I think Hendrick goes with experience. They'll probably be treating the race as a test session of sorts so will want a driver familiar with the Cup car that can give useful feedback. I think Terry Labonte or Joe Nemechek are better options than Allgaier or Buescher by that standard. 416. The Long Shot posted: 06.12.2013 - 2:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Perhaps Landon Cassill then, cjs. He's from the Chevy camp, isn't particularly aligned with Richard Childress, and has been in Hendrick's devlopmental driver program in the past. 417. Dave N. posted: 06.12.2013 - 2:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I've seen rumors around the interwebs that Hendrick seems to be grooming Chase Elliott. If JJ's lead is more than a race when the time comes, could the possibility exist for HMS to give the kid some seat time to break him in? 418. Dave N. posted: 06.12.2013 - 2:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ah, forget my last comment - I saw that Elliott is only 17 & the requirement is 18. My bad. 419. The Long Shot posted: 06.12.2013 - 2:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Not possible, Dave. Elliott is only 17, and the Cup Series age limit is 18. 420. murb posted: 06.12.2013 - 3:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) In my mind, there's no way that Regan won't be Jimmie's relief driver. I feel like the whole "what if he chooses to focus on NNS" theory is trumped by the fact that he's been driving the 51 a bunch this year. To me that shows that he doesn't mind running some Cup races. 421. cjs3872 posted: 06.12.2013 - 4:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Long Shot, actually Landon Cassill is somewhat aligned with Richard Childress by virtue of the fact that he drives the #33 car when Austin Dillon isn't running it to keep it up far enough in points where it can get provisional starting spots or in case of qualifying rain-outs (such as last week at Pocono), especially for the races that Dillon is driving the car. And Jim, Hendrick is not likely to go with a retread, which is where guys like Nemechek and the Labonte brothers fall in. That's a major reason I think that someone like Allgaier or Buescher could fall in if Regan Smith opts out because he may want to concentrate his efforts on getting the Nationwide championship, and the only other team in a lower series that's affiliated with Hendrick Motorsports is Turner Motorsports, and among Turner's drivers, Allgaier and Buescher easily have the most experience. 422. jabber1990 posted: 06.12.2013 - 4:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) ooh I love conspiracy theories Kasey: this car is fast I cant wait to run side-by-side with Jimmie Hendrick and NASCAR: The Hell you are...how the bolts were loose is beyond me though 423. jabber1990 posted: 06.12.2013 - 4:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) oh and this might be a stupid question are Racetracks and roads paved alot the same way? or is one paved diffrently? how long does a racetrack last? 20-25 years? how long does a road last? 424. cjs3872 posted: 06.12.2013 - 4:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jabber1990, on a recent NASCAR broadcast, though I don't know which race it was, that subject came up, and I think it was mentioned that it had to do with whatever part of the country it is that the track where the paving is done in. For instance, places like Rockingham and Darlington are paved with one kind of asphalt, while Daytona, Homestead, and Talladega are done with another, and the tracks in the north (Pocono, Michigan, Loudon) are done with still another kind of asphalt, so I think it has to do with whatever part of the country the track is what kind of asphalt that particular track gets. I think the kind of track I is also has something to do with that, whether it's a short track, intermediate track, or a speedway. For instance, the track surface at Daytona lasted 32 years before it cam apart, while the track surface at Michigan had to be repaved after half that amount of time. Of course, being in Florida, Daytona doesn't get the harsh winters that the tracks in the north and even the Carolinas get, so the surface lasts longer before deterioration. So where the track is has a lot to do with it, from the winters to the particular pavement that's used. For instance, Auto Club Speedway in California doesn't suffer from a deteriorating track surface as much as it does a dangerously bumpy track. That's because of all the earthquakes they get there, and the same is true with Phoenix and Las Vegas, though not to as much a degree, so there are many factors involved in why a track needs to get repaved and how often that must happen for a particular track. But the track surface at Las Vegas was repaved after just more than a decade, and the summers, rather than the winters do a number on the tracks in the southwest, where the temperatures can get up to 110 degrees, if not slightly higher. So there are different factors involved, depending on the place. 425. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.12.2013 - 4:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Well jabber, I can only speak for where I live, but here in NC the roads don't last long at all. They'll spend 6 months paving a stretch of road (or so it seems) and it will have all sorts of dips and potholes within a few weeks. I wish the NC DOT would pave racetracks. I don't know exactly how they go about paving tracks, but it seems they have become much more sophisticated lately with tracks taking forever to wear out (like Darlington). This is not a good thing. As for everyone respecting Gordon, this is true, but there are two types of people and reasons they respect him: 1) The casual fan who just looks at his numbers and says "wow!". 2) True fans like us who have paid careful attention to him race and realize, despite being a little squirt, he is a heavyweight when it comes to heart and determination. 426. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.12.2013 - 5:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DSFF, what I think's the saddest part is how many of these driver today seem to do it for "Get rich quick" side of things. 427. The Long Shot posted: 06.12.2013 - 5:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) cjs, Joe Falk (the owner of the #33 team) is directly aligned with RCR, but that doesn't mean Cassill is, at least not directly. If you look in the Nationwide Series, Joe Nemechek is aligned with ML Motorsports and the #70 team, but drivers like Brad Teague and Tony Raines have no direct alliance with ML Motorsports, just the mutual alignment through Nemechek. And keep in mind, if there's one driver who never shows any permanent alliance to a team, it's Cassill. He's driven for half-a-dozen teams in his career (including Nationwide and Truck), and only once has he drove for more than 1 year with one (Phoenix Racing). 428. The Long Shot posted: 06.12.2013 - 5:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DSFF, you folks in North Carolina aren't alone. There is a 2 mile stretch of road near my house that they've been working on for over a year, trying to extend the road from 1 lane to 3 lanes. So far, they've only finished one side of it, and they've barely even started the other side. And already I've noticed that even in a moderate rainfall, the road floods. Excellent job with your gutter systems. And no, the roads over here in Minnesota don't last long either, although that's mainly because of poor construction. I've seen bumps and potholes in roads that have just been paved before. Not to mention, the freeways are designed terribly. There are tons of those "cloverleafs" over here, which makes merging onto the main highways an absolute nightmare. 429. 83andJoe posted: 06.12.2013 - 6:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This just in: Paulie Harraka will attempt to make his Sprint Cup debut at Sonoma, driving for Go Green Racing using Brian K's #52. 430. 83andJoe posted: 06.12.2013 - 6:37 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) The Long Shot: Cloverleaf interchanges used to be the standard for freeway-to-freeway interchanges everywhere; the "stack" interchanges that avoid the loops are a 1980s-and-newer thing. 431. cjs3872 posted: 06.12.2013 - 7:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Except in California, 83andJoe. There have been "stack" interchanges in California since the 1950s and '60s, including perhaps the biggest "stack" interchange of all, the "East L.A. Interchange", where Interstates 5 and 10 meet with state route 60 and U.S. 101. And what's considered by many to be the perfect "stack" interchange, which is the massive I-8/I-805 interchange near Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, was built in the early-to-mid 1970s. The first "stack" interchange was built in downtown Los Angeles in the early 1950s, which is were U.S. 101 and the Harbor/Pasadena Freeway (CA/I-110 today) was built, and it is still referred to as "the four-level interchange" because it was the first of it's kind built. But there were far more "cloverleaf" interchanges back than there were "stack" interchanges because they were easier and safer to build back then. 432. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.12.2013 - 7:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) NC Highway 52, the highway I usually have to take to work (right now I am working at a county outpost and get avoid any highway travel to work for a while and it is fantastic) has those damn cloverleafs where the on ramp and off ramp are the same and about 1/8th of a mile long which royally sucks. Backs up traffic like crazy. They are also doing construction on it which adds to the nightmare. Like I said, I wish the Department of Transportation paved the NASCAR tracks. They would be back to being tire chewing, bump infested surfaces within 2 weeks. Had they been the ones to pave Pocono last year, there would have been a 3 second fall off for tires in this race after 20 laps lol. 433. David posted: 06.12.2013 - 8:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Eh, what the heck, I'll throw in a few numbers of my own. Here are some passing-related statistics (these exclude races at Daytona and Talladega). Jimmie Johnson - 52.24% passing efficiency, +53 pass differential, 58.18 quality pass percentage Carl Edwards - 50.19% pass. eff., +5 pass diff., 49.55 QPP Clint Bowyer - 52.16% pass. eff., +68 pass diff., 53.71 QPP Dale Earnhardt, Jr. - 48.15% pass. eff., -61 pass diff., 57.29 QPP Kevin Harvick - 52.35% pass. eff., +73 pass diff., 70.76 QPP Matt Kenseth - 51.19% pass. eff., +30 pass diff., 58.16 QPP Kyle Busch - 54.48% pass. eff., +94 pass diff., 58.67 QPP Kasey Kahne - 52.82% pass. eff., +77 pass diff., 60.47 QPP Brad Keselowski - 52.92% pass. eff., +98 pass diff., 44.37 QPP Greg Biffle - 51.44% pass. eff., +49 pass diff., 42.27 QPP Jeff Gordon - 48.11% pass. eff., -60 pass diff., 52.81 QPP Paul Menard - 47.02% pass. eff., -109 pass diff., 37.05 QPP Tony Stewart - 49.16% pass. eff., -25 pass diff., 41.45 QPP Aric Almirola - 49.36% pass. eff., -23 pass diff., 20.27 QPP Kurt Busch - 51.19% pass. eff., +40 pass diff., 50.17 QPP Joey Logano - 50.00% pass. eff., +0 pass diff., 42.46 QPP Martin Truex, Jr. - 49.84% pass. eff., -5 pass diff., 49.47 QPP Jamie McMurray - 49.92% pass. eff., -3 pass diff., 36.93 QPP Ryan Newman - 48.36% pass. eff., -62 pass diff., 33.26 QPP Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. - 47.06% pass. eff., -105 pass diff., 21.19 QPP Jeff Burton - 50.10% pass. eff., +3 pass diff., 24.13 QPP Juan Pablo Montoya - 48.19% pass. eff., -52 pass diff., 37.52 QPP Marcos Ambrose - 47.02% pass. eff., -94 pass diff., 20.92 QPP Casey Mears - 49.70% pass. eff., -9 pass diff., 8.99 QPP Danica Patrick - 47.80% pass. eff., -60 pass diff., 5.84 QPP David Ragan - 44.68% pass. eff., -123 pass diff., 1.94 QPP David Gilliland - 47.53% pass. eff., -61 pass diff., 6.30 QPP Dave Blaney - 46.06% pass. eff., -109 pass diff., 2.51 QPP David Reutimann - 45.98% pass. eff., -94 pass diff., 1.49 QPP J.J. Yeley - 43.96% pass. eff., -121 pass diff., 5.00 QPP Travis Kvapil - 47.90% pass. eff., -48 pass diff., 5.67 QPP Josh Wise - 45.60% pass. eff., -83 pass diff., 2.09 QPP (NOTE: This list shows passing statistics of drivers who have run every race. I omitted Bobby Labonte because he was relieved during the race at Texas by Michael McDowell, and therefore his passing numbers for that race are unreliable.) (whew) 434. David posted: 06.12.2013 - 8:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The above was a semi-response the The Long Shot's crash frequency post last night. Apparently, he never got around to posting those other stats. 435. David posted: 06.12.2013 - 8:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "semi-response the The Long Shot's" *to* 436. The Long Shot posted: 06.12.2013 - 8:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) You'd be wrong about that, David. Here they are. Total Amount of Lucky Dogs This Season: 1. David Reutimann/Josh Wise: 7 2. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: 6 3. Ryan Newman: 5 4. Kyle Busch/Joey Logan/Juan Montoya/Tony Stewart/J.J. Yeley: 4 5. Jeff Burton/David Gilliland/Paul Menard/Danica Patrick: 3 6. Aric Almirola/Dave Blaney/Carl Edwards/Matt Kenseth/Brad Keselowski/Bobby Labonte/Jamie McMurray/Casey Mears/David Ragan: 2 7. Marcos Ambrose/Greg Biffle/Clint Bowyer/Kurt Busch/Dale Earnhardt Jr./Jeff Gordon/Jimmie Johnson/Travis Kvapil: 1 8. Kevin Harvick/Kasey Kahne/Martin Truex Jr.: 0 437. The Long Shot posted: 06.12.2013 - 8:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ^ *Kyle Busch/Joey Logano/Juan Montoya/Tony Stewart/J.J. Yeley: 4* 438. Dave N. posted: 06.12.2013 - 9:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DSFF said, "True fans like us who have paid careful attention to him race and realize, despite being a little squirt, he is a heavyweight when it comes to heart and determination." True story: I was in Daytona in early February 1998, but not for Speed Weeks, and while at the local Publix late one night, I accidentally bumped into a kid as I was reaching for a gallon of milk. That "kid" was a 27 year-old Jeff Gordon (he was with Brooke at the time). He is indeed, a 'little squirt'!! 439. David posted: 06.12.2013 - 9:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jason Leffler has been transported to the hospital after a bad wreck during a sprint car race at Bridgeport. Let's hope this turns out well. 440. The Long Shot posted: 06.12.2013 - 9:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Several people are reporting on Twitter that Leffler suffered cardiac arrest at the track and has died. Dear God, I hope they're wrong. 441. murb posted: 06.12.2013 - 9:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wow. I feel sick. 442. The Long Shot posted: 06.12.2013 - 9:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) UPDATE: Reports that Jason went into cardiac arrest while waiting for the helicopter have been confirmed, but Leffler is still alive and is in critical condition. Keep your fingers crossed, everybody. 443. The Long Shot posted: 06.12.2013 - 9:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Here's a photo of his wrecked car: https://twitter.com/ndegroot89/status/344988790370222080/photo/1 Supposedly Leffler is in serious condition at hospital. Really hope everything turns out okay for him. 444. murb posted: 06.12.2013 - 9:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) So terrible. I hope he pulls through. 445. David posted: 06.12.2013 - 10:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I have... a very bad feeling. 446. The Long Shot posted: 06.12.2013 - 10:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Would you have any other feeling at a time like this, David? And Talon64 decides to get into an argument on Twitter with the main news-breaker, @RyanO'Hara. Brilliant. 447. The Long Shot posted: 06.12.2013 - 10:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) NBC Philadelphia is now reporting that Leffler has died, citing a law enforcement source. 448. David posted: 06.12.2013 - 10:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) NBC Philadelphia just reported he has died. 449. The Long Shot posted: 06.12.2013 - 10:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) RIP Jason Leffler. I think I speak for everyone here when I say that you will be sorely missed. 450. David posted: 06.12.2013 - 10:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I know law enforcement is a reliable source, but for some reason I don't believe it. I can't believe it. 451. David posted: 06.12.2013 - 10:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Either way, this is his final Cup race. Too bad it was a start-and-park. Rest in peace, Jason Leffler. 452. 83andJoe posted: 06.12.2013 - 10:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What tha... o.o Dear Lord. Prayers go out to his family. 453. JL70fan posted: 06.12.2013 - 10:52 pm Rate this comment: (1) (2) last NASCAR race for Jason Leffler. shame it was a S&P RIP LEFturn :( 454. 13 posted: 06.12.2013 - 10:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Thoughts and prayers to the Leffler family. Ive only heard good things about Jason its just heartbreaking news for any racing fans . R.I.P Jason we will miss you. 455. murb posted: 06.12.2013 - 10:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What a rough one. All I can say is that I feel horrible for his family. I know he had a couple of young kids. I've never considered myself to be a fan of his, but it's just awful to see someone that you've grown up watching pass away like this. Too, too bad. RIP, Jason. 456. joey2448 posted: 06.12.2013 - 10:56 pm Rate this comment: (9) (0) I know we trash Marty Reid on here a lot, but he does have one very good saying: "People ask me why I say, 'Til we meet again'. It's because goodbye is so final....Goodbye Jason Leffler." RIP LEFturn 457. Schroeder51 posted: 06.12.2013 - 11:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) RIP Jason Leffler. He was never a phenomenal NASCAR driver (his Cup career was pretty terrible), but he had some good results in NASCAR's lower series...and I did genuinely like him when he was driving the #38 car in the Nationwide Series. It's so hard to believe he just ran this race and now...he's gone... 458. The Long Shot posted: 06.12.2013 - 11:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (3) Someone needs to tell me why NASCAR hasn't stopped drivers from running sprint car races. This is the 4th time in as many years that a current or former major touring series driver has been injured or killed in a sprint car accident (Johnny Benson, J.J. Yeley, Shane Hmiel). Anyone who calls these "freak accidents", needs to realize, they are not freak. Sprint cars roll over all the time, and normally the drivers are OK, but there are sadly a number of occasions in which the driver is injured or killed because of the lack of protection from the car. I agree with the majority of people on here: I was never much of a Jason Leffler fan, but I am nevertheless still incredibly shocked to hear that he has passed. The only other time I've had to deal with something like this was when I heard about Dan Wheldon's passing in 2011 (I had considered watching the race beforehand, but I decided to watch football instead). This is unbelievable. I am still in a state of shock. Wow, just wow. 459. cjs3872 posted: 06.12.2013 - 11:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) There's nothing that NASCAR can legally do, The Long Shot. But for people like Kasey Kahne, Tony Stewart, and Ryan Newman, this has to be a tragic case of deja vu, especially Stewart and Newman, who were both in NASCAR when anotner ex-USAC champion, Kenny Irwin, Jr., who they raced against in USAC, was killed at Loudon in 2000. This has to be a startling blow to racing legend Parnelli Jones, as Jason Leffler was a protégé of the Parnelli Jones family. Of course, Parnelli's youngest son Page was nearly killed in a racing accident himself. This also has to be a blow to Joe Gibbs and Chip Ganassi, both of whom Leffler drove for in the Cup Series. In fact, Leffler drove for Gibbs twice, first in the Nationwide Series in 1999 before he drove in the 2000 Indianapolis 500, a race that saw two other Indy rookies, Juan Montoya and Sam Hornish, Jr., make it big as each won the Indianapolis 500 and are both now NASCAR drivers. Ironically, it was Leffler's 2000 Indy effort that may have drawn Roger Penske back to Indy in 2001 460. 13 posted: 06.12.2013 - 11:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Heres my question with the deaths and injuries from sprint cars is there any way to improve safety on these cars? 461. Zackary Shawn posted: 06.12.2013 - 11:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ended up being Jason Leffler's last NASCAR race. May he rest in peace. 462. 83andJoe posted: 06.12.2013 - 11:48 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) TLS - as CJS points out, NASCAR can't (and shouldn't) do anything; the drivers don't contract with the sanctioning body, but with individual teams, and it's up to the drivers and their teams to negiotiate the terms of their contract with regards to "extracirrcular racing". And in Leffler's and Hmiel's cases at least it wouldn't have mattered anyway, as neither had an active NASCAR ride at the time (Leffler's race at Pocono was a one-off and Hmiel was still banned by NASCAR as I recall...). If the driver is willing to accept the risk, and (where relevant) the team he drives for is willing to allow it, they can race whatever they want wherever they want. That's racin. 463. The Long Shot posted: 06.13.2013 - 12:04 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) You're right, of course, cjs and 83andJoe. I knew even before I posted the comment that NASCAR can't do anything about it. My mistake. I blame it on the emotions that are surely being felt by everybody on what has become just a terrible night. I am sorry. I also would like to ask the question that 13 asked: What, if anything, can be done to improve safety on the sprint cars? 464. jabber1990 posted: 06.13.2013 - 12:21 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) I am going to lighten the mood slightly I read this from an article on NASCAR.com (yes I went there, sorry) "Having two drivers compete in a tripleheader is a somewhat rare feat. The first occurrence was in 1996 at Richmond, when both Mark Martin and Kenny Wallace did the triple. It has happened just 26 times since then, most recently last year at Kentucky with Keselowski and Scott Riggs. The last time Busch and Keselowski did it the same weekend, Busch swept all three in 2010 at Bristol." didn't they contradict themselves there? 465. Paul posted: 06.13.2013 - 12:27 am Rate this comment: (6) (0) I'm very saddened to hear about the tragic news regarding Jason Leffler. Not only was he one hell of a race car driver, but he was one of the good guys in auto racing who was well-liked by just about everybody in the garage area. Whenever I saw a picture or video footage of Jason, he always seemed to have a smile on his face, and often times was seen sporting that fro-hawk hair style on his head (One of the neatest hair styles I've ever seen, btw.). And from all the reports I've read, he was a great father to his little boy Charlie. To most NASCAR fans, we'll unfortunately probably remember Jason more for his lackluster Cup career or for his less than spectacular Nationwide and Trucks career, but Jason Leffler was one hell of a race car driver in his own right. He is one of only three drivers to win the USAC National Midget Series championship three years in a row (and the only driver to do so in the last 50 years), won the USAC Silver Crown Series championship in 1998 (An elite class that includes A.J. Foyt, Al Unser, Mario Andretti, Gary Bettenhausen, Jeff Gordon, Mike Bliss, Tony Stewart, and Ryan Newman.), and was inducted into the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2003. So while he may not have been a great driver in NASCAR's top three divisions, he was a great driver in his own right. In fact, it was Tony Stewart who convinced Jason to jump from USAC to NASCAR following his 1999 USAC National Midget Series title, which is how he got the Busch Series ride for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2000 (During which he set a personal best of 3 series poles during that rocky rookie season.). Not all great race car drivers are great NASCAR drivers, and I'd say that Jason Leffler was one of the all-time greats in USAC midget car racing. Of course, his NASCAR career didn't go completely without success. He is tied for 2nd place in number of poles in a Truck Series season (8 poles in 2002), was the highest finishing Nationwide regular in the standings back in 2007, had a pretty impressive 20 top ten finishes season in a Cup-dominated Nationwide season in 2009, and was on his way to a 3rd place points finish for Gene Haas back in 2004 before his release from the team with seven races to go. But regardless of how you feel about him as a race car driver, the fact that he was very well-liked in the garage area and was a great father to his young son is what saddens me the most about this story. Knowing that that 5-year old boy is going to grow up without his father around brings tears to my eyes. I should know, having lost my dad three years ago when I was 17 years old, and I can only imagine what's going through little Charlie's mind right now. Thoughts and prayers go out to Jason's family and friends during this time, especially to his 5-year old son Charlie. Goodbye Jason, you were one of the good ones, and you, your big smile, and your love for racing and life will be forever missed. 466. The Long Shot posted: 06.13.2013 - 12:40 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well spoken, Paul. Also, my condolences about your father. I can't imagine what that feels like. 467. New14 & 88Fan posted: 06.13.2013 - 2:04 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm speechless. I didn't follow Jason Leffler that much he did a decent job in the #38 Great Clips car... R.I.P. Jason and condolences to his family. 468. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.13.2013 - 4:00 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) God bless you Jason... you were one of my favorites. 469. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.13.2013 - 4:16 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) jabber, there is no contradiction there. Martin and Wallace did triple-duty in 1996. It was done most recently at Kentucky last year (2013) by Brad Keselowski and Scott Riggs. However, for the sake of propaganda, they mention that last time that Brad Keselowski AND Kyle Busch did it in the same weekend was 2010, because that was the week of the Brad-Kyle-"feud" that ended in "I'm Brad Keselowski, and Kyle Busch is a jack@$$!" 470. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.13.2013 - 6:56 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I really hated to hear that. Prayers to Jason's family and friends. If I remember right he had little kids. Way too young. 471. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.13.2013 - 7:01 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) DSFF, he was the single father of a five-year old boy. 472. jabber1990 posted: 06.13.2013 - 7:40 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) what was the declared cause of death? 473. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.13.2013 - 8:05 am Rate this comment: (0) (3) For those who root for wrecks and cheer when vehicles wreck, I hope you're happy. I'm sure some of you were cheering last night. 474. AveryNH posted: 06.13.2013 - 8:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Not the type of news anyone wants to wake up to. My best lefTurn memory; vacationing in NC in the outer banks and staying up one Saturday night in 2007, the Brickyard 400 weekend to be exact. And my pops and I watched Jason wheel his Great Clips toyota to its first ever stock car win at an old USAC track of his, IRP. Certainly nobody predicted that he'd win that manufacturer's fist stock race going into their 2007 debut. Ive never rooted so hard for a toyota in my life. Fantastic night for him. R.i.p. Jason Leffler 475. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 06.13.2013 - 8:46 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This is terrible. I know that back during Dover I said that 2013 was a hard year to be a fan of NASCAR. Well, I misspoke. It's a terrible year to be a fan of NASCAR We aren't even halfway done with the calendar year, and we've had Jason Leffler AND Dick Trickle taken from us. i am left with asking this, I have seen sprint car crashes before, and they near-always look horrendous. Can anything be done to help preserve the lives and well-being of the drivers? Hate to see this happen. Just hate it. Even worse is that he has left behind a young child, who will have few faded memories and memorabilia of his father, but never be able to grow up with his guidance. That is the part that digs in the deepest, for me. 476. The Long Shot posted: 06.13.2013 - 10:59 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) jabber, it had been reported that Leffler suffered cardiac arrest while waiting for the emergency helicopter to arrive, so that is most likely the cause of death. 477. The Long Shot posted: 06.13.2013 - 11:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Here's an article on Leffler, written by Brock Beard: http://brockbeard.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-difference-of-three-days-tribute-to.html 478. David posted: 06.13.2013 - 11:13 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "it had been reported that Leffler suffered cardiac arrest while waiting for the emergency helicopter to arrive, so that is most likely the cause of death." He was pronounced dead at 9:02 PM ET, 29 minutes before I broke the news here, so that makes sense. 479. The Long Shot posted: 06.13.2013 - 11:22 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Actually, it would have been an hour and 29 minutes before the news was broken, David. And for the record, we both broke the news at about the same time (not that it really matters). 480. David posted: 06.13.2013 - 11:36 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) In his honor, it will never be said here that Jason Leffler finished "dead last" in this race. Last night, I watched video of several memorable Leffler moments; his Nationwide win at Indianapolis, his first Truck Series win at Dover, and also his epic attempt to win the 2004 Busch Series night race at Daytona (he almost pulled it off). 481. David posted: 06.13.2013 - 11:54 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) "Actually, it would have been an hour and 29 minutes before the news was broken, David. And for the record, we both broke the news at about the same time (not that it really matters)." I meant the initial news that he had been sent to the hospital, post #439. I got to that first. But you are right, it certainly does not matter. And I know how some of you here despise NASCAR.com, but please take a look at the tribute video they put together for Jason Leffler. It made me tear up. 482. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.13.2013 - 11:59 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) You're right, David. It's heart-wrenching. 483. The Long Shot posted: 06.13.2013 - 12:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yes, you did, David. That was my err. NASCAR.com's site traffic is so high right now that the server keeps crashing on me. This shows the deep amount of respect that all racing fans, hard-core and passive, had for Jason Leffler. The song that pops into my head whenever I think of Leffler's passing is Sarah McLaughlin's "In The Arms Of The Angel". Very fitting, I think. 484. David posted: 06.13.2013 - 12:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm going to try to listen to MRN's flashback of Leffler's 2007 win at IRP. Who's with me? 485. murb posted: 06.13.2013 - 1:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "And I know how some of you here despise NASCAR.com, but please take a look at the tribute video they put together for Jason Leffler. It made me tear up." Someone else on YouTube put up a nice little tribute to him. It's called "Jason Leffler - Never Forget". It has clips of him running his sprint car and actually features what looks to be his last interview. He talks about the opportunity he was getting with that sprint car team and stuff like that. It must have been filmed earlier on in the night. Once again, my condolences to his family, specifically to his young son. It's just a horrible thing to see that kid's dad taken from him like that. On the plus side though, as David was saying, it is fun to go back and watch some of his greatest on track moments. Like I said over on his driver page, his all or nothing drive in the 2004 Daytona Busch race is my favorite memory of him, so I was watching that a little bit earlier. I hate to sound cliche, but going back and reliving the great moments will definitely help everyone get through this. In conclusion, I'll just reiterate what I said on his driver page. When I think of Leffler, I think of the heart and determination he showed on the race track. He was just a wheel man. Plain and simple. 486. 13 posted: 06.13.2013 - 1:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm glad you guys on here have respect, i posted on facebook "R.I.P Jason Leffler he died racing a sprint car tonight" and a "friend" said "did he try turning right most ppl dont like following the crowd LOL" some big assholes out there. 487. Paul posted: 06.13.2013 - 2:13 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "And my pops and I watched Jason wheel his Great Clips Toyota to its first ever stock car win at an old USAC track of his, IRP." It was actually Leffler's 2nd stock car victory, having previously won at Nashville back in 2004. But thank you for bringing up this win, as it was an achievement that Jason Leffler should perhaps be forever remembered for, since it was Toyota's first victory in NASCAR's second-highest racing division. I think it's really cool that Jason will have a permanent spot in NASCAR history, having been the driver to take a Toyota to victory lane for the first time in the Nationwide Series. If we remember his NASCAR career for nothing else, it's pretty cool that he'll always have his name listed in the NASCAR record books. So while the Toyotas have pretty much dominated the Nationwide Series since 2008, and in large part due to Joe Gibbs Racing, it all started with that victory by Jason Leffler at IRP in 2007, when he passed series champion Greg Biffle for the lead in the closing laps. 488. Anonymous posted: 06.13.2013 - 2:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Lefflers last race. RIP 1975-2013 :( 489. cjs3872 posted: 06.13.2013 - 2:51 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) And the irony about the domination of JGR's Toyotas in the Nationwide Series, was that Toyota's first victory was by a driver that drove for Gibbs twice, both in 1999-2000 in the Nationwide Series and in 2005 in the Cup Series. And given what happened last night, wouldn't it be something to see Elliott Sadler win the Nationwide race this weekend at Michigan and Denny Hamlin win the Cup race at Michigan. Both drive the JGR #11 car in those respective series, and of course, Leffler was the original driver of a #11 JGR car in 2005, when Joe Gibbs expanded to a three-car team, adding the #11 team for Leffler. Never mind the fact that he didn't last the season. That's not important at this time. What is important is that it was Leffler that was the first driver of a JGR #11 car, and wouldn't it be something to see the JGR #11 win both races this weekend as a tribute to Leffler. I do know that this has to be a punch in the gut to Joe Gibbs. As religious as Gibbs is, and as much of a "people person" as he is, this has to be a punch in the gut for him, especially considering the driver that was killed actually drove for him twice. And it's also ironic that two of the drivers of Stewart-Haas Racing, team co-owner Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman, are also old USAC rivals of Leffler, since Leffler was one of the first drivers with which that organization had success, since it was with that team, then known as Haas-CNC Racing, that Leffler go the first of his two NNS victories. Another man this has to be like a punch in the gut to is Chip Ganassi, who brought Leffler into the Cup Series in 2001 to help spearhead Dodge's return. Ironically, Leffler was intended to the permanent replacement for another old USAC rival of his, Kenny Irwin, Jr., after he was killed at Loudon in 2000, and now both Irwin and Leffler have died in racecars. One of Ganassi's Cup cars carries the #1. I wonder if he would change the number of that car, or the other car to #01, the number Leffler carried for Ganassi in 2001. After all, that car, which carried the #42, was changed to #01 in 2001 after Irwin's death for Leffler in 2001. And Ganassi would not use the #42 for a few years in deference to Irwin, choosing instead to run the #41, and not using the #42 again until he started a third team. 490. RCRandPenskeGuy posted: 06.13.2013 - 3:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This is sad news for sure. In the past month alone, we've lost Dick Trickle and now Jason Leffler. My heart and prayers goes out to both their families during this tough time. Ironically, I was thinking of Leffler just yesterday afternoon and how he managed a pretty decent Nationwide career. He only won twice, but seemed to be a front runner as long as he had a good car to work with. I woke up to this news on Yahoo.com and I was definitely beyond shocked. 491. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.13.2013 - 3:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (3) I wouldn't be surprised to see an NNS team or Cup team run a special scheme, but a number change is more than Ganassi would do; he's an unfeeling cad and probably doesn't feel remorse about this. 492. Scott B posted: 06.13.2013 - 3:10 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) It's going to be a somber weekend at Michigan. It would be great to see someone with a direct connection to Jason Leffler win, but if not, I hope whoever does take the checkers pays some respects to him in victory lane. And, please, can the media lay off the "feuds" BS for one week, and remember that it's still one big family at the core. 493. murb posted: 06.13.2013 - 3:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I wouldn't be surprised to see an NNS team or Cup team run a special scheme" It would be cool if Denny Hamlin ran the old 2005 FedEx scheme in tribute to Leffler. I actually wouldn't be surprised to see that happen, because as I was reading some of the drivers' condolences on Twitter I saw that Denny changed his avatar to a picture of Leffler in his FedEx uniform. So a retro FedEx scheme would definitely be nice to see this weekend, and hopefully it's not completely out of the question. 494. David posted: 06.13.2013 - 3:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Brian Scott will be running a special decal this weekend. 495. David posted: 06.13.2013 - 3:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "After all, that car, which carried the #42, was changed to #01 in 2001 after Irwin's death for Leffler in 2001. And Ganassi would not use the #42 for a few years in deference to Irwin, choosing instead to run the #41, and not using the #42 again until he started a third team." I didn't know that. 496. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.13.2013 - 4:06 pm Rate this comment: (4) (1) Unfortunately his stint in the FedEx car did the most damage to Jason's career perception. Driving for a start up, 3rd car for a high profile organiztion (Gibbs, joining past champs Stewart and Labonte) and a VERY high profile sponsor who put a ton of publicity into their arrival. Remember, this was the days of the popular Dale Jarrett driving the UPS car and the wildly successful and well received commercials. Needless to say, Jason was put on the spot. Then a number of things happened that really wounded his perception. As should have been expected, the start up team struggled out of the gate and the pressure put on Jason just mounted and mounted. Then he DNQed for the 600 and the most unlucky (for him) thing happened. They moved the FedEx sponsor to past champ and 2 time Charlotte winner Bobby Labonte's car. He runs like crap in that race as he had all year, but that was the infamous HumpyGate race, and after 5 and 1/2 hours of unreal attrition and 22 cautions and DSFF's really sore ass, Bobby finds himself in the lead after Joe Nemechek has perhaps the 2nd unluckiest cut tire ever (behind the '90 Daytona 500 of course) only to be narrowly beaten by Nap Time. This led to unfair "FedEx should have gone with Labonte instead of that Leffler guy" talk which was bogus. Then, what really hurt hir perception was Denny Hamlin's out of nowhere rise to fame, taking the car over, and doing great things with it, including his performances at the end of '05 after they canned Jason. First off, the team had a year under their belt by that point and were also being bouyed by Tony's red hot run to the top of the points and to a championship, Smoking Nap Time. Secondly, Denny is a very rare talent (character flaws aside). Did we crap all over Ricky Rudd from '84 onward when Dale took over the Childress car and accomplished things Ricky never could have with it? Of course not, we recognized Dale was a rare talent. For some reason Jason never got that benefit. Just know he was doomed in that situation. I'm sure I, myself, have probably taken him to task for not doing enough in that 11 car at some point, and it is a shame it takes his passing for me and other folks to step back and look at it objectively. The truth is he never had much of a chance in NASCAR. He drove for JGR at first in Busch. Hard to remember this now, but their Busch teams were pretty pathetic up until 2007 (Stewart never won for them in that time, Busch winner and championship contender McGlaughlin never won for them, Bliss couldn't do much, Hamin went winless in '05), wasn't given much of a chance at Ganassi (veteran Jimmy Sphincter did pretty much the same the next year in the renumbered Target car), he did good for Jim Smith in Trucks, but was snakebit to a degree not even modern day Jeff Gordon can touch, overachieved for Haas in Busch, overachieved for Braun and Toyota who wasn't worst a damn in '07 (in addition to his IRP win, he damn near beat Kasey Kahne at Bristol a few weeks later) and was literally the red headed step child at Turner. I feel bad that it took his death for me to realize this, but Jason was really good in stock cars. Wish I'd have paid more attention to him and appreciated him more while he was here. 497. murb posted: 06.13.2013 - 4:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) He really was unlucky. He was never able to really find a solid, stable ride besides the Braun 38. It's just a shame. 498. Anonymous posted: 06.13.2013 - 4:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I always liked the guy and I'm saddened by his death, but it's not accurate to say he never had a "solid, stable ride"... he drove for Ganassi in 2001 and finished 37th in points with several DNQs and just one top 10 (His teammate Marlin finished 3rd in points). Then in 2005, he drove for Gibbs and got fired after 19 races (plus one DNQ) without a top 10 and just two laps led (His teammate Stewart won the Championship, his teammate Bobby Labonte was far from great but did have several top 5s, and his replacement Hamlin had 3 top 10s in his first 7 Cup starts. Again, I'm saddened by his death, but you really can't say he never had a "solid, stable ride." He had two great opportunities in Cup and he just didn't capitalize on them. Looking at his great performances in Busch, Trucks, and sprint cars, I think it's fair to say he's one of those drivers whose skillset just wasn't suited for Cup racing. Personally, I won't remember him for his time in the #01 Ganassi car or the #11 Gibbs car, I'll remember him for being a threat against the Cup guys just about every single week in the #38 Great Clips car in Busch. 499. The Long Shot posted: 06.13.2013 - 5:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What would be really great to see is if Humphrey-Smith Racing re-numbers their car to #01 for the remainder of the season, in tribute to Leffler, who drove his last career race for that team. It would be very fitting. 500. David posted: 06.13.2013 - 5:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jason's gone one lap ahead. 501. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.13.2013 - 5:16 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) First off, I'd like to correct a mistake I made. Magic Shoes McGlaughlin did win a Busch race for Gibbs, the '01 Dega race (aka "The Yellow Line Race", aka "The Jimmy Spencer Never Forgets Race"). As for Jason's rides, you make some good points. I agree his particular skill set just never quite lentitself to Cup. But Ganassi didn't do much right for him in his year in the 01 car. First off is Chip's unexcuseable deal he did to Jason in '01 and '02 where he would give the usual car at road courses to Scott Pruett and give the usual driver a scrub car with a rag tag team, leaving to inevitable DNQs, and later giving the team to Scott with a different number but the original team. I know wins are big for organizations, but the residual damage of doing that just kills team chemistry. You are only telling your driver, as he basically told Jason in '01 "I don't trust you". For a driver like Jason who needed a little help adapting to Cup racing, that is a horrible thing to do. Compare this to the way Rick Hendrick helped Gordon who initially struggled to adapt to Cup. Am I saying Jason could have been Jeff Gordon? No, but in the right situation, he could have won some Cup races. As for the FedEx ride, the pressure was just too much. And lets face it, Denny had the perfect situation for him at the end of '05, no pressure after a dismal season. Perfect for him and his mindset. 502. Baker posted: 06.13.2013 - 5:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Going back here, but for how often sprints cars do flip and roll it still really takes a freak accident to cause something like this The Long Shot. Obviously there has been a rash of injuries and deaths that far out way what has happened in NASCAR recently. At the same time you have to consider NASCAR runs about 90-100 races in its Top 3 series whereas World of Outlaws runs darn near that many races itself to let alone all the local tracks and USAC events. Factor in that on any given night I see 3-8 cars roll and the percentage for a freak accident sky rocket in comparison to what we see in NASCAR. 503. cjs3872 posted: 06.13.2013 - 6:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yes David, that actually happened. What happened was that, just days after Chip Ganassi bought into SabCo Racing, Kenny Irwin, Jr. was killed at Loudon, ironically six weeks after that team's most successful driver Kyle Petty's son Adam met that exact fate in mid-May of that year. After Irwin's fatal crash, Ganassi and Felix Sabates shelved the #42 in favor of the #01 for the rest of that year and 2001, the year Jason Leffler drove that car. Then in 2002, that car was renumbered again, this time to #41 for Jimmy Spencer for 2002 and Casey Mears in 2003. Ganassi only brought the #42 back when he started a third team for driver Jamie McMurray. Remember that Sterling Marlin drove the #40 car, and his injury allowed McMurray to get in the #40 car, and he performed well enough that Ganassi started a third team for McMurray in 2003, which is how the #42 returned to that organization. But Ganassi and Sabates shelved the #42 after Irwin's death much like Richard Childress put the #3 on the shelf after Dale Earnhardt, Sr.'s passing in 2001, and only now are we seeing that car number re-emerge, albeit last Sunday at Iowa was hard for diehards of the #3 to watch, seeing it get pushed around the way it was late in that race. But that's how the #42 was shelved after Kenny Irwin's death, and how that car became the #01 in the year that Jason Leffler drove it. And I believe the organizations most likely to honor Leffler would be Joe Gibbs Racing and possibly Chip Ganassi Racing, but definitely Gibbs will honor Leffler's memory. He's just that kind of person. And had Leffler drove for Ganassi longer, I believe Chip would do likewise. 504. murb posted: 06.13.2013 - 6:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "he drove for Ganassi in 2001 and finished 37th in points with several DNQs and just one top 10 (His teammate Marlin finished 3rd in points)." He was a rookie that got thrown into Cup with just one year of Busch. It's unfair to compare him to Marlin that year. "Then in 2005, he drove for Gibbs and got fired after 19 races (plus one DNQ) without a top 10 and just two laps led (His teammate Stewart won the Championship, his teammate Bobby Labonte was far from great but did have several top 5s, and his replacement Hamlin had 3 top 10s in his first 7 Cup starts." The 11 was a startup team, and they struggled. Terry Labonte even drove it in a few races and ran like garbage (other than a good run he had at Sonoma - but Terry has always been great there). It wasn't until Denny Hamlin (a total unknown at this time who had nothing to lose) came in that that team started having success. "you really can't say he never had a "solid, stable ride."" I said that he didn't have a stable ride in Nascar EXCEPT FOR the 38 Braun car. His best years by far were in that car. But when Braun got bought out by Turner, he became the "red headed step child", as DSFF said. So other than his stint in the 38 car when it was owned by Braun, he never was really in a stable situation. He drove two really good Truck years for Jim Smith, whose organization was always a total cluster. And then he went to Haas, which was pretty much the same thing. And Ganassi? He totally screwed him. He didn't even give Jason a second year in that car. Yeah, they lost their sponsor Cingular to RCR, but he easily could have given Jason another shot in the Target car instead of dumping him for Spencer, who was totally washed up at that point. In my opinion, it's just a shame that he was never able to get a real solid ride somewhere. If he hadn't had to change rides all the time, there's no doubt in my mind that he would have had a lot more success in Nascar. 505. Anonymous posted: 06.13.2013 - 6:18 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) I just finished watching that little tribute video on Jason Leffler for the second time today, and one of the top comments on YouTube really spoke to me, and I think it sums up what I think a lot of us (most notably DSFF based on his previous posts). It reads: "I feel like Jason Leffler was on this Earth to spread a message that you can't take anything for granted, because at any moment it could come to a very unfortunate end." I know I, myself, feel a sense of regret because I never truly appreciated watching Jason on the race track all these years, and now that he's gone, I would love nothing more than to see him race just one more time. So I think that YouTube comment sent a great message, and perhaps it was what Jason was sent on this Earth to do: Don't ever take anything for granted--Your friends, family, favorite sportspeople, etc.--, because it can all be taken away in one moment. I'm gonna watch the racing this weekend from a more different perspective than I had been recently, and try to appreciate the drivers (no matter how I feel about them) more so than I had in recent weeks before this tragic accident, because you never know if this might be one of those guys' last race, like it was for Jason Leffler in the Cup race this past Sunday. I'll be pulling for a JGR, Ganassi, Turner, or KBM car to win this weekend at Michigan, and I also think it would be really cool if one of those teams (or even Humphrey Smith Racing) renumbered one of their cars for at least one race to #01 or #38 in honor of Jason. Seeing one of those cars run up front and take home the checkered flag would do wonders in helping heal some wounds from what occurred last night. 506. Paul posted: 06.13.2013 - 6:18 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Post #505 was me. 507. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.13.2013 - 6:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (3) If you haven't read it, I wrote a blog on this stuff. 508. David posted: 06.13.2013 - 7:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I just finished watching that little tribute video on Jason Leffler for the second time today" Which one? The NASCAR tribute gets me every time. Maybe it's just the piano music, but I cannot keep from tearing up. 509. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.13.2013 - 8:25 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) David, Yahoo was disgusting. I just keep seeing in my mind the face of a little boy... alone. 510. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.13.2013 - 9:02 pm Rate this comment: (5) (2) I apologize if this comes of as tasteless, but I say we skip the teary eyed tributes and find some YouTube footage of the final lap of the '04 Busch Summer Daytona race. He spun the bum Michael Waltrip out on the backstretch trying to bump draft him, then when Dale Jr tried to pass him on the high side, Jason blocked him all the way up to the wall, costing June the race, and causing those mouth breathers in Junior Nation to lose their collective shit. It was beautiful to see his fans so mad. This is a very sad situation, but lets try to focus on some positives, like him costing June a minor league race at Daytona. 511. 83andJoe posted: 06.13.2013 - 9:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) >At the same time you have to consider NASCAR runs about 90-100 races in its Top 3 series whereas World of Outlaws runs darn near that many races itself to let alone all the local tracks and USAC events. Factor in that on any given night I see 3-8 cars roll and the percentage for a freak accident sky rocket in comparison to what we see in NASCAR. Exactly. You can have the exact same safety standards, but with so many more races and laps and tracks, the number of injuries and (sadly) fatalities will be higher simply because the odds have a higher chance of coming up due to the sheer number of events run. Crunching the numbers a bit: if you have a "career ending or fatal accident" rate of 1 in 1250, for instance, you're going to hit that number of races in NASCAR's "national touring series" combined every 13 years or so. Whereas in short track racing, if you assume one race a week over a 26-week season, that will be one fatality for every 50 tracks /every year/...which, using the (incomplete) list of short tracks by state on Wikipedia, you hit 50 halfway through 'Arkansas'. Despite the usual hand-wringing from the usual suspects whenever one of these tragic accidents occurs (with the Charlotte Observer doing its usual bleating about "all these short tracks without SAFER barriers, OMG!"), the safety level of short track racing in the United States is actually /very very GOOD/. 512. DW17 posted: 06.13.2013 - 9:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) to TheLongShot: NASCAR doesnt have a right to ban their drivers from sprint cars! cuz its not even NASCAR! 513. murb posted: 06.13.2013 - 9:52 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Like I've been saying, the 2004 Daytona Busch race is my all time favorite Leffler moment. Not only because he caused a ruckus with Jr Nation, but also because his determination in that final lap was awesome to watch. I admit, I didn't necessarily agree with everything Jason did on track (although I guess the same goes for just about every other driver), but I absolutely admire the amount of heart he had. For example, they had a phone interview with Reed Sorenson on Race Hub today, and Reed told a story about how he and Jason once got together on track. Reed told Jason that they would have made it had Jason lifted, to which Jason responded, "I don't lift". If that isn't spoken like a true racer, I don't know what is. 514. The Long Shot posted: 06.13.2013 - 10:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) DW17, if you had read the comments below mine, then you would have realized that people have already responded to my comment and corrected me. I even corrected myself. It's nice to know that people pay attention. 515. David posted: 06.14.2013 - 12:11 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I apologize if this comes of as tasteless, but I say we skip the teary eyed tributes and find some YouTube footage of the final lap of the '04 Busch Summer Daytona race." I did that first, so I could watch the teary-eyed tributes later. It's not tasteless to say that. That last lap was priceless. Leffler did everything short of wrecking Mike Wallace to win that race. I can definitely see why some people thought his actions were idiotic. But he did what he could to win. After all, anything goes on the last lap. I did feel sorry for Waltrip's crew, though. They were so disappointed. 516. Paul posted: 06.14.2013 - 12:54 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) Had Jason Leffler been a big name NASCAR driver or if the drivers who he "ran over" not been media darlings Mikey and Junebug, I think he would have been revered for his undying desire to win at all costs, as opposed to being persecuted and penalized for his "reckless driving habits." Basically, had he been Kyle Busch and the two drivers he ran over been the likes of Justin Allgaier and Trevor Bayne, I think Jason would have come out of the 2004 Busch race at Daytona as the hero, not the villain. Also, it looked to me like Mikey moved up in front of Jason going down the backstretch thinking he was clear, which he was, but Jason had a run on him and instead of jumping out of the gas, he stayed in it and the end result was Mikey spinning towards the inside wall. I know from watching the 2002 Aaron's 312 (The infamous Talladega race with just three lead lap cars at the end following a huge 27-car wreck on lap 14.) that Mikey pulled the same move on Scott Riggs very early in the race, with Riggs running into (but not wrecking) Mikey in the process, possibly out of frustration with that errant block (Ironically, Riggs would be turned just a few laps later after Kenny Wallace pulled the same move on Riggs exiting turn 2, with Riggs lifting and getting run over in the process, resulting in "The Big One."). Based on past history, I'm not surprised that Mikey would pull up in front of Jason the way he did, and I think Jason did the right thing: Stay in the gas and go for the win, rather than lift and risk losing a few positions in the process. And didn't Jason's move to run Dale Jr. up towards the wall remind any of you of Bobby Labonte's similar move on Bobby Hamilton in the 2001 fall Talladega race? For some reason Labonte gets a free pass for his block, but Jason doesn't get the same benefit of the doubt for his move on Junior, even though he was the leader and trying to win the race, as opposed to Labonte who was just trying to maintain position. Not sure if it's because of Labonte's champion status, Junior's media love (especially in those days, not that I blame him for it of course), or the fact that it was D.W. commentating the Leffler/Junior incident as opposed to the old NBC/TNT crew calling the Labonte/Hamilton incident, but for whatever reason Jason doesn't get the same free pass that Labonte got just a few years earlier. That style of racing isn't exactly my cup of tea, but I respect the hell out of Jason Leffler for not lifting and racing like hell to win a race at all costs, even if he ruffled a few big name drivers' feathers in the process. He would rather get beat and ultimately be penalized for "reckless driving" than to roll over for the leader and settle for a good finish. Basically, if Jason was one of the two Jeff's at the end of the 1997 Southern 500, he would do what Jeff Gordon did to Jeff Burton to win the race at all costs every chance he got. It may not be pretty and it'll definitely piss a few drivers off, but Jason's mindset was to win and/or finish as high up the leaderboard as possible, regardless of how many other drivers he upsets in the process. Hell, he even got David Reutimann riled up during Reuti's post-race interview at IRP '07, and Reuti almost never gets upset at another driver. Then of course, Jason and Reuti were teammates for two partial Nationwide seasons in '09 and '10, with Reuti even posting a picture on his Facebook page of the two talking in the garage area during their time as teammates. It takes some real courage and cojones to not care about how you're perceived by your competition on the track, and it takes great character and charisma to be well-liked by that same competition off the race track. Jason Leffler had both, and it's a damn shame that someone who could be both a fierce competitor and well-liked by his peers was taken from us so early. But as Dale Earnhardt once put it, he would rather die in his race car than to die from a heart attack in his pickup truck on his way to a haircut (Which very likely could have happened to Jason one day, considering his Great Clips sponsorship.), and from what I've heard, Jason Leffler probably would have preferred to go the way he went. One more thing: I remember playing through season mode on my NASCAR computer game using the 2011 Nationwide Series roster, using real-life driver ratings. Despite being my teammate (I was driving in a 5th Turner car), Jason Leffler was the hardest driver to pass in the game because he would never roll over for you. Talk about art imitating life, eh? 517. RCRandPenskeGuy posted: 06.14.2013 - 1:54 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) I admit that I doubted Leffler's ability in the past mainly due to how his Cup career turned out (which is unfair to him because Ganassi didn't even give him a full season before letting him go, and his time in JGR's #11 car couldn't have possibly made him look worse as Stewart won the championship and Hamlin took over his ride late that season and scored Top 10s), but he really was a talented driver. Not as talented as Stewart and Hamlin, but talented enough to be a consistent front runner in Nationwide while driving for a Nationwide-only team, and possibly talented enough to get a Cup win or two. And yeah, he definitely had his moments on the track where we fans were wondering what he was thinking, but at least he wasn't one of those drivers who just coasted around each week. 518. RACING24/7 posted: 06.14.2013 - 3:00 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This is basically what I posted on Leffler's page I'll post it here because there's a lot more activity. "I feel bad that it took his death for me to realize this, but Jason was really good in stock cars. Wish I'd have paid more attention to him and appreciated him more while he was here." When I think of cup drivers ruining the nationwide series I think of two drivers that truly got robbed. Jason Leffler & Mike Bliss. I always thought that Jason Leffler was one of the most underrated drivers in nationwide history. I've though this ever since 2010. 2004: 3rd in points before being fired 2007: Best nationwide original in standings 2008: 4th best nationwide original in standings 2009: 2nd best nationwide original in standings 2010: 3rd best nationwide original in standings 2011: 6th best nationwide original in standings 3,1,4,2,3,6 Between 2006-2010 only 12 races were won by nationwide originals including 6 by future cup champion Brad Keselowski. And Leffler has one of those 6 wins not won by cup drivers or nationwide regulars who went on to become Sprint Cup champions. I think he was a very, very good driver whose stats have been diminished by the cup drivers. I still don't even know what to say. We just don't appreciate the courage these drivers have, and most of all their families. What their families have to go through always wondering if this will be the last time they ever see their loved one. I just can't imagine what they go through. And no one in sports has more courage than race car drivers. There risking their lives for something they love. And that's beautiful. 519. RACING24/7 posted: 06.14.2013 - 3:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I also think there is a great chance that a nationwide regular will win this week. Let's look at the 3 cup drivers in the field: Kyle Busch, Paul Menard, & Joey Logano. I remember Kyle Busch saying after he lost to Aric Armirola at Michigan in a 2010 truck race that "Michigan was his worse track, he just doesn't like it there". Paul Menard has one nationwide win in 179 starts. Menard will be driving the #33 Richard Childress Car. Kevin Harvick has 2 wins in 18 starts since the car went from KHI to RCR. If Kevin isn't all that great in the car, you think Menard will win in it? In 548 nationwide races Todd Braun as an owner led 1386 laps. Brian Vickers led 5.6% of those laps in his 2009 Michigan race running for Todd Braun. He finished 2nd in the race. Now he's one of the nationwide originals. I would love to see a nationwide regular win for Jason Leffler. An excellent driver in the series who never complained about the cup drivers, even as the competitor that he was. 520. Paul posted: 06.14.2013 - 4:22 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I think there are six drivers with a reasonable chance at winning this weekend that would be very fitting considering the loss of Jason Leffler. Those six drivers are Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Kasey Kahne, and Kyle Larson. Kahne is a fellow sprint car driver who split time with Leffler over the years in the #38 car due to their respective Great Clips sponsorships (with Leffler driving a different car number in races when Kahne drove the #38). Kyle Larson is a fellow driver who raced in USAC prior to coming to NASCAR, is currently driving for Turner Scott Motorsports, which was Leffler's final Nationwide team, and like Leffler, he too is a fellow native Californian. Denny Hamlin replaced Jason in the #11 JGR Cup car, drove a few races as Jason's teammate in 2008, and as we saw changed his Twitter profile picture to that of Jason when he was driving the FedEx car. And Stenhouse is not only a fellow USAC "graduate," but was also good friends with Leffler, calling him a mentor to him who helped Ricky adapt to the Nationwide cars and has gone on record saying that he wants to win this weekend for his fallen friend and comrade. But I think a victory by Stewart or Busch would be most appropriate. I say Stewart because like Leffler, he too is a 4-time USAC champion, he was Jason's teammate at JGR back in 2005, and he played a large part in recruiting Jason into NASCAR and JGR's developmental program back in 1999. Stewart also said in an interview yesterday that "Jason Leffler was a great racer and an even better friend," and talked about how he and Jason shared the same love for open-wheel cars, and he would often talk to Jason between races during the week. And like Stewart, Kyle Busch has a lot of history with Jason, considering that they were rivals in the Nationwide Series for years, from their time as satellite Hendrick teammates in 2004 to their heated on-track battles while driving for satellite Toyota teams Gibbs and Braun, respectively. And like I mentioned earlier with Reutimann at IRP '07, Kyle certainly took issue with Jason's driving style in the Nationwide over the years, most notably at Dover in the spring of 2008 when the two of them were teammates driving for Braun Racing and got together on the race track. But despite these battles, Kyle respected Jason enough to put him in his truck for the 2012 season. Unfortunately, sponsorship troubles prevented them from lasting the full season together and might have cost them some wins and a decent points finish in the process, but it was pretty cool to see things come full circle between those two. Plus, Kyle drives for JGR in both Cup and Nationwide, so a win by Kyle would mean a lot for Coach Gibbs as well, considering Gibbs' past working relationship with Jason. If any one of those six drivers wins this weekend, I think it would do a lot as far as the healing process is concerned. And even if none of those six can pull off a victory, I'm sure they'll all be racing with heavy hearts and be thinking of Jason and his son Charlie on race day. Whomever does win this weekend should do a little tribute for Jason in some way or fashion. I think it would also be cool if some of the drivers style their hair in the form of a fro-hawk this weekend in honor of Jason, similar to how the Hendrick drivers wore backwards caps in honor of Ricky Hendrick after the plane crash in 2004, or how former NFL quarterback Jake Plummer honored Pat Tillman by growing out his hair and growing a full beard in honor of his fallen friend back in late '04 and 2005. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens this weekend in terms of a tribute for Jason Leffler, and I hope that at least one of those six drivers that I listed can pull off a victory at Michigan. My personal feelings for any of those drivers put aside, I think a victory by any one of them would be most fitting. 521. David posted: 06.14.2013 - 11:13 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) By the way, happy Flag Day! 522. Paul posted: 06.14.2013 - 11:50 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Stewart's car got the wall pretty good during practice. It looked like his car just shot up towards the wall in the middle of turns 3 and 4, so perhaps something broke in the suspension of the car. 523. Eric posted: 06.14.2013 - 1:12 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Its already look like the 47 cars problem is the equipment and the owners based on practice. Bobby Labonte was 12th fastest, and was A.J. Allmendinger 33rd fastest. 524. Bronco posted: 06.14.2013 - 1:35 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Got home late on Wednesday, and was simply stunned to hear about the Jason Leffler news. Two days later I still can't believe it. He was definitely a very underrated driver in Nationwide that should have had a lot more wins than he did. Under the current rules, he would have won the Busch series championship in 2007. "I feel bad that it took his death for me to realize this, but Jason was really good in stock cars. Wish I'd have paid more attention to him and appreciated him more while he was here." Could not agree more. 525. Anonymous posted: 06.14.2013 - 3:52 pm Rate this comment: (2) (3) In other news, Whinin' Brad, after leaving Hendrick Motorsports to go to Penske a few years ago for a ride and (presumably) more money, thinks it's a problem that Hendrick and Gibbs are willing to pay employees of other organizations more money and those employees sign with them. Worst champion EVER to represent the sport. 526. New14 & 88Fan posted: 06.14.2013 - 3:59 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) He's clearly in love with the taste of his feet in his mouth. Seriously though Brad needs to reconnect his brain with his vocal cords. Sure in the race between the manufacturers to one up each other there are gonna be all sorts of shady dealings but for goodness sake just focus on your team and don't worry about everyone else. As David Gilliland put it so nicely, Shut Up and Race! 527. cjs3872 posted: 06.14.2013 - 4:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) So much for those that say Bobby Labonte can't go fast any more, as he qualified at over 199. Maybe the problem was the car after all, because it seems that Bobby hasn't lost the ability to go fast when he has a good car. 528. Paul posted: 06.14.2013 - 4:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bobby Labonte has out-qualified Mark Martin, Clint Bowyer, and Jeff Gordon so far in qualifying. I'm really hoping that he can pull off a solid run on Sunday and prove all the doubters wrong about him holding the #47 car back. And as much I'm a fan of A.J. Allmendinger, I'm kind of hoping that he doesn't run well this weekend just to prove a point to JTG Daugherty Racing that it's not the driver that's the problem with that race car. 529. murb posted: 06.14.2013 - 4:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I still consider myself to be a fan of his, but Brad really has been opening his mouth too much this year. His mouth and him running all of these lower level races (they just said that he's gonna run triple duty at Kentucky in a couple weeks - wow...) is distracting him from getting these Fords up to speed with the other cars. Also, I just want to say HOLY HELL in response to these qualifying laps. Carl is currently on provisional pole at 202 mph. Once again, HOLY HELL. Glad to see that it looks like Bobby may have a good run this weekend in that 51 car. By the same token though, AJ was way slow in the 47 in practice. It's definitely the equipment in that situation. I don't know if Bobby is interested in owning or co-owning a Cup team, but wouldn't it be something if he were to buy Finch's team? Finch's last race will probably be at or around Indianapolis, and I read that he is open to selling the team to someone. I highly doubt Bobby will buy it, but it would be an interesting story. 530. cjs3872 posted: 06.14.2013 - 4:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Paul, Bobby Labonte outqualifying Jeff Gordon shouldn't be that much of a surprise, since Gordon is tempermental about pushing the throttle on the high-speed tracks because of all the crashes he's endured in recent years, but him doing better than Clint Bowyer is a surprise. Remember that it was at Michigan that Rusty Wallace criticized Gordon about his preparation because of him potentially not making the Chase, but the truth is that after all the crashes he's had at high-speed tracks, he may just be afraid to really push it on the high-speed tracks where the pace doesn't slow down, like Michigan. Remember that he struggled at Pocono, which has become a high-speed track since it was repaved before the races there last year. He'll never admit it until after he retires, but I think that's the reason why he's so much slower than his teammates on this type of track now, because he's usually a good 2-3 MPH slower than his teammates at the high-speed tracks. 531. New14 & 88Fan posted: 06.14.2013 - 4:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) Carl Edwards earns his 12th career pole and his first in 49 starts. Nice qualifying runs by Kurt Busch, Paul Menard and Austin Dillon. Another "steller" lap by BofB in 36th, though Newman qualified only two spots ahead of her in 34th. Meanwhile their boss will be staring in 14th. 532. murb posted: 06.14.2013 - 5:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Carl Edwards earns his 12th career pole" This stat kind of surprises me. I would have thought that he would have a few more poles than that for some reason. 533. New14 & 88Fan posted: 06.14.2013 - 5:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ARCA race on now. Ryan Blaney's running so expect him to be among the contenders. "This stat kind of surprises me. I would have thought that he would have a few more poles than that for some reason." I don't pay much attention to poles by drivers but yeah, that is a surprising stat for some one like Carl. 534. Nascar84 posted: 06.15.2013 - 7:13 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Jason Leffler's last career race. 535. The Long Shot posted: 06.26.2013 - 7:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Withdrew: none 536. Anonymous posted: 10.31.2014 - 11:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A bit of a weird and trivial stat: this was the first race that Greg Biffle scored a second place finish since the Coke 600 in 2009. That's over four years without a runner up finish. 537. Anonymous posted: 07.04.2018 - 6:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @536 Greg Biffle's previous runner up finish to this was at Fontana in 2008, not Charlotte in 2009. Biffle didn't even finish in the top 15 in either Charlotte races in '09 538. Maverick19 posted: 05.17.2019 - 12:33 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) This was the first time Biffle finished 2nd since all the way back in 2008 at Fontana. 539. Rich posted: 12.19.2020 - 10:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Adam Alexander, Wally Dallenbach and Kyle Petty were the commentators. Ralph Sheheen, Marty Snider, Chris Neville and Matt Yocum were the pit road reporters. Larry McReynolds was the in-race analyst. Lindsay Czarniak was the studio host. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: