A big thank you Robin Miller for saying, on the final episode of Wind Tunnel, “I hate Michael Waltrip’s act.” So do I and I was wondering if anyone else noticed it. Sadly Michael’s presence on television is growing while his talent/broadcasting ability doesn’t.
FOX Sports One is on the air. Whoop-tee-damn-do to quote Archie Bunker. Other than costing the viewer more and airing a whole lotta crap I choose NOT to watch on the ESPNs and NBCSports I don’t see the point. Just my opinion. In spite of all of the ads and stories assuring me that I will still get my NASCAR coverage I am concerned about how much racing I won’t see. I loved the K&N races, ARCA races, Late Model races, Practices and Qualifying in their entirety, and the auxiliary shows. Practice broadcast time has been cut drastically in the past year, so that proves I won’t see all the coverage I love. I miss some of the old shows like This Week In NASCAR and Trackside Live. I miss the old version of Trackside, when it was a race show for fans of NASCAR, as opposed to the clown barrage/Petty-Kyle-Wooden-Rutledge-Buddy-Hour it became. The drivers actually showed their personalities on the old version of the show. They would get into the conversation and let their guards down often. Yes, the drivers were there to promote something, but once business was concluded they would have fun laughing and talking with Elliott, DW, Hammond, and Byrnesie. Or not, in a few cases. Either way I learned a tremendous amount about the drivers, and the different tracks. I will also miss Wind Tunnel. I learned to love a number of other racing disciplines and series watching DeSpain’s show. I also used to get into NASCAR Performance before it was taken over by the forces of darkness so to speak. Overall the shows that are currently airing are astonishingly horrible and should’ve been canceled and their ‘talent’ fired within six weeks. Petty Kyle, Wooden Rutledge and Danielle Hot-To-Trot-ta have no business on television in any professional broadcasting situation. They have neither the training, the talent, nor the skill. Adam Alexander is worst than Johnny TV. Larry Mc’here’s-a-little-Nugget’ manages to get worst every season. Apparently the new policy with regard to talent is out with the quality and in with the cheap – in every sense of the word. Bob Varsha, Dave DeSpain, Dick Berggren – fine examples of broadcasting talent and professionalism – who are, relegated at best or sent down at worst.
Saturday Truck Race Michigan. Joey Logano decided to make Max Gresham loose to pass him. Predictably Max spun out and took out Darrell Wallace Jr and Johnny Sauter. That really disturbed me. First of all big money putting small teams out of the running more often than not. Problem. Second of all, drivers need to know who they’re racing. I was in transit so I was listening to the race and I said out loud before the wreck began, “Joey shouldn’t do that, Max will get loose, wreck and take out other people,” And so he did. I still have to watch the whole race. I was hoping for a good race. The last few Truck Series races have been really boring – very un-Truck-Series-like. More on that later after I watch the recording of the race tomorrow.
Saturday Nationwide Series Premier Race at Mid-Ohio. A new road course for the Nationwide kids. Sadly Ridiculous Marty Reid and Deadly Dull Ricky Craven called the race. A lot of stuff was going on during the race, mostly in the pack. AJ pretty much got out front and stunk up the show for Penske. The kids were being kids though and when the end drew near the claws came out and the cars started spinning off track. It was amusing and entertaining. It was nice to see Marcos Ambrose roughed up for a change. He tends to race like there’s no one else on the track (or like everyone else understands he’s supposed to win so they won’t mind him using them up). It was nice to see a few drivers take exception and let him know they had issues with his madness. Parker Kligerman spun him around after the checkered flag. Nelson Piquet Jr. had a bit of that kind of thing going on also. Wonder Boy Kyle Larson spun out early. Kyle Larson felt the need to spin Max Papis. Kids will be kids! Both earned visits to the NASCAR hauler. The race was okay – way better than Watkins Glen, but it was shorter and new.
Jimmie wrecked in final practice and had to get out the backup car. He qualified third. Now he will have to start at the back of the pack. It’s like this track is cursed! Always something! I haven’t given up hope though. I’m still hoping for the 6-pack (Jimmie’s sixth Sprint Cup Championship), a win at Michigan, Chicagoland, and Homestead, and for him to wrap up the title before Texas. Now that’s not to say I don’t want him to win any other races in the chase. I’d actually like him to win at least five and finish in the top three in the others. Okay, so my desires are a little ambitious, but he’s an amazing driver.
Beautiful day in Michigan, fluffy white clouds in the skies. The field is delayed leaving pit road for the parade laps due to oil on the track. It’s believed it was laid down by a jet dryer. So speedy dry was laid down and vacuumed up before they field was brought out to warm up. Joey Logano leads them to the checkered flag, but Kurt Busch gets a jump on him and takes the lead.
Caution on lap 1 for Clint Bowyer who spun out, but didn’t hit anything.
Caution on lap 8 for David Reutimann hitting the wall. He just got out of the groove too close to the wall and the back end went out on him.
Jimmie has made it to 29th position after starting 43rd.
Caution on lap 13 for Austin Dillon sliding up the racetrack into J.J. Yeley. Frankenstein was then busted for speeding on his way out of pit road trying to beat the pace car.
On lap 25 Jimmie is in 17th position and moving forward.
On lap 33 Jimmie is up to 15th. Dale Jr is racing for the lead in the opening laps of this race. He has a strong car, but the talking heads all say passing and side-by-side racing is difficult at this track due to the hard tire compound.
On lap 41 Jimmie is currently leading the race as green flag pit stops are cycling through.
On lap 55 Jimmie is on pit road. His engine sounded terrible when he came in. He’d made it up to the top ten before pitting. Jimmie says he thinks he’s blowing up and has headed to the garage. Jamie Little said Mr. Hendrick walked by shaking his head. The Michigan curse continues for the 48. Jimmie’s day is over. It dropped a cylinder or two down the straightaway. He said something in the engine broke. This was a brand new engine.
Caution is out on lap 71 for Ricky Stenhouse hitting the wall.
I finally got racebuddy working on my laptop and was thrilled to see that Jimmie had an in-car cam, so I heard the engine issues before the TV guys said anything. Now they’ve switched to someone else – a Toyota, so I guess I’ll switch to BooBoo (Dale Earnhardt Jr’s) in-car cam.
Denny stayed out so he led them to the green. Dale Jr came off pit road first and managed to drop from second to seventh in the first lap.
After they switched cars I initially turned the camera off, but I found myself missing the sound of the engine. Bestie, DJ and Petree are announcing, so its not an issue with the announce team. It’s soothing (when its not down cylinders like Jimmie’s).
According to Bestie there have been three races held at this track on August 18th and all of them have been won by the former driver of the 88 Dale Jarrett
Caution is out on lap 106 for debris. Mark Martin was heading onto pit road as it came it. He drove through.
Dale Jr takes four tires on the pit stop so he’s starting quite a ways back on the restart. Burton hit a 47 crew member on his way out of his pit stall. The crew member went down hard, but says he’s okay. He’s just mad it cost him time on his pit stop. It hit his right knee.
Caution is out on lap 135 for Dale Jr with a blown right front tire that put him into the wall. BooBoo was running seventh at the time. Dale Jr is going to have to go behind the wall.
Okay, so that’s the second car’s in-car cam I’ve been watching that’s headed to the garage, so I think I might change my strategy regarding which camera I’m watching. There’s one name I’d prefer to watch, but under the circumstances, I’m considering Biffle, Kenseth or Keselowski. Maybe I can give them some incredibly bad luck. LOL
On the pit stop after Dale Jr. hit the wall Kyle Busch came in with a tire issue. When they changed his tire they saw it was beginning to separate. So KyBu dodged a bullet there.
Caution is out on lap 149 for Bobby Labonte spinning around. He didn’t hit anything but the infield grass. Most of the top ten stayed out. Brad Keselowski came in. Work continues on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car in the garage. The camera is still up, so I think that means he’s planning to get back out there.
Caution is out on lap 157 for Kyle Busch spinning out in turn two. The back end just headed to the fence.
Keselowski stayed out on this pit stop while everybody else is coming in for service.
The teams are doing short two tire pit stops mostly so they’re getting limited fuel onboard.
With 54 laps to go David Gilliland heads to pit road with a right rear tire rub.
Dale Jr is finally back on the track.
Paul Wolf rolled the dice and brought Bradley K in off-sequence. He says they won’t have enough fuel to reach the end without a bit of luck. I think I need to cheer for him and watch his camera the rest of the race to bring my bad luck to him. I really wish Paul Wolf would set the car up so Brad can drive his way to the front and battle instead of going for tricks.
Caution is out on lap 173 for another Kyle Busch. This time he just spun into the infield grass instead of the wall. More caution laps helps Bradley K’s cause. Brad is coming in for a pit stop now. It’s a gas ‘n go stop. Carl Edwards was close on fuel also so he came in also. Paul Wolf said he just couldn’t take the chance of running out of fuel with 20 cars on the lead lap. They were ‘3 or 4 laps short and you can’t save that much’. That’s a big statement from the guys who claim the best gas mileage in Sprint Cup.
Dale Jr is back on pit road. He got some bondo and tires. More than 20 laps down.
BK tells Paul he doesn’t want to points race. Mark Martin is leading the race. Rodney Childers, his crew chief says they’re 2 and a half to three laps short on gas. Dale Jr is back onto pit road. Rodney says is they get another caution they’ll be good.
Dale Jarrett says he thinks we’re seeing the end of Mark’s time as a driver. He says there are a lot of opportunities out there for Mark with teams that would love to have him teach drivers how to drive. He thinks he won’t return to a part-time gig in a car.
Rodney says they’ll run out if they don’t get a caution. Mark Martin just ran out with three to go. Joey Logano assumes the lead.
Joey Logano’s team believe they’re a lap and a half to the good.
Joey takes the white flag. Joey Logano wins!
Jimmie finishes 40th after ending the day on lap 55. Carl Edwards finished 10th after starting 19th.
In NASCAR news this week:
- Juan Pablo Montoya is a free agent. Earnhardt Ganassi Racing announced during the week that they would not renew JPM’s contract. In spite of Juan’s assertion that he couldn’t imagine anything changing most people were expecting the ax would fall at some point in the near future. His performance just hasn’t measured up and he has little to no respect in the garage.
- As expected Michael Waltrip Racing signed Brian Vickers to drive the 55 car next year. For some reason the process has been long and drawn out and the announcement a foregone conclusion. Good for him though I can’t imagine his tenure there will be any better or worse than his previous Sprint Cup rides. I hope he enjoys it however it goes. He’s worked really hard for this opportunity.
- Zippy is dribbling out info on Smoke’s recovery/return. Competition director for Stewart-Haas Racing Greg Zippadelli is admitting that Tony Stewart will be out at least a month. He has a compound fracture in his right leg that is supposed to take 4-6 months to heal. I don’t know why the rush, or the pretense of Smoke’s broken leg that required two separate surgeries being a minor inconvenience. After watching Denny Hamlin rush back into the car and continue to do more damage to his back, I’d really rather not see Smoke rush back and ruin any chance of totally recovering and having as little pain as possible for the rest of his life.