Lovely weather in Phoenix. Congratulations to Dawsonville Georgia’s Chase Elliott the 2014 Nationwide Series champion. 18-year-old Chase is the youngest national champion in the history of the NASCAR. He is also the first Nationwide Champion who is also the Rookie of the Year. Congratulations also to Erik Jones on his win in the truck series Friday night. The race was delayed when the lights went out around the track and ended when they went off again.<\/p>\n
Are you kidding! On the first pit stop Justin Allgaier gets into Jimmie Johnson? I love Dewy Alligator, but Dude! He’s had a rough season and I wonder if he’ll be back in the car next season. According to what I heard during the Nationwide race yesterday Scott and Turner – the owners of his Turner-Scott Motorsports car have been feuding and causing distraction for the teams. Dewy has lots of damage on his car. The 48 teams says Jimmie doesn’t have much.<\/p>\n
Denny Hamlin leads the field to the green flag. Denny had to make another stop from the front of the field. He thought he had a broken shock, but it turned out to be a flat tire. Apparently the valve stem was knocked in causing the flat. That put Denny in 37th position so he has a lot of work to make it back up to the front of the field.<\/p>\n
Caution 2 is out on lap 80 for Casey Mears sliding across the track and hitting the inside wall. He’s dropping a lot of debris as he heads to the garage. The first caution, on lap 29, was for debris – someone lost a spring rubber.<\/p>\n
Caution 3 for debris on lap gives Denny Hamlin the free pass.<\/p>\n
Caution 4 is out on lap 123 for debris. Joey Logano took off with the gas can in – the gas man tried to leave it in until the last second and Joey took off and it slid out in Denny Hamlin’s pit. So Joey goes from second to the back of the field.<\/p>\n
Caution is out on lap 184 for a tire issue on the 3 car.<\/p>\n
Caution 6 is out on lap 201 for debris. Joey gets the free pass. He’s been losing his mind in the car since the earlier penalty.<\/p>\n
Caution 7 out on lap 208 during the restart for Josh Wise spinning around. Denny Hamlin gets the free pass and is now on the lead lap.<\/p>\n
Caution 8 is out on lap 215 at the restart as Kyle Busch has an issue and Clint Bowyer goes around. Cole Whitt apparently got a piece of that too. Kyle’s hood has blown open and remains up as he heads to pit road. Kyle was in 6th, Clint was in 17th. Cole Whitt is finally leaving the track for the day. He had issues early, but this incident seems to have killed the 26 car. Kyle got loose, went around, backing into the wall. Clint Bowyer clipped the front of the 18 as he drove by and spun around ending up in the wall also.<\/p>\n
Joey apparently got into Danica at some point and got some damage including a tire rub. Jimmie gets the free pass. He’s had electrical issues among others throughout the day.<\/p>\n
They’re red flagging the race on lap 216.<\/p>\n
Rick Debruehl is in for Dave Burns who’s ill. Apparently Rick had about an hour’s notice.<\/p>\n
In all the talking about last week’s fight the drivers consistently mention that the issue is that Brad starts things and won’t face them man-to-man. The talking heads all seem to ignore that he starts things on the track, but hides behind his team when someone tries to confront him about this behaviour. He’s all about being bad when he’s protected from direct contact. Coward. I know that his job isn’t fighting, but he shouldn’t start fights either. The old “Don’t write a check your butt can’t cash” applies to him. His team shouldn’t act as his entourage when he does things for which he needs to answer. He seriously needs to man up and stop hiding.<\/p>\n
Caution 9 is out on lap 237 for the 48 hitting the wall. He’s heading straight for the garage. Jimmie said something exploded under the car, the brake pedal went to the floor and he had no brakes, so into the wall he went. Smoke gets the free pass.<\/p>\n
Caution 10 is out with 67 laps to go for Jamie McMurray going around and hitting the wall.<\/p>\n
Caution 11 is out on lap 287 (25 laps to go) for debris. 24 cars on the lead lap.<\/p>\n
Bunny told me that, for some unknown reason, Jamie Little admitted on television to seeing Jeff Gordon approach Brad Keselowski after the race last week and telling him to watch his back. I couldn’t imagine a professional journalist admitting to that. I was floored and saddened when I heard that. I thought Jamie was slowly (like a tortoise) but surely getting better at her job. Apparently I was wrong if she doesn’t recognize how inappropriate that was for her to do while working and how clueless it was to admit her lack of professionalism on television.<\/p>\n
Caution 12 is out on lap 298 for a wreck involving Landon Cassill and Mike Wallace. Landon in the 40 had a tire rub, spun around when the tire went down and Mike Wallace spun to avoid him. David Ragan will get the free pass.<\/p>\n
There will be 12 laps to go when they restart.<\/p>\n
I hope Dale Jarrett hasn’t been picked up by another media outlet and the end of ESPN will mean the end of his broadcast career – at least until he deals with his issues and learns it is not all about him. Of course, lately, every time I read of a new acquisition – they’d probably call it hiring – by NBC for the NASCAR broadcasts it gets more and more depressing. It seems they’re going with the cheapest, rather than trying to get the best available. I was dismayed the other day to walk in on NASCAR America and hear Kyle Petty stammering through some foolish statement. I hoped his name wouldn’t subject me to further auditory punishment. Sadly my hopes were dashed.<\/p>\n
Ryan Newman put the 42 (Kyle Larson) into the wall to get into the final four knocking Jeff Gordon out of the final four. Pathetic.<\/p>\n
Just gotta say this Chase format sucks. The fact that Newman is in the final four, and Denny also, is ludicrous. Kevin has been fast all season. Joey has been fast and driven well all season. Happy and Joey definitely should’ve been the front runners for the championship, but they won’t be facing the best of the rest of the field. It still comes down to a two man race for the championship as usual, with the caveat – because of the new rules the Sprint Cup Champion could be one of two drivers who don’t deserve to be in the final four. The other drivers who were great this season were eliminated, mostly by bad luck. Luck is playing much too much of a role in this championship.<\/p>\n
I find myself mourning for NASCAR. I miss the good racing and the feel that it was a sport, a fair sport. Maybe it was always an illusion, but it felt more like a sport before, it seemed, the marketing department took over the decision making.<\/p>\n
Newman is justifying his butt off for what he did. Sad. But then again, its Newman.<\/p>\n
KHarv, Denny, Joey, and Newman are the final four. Jeff Gordon says he hoped they’d show you don’t have to wreck people to get into the Chase. Looks like NASCAR showed they don’t care how you get there as long as you get there. Seems like they’re going to have to give up the rules, or rewrite the rules next season, because this season they’ve indicated anything goes. It makes it all feel forced and manipulated and not at all valid.<\/p>\n
They were saying during the race that RC, Richard Childress, can say enough about Ryan Newman, that he really likes Newman and he didn’t really know what he was getting into when he hired him, but that Newman has turned out really well. That’s a sad statement to me. Newman has been around quite a while. I find it odd that RC didn’t really know him.<\/p>\n
Denny said the only people who don’t like the current Chase are those whose driver didn’t make it. I resemble that remark, but that isn’t my issue. He also said, “Every race is exciting.” That’s my issue, the format makes most of the races in the Chase meaningless. Speaking of meaningless – what in blazes is this nations crap? 8 Nations Battle, 4 Advance is the current incarnation. I remember early on consistently not realizing a NASCAR commercial was on because they were talking about nations battling which made me think it was a college football game between two teams with Native American mascots\/team names. Sigh.<\/p>\n
In NASCAR news this week:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lovely weather in Phoenix. Congratulations to Dawsonville Georgia’s Chase Elliott the 2014 Nationwide Series champion. 18-year-old Chase is the youngest national champion in the history of the NASCAR. He is also the first Nationwide Champion who is also the Rookie of the Year. Congratulations also to Erik Jones on his win in the truck series … <\/p>\n\n
Next Race: Homestead<\/h3>\n
GO 48!!!!<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"