Jimmie wins. Carl is behind 141 points. Jimmie must finish 36th or better. I don’t like to call it this early, but I think Jimmie will win his 3rd championship in a row since Cale Yarborough did it from 1976-78. I have never been a member of the Jimmie fan wagon, but I have to give his props.
See ya in Homestead everyone!
One more thing…Texas Tech is still #2 in the BCS rankings
For all of us Red Raiders
Splash of gas and four tires…
4th Down and inches to go…
One final note from The Park…I will be traveling to Chicago tomorrw for a conference. I am looking forward to getting away for a few days. I won’t have my computer with me during my litte jaunt to the Windy City, So this looks to be the last post for the week. Have a great week!
And so it begins…here are your 2008 Chasers!
I have to admit I haven’t really watched much of NASCAR over the last few weeks. I know that is kind of hard to believe, but I have had quite a bit going on in my life right now especially at work. There are days at work I feel like I work for NASCAR with the every changing procedures, policies, etc. UGH!!! Anyhow, I have gone on a little fact finding mission this afternoon. I thought I would focus my post race post on the The Chase. I didn’t really watch all that much of the race so I don’t feel like I could make any sound judgements about the race.
I am excited about this Chase and not because Tony made the Chase. He is sitting 8th right now 80 points back of Kyle Busch. In my opinion, I don’t think you will be able to win the chase unless you win a few races. That’s just the way it is. There are those out there who think it will be a three man race and yes I will include myself in that group, but I am going to step back and leave those three out of it for a moment. Let’s take a look at the other 9 drivers in the Chase.
And finally (last but defintely not least), Mr. Tony Stewart. I hate to say it, but I just don’t know if Tony can get it together for the last 10 races. It pains me to say, but he has quite a bit going on. He is preparing to run his last 10 races wtih the team he has known for the last 10 years. He has exciting things coming up for 2009. And to be honest, his attention is focused in too many areas at the moment. I know what it is like to be at your old job awaiting to head to the new job. You want to do the best you can at the current job, but how can you now get excited and yes distracted with the new opportunity presented ahead of you. That’s where I believe Tony is at the moment. You could tell the frustration level has reached the maximum boiling point. That was evident after the race on Sunday. The win was right there. He could taste it along with his fans, but Jimmie Johnson out raced him. That’s it. He is going to have to get on one of his famous hot streaks if he is even going to challenge for the championship.
Now…who do I think will make it to the top to win all the marbles? This has been somewhat a difficult thing to pin down. Kyle looks to be the safe bet as well as Carl, but Jimmie is peaking at the right time and we all know when Jimmie gets in the zone, he is pretty much unbeatable. Last year he won 4 of the Chase races. Even in the 2006 Chase when most of us thought he was out of it after Talladega, he finished no further back than 9th to win the whole thing. So with that information in front of me, I am going to have to take Jimmie Johnson to win it in 2008.
It’s a toss up between Greg Biffle and Kevin Harvick as my dark house. They both have the potential to just bust out during the last 10 races, but I am going to have to go with The Biff on this one, but only by a small margin.
Now, let’s sit back and watch The Chase all unfold.
Sorry for the delay on the California race. I have been trying to get things together at work and at home and to be blunt, I didn’t really give two cents about the race. Every time I looked up Jimmie was leading the race. There would be a caution and a pit stop and Jimmie would come out leading or if he wasn’t he would be shortly. I think Jimmie and Chad have figured some things out and they are making their move. I did find it somewhat amusing the yellow light caused a yellow. Luckily it fell after cars had already passed it.
Richmond is going to be in interesting race. I love Saturday night short track racing. For those boys on the bubble this is it. This is the race you need to make your move. After Saturday night, you are racing for next year so to speak. I believe it it going to be a three person Chase between Kyle, Carl, and Jimmie. Unless someone gets hot during the chase, which could happen, everyone else will be chasing those three.
Other notes…David Stremme to the #12, Dario is going back to Indy cars, Joey L in the 02 car for the Cup race…I think that is it. If I missed something I am sorry. I am tyring to do the best I can with everything these last couple of weeks.
Oh…I am going to CHICAGO the first of October. I am SO EXCITED!!! So if any of you out there have any suggestions for food/sights, please let me know…This will be my first trip to the Windy City.
In case you missed the Bristol Craftsman Truck race was on last night. I know, it’s weird to watch racing on a Wednesday night, but I did catch most of the race. If you are a reader and/or lurker of The Park, you know that I am not a big fan of Jimmie Johnson. However, I wanted to see how he would perform in his first truck race of his career. Jimmie drove teh #81 for Randy Moss Motorsports last night. Jimmie qualified 9th and was doing pretty good. He was at one time leading laps in the race until Kyle Busch over took him. Unfortunately Jimmie finished 34th last night. I am sure he would have finished higher if not for this little action move.
Whether you like Jimmie or not, I have to give him major props for trying to save the truck. That was some damn fine driving Mr. Johnson.
I do have to say I was a little creeped out when they kept saying Jim Johnson. I guess we are so used to Jimmie and not Jim that it just unnerved me. That would be like the announcers calling Tony, Anthony. It’s just wrong.
Congratulations to Kyle Busch on another win. What does that make now across all three series? Eight million? Seriously, though, he has 17 wins across the three series (8-Cup, 6-NWS, 3-Truck). Say what you want, that boy can drive.
I felt like I was in the middle of some crazy nightmare yesterday. Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson for coming in first yesterday. I don’t know if we could call what happened yesterday racing. Yes, there were 43 cars on the track trying to make their way to the front. And I guess by definition that would be racing, but the type of racing I like to see between the drivers didn’t happen yesterday.
In case you missed it, NASCAR basically dictated the pace of the race yesterday. With all the problems the teams were having with tires, NASCAR chose in the name of safety to call competition yellows throughout the race in hopes the track would rubber up the longer drivers were on the track. However this wasn’t the case and so the race was done in segments. The drivers would get the green, but just when they would get to a decent pace (in my opinion) a competition yellow would be thrown so teams could come into the pits to change tires. Clearly the track and the tire were not compatible. It was clear the situation was not going to get better throughout the day. I was resigned to the fact the race was going to be a series of several pit stops.
Even though these pit stops were dictated by NASCAR, it was interesting to see how the crews used tire strategy to get track position. Both Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon began using changing four tires instead of just the two right sides like other teams were using. When teams did change just the right side tires, they were able to get some decent track position. But there was Jimmie and Jeff marching towards the front, so it was clear they had good running cars. I really thought Carl was going to make it a race in the last segment, but kudos go to Jimmie’s pit crew for getting him out first after the last compeition yellow. Talk about making the most of the money stop.
Who was to blame for this tire dibacle? I am no position to pint the finger of blame to anyone organization. I feel it was a combination of things that lead to this situation. This was the first time the new car was running at Indy. This car has a higher center of gravity thus it is difficult on the right side tires. This coupled with the surface of Indy which is not primarily designed for stock cars lead to this situation yesterday. When Goodyear did a tire test in April at Indy, only three teams (Earnhardt, Kurt Busch, and Brian Vickers) participated in the test. One would think they received enough data to bring in the right kind of tire, however this wasn’t the case either.
NASCAR was in a difficult spot yesterday. The Brickyard is one of those races everyone looks forward to each year. I for one do not miss it. I usually schedule no activities for this day. NASCAR did what they needed to do to put on an event for the fans sitting in the grandstands as well as those of us sitting at home. This was also about the safety of the drivers as well. It was obvious what would happen when tire blew under high speeds. One only has to look at what happeend to Montoya and Kenseth yesterday. I would rather have had the segmented race than all those drivers blowing out tires and causing wrecks. I do have to applaud Goodyear and NASCAR for giving teams an extra set of tries for the race as well an extra 1600 tires aka Pocono tires. But luckily the Pocono tires never came into play yesterday.
No matter the case, this is definitely one hard lesson for NASCAR and Goodyear to learn. The only thing now is take what was learned from yesterday’s “race” and head back to the drawing board.
Despite the tire issue, there were some good runs. Elliot Sadler finished 4th. Jamie M. finished with a 6th place finish. And how about A.J. Allmendinger, he finished in the 10th position. Unfortunately, Tony who started 14th and looked like he was going to have a decent finish, finished 23rd. Luckily he didn’t loose any positions in the standings. He is currently 10th. The points leader finished in 15th yesterday, but still maintains 253 point lead over Dale Earnhardt. But as well know all bets are off once The Chase begins. The real race is for me is going to be from about 10th-14th. It will definitely be interesting to see how this all shakes out over the next few races.
When you are hot, you are on fire. Kyle Busch will lead the field to the green on Sunday. This is the second pole in a row at Lowe’s for Kyle. And look who he will be with him on the front row…Kasey Kahne, last week’s All-Star race winner.
This will be the first Coca Cola 600 for the COT. I am interested to see how the COT will perform under the conditions of the 600. This race is about being able to make adjustments througout the entire race. The race begins during the day and ends under the lights. This is the longest race of the year and the COT has yet to impress me on this size of a race track. I know teams have been struggling with the COT this year. It seems some teams try to adjust the cars just a little during the race, but it seems to make them worse. I am hoping some of the teams were able to get some valuable data from last week’s All-Star race. If the race is anything like the the All-Star race where the person who is a lead drives away from the field, I may have to change the channel.
As with every race, I want Tony to be up front and challenging for the win. Tony has one win at Lowe’s back in 2003 at the spring race. Last year he finished in the Top Ten in both races at Lowe’s. This is the time of the year where Tony turns up the intensity. Tony rolls off Sunday 31st. I am not worried about him though. Tony isn’t always the best qualifier. It will be fun to watch him work his way to the front. I mean it is 600 mile race, not a 6 mile race.
Will Jimmie return to victory lane at Lowe’s this year? Jimmie hasn’t seen victory lane since the fall 2005 race. Of course that’s probalby what we will hear about this weekend, how Lowe’s is Jimmie’s house, blah blah..and of course someone will mention the fact that Junior STILL hasn’t won a race in the last two years.
One more thing…as we enjoy all the fesitivities, parties, BBQs this weekend, take time and say “Thank You” to a veteran or an active serviceman or servicewoman, because without the sacrifice, we would not be able to enjoy this weekend.
Trixie's Trailer Park 
