NASCAR

Gettin’ the Mojo

/ Trixie / 3 Comments

The last couple of weeks I haven’t been too inspired about posting.  I couldn’t decide what it was that has caused this funk, but that is going to change.  Just like Kyle Busch who has decided to focus on the Cup championship, I too am going to put my energy on the big picture.  So with that being said, I have put the Bon Jovi on and I am ready to get over this funk.  Bon Jovi usually brings me back from whence I was residing. 

The last several weeks has not been kind to Tony.  Last week he posted a top 5, but for this fan I want more for my driver.  I want to see him in the winner’s circle again.  I think that is the real reason I am in the funk that I am.  I mentioned last week that Tony is still in contention for the championship.  It was very scary how the 2008 season and the 2005 season looked similar in nature, so I did some more research and found the following.

In 2005 after finishing 2nd at the first Michigan and sitting 6th in the standings, Tony won the next week at Sonoma and Daytona.  By the time he was finished he had rattled off 2 more wins, New Hampshire and Indianapolis (his first win at the famous Brickyard).  He was also sitting in the top spot going into the Chase that year.  And in case you lived in a cave or were without cable tv, radio, internet and cell phone or just plain stuck on a deserted island, Tony won the championship that year.  One side note to that year, Kyle Busch was a rookie.

Here we are in 2008, right now Tony is sitting in 11th spot 439 points behind teammate Kyle Busch.  He finished 5th last week at Michigan.  So if everything falls into place, like it should or would hope it would, Where are they racing the next three weeks?  Let’s turn the page and see….Sonoma, New Hampshire, and Daytona.  And least we forget Indianapolis, which is July 27.  I know Chicago is squeezed in there as well.  What was his finish at Chicago in 2005?  He finihsed 5th.  So, if Tony follows the pattern, he will rattle off 4 wins over the next several weeks. 

I went back to look at 2002 when Tony his first championship and I found some interesting stats as well.  He didn’t rattle of 4 wins like in did in 2005 after Michigan, but he did have one win at Watkins Glen.  If the Chase format had been in place back in 2002, he would be sitting 5th going into the Chase races behind leader…wait for it…Sterling Marlin.  One other fact, that was Jimmie Johnson’s rookie year and where was Jimmie sitting after Richmond…3rd.  Some things never change I guess with Jimmie.  He was even contending back then.

With all this informaiton one would tend to believe Tony will be hoisting that trophy at the end of the season, but 2008 will be a bit tougher for Tony.  Now drivers receive 10 bonus points for winning a race.  Tony would have received 50 points for his wins that year if they bouns points had been in effect that year.  Tony also has to contend with the COT this year–something that he didn’t have to bother with in 2005 or 2002.  He is currently sitting in 11th spot which is further down in the standings than he was at the same time in 2005 or 2002. 

So what is with all this statiscal stuff?  I guess I am trying to bring all the MOJO back to Mr. Stewart.  Perhaps I am trying to feed all the positive vibes to the #20 Home Depot Toyota.  I am only going to think happy thoughts and try to be one with the #20 this weekend. 

Good luck Tony!!!!

The Weekend That Wasn’t

/ Trixie / 2 Comments

I mentioned on Friday that last week I wasn’t too inspired to post about anything, well, I am still sitting here on Monday, a year older, still uninspired.  The weekend had it’s ups and downs.  The things that I wanted to happen in the my little reality didn’t so with that here are the highlights.

1.  Congratulations to Eric Darnell for edging out Johnny Benson by .005 seconds to win the truck race on Saturday.  There were some extra curricular discussion between Kyle Busch, Ron Hornaday, and Kevin Harvick regarding Kyle Busch’s spinning out Ron H. on the final lap of the race.  Never a dull moment with Kyle Busch.

2.  It only took him three races to do it, but Joey Lagano became the youngest driver to win in the Nationwide Series at 18 years and 21 days.  Let’s see what was I doing at that age…not winning in a racing series and earning lots of cash.  I was earning cash, but not all that much.  Let’s see that 2 poles and 1 win.  Kyle had a chance to make the race interesting, but he just lost it and crashed his car.  Congrats Joey!

3.  And of course I musn’t forget to mention the Cup race yesterday.  I didn’t watch too much of the race however.  I know that probably shocks some of you, but yesterday was Postman’s first Father’s Day and of course, my birthday.  So we went to have lunch and do some shopping.  I guess a little family time is more important than any NASCAR race.  I did however catch the last 90 laps or so.  It came down to a fuel mileage race.  I don’t really like fuel mileage races because a lot of times my driver seems to be on the short end of the stick with these.  Congratulations Junior.  You did it.  You won.  It wasn’t what I was hoping for yesterday  since it was my birthday, but it is kind of ironic however.  You would have to know me personally to get the irony of the situation.  Now, maybe we could move on and focus our attention to other things.  I wonder what the media will do this week since they won’t have to remind all of us that Junior hasn’t won.  It looked like Sam Hornish was going to have a good day, but he spun out in the closing laps and finished 22nd.  Tony finished 5th which is good compared to the last few races.  He didn’t win on my birthday, but I will take a 5th place finish any time.  Next week however is a road race and well Tony kicks butt on road courses.  I know there were other things that happened during the race, but I didn’t get to watch as much as I wanted to give a deifinitive recap.

If you love sports as I do, this weekend was a great weekend for sport lovers.  I have already mentioned the racing, but we also had the US Open and the NBA finals.  I am not really into golf.  I usually watch the majors when they are on, but otherwise it doesn’t consume my life.  This weekend was the first tournament Tiger Woods would play in since coming of knee surgery back in April.  Of course this was Tiger and we all know how Tiger plays when there is a major and he didn’t disappoint this weekend.  Tiger came into Sunday with a one stroke lead and by the end of the day he was tied with Rocco Mediate.  Even with a bum knee Tiger is Tiger.  That was a great putt on the 19th yesterday to tie the match.  Today they will have an 18-hole playoff.  I would love for Rocco to pull off the win, but this is what Tiger does.  I may flip over on ESPN 360 later this morning and watch. 

After the US Open, I flipped over to watch a little of the NBA playoffs.  I really don’t have a dog in the fight with this one since the Dallas Mavericks were knocked back in the first round.  However, I want the Celtics to win.  I remember back in the day the classic Lakers and Celtics battles.  I don’t think this one is quite at that caliber, but it has been interesting to watch.  The Lakers have pushed to a game 6 back in Boston on Tuesday with their 103-98 win last night.  Go Celtics!

And finally a couple of non-NASCAR related items…

I would like to say I was saddened to hear about the death of Tim Russert.  I didn’t always watch Meet the Press, in fact I rarely watched it.  But I liked Tim Russert.  He was always challenging the politicians to answer the tough questions.  He was asking the questions we as Americans wanted to ask these politicos.  He will missed.  Rest in Peace Mr. Russert.

If you haven’t had a chance to watch Army Wives you are missing out on a great show.  I know some of you might not care to watch a show from Lifetime, but this is an excellent and well written show worth an hour of your time. 

I had a good birthday.  I got to spend it with Postman and Little Smoke.  I am planning on having my birthday festivities with my buddies either this weekend or the following weekend since one group of friends and their kids were on an Alaskan cruise. 

Have a great week!

 

The Uninspired

/ Trixie / 3 Comments

Happy Friday the 13th!

I don’t know what it is this week, but I haven’t had the inspiration to write about anything.  I just can’t put my finger on it. So here are some theories I have come up with as to why I feel so uninspired.

1.  The death of Jim McKay–I have to say I was shocked when I saw this scroll across the screen last Saturday.  For those who don’t remember ABCs Wide World of Sports, you missed out on some that I think will never come along again.   Rest in peace Mr. McKay.

2. The heat–it has been down right HOT in this part of Texas over the last few days.  The only good thing is we don’t have the humidity out here in this part of Texas.  But 105 is HOT no matter how much humidity is in the air.

3.  Work–things are just crazy around here.  I have been trying to keep ahead of things, but it’s like bailing wather out of the Titantic.  No matter how much water goes out, more comes in and to be honest the boat eventually sinks.

4.  My birthday–you would think I would be happy with this one, but this year not so much.  It happens to fall on Father’s Day this year.  This happens about every 7 years.  This year however, I have to share my birthday with Postman since this will be his first father’s day.  The only upside…if he wants to watch the US Open, he will have to go to the other room.  I mean I have been celebrating MY BIRTHDAY a lot longer than he has been celebrating Father’s Day.

5.  1990–I work at a major university in Texas.  The campus has been bustling with all the new students who are here for orientation.    That means these 18 year olds will be gracing the campus’ presence come August.  Buth here’s the fact that I think may be the root of my funk.

These kids entering as college freshmen were born in 1990!

6.  1988–yep…that was 20 years ago which means MY 20TH high school reunion is staring me in the face.  I haven’t heard much from my former classmates and to be honest I don’t know if I will.  I was only there for three years and I wasn’t close with that many of them.  Of course, we only had 20 people graduate in my class.  However, there were a couple of classmates who I would love to see again and haven’t seen in quite some time.  But until that time…we are cool, we are great, we’re the class of ’88!

But seriously folks, I have been making the rounds, but just haven’t had the time to get to all that I need to get to this week. 

Richard Petty Enterprises–I am sure this wasn’t a decision entered into lightly, but perhaps this will benefit the Petty Enterprises in ways we haven’t even conceived of yet.  I am hoping this will allow for major changes to occur, but yet keep Petty Enterprises, Petty Enterprises.   Is this the wave of the future for NASCAR?  Will the teams that have been rooted in NASCAR (Wood Brothers, Yates) for quite some time have to look elsewhere outside of the sport to be able to compete on Sunday with the “super teams”?  Will the idea of a one-car team be a thing of the past for the sport?  With the rising cost of trunning a full time cup program increasing and the demands of sponsors, fans, etc.  I believe Petty Enterprises realized in order to remain a foothold in NASCAR and to be competive in the sport on Sundays, they had to make this move.  I am hoping this move will bring Petty Enterprises back to Victory Lane

Tony Stewart–It has been a rough year so far for us Tony fans.  Thisclose to victory at Daytona.  The heartbreak at Charlotte even though I know some of you didn’t miss the irony of that situation.  Then the Dover Demolition Fest.  And last week with the speeding penalty…sorry Tony you are on your own with that.  But June is suppposed to be where Tony gets his groove in gear.  Sunday the boys are in Michigan.  As I have shamelessly plugged, it is also my birthday, so if he is going to win, let it be SUNDAY!  What are the chances?  Let’s take a look here…

1.  He only has one win (2000 at the spring race), 8 Top 5s, 12 Top 10s, and average finish of 12.9

2.  In 2005 when he won his 2nd championship, he was 10th in the standings 380 points back from leader Jimmie Johnson.  He had no wins to that point in the 2005 season, 3 top 5s, and 6 top 10s.  And he went on to win the championship that year.  Where is he today? He is sitting in 12th 470 points back of teammate Kyle Busch.  By the way, Kyle was a rookie in 2005.  He still has no wins and he has had 4 top 5s, and 6 top 10s.  So, on paper it looks plausible Tony could make a run for the championship.  Unlike 2005, however, there were no bonus points for a win and no COT. 

So what are my chances of Tony winning this weekend on MY BIRTHDAY and yes, Father’s Day?  Pretty darn good.  I for one will have all that MOJO pointing towards the #20 this weekend.  So perhaps I have found my inspiration to get me through the day today!  Thank you Tony!

A Sunday Drive

/ Trixie / 2 Comments

I have to admit I wasn’t looking forward to the Pocono race.  I am not a big fan of this race.  I guess because it can somtimes turn into a snoozefest, but yesterday wasn’t the case.  This race had a little bit of everything for everyone.

Yesterday’s race was the first broadcast for TNT.  TNT will broadcast the next 6 races up to the Brickyard where ESPN will take over the rest of the season.  Now I didn’t have any expectations for TNT.  I am not a fan of their broadcast, but you have to bear the good with the bad sometimes in life.  I have to admit I do like their Pride of NASCAR Series.  Yesterday’s installment was Bobby Allison.  It was a nice segment.  There were some audio issues during the race, but all in all not a bad broadcast.  One sticking point, I think they over did it a little with promos for The Bill Engvall Show, Saving Grace and my favorite of the TNT shows The Closer.  I am sure Fox does quite a few promos for their shows, but for some reason it felt like ever single time they went to commercial there was a promo. 

Now onto the race…

Kasey Kahne was the man to beat yesterday.  He had the fast car and it showed even in the face of adversity.  Around lap 70ish, Kasey made a pit stop to get 2-tires.  I guess they didn’t let the crew guys in on this because they thought it was for 4 tires.  Kasey took off with only 3 lugnuts on and had to come back around to the pits.  This mistake put him back in the pack.  Luckily it was early on in the race so he had some time to make up the ground he had gained early on.  And sure enough there he was around lap 97, in about 7th place. That right they my friends tells you what a good car Mr. Kahne had.  Congratulations to Kasey Kahne for winning his second race in his last 3 races and he did it from the pole.  As I recall in 2006, Kasey liked to start on the pole and go to victory lane.  I think if it weren’t for a early crash last week at Dover Kasey would have been a contender. 

Kyle Busch the points leader took a big hit yesterday in the standings with his 43rd place finish.  Sunday was the third leg of his “Bermuda Triangle” trek to three different race tracks.  He made history by doing this trifecta, however it didn’t yield any wins.  His best finish in the three races was at Texas with a 2nd place finish in the truck race Friday night.  Yesterday’s mishap I don’t believe was a result of all that traveling, I just think it was one  of those too many cars not enough real estate things.  We can’t also forget Kyle was also at Eldora Wednesday night for The Prelude.  I am sure Kyle is catching up on all that sleep he missed over the weekend.  I for one I’m tired just thinking about all that mileage.  Of course he got to travel with style…it’s not like he had to fly Southwest Airlines to all the destinations.

Now there were lots of drivers who had fantastic days, Brian Vickers (2nd), Bobby Labonte (11th), A.J. Allmendinger (12th).  Kudos to both Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick for their finishes of 8th and 13th respectively.  Kurt spun and had damaged to his splitter, but was able to come back and race his way to a top ten finish.  Same thing for Kevin, he had to start the race at the back of the pack right before the race started due to a battery change.    Greg Biffle looked like he was going to have a great day at Pocono (just like Tony), but he too got nailed for a late speeding penalty which ultimately ruined his good run.  He did however finish 15th which was way better than Smoke.

Now a few words about Smoke.  Once again,  Tony had a car that could win the race.  In fact he was up front leading everyone for a time and I thought this might be the race he would see his first win of the season.  But alas, it was not to be on Sunday.  He was nailed with a late speeding penalty and ended up back in the pack.  He finished 35th.  Guess who finished in front of Tony?  The #19.  Perhaps that was why Tony got caught speeding, he saw Elliott coming and wanted to get way ahead of him–just kidding to all you Sadler fans out there.  UGH!  What does this Stewart fan have to do to get the mojo workin’ for Smoke?  Maybe he just wanted to have his first win of the season in Michigan this week.  I mean talk about a great birthday present!  How ’bout Smoke?  Win one for Trixie!

 

Bermuda Triangle?

/ Trixie / 1 Comment

Kyle Busch will be attempting all three races this weekend.  This may not sound unusual, but all three series are in different locations so it will be a challenge to see how all that traveling will affect his on track performance.  But if anyone can pull it off, it would probably be Kyle.

First stop–Texas Motor Speedway.  Too bad I won’t get the chance to head on over to TMS tonight.  If I didn’t leave 6 hours away I probably would head out after work.  Also running in conjunction with the trucks this weekend are the Indy cars.  Not a bad way to start a race weekend.

2nd stop–Nashville–where he will try to keep to win yet another race.

And finally–Pocono on Sunday where he will be going back to back wins this weekend.

Whew…I just get tired thinking about how much he will spend flying to each desination.

Yes, I did.  I am now an offical member of the Kyle fan club.  It’s not too bad.  I have been a member of Tony’s going on my fourth year.  I good some pretty cool stuff with my membership fee ($35).  I got a key chain, autographed information card (you know the ones you can pick up at the track), mouse pad for my office, one of those wrist bands with his foundation website on it, a koozie, a lightweight fleece blanket, t-shirt, but most importantly little packets of M&Ms.  Not bad for my $35 bucks.

I am hoping Tony’s luck will change this weekend and he comes away with a win at Pocono.  If I can’t I really want him to win at Michigan…why?  IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!  That’s right the boys will be racing at Michigan on my birthday.  For those who might now that is also Father’s Day.  So to all those father’s out there, THANK YOU.  It’s kind of cool that all of you want to celebrate my birthday with me!

UPDATE…KYLE BUSCH FINISHES 2ND AT TEXAS.  He started at the back of the pack and came in second.  One race down and two more to go.

Got Dirt?

/ Trixie / Leave a comment

There was plenty of dirt to be had last night in Rossburg, Ohio home of Eldora Speedway.  Last night Eldora Speedway hosted the Prelude to the Dream.  Once again I ponied up the money to watch this event on pay-per-view since I wasn’t able to make the trek up to Ohio. Last year’s event was a blast to watch so I was expecting it to be the same this year and it didn’t disappoint.

Several of your NASCAR favorites were there (sorry Junior Nation, Junior wasn’t one of those in attedance).  You had the likes of Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, along with Red Farmer, and two drivers from the NHRA , Cruz Pedregon and Ron Capps willing to step out of their prospective comfort zones to spend time getin’ all “dirtied” up for a worthy cause.  The proceeds were to benefit the Tony Stewart Foundation who regularly donates to the Victory Junction Gang camp.  This year Tony wanted to raise $1 million to kick start the 2nd Victory Junction Gang camp that will be located in the Kansas City area. 

Now on to the festivities…

I consider myself to a well informed blogger, but sometimes I just know things.  First we had a qualifying session where Dave Blaney beat out everyone for the pole and set a new track record at 15.436 seconds beating the old record held by none other than track owner Tony Stewart.  I don’t know what this was for to be honest.  I am going to assume it was to set the order for the three qualifying heats or the feature main.  I really don’t know.  So if any of my regular readers know, please explain.  Anyhow, once qualifying was over, there were three qualifying heats.  The top three transferred into the feature main, but I think everyone that was invited to the Prelude was in the race.  I was so confused by it all.  But even so there was quite a bit of racing…and not just driving around in a circle.

The first heat was the most action packed with JJ Yeley spinning and collecting Mark Martin and Aric Armirola.  Unfortunately that was all the racing Mark would be able to do.  They were unable to repair his car and get him back for the feature main.  The winner of the first heat was Clint Bowyer which is no surprise here.  He owns his own dirt track team and in fact owned the car Jimmie JOhnson was driving last night.  The second heat had what I called some of the heavy hitters.  Heat 2 lineup: Bobby Labonte, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Kenny Wallace, Bill Elliott, Cruz Pederegon, Kasey Kahne.  As no suprise to anyone, certainly not me, Tony Stewart won the 2nd heat.  The third heat winner was Robby Gordon.

Once the qualifying heats were over, it was on to the big race.  It was a 30 lap shootout for all the marbles.  There were only two leaders in this race, Kevin Harvick who lead lap one and Tony Stewart who lead the other 29 laps.  Even though Tony was giving a clinic on how to run on dirt, it was fun to watch.  I enjoyed watching Robby Gordon race.  You would have thought Robby raced quite a bit on dirt, but not the case.  He has raced on dirt, but not in a circle.  Last night was his first time to drive on a circle of dirt.  And where did Robby finish…that would be 2nd place.  Not bad for a first timer.  Robby wasn’t the only first timer at the Prelude.  Two-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson was on hand driving one of Clint Bowyer’s cars.  I couldn’t understand why he was driving a white car.  I mean a white car on dirt.  Doesn’t sound like a good combo to me.  I am pretty sure the car didn’t stay completely white after the race. 

Kyle Busch also raced, but didn’t do fair as well as he did last year.  He almost won last years event.  He still drove like he stole it though.  He did hit the wall during his qualifying heat, but the car’s crew was able to repair the damage car to get him ready for racing for the feature main.  He wasn’t just standing by either, he had hammer in hand pounding out sheet metal.

The racing was good, but the best part of the event were the drivers.  You could tell these boys were having fun.  This race wasn’t about points or a championship.  It was all for fun!  You got to see them in an environment where the racing was about having a good time.  The drivers were smiling and laughing with one another.  To me, this is what racing should be about.   Another highlight of the evening was driver introductions.  It was funny to watch them trying to get the drivers corralled–kinda of like herding cats.  Some of them looked like they had no clue they were being introduced to the audience.  They were to busy talking with other drivers, etc.  I can tell this wasn’t your typical NASCAR driver introduction.  The only resemblence to a NASCAR driver introduction were the boos I heard when they introduced Jeff, Jimmie, and Kyle.  Even in Rossburg, Ohio, these three get majority of the boos.

I don’t know if I mentioned it but Tony Stewart walked away with the trophy last night and Kyle Petty walked away with a $1 million check from Tony Stewart. 

I would have to give major props to Tony Stewart for all the work he has done with regards to the Victory Junction Gang camp.  I believe this is the 3rd million dollar check he has presented to the Pettys.  Say what you want about Tony, but he truly gives of himself with regards to his foundation as well as Victory Junction.  I don’t know Tony personally, I only know what I read about him.  I do know majority of us see Tony for his on track personality, but last night was what the real Tony is all about.  So if you didn’t get a chance to watch this year’s Prelude last night, check out when they show it on Speed later this year.  I definitely say it was worth my $25.

Halfway Point

/ Trixie / 3 Comments

The season is now at the halfway point so I thought it would be a good time to look how things have shaped up over the last 13 races.  I would have to say Kyle Busch is leading the pack both in standings and wins so far with 4 wins.  While researching some things this morning about Kyle, I wondered where all the heavy hitters were this year compared to last year so here we go.

2008 Standings (after 13 races) (2007 points standing in red at this same time last year)

  1. Kyle Busch            10th                  
  2. Jeff Burton             5th
  3. Dale Earnhardt Jr.  14th
  4. Carl Edwards         6th      
  5. Greg Biffle             18th
  6. Jeff Gordon            1st
  7. Jimmie Johnson     2nd
  8. Clint Bowyer          8th
  9. Denny Hamlin       4th
  10. Kevin Harvick        9th
  11. Tony Stewart         7th
  12. Kasey Kahne          29th

What a difference a year makes for some drivers.  This biggest jumper has to be Kasey Kahne.  This team struggled last year after coming off a 6 win season in 2006.  It has been refreshing to see Kasey back challenging for wins.  I would also have to give kudos to Greg Biffle as well as Junior for where they are compared to last year.  As you can see they were both outside the top 12 sitting 18th and 14th respectively.  I am surprised a little bit by Matt Kenseth’s fall from the top 12, but he has had some bad luck this year.  This wouldn’t be the first time Matt was out of the top 12 and had to fight his way in. 

While I was elbow deep in all of this statistical stuff, I thought I would see how the big teams are fairing compared to this time last year.  As we all know there were a couple of high profile changes at both Hendrick and Gibbs.  Kyle Busch stepped into the #18 after being vacated by J.J. Yeley while Dale Jr. stepped into Kyle’s car.  Gibbs also made a manufacuturer change as well.  So 2008 was going to be a tale of two drivers and to be honest this tale is not a disappointment (for the Kyle Busch fans) so far.  How it will end remains to be seen, but I have a feeling it is only going to get better.

One of the biggest surprises for me has to be the HMS drivers.  I was sure the team would have multiple wins from multiple drivers, but alas HMS has only win coming from Jimmie Johnson at Phoenix.  I was sure Junior would have his first win in almost two years and Jeff would have at least one maybe two under his belt.  And perhaps Casey would have a win as well.  This time last year, Hendrick had 9 wins (3-Jeff, 4-Jimmie, 1-Casey, 1-Kyle).  HMS was dominating the series last year, but as with anything the winds of change have blown through the garage. 

Gibbs who already has 5 wins this year (4-Kyle, 1-Denny) with Tony right there challenging for his first win of the season.  Gibbs made a big move from Chevy to Toyota and I am sure this isn’t a fact that has been overlooked by any of this.  Many thought Gibbs would struggle with the Toyota, but from this race fan’s point view this isn’t the case.  Gibbs had NO WINS this point in the season last year.  I belive Tony will win this season if he can’t stay out of trouble and out of the way of the #19 team (wink, wink).  The biggest question however that will come from JGR is will Tony be back in 2009?  It remains to be seen, but if I was a betting gal, my money would be on somewhere else.

I musn’t forget Roush who got caught watching the paint dry (movie reference-Hoosiers).  His teams were struggling and seemed to be behind with regards to the COT, however this is not the case.  Matt Kenseth was the only driver this time last year with a win compared to now where Carl Edwards is the only driver who has won from the Roush camp with three wins so far this season.  Even though Carl may be the only driver with a win, all the Roush cars seemed to be performing better.  Greg is back in the top 12 and sitting in 5th place at the moment compared to 18th a year ago.  David Ragan seems to be coming into his own as a driver.  He is still outside the top 12, however he has improved quite a deal of the last year.  Matt has been stuggling a little this season and that can be attributed to several things.  First and foremost this is the first year with his new crew chief, Chip Bolin.   This is going to take some time for Matt to get comfortable with him.  As for Jamie, I don’t look for him to be at Roush next year.  He looks good at times and others not so much.  If he does leave Roush, I would believe he could find another team to drive for.

I know there are several other teams who seem to be having great years including RCR.  All three RCR drivers are in the top 12 and are competing for wins every single week.  Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer have already nailed down wins this year for RCR.  This time last RCR had two wins including the fantastic finish at Daytona 500.  It has been a long road for RCR since 2001, but as history has shown, that which does not kill us makes us stronger.  I really thought DEI would be competitive.  Martin Truex had a phenominal year last year with his first win and making The Chase.  However, DEI has struggled.  Martin is currently sitting  15th in the points.  Paul Menard is 27th.  Mark Martin who shares the #8 ride with Aric Almirola is sitting 24th.  And I know Junior nation is probably smiling on all of this, but I think there will be changes with DEI in the future and DEI will shine once again.

One more thing…Kyle has won 10 races over the three series this year (4 in Cup, 4 in Nationwide, and 2 in Craftsman).  He is leading the Cup standings and sits 2nd in the Nationwide Series.  Could he pull off the double championship?  Time will tell, but if anyone has a legitimate shot this year it’s Kyle.

Whew..that was a lot of information, but worth it all.  I hope the next 13 races are as exciting as the first 13.