Tony Stewart

The Glen

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On the road…can’t wait to get on the road again…

The Cup boys are at The Glen this weekend for the final road race of the season.  I am not a big fan of the road courses, but they are fun to watch at times.  This also signals that time in the season where The Chase is growing bigger and bigger in some drivers’ windows and for some they may find themselves on the outside looking in.

If you look at the points standings as they now sit, I would say the first 4 spots, maybe even the top 5 spots are in the Chase.  However from 6 to about 14 are pretty much a toss up.  There is only 166 points separateing 6th place and 12th place.  One bad race and you may be out of it.  As of right now Matt Kenseth is sitting in 13th spot, however he is only 11 points out of the #12 spot which is currently held by Clint Bowyer.  You can’t count out David Ragan either for making the Chase.  He is 46 points back of Clint.  Ryan Newman is sitting in the 15th position 173 points back of 12th place, but I don’t know if Newman will be able to make that push towards over the remaining races.  At one time I really thought Brian Vickers was going to have a decent shot at making the Chase, but he is now 203 points out of 12th.  But as we have seen anything can happen over the next weeks.  I mean remember Jeremy Mayfield went into Richmond in 2004 out of the Chase.  He had to win the race and lead the most laps…and he did just that. 

Just like with anything in sports, it can sometimes be about momentum and who gets hot and goes cold and I think that is what it is going to take for a couple of the drivers to get themselves in position to make the Chase.  I think Matt Kenseth will be there after Richmond.  If anyone can make that push it is Matt.  He has earned 751 points over the last 6 races which is 7th best and he even finished 38th at Indy.  Even though Matt has an average finish at The Glen of 16.8 and only 3 top tens, I think he will have a decent points day on Sunday.  Keeping it under the radar is Matt Kenseth’s mode of operation.  David Ragan may be only 46 points from 12th, this will only be his second visit to the Glen with his Cup car. He finished last year in 32nd.  He too will need to keep his focus on the big picture.  He will need to drive his race and remember sometimes it isn’t all about winning.

As a Tony Stewart fan, I am hoping he walks away with the trophy this weekend.  I really hope that I haven’t dwelled on his lack of victories since last year.  I didn’t want to overload the circuits here in The Park.  It’s barely running on electricity as it is.  Tony is returning to the track where he last saw victory lane in the #20 Home Depot car.  Tony has four wins at The Glen, 5 Top 5s and 7 Top 10s with an average finish of 6.  Tony will be one of the favorites to cross the finish line in first and for this Tony fan I would love to see him come away with a victory for JGR.  Tony isn’t the only driver this year who has yet to see victory lane.  I as mentioned earlier in the week, if you had told me Jeff Gordon wouldn’t have a win by now I would think you had been inhaling too many gas fumes.  But folks, he has seen victory lane either.  It’s not as if Tony and Jeff haven’t been contending for the wins it’s just one of those things where the little things become big things and well there you go.  Like Tony, Jeff has been very successful at The Glen.  He too has 4 wins.  He also has had 6 Top 5s and 8 Top 10s.  He has an average finish of 12.4.  He finished 9th in last year’s race.  So he will definitely be there challenging for the win this weekend.

Like with any road race, we will see our fair share of road race specialists.  I am still on the fence about teams bringing in the specialists for these racers.  I understand the whole top 35th thing etc, however how can those who are less experienced at road racing learn to road race?  I guess it is just one of those things.

And finally…in case you have been living in a cave with no electricity, no television, no radio, no internet, Brett Favre is no longer a Green Bay Packer.  He is now a New York Jet.  But the drama surrounding the Favre situation is over, but I hope (fingers crossed) the media will back off a little.

The Bermuda Triangle

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Thank goodness…no more races at the Bermuda Triangle..oops Pocono. 

I am not a fan of this track.  It’s too long of a race and it’s just a weird racetrack.  And for some reason there is always a threat of bad weather.  But after last week’s race, I was looking forward to some racing.  Sunday’s looked very familiar (Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin were on the front row again for the second week in a row) and I thought for a moment perhaps I had had a nightmare and we were all watching the Indy race.  But alas the boys were definitely at Pocono.  Unfortunately Saturday’s practice sessions were rained out. 

Even though NASCAR was going to throw a compeotion yellow at lap 20, the first caution happened rather qucikly.  The boys didn’t even get a chance to finish a complete lap befor Joe Nemecek spins Kevin Harvick.  This put Harvick deep in the pack and he was going to have to fight his way to the front.  As with Pocono, when you have your “oops” moment will depend if you can recover for a decent finish.  Shortly after Kevin went spinning, Kurt Busch decided to try it for himself on Lap 7.   By the way, Kevin finished 4th, but Kurt wasn’t able to recover and finished 38th.

Weather tends to play havoc at Pocono.  Just ask Ryan Newman last year during the spring shortened race.  And this time rain did force soem fo the teams to show their cards.  SEveral teams decided to come in and get tires and gas while others chose to gamble with the impending weather and gambled.  Those who gambled included the spring’s winer Kasey Kahne and Mark Martin.  Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart chose to come down pit road to get gas and tires.  The race is red flagged on Lap 131 due to rain showers.  After a 41 minute rain delay the boys were back on the track with Kasey Kahne leading the way.  There was still a threat of rain in the area, however it never played a factor after the rain delay.

I have to say it was interesting to see who was going to try and play the gas mileage game.  Who was going to blink?  Unfortunately both Kasey and Mark decided to go in for gas because they were not going to make it on fuel.  Once this happened Carl Edwards inherited the lead.  And he too was playing the mileage game, his crew chief was telling him to conserve fuel.   Unfortunately, the points leader ran out of gas and was unable to refire once he hit pit road.  He finished 36th.  Of course this is better than the finish in the spring where he finished dead last.  Yikes!

Congrats to Carl for his 4th victory this season.

Tony Stewart had a decent day.  He came away with a 2nd place finish after starting 20th.  Kudos also go to David Ragan with his 5th place finish.  Some other surprises…Jamie McMurray (9th), Travis Kvapil (16th), Chad McCumbee (17th), and Tony Raines (18th), and how about Bill Elliott finishing in the top 20 with a 20th place finish.

Now the boys are headed to the final road race of the year at Watkins Glen.  I am crossing all my fingers and toes this week hoping for a victory for Tony Stewart.  If you told me at the beginning of the year that Tony would not have win by Watkins Glen I would have called you crazy, but it’s true.  The same would be said for Jeff Gordon.  It’s not for lacking of trying on the part of the two drivers, it’s just one of those things in racing. 

One more thing…in case you missed it NASCAR made history on Saturday.  The boys in the Nationwide Series raced in the rain up in Montreal.  It was interesting to watch them drive in the rain with the rain tires and windshield wipers.  I am still a little bit confused about why some didn’t install the wipers.  I know when I am behind someone in traffic during a rain storm, I get their back splash.  But I guess there was enough visabilitiy for them.  Unfortunately the race was eventually called due to the rain.  Congrats to Ron Fellows!

Rinse, Lather, Repeat

/ Trixie / 3 Comments

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.

Allstate 400 at The Brickyard

/ Trixie / Leave a comment

It was a little bit strange watching qualifying this early Saturday morning, but here are the Top 10.

  1. Jimmie Johnson
  2. Mark Martin
  3. Ryan Newman
  4. Kasey Kahne
  5. Jeff Gordon
  6. Elliott Sadler
  7. Kurt Busch
  8. Jamie McMurray
  9. Carl Edwards
  10. Matt Kenseth

Other notables…Dale Jr (11th), Kyle Busch (19th), and Indy 500 winners Juan Pablo and Sam Hornish qualified 13th and 38th respectively.  Where did Tony qualify?  The #20 qualified 14th.  Is this a sign for Mr. Stewart?  It is strange he qualified in the 14th position after announcing yesterday he would be driving the #14 car beginning next year.  Tony aslo happens to be the highest qualified Toyota. 

I am hoping for that #20 to be in Victory Lane this weekend.  I would love to see this scence from last year’s race repeated….

This is the 15th race the NASCAR boys have raced at the famed Indianapolis Speedway.  Here are the previous winners.

  • 1994-Jeff Gordon
  • 1995-Dale Earnhardt
  • 1996-Dale Jarrett
  • 1997-Ricky Rudd
  • 1998-Jeff Gordon
  • 1999-Dale Jarrett
  • 2000-Bobby Labonte
  • 2001-Jeff Gordon
  • 2002-Bill Elliott
  • 2003-Kevin Harvick
  • 2004-Jeff Gordon
  • 2005-Tony Stewart
  • 2006-Jimmie Johnson
  • 2007-Tony Stewart

Of the winners, only two of them have not won a Cup Championship (Ricky Rudd and Kevin Harvick).  From 1998-2001 the winner who won at The Brickyward went on to win the championship in the same year.  Both Tony and Jimmie did the same thing in 2005 and 2006 respectively.  This year’s race will definitely be worth watching.

Even though I have been a restful vacation, I have been keeping up with all the news of NASCAR this past week.

  • Toyota horsepower–asked to reduce theirs that way they are on par with everyone else.  Aren’t the Toyotas using a new model of engine?  As I recall, when a “newer” version of something is put in place isn’t it usually better than the older models?  Oh well..we shall see how all of this will affect Toyota tonight in the Nationwide Series.
  • Newman vs Wallace–are you kidding me?  Why should Rusty Wallace care why the Ryan Newman has left Penske.  It just boggles my mind.  Who really cares why Ryan Newman left Penske?  I would think that would be between Roger Penske and Ryan Newman, not Rusty Wallace.  UGH!
  • Tony Stewart announces car number and sponsors.  This of course was already discussed in a previous post, but hey it was worth mentioning again.

And one final note…I wish this whole Brett Favre thing would just go away.  Reinstate him, sign him and/or trade him, do whatever you need to do to make all of this go away.  Here’s what I see…Brett still wants to play football and the Packers want to move towards the future.  And from this Cowboy fan, I don’t care where Brett ends up.

Chicago

/ Trixie / 1 Comment

I didn’t watch much racing this weekend.  I was in the middle of preparing for a birthday for a now 5 year-old.  If you are a regular reader to The Park, you know Postman and myself are in the process of adopting a little boy (Little Smoke).  His birthday was on Saturday so I was quite busy running around trying to get things all in place for him and his guests.  

I did get a chance to watch a little of the Nationwide race on Friday night.  Congratulations to Kyle Busch for his victory.  

I did Tivo the prerace and part of the race since I wouldn’t be back home until after the race started.  However, I was so tired from the party, I really didn’t have the strength to get into the race.  I was semi-conscious enough to see Kyle make a last lap pass on Jimmie Johnson to take his 7th win of the season.   Congrats to Tony on a top 5 finish which moves him two spots in the standings. 

That’s about it for me.  I know there isn’t much about the race, but sometimes even I need a break from the grind.

One more thing…here is a picture of Little Smoke’s birthday cake.  He loves Wall-E so I proceeded to take the time to make him a Wall-E cake.  I have to say it was worth the hours I spent on Friday to see his reaction. (Please note, that is not a smudge on the actual cake.  I cannot release his name due to legal reasons at this point.)

Stewart Haas Racing

/ Trixie / 6 Comments

I have had some time to digest all of this change with Tony not only today, but when I first heard the rumors back on April 24, 2008.  I have stated through all this time that I would remain a Tony Stewart fan no matter what team he decided to drive for in 2009 and beyond. 

I read an interesting take on all of this by Joe Menzer over at NASCAR.com. He addresses of the what many of us may be asking ourselves…why?  Why not?  Sometimes in life you have to make that leap of faith to reach your goal.  Tony has been with JGR for 10 years.  I am sure both Tony and JGR would have loved for him to retire with JGR, but what Tony wanted for his career may have changed over the years.  I know for one when I was younger I had certain goals I wanted to accomplish out of my life, however life got in the way and I had to make a few detours.  These detours, good and bad, have put me where I am today. 

I am sure this a decsion Tony weighed over for a long time.  How do you leave a racing team that gave you your break into NASCAR, who you have shared two championships, and several winning seasons with?  I can’t answer that or want to even begin to answer it.  Tony is the only one who can answer it.  Some might speculate he wasn’t happy with JGR’s decision to switch from Chevy to Toyota was the deciding factor.  I don’t think so.  Tony is looking beyond the time when he will no longer be racing.  All athletes regardless of their sport have to look beyond their playing years.

It’s not like Tony is going into this blindly.  He currently owns several race teams as well as Eldora Speedway.  If one wants to question his skills as an owner, you need to stop and look how Eldora has flourished over the last several years especially with regards to The Prelude.  He was out there nursing his “baby” making sure it was ready for racing the day of The Prelude this year.  He makes sure every aspect of the event and track are taken care of.  He understands what it takes to be a promotor and owner. 

I hate the fact that I have read on a couple of fan forum sites of how some people think this is going to be like Michael Waltrip.  I don’t see it that way.  This is an established team.  Tony will have 50% ownership in the team.  He has exerperience as a racing team owner.  Tony is a proven winner.  I am not saying Michael Waltrip’s venture into team ownership has been a failure, but I don’t believe Tony will not have the mountains to climb as Michael did.  Tony will surround himself with people who will get the job done.  And if he needs some advice on owning a premier racing team he only has to look at his good friends Kevin and Delana Harvick, or the Pettys, or AJ Foyt. 

There is still quite a bit of work for Stewart Haas Racing to get accomplish before the start of the 2009 season.  First off, who will be the other driver for the team?  Rumors have it Ryan Newman may be a possible choice, but as with anything in NASCAR nothing is certain until it has been officially announced.  Whatever comes down the road for Stewart Haas Racing, this fan will be there cheering him on along with my new t-shirt I will definitely be purchasing in the near future.

Leaving

/ Trixie / 1 Comment

I am NOT a morning person…let me repeat NOT a morning person.  So when I saw the news brief on Sportscenter about Tony Stewart I was like WTF?

Of course, this comes to no surprise however to me as a Tony Stewart fan.  The rumors started several months ago and now it looks like it has reportedly become fact.  It was reported by Marty Smith that Tony has been granted a release from Joe Gibbs racing and will move over to Haas CNC to become part owner and driver beginning next year.  Tony will formally announce his move today.

More to come later today…

How I really feel about all of this…

You can create this using Wordle. You can either paste something from a post or you can enter your site address and it will randomly create this word cloud. Notice how the words you use more are larger than the other words.  Guess I use Tony quite a bit. 

This one I just typed in my web address…once again notice the size of the word “Tony”