My Two Cents Worth for 11/16/04

By Todd Berger, LGR Staff Correspondent

Well, we’ve apparently just seen the last LAST Southern 500.  Last year, the race was marketed as the last Labor Day Southern 500.  This year it was billed as the last Southern 500.  Whatever. 

What I know is this.  Regardless of how many tickets got sold for Darlington, it was still going to be one of the most watched races of the year.  That track puts on great shows year in and year out and people like watching. 

Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson for winning his fourth race out of the nine C4C races run so far.  First, he was running away with the title.  Then, he fell back to the field, but that didn’t matter since the top ten would reset anyway.  Then, he fell so far down that people were counting him out altogether.  Then, he won four of nine races, and he’s 18 points out of first. 

Speaking of which, let’s look at this week’s tote-board so we can see who is where and who would be where if we were really keeping score.

The new system standings look like this:

1        Busch  6346

2        Johnson  -18

3        Gordon  -21

4        Earnhardt Jr.  –72

5        Martin  -82

Out of the running

6        Stewart  – 185

7        Newman – 244

8        Kenseth – 383

9        Sadler – 383

10    Mayfield – 404

The Chase for 11th and the magic million is now clinched:

11    McMurray – 4451

12    Kahne – 224

Using the old “tired” scoring system, this is where things would stand:

1        Gordon  4877

2        Johnson – 52

3        Earnhardt Jr. – 102

4        Busch – 222

5        Stewart – 341

6        Martin – 415

7        McMurray – 426

8        Newman – 594

9        Kenseth – 607

10    Sadler – 623

11    Kahne – 652

12    Labonte – 732

13    Mayfield – 752

14    Jarrett – 754

15    Harvick – 793

The race for the top ten would still be good and the race for 12th thru 15th would be great.  I’m not gonna keep beating this dead horse this season.  But I feel confident that I will rant about it in the off-season, given that Brian France has already given the new system his blessing.  That means the C4C will continue for next year.  Hooray.

Is it just me, or is anyone else getting tired of Kevin Harvick’s stupid ass stunts?  I mean, I was a fan and I guess I still am, but every time he feels like he’s been wronged, he has to run a guy into a wall or cut the nose off of his car and jump in his face.  Richard, your team’s not good enough for the sport to tolerate that stuff.  Get your driver under control and back in the top ten, or there’s gonna be about 30 guys that are more than willing to discipline Happy.

I thought Michael Waltrip’s stuck throttle was funny, and it was funnier after they talked about it all night on INCR Monday.  That really looked more like a racing deal, but Michael is probably a little upset about the new mandate from Richie Gilmore and DEI that says if Michael’s not in the top ten in 2005, he’s out of a ride.  At least he’ll have ten races to find a new job for 2006 though…

I’m not sure what I think about the new qualifying deal yet.  What the powers that be are saying is that the top 35 cars in points would make the field automatically, and the final eight spots would be filled fastest to slowest.  I think that if they’re going to do this, the top 35 in points is probably right, because anyone below that is probably too slow to bother every week anyway. 

But by the same token, I think if a guy like Andy Belmont caught lightning in a bottle one Friday (or Saturday) that he could win a pole and not be the fastest, yet start 36th.

I’ll have to see how this plays out over the first part of next season before I pass full judgment.

I am thrilled with NASCAR’s new plan for at least 22 of the 36 shows next year regarding the schedule for the weekend.  Cars will go thru tech on Friday, but practices and qualifying would be held Saturday.  There would be no more happy hour, so after qualifying, the cars would be impounded until race time, and only wedge, air pressure and tape changes could be made prior to the race. 

This is going to save tons of man-hours and money, but will also make guys qualify in race trim, which I’ve been in favor of for a long time. 

I am disappointed (but not shocked at all) that Penske South Racing appears to be giving Brendan Gaughan the boot.  The company, of which Rusty Wallace owns one fourth, has been as subtle as a freight train in handling the tryout of Travis Kvapil in a fourth Penske car.  Just when I was starting to soften and like Rusty a little, he gets involved in something like this.

Rusty, Roger and Don Miller have been in this sport a LONG time and they of all people know that you just don’t have a Ryan Newman come along every day.  Yet, they are canning their fan-friendliest driver because he had a rough rookie year.  Hey, you clowns didn’t even have his cars done until June.  Why isn’t anyone else getting fired?

I think it was refreshing to see Jeff Gordon nearly lose his cool after the race.  He’s third in points and finished third, but that intensity told you all you need to know about him as a competitor.  I still don’t like him much, but anyone’s better than Kurt Busch winning a title this year if you ask me.

My big shout outs for this week go to Joe Nemechek, Mike Bliss and Carl Edwards.  Nemo continues his hot streak of good finishes, Bliss drove a car up front all day that he hadn’t seen until about Wednesday, and Carl Edwards actually challenged to win this race.  That slide job move he pulled on Jimmie Johnson (and didn’t wreck) must have turned more than a few heads in the garage. 

I also think McMurray and Kahne did a great job to finish in the top five on their relatively old tires.

I know Robby Gordon’s getting dumped by RCR, but imagine how different this year’d have been if the team hadn’t tanked him several times at Sonoma, Atlanta, Phoenix and Darlington.  (If you don’t think the team tanked, why else would a Childress crew chide say that he didn’t give a damn what happened to the 31 car)? 

Robby ran up front in all three of the abovementioned races before mechanical failures ended his days.  I wonder how excited RC will be about hiring Blaney 12 months from now when that Dave Blaney guy is 32nd in points and has lost yet another sponsor?

Whether he’ll win or not (and he probably won’t), it was great to see Mark Martin truly hustle a car for all it was worth.  The same goes for McMurray, Kahne and Johnson.  But hearing Ben Leslie cheerlead Martin over the last ten laps was great theater.

Just a word or two about the Busch Series here too.  Congrats to Martin Truex Jr. on winning the Busch Series Rookie of the Year AND the Busch Series title.  It was an impressive battle between two very talented rookies who showed us what the next ten years of Cup racing holds in store for us.

That being said, I thought Kyle Busch’s move on Ron Hornaday and subsequent name-calling were bad form and even worse sportsmanship.  Kyle took a terrible line into the corner and everyone watching and on the track knew after seeing it what the result would be.  Nevertheless, Hornaday did a masterful job of not wrecking. 

Afterwards, Ron said his foot missed the throttle.  Unless there’s telemetry to tell otherwise, I think we have to take him at his word.  If Kyle or Greg has a problem with that, I’m sure Ron would be glad to talk to them about it in the hauler.

I will also state here that while I am completely and totally opposed to the Chase for the Championship, I have to admit that it is giving us quite a finish.  While five drivers are still eligible, the only way Junior and Martin get a sniff is if the top three fall out, and early.  If you add the points they’d get for starting the race with Busch, Johnson and Gordon finishing 43rd, 42nd and 41st respectively, Junior and Martin’d still have to finish 18th and 14th to compete for the title.  And I think we all know there is no way those three drivers are going to finish in the last three spots. 

Is there a chance that those two could end up with the trophy?  Sure, but not if any of the top three guys finish inside the top 25.

The three drivers of Busch, Johnson and Gordon have an on-track dogfight to attend, however.  Ever lap led will matter and, in the end, so will every position.  This race could be a replay of Atlanta in 1992.

Well, that’s about all for this week.  There’s only one week to go in the 2004 season, and quite frankly I’m stunned.   It snuck up on me this year, and I haven’t prepared myself for the off-season and life without racing.