My Two Cents Worth for 8/23/04
By Todd Berger, LGR Staff Correspondent
Sunday marked the
start (more or less) of the homestretch in the “race for the chase” or whatever
sub-name the networks and NASCAR have given this thing. There are now only three races left to set
the C4C field: Bristol, California
(just like Michigan) and Richmond. You
thought short track racing was crazy before?
Wait’ll Saturday at Bristol and two weeks from now at Richmond.
Was anyone else
stunned at the repeated debris cautions during the first half of the race? I looked at my wife and said “this race is
gonna take six hours if they keep this up.”
By the way, it only took about four.
Remember how annoyed
you were when networks started posting the “points where they run” stat all
during the race and you’d say to yourself “what difference does it make since
we’re only 22 laps into the race?”
Well, NBC has gone one better.
They now have a stat called the Race for the Chase as of now or some
such nonsense. Let me get this
straight, NBC. You are cluttering the
screen with a crawl I can’t read, sponsor logos in the starting lineup that I
can’t see (not all, but some) and now you’re posting a stat that tells where a
guy stands with three races to go and a quarter of the current race yet to be
run? Why not tell me how much prize
money the guys would win if the race ended right now? Yeesh.
Let me preface this by
saying that I like Benny. I like his
excitement and the fact that he’s no shameless self-promoter like some other
ex-champion that other networks use. I
was going to let this go the first couple of times it happened, but it became
unbearable as the race went on.
Benny Parson’s would
see a car getting ready to make a move on another car and shout, “there’s Kurt
Busch making a charge for third place.
Or fourth place. Well, he’s
making a move,” and all the while, Busch was riding because the car in front of
him was making a move or Kurt or some other driver was making a move two or
three positions further back. We are
relying on the TV guys to bring us information. If it’s going to be wrong, then don’t bother.
I know I sound like a
broken record, but when exactly is DEI going to do something about the Eury
situation? This was about the 10th
flat track type race this year, and the 8 car hasn’t been competitive in one of
them. Yesterday they started third and
pitted on lap three from 28th place because the car was so bad. They pitted on literally every caution
yesterday and they really got no better.
They were terrible at Indy, Pocono twice, California, and Vegas and
again yesterday. I mean, Michael was
only 17th, but at least he was on the lead lap. I think that it’s just terrible that a team
with so many resources can continue to not improve at these tracks.
And the worst part is
that, of the ten tracks in the C4C, you could call anywhere from two to four of
them flat (New Hampshire, Kansas, Phoenix, and maybe Homestead), so that tells
me that the Bud car has no shot at the title.
And that’s terrible considering how this team started out the year. Since the first Michigan race covering nine
races, Junior’s finished 20th or worse SIX times. That simply will not do.
That gurgling sound
you hear is Jimmie Johnson, Chad Knauss and everyone at Hendrick
Motorsports. If they are testing
something or some things, they ought to stop and mark them down as miserable
failures. I would be getting nervous if
I were Jeff or any other guy buying or leasing Hendrick stuff.
It was announced today
that Cal Wells is abandoning his in-house engine program and signing a two-year
engine lease with Richard Childress Racing.
My questions are these:
Why did it take so
long to make this move? As a single car
team, he was just wasting money trying to build his own motors.
Do you think Ricky
Craven wishes they would have done this last year? If they had, maybe he wouldn’t be in the spot he’s in now.
And for the record,
Craven finished 35th Sunday after falling out on lap 112.
Here’s a question for
you. Does anyone so loudly opposed to
the Lucky Dog rule use more of them?
Ryan Newman is publicly against the rule, yet he used it twice yesterday
and has used it several times this season.
Carl Edwards got a top
ten in his first Cup race, which was amazing.
I like Carl a lot. What struck
me odd is that Jack Roush and Roush Racing President Geoff Smith announced
Friday that full sponsorship for the 99 car for 2005 had been secured, though
he would not name the company until later.
My question is, did
Burton get more or less forced out by ownership or a sponsor that wanted a
younger driver? Did Roush lie all this
time about nearly having sponsors and assuring everyone that the 99 would run
every race for Jeff Burton this year?
I hate to think that
things like that happen, but I think that Roush got a call offering sponsorship
for Edwards in Cup, and he and Geoff jumped at it. Too bad they had to throw a faithful and loyal employee, driver,
and friend under the bus in the process.
Last week I predicted
that Kasey Kahne would win this Michigan race.
I was rooting for him anyway, but even more so after hearing about the
untimely death of Tommy Baldwin Sr., the father of Tommy Baldwin Jr., Kahne’s
crew chief. Unfortunately, Kahne’s
motor started going sour late in the race and he nursed the car home to a fifth
place finish.
Kudos to Jeff Burton
for being the highest finishing car in the RCR stable in his very first race
with the organization. More kudos for
showing that a good driver can make a decent car good and a bad car better.
Does anyone think it’s
more than just a coincidence that the point leader has lost his commanding
lead, making it possible for more than ten drivers to conceivably make it into
the chase? I mean, if the 48, 24, and 8
fall out early at Bristol, about 15 cars are in the chase. Don’t put it past NASCAR to have talks with
teams about this…
I thought about this last week and forgot to write
about it, but I was wondering how hard it must be for a driver who’s been in
the same ride for a long time to switch teams and manufacturers.
And I’m not talking about racing here. I’m talking about the little things like
mentions (my Ford, I mean Chevy was awesome today), going to the wrong shop a
couple of times for the Monday meetings, and even finding your transporter or
pit stall. Then this story from
Michigan:
“Jeff Burton made the
kind of mistake during Sunday's race that, one day, he'll laugh about. Coming
down pit road on one occasion, he drove right past his pit stall. Over the
radio, he admitted to the crew on the No. 30 Chevrolet - the car he's now
driving - that he was looking for the No. 99 Ford team's sign. That's the car
Burton had been driving since 1996.”
Imagine that? He finished 12th after missing
his pit stall during the sixth caution.
Richard must be thrilled about this hiring move on his part.
A final word here
before I wrap up for the week. Tommy
Baldwin Sr., father of Nextel Cup crew chief Tommy Baldwin Jr., died Thursday
night in a racing accident. He veered sharply to avoid wrecked racecars and, in
doing so, was struck by another car and sent across some wet grass into a
concrete barrier protecting a light pole.
Baldwin Sr. was 57 years old.
In lieu of donations
to the family, it has been requested that you donate in Tommy Baldwin Sr.’s
name to the Victory Junction Gang Camp at:
http://www.victoryjunction.org/vj/index/donate
Or, to make cash donations,
please make your check payable to The Victory Junction Gang Camp (a U.S.
501(c)(3) tax exempt organization). Gifts can be mailed to:
The Victory Junction Gang
Camp
4500 Adam’s Way
Randleman, NC 27317