Nascar

[Guest Choken One]

O. K, last night was the always exciting Winston all-star event. We saw the rising superstar Ryan Newman hold off the vets and other young guns. Dale, Jr., showed that he is not the mold of his late father. Jeff Gordon showed that divorce is indeed rough with his goatee.  

 

  A lot of changes have occurred, Jerry Nadeau has lost his ride with Hendrick and Joe Nemechek has taken over but Nadeau lands a ride replacing the injured Johnny Benson. Buckshot Jones was fired and Steve Grissom (a very nice guy) took over the #44 Petty Enterprise car. Elliot Sadler and the Wood brothers announce they are separating at the end of the season. Ricky Rudd is seriously contemplating retirement and is closing in on Terry Lobonte's IRON MAN record (which He'll break in about 2 weeks). Jeff Gordon has yet to win a race since September and is going through a public divorce. Sterling Marlin is finally getting his moment in the sun, and of course NASCAR has created the first major storyline in years..."Young Guns" Vs  "Caged Vets"...The emergence of Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, and Tony Stewart are pushing out the aging but not done veterans like Dale Jarrett, Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin, Sterling Marlin, Bill Elliot, Terry Labonte and Ricky Rudd. Leaving other drivers like Bobby Labonte, Jeremy Mayfield, Jeff and Ward Burton and Jimmy Spencer.

 

The season is still young, but this is easily the most diverse and has a large parity. It basically boils down to consistency.

 

This is the current top 30...

 

1 Sterling Marlin

2 Matt Kenseth

3 Kurt Busch

4 Mark Martin

5 Rusty Wallace

6 Jeff Gordon

7 Jimmie Johnson*

8 Tony Stewart

9 Jeff Burton

10 Ricky Rudd

11 Bill Elliott

12 Dale Earnhardt  Jr.,

13. Ryan Newman*

14 Ward Burton

15 Dale Jarrett

16 Ricky Craven

17 Terry Labonte

18 Michael Waltrip

19 Jeremy Mayfield

20 Jimmy Spencer

21 Dave Blaney

22 Bobby Labonte

23 Kyle Petty

24 Jeff Green

25 Elliott Sadler

26 Bobby Hamilton

27 Mike Skinner

28 Jerry Nadeau

29 Robby Gordon

30 Johnny Benson

 

This will changed constantly through the next 5 months.

 

Who knows what will happen? discuss

[Guest]

Being an Earnhardt fan I was dissapointed he didnt spin Newman out....Sterling looks like the man so far this year, and thank God Gordon is struggling...Id like to see Sterling take it if Junior doesnt...but Junior is my favorite by far now that his dad is dead

[Guest Choken One]

I'm glad that he did not spin Newman around. If he did, then he be compared to his father yet again. I think he played it smart. The angle he had Newman and himself at turn #1 could have taken them to the hospital. He was thinking in the long run. Shows his maturity.

 

 Am I glad to see Gordon struggling?Well, thing is...He isn't really struggling by common standards...6th in points...2 top 5's and 6 top 10's aren't that bad but in his standards...it's an off-year thus far. However, don't worry. He'll get the 4 wins per usual. Expect him to explode at Daytona.

 

Sterling is a very respected man in our circle and We'd love to see him win. My uncle raced with him in Nashville awhile back. He says he was a gracious and kind man. However, My instinution says this is Tony Stewart's year...however, a part of me wants Martin  to finally win it all. He's been close so many times.

[Guest]

Eh, Gordon has to roll through DEI at Daytona and we all know DEI owns the Plate tracks..

[Guest Choken One]

You may need to be reminded but Gordon has won a good deal of races at Daytona. It's not like he's a stranger to victory land there...I guess want him to go to Victory Lane and out of habit try to kiss Brooke but instead kiss Jerry Punch.

[Guest]

well....well see on the 6th, hen the Bud car pulls up in Victory lane...

[Guest crandamaniac]

The emergence of Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, and Tony Stewart are pushing out the aging but not done veterans like Dale Jarrett, Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin, Sterling Marlin, Bill Elliot, Terry Labonte and Ricky Rudd

 

Actually, if you look at it, Harvick has not run that well at all this season.  The whole RCR team is in a rebuilding year this year.  The  other drivers are good, and who knows, in a few year they might be the ones absolutely dominating this sport.  Out of the veterans you named, Martin, Labonte and Elliot have not run as well as they have in the past, hopefully they'll pick it up later on in the season

[Guest Some Guy]

I don't get the popularity of Nascar.  What's the appeal?

 

I'm not flaming, I'm just curious.  It seems to me that a bunh of guys driving in a circle for a few hours is not that exciting.

[Guest the pinjockey]

I think NASCAR is one of those things where it either clicks with a person or it doesn't.  It is hard to convince someone to sit down and watch an entire race if they are not a race fan.

 

RCR is killing me this year.  Harvick is my man but with the additions of the worthless Robby Gordon and Jeff Green and the lack of running the Busch series for info it is taking a bit to adjust.  Robby Gordon is an idiot and Jeff Green should resign himself to the fact he is a career Busch series guy which is fine.  Look at Randy Lajoie I am sure he has had opportunities but just enjoys the more relaxed style of Busch so he stays there is nothing wrong with that.  I just think that the pressure of expectations and very little help around him Harvick was trying to hard in the beginning and he still hasn't found the groove yet.

[Guest starvenger]

>I think NASCAR is one of those things where it either clicks with a person or it doesn't.  It is hard to convince someone to sit down and watch an entire race if they are not a race fan.

 

I am a race fan, but I'm really not that big on seeing ovals all the time, so I only watch NASCAR occasionally.  I may start watching it more, though, since it's less likely that a driver will pull over on the last lap so that their teammate can win a race and gain a near-insurmountable lead in the overall points standings...

[Guest Choken One]

While, It's not as common as F1...Drivers will allow team mates to pass, if they need a lap back or if it's a late season and points on are the line (but hasn't occured much since early 90's). Roush Racing pretty much are the only ones who do this often.

[Guest the pinjockey]

The whole F1 deal was a huge sham.  It made me happy though to realize how big of idiots the F1 hotshots are.  Would it have been that hard to take an extra couple of seconds on a Barrichello pit stop or for Ruebens to start to drop his speed by a second per lap so it wasn't so completely obvious.  I know they did the same thing last year but for second place so who really gives a shit. You would think they would understand this made them look bad and try to think of a little more secret way of accomplishing the goal.

[Guest Army Eye]

Actually, if you look at it, Harvick has not run that well at all this season.  The whole RCR team is in a rebuilding year this year.  The  other drivers are good, and who knows, in a few year they might be the ones absolutely dominating this sport.  Out of the veterans you named, Martin, Labonte and Elliot have not run as well as they have in the past, hopefully they'll pick it up later on in the season

No, but Harvick definitely emerged last year.  

 

RCR sure has been giving him some pitiful cars this year though.  I don't know what the hell is going on there.  

 

And I disagree on Martin and Elliott.  Martin is third in the points.  Not bad at all.  Elliott is top ten.  I think both are running better than they have in the last few years.

[Guest starvenger]

Hey, mad props to Robby Gordon for doing the daily double...

[Guest treble charged]

My friend will be at the race in the Poconos(sp?) in a few weeks.  He'll probably be wearing an Earnhardt hat and an nWo or RVD shirt.  Look for him.

[Guest the pinjockey]

Honestly I can not remember the last time RCR put out decent cars on a regular basis.  With the Roush cars, Yates, and Hendrick cars you would often hear that the cars were just hooked up right and they would dominate races.  Especially when Roush cars were set up right the races were awful.  I can not remember Earnhardt in the last few years say that he had a car that he knew could win.  It was always a matter of having a Top 10 car and getting a top 5 or a bad handling car and getting a top 10.  The second car for RCR was always a waste. ( Did Lowe's pick the right guy to latch onto or what.)  But watching the Coca-Cola 600 they had to park Harvick's car because of poor handling.  When in the hell is the last time you heard that.  A driver had a car that was so bad they had to go to the garage and fix it that is absolutely awful especially considering they had two weeks worth or practice.  They should have just used the info from the Winston and gone the opposite direction, he started the last segment 3rd and was 9th by the end of the second lap.  That whole team is going to get blown up pretty soon and considering what Harvick did last year I can't imagine him being the departing person.  I think Kevin Hamlin needs to start getting his resume ready.

[Guest Choken One]

There were alot of rumors that RCR is looking to dismantle the current plan but it's really just rumors. I honestly think RCR made the wrong decision in picking Gordon and Green to take over the 30 and 31 car. Alot of rumors are circulating that Childress is salivating over Elliot Sadler to replace Green or Gordon. Here's the thing...Gordon will never survive in Nascar...he won't work with them. He will eventfully leave Nascar full time and go back to Indy/Cart full time.

 

Here's some other questions...

 

Where should Sadler go? Alot of rumors say he will take over the Havoline #28 Yates car. He may replace a likely soon to be released Steve Park in the Penzoil #1 car with DEI. He may take the #25 Uaw-Gm car of Hendricks. He is ready to take a major ride and reach his potential.

 

Will Kenny Wallace ever land a full time ride? The most talented Free Agent today. Here's hoping he'll latch onto RCR or DEI, or ride MWR full time next year.

 

Who else is leaving? If Ricky Rudd retires and RCR can't score Wallace or Sadler, look for them to lure Johnny Benson, whom has always been a capable driver, just never had a good team.

 

Petty really need to get someone on board with the #44 car...unless they really think Grissom is good for another season...

 

When Kurt Busch's brother reaches legal age...they say he'll be twice as good as Kurt...which scares me...Does he hook up with Roush? I think he already has a commitment with them...