Filed under: Cars going around in circles
Congratulations to Ryan Newman for his victory in the Daytona 500 yesterday.
As the laps were winding down, Jeff Burton, a long time fave of mine, held the lead and I was hoping that he would be able to hang on and get the win, but, as is usual at the end of Daytona, the caution flag flew and took away Jeff’s momentum and eventually, the lead.
After the cautions and the inevitable change up front, I was hoping to see Tony Stewart get his first Daytona 500 win, but the yellow flag came out again and after more changes in the lead, in the end I was glad to see Ryan Newman take the checkered flag and the coveted Daytona 500 trophy.
Newman has always been one of my favorite drivers so it was nice to see him in Victory Lane at Daytona. No complaints here on the Daytona 500 finish.
Dale Jr. ran well and finished in the top ten (9th place) with his spiffy new Hendrick Motorsports ride. After all of last year’s DNFs it was nice to see him finish a strong race and not blow up. Hopefully this will become a trend for Jr.
Filed under: Cars going around in circles
The NASCAR Chase for the Championship begins with this week’s race at NHIS in Loudon, New Hampshire.
Here’s my quick thoughts on the Chase Contenders and their shot at the Championship:
Jimmie Johnson - eh. Don’t hate the guy but don’t really want to see him win.
Jeff Gordon - eh. Don’t hate the guy but done really want to see him win. If he did win I would not really be upset though. Part of me actually thinks it would be kinda cool to see Gordon win another championship.
Yes. My stance on Gordon has softened considerably.
Tony Stewart - Don’t really care either way.
Carl Edwards - Don’t really care eithe way.
Kurt Busch - I can’t stand Kurt Busch and wish he were not in the Chase at all.
Denny Hamlin - eh.
Martin Truex, Jr - eh.
Matt Kenseth - Kenseth is a favorite of mine. I would not mind seeing him win another championship.
Kyle Busch - I dislike him almost as much as his brother, Kurt. No further explanation is necessary.
Jeff Burton - I have always been a big Jeff Burton fan and I think it would be awesome if he were to win a championship.
Kevin Harvick - I became a Harvick fan instantaneously. After he stepped into the 29 car following Dale’s death and won that race by inches over Jeff Gordon, he became one of my top drivers and he’s been there ever since. I still remember Harvick’s first win where he beat Gordon by the nose of the car. I happened to be watching it in a bar and people were literally standing on bar-stools cheering at the end, jumping up and down, screaming and generally going nuts. It was pandemonium and it was awesome. Needless to say, I would love to see Harvick win a championship
Clint Boyer - eh.
So going back through my list, I’m basically rooting for Burton or Harvick to win The Chase, mostly leaning towards Harvick.
The Sox:
The Red Sox @ The Other Sox game got rained out last night. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I’m not sure. On one hand I guess it’s nice the team got a day of rest, sort of. On the other hand, now they have to play two today, so I’m not sure if that day of semi-rest is worth the price they now have to pay.
The Other Sox have been playing very badly over the last few weeks, losing 9 out of the last 11 games. Hopefully that trend continues over the next few days…
The Pats:
Rumors are flying that cornerback Asante Samuel is set to finally give in and sign that rotten 7 mil and change contract offer from The Patriots. Yawn.. It’s not official ’till I read it on Patriots.com. Until then, it’s all just rumor and conjecture. That’s all I have to say about it.
The Pats are in Carolina for meaningless pre-season game 3 tonight. Will Tom Brady be there, just a few days after the birth of his first child? Selfishly, I hope he will, but if he’s not, that is totally ok by me. You get to be a Daddy for the first time only once. Tom will still be a good quarterback if he misses a meaningless pre-season game. I hope all is well with his new baby.
NASCAR:
Mark Martin, a.k.a. my favorite driver, in the #8?? Now my head is really spinning. Although it would have been nice if Dale Jr. could have kept the #8, I was not really all that up in arms about it, and I really feel that it’s probably better for Jr. to start fresh and create his own legacy with his own number. Drivers change numbers all the time and a bunch of my favorite drivers are now running different numbers, drivers like Mark Martin and Bobby LaBonte just to name a couple. Drivers move around to different teams and drivers change numbers. No biggie. But when I read that Mark Martin would be splitting time in the #8 next year, I could not help but go, ‘Wha??’ It might take a bit for me to get my head around that one. Mark Martin in the DEI #8 car. I don’t think it’s bad mind you, just… weird.
The Red Sox have a 95.318% chance of making the playoffs. I’d say that’s pretty good. So despite their up again, down again lead in the A.L. East, I am confident that the Sox will be playing baseball in October.
How do I know that the Sox have a 95.318% chance of making the playoffs you may ask?
It’s because of this super-cools website, SPORTS CLUB STATS.com.
Sports Club Stats’ creator, Ken Roberts, e-mailed me a while back to let me know about his site and I have been extremely delinquent in getting the word out about it. (Sorry Ken!! I think you e-mailed me back when I was sick of blwgging… which also coincided with the start of summer. Doh!)
So where do these percentages come from and how are they calculated? From the site:
“I wrote a computer program that randomly generates results for each remaining game. Then it tallies each team’s position and repeats, millions of times. When the simulation “plays” a game it assumes each team has an equal chance of winning, with no regard for record, injuries, matchups, or streaks. To help flush out each teams highest and lowest possible seeds, I force them to win or lose all their remaining games for 1000 of the simulation runs.”
Sounds like math to me, and that’s impressive. All I know is that it’s really cool. Thank God Ken is good at math and stuff so I don’t have to be, because it gives me fits watching the Red Sox lead in the A.L. East go from fifteen games to six games to four games to six games (let’s hope for seven!), back down to four, on a daily basis.. It’s much more assuring to see that the Red Sox have a 95% chance of making the playoffs and that the MFY only have a 35.329% chance.
Me likey.
So, there you have it. Ken does other sports besides baseball. He also calculates the playoff chances for The NFL, NBA, NHL, etc, as well as various racing leagues. For example, I see that Dale Jr. now only has a 8.839% chance of making the NASCAR Chase for the Championship, while Kurt Busch has a 91.35% chance. That sucks! I hate Kurt Busch. Maybe if DEI’s engines could actually run for an entire race and not blow up or if the power steering in Dale’s cars would stay on, or if Jr. would not over-shoot his pit during critical stops, he would have a better chance of getting into the Chase. Oh well.
So stop fretting about The Red Sox magic number (now down to 31). Check out SPORTS CLUB STATS.com.
Filed under: Cars going around in circles
Wanna win tickets to see the NASCAR Sharp AQUOS 500 race on September 2, 2007 at California Speedway? Well here’s your chance!
Head over to the NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog and get your entry in. 4ever3 has FIVE tickets to give away and all you have to do is answer a simple question: who drives the #12 Kodak Penske Car?
Of course, there are rules and regulations involved so head over to the NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog to get the details and enter the contest for your chance to win. Dudes and Ladies if I had the ability to get to Cali to see this race I would be all over this.
And how incredibly cool is it that a major company like Kodak is running it’s contest through a blawgger and not some big, corporate multi-media site? Very cool. Go check it out!
(image via ryan12newman.com)
Filed under: Cars going around in circles
Wow Infield Parking is getting totally bombarded right now. I am trying to get on there to read the forums and get the reaction from Jr.’s fans.
So far it seems that some people are extremely upset while others are pretty happy with the move. I guess that’s basically what’s to be expected.
Personally I am happy with the move. Let me say that I am not a Jeff Gordon fan and I’m not really a Jimmie Johnson fan either. I am not a hater of either of those two drivers either. I don’t root for them to win but I don’t throw a beer at the TV when they do. I do, however, respect both of them because they are both great drivers and that is an undeniable fact. Their accomplishments speak for themselves and that speaks for HMS as well.
Nor do I think that Hendrick is a cheater or that he gets special favors from NASCAR. I think that some of these ‘NASCAR conspiracies’ are ridiculous. Hendrick’s teams win because he puts the resources he has at his disposal, $$$$, into his teams to enable them to do what is necessary to win. Winning breeds winning and winning makes money, which, guess what, helps you win.
It is also undeniable that Jr. at Hendrick’s puts him in a place where he will win races, and that is his goal, to win races and his ultimate goal is to win championships..
I have read some comments stating that Dale Sr would be upset about this move if he were still alive. Well if The Inimidator were still alive this would not be happening because he would be making sure that Jr. was in equipment that is built to WIN at the track and that is not happening at DEI today. That is sad, but that is the reality of the situation.
Finally, just because Jr. is at Hendrick’s that does not mean that I am now obligated to root for Jeff Gordon / Jimmie Johnson every week as well. That is ridiculous. Am I going to start rooting for Kyle Busch because I am a fan of Ryan Newman and they are both on the same team? Absolutely not. No way. I can’t stand Kurt Busch and I think Ryan Newman is great. How I feel about Busch has no impact on my feeling about rooting for Newman. To me this is the same thing.
So as I wrote on Infield Parking before the server got overloaded, if you are a Jr. fan and you want to see him win races and compete for championships, you should be happy right now. I am.
Filed under: Cars going around in circles
Dale Jr. is going to be holding a press conference today at 11 AM and the rumors on all the NASCAR sites are that he will be announcing his move to Hendrick Motorsports, home of Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and possibly, the former home of Kyle Busch (heh.)
I’m curious to know what the reaction will be from Jr. fans if this rumor becomes a reality. Most of the talk that I have read from Jr.’s fans is that they will follow him where ever he winds up. This move, if it becomes reality, will certainly test that stance as I think it is safe to say that most Earnhardt fans are NOT Hendrick fans. So that will be interesting.
Personally, if Jr. goes to Hendrick, I think it is a great move for him and I am 100% behind it.
Dale Jr. wants to win a championship and Hendrick will give him the cars and the team infrastructure that will enable him to do it. Of that I have no doubt. On top of that, with guys like Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson as team-mates, you’ve got a lot of talent and experience to draw from and work with, both in the garage and on the track.
Say what you want about Gordon and Johnson, but there can be no avoiding the fact that they are great drivers. The results speak for themselves. Add Jr. to the mix and that is one heck of a team.
Other questions that are swirling around this Hendrick rumor (assuming it happens) are whether or not Jr. would keep Bud as a sponsor or move to Kellog’s and if he would keep the #5 or maybe grab a different number. For me the #5 is Terry LaBonte’s number, but I would not mind seeing Jr. with it.
Of course all this is just conjecture at this time. We’ll all have to wait till 11 AM to find out what’s really going on!
Update:
It’s official. Jr. is going to Hendrick’s. Details on the sponsor and the number he will drive are unknown right now but I’m sure that will get worked out within the next few days or weeks.
Nice move Jr. I like it.
I honestly don’t know how Jr.’s fans are going to react to this move but I am a Jr. fan and I think of it this way: driving for Hendrick Motorsports is going to put him in a position to compete for championships, and that’s the bottom line.
Sorry. With the Sox heading to Arizona to play the Diamondbacks tonight, I’ve got that P.E. song completely wedged into my brain and it simply will. not. come. out. I need to put some Misfits or something in there instead.
So, some quick hits for Friday…
The Sox are heading to Ari-ZONA! ZONA! ZONA! Baw-ka-waw a wow-wow… Sorry. [Cues up '20 Eyes' on iPod]
Pats mini-camp is over. Now what? It’s a long way between now and training camp on July 27. Not that I want to hurry Summer (I know, I say that a lot) but this is officially the dry season for football fans.
Kurt (a.k.a. dickhead) Busch used his car as a weapon on Monday during the Dover race when he intentionally slid his car into Tony Stewart’s car on pit road, endangering the life of a member of Tony’s pit crew. The penalty for this action? A $100,000 fine (chump change to these guys), loss of 100 points (oooh that’s harsh), and being placed on probation (whatever that is) for the remainder of the season.
By the way, just for comparison’s sake, I will point out that Dale Jr. was recently docked 100 points for an illegal spoiler bracket earlier this season and Jr’s crew chief, Tony Eury Jr., was fined $100,000 and suspended for six races.
How many races was Busch suspended for? ZERO.
So wait a minute. Jr. has an illegal part on his car and the penalty is WORSE than what Kurt Busch got for intentionally hitting another car on pit road and endangering a person’s life? Non sequitur. Does not compute. Bullshit.
I’m an admitted NON-FAN of Kurt (and Kyle) Busch, so take that for what it is, but this punishment by NASCAR for Busch’s actions at Dover is WEAK. So much for all those safety precautions on pit-road I guess… Josh Pate had a good article on NASCAR.com that summed this issue up perfectly.
This week’s race is at Pocono, one of my favorite tracks on the circuit. It’s kind of like a road course, kind of like an oval, except it’s bent… well it’s something. It’s shaped like a big triangle! It’s got 3 sets of turns, 3 sets of straight-aways and it all adds up to some good racing, that much I know.
Other than that, I got nuthin’ else. It’s FRIDAY. WOOP!! Have a great weekend everybody! Stay out of trouble.
Filed under: Cars going around in circles
Well by now everybody knows that Dale Jr. is leaving DEI in 2008. As I had written earlier, as a fan of his, I will follow him and cheer for him no matter where he winds up, what he is driving, what the color of the car is or what the number on the side is. I root for the Man, not the car.
I find this whole situation to be sad, that Jr. felt that for the good of his driving career he had to leave the company that his father built. If Dale goes to another team, one thing that won’t go with him is the number 8. Teresa Earnhardt has said that the #8 will stay with DEI.
I feel that this is really a shame and it does not elevate my opinion of Teresa Earnhardt. I am not going to say anything bad about her, but I feel that she is doing the wrong thing by keeping the #8 at DEI and not letting Jr. drive with that number.
“I know what my father went through and did to get the number (8) so I could drive it in the Winston Cup Series, so I am going to hang onto it”
~Dale Jr.
Filed under: Cars going around in circles
Dale Jr has just announced that he is leaving Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) and will be a free agent driver in 2008. This is a very interesting situation. Jr. is one of my favorite drivers and I was (and still am) a big fan of The Intimidator, the late Dale Earnhardt Sr.
It is too bad that Jr. could not work things out with DEI as I would have preferred to see him continue to drive for the company that was founded by his Dad. However, Jr.’s results on the track have been inconsistent at best over the last few seasons and he obviously has his own ideas on how to improve that situation. Unfortunately those ideas apparently do not match up with what the people at DEI want to do. Obviously both parties want to win races, but there is a disagreement about how to go about getting back on the winning track.
On thing to note is that DEI owner Teresa Earnhardt has said that she wants to keep the ‘8‘ at DEI. Hmmm…
So what’s going to happen next? Only time will tell.
My best case scenario for 2008? Dale Jr. in a Budweiser sponsored Richard Childress Racing car, sporting the ‘3‘.
Now THAT would be cool.
