Bristol Predictions

Boy howdy, am I excited for the race tomorrow night at Bristol! Even though the repaving has made the track less exciting, in my opinion, it's still the Bristol Night Race.....

Anyway, I originally had Jeff Gordon picked to win this thing, but seeing as he qualified 26th today, I'm thinking otherwise...perhaps Carl Edwards. Carl has been close in recent races to getting a victory, and he's won this race a few times before (in '07 and '08), and he starts second tomorrow.

Jimmie Johnson has the pole, and after his win in March at the bullring, he should also be strong. Joey Logano starts third, after his pole here in March, and other guys to watch are the two chasing a Chase berth. Mark Martin, 35 points behind Clint Bowyer in 12th, starts 13th, and Bowyer qualified 24th.....oooooh baby!

Other drivers who ought to be strong tomorrow are Jamie McMurray, Matt Kenseth, A.J. Almmendinger, Kasey Kahne, Greg Biffle, and both Busch brothers.

Michigan Picks

I wanna pick Jeff Gordon to win at MIS on Sunday, but he starts 36th, which is too far back to win from. I mean, it's possible, but Jeff will probably end up losing it late in the race again.

So, I pick Kasey Kahne to win his first race of the season, because he's starting on the pole and he finished second here in June with that new Ford engine.

There will be challengers, of course. Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, Jeff Burton, and a couple of Roushkateers like Biffle and Kenseth will play a role in the outcome of this race.

Lots of Stuff To Go Over...

I've been gone for a week, so there's a lot to cover....

Pocono:

Greg Biffle winning was the greatest thing that could've happened to Roush-Fenway Racing and Ford Motor Company. Roush of course, was involved in a plane accident earlier in the week (again!), but he is doing good recovering. Ford debuted the R9 engine back in June at Michigan, but this is their first win this year, which makes this the latest in a year Ford has won since like 1983 or something.

The Elliott Sadler/Kurt Busch wreck late in the race was unnecessary. The inside wall Elliott hit was sticking out at an odd angle, and needs to be straightened out, as well as have the SAFER barrier installed. And how about that hit??? His entire engine came out! That was huge!

Points leader Kevin Harvick continues to racking up top-fives...but can he win on something other than a restrictor-plate track?

Watkins Glen:

After 113 races, Juan Pablo Montoya has won again! Granted, it's on a road course, but Montoya dominated the day, leading 74 out of 90 laps, and running away at the end from challenger Marcos Ambrose and Kurt Busch. Montoya's other win came at Sonoma in his rookie year in 2007.

Marcos ran with Montoya all day long, lead eight laps, but missed the setup slightly at the end, which allowed Juan to pull away. Poor guy, he'll get his win soon! And perhaps next year will be a breakout season for him, as it is rumored that he will replace Kasey Kahne in the #9 Ford. Kahne is rumored to go to Red Bull Racing, the year before he will take over the #5 Hendrick Chevy.

And guess who finished fourth??? A.J. Almmendinger! It's good to see him run up front. His only other top-five came at the 2009 Daytona 500 (third).

Carl Edwards finished fifth after starting from the pole, and after the last couple races, Carl is starting to look real strong, and I wouldn't be surprised if he won a race or two here when the Chase starts.

Jamie McMurray once again had a good finish in sixth, and is less than 100 points out from a Chase berth, but he is much too streaky for me to pick him to make it.

Jeff Gordon finished tenth after a mediocre day, and the winless streak continues.....I pick him to break that streak here in the next few races, possibly at Bristol. We'll see, but until then, the FRUSTRATION continues.

OH, AND GUESS WHAT???? I hear Chicago is going to host the opening Chase race, moving New Hampshire from it's place in September 2011. And Kentucky might get a date, and Kansas will likely pick up another date???!!!

It's so stupid that NASCAR is giving Kansas a second race, as if we need more cookie-cutter tracks! At least they took away Fontana's second race...but what the hell?

Indy/Edmonton/Germany

Brickyard 400

I'll start with the Brickyard 400: Seeing Jamie McMurray win two big races this year is awesome. He seems like a classy individual, and now that he's back with Ganassi, it's good to see him win races, even though he's still a long shot for the Chase.



The call for four tires on the #42 car was so stupid, in my opinion. Now, I'm not a big Montoya fan, but I think he is deserving of a Brickyard win, or any win in that case. But I think it's a known fact that other teams will try two tires, in order to gain track position. Montoya's crew chief, Brian Pattie, called for four, so they restarted seventh on the restart, and Juan wasn't able to make up any spots and eventually wrecked the car. I know they can win at Indy, but they don't deserve it when they make stupid calls like that.....Oh, and when Juan crashed, who else was involved? Why, who else then Dale Jr.? It's not his fault, but Junior got collected with Montoya, and I'm not surprised.

Coming into this race, Chip Ganassi had a chance to be the first owner to win the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500, and Brickyard 400 all in one year. And whatya know, he did it! I thought Juan was gonna be the driver to put him into the history book, but Jamie Mac really came through.

Honda Indy Edmonton:

What a bad call. I mean, the replay shows Helio Castroneves making a slight turn to the left to keep Will Power at bay. They disqualified him for blocking??? I mean, I know this is the IndyCar series, where rules are different, and if guys block, they might touch wheels and crash, but in the end, it's RACING! If I was Helio, I would block the other driver to keep my lead. What the hell, IndyCar!?!

By the way, Helio was piiiiiiissed. I mean, that boy was ready to fuckin brawl!

Santander Grand Prix of Germany:

Now, I understand the reasoning behind Ferrari's call to Felippe Massa to relinquish his lead to teammate Fernando Alonso with 19 to go at Hockenheim, but what I don't understand is why Felippe did it....Even though Alonso may have had the faster car, you don't just give it to him. Again, this situation goes back to RACING. It's racing, you have to earn a victory. Sure it helped Alonso in the points, but c'mon!

Good to see Lewis Hamilton still leading the points. I think he'll win the title again this year.

Indy Preview

I fully expect this Brickyard 400 to be a Jimmie Johnson/Juan Montoya shootout. They both qualified on the front row (Juan taking the top honor), and the way it turned out last year, all signs point to one of those two taking the coveted checkers.

Last year's edition featured Montoya smoking the field, leading 116 laps (of 160) before being penalized for speeding on pit road. Jimmie was there to take advantage of Juan's mistake and cruised to the victory, his second consecutive and third out of the last four years.

Juan has led every practice session this weekend thus far, and I pick him to finally get his second career victory, first on an oval, as long as he can stay out of trouble and run a smart race.



Other drivers that could potentially challenge those two are Clint Bowyer, Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, and Denny Hamlin. Jeff Gordon is so hungry for a win, and he's riding a hot streak right now.

If Chip Ganassi were to win this race, he would become the first car owner to win the Daytona 500, Indy 500, and Brickyard 400 all in the same year. He's got a good shot at it with Montoya, and even Jamie McMurray, who starts fourth. If Jamie could win it, he'd join a short list of drivers who have won Daytona and the Brickyard in the same year.

Brad and Carl Penalty

This section below is from jayski...

- NASCAR has penalized the #60 team and the #22 driver for rule violations committed during last Saturday's NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Gateway International Raceway. The penalties come as a result of violating Section 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing/ aggressive driving) of the 2010 NASCAR Rule Book. Carl Edwards, driver of the #60, has been penalized with the loss of 60 NASCAR Nationwide Series championship driver points, fined $25,000 and placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31. Car owner Jack Roush has been penalized with the loss of 60 series championship owner points. Brad Keselowski, driver of the #22, has been placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31.(NASCAR), the probation for both drivers applies to the Sprint Cup Series as well.(7-21-2010)

The 60-point penalty given to Carl I think was definitely fair. That means Carl received 130 points at Gateway and Brad got 131, so all in all, Brad extended his points lead by one point to 228 ahead. Before the penalty, Carl was 168 behind.

I don't know why they put Brad on probation, but that doesn't really mean anything.

Next time something like this happens with Carl Edwards, suspend him a race!

Gateway Finish

Ok after the finish in the Nationwide series at Gateway on Saturday night, here is my take....

Although what Carl did was unnecessary, it can be argued that both incidents this year he's had with Brad have looked much worse than they usually would've been (and therefore people have scorned Carl because of it). In the Atlanta crash, Brad happened to go airborne, and in this one he was t-boned in the pileup. I mean, that was a wicked hard hit Brad took by Shelby Howard on the final lap. Good thing he's ok.....like I said, I'm not saying what Carl did was right, but both crashes have happened to be bad, and therefore people have taken a strong stance against Edwards.

Kinda reminds me of Jamie Mac and Todd Bodine at Darlington in the Busch race in March 2003. Que Ball got loose trying to block Jamie, and spun both cars out, with Bodine coming out the victor. If not for the late race caution, the same exact thing would have happened. Again, I'm not saying what Carl or Todd did was right, fair, or good; I'm just saying that people sort of blow it out of proportion because the crash is bad.

On another note, the battle for the championship is starting to look rather exciting. Like Edwards in 2007, Keselowski could have a second-half "slump". I have a feeling Carl and Brad will be racing hard until the final lap at Homestead to win this thing!

Chicago Remarks

Boy was I wrong in my Chicago picks...almost none of those guys I had picked to challenge for the win ran up front. Jimmie was running strong early, leading 92 laps, but missed pit road, and eventually spun midway through the race and finished a lap down. Jeff Gordon ran pretty strong late in the race, but was passed by Reutimann and wasn't able to catch back up after the final round of pit stops. By the way, great to see David win! He can finally stop apologizing for the Charlotte win.

Lots of guys got good finishes that needed them, like Carl Edwards (2nd), Clint Bowyer (4th), Jamie McMurray (5th), and Paul Menard (10th). Bowyer thought he should have won last week at Daytona, and this top-five finish will help vindicate that. McMurray is definitely capable of making the Chase and winning races, but he is very inconsistent. One week, he is finishing in the top-five, the next he is a couple laps off the pace.

It sure was good to see the race play out, with no "debris" cautions at the end. I actually thought the finish wasn't bad. Carl was more than three seconds behind David after the pit stops, but started gaining on him with 20 to go. He cut the margin down to under a second, but ran out of laps.

One more thing, that was awesome to see Austin Dillon win the Truck race today in Iowa driving the black #3 truck. He may not be a threat to win the title, but Richard Childress sure looked proud.

C'mon Jeff....Really?

Reutty-Tooty won the race at Chicago!!!

In other news, how many races will it be until Jeff Gordon breaks his winless streak??? C'mon, I mean, the law of averages has got to catch up to them sometime! Jeff was running strong at Chicago, leading laps, and just lost time to David and finished third. Consistency will win a championship, but wins are equally important today!

FRUSTRATED!!!

Chicago Prediction

I believe that Denny Hamlin will win tomorrow in the Windy City. He's really picked up his game this year on 1.5-mile tracks, and seeing as winning from outside the top-10 is more common than winning from a top-10 start, Denny starts 17th and will get his sixth victory of 2010.

Of course, you can expect to see guys like Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Juan Montoya, Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon, and Kurt Busch to challenge Denny. Oh, and maybe Jamie Mac will do good starting from the P1 position.

NASCAR Date Changes

Why is NASCAR considering all these stupid date/track changes???

Kansas is lobbying for a second date, which most likely would take a race away from California. Look, if Fontana's going back to one-race-a-year, they ought to give the date back to Rockingham, not give another to Kansas. Nothing personal against Kansas, the racing there isn't bad...but why must we have another cookie-cutter date? Same goes for Las Vegas.

In a perfect world, the schedule would look like this:

Racetracks losing a date:
1. Fontana
2. Texas
3. Loudon

Racetracks gaining a date (or a second one)
1. Rockingham
2. Darlington
3. Montreal

The road course Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal ought to be in the Chase, giving the champion more credibility. It would replace Texas in November. Rockingham would replace California in the Chase, and Darlington would replace Loudon in the Chase, as well.

The Chase would look like this:

1. Darlington
2. Dover
3. Kansas
4. Rockingham
5. Charlotte
6. Martinsville
7. Talladega
8. Montreal
9. Phoenix
10. Homestead

That way, there's a little of everything....high banked speedways, flat tracks, a short track, a plate track, cookie-cutters, and even a road course.

Daytona Recap

How 'bout that race at Daytona? The last one with the old pavement sure was a doozy, hehehe...

Kevin Harvick won from the provisional pole position after a series of late cautions due to wrecks.

One incident we saw that hasn't happened at Daytona in a while was the "Big One", which, in this case, took out 20 cars. Usually the crashes at Daytona don't involve that many cars, as they often do at Talladega. But 12 laps from the scheduled distance, we saw half the field wiped out in turn three, due to Kurt Busch and Jeff Burton tangling. The reason we don't see it as much is because the handling that comes into play during a race at Daytona spreads the field out a bit more, so it's easier to avoid a spinning car cuz everyone's not right on top of each other. Check it out here!

Even though Kurt Busch spun twice in the final 20 laps, he still managed to finish seventh! ...and Reed Sorenson in the #83 car, who was involved in the big one, still managed to finish 8th!

The driver I had picked to win, A.J. Almmendinger, wasn't so lucky, as he got wrecked early on. He finished 36th.

And how about Junior??? He won the Nationwide series race on Friday night in that special #3 Wrangler car! When I saw that he won, I thought 'what are the chances of that?' He runs a special one-off deal to honor his late father, and he wins! ...and to cap it off, he finishes fourth in the Cup race! I see him making the Chase, because it's an even year. He makes the Chase in even years (2004, '06, '08, and now 2010).

Joey's Pick Of The Week: Daytona

A.J. Almmendinger.

Yes, I said it. The Dinger is my pick to win the Coke Zero 400 on Saturday night. He's finished well here before (third in the '09 Daytona 500), and he's not bad on restrictor plates overall.

With the unpredictability of these races, why not? It's easy to just go with the usual plate favorites, like Jamie McMurray, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, and Tony Stewart, although they all will most likely make their way to the front at some point.

Driver emotions, Daytona

Kyle Busch is arguably one of the most talented drivers in the garage today. When his car is running good, he is virtually untouchable.

Notice I said, "when his car is running good", because when it's not, he can turn a bad day into a worst day.

Good drivers are guys that can turn a 15th-place car into an 8th-place finish. Jimmie Johnson is a perfect example of that. There are times (very few) when the 48 Chevy is running like junk, but somehow, either through pit strategy or tweaking of the car, they come out with a good finish.

Kyle, on the other hand, is certainly capable of winning a championship or two; he just needs to learn to keep after it during their struggles and "make lemonade out of lemons". Too many times I've seen him wreck a car that could've finished in the top-20 or top-15, if he hadn't lost his cool and, ultimately, stormed off without an interview, I might add.

Anyway, this weekend is DAYTONA!!! I've already seen a few wrecks in practice. Kyle Busch, David Ragan, Kasey Kahne, Reed Sorenson, Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart, and Joey Logano have all been involved in incidents in practice. Kasey, in my opinion, has the ability to run very well the rest of the year, if he stays out of trouble. The new Ford engine seems to be very competitive, but he isn't finishing races, which isn't necessarily his fault. Last week, at Loudon, he blew his new Ford engine, after a strong run (he led 110 laps, the most). He needs to rally to make the Chase, but I have faith.

This Saturday's race will be the last one with the old asphalt. After that, the track will be repaved, the first time since, like, 1979. I guess it's for the better, especially after the pothole incident in the 500 this year, but the way it is now is awesome! The old pavement gives the racing it's own unique style, cuz it's so worn and bumpy, that handling plays a much bigger role than, say, Talladega. Just to see those drivers bouncing around and off each other out there makes the racing at Daytona so good...

I still think Bobby Labonte needs to be in the #83 Red Bull Toyota. He said he wants to be competitive, well those owners need to think twice before putting in guys like Casey Mears or Reed Sorenson (not saying they aren't good).

By the way, good to see Steve Park try to make his first Cup race since 2003. The last time he was at Daytona (July 2003), he won the pole.

NASCAR Makes And Models Throughout The Years

I was talking today with my dad about all the different makes and models of cars that have been rotated through NASCAR throughout the years, and I'd like to share a bit of that conversation...

Chevrolet has been around NASCAR pretty much since the beginning. Today, when one thinks of Chevy, they think of teams like Rick Hendrick and Richard Childress, who both have been around for years, and both have fielded Chevy teams for the majority of that time. Drivers that really found success with Chevy include Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Dale Jr., Tony Stewart, and Terry Labonte.

On the other hand, you have team owners such as Joe Gibbs, who has been successful with a variety of makes and models. Starting in 1992, Gibbs ran Chevy's, with Dale Jarrett as his driver in the #18 Interstate Batteries Chevy. Of course, they won the 1993 Daytona 500, a huge accomplishment. The only other race Jarrett won with Gibbs was the fall Charlotte race in 1994. Starting in 1995, Jarrett left for Yates, in which he found most of his success with, and Gibbs brought in Bobby Labonte, who really is known for driving the green #18 machine.

Starting in 1997, Gibbs switched to Pontiac (Grand Prix). In that ride, Bobby won 19 races and the 2000 championship. Tony Stewart joined the team in 1999 driving the #20 Home Depot Pontiac, and he went on to win the 2002 championship.

Gibbs once again switched allegiances to Chevy starting in the 2003 season. Tony won the championship again in 2005, which makes him the only driver to win a title with both the old points format and the Chase format (so far).

Gibbs racing changed make/model once again starting in 2008, getting on board with the Toyota camp (Camry), and has been successful with it so far.

Ford has not been so successful this year (2010) in the NASCAR top series, with Carl Edwards' Nationwide series win at Road America two weeks ago being the lone victory. But Ford has been quite dominant at times in the past.

Ford used to run the Thunderbird in the 80's and 90's, with teams such as Alan Kulwicki single-handedly winning the championship in 1992 (they called themselve the "Underbirds"). Mercury ran in the 60's and 70's quite successfully, but starting in 1998, Ford switched to the Taurus. In fact, at Las Vegas that year, nine of the top-10 were Ford Taurus'. They were so successful early on, that NASCAR made a rule saying all Ford teams must change their rear spoiler so there would be less downforce on the cars compared to other teams. This evened out the competition.
Fords top teams in recent years have been Roush Racing (now Roush/Fenway Racing), Yates Racing (now merged/defunct), Penske (now runs Dodges), and the Wood Brothers.
Roush racing has produced good drivers such as Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Kurt Busch, and Carl Edwards. For his entire career, Jack Roush has ran Fords consistently.

Dodge, which made a comeback to NASCAR in 2001 after 20 years or so, is thinking of running the Challenger, which would be different from the Charger they currently run. The only other model Dodge has run since their return was the Intrepid, used by teams such as Evernham Motorsport, Penske, and Chip Ganassi until 2005. As of right now, the only team running Dodges is Penske, with Kurt Busch (#2), Brad Keselowski (#12), and Sam Hornish Jr. (#77).

I wish Pontiac was still around. They gave us some good memories, such as Bobby Labonte's championship season in 2000, Tony's in 2002, and their final Winston Cup victory was nothing short of spectacular. Ricky Craven, driving a Pontiac Grand Prix for Cal Wells, beat Kurt Busch's Ford by .002 seconds at Darlington for NASCAR's closest finish ever (well, at least since the introduction of electronic timing in 1993).

Whew! There's much more to be said about all the different makes and models run in NASCAR throughout the years, but these are the things I know about the current models being run. It is interesting to note how some car owners have changed models over the years (Gibbs), while some have always stayed the same (Hendrick), and all have had success.

NASCAR Fanatics Unite!

Hey all,

I just switched over from a different blogging site, wordpress.com....I've decided to start using this site because it's easier, and also because I'm hoping to make a lil' money on the side (please help me out by clicking on the ads on the side of the page!)

If you would like to read my old blog (very interesting), click on the link below.

http://joey2448.wordpress.com/

Anyway, I am a NASCAR fanatic who closely follows the Sprint Cup series, and I like to talk about the race each week and who's gonna win...my favorite driver is Jeff Gordon (He's gonna win a few races before the year is out, trust me).