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Oldies but Goodies

Snoozefest 500...

Tuesday, June 09, 2009
So, shocker. Pocono was boring. I know I saw and heard from a lot of people that said the double file restart rule made it more interesting. That's cool. I think we're grabbing at straws, but whatever floats your boat. Why NASCAR continues to go to Pocono is one of life's mysteries to me. I say we go once and for 400 miles. Lessen the pain, you know?

I appreciate stradegy and all that stuff but it's hard to get excited about fuel mileage races. It's weird how anxious one can get watching leaders race at half throttle for the win, though. In fact, that may have made the race. Which is sad.

Congrats still though, to Tony Stewart, who seems like he's graduated to adulthood and is, in general, being a cool guy. As you all know, I have a love/hate thing with Tony. But I'm happy for him and that whole team.

I guess I should comment on the whole Kyle Busch smashing the trophy thing. Personally, I stood in front of the TV shocked while Kyle smashed away with the guitar. Visions of drivers getting out and taking a bat to the Martinsville clock, or slamming the Daytona 500 trophy to the ground swept through my mind. In simple terms, you don't smash a trophy. You just don't. On top of that, you don't smash something that someone took that much time out of their life to make. It's just not right. Was the idea behind it valid? Sure. Split it up for the team. But you know what? Kyle makes enough money to buy each and every one of those team members their very own guitar. He could have and should have done that.

Honestly, I think Kyle wanted to look like a rockstar. I think he ended up looking like a toddler. Again.

I've also gotten some emails, comments and so on about the Dale Jr. crew chief (or not) situation this week. I think I'm still in wait and see mode. I know a lot of people are wondering if it's just Junior that is that problem. That's valid. I'm not one of those people, but I get it. I think everyone tends to forget the times that when the car has been good, Junior has driven it up front. Hell, there were times in both Dover and Pocono that Junior was the fastest car on the track. He can drive. I also think Lance McGrew could work for Junior, which I wasn't so sure of two weeks ago. I think McGrew damands something of Junior that others haven't been able to get to. He demands information and he gives it as well. That's something that was definitly lacking in the last few years.

In the end, it's all on Junior. As he said in the his pre-race interview on TNT this weekend. And he accepts that. Gracefully. Which is more than can be said for some of the guitar smashing children out there. He'll win again, I don't doubt that. I understand those that do, but I think everyone should remember that he is two weeks into a whole new set-up. McGrew isn't the only new thing. They are throwing stuff at Junior that he's never seen before. Give it time, and if it ends up being Junior's fault, then I'll admit I'm wrong. But not yet.

And in closing, I'm going to admit that I am, in fact, a joiner. I'm now a part of the Twitter Nation. So come follow me. It's not all racing all the time, but I'd like to think that everyone would like to know when I'm headed to the gym. No? Oh... well, I'll think of something.

Thoughts and comments?

-RC

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Posted by RC at Tuesday, June 09, 2009 | Permalink | 0 Awesome Comments

About time...

Thursday, May 28, 2009
This will be quick, but I just wanted to post something since this has been the story that won't end here at ChicksView.

Rick Hendrick finally made the decision to separate Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Tony Eury, Jr. today. So now is the hard part. HMS needs to find someone who can get the car to drive the way Dale Jr. needs it. If anything, the pressure is on Junior more now to perform. At DEI, when they switched teams between the 8 and the 15, he still kind of had the excuse that he was at DEI and it wasn't really being run properly, so if he didn't run well, it was probably everything else and not Junior.

He won't have that excuse at HMS.

And the pressure is also on whoever the higher ups at HMS are that will be making this decision. I don't know anything about Brian Whitesell or what he can do with a racecar, and I have limited knowledge about Lance McGrew. If McGrew ends up getting Junior running better, then by all means, he should be the guy. But I really think it's going to take someone that Junior will look up to, respect and someone who has an engineering background who can sit down with Junior and technically tell him what the car is doing and ask what it felt like at that point and so on and so forth.

They're going to have the spend the rest of this season really breaking down what Junior needs, since all he has said in the past is that he needs Tony Jr.

So we shall see. It will be interesting if nothing else.

Thoughts?

-RC

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Posted by RC at Thursday, May 28, 2009 | Permalink | 2 Awesome Comments

The State of NASCAR... according to me...

Monday, May 25, 2009
I can't tell you how much I want to sneak into the big NASCAR meeting tomorrow and ask Helton when he's going to retire so I can take his job. ::sigh:: He probably wouldn't react well to that, so! I'm doing it here. No, I'm not asking for Helton's job... yes, I am. But really, I just want to talk about the state of the sport.

First things first, NASCAR is just a big ol' meany bully for fining Carl Long the way they did. Knowing that he doesn't have that kind of money. His car owner just can't write a check like that. It's insane, with the small amount that the engine was bigger, that his fine should put his livlihood in danger. Mean!

Also, I think I'm the only person that isn't a fan of having double file restarts all the time. I think, in the long run, it will hurt the competition. We need to allow cars to get back on the lead lap, or else we're not going to have good racing because very few cars will actually be racing each other.

And... I'll be surprised if we don't hear about a crew chief change for the 88 car this week. Enough is enough.

And so on, (losing options for these in a hurry)... Go Michael Waltrip racing and Ty Norris, who rules. And go them if they really do sign Martin Truex, Jr. like I'm hearing. They'll have a real franchise.

And so forth... Rain sucks.

Continuing on... The Indy 500 was kind of boring, but a comeback story is always nice.

Speaking of... Danica should really just stick to Indy cars. Honestly, we've had Dario Franchitti and Sam Hornish, Jr. (who I SOO called for winning the All-Star Open, btw) in NASCAR and they haven't done much. I'll clarify: They are multiple, race winning champions. Danica's not. She should at least master what she's got going on before she jumps into the heavy cars that don't control fuel mileage for her. I'm just saying. You go girl and all, but stick to what you know.

... I've run out of ways to continue. I guess I'm done!

Thoughts, comments and concerns?

-RC

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Posted by RC at Monday, May 25, 2009 | Permalink | 3 Awesome Comments

And the racing continues...

Wednesday, May 06, 2009
So, I have to say, while I don't feel like there is tons to talk about these days, we've had some pretty good racing in the last few weeks. I haven't been happy with some teams performances but I'm still watching the actual races. It's good stuff. Richmond was entertaining, obviously 'Dega was. So there's one entertaining thing.

Here's a boring thing, Mark Martin is back full-time in the five car next year. Yes, that is snoring you hear. I'm not sure where this leaves Brad Keselowski because, as a Cup race winner, and having two years of Busch (unh! Nationwide!) racing under his belt, he should be ready to move up next year. The Busch--, Nationwide Series has just become this sucker whole for people who want to move up but are gluttons for punishment that like to be overshadowed by full-time Cup guys who have nothing better to do. He's already racing with Cup guys, why no let him move up? Mr. H knows what he's doing and I can't imagine he or Junior is going to let Brad go somewhere else. We shall see.

I need to mention how shocked I am at Sam Hornish, Jr.'s development this year. Someone flipped the switch over at Penske all together this season, but I never expected Sam to get any better in stock cars. Shout out to him.

Racing story of the millennium part 1,285... Dale Jr. need a new crew chief. Changes aren't being communicated to the over-the-wall guys and the right changes still aren't being made. It baffles my mind that Rick Hendrick will let the most popular driver, with the most successful race team in NASCAR, flounder and continue to be a top 20 team on their good days. ('Dega doesn't count. He's an Earnhardt and could've finished 2nd on a tricycle.)

A few brief notes from last week at Richmond. Kasey Khane's little tantrum in the car that was caught by the Fox cameras was the best thing I've seen in a long time. That's actually what I look like in traffic, so I can commiserate a little. But man, that was something. Ah, still makes me laugh.

Oh and UPS has still managed to make fantastic commercials with someone who isn't all that interesting. Their advertising people deserve awards, I'm telling you.

Okay! I think that's all of the notes I saved on my phone. What are you all thinking about this week?

Thoughts?

-RC

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Posted by RC at Wednesday, May 06, 2009 | Permalink | 1 Awesome Comments

So it's April...

Wednesday, April 15, 2009
...and I really don't feel like I've had much to blog about lately. Is Dale Jr. still struggling? Yup. Kyle Busch still good and yet, annoying? Check. Constant left turns? Mm hm. Teresa Earnhart managing to ruin everything and piss me off all while not having to deal with the aftermath? Yep. Everything has remained the same.

Check that. Jeff Gordon got back into victory lane which hadn't happened in a while, but still. Anybody shocked? Yeah... Me either.

So we're left with no 8 car left in the Cup series. Although it sure would have been nice if someone had spoken up about how bad it could end up if Teresa kept the number selfishly, not taking the blame and then ruining it for everyone involved. Oh wait. We all saw that coming. Hm. I guess she's not a reader here at ChicksView.

Oh well.

Looking forward to some night racing this weekend. Hope you all are doing well. I'll be back soon, hopefully with more to talk about.

-RC

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Posted by RC at Wednesday, April 15, 2009 | Permalink | 1 Awesome Comments

Video Killed the Radio Star...

Sunday, March 29, 2009
Hey everybody! It finally stopped raining here in North Carolina, so I took my racing love on the road. I know, I know. I should have stayed home and looked at the sunshine from the inside while scanning all of the drivers radios for golden nuggets of information. But I didn't. It was nice outside and I had things to do, so I listened to the race on the radio and ho boy, was it good.

Now, I got home with about 40 laps to go, so I did get to see the end of the race, including Jimmie Johnson's sweet pass on Denny Hamlin. (For the naysayers, you can clearly see that Denny came down on Jimmie, Jimmie hit the curb and really drove the car well not to wreck both of them.) So I know the racing was good, because a) it's a short track and b) uuhh, it's a short track. But listening to the race on the radio was something I hadn't done in a long time. That's good stuff. It sounded like there was side-by-side, intense racing everywhere. And unlike TV, I knew where everyone was and how they were running. TV has the tendency to make it seem like there may only be one to two drivers on the track and one of them is always Kyle Busch, so that's no fun.

It was really a great race and great coverage by the guys on MRN.

Anyway. Since I've been gone for a while I figured I should cover some of the bigger news that's happened in the last few weeks. One of which is The Story That Just Won't Die of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Tony Eury, Jr.'s lack of success over at HMS. I'm turning into a broken record, so I won't go so deep into it, but unless something changes within Tony, Jr., they aren't going to win a championship. No one would be happier to see said change than me, so maybe it can happen. But I just don't think Tony, Jr. is cut out for calling races. He builds great race cars but when he needs to make gut check decisions, he makes the wrong ones.

Today, however, was a little different. Again, I wasn't listening to the radios like I normally do so I can't say for sure, but I know that when I left Junior was having handling/transmission problems and by the time I found the radio stations the race was on, he was back in the top ten. And he finished there. Which means that Tony Jr. made a change and kept up with it the entire race. I think that's all Junior Nation is asking for. A win would be nice, but for right now, seeing improvement is fine. I just hope he can keep it up.

Shout out to A.J. Allmenginger, who is hanging in there with a lesser funded car.

...I know more has happened in the last two weeks, but I can't think of anything right now. Ideas? Suggestions? What have you been thinking about these last few weeks?

Leave it in the comments and we will discuss.

-RC

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Posted by RC at Sunday, March 29, 2009 | Permalink | 2 Awesome Comments

Whole lotta nothing...

Monday, February 23, 2009
I'm sure you guys know that I'm always looking forward to California after Daytona. And after California, I'm never sure why. Not a lot happened for me during this race. There were a few bright spots of good side-by-side racing but overall, a whole lotta nothing. A few things did pop out at me though...

*Kevin Harvick's streak of running at the end of every race is over. I believe the number of races was 81, which shows that Harvick quietly gets things done. If he can ever put it all together, and can start that streak again, he'll be tough.

*After Dale Jr.'s interview, I think we can all agree why NASCAR is so popular. Mike Joy, DW and Larry Mac talked about this during the race, but I'll repeat. You'll never find athletes like this in other sports. In other sports, you get stuck with guys like Alex Rodriguez, who are so concerned about what people are going to think, they turn themselves into something they aren't for approval. Even with the most cookie cutter of cookie cutter drivers, you get more reality than not. Junior's interview was insightful and honest. You might not get that with other drivers, but what we do get from this sport we should all be thankful for.

*That said, I'm still trying to figure out why NASCAR wants to make the expensive trip to California twice a year when they can't fill the seats and the racing doesn't back it up. Like I said, there were some instances of really good racing. Not great, but good. But you'll be hard pressed to get Joe Racefan (oh god, I'm one of the Joe-fill-in the-blank people now!) to spend his hard earned money for a few flashes of just good. I know the market is huge out there on the West Coast, but it's not even a market that NASCAR can relate to. No matter how hard NASCAR and the skeezy track promoters over there try. Some things just don't make sense. Darlington twice a year makes sense, Cali doesn't.

*Early in the season, it looks like the communication between the 24/48 and the 5/88 teams over at HMS still isn't seamless. When two that share a shop blow up and the other two run great, it shows that somebody in the 24/48 thought that something that the 5/88 teams were trying sounded like a bad idea, didn't impliment it and forget to send the memo back to the 5/88. Stuff like that can't happen if HMS as a whole is going to stay on top.

*Go Matt Kenseth. Although, it's easy this early in the season to be all "Kenseth's-going-to-win-it-all," I'm going to hold back (See: Kyle Busch, circa 2008) but what's scary about Kenseth is that if he can build a little bit of a cushion with wins early, and then be the normal Kenseth that kills you with concistency, then the field should be worried. But I'm not brave enough to make that call yet.

Okay, I think that's it for today. I did want to thank everybody for commenting on the last post. There were a lot of old faces, and some new, and it was nice to have a crowd back here at ChicksView. Keep it up. ;)

-RC


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Posted by RC at Monday, February 23, 2009 | Permalink | 4 Awesome Comments