*A follow up on the penalty for Carl Edwards. I saw that NASCAR did in fact take away the points that Carl would get for the win if he makes the Chase. Good move. I still feel that at some point in the future NASCAR is going to have to take a win away to really get their point across, but until then, this will do.
*Tony Stewart, while being mostly right about the tires, makes everything that comes out of his mouth seem childish when arguing a point. He's an intelligent guy and one of the best race car drivers that ever lived, so if he could just talk like a big boy, instead of making erroneous, silly and factually inaccurate points, he'd get a lot more done. With that said, Goodyear must, must get their program together. This is the big leagues of racing, and there are other people who want to play.
*I read this article last week and gave Ryan Newman a long-distance high five. I wish more drivers would speak out about the need for a traveling medical team for NASCAR's top series'. I know it would be expensive but honestly, when a driver speaks out about the fact that it takes too long for the crews to get to them, and then when they do, they have no idea what they're doing, it's time for a change. I actually wanted to post about this after Casey Mears' scary wreck at California, when his car flipped over and the crews seem flummoxed about how to go about getting him out. Michael Waltrip spoke about this once when he flipped and was yelling for the crew to flip the car over so he could get out. There needs to be a set crew, who know the drivers and a set procedure to get them out of the car.
I know Elliott Sadler spoke out a few years ago when one of the medical teams tried to give him a needle. Sadler is not a needle guy. These are things that a traveling crew would know. NASCAR needs to step up.
*Who would have thought that Hendrick Motorsports would only have one car in the top 12? Who would have also guessed it would be Dale Earnhardt, Jr.? It's funny but this is actually the first season that I haven't wished that Jimmie Johnson would have one of "those" seasons, and he is. At least so far. It's bound to happen to a team like that though, who has run so well at so many different tracks that they, with good reason, don't change a thing and then fall behind. I think he'll be fine but I don't think this will be a typical JJ season. I'm thinking that Casey Mears, given time with his new team will start to improve the longer the season goes on, and I'm not particularly worried about Jeff Gordon. In the end, I think we'll see all HMS teams in the Chase. And we all know how good I am at calling these sorts of things.
*Anyone heard from DEI? Me either. But while I'm at it, I'll go out on a limb and say that this may be Paul Menard's last year at DEI. I also don't think him leaving will be Teresa's idea. With the sponsor Paul has, he should be able to get in somewhere else where they actually pay attention to him. He can drive. We've seen it when he was in the Busch series and ran a few Cup races. When they put him in Junior's equipment, (which is what they did at the time) he finished in the top ten. He just needs someone to remember that he's there.
On the other hand, I'm still iffy to as whether Martin Truex, Jr. will re-sign with the team. I'm leaning toward him staying though. I'm not sure why, but I am.
*Notice the one driver I'm not talking about? I'm totally bucking the trend of saying he's the second coming. Because he's not.
Off to work. Fantasy Update before the race this weekend.
-RC
Labels: Random things.
