Kathy's Pit Stop

Penalties stand

Even though the penalties for the #48 and #5 teams were adjusted for the crew chiefs, the #29 team wasn't as lucky.  They had their appeal and the penalties were said to be appropriate, according to the commission.

I just don't get it, playing favorites again?  The #48 and #5 teams get their crew chiefs suspensions changed to probation for violations found right after the race and the #29 team crew chief suspension gets deemed appropriate for a violation during qualifying, it had nothing to do with the race or performance during the race.

Martin's not done yet

Mark Martin held "Mark Martin Days" over the weekend to open his new Ford dealership in his hometown, over 10,000 fans attended this event along with Kurt Busch and Rusty Wallace.

At the event Martin announced he will be running a full time schedule next year in the Craftsman Truck Series.  At the event, Mark was quoted saying..."I think that's the most important thing, that people realize just how hard I work for the success. It hasn't come easy and I've had a lot of competition. I've had to work harder than most to be there."

Earlier in the year he had mentioned something about starting his own truck team, so I'm just speculating that he will be driving for himself and I'm sure he'll get lots of help from Roush with engines and such.

I think Mark will have to get more aggressive in his driving style with the move over to the truck series, Mark is known to be the nice guy in NASCAR and he'll need to beat and bang with the rest of them to do well.  Maybe he'll prove me wrong, but I've never seen any of the top drivers in the truck series not be aggressive on the track.

Sorenson wins from the pole

Way to go Sorenson! Reed Sorenson won his first Busch Series pole and got his first win all in the same day and he did it with style.  They had the car dialed in perfect and no one even came close to challenging him.  He led 196 of the 225 laps of the race.  Sorenson was also the first driver to win from the pole at Nashville in it's four year Busch Series history.  The win moved him up two spots in the standings to second, only 95 points behind Edwards.

I was impressed with this kid from the start of the season and even though it's early in the season, I think he just might be in contention for the championship barring any major problems.

If anyone had any doubts about this kid, they shouldn't now.  Sorenson just proved he's the real deal, just like Edwards did last week.  This kid can race!

Picture credit:  http://www.nascar.com front page story.

Roush dominating the top ten

If you look at the points standings, it would appear that Roush is dominating.  With their two wins and good finishes, they've got four of their five cars sitting in the top ten, that's pretty impressive.  Will it stay that way or will some fall victim to mechanical problems or being in the wrong place at the wrong time?  There are still a lot of races to go and as everyone knows a couple of bad races can do you in, I guess we'll have to wait and see if  the Roush cars can keep it up.

While Carl Edwards is the media darling of NASCAR right now, I think the strongest of the Roush cars is Biffle and I think barring mechanical problems, he'll probably make the Chase.  I'd love to see Mark make the Chase again this year and he's off to a good start so far, I just hope it keeps going that way. 

The biggest question mark at Roush is Kenseth, he's the only one not in the top ten and he's been struggling, but I think he'll turn it around soon.

NASCAR overturns Hendrick crew chief suspensions

NASCAR announced that they are overturning the suspensions for Hendrick crew chiefs Chad Knaus and Alan Gustafson after reviewing evidence in their appeals.  Nothing was mentioned as to what this evidence was.  Both Knaus and Gustafson are on 90 days probation instead of the suspensions, the rest of the penalties assessed to them will stand.  No word on Berrier.

What kind of message does this send?  Does this mean NASCAR is sending empty threats about rule violations?  Are they playing favorites again?

A lot of people thought the penalties, especially the suspensions, were too harsh.  I thought with the latest round of penalties that they handed down, that NASCAR was finally putting their foot down and meant business.  By overturning these suspensions, it's like they're saying it's no big deal.  NASCAR admitted that the fines don't work, taking points away wasn't working too well either, that's why they started with the suspensions.  To me, this doesn't send the message of "stay within the box," it says "try and stay within the box or you'll get a slap on the wrist." 

If it was near the end of the season the points could have an impact, but not now, 25 points is not going to make or break a team or driver this early in the season and the fines are just pennies to them.

This may make a lot of people mad because they disagree with my thoughts, but NASCAR's "we're getting tough" stance just went right out the window with the reversal of the suspensions.

You can't count them out yet

I'm reading so many articles lately that are saying that certain drivers are already not going to make the Chase based on the four races that have been run so far.  This is ridiculous.

Articles like this one have quotes like this...

For a number of top drivers, this year's championship may already be out of reach - if historical precedent means anything. If a team isn't in the top-20 by this point of the season, it may be all over but the shouting, judging by statistics over the last 30 years.

Since 1975 only 28 drivers have worked their way back into the top 10 by the 26-race mark after falling below 20th in the standings in the opening month of the season.

That stat has to be worrisome for NASCAR top-dogs who are currently not in the top-20, including Dale Earnhardt Jr. (26th), Michael Waltrip (27th), Kasey Kahne (28th), Matt Kenseth (31st) and Bobby Labonte (37th).

Yes, I agree, these drivers are struggling right now, but to completely count them out of having the possibility of making the Chase is ridiculous.  Any one of these drivers, or even all of them, can completely turn their season around at Bristol, so to say they're out is a bit premature.

Take Bobby Labonte for example, he usually runs good at Atlanta, but because he got caught up in that lap one wreck, his race was essentially over.  He could have moved up a lot of positions if he had finished that race.  Just like any of the others could have.

Look at Jimmie Johnson last year.  He had those few bad races that put him down to tenth in the standings during the Chase, he turned around and it came down to the last race to see if Jimmie or Busch would win the championship, so you can't count anyone out this early.

It seems the media has run out of current news to write on and wants to cause a stir with their dire predictions.  It's too early in the season to say if any of these drivers will make the Chase, we just have to sit back and watch to see who makes it or not.  It's just too early to sit and make blanket statements about who will and won't make it.

Busch race

First, congratulations to Carl Edwards for winning the race and taking over the points lead, he definitely had a great car at the end and moved through the field.

Now, about his famous back-flip.  When he was in the truck series, I thought it was neat, but it needs to stop for safety reasons.  No disrespect to Edwards or his fans, but now that he's driving in not only the Busch Series, but the Cup Series also, shouldn't he stop that?  I mean what if he slips and cracks his head open, hurts his back, or numerous other injuries?  It can happen.  While it may be exciting to see the first few times, or even every time for his fans, I think he needs to curtail it before he gets hurt.  I would hate to see a talented driver get hurt over something like this.

And a big Kudos to Sterling Marlin, who gave up his Busch seat so Sorenson wouldn't miss his hometown race or lose tons of points.  Sorensons car had gear troubles and he never even got to qualify for the race.  Marlin gave up his seat in the #40 Busch car so Sorenson could race.  Sorenson had some troubles, but managed to finish 19th in the race, not bad for not even sitting in that car until the start of the race and he managed to stay 4th in points, although Truex Jr. is only 2 points behind him now.

Hoping to see an exciting Cup race today.

Picture Credit:  Autostock - picture located at http://www..nascar.com/2005/news/headlines/bg/03/19/bc.car.nascar.busch.ap/index.html

Rocketman does it again and a great finish in the Craftsman Truck Series

Woohoo!  Ryan Newman did it again.  I admit it, I had my doubts that he wasn't going to get the pole since he went out third out of fifty drivers, but he put down a hot lap and got his fifth consecutive Atlanta pole and the twenty-ninth pole of his career.  Way to go Ryan!  Hopefully he'll be able to turn that into a win or at least a top-five on Sunday.

On to the truck race.  I have to say that the Speed Channel does so much better in covering racing throughout the pack than any of the major networks do with the Cup races.  They showed racing for fifth and sixth positions and even showed racing for positions like fourteenth and fifteenth, wish FOX and NBC would have coverage like that.  And that finish!  Down to the wire finish, side by side racing for the win with Ron Hornaday Jr. and Bobby Labonte, now that's racing!

Hopefully the Busch and Cup races can at least come close to being as exciting.

A Friday rush and wasted Saturday for the Cup teams

Today is the day to hustle for the Cup teams, they arrived early this morning and with the new qualifying rules, they are in a rush today.  They get their two practice sessions, basically back to back, wait a little while, qualify tonight and then get their cars impounded until Sunday's race.  If that doesn't seem like enough for one day, the Craftsman Truck Series also practices, the Busch Series get a a couple practice session, trucks qualify and then race tonight after all the qualifying is over.  As you can see it's a very busy Friday at Atalanta.

What's on tap for Saturday?  Busch Series qualifying and then they race.

Sounds a bit lopsided to me.  Why put so much into Friday and only a couple of things on Saturday?  Maybe the speedway has other things going on on Saturday that made them schedule things this way, but the Cup guys have a wasted day.  They can't work on the cars because they're impounded, so unless they're pulling double duty and racing and/or working in the Busch Series, they're just going to sit around on Saturday.

I still think it was a big mistake to get rid of Happy Hour.  NASCAR wants the races to be exciting with a lot of racing, giving them that extra practice can help make the racing that much better.  Yes, it makes it more competitive by putting pressure on the teams to get the setup perfect the first time, but if any team misses the setup, it can lead to a very boring race with one car running away with it.  While every fan loves to see their driver win, we want to see exciting racing and when one driver runs away with it, even if it's our favorite, it's just not as exciting or fun.

Maybe I'm in the minority, I don't know, but cramming everything into Friday and having them sit around on Saturday doesn't seem to do anyone any good, the drivers, teams, the track, nor NASCAR.  I just wish they would bring Happy Hour back.

Why so much hate?

We all have drivers we dislike, that's just the nature of being a fan, but there seems to be a lot of hate out there for Kevin Harvick.  My question is why?

What has Harvick done that no other driver has done to make people hate him so much? 

I've read numerous articles and opinions on the latest penalties from the Las Vegas infractions and I see a lot of people saying that the penalty wasn't harsh enough for Harvick.  Why?  He got 25 driver points taken away, his crew chief, who was responsible for what happened, got fined and suspended for four races, why is that not enough?  Why are people going on and saying that Harvick should be fired?  I just don't get it.

So, why so much hate for Harvick?  Is it that he will retaliate against another driver if they do something to him?  So will practically any other driver out there.  Is it that he'll bump a driver out of his way for a win?  Wait, other drivers do that too.  Maybe it's because he won't be a yes man for NASCAR and isn't afraid to speak his mind?  Guess what, other drivers do that too.  So what is it?

The hate needs to stop, for Harvick or any other driver out there.  You can dislike a driver for whatever reason, but hate is going overboard, that driver has done nothing to you.

Picture Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images  taken from NASCAR.com article at:  http://www.nascar.com/2005/news/headlines/cup/03/14/kharvick_vegas/index.html