Kathy's Pit Stop

NASCAR hands down fines and docks points for Pattie and team

NASCAR came down hard on NASCAR Busch Series crew chief Brian Pattie for the illegal tires at Bristol.  NASCAR fined Patties $35,000, suspended him for the next six Busch Series races and put him on probation until December 31st.  Pattie was found to be in violation of Sections 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing), 9-4-A (the crew chief assumes responsibility for the actions of his team members) and 12-4-GG (any possession of or use of one or more tires that have been altered externally by unauthorized treatment) of the 2005 NASCAR Busch Series rule book.

Brandon Stafford, the tire specialist, was also suspended for six races and put on probation until December 31st for violating 12-4-A and 12-4-GG.

The worst part was that Reed Sorenson, driver of the #41 got penalized 50 points, along with Ganassi being penalized 50 owner points for violating Sections 12-4-A and 12-4-GG.

I agree with the crew chief and tire specialist fines and penalties and can even see them docking Ganassi points, maybe not 50, but some points.  I don't understand why Sorenson, who had nothing to do with it, he didn't even know anything about it until Pattie and Stafford were escorted out of Bristol, why did he have to lose points?  And why was it 50?  I've never seen them dock someone that much, especially for something he had nothing to do with!

I've never agreed with them taking points away from drivers when they had nothing to do with it, owners okay, but not the drivers, only if the driver did something should he lose points.  And then for it to be 50, I just don't get it.

Thanks to his crew chief, Sorenson can kiss any hopes that were still alive for the championship.  I hope Ganassi takes a good hard look at what Pattie did and deals with it correctly, like fire him, because I sure don't want him around to help screw  Sorenson over again next year.

Points shake-up at Bristol for NASCAR's Chase

As expected, there was a points shake-up at Bristol Motor Speedway, the top seven stayed the same position wise, but the rest got shuffled up a bit.

Matt Kenseth not only won the race in dominating fashion, but he was also the one who gained the biggest amount in points, moving up four spots to 11th in the standings and is only 11 points out of 10th.

Just like with most Bristol races, there were a lot of cautions and bad feelings to go around because of the tight racing and bumping going on.  Edwards seemed to have had in it for Petty Enterprise, it was just a coincidence mind you, but he first spun Jeff Green and then later in the race spun Kyle Petty.  Petty talked to him after the race, they showed in on camera, them talking, but there was no audio, but it looked like Kyle was just explaining to him about what he did and maybe saying something about impatience on Edwards part and Edwards seemed to have been trying to defend himself from what Kyle was saying.  They shook hands afterward, so it seems all good between them.

The other big incident was between Ryan Newman and Dale Jarrett, it didn't end that well, Jarrett refused to talk to reporters after the race.  Newman bumped Jarrett and spun him, Jarrett hitting the rear of his car on the wall.  Sixteen laps later when Jarrett was back out, Newman was passing him on the high side, Jarrett turned right into Newman and took both of them out, along with damaging Harvick heavily and also damaging McMurray, Bliss and Earnhardt Jr.  Jarrett was held two laps for rough driving once they got the car repaired enough to go back out on the track.

Harvick was clearly mad and it didn't seem to be at Jarrett or Newman, it seemed more like he was mad at his spotter and team.  Very frustrated about the whole thing and the way the team has been going this year, I wonder if he will re-sign with Childress or go somewhere else?

The second biggest mover, Chase wise, was Jeff Gordon, moving up two spots into 10th in the standings, although he is in now, he's got a lot of hungry guys behind him that are fairly close in points.

The top four - Stewart, Johnson, Biffle and Wallace are basically locked into the Chase, all they have to do is start the final two races before the Chase and they are in.  The rest still can get shuffled up a bit, but I think Martin is pretty much safely in and also Mayfield and Busch as long as nothing catastrophic happens to them.  The rest of the them will be fighting all the way until the checkered flag flies at Richmond.

Only 50 points separate 8th through 10th, so they can easily be shaken up in just one race as we saw at Bristol and only 117 points separate 10th through 15th, so these final two races are going to mean a lot to a lot of drivers.  With as close as it is, it is too hard to say who will make it and who won't, we won't really know all of the Chase drivers until the checkered flag flies at Richmond.

The question that comes to mind is that when it does come to Richmond, how many drivers will remember what happened at Bristol and who will retaliate?  No matter what, these final two races should be telling and Richmond should be very exciting.

Picture credit - CIA Stock Photo

Newman wins a green-white-checkered for his third consecutive Busch Series win

Ryan Newman won his third consecutive Busch Series race in the NASCAR Busch Series on Friday night.

It was a race delayed by rain, 12 cautions total, which is fairly normal for Bristol Motor Speedway.

Newman held off a hard charging Kasey Kahne for a while until contact between the two sent Kahne spinning.  Once the green flag flew again he had to hold off Greg Biffle, who in turn had to worry about Keven Harvick.  A caution in the closing laps set up a green-white-checkered and Newman was able to hold off Biffle and win the race.

Reed Sorenson was able to move up from his 42nd starting position and finish 11th, despite a spin earlier in the race.  I think it was great that he was able to pull off a good finish despite the problems earlier on Friday with his crew chief and tire specialist screwing up and getting kicked out of Bristol.  All I can say about that whole thing is....STUPID.

Martin Truex Jr. retained his points lead over Bowyer, Sorenson kept his third position in the standings, only losing 20 points over the whole thing.  Even if Sorenson is penalized points for his crew chiefs and tire specialists stupidity, he'll still remain 3rd in the standings.

It'll be interesting to see what the Cup Series has to offer at Bristol on Saturday night, hard racing and  maybe even some paybacks.  Hey, it's Bristol, anything can happen.

Crew Chief gets escorted from Bristol - screws team

Reed Sorenson, running for Rookie of the Year in the Busch Series, lost his crew chief today to stupidity.

Brian Pattie, pictured to the left with Reed Sorenson, was escorted from Bristol Motor Speedway, along with team tire specialist Brandon Stafford, for altering the tires that a NASCAR official noticed a crew member rubbing something on the tires.  Big no-no.

Penalties will be coming and I'm sure the fines will be hefty.  The worst part of the whole thing is that Reed Sorenson has to suffer for something his crew chief did or told someone to do.  Sorenson will have to start at the tail end of the field and will not be allowed to qualify at all.  The team was also forced to buy all new tires.

My biggest question is why?  I mean I know you want to try and give your driver an edge and help him, but why do something like this that can be detrimental to the team?  The team and Sorenson are the ones that have to suffer for this and it's just not fair.  I mean you have a driver that's third in points, is running for Rookie of the Year and now he'll probably lose points because of this, how Pattie thought this would help him is beyond me.

Hopefully, Sorenson can still somehow pull off a good finish and concentrate on the race instead of what happened earlier today.

Picture credit - Autostock and Nascar.com

Mayfield gambles and it pays off

Mayfield and his team gambled on fuel mileage at the end of the race and it paid off, giving him his first win of the season and moving him up to 6th in points.

Tires were an issue for some, left rears mostly, one thing NASCAR and Goodyear can't blame on camber, but the biggest issue was the trash flying around the track.  The trash collected on the grills of many cars and some had to make pit stops to take care of it.  I'm not sure what needs to be done, but the tracks need to do something about this.

There wasn't a big shuffle in points, most stayed about the same, some moved up one and some moved down, but no one outside of the top ten really made any big gains on that 10 place position as the Chase gets closer.  Both Stewart and Johnson officially locked themselves into the Chase, so they can breath a little easier, but I really don't see either one of them letting up any.

Next week is Bristol, it should be interesting how the points look after that one.

Newmans wins and Truex gains big in the points

Ryan Newman won again on Saturday, making that two Busch Series races in a row, now he just needs to send that luck or whatever you want to call it over to the Cup side.

Martin Truex gained big in the points with Bowyer finishing 30th and Sorenson 36th, their finishing positions were not of their own doings though.  Bowyer didn't have enough gas because they didn't fill it enough on the prior pit stop, so he had to pit again and Sorenson, blew another engine, that makes two weeks in a row!  Truex now has a huge lead over Bowyer and Sorenson, 204 and 324 respectively.  Unless something bad happens to Truex in a few consecutive races, he's basically won the championship.

Ganassi needs to figure out what's going on with their cars.  This makes two weeks in a row that Sorenson finished out because of a blown engine, they need to figure out why this is happening and fix it.  If they want Sorenson to be able to contend for the championship next year and also compete in the Cup Series, they need to figure out their equipment and make it better. 

I still think the kid is good and is an up and coming star, but he needs good equipment to do it in and Ganassi isn't giving it to him.

Another Wallace wins at Michigan!

Steve Wallace, son of Rusty Wallace, made his third start in the ARCA race at Michigan today.  Wallace turned 18 on Thursday, which allowed him to enter the race at Michigan.  Michigan is considered a super speedway and you have to be 18 to race at those tracks.

Wallace started 5th, he had a shot at the pole, but he over drove the car, but 5th was still a good start for only his third race. 

This was the first time I was able to see him race, thanks to the Speed channel showing the ARCA race.  They set him up in a damn good car, he was able to take the lead fairly early and kept it until he made his green flag pit stop.  The stop was scary, not that Wallace or the crew did anything wrong, but the yellow flag flew as he was leaving his pit stall.  Luckily, with everyone else pitting and when the yellow flew compared to where he was, he stayed on the lead lap and ended up restarting second.  He took the lead back rather quickly, but there were more cautions which kept closing up the field.

The race ended with a green-white-checkered, something Wallace had never done before in a stock car, but he pulled it off and got his first ARCA win in only his third start and on a super speedway no less.  Way to go Steve!  I wonder if he heard me cheering him on?  I was loud enough, just ask my family.

Rusty Wallace had to do Trackside Live, so had to go to the booth before the race was over, they kept informing him what was happening and you should have seen the smile on his face when they showed him the final lap when Steve won..."I'm one proud papa", he said and you could see it on his face, he was very proud of his son.

I heard stories that the kid was good and they weren't tall tails, the kid is good.  He will race a few more ARCA races and I think they have him set up to run a couple of Busch races later this year too.

Where and when he'll end up as a full-time driver is still up in the air.  Rusty doesn't want to move him into the Busch Series too soon, so they're just seeing how things go.  Richard Childress also has his eyes on him, so we may wind up seeing him in a Childress Cup car sometime in the future.

Maybe it's time for a Chase format in the Busch Series

I know a lot of people do not like the Chase format that NASCAR implemented, but it did do what they intended it to do, it made the racing more exciting in the last ten races for the casual fan and it gave the sport more attention.  NASCAR has said that they have no intention of implementing the same type of format for the Busch Series, but maybe it's time they did.

I was looking over the last few years (1995 - 2004) of the Busch Series final points standings and there were only a few that were close, most were not.

1995 - Johnny Benson won by 404 points over Chad Little

1996 - Randy LaJoie won by 29 points over David Green, but 650 points over third place Todd Bodine

1997 - Randy LaJoie won by 266 points over Todd Bodine

1998 - Dale Earnhardt Jr. won by 48 points over Matt Kenseth, but 424 points over third place Mike McLaughlin

1999 - Dale Earnhardt Jr. won by 280 points over Jeff Green

2000 - Jeff Green won by 616 points over Jason Keller

2001 - Kevin Harvick won by 124 points over Jeff Green

2002 - Greg Biffle won by 280 points over Jason Keller

2003 - Brian Vickers won a close one over David Green by 14 points, third place Ron Hornaday was 46 points behind

2004 - Martin Truex Jr. won by 230 points over Kyle Busch and 605 points over third place Greg Biffle

As you can see, most were large margins of victory in the points and if they brought a Chase like format, it would make the final races more exciting and I think it could get more coverage for the Busch Series, which I think doesn't get enough.

NASCAR keeps saying that they don't want to say no to the "Buschwackers" because it brings more people in to watch the races, I can understand that, but there are quite a few fans and drivers who hate the fact of them being in there and taking money and points away from full-time drivers and teams.

I say bring in the Chase format or something similar and don't allow full-time Cup drivers that are not full-time in the Busch Series to be in the Chase.  Let's say a Cup driver competed in a lot of races and hypothetically is tenth in points when the Chase (or whatever they call it) begins.  They would not be allowed because they are not a full-time Busch driver, so the eleventh place driver would actually make it in.  That way the Cup drivers can still compete, but not interfere.

I hope this all makes sense.  I think the Busch Series deserves more attention than it gets and it shouldn't be just because Cup Series regulars are racing in it and I think this is one way they could get more attention.

NASCAR's Race for the Chase heating up

It should be pretty interesting to see what the outcome of the points battle for the Chase will show.  With just four races left to either make it or not, there are some hoping to stay hanging in the top-ten and there are others hoping to make it in.

The way I see it, the top four are pretty much safely in, barring problems for consecutive weeks for third and fourth.  Fifth place Mark Martin should be safe as long as he stays consistent and doesn't have any problems.

Ninety-nine points separate sixth through tenth and and seventy points separate tenth through fourteenth, so the points within the Chase and out of it, could easily be shaken up in just one race.

Newman, McMurray and Edwards are trying to hang in the top-ten, one bad race and they could be on the outside looking in. Sadler, Jarrett, Gordon and Harvick are on the outside looking in, but any of them could make it in the top-ten in just one race.  Carl Edwards is sitting in tenth and right now, he's the one that everyone on the outside is looking to do better than. 

We might not see that much of a shakeup at Michigan this weekend, but we could see a big shakeup the following weekend at Bristol.  Two of the drivers on the outside that want to make it in are known for bumping and pushing out of their way on the track (Gordon and Harvick), that's something I'm sure we'll see as we get closer to Richmond.

No matter how you look at it, we won't know the full Chase lineup until after Richmond.

Coo Coo Marlin loses his battle

Please keep the Marlin family in your thoughts and prayers.

Coo Coo Marlin, father of NASCAR Nextel Cup driver Sterling Marlin, passed away early Sunday in his long battle against lung cancer.

Sterling Marlin left Watkins Glen late Thursday when he got the call that his father was gravely ill.  David Stremme got the call to practice the car and qualify if necessary until they heard from Sterling.

The news on Saturday had seemed to be better, Coo Coo had stabilized, but they said the next 12 hours would be critical.  Unfortunately, he took a turn for the worse and died early Sunday morning.  He had been battling lung cancer for quite some time.

Scott Pruett was to be standing by just in case and he will drive the #40 this weekend for Marlin.  No word yet on if Marlin will be back for next Sunday or if they  will need to find a replacement for him, but it would be completely understandable if he didn't race next weekend also.

Coo Coo Marlin was a respected member in the NASCAR family and although he never won an actual points race, he was considered a contender.  The picture above is of the three generations of Marlins, from left to right Steadman Marlin, Sterling Marlin and Coo Coo Marlin.

The Marlin family asks that in lieu of flowers, that well-wishers send a donation to the American Lung Association in Coo Coo's name.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the Marlin family.