Kathy's Pit Stop

Johnson gets away again

It looks like Johnson not only gets to keep his win, but gets away with not even being fined for the shock deal at Dover.  For those who haven't heard, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch both failed their initial post-race inspection at Dover, their cars were too high.  After about a half an hour, the cars settled enough to pass inspection.  Huh?  Since when are cars given extra time and second chances during post-race inspection?  I guess only if you're Jimmie Johnson. 

NASCAR took their shocks and shocks of the two Penske cars and two Roush cars to compare and inspect.  No fines, no nothing, except they might come out with a new shock rule.  No word on what the wording of the new rule will be, but they are expected to come out with it soon.

They basically said they technically didn't cheat, they just used the shock in a way that it's not intended to be used.  They also went on to say that the shocks were within the rules, hence no penalty.  But it's enough to come out with a new shock rule.

I'm sorry, it's just plain wrong.  It's not fair to the other nine teams in the Chase, nor to the other drivers in the race.  Johnson and Busch were allowed to get away with it.  No offense to Johnson fans, but it sure looks like NASCAR has their favorite for the Championship picked out.

Picture credit - Autostock and NASCAR.com

Lowe's repaved and ?

With all the complaints about the condition of the track at Lowe's from the last race and test sessions, it looks like it will get repaved.  Not before this years race, but next year.  I haven't heard of any time table on it though.

I have not problem with that, if it'll help the racing, I'm all for it.  There is one thing that's been going around about Lowe's that I don't like.  Granted, it is just talk at the moment, but restrictor plates were mentioned!  I don't know about you, but I don't want more restrictor plate races.  Let's just hope this is something that won't happen.

The Chase Shuffle

It looks as if we may see this just about every week.  All but two spots in the Chase changed with the race at Dover, Newman and Busch stayed the same, everyone else either moved up or down.

Jimmie Johnson tamed the monster with teammate Kyle Busch on his tail in a green-white-checkered finish. 

The question on everyones mind during pre-race, was were teammates not in the Chase going to play a role, would they get in the way to help a teammate?  Everyone basically knows that teammates will and can play a role during a race, but when it comes down to the win, how will it play out?  Would there be "team orders"?  According to Kyle Busch, there were no team orders and he proved it, he got teammate Johnson little loose before the last caution and also on the green-white-checkered.  To quote Busch - "I know he's a Chase (driver), but it doesn't matter much to me. I'm trying to race as hard as I can to win."  And that he did, he was on Johnson's tail, got him a little loose, but not enough to chase him up the track to get by.

Rusty Wallace had a good run, finishing third and moving up to second in the standings only seven points behind Johnson.  Yay Rusty!  Too bad there weren't more laps to go since his car seemed to have gotten better the longer they ran, same with Martin, but he didn't have enough for Johnson.  Still a great run for him for his final race at Dover.

Johnson moved up five spots in the standings to first, while point leader Tony Stewart fell four spots to fifth with a eighteenth place finish.  Kenseth had the worst luck of the Chase drivers with two cut tires, one putting him in the wall and relegating him to a thirty-fifth place finish.

Points now -

1. Jimmie Johnson   Leader
2. Rusty Wallace        -7
3. Ryan Newman       -12
4. Mark Martin          -21
5. Tony Stewart        -23
6. Greg Biffle            -23
7. Jeremy Mayfield    -81
8. Carl Edwards         -103
9. Matt Kenseth        -124
10. Kurt Busch            -170

Penalties handed out - NASCAR falls short again

"NASCAR will use whatever means necessary to stop it."  That's what Helton said on Sunday and reiterated Monday when they handed out the penalties, but that's not what their actions say.

• Robby Gordon - $35,000 fine and docked 50 points for his actions.  Car owner James Smith was also docked 50 points.  I thought Robby owned his own car?
• Kasey Kahne - $25,000 and docked 25 points.  Evernham docked 25 owner points.
• Michael Waltrip - $10,000 and docked 25 points.  Teresa Earnhardt also docked 25 owner points.
• Brian Vickers - 25 points and Mary Hendrick (listed owner) was also docked 25 owner points.  Crew chief Lance McGrew was fined $10,000.

After hearing about the fines and penalties, how is that using "whatever means necessary to stop it"?  The fines and penalties aren't really any heavier than they usually are, so how is that going to put a stop to it?  The headline to NASCAR.com's article was titled "Hit 'em where it hurts," how is taking away points (no more than usual mind you, Gordon's was for multiple offenses) going to stop anything when the drivers are not in contention for the Chase, nor are they in contention for the 11th place prize?

NASCAR should have parked them for at least a race, no points, no money, no nothing. 

Newman wins and tempers flare

Ryan Newman won his first race of the season, when he needed to do well, he got it done.  Newman was leading when Stewart passed him with 8 laps to go, Newman seemed to get close a couple of times, but it didn't look like he was going to be able to do it.  But, with just 2 laps to go, Newman got by Stewart and held him off for the win, his first of the season and a much needed boost for the team.

Tempers flaring was the other story of the day and there was plenty of that going around.  Kurt Busch got spun early, Riggs was underneath Busch and apparently got loose and got into Busch.  Admittedly, I was away from the TV when the wreck happened, but saw Busch's reaction, wanting to go discuss things with Riggs' crew chief.  Busch ended up finishing 35th, putting him behind the 8 ball, so to speak, after the first race of the Chase.

A similar incident on the track involving Kyle Busch and Kasey Kahne had a different outcome.  It appeared, same as before, that Kyle Busch got loose, got into Kahne and Kahne hit the wall hard.  Once he got the car going again, when they were under caution, Kahne drove up the track and hit Busch's car and stopped in front of him, he thought Busch wrecked him on purpose.

The other incident was between Michael Waltrip and Robby Gordon, under caution no less.  Different stories ensued between the two of exactly what happened, but the end result was a wrecked race car of Robby Gordon.  Gordon then said over the radio, something to the effect of NASCAR are you listening?  I will get him back.  He then proceeded to walk out on the track, in the middle of traffic and threw his helmet at Waltrip.  If all that wasn't bad enough for Gordon, he didn't watch his language in the interview after the wreck, calling Waltrip a piece of shit if I remember it correctly.

After the race, NASCAR said there will be stiff penalties coming out of these incidents.  They were clearly not happy and said they will put an end to these pay-back incidents, however they have to.  They hinted at the possibility, but wouldn't come out and say they would, of parking drivers. 

I guess the biggest question is will NASCAR back up their words with actions?  One thing is sure, fines will be forthcoming.  We'll just have to wait and see what else, if anything, NASCAR does.

*picture credit - autostock

Musgrave hopes to continue his charge

Ted Musgrave was at the top of the charts in Friday's final practice for the truck series and he hopes to move closer to Dennis Setzer on Saturday. 

Three races ago, Setzer had a 227 point lead over Musgrave, that lead is now only 49 points going into New Hampshire. Both drivers have done well at New Hampshire, Setzer has a win there and Musgrave has finished 3rd in last three races there.   

A few races ago, it seemed like Setzer had the championship just about locked up, now it seems there may be a race to see who becomes the champion.  Neither driver has won a championship in the Craftsman Truck Series and although I have nothing against Setzer, I'm hoping this is the year Musgrave gets it, he's come so close and should have won it before if it hadn't been for NASCAR's stupid call in the final race.  If you don't remember, Musgrave got penalized for an illegal pass when all he was doing was avoiding hitting Travis Kvapil.

I'm hopeful that Musgrave can possibly carry his momentum of practice over to the race and win it and some bad luck on Setzer's part wouldn't hurt either.

*Picture credit - Autostock

Truex Jr. fined and docked points

Martin Truex Jr. got fined $10,000 and docked 25 driver points for giving driver Mike Wallace the one finger salute, or as NASCAR would call it, an inappropriate gesture, violating Section 12-4-A of the 2005 NASCAR Busch Series rule book (actions detrimental to stock car racing).  He was also placed on probation until December 31, 2005 and Teresa Earnhardt was also docked 25 owner points.

You knew it was coming, they did it when Hmiel did it to Jarrett with their in-car confrontation, so it was pretty obvious that Truex Jr. would get fined and docked points too.

I don't think the points are that much of a concern at this point, Truex Jr. still holds a 69 point lead over Bowyer after the penalty.  He just came off a bad race and unless he has more problems as the season winds down, I pretty much expect him to get the championship.

The Chase is set

Kurt Busch won the Chevy Rock 'n Roll 400 at Richmond and the Chase was set.

For a long time, it looked like it was going to go down to the last lap between Newman and McMurray to see who would get the final spot in the Chase, but McMurray's night was stopped short when he got slammed into the inside wall under caution on lap 363.

It seemed to be lucky for Newman, because after McMurray got wrecked out, Newman fell from 8th to 12th by the time the race ended.  If McMurray hadn't been wrecked out, who knows who would had made it in.

Surprisingly, McMurray didn't seem too mad when he was interviewed after he got out of the car, but comments he made to reporters (either off camera or after the race, I'm not sure which) seemed to show the frustration and what I had expected in the interview after the wreck.

According to an article on nascar.com, this is also what McMurray had to say that wasn't shown on TV -

"The No. 37 [Tony Raines] ran into me after the caution came out," McMurray said of the spin-and-crash that ended his night prematurely. "There's a reason that guy doesn't have a ride, and I guess he showed that [Saturday night].

"[Raines] was in the way all night. He just couldn't get out of the way. He tried, but I don't know what he was racing for or how many laps down he even was."

The other big news is that Jeff Gordon didn't make the Chase either, his hopes were dashed on lap 211 when he hit the wall, although his chances were slim to make it in, anything could have happened.  He said they'll use these last ten races to work on the team for next year.

Many are asking can NASCAR have successful Chase with Earnhardt  Jr. and Gordon?  I say, of course!  While they may be the two most popular drivers in the sport, they don't make the sport and they will still be racing in each race all the way to the end just like everyone else, the only difference is they won't be racing for the championship.

It will be interesting to see if NASCAR reiterates their warning about on track incidents as they did in Richmond.  There were three drivers (Robby Gordon, Sterling Marlin and Tony Raines), that I know of, that got 5 lap penalties for rough driving.  I wonder if NASCAR is going to take this stand in the last ten races?

Wild night in Richmond

It was a wild night at Richmond, 11 cautions, black flags and scary rides.  I wonder if this is a precursor of what we can see in the Cup Series on Saturday night.  Harvick may have won the race in dominating, but that wasn't the big story.

Erin Crocker made her debut in the Busch Series, but it was overshadowed by the rest of the incidents last night.  Still, until she lost the car, she was doing fairly decent in her first run.

Martin Truex Jr. took a hit in points.  First, he got a black flag on lap 174 for contact with Matt Kenseth that knocked one of his hood pins loose.  The hood was flapping and NASCAR apparently thought that it was in danger of flipping open, although it still had three of the four pins still in.  Truex Jr. finally honored the black flag once they were told that they would stop scoring him if he didn't answer the flag.  That put him two laps down.

If that wasn't bad enough.  Later on in the race, he was coming strong on the outside of Mike Wallace in the #38, when Wallace went up the track and pinned Truex Jr. into the wall, causing Truex Jr. to go for a will ride along the wall, wheels on the wall and drivers side on the track.  Truex Jr. was OK, but angry and he flipped Wallace off, which was noticed by NASCAR officials and anyone watching the race.  What happened to the delay they supposedly have?  Wallace's spotter admitted he had cleared Wallace and that Wallace didn't know that Truex Jr. was there.

They actually got the car back out and Truex Jr. finished 27th.  Bowyer gained a lot of points with his 11th place finish and is now 94 points behind Truex Jr.  But penalties could still come for Truex Jr. sometime next week since NASCAR said "they are reviewing the incident", meaning him flipping Wallace off.  Wallace, after the race, took the blame for the wreck, not even blaming his spotter.

It will be interesting to see if NASCAR docks Truex Jr. points for his hand gesture, they did it with Hmiel in a Busch race when he flipped Jarrett off in his car.

Skinner's on a roll

Mike Skinner won his second race in a row in the Craftsman Truck Series race Thursday night in Richmond.  I'm not sure what they've done to the trucks these last few weeks, but he's gone from - still trying to get a win to two wins in a row, hats off to the team.

The race had a record setting 12 cautions in it's finally run.  Richmond won't be on the schedule next year to make room for the Talladega race, if you ask me they could have just added one race, I'm going to miss the Richmond races.

With his two wins and Setzer's problems, Skinner has gained 199 points on points leaded Dennis Setzer in the last two weeks, he is now within 205 points.  While it may seem like a lot of points, it's not impossible to overcome, just look at the last two weeks.

Ted Musgrave finished 4th and gained a bunch of points thanks to Setzer's tire trouble.  Setzer had damage to his truck when he had a tire go down and it damaged the sway bar, he finished 34th.  Musgrave went into the race 143 points behind Setzer, now is only 49 points behind.  In an interview after the race, Musgrave didn't seem to be too happy with his points gain, he was rather matter-of-fact about it, as he said, they'll just keep trying to cut away at the points deficit.  Nothing cocky or over-confident in that statement, in fact I would have thought he would have been happier than he seemed.