Kathy's Pit Stop

NASCAR Banquet tonight

Just a reminder for those interested in watching, the NASCAR Awards Banquet will be on ESPNClassic tonight at 9 PM ET/8 PM CT.  David Spade will be the "featured performer", I guess a new name for host?  ESPN2 will re-air the ceremony at midnight.

Although I'm not that thrilled with the outcome of the season, I will be watching as there are some drivers I like that will be at the table tonight.

Will you be watching?

Fike wants to return to racing, but will NASCAR let him?

Aaron Fike says he has turned his life around after being arrested back in July for shooting up on heroin.  After the arrest, the Craftsman Truck Series driver was suspended indefinitely by NASCAR and replaced by his team, Red Horse Racing. 

Fike says he realizes that the arrest saved his life and after four months of rehabilitation has returned to his home in Illinois and filed incorporation papers for his nonprofit "Racing Against Drugs."

"It will be dedicated to helping others, particularly young people, to avoid the terrible mistake I have made," Fike told the judge in his proposal.

Fike plans to set up an information tent at each NASCAR track, give motivational speeches on staying clean, make presentations at schools and mention the anti-drug campaign in every interview. He expects to have a Web site running next month.

Until the racing suspension is lifted, Fike will be barred from tracks. He hopes NASCAR will give him a temporary license that will lead to full reinstatement.

Along with is nonprofit organization, Fike really wants to return to racing, but the big question is when and if NASCAR will lift the suspension?  NASCAR has had driver suspensions before and generally seems to try and push things under the rug, saying their drug policy is fine and no changes to it are necessary.

NASCAR has indicated it will go slowly in recertifying Fike.

"It's possible, but he's got some work to do before we get there," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said. "After he's completed the legal process, he will have to undergo an evaluation by our substance abuse experts and follow a prescribed program that they would set for him."

Poston said NASCAR has no timetable other than "when we're confident he's ready to return." Fike said he'll do whatever it takes.

It sounds like there is a possibility of his return, at least from what NASCAR and Poston are saying.  They mentioned the legal process, so it sounds like they won't think about it until after his probation is over with, which was stated at two years, so that's another year and a half away.

Your thoughts?  Should NASCAR allow Fike to race again?

What were the biggest surprises/disappointments this season?

What do you think the biggest surprises or disappointments were this season?  I think the biggest surprise was Dale Earnhardt Jr. leaving DEI and going to HMS has to be the biggest surprise.  To his fans, it can also be viewed as a disappointment since most Earnhardt fans don't like HMS.

Disappointments, I guess, can be viewed by who you like.  Both Kasey Kahne and Greg Biffle were expected to have good seasons after last year, but both struggled most of the season.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Ryan Newman also had some bad luck, mostly mechanical, at least on Jr.'s side, I know Newman had a few mechanical problems too.

And if you're a Toyota or Michael Waltrip fan, the first year with Toyota didn't work out as well as they all had hoped.  Waltrip missed a number of races as did other Toyota drivers, Dave Blaney and Brian Vickers did give some good showings though, so there is still hope there.

Your thoughts?  What did you think were the biggest surprises and disappointments this season?

Let the withdrawls begin

Ok, this is weekend one of the off-season...great for the drivers, crews and everyone that works in the sport, but that means the start of withdrawls for NASCAR fanatics.

I'm sure the holidays make it a little easier for some, family is over, college football is on, etc., but if you don't watch football, this starts the long off-season of finding things to do on the weekends when you're normally watching racing.

What do you do during the off-season to pass the time?  I usually complain, play NASCAR video games, other games, complain, do things with the kids, get ready for Christmas and did I mention complain?  :)

In other words, I drive my family nuts waiting for NASCAR to start up again.

So how do you handle the off-season?

Oh and only 78 days until the Bud Shootout.   

Happy Thanksgiving :)

I wanted to wish everyone who visits the blog a very Happy Thanksgiving and hope you have a wonderful time with family or friends.  And yes, this even includes the ones I disagree with, I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.

NASCAR Illustrated names Jeff Burton 2007 Person of the Year

Every year, NASCAR Illustrated staffers name a Person of the Year in NASCAR for their efforts on and off the track, this year they chose Jeff Burton.

In addition to being one of the top drivers in the sport, Burton has been an advocate for improved driver safety as well as a top supporter of the Duke Children's Hospital. Burton and his wife Kim have raised well over a million dollars for the hospital and devoted countless hours of personal time to brightening the lives of seriously ill children. (part of an AT&T Press Release)

In honor of Person of the Year, Old Spice will donate $5,000 to Duke's Childrens Hospital in Burtons name, AT&T will match that donation of $5,000 to Duke's in honor of Burton winning the award.

Burton will appear on the cover of the December issue of NASCAR Illustrated.  Congrats to Jeff Burton on the award!

Kenseth wins Ford 400 and Johnson wins title

As expected Jimmie Johnson won the championship.

Matt Kenseth won the Ford 400 at Homestead in a rather dominating fashion, only a few times were other cars able to challenge him and then start to fade away, while Kenseth just kept on going.  Not bad considering they were having battery problems and there was also a mention of brakes too.

For the season finale, it was a rather boring race, not exactly what the fans were hoping for.  It would have been nice to see more battles on the track.  I do have to say good job to Jeff Burton and crew for battling back from tire problems early in the race to finish 8th.

Now, these cars will be no more, at least for the Cup Series and they'll move on to the COT, or whatever they want to call it.

Truex and Hamlin were the ones that finished outside of the top ten in the standings, meaning that while they made The Chase, they won't be at the table at the banquet.

Your thoughts?

Burton wins final Busch Series race - Childress wins Owners Championship

Jeff Burton won the final Busch Series race at Homestead over Carl Edwards and Mark Martin.  Ironically, Richard Childress owns the winning car and he won the Owners Championship too.  Mark Martin put on quite a charge to challenge Burton and had me worried there for a few laps, but then Edwards got in the mix and it helped let Burton pull ahead.

Interestingly, the car that won the Owners Championship was driven by two drivers during the season, Jeff Burton and Scott Wimmer, because they split time in the car, neither will be at the table at the Busch Series Banquet, but teammate Kevin Harvick will, finishing fourth in the standings even though he didn't run all the races.

Lots of cautions and most of the open wheel guys had trouble, another reason why I think they shouldn't be able to jump right up to the Cup Series.

Now it's the end of an era, the Busch Series is no more, next season it will be the Nationwide Series...Busch did the series proud and I'm sad to see them go.  Don't be surprised if I slip up from time to time next season and call it the Busch Series, that's all I've ever known it to be called.

Congrats to Burton and Richard Childress and all of RCR.

Your thoughts?

Hornaday wins Truck Championship - Skinner has bad luck

Ron Hornaday won his third Truck Championship at Homestead in a rather uncharacteristically boring truck race.  Normally, the truck series has the best battles on the track, but long green flag runs and the field being spread out gave the fans a rather boring truck race until the end with the green-white-checkered finish.

Johnny Benson won the race, passing Kyle Busch on the last lap.  Busch tried to give it one last shot by going up high to get some momentum to possibly pass Benson, but it looked like he went too high, got in the loose stuff and brushed the wall.  At least we had a good race to the finish with as boring as the rest of the race was, as I said, very uncharacteristic of the Truck Series.

Mike Skinner went into this race 29 points ahead of Hornaday.  Early in the race he thought he had a tire going down and they changed right side tires under green.  That put him a lap down.  Then green flag pit stops happened and since a few trucks were off sequence, both Skinner and Hornaday found themselves a lap down.  Then the unthinkable happened for Skinner, something didn't feel right and he had a vibration.  While heading down the access road to go to the pits, the left rear hub broke and the tire came off the truck, they had to go behind the wall to fix it and they spent 10 laps behind the wall, which basically put the nail in the coffin for Skinner.

Congrats to Hornaday for winning his third championship.

Your thoughts?

Skinner or Hornaday - who will win it?

It all comes down to tonight, the final race of the season with Mike Skinner 29 points ahead of Ron Hornaday.  Both have be very successful this season and I'm sure it'll go down to the final laps unless one of them runs into some bad luck and gets caught up in a wreck.

Skinner does have a slight advantage, he's 29 points ahead and he has the tendency to get the pole, so that could add up to more bonus points for him right away, but as we know, this is the truck series and anything can happen.

It'll also be interesting to see if teammates play any role in the title, Skinner has teammate Johnny Benson and Hornaday has teammate and owner, Kevin Harvick.  Skinner actually complained about both last week, Harvick because he drove through his pit stall and "threw off" his (Skinner's) pit crew's momentum and Benson, for not "giving" him a position at the end of the race.  We all know Harvick will play interference if given the opportunity, but would Benson do the same for Skinner?  I guess tonight will tell.

It should be an interesting race to say the least.  Who will win the Championship?  That's up for grabs, I think Skinner has a slight edge with the points lead, but I'll be hoping Hornaday can pull off the upset.

Your thoughts? 

Robbie Reiser's final crew chief duties will be at Homestead

In surprising news, Robbie Reiser, who has been Kenseth's crew chief since entering the Cup series and before in the Busch Series, is going to do his final crew chief duties at Homestead on Sunday. 

Reiser will still be at Roush Fenway though, moving up to General Manger, a position held now by Max Jones, Jones will move over to Yates Racing next season as their General Manager.  Resier said he was ready to move on to the next challenge and is happy with being able to spend more time with his family.  It's not that he doesn't like being a crew chief, but he does want to spend more time with his family and feels that this will give him that opportunity.

No news on who will replace him as Kenseth's crew chief next season.  Let the speculation begin. 

I think that while he'll still be at Roush Fenway, it'll be a bittersweet day for him and Kenseth on Sunday.

Your thoughts?

Roush to help Yates...and maybe himself too

With Yates moving next to the shops of Roush it wasn't too surprising to hear that Roush was going to help Yates out.  How exactly are they helping them out?  Well, Roush is going to build the cars for Yates now, along with their own, Yates will also have the technology and engineering help of Roush to help get the Yates cars back to what they once were, contenders.

With Yates struggling the way it was, it seemed like a nice gesture on Roush's part right?  I mean help a fellow Ford team out, but is it more than that?  Everyone knows that Roush will have to drop one of his cars to be within NASCAR's four car rule, I wouldn't be surprised if we see either the #16 or #26 move over to the Yates team when the time comes, essentially making them a three car team and Roush a four car team, well within NASCAR's rules.

Does NASCAR realize that this is what Roush/Yates might have in mind to get around the rule?  Probably, but I've been told that there's nothing in the rules that would prevent this from happening.

Your thoughts?

Johnson makes it four in a row and extends points lead

Jimmie Johnson won his fourth consecutive race and extended his points lead over teammate Jeff Gordon to 86 points.  According to the article I read, all Johnson has to do is finish 18th or better to win the championship. 

While it may look like Johnson has it sewed up, anything can happen and if he has a bad race, Gordon could win it, so even though Gordon has seemed to conceded by his comments, his fans still have some hope, although slim.

Kyle Busch, who was trying to make it a weekend sweep of all three races this weekend fell short and finished 8th. 

All three RCR cars did well, Harvick finishing 6th, Burton 9th and Bowyer 11th.  Although Bowyer can't win the Chase, it looks like he's sewed up 3rd in the standings.

Greg Biffle and Ryan Newman both had good races for a change, both finishing in the top ten, Biffle 2nd and Newman 5th.

The race wasn't as exciting as the Truck and Busch races this weekend, but at least there was passing.

Your thoughts?

Another open-wheeler goes full-time in NASCAR in 2008 and other news

Penske Racing made the announcement that Sam Hornish Jr. will run full-time in a third Penske car in 2008.  Hornish has made attempts to make a Cup race, but has not had any luck in making it.  Still Penske is moving forward and will be putting Hornish in the #77 with Mobil 1 as the sponsor.  Penske is also looking at the possibility of transferring the points from the #2 of Kurt Busch to the #77 to ensure that Hornish makes the first five races of the season, this will make Busch have to make it in on time or use the championship provisional to get in.

Hall of Fame Racing has confirmed they are going to make the move over to Toyota to keep their alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing.  They will field the #96 Toyota with J.J. Yeley and will also field a "test car" so to speak in a few races with Brad Coleman with the possibility of Coleman getting a full-time ride with them for 2009. 

Brad Coleman will leave the Joe Gibbs Racing Busch team at the end of the season and move to a full-time ride with Brewco Motorsports.  Coleman now shares his current #18 Joe Gibbs Racing ride in the Busch Series with other developmental drivers, the move gives him the chance to prove if he's got what it takes, which I think he does.

Doug Randolph, current crew chief for Bobby Labonte, is leaving Petty Enterprises at the end of the season to be the new crew chief for Paul Menard, rumor has it that Jeff Meendering, current car chief for Jeff Gordon, may be the new crew chief for Labonte next year.  Meendering has admitted talking to them and has said it is one of his options.

Your thoughts?

We all have favorite drivers, but what about favorite tracks?

We've discussed our favorite drivers and why we like them, but what about the tracks the races are held on?  Do you have a favorite track or type of track?  Are there any you can't stand?

I love the short tracks, Bristol and Martinsville are my favorites, Dover, Richmond and Darlington are tracks I like too.  Yes, tempers flare at these tracks, but there's just something about short track racing that's exciting, at least to me.  With all the new tracks trying to come in, most being the one and a half mile tracks, I'd love to see them build a one mile track like Bristol, I think that would be a good one.  The tracks I dislike the most are the road courses, those I could do without. 

So, what's your favorite track(s)?

Johnson finally wins one at Texas and takes the points lead

Jimmie Johnson got his first win at Texas, plus took the lead in points over Jeff Gordon with only two races to go.

Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart had some issues during the race where Stewart was practically lifting Harvicks car off the track, words were exchanged, at least over Harvicks radio that weren't very polite.  After that it appeared to be OK, as neither seemed to have any more issues on the track.

Denny Hamlin decided early in the race that AJ Almendinger was in the way and spun him out, it wasn't the last time Almendinger would have trouble, he spun quite a few times during the race, but that first time wasn't his fault as the commentators tried to blame him.

Hamlin wasn't quite finished though, after running up front for a while he started battling with Kenseth, they had some contact racing side by side and the next thing you know Hamlin was in the wall, the damage ended up taking him out of the race.

Your thoughts?

Harvick wins Texas Busch race - moves to second in all-time wins

Kevin Harvick won his sixth race this season at Texas Motor Speedway.  It put him up to 32 wins in the Busch Series, moving him into second all-time behind Mark Martin who has 47 all-time wins.  Congrats Harvick!

Looks like Kyle Busch's crew is still messing up this week, being very slow over the wall with the right front tire and putting it on, seemed a bit weird to me.  The reason was the tires weren't "set" because the crew chief Gustafson was still working on the Cup car.  He ended up bouncing back and finishing second, but he was disappointed and it showed and although I'm not a fan, I don't blame him one bit.  Wonder if there will be another mess up in the pits on Sunday?

Carl Edwards clinched the championship, giving Roush his second Busch Championship.

Your thoughts?