Kathy's Pit Stop

Johnson dominates Dover

Jimmie Johnson dominated the race at Dover and won.  Unlike the other races this weekend, the fastest car did win, as was shown in the final 20 laps of the race with how fast he closed in on the leaders.  I will say that I'm not a Johnson fan, but Knaus really knows how to set up a car and if they happen to miss the setup, he adds his magical touch to make the car better by the end of the race, just wondering how long that'll last.

Oh and look who's in the points lead...Tony Stewart.  Where are all the naysayers and detractors that said he was gonna do bad this year with his new team?  Don't hear them anymore do you?  Tony proved that it's a combination that puts you up there and even though they haven't won a points race yet, he's first in points now.

You're thoughts?

Tony Eury Jr. out as Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s crew chief

It was announced today, that Tony Eury Jr. will not be Jr.'s crew chief anymore.  Brian Whitesell will be in for this weekend at Dover and then Lance McGrew will take over next week while they look for a replacement. 

Honestly, I thought it was a bad move for Jr. to take Eury Jr. with him, he needed a clean break, which this season has shown.  Not that Eury Jr. is a bad crew chief, not that at all, it's just it hasn't worked well with them for quite a while, even before Jr. made the move to Hendrick. 

There had been a lot of talk as to when this might happen and I guess this last weekend was just the nail in the coffin that told them the move had to be made now.  I'm actually surprised it took this long, but I wish them all well.

Your thoughts?

Rain shortened 600 - what a joke

NASCAR really proved it's inconsistency this time.  I realize that they can't do much about the weather, but, NASCAR aways says that they will only start a race when they think they can get the whole race in.  If anyone had any doubts, they were proven yesterday with the 600.  Everyone knew there was no way they could get the whole race in, heck, look how long it took to get 227 laps in, which is just past halfway.  Why can't NASCAR just be honest and say we're gonna try to make it halfway before the rain ruins everything?  That's what they do, I mean everyone knew there was no way they were going to get the whole race in, but NASCAR still spouted their line.

Reutimann ended up being the benefactor at the end, electing not to pit and ended up winning.  I was a bit confused with how many actually pitted, I guess they were thinking they'd get back out there and run a few more laps.

I definitely can't say there was anything exciting about the race, with the small amounts of racing in between the rain delays, it made it difficult to get into the race.  I can only imagine how frustrated and/or boring it was for the drivers and pit crews.

Hopefully the next race will hold some excitement.

Your thoughts?

Gordon undergoes procedure for back problems

We've heard for a while now about Jeff Gordon's re-occurring back pain, some say it's an excuse for his performance last, but back pain is no laughing matter and I can see how it can easily affect a drivers performance.  Yes, I guess you could say I'm defending him in this case, you can take the shocked look of your faces now.

Gordon underwent a procedure on Monday to see if it can alleviate some of the pain, obviously the physical therapy and other things they were doing didn't help much.  Gordon wanted this done mainly because the 600 is such a grueling race for a driver, even in perfect condition.

So far there has been no updates as to if the procedure helped or not, but after reading up a little on this procedure, it seems like it's only a temporary fix.  If it helps, I imagine they would keep doing the procedure whenever it bothers him again, but from what I read, if this doesn't work, surgery is the next option.

Back pain or not, he'll still be racing, just like any other injured driver.  I remember before Mark Martin had his back surgery, he had to be helped and even lifted in and out of the car, the pain was so bad.  I hope Gordon's never gets that bad, but surgery may be in his future, before or after he leaves the sport.

Even though I'm not a Gordon fan, I wish him well and hope this helps his back.    As for the race this weekend, I'm looking forward to it and am hoping that there is no rain!

Darlington Demolition

Darlington definitely lived up to it's name as being the track "too tough to tame".  You definitely can't say that this race was boring. 

Even with all the cautions there were some green flag runs, although none were really that long, but there was a lot of action on the track.  Yes, there were the wrecks, but there was also racing for position, although it wasn't for the lead as most would have liked to see, but you got a lot of typical short track racing.  I'm not sure if there was a car out there that didn't have a mark on it of some sort, whether it be from bumping someone on the track or scraping the wall, everyone seemed to have some kind of damage, which seems to be typical of Darlington.

With 17 cautions, breaking the record, Sam Hornish seemed to have been involved in a lot of them, it definitely wasn't his night, that's for sure, I lost count of how many incidents he was involved in.

Congrats to Mark Martin for the win, he may not have been the dominant car all night, but he was there when it counts the most.

Night racing at Richmond

After a slow start to the race because of showers during the day, they got underway under caution, which was a disappointment, I've never liked it when they do that.  After a caution for a spin, there was a long green flag run and it looked as if this was going to be a long race for the drivers struggling with the handling of their cars.  But after that long green flag run,, it started becoming your typical short track racing under the lights, not a lot of laps between cautions, it looked like the boys turned it up a notch.

A lot of the cautions seemed to be caused by typical short track stuff, more than one car racing for the same piece of real estate, it also seemed that Hornish was involved in a lot of those incidents. 

Congrats to Kyle Busch for the win on Friday and Saturday nights.