Lug NutZ

Kyle Busch for President

By: Dennis Terry

Boyer wins the best NASCAR race since Darlington 2003!

And once again Hamlin's luck runs out after dominating the race all night. That boy really needs to start living right and going to church and helping the needy and all. In NASCAR you have bad luck, very bad luck and Denny Hamlin.

NASCAR parked Waltrip after his two lap demolition derby with Casey Mears. Driving like that was real smart! I think both of them were a couple of laps down, so what did all that prove anyway???

And, of course, the big story of the night and maybe all year, was Kyle Busch punting JR., opening the door for third place Boyer to take the lead. Looked to me like JR. came down on Busch in the corner leading to a good ol' classic Earnhardt cage rattlin!!!

Busch took advantage of his 'opportunity' and purposely turned right into JR., sending the 88 into the wall and ending JR's chance at his first points victory for Hendrick Motorsports.

I know its poor sportsmanship and redneck and all, but I sure loved seeing all the Jr. fans throwing Budweiser cans at Busch! I think even some Busch fans were throwing M&Ms at the 18 car.

Ironically, just days after our blog finally figures out how to identify the characteristics ofa truly great driver, Kyle Busch again proves why he is the class of the field when it comes to talent and classless when it comes to integrity and character.

DT

What Makes a Driver Great?

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By: Dennis Terry

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As a follow up to my previously blog “Hendrick or Gibbs”, I really liked what Kari had to say concerning Busch and Jr...

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"KyBu is apparently an acquired taste and I haven't acquired it. I can't see anything appealing or anything that makes me want to root for him, whether he wins 0, 1 or 101 races.

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I'm a Junior fan regardless."

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That's the attitude that I like the most about our sport.  We have great drivers who are loathed and not so great drivers who are cherished by the masses.  Everyone of us wants to be the best and to win at everything we do, but even when a driver is not sitting at the top of the points sheet, he still has the opportunity to have a loyal fan base because of his personality and charisma on and off the track.

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Kari’s attitude is what keeps drivers like Kyle Petty and Ken Schrader racing each week.  That same attitude from the core NASCAR fan base also keeps some of NASCAR’s “pre Madonna” egos in check a bit.  No matter how good you think you are, if the fans don’t like you or they can’t relate to you, it’s hard to maintain top notch sponsors.

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Jeff Burton, Jimmy Johnson and Ryan Newman have all mastered both in my opinion.  They are all great drivers AND great personalities who appeal to a large majority of both diehard NASCAR fans and fans who only watch a few races a year.

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If you are the greatest driver in the world but the fans don’t buy your memorabilia or support your sponsors are you really that great???  What if you are a mediocre driver who is consistently competitive and somewhat victorious, but you have a long line of sponsors seeking your endorsement along with a fan base bigger than Elvis’, is that greatness?

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Where's the line between being a great driver and being the best liked driver?

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DT

Hendrick or Gibbs? Who got the best driver?

By: Dennis Terry

I apologize for not getting my Post Race Post up at the end of the race on Sunday.  All of the beer can pyramids and igloos in the infield must have jammed my cell signal! 

Anyway, I'm still thinking the same thing today as I was in Talladega on Sunday...  What a great race and what a great year for Kyle Busch and his JGR team!!!  Kyle's 2008 season is making him bigger than Elvis.  He looks like a seasonded veteran this year.  His driving style really looks polished and clean compared to his "dart without feathers" style of last year.

As I watched Kyle dominate Talladega, a track that might as well be call Dale-a-dega due to the past domination of Dale Jr. and the Intimidator, I was thinking about last year's Earnhardt/Busch "trade" at Hendrick Motorsports.

In 2007 it was announced that Hendrick added Dale Jr. to his all star line up of championship drivers.  Hendrick Motorsports landed the most popular driver and biggest NASCAR personality to ever stroll down souvenir alley.  Sponsors and crewmen lined up for miles all dreaming about getting to work with the sport's biggest personality, but this new era at Hendrick came at the expense of the expendable Kyle Busch.

Across town, Coach Gibbs landed the young and extremely talented Busch.  Busch came to Joe Gibbs Racing with his driver immaturity and an unpopular reputation of being difficult to manage, market and above all control. 

As we head to Richmond this weekend for the 10th race of the season, Kyle Busch is second in points with Dale Jr. trailing in a close third.  Kyle has dominated the Nationwide series in wins and is second only to Carl Edwards in Cup wins. 

It's clear that both Dale Jr. and Kyle Busch are having the best points season of their careers, but who got the better deal on driver talent last year???? 

Coach Gibbs with a polished and perfected Busch?  Or Rick Hendrick with Dale Jr., the biggest name, biggest personality and most sought after driver in the sport's history?

DT

Smoke back to Chevy

By: Dennis Terry

There have been several media reports that indicate Tony Stewart has asked JGR for a release from his current drivers contract at the end of the 2008 season. Stewart's contract is through the end of 2009.

JGR has vowed to force Stewart to honor his contract throughout it's duration.

At the Phoenix race, the garage was buzzing about Stewart teaming up with a current owner and taking an ownership role in an existing Chevy team. Insiders can't help but to speculate about the ramifications to the sport if Stewart were to team up with Hendrick Motorsports and create racing's most dynamic and talented roster of drivers in the sport's history.

RCR could also be a possible destination for Stewart who has been very vocal about his allegiance to the American made Chevrolet company.

Whatever the outcome of Stewart's latest discussions concerning his JGR contract, this promises to be as big or bigger than last year's Jr. saga. The question that I would pose is why would Stewart want to cut ties with the sponsor and organization that has helped him reach superstar status among NASCAR'S elite???

JGR has helped Stewart polish his old image of an outspoken hot head into a sponsor's dream driver. Along with the efforts of corporate sponsor, Home Depot, they have helped him become one of NASCAR's all time greatest.

I can't help but to speculate about Stewart's reasoning...

Is he really that passionate about supporting long time sponsor Chevrolet?

Is he feeling over shadowed by the younger Hamlin and Busch at JGR?

Is he that hungry to move into NASCAR ownership?

Or could all of this just be Stewart's way of negotiating for more money from Toyota, Home Depot and JGR?

NASCAR has never seen a more intense competitive spirit than Tony Stewart's. Whatever his reasoning, I guarantee you that he will still be climbing fences and making headlines wherever he ends up racing in 2009.

DT

Honey Do and Danica

By: Dennis Terry

If Kyle Busch keeps dominating NASCAR's Nationwide Series, the NASCAR execs may have to consider reverting back to the old Busch Series label.  Anheuser Busch has been associated with NASCAR's "minor league" serious for as long as I can remember.  This season, Kyle is doing everything possible to keep the Busch name fresh on everyone's mind each week.

Wonder if the Nationwide marketing folks see that irony too?

Luckily for me, I didn't see Kyle win the race in Mexico.  I took our CUP off weekend OFF!  Hollywood, our Menards rear tire changer, is still trying to pay his Martinsville hotdog bill, so he made the trip south of the boarder to change rear tires for Adrian Fernandez.

How about a big SHOUT OUT to Danica for winning her first INDY race?  I've always wondered if her husband watched her race from top of the pit box… HUMMM???

As for me, I spent my weekend plumbing, painting and getting caught up with the yard work.  It wasn't very sexy, but my "honey-do list" was starting to clog up my wife's hard drive and my wife's foot was fixn' to clog up my... well you're probably getting the picture by now.

Anyway, I didn't make it to the track this weekend or to Hilton Head Island, but I still managed to pull off a pretty good practical joke on Coach Walt Smith. 

Once again, he was concerned with the status of my ab (that is meant to be singular just in case you missed the 3/19/08 blog).  So, I told everyone in the gym that I was heading back to Hilton Head for the off weekend.  Just as expected, Walt loaded up the family and headed to the Island to keep an eye on my menu and his most prized training accomplishment... AB.

SUCKER!!!!  I stayed home this weekend and as soon as I finished all my chores I hit the local Bar-B-Que (that’s how we spell it in Shelby, NC) and I rarely missed the Hot-N-Now sign at Krispy Kreme.  No sign of Coach Walt all weekend! The "honey-do list" got a little shorter... unfortunately, so did the AB.  I'm sure Coach Walt will make me pay for both during this week’s workouts!

DT

Hendrick Motorsports is Back!

By: Dennis Terry

Jimmy Johnson and Chad Knaus made all the right moves tonight in Phoenix and have momentarly silenced all of the Hendrick critics.

A lot of talk lately has been about Roush dominance at the expense of Rick Hendrick's teams. Let's see if the 48 guys can now put together the kind of winning streak that Carl Edwards has been putting up.

Tough break for Mark Martin and the whole Army team. Those guys carried the DEI flag all night and had to settle for a consolation prize of fifth place. Too bad too because Martin is one of the all time greatest and so is his team.

DT

Flipper Wins Texas

By: Dennis Terry Flipper and 99 team dominate another race and finish in victory lane. Congratulations to the whole team and especially my good buddy Jodie Fortson who carries rear tires. I'm betting that NASCAR will find Flipper's oil cooler lid WELDED on this time! The 24 guys finish dead last??? I'm not sure, but I would bet that Gordon has never finished 43rd before. Maybe this is a sign of more Roush dominance to come and an end to years of domination by Rick Hendrick's team? I love racing in Texas, but it's a lot more fun when I can get out of the track and to the airport without getting a ticket!!! The cops in Texas watch waaay too many John Wayne movies, but I made it through all the traffic cones without getting busted this year. A lot of my buddies weren't so lucky! DT

Hollywood Glue

By: Dennis Terry

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I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes I get a little carried away with my blogs.  I’ve been known to “stretch the truth” and embellish some of my stories from time to time.  When I first met my wife she would just roll her eyes and say something about “the DT curve”.  It wasn’t until after we were married that I realized she was actually referring to my “creative white lies” and not my big round bell-eeee.

BUT, this blog is different.  This one is true!  I’ve got photos, witnesses and there is no “DT curve” or exaggerations… I promise.  Heck, you just can’t make stuff like this up.

DEI has a team chef that cooks for all four teams on race day.  Everyone calls him, “BIG JOHN”.  Even the PR guys lower their voices a few octaves when they say his name... BIG JOHN.  He’s just a big, corn feed, mountain of a man that cooks a mean rack of ribs and fries livermush to perfection.

When we get to the track on race mornings, the first thing that I usually do is grab a coffee and a couple of honey buns from Big John’s secret stash.  BIG JOHN was in a bad mood on this particular morning, so I just skipped breakfast and went straight to work.

I was surprised to see Hollywood, our rear tire changer, already on pit road helping out with everything.  What’s surprising about that??? Well, Hollywood is famous for arriving right as a job is done.  He has perfected showing up just when everyone else get’s finished and he usually takes all the credit.     

Now Hollywood (as the nickname implies) is your typical tall, slim, athletic type with moosed up hair, a silver tongue and a scheming little smirk that makes him look like he’s always up to something.  Hollywood was probably the guy in high school who had a rat tail, T-top Camero and dated the prom queen from three different high schools.

Now days, you rarely see him without his signature Oakleys, I-phone and something free that he schemed from somewhere.

You see where I’m going with all of this???  Hollywood is pretty much the exact opposite of BIG JOHN if you haven’t caught on by now.

It was about 38 degrees in Martinsville and when it came time for us to glue the lug nutz, our glue was so cold we couldn’t squeeze a drop out of the tube.  What to do, we all thought???  As usual, Hollywood was already two steps ahead of us, so he snatched up the glue and left pit road with his Oakleys and signature little smirk.

Little did we know that he was heading straight for BIG JOHN!  Glue tubes in hand; our genius, Hollywood was planning to warm the glue on BIG JOHN’s grill.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with lug nut glue, all you need to know is that it’s very heat sensitive and VERY FLAMABLE!

Hollywood found one of our best apple cobbler pans, put in the glue and placed it on the top rack of the grill.  On the bottom rack, BIG JOHN was simmering veges, pastas, potatoes and all of DEI’s steaks were marinating for lunch.  Hollywood then closed the grill to let the glue warm for a few seconds. Of course, seconds later the glue EXPLODED inside the grill!

BIG JOHN opened the grill right as the glue went up in a ball of fire! Glue was all over our food and the fire was burning about ten feet high.  BIG JOHN put the fire out with his bare hands and wiped up all the glue with Hollywood!

Needless to say, Hollywood had to buy Martinsville hotdogs for all four DEI teams.  The lug nut tubes were on display behind our team hauler and they were a bigger hit than Ashley Judd at the Daytona 500.

We should be done with cold weather racing until fall, but the next time it gets cold, you can bet BIG JOHN will have Hollywood warm his glue on RCR’s grill.  By then, maybe BIG JOHN’s eyebrows will have grown back too!

DT

Messy Martinsville

By: Dennis Terry

It's a small miracle that we were able to get the Martinsville race in today.  Around lap 200 it started misting rain and with about 50 laps to go it was coming down pretty heavily. 

It was just a mess all day!

The other mess was on the track.  Lots of cautions and lots of beat up cars.  I didn't see a single car that didn't have some sort of damage.  Martinsville was just a big messy demolition derby.

It looked like a good race from what I could see from our turn four pit stall.  In the pits, we can't see as much of the racing action as you can on TV.  We can't hear the announcers either, so it's a pretty even trade off. 

I think Martinsville provided fans with a lot more "old school" rubbing, racing and lead changes from start to finish.  I hope you thought so too. 

A hard earned 16th place finish bumped our Menards team up a few spots up in the points.  We'll now head to Texas with plenty of confidence and new appreciation for bigger pit stalls.  Martinsville is TIGHT!

Lastly, just when you think you’ve seen it all, life throws you a few surprises.  This morning, a few hours before the race began; I saw the funniest thing that I have every witnessed!!!  I'll tell you all about it on Wednesday… STICK around.

DT

Who's OUT at Martinsville?

By: Dennis Terry

In some aspects, the 2008 NASCAR season starts this weekend in Martinsville.  So far this season we have all be qualifying under 2007 points, but Martinsville marks the first race where drivers make the race based on what they earned in 2008.

The teams that jumbled around points during the offseason will now have to rely on their own 2008 results to make the show on Sunday. 

There are 47 teams trying to make it into a field of 43 drivers for Sunday’s race.  This means that four teams will be packing up and heading back to North Carolina tonight.  The following eleven drivers must qualify on speed because they are out of the top 35 in points…

Regan Smith - 01

Tony Raines - 00

Patrick Carpentier – 10

Dave Blaney – 22

Jamie McMurray – 26

John Andretti – 34

Dario Franchitti – 40

Kyle Petty – 45

Ken Schrader – 49

Joe Nemecheck – 78

Mike Skinner - 84

That’s eleven drivers competing for seven positions that are up for grab. My money is on Raines, Andretti, Franchitti (sorry Ashley) and Carpentier heading home.

What is going to hurt these guys more than missing Martinsville, is that they will be losing even more ground on that coveted 35^th position, making qualifying next week in Texas that much more crucial for them.

DT