Over The Wall

Not a good night

  I guess the easiest way to sum up lat night would be to say horrible.  The night started out with a plitter brace coming apart from the car and forcing us to pit when we didnt want to and fix the splitter.  After that we had a pit road penalty (which was my fault, the penalty was that the rear tire was not in control half way thru the box).  So we had a drive thru penalty which put our driver in a bad spot and put the team two laps down.  After that we fought our way back to get one lap down and we were getting ready to compete for the lucky dog when all hell broke loose.  Some how we broke something underneath the car and had us behind the wall.  The driver was pissed, the crew had a bad night, the mechanics were mad, and all we could do was just fix the problem and try and salvage everything we could.  It was a bad night for points and everything else that could happen.  Along with that there are even more rumors about where our driver is headed next year and none of them seem to be at penske.  Its nothing anyone hasnt heard before but this week the chatter was a little bit louder.  Hopefully ill have a post in a couple days and we ll talk pit competition. Holla

what making the competition better

  As i was sitting in the lunch room today wondering what to write about a buddy of mine gave me an idea that is worth talking about.  Two years ago there were only about 11 or maybe 12 teams that were good enough to get into the chase.  The last year there were maybe 13 or 14 teams there were running good enough to make the chase and for some reason or another didn't make it.  If you look at the points this year it s very close and there are plenty of teams that are capable of making the chase.  When ever you have the 2, 24 ,and 17 out of the chase you know the competition is getting better.  I guess my question is what is the cause of the close competition.  Is it the pressure on the drivers to compete, is it the chase format, could it be the COT car.  Everyone has there own opinion but here is mine.  Ever sense the chase format has been instituted the drivers and teams have a lot more at steak.  In the old days you had a handful of teams and drivers that just coasted and collected.  You cant do that any more. Perfect example is Jeremy Mayfield.  Three years ago he was a chase driver, now he cant find a ride.  I think the pressure of the chase has helped create a competitive atmosphere on the track.  Thats my opinion lets here yours.

A fans gift

   I don't have much to talk about sense i spent the week resting and playing golf.  I would like to say thank you to a fan of the 12 cars who left a gift for me at the shop.  Rashaun, who is an avid reader of the blog and a major 12 car supporter, left a nice babies gift for me and the wife and also left some candy for the guys.  Just to let you know, when gifts of any kind are left at the shop they are greatly appreciated by all the guys.  We ve all been eating the candy for days now and the wife wanted to say thank you also.  We would all be idiots to think we could do what we do without the fans.  So not only to Rashaun but all the fans out there, thank you for all your support.  OK, thats about all for now. Its off to Talladega and hopefully a good finish.

Phoenix

  Well, we blew a motor with a good car.  What else can i say.  Don't know much more than that.  Every time we think we are getting ready to build on the previous weeks run we end up hitting a wall.  My hair is almost all grey as it is, I'm pretty sure by the end of this year it will be full blown grey.  Oh well, im staying home for the off weekend and giong to do some golfing and spend some time with the wife.  Hope all you fans have a good weekend off and we ll talk next week about Talladega.

Some say the racing is boring?

  Well I have to say it was an awesome day for the Alltel bunch.  That was a sign of things to come and things of the past.  Ryan was on the wheel all day and at the end when it counted we gained 7 spots in 10 laps.  The pit crew struggled early and got the driver in a bad situation but managed to pick up three spots when it counted and help land us a top 5.  Now, onto the penalty.  I don't know exactly what went wrong with the car but i can tell you this, we don't cheat. lol.  How many times have you heard that.  Seriously, i don't think we cheat, but then again i don't work on the car and either way we were to high going thru tech.  Now, onto the racing part of it.  It was a boring race for sure.  I have noticed that there have been some really exciting races and then there have been some dogs.  This one was a dog.  I don't see how fans can justify paying for a ticket at a high price and then seeing a race like this.  Don't get me wrong, its the fans that keep me employed, but at least we can give them a better bang for the buck.  Bristol was good, Matinsville was good.  Cali, Atlanta and Texas were boring as hell.  I hope Nascar hasn't messed up the racing with the new car.  Of course, all i can see is the front stretch so maybe its not as bad as i thought.  Well, thats about all for now. holla

What a day

  I guess in short I would sum up Martinsville as a pretty crappy day.  Our car was junk from the start and some how we took a 35th place car and made it a 19 place car.  I give a lot of credit to our driver as well as our whole team for not giving up and making this a better day than it should have been.  It started out with a car we just couldnt get the handle on and it went down hill from there.  Pit stops were ok all day but it didnt really matter as much as it could have.  There was one stop where the 28 came out of his box behind us and the 84 was pulling in to his box in front of us and the 84 ended up hitting the 28 and pushing the 28 into our car as we were changing the left side tires, so that was pretty cool.  It only knocked it forward about 8 inches or so, but it scared the hell out of me, i thought Ryan was driving off the jack.  That could have been worse than it was.
Now, onto Texas.  My whole goal coming out of Texas is that we dont drop any more points.  Ever since Daytona we have done nothing but go backwards in the points for a month and a half. We need to stop the bleeding and we need to do it now.  Thats it for now, holla.

fly fishing, and Davidson basketball

  I guess ill start out with how my off weekend went.  Me and the wife took off Friday afternoon and headed up to the mountains in NC.  We stayed at a nice resort and ended up staying thru Sunday.  It was just what she and i needed.  It wasn't as much the relaxing but just being able to spend some time together was nice. Oh, big announcement.  The wife is pregnant.  We found out a couple of weeks ago so i thought i would share that news.  I don't get really excited about much but seeing the ultra sound thing was pretty cool.  Ill save that story for another post.  I ended up leaving early due to a male intern.  Any ways, the weekend up at the mountains was pretty cool, I went to the river to fish and she went to the outlet malls.  Winner winner chicken dinner, all parties were happy.  She kept the spending to a minimum and i caught some fish.
As if the weekend couldn't be better, i got home early enough Sunday to watch the Davidson wildcats play in the NCAA tournament.  Now I'm not gonna jump on the band wagon yet but my brother Tripp went to Davidson and follows the team to every game every year.  So needless to say he was out of his mind come Sunday after the game.  He was leaving Raleigh where the game was and was already making reservations in Detroit for this weekend. Also our front tire changer Ben Brown went to Davidson, so that was pretty cool.

I guess its back to the grind at the shop this week and then off to Martinsville.  We need to get a good finish this week and get back in the top 5 in points.  Take care now.

Team vs. Team Competition

  Just to give us all something to talk about and argue over, I figured i would set up a scenario where teams were matched up with other teams to see what organization was the strongest overall.  Obviously I am going to stay out of this because I have a biased opinion.  OK, here s the deal.  Each team can take there top two drivers and only two drivers to every track we race.  Each driver has to drive half the race for each track we go to.  So my first question is this.  Out of the top 7 multi car teams which drivers do you pick and what organization would win the points championship if it were run the same way it is now.  Here are the teams competing in the races.  Gibbs, Childress, Penske, Hendricks, Gnassi, Rousch, DEI, and two drivers from any other teams out there.
My Teams:  Gibss: Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart
                  Childress: Harvick and Jeff Burton
                  Penske: Newman and Busch
                  Hendricks: Gordon and Johnson
                  Gnassi: JPM and Sorenson
                  Rousch: Edwards and Kenseth
                  DEI: Truex and Menard    
                  Other:  Kahne and Labonte
   Leaving Penske out of the equation i would pick Rousch and Gibss to finish 1 and 2 for the year.  If I had to put one team together to compete in an olympic style event all over the world and I could combine any two drivers, my pick would be Gordon and Stewart. 
    This is all in fun just to see how people feel about each team as well as the drivers.  It would obviously never happen but it still doesn't mean it s not fun to argue.  Lets here what you got to say.  Holla.

Stewarts Rant and the monopolized sponsors

  Lets start out by saying I'm not sure if monopolized is the right word to use but I'm sure you guys can get what I'm saying.  Tony Stewart's comments after the race were words that needed to be heard. I'm just not sure if he did it in the right way.  Its not fair that drivers, fans, and teams have to continue to put up with half ass production out of companies that have a monopoly on the sport.  Goodyear being one and Sunoco being the other.  Reverse the situation on Sunday and lets say Sunoco brought bad gas to the track and cars were blowing motors and couldn't make for a good race.  How would that look towards Nascar and how would the drivers react to that.  I don't know how hard it was to drive a car because I'm not a driver, but it seems with no competition from outside sources the lack of a good product is hurting the sport.  Now, i don't know all the facts behind the tire company and the contract Nascar has with them, but if more drivers speak up like Tony did something has to be done.  It only takes a few drivers to get a bad taste in there mouth and it takes months to get it out.  Goodyear has to come back with something that gets the drivers back in the good graces.  OK, thats all for now.

The Toyota hype

  As i was listening to the sound of the crowd Sunday before the race I noticed an unfamiliar boo when Tony Stewart's name was announced.  I kept listening and then it hit me.  It wasn't just for Tony, but for all of the Toyota drivers.  I guess my big question is why all the haters jumping on the Toyota's.  Trust me, I'm as an American as you get and I'm all for the flag and supporting it.  My problem comes in when you here all the talk show hosts and fans booing the Toyota's and then going and getting in there foreign cars in the parking lot.  Or there filming the race with there Sony camera while booing a foreign car.  i guess my point is don't be a hypocrite.  A little story:  A buddy of mines dad worked at the mill down the road where i live.  Years ago it went over seas with its business.  It put tons of people out of work and there were picket lines for weeks.  My buddies dad told me the only thing he really hated about the whole deal was that everyone was picketing to keep American jobs alive and keep work in the states, but then they would go back to there cars after the rally and ride home in a foreign built car.  If Americans want to hate the Toyota's for being foreign that s fine, just make sure your house isn't filled with foreign products that Americans make also.  I guess my rant is for all the people that are giving JGR a hard time for switching to the Toyota's.  You knew it was going to happen it was just a matter of time.  Maybe this post doesn't make much sense to you people cause i don't really know how to state what I'm wanting to say, but I'm sure there is some one in this crowd who knows what I'm talking about.  Holla back.