Over The Wall

Petty Educates Young Hamlin

By: Dennis Terry

Our MWR pit crew pulled double duty pitting both Reutimann's Busch and Cup cars this weekend at Dover. 

Dover's tight pit road was very busy with all of the cautions on Sunday.   Pit road got a little out of control when a tire from Dale Jarrett's car (which was 5 pit stalls away) bounced through our pit stall and into Michael Waltrip's gas man sending him to the emergency room. 

He was alright, but will need a week off to recover from the soreness of getting smacked by a 65 lb. tire bouncing around at about 50 mph.

What about Hamlin and Petty???  You've gotta to love those in-car camera views!!!  I wonder what Donnie Allison or Cale Yarborough would have done if Petty had slapped their skull like that???

Hamlin never got his hands on Kyle since his team came to the rescue before Hamlin could take off his gloves, remove his helmet and unbuckle his belts and climb out of the car.  But, Denny did have some strong words for Mr. Petty....

“Don’t smack me in the helmet. You smack me in the helmet I’m going to punch you in the face,” Hamlin said following the race. “I’d like for him to call me sometime this week before next race."

Hummm.... I wonder if Hamlin is planning to punch Kyle's face through the phone???

Anyway, I loved Kyle's approach!!! 

He took off HIS helmet and then started slapping around Denny who was still protected by his.  None of the Juan vs. Harvick or Gordon vs. Kenseth protective shoving that we've seen before. 

Petty may be struggling to stay in the top 35 in points, but Sunday proves that he still has the fire to compete and race hard every lap.

DT

 

The chase is on

  Now that the chase has started and the first event is over, I think it s time to see where everyone stands.  In my personal opinion before race one, I thought there were five drivers capable of winning the chase:24,48,20,2,17.  After this weekend I realized that everyone except the 31 and 29 has a chance.  The only reason I say the 29, 31 don't have a chance is because I don't think they can run top 5 every week.  They both will be consistent finishers but neither will put up big enough number to win.  Just wondering what everyone else thinks.  Holla back.

No more coast and collectors

  After reading DT's blog and agreeing with everything he said, I noticed that there is a lot of "Nascar vs. the racing world" tension.  It's not our fault that everyone in the U.S watches Nascar and no one cares about open wheel.  Why do you think all the drivers from other sanction's are coming over to Nascar to race.  Probably because the league there in is going to fold in a couple of years and they still want to have a job holding a steering wheel.  The money, fans, and sponsors are going crazy in Nascar while the rest of the U.S. racing world is struggling.  As far as these drivers taking over Cup, I don't think its happening.  JPM was talked up as one of the best drivers in the world and he's done all but nothing in this series.  I don't even want to here about his one win on the road course cause as far as I'm concerned thats for the donkeys.  Until he can beat Gordon, Stewart, Johnson, and the rest of the elite drivers in Cup he'll always be overrated to me.  Call it a good ol boy sport if you want but it sure beats the cheese and wine of open wheel racing.  Not everyone is going to agree with me on this one but its just my opinion.  holla back.

CRAZY Juan!

By: Dennis Terry

My new gig as front tire changer for the Michael Waltrip Racing 00 team is going good.  Since getting the boot from Joe Gibbs, I have gelled well with my new pit crew and we had a great Richmond race finishing 13th. 

The only pit road issues that we had was from ol' Juan Pablo Montoya.  It seems that Juan is becoming a regular subject on this blog and along pit road as other teams deal with his pit road recklessness. 

On the third stop of the day Juan tried to drive over our pit crew "brushing" our jackman, me and my front carrier.  I know, "rubbing is racing" and "brushing is”... well, you can insert your favorite metaphor that starts with a "B" there. 

At any rate, having that crazy Columbian drive the side of his 3,500 lb race car down the back of your ass at 45 miles per hour gets a little distracting when you are trying to earn a living changing tires.

Needless to say, Juan’s mid race barbecue meant that our pit crew got to do our jobs with a little less concern about broken bones and brain damage AND we were all able to make it home to our families after work.

I hope that whichever team is pitting behind CRAZY Juan in New Hampshire is just as fortunate!

DT

All the talk is about the wrong thing

  With the last race for the chase coming up I have noticed that all the talk is about the wrong thing.  Everyone is talking about if or how the 8 car could make the chase instead of how the 2 made it.  It wasn't two month ago that the two car was all but out of it and Kurt was on the brink of being suspended for his run in with the 20 car.  Now, he s recouped the 100 point loss and has a huge lead on the 8 car.  In my opinion I would say the 48, 20 and 2 are the cars to watch when it comes to winning the chase.  Call me biased cause he's my teammate but the numbers don't lie.  Team moral is up in the shop and blue duce is looking to win a championship.  As far as the 12 goes, well, we just need to finish more races before we have a chance to win any.  After Richmond the real racing begins.  Holla back.