Over The Wall

stories from the weekend

  Despite the rain delay and one extra day at the track, there was no time to sit around.  It just so happened that the Las Vegas Review was doing a story on us as well as ESPN the magazine.  We had two reporters and two camera guys following us around for two days watching everything we did.  It was cool, both guys were super nice and they made sure to stay out of our way during stops.  The article in the paper will be out this Sunday in las Vegas and the espn the magazine article will be out in 3 weeks.  I forgot people actually care about what your doing when you win. 

The only other cool thing that happened besides that was getting to meet Warren.  Warren was the retarded brother in the movie Something about Mary.  His real name is Earl and he is one of the nicest guys I've met.  He is friends with two foot Fred, who is good buddies with Ryan.  During the rain delay they all came in the hauler and just shot the shit for a while.  It was cool getting to here some of the stories from Hollywood.  Well, i guess thats about all for now.

500 Victory Lane

  In the last couple of years our team has been to victory lane very little.  It was almost like i had forgotten what it felt like.  All that came back to me for about an hour on Sunday night.  It was one of the longest and coolest things i ve ever been thru.  There most have been 200 reporters and camera men standing in the bleachers for the victory lane celebration.  It was like watching a super bowl post game except we were right in the middle of it.  Newman was getting pulled all over the place to do pre scheduled interviews and all other stuff.  You would have thought the president was coming.  Either way it was cool.

  One thing I was not aware of was the induction ceremony the morning after the race.  I have mixed feelings about the whole timing of this.  I decided to come home that night on the plain so that I could get my work done at the shop for my Tuesday meetings but most of the other guys stayed down in Daytona.  Here s where my problem comes in.  How are you gonna win the Daytona 500 on the 50th anniversary and then tell a bunch of racers to be in uniform and ready at 730 in the morning for a breakfast induction.  For the most part everything went good and was fine, but when you got guys celebrating, which they should, all night, it makes it hard to have everyone looking there best the next morning.  Some of the stories coming home from that night are classics. 

   Back at the shop everything was business as usual, with the exception of the trophy sitten on top of a tool box.  I guess the trophy was brought back on the plain and put on a tool box so all the fans could see it and take pictures of it.  I know most of the shop guys have  gotten a picture in front of it.  All in all its one of those things you might not ever get to do again so you better enjoy it.  Who knows, we might go to Cali and gets us two in a row.

Daytona 500 and a special guest blog

EDITOR'S NOTE: As Trent notes, Krissie Newman is joining ThatsRacin.com's blog team and we couldn't be prouder to have her with us for 2008. You've got to like someone who works as hard as Krissie and Ryan do in the charity realm, particularly in the areas of companion animal welfare, conservation and preservation of wildlife, and college scholarships for racers. The wife of the Daytona 500 winner is piggybacking on Trent's Over the Wall space with her first post, but will be moving soon to a blog she'll call Krissie's Korner.

By Trent Cherry

As you guys can imagine, the last 24 hours have been unbelievable.

I' m gonna give some more insight into victory lane and the night that followed later on in the week. For now, there is a new blogger who has come on board to help out with the 2008 season.

It just so happens that she's the wife of the Daytona 500 champion and a good friend, Krissie Newman.

This is an idea that was came up over the offseason and it just so happens her first post is today.

So here it is:.  The first post of "Krissie's Korner."

Victory Lane!

By Krissie Newman

I could not think of a better way to start this blog and the season than a win at the Daytona 500!

I had never imagined I would ever feel that emotional after a win, but I could not stop shaking and crying throughout the night.

The past few seasons have been less than stellar and the Alltel Crew, Ryan included, never lost faith or focus. There were a few crew changes in the offseason, but I really feel that the team is headed in the right direction.

The amount of focus and history behind the Daytona 500 is astounding. To watch the previous winners up on stage and to know Ryan is a part of that history is unbelievable.

I try to replay the last few moments of the race in my mind, but all I remember thinking was CHARLOTTE!  I was praying so hard that nothing would happen and Ryan would cross the finish line, in one piece to collect the checkered flag.

I look forward to what lies ahead these next 37 weeks, but more importantly I look forward to writing this blog each week to connect with race fans and, hopefully, give you another look into the world of racing y'all love.

Stewart fans come to shop

  Here are the facts: a few guys got caught Saturday night trenching the yards at Penske and hitting cars in the parking lot with paint ball guns.  Here s the part that gets interesting.  I was told by some guys at the shop that the guys they caught told the police they were Tony Stewart fans and that they were retaliating over the whole practice incident between him and Busch.  All the paint balls were orange, so im told.  All I know is that all this trenching and paint balling did happen.  As far as the rest, well, it could be shop gossip but either way it gives me something to talk about.  It does make sense and it is funny.  Once the police got the kids they made them come back and clean up all the cars that were hit.  Nothing like a good ol race fan.  Holla

2008 starting out with a bang

  I couldn't get on the phone fast enough Friday night when Ryan was second to pick and drew a dead last starting position for Saturday nights race.  Granite, it doesn't really matter at Daytona, but it was still pretty funny considering how things have been running for us.  I guess the only thing that matters in this situation will be picking the pit stalls depending on the starting order, so that will suck.  Other than that I think were ready to start a new year and see how things with the new car will shape up. With the new pit rule will be nice to have a warm up race and see how the officials are going to be calling things.   I ll have a post after this race and get an update on the pit road rulings and see what effect it has on everyone. I need some sleep cause tomorrow is a long day. I'm out

DTz Last Blog

By: Dennis Terry

This will be my last Over the Wall blog. 

Me and my good buddy Trent (and even Freak from time to time) have had a lot of fun working together on Over the Wall.  It's been an interesting two years of giving you guys our weekly insights into the NASCAR world from the perspective of pit crew members. 

We are on the heels of the 2008 NASCAR season and the sport is undergoing some really monumental changes this year!!!  Fans and competitors alike can debate with each other the outcomes of these changes. 

Some of the changes like Dale Jr., the Car of Tomorrow/Today (whatever they are calling it) and hopefully even DW's "buggity, buggity, buggity) will be apparent to everyone.  Other changes are going to be less noticeable.  Like, as Trent discussed this week, new pit stop rules that change the pit stop choreographing and driver age limits.

Change is a constant in the world that we live in and even more of a constant in NASCAR.

Thatsracin.com and the blog format is also going through some big changes for the new season.  The outcome of one of those changes is going to be me leaving Trent and “Over the Wall” for my own blog site.

So be sure to check out the new look of thatsracin.com around February 9^th and also look for me to debut the new blog “Lug NutZ”.

DT

Im Back

  The last couple of years have been not only humbling but rather long.  During the offseason a few changes were made and hopefully that can help get us back into the winners circle for the first time in two years.  Besides the obvious crew chief change there were some other inside jobs there were switched around to help give us a better pit crew and better road crew. So far this year the tests have been very good and talking to the guys on the team and even the driver I feel were heading in the right direction for a successful 08 year. 
    Just to catch up on the off season a little bit I ll give you guys an idea of what i've been up to and also what the crews are facing going into 08.  As far as my off season went it was great.  Me and my wife spent a week out west with two good friends and went snowmobiling for 6 days and spent new years eve in Jackson Hole.  Other than that ive been at the shop trying to get all the pit crews in order heading into the season. 
    there was a rule change that has caused a little bit of confusion during the off season for most of the crews.  Nascar came out with a rule that says all tires have to be controlled back to the half way point in the pit box before they can role to the wall.  The only problem with this rule is that when you have a right side adj. (rear carrier) either your jack man is being put in serious danger or your carrier is taking a chance on getting punted out into pit road when he turns around to get the tire.  I understand what the officials are trying to do but there penalizing good teams like ours and benefiting other teams that don't control there tires.  For years we have always rolled our front tire and we've made a point to control it.  Over the past couple of years front tire changers have gotten to the point of just chucking the tire so they can keep up with the speed of the stop.  So now, because of a few loose tires all of pit road has to suffer.  Either way we've been working hard on all three teams to get a system in which we can make it all happen no matter what the adjustments are.  So far things are going pretty good.   Wow, this is more than i wrote all last year so i better end it here.  Early next week i ll be posting my yearly chase predictions and the arguments will continue.  Holla back.