The 2007 Season So Far - Kurt Busch

I had high expectations for Kurt this year, since he began to run very well at the end of 2006 and because NASCAR approved a more typical, sloping Dodge nose (to me it looked mostly as if the grille was moved up more toward the hood and not the vertical part of the nose). The building year for Kurt was over at Penske. He had gelled with crew chief Roy McCauley and with teammate Ryan Newman. He had gotten married to the love of his life Eva Bryan. He had even started to make some fans who absolutely hated him before tolerate and even like him. Things were looking up.

It's been said that Kurt had the best car at the Daytona 500 this season along with Tony Stewart, but unfortunately Kurt faced an unavoidable mishap when Stewart suddenly checked up as they drafted 1-2. With only milliseconds to react and nowhere to go, the #2 Miller Lite Dodge tagged Stewart's bumper and the two best cars were wrecked.

The next milestone was the Penske cars' improvement on 1.5 milers. Both Kurt and Ryan ran notably better on the so-called "cookie-cutters" than they had during the previous year.

In early April, however, events took a sad turn. Roy McCauley took a leave of absence as a result of his wife, Amy, suffering with the effects of her Leukemia treatment. Troy Raker, a Penske engineer, would take over as crew chief.

Since then, Kurt's average finish has been 9.8, and yet the entire team is frustrated. Kurt has been contending for wins, leading a combined 76 laps at Texas, Talladega and Richmond. Most of their problems have been ill-timed pit calls which seemed good at first but quickly went sour. Kurt, of course, has been very upset with the consequences of these calls - who wouldn't be? I've been very disappointed seeing his cars that deserve to be covered in confetti and champagne in Victory Lane finish behind several cars at the end of the day.

I like Troy and I think Kurt likes him as well. We all feel a little thwarted.

But like Kurt said after Texas, "It’s not as much of a hardship as Roy and Amy are going through."

It's nice to put things in perspective.

The 2007 Season So Far - Michael Waltrip Racing

Since college was very busy near the end we missed out on a lot of interesting happenings in NASCAR. Now that college is over for the summer we'll have more time, but race reports were tedious to write so we're going to do a different format that's easier to compose and read. For now, we'll write some summaries on how our heros are doing in the 2007 stint of NASCAR racing.

Ten races have passed this year, and there have been some high highs and low lows - plenty of drama to go around. Some of our diverse group of drivers are having great seasons while some are just struggling to make races; one is scrambling just to find a ride. But such is NASCAR, especially these days when the fields are so competitive. To start things off I’ll summarize Michael Waltrip Racing’s topsy-turvy season.

MWR started the season with high hopes (but maybe not high expectations). Unfortunately, Daytona did not go as planned for Michael Waltrip, whose #55 NAPA Camry was found with a suspicious substance in its intake manifold during pre- and post-qualifying inspection. NASCAR confiscated the car and tested it further, and it was concluded that the substance was in the fuel system – and it was not supposed to be. This led to MWR's vice president of competition Bobby Kennedy and Michael's crew chief David Hyder to be removed from the track, banned indefinitely and a fine of $100,00 and 100 driver and owner points. Rumors began to fly regarding what this substance could be, but to this day it has not been released. Furthermore, to this day, no one but the person or persons who put the substance in the car know who is responsible. However, Michael took complete accountability for the situation, as a good team owner does, for it is his name that appears in the organization's title.

To make a long story short, MWR fought back to have all three cars make the Daytona 500. In the first Duel Michael made a fine showing of his new Toyota Camry (specifically David Reutimann's reskinned backup car) and raced his way in after leading some laps (and accidentally wrecking Dale Jr. - don't worry, he was fine and was able to continue!). Because Boris Said, who was guaranteed anyway because of his single-car qual time, raced his way in as well, David Reutimann was locked in before he even got into his car. Dale Jarrett was locked in because of his Champion's Provisional, but hey, MWR was in the Daytona 500!!

To put it frankly, MWR's year has pretty much gone downhill since. Michael has not qualified for a race since Daytona, David has missed three and DJ used up his six Champ's Provisionals after Talladega and promptly DNQed at Richmond.

MWR has lost two crew chiefs: David Hyder and Matt Borland. I could see Hyder being let go since he was of little use to MWR while suspended, but Borland parting ways came as more of a dull shock. DJ had just used his last provisional and obviously the #44 team was not doing well. Apparently MWR wanted to change Borland’s role to a technical director but he declined the offer after accepting it, according to Michael on Inside NEXTEL Cup. The most surprising thing about the whole deal was DJ’s reaction during the Busch Series broadcast he was commentating for on ESPN the night he DNQed at Richmond. He practically begged Borland to come back; that he was very valuable and MWR needed him. To be honest my jaw dropped, and I felt very admiring of him to make such a bold statement, but a little sad, too. I don’t think Borland is coming back.

Michael has also had some personal problems to further add to his frustration. In early April he was charged with reckless driving after crashing his SUV about a mile from his home in the wee hours of the morning after he fell asleep at the wheel. He left the scene of the accident and walked home, and was nowhere to be found until that evening. I still don’t know what to think about the whole deal – I’m just glad he wasn’t injured because the pictures of the wreck are very frightening. But the whole story sounds so suspicious…from walking home in his socks to seemingly hiding out for many hours. I don’t know. Everyone makes mistakes. We’re all human.

Astonishingly enough, MWR’s bright spot is in a little unknown rookie named David Reutimann. This boy (who somehow I consider a “kid”, even at 37 years old) is an amazing driver with a lot of talent and heart – but he’s also a bundle of nerves! I’ve grown quite fond of David the person as well as David the driver, for he impresses me every race he runs, in both Cup and Busch. He has gelled wonderfully with Cup crew chief Frankie Kerr and Busch crew chief Jerry Baxter, and with cousin Shawn as his spotter his teams are very tight. The #00 team has been a pleasure to listen to on Trackpass, and I love them because even when things are rough they never give up on each other.

The most obvious thing I can say about David is his Busch Series effort with the Aaron’s Dream Machine. He sits 4th in points after Richmond with one Top 5 (a 2nd place) and three Top 10s. But he has also been steadily improving in his Cup program, most notably at Talladega, where he drafted up to the front with no teammates to help him and ran 3rd and 4th for the latter part of the race. When a Top 10 seemed right in reach the engine expired, which was a huge disappointment. On the bright side, though, he opened some eyes and showed that MWR has some hope.

I predicted that this would be a rough season. With about fifty cars attempting to qualify for each race, there was no doubt in my mind that I would see Michael, DJ and David miss some races. I’ll admit I thought Michael would have made a few more than he has, but he has been showing some major advances in his qualifying efforts. But unlike many of my fellow MWR fans, I’m not placing blame on any one thing, be it Toyota, the drivers, the teams, the crew chiefs or NASCAR. It is what it is, and everyone knows the rules when they put their names on the entry blanks.

Ty Norris, MWR’s general manager, is one of my favorite people. He recently talked about the organization’s troubles, and I couldn’t agree with him more. “They told that to us on a number of occasions and [Toyota's chairman] explained to us that he has a 100-year plan,” he said. “We said we love his 100-year plan and we'd love to be a part of it – if we can get through our 100-day plan.” There is nothing with more truth to it.

If MWR can just hold on, they will be a force to be reckoned with one day. And despite everything that has happened, I’m proud to be a fan.

Goody's Cool Orange 500 - Martinsville Speedway

The Goody’s Cool Orange 500 went green under dark skies with rain just a couple hours away. It would become a typical Martinsville race with some bumping and grinding, and a near miss at a victory from one of our heroes.

Again Trackpass was tuned to David’s radio, although it was refusing to work for some of the start of the race. The #00 was an evil Camry at the drop of the flag, and David was saying that it felt like an entirely different car than the fast one it had been in practice. He was soon a lap down but Frankie and the Domino’s crew began to work on the setup until David said it was drivable. Unfortunately, it was already too late for David to have much of a chance to get back onto the lead lap, but for a time a top 30 finish was looking likely.

On Lap 357 the storm clouds opened up and soaked the asphalt-and-concrete track, sending the field to pit road. David hoped it would pour, for he was running in the top 30 at the time and was getting tired of wheeling an ill-handling car around the track. However the NASCAR driers did their job and around 20 minutes later the track was ready to go back to green.

This was when David’s real problems started, for something in the engine (a spark plug) was amiss. He first lost one cylinder and then was down to six, so after a couple trips to pit road it was all he could do to hold on and salvage a finish without getting in the way of faster cars. The engine held up till the end and he ended the day 33rd, 9 laps down. Looking on the bright side, the finish is not horrible and the car was in one piece so it could have been a lot worse.

Once again listening to the radio feed was very interesting and pleasant. David likes his pit sign now and no F-bombs were flown! His best quote was said about midway through the race when the car was handling very poorly. David was complaining a little but then said, “I ain’t giving up!” It was wonderful because he said that with such courage and it really seemed to pump both Frankie and Shawn up. As another side note, they weren’t too happy with Juan Pablo Montoya, who was apparently diving into the corners like he was on a 1.5 miler.

Back in the UPS camp, DJ was having a very decent day, running as far up as 23rd from a 38th place starting position. It was very exciting watching him move up through the pack and I had high hopes. But the bad luck bug bit again when on Lap 307 Dale reported that his shifter had broken and he couldn’t repair it. Despite this setback he continued to soldier on when the bug chomped down harder on Lap 423. The lap before Dale said that he felt a vibration and only moments later the UPS Camry was spun in Turn 2. A pretty normal scene at Martinsville except that DJ was missing his right rear wheel! Of course this put him a couple more laps down, but he refused to give up and fought back to 28th. I believe that without his mishaps he could have definitely finished in the top 20. He is 37th in points with a good chance of securing a spot in the top 35.

Dale Jr. nearly won his first race of the season at a track that hated him as a rookie. Tony Jr. had given him a great car to drive and before too long he had driven by Jeff Gordon to lead the field on Lap 235. He kept leading, and leading…and leading—when the checkers flew he would be the driver who led the most laps, at 137. Things were looking very bright for Junebug as the skies grew ever darker, and when the rain began to fall there was no doubt the Bud team was doing the rain dance and wishing the place would flood!

But as we already know the race went underway a half hour later. Junior continued to lead until pit stops on Lap 377, when he dropped to 11th. Luckily the #8 was fast enough to make it back up to 5th before the day was done…although 5th is nothing to be ashamed of, it still hurts when you know you were so close to doing some victory burnouts on the frontstretch. Junior is now 11th in points.

Kurt had a respectable 12th place finish but was apparently having some trouble on pit stops because of the Miller Lite Dodge’s setup, as the jackman was having issues getting the jack to lift the whole car up. The #2 ran in the top 10 all day but faded back to 12th near the end of the race, leaving him 17th in points.

Martin and the #1 Bass Pro Shops team were having a solid top-20 day when the brakes began to cause problems on Lap 344. There was virtually nothing the team could do so Martin had to gingerly guide the Chevy around the track and settle with a 29th place finish and 24th in the point standings.

Casey had an even more dismal day when his problems began on Lap 3. The National Guard Chevy spun as a result of a broken sway bar, which furthermore hurt the brakes. Before Lap 100 Casey had hit the wall when a tire went down and limped around until the end, ending the race in miserable 42nd, dropping him to 33rd in the standings.

Casey’s HMS teammates battled it out at the end and Jimmie Johnson won after a breathtaking fight against Jeff Gordon. I have never liked Martinsville, but it was refreshing to see such a spirited duel for the win!

A Little of the Same

I find that I’m not getting my hopes up for qualifying anymore. It’s not worth it because I refuse to think that Michael and David will make every race and I also turn away from wishing bad luck on the other star cars so that my favorites will qualify. I’m at the point where I just watch to see what happens. My emotions have to wait until later because I used to get really upset when Michael DNQed last year and it made watching racing miserable. I know I can’t control what happens so now I just sit back and observe everything unfold and try to take it for what it is.

Horribly enough, today it came down to either David or Michael. Again.

Michael was the second-to-last driver to make his run, and it was very painful to watch his laps. The whole time I thought simultaneously, “Go Mikey go!” and “I don’t want David to DNQ!” Michael’s position indicator flirted with the green line and then finally rested one spot behind it. David was in, Michael was out.

It makes me angry because several Michael fans were hoping that Michael beat David for their own selfish reasons, just like California when they all hoped David had a horrible run so Michael’s time would lock him in. I know not every Michael fan will be a David fan, but he’s his driver and MWR’s future! And oh yeah, he actually has a chance to make something out of this year. Frankly, Michael hired David to make races, not to roll over and let boss get in the race. Michael, I believe, would be very annoyed that his fans were wishing ill on David.

When Michael DNQed, David’s reaction said it all. He sat with his head was in his hands and someone was standing behind him, trying to comfort him. My heart just broke. I wanted to scream at the anti-David Michael fans, “There, ya feel better now? Are you happy that David’s devastated?”

“You know, Michael Waltrip has done a lot for me,” David said. “I just have a hard time getting really pumped up about the fact that he missed out on the show and we didn't. I'm very excited, because that's what we're supposed to do. It's bittersweet, it really is.”

The funny thing is that David went on to say about Michael, “When he leaves here, he knows he's still got an organization to run, and that's what he does. He looks at it across the board and tries to make it all a lot better. He wants what's best for our organization, and us making races and giving good feedback is best or our organization.”

I think more of Michael’s fans should take that standpoint instead of feeling sorry for themselves. Michael actually has it better than that other drivers going home. Ward Burton and Brian Vickers have nothing to do but sit and feel awful. At least Michael has an organization to keep him busy and keep him feeling important.

MWR is improving. DJ has made two races in a row on time! I think that’s great, and a sign that things could be looking up. I’m actually quite proud of him and also relieved because it was getting a little concerning that he was using the Champ’s Provisional time after time.

In other news, Dale Jr. was the only one of our heroes to wheel his way into a top 10 starting spot by qualifying 8th. Kurt followed closely behind in 12th, Martin in 15th, Casey in 35th, Dale in 38th and David, well, last.

Other notables are AJ Allmendinger, Ken Schrader, BDR and Kasey Kahne. AJ again showed some great heart! His first lap wasn’t good enough to make the show, but after being told to go for just a little more he picked it up and locked himself in. Schrader very quickly made sure the #21 would be in the field when he hauled butt and will roll off the grid Sunday in 4th. BDR drivers Dave Blaney (who had to qualify on time for the first time this year) and Jeremy Mayfield both qualified in the top 25 (which is something that I—unlike most Michael fans—am not bitter, jealous or surprised about). Meanwhile, on the other hand, Kasey Kahne had an ugly qual lap, one good enough only for 41st. This could spell deep trouble for him, as he is currently 34th in owners points with a high chance of falling out if he doesn’t have a good day Sunday.

Sharpie Mini 300 & Food City 500 - Bristol Motor Speedway

It was a typical Bristol weekend. Cars got moved out of the way, contact was made, tempers raged and the fab guys knew they would be putting in some extra hours during the following week. The Car of Tomorrow became the Car of Today in the Cup Series, but as some implied, Bristol’s personality overcame the historical event.

When the Busch drivers took the green flag, David Reutimann started 23rd. He quietly drove up through the field and sat in 12th place by Lap 185. As he was coming up off the corner, Bobby Labonte was giving him pressure from behind. Just as David got on the straight, he lifted his arm and appeared to indicate to Labonte to pass him. However, either Labonte did not understand, see or care. He ran into the back of the #99 Aaron’s Dream Machine, sending David hard into the inside wall. To make matters worse, I was infuriated by Rusty’s comments. Rusty went on a rampage about how much the #99 team had been struggling! Struggling?! Since when is running 12th struggling? Those remarks were completely unfounded and it seemed as if Rusty had some sort of problem with either David or MWR. David’s crew tore the car down and he got back out on the track to make some laps. He finished 33rd. He is now 12th in drivers points and 16th in owners points.

Two other drivers I watch had excellent days. Scott Wimmer finished 9th and Todd Kluever 12th.

To further turn me against ABC/ESPN’s coverage, I could not believe the end of the race. ABC should be ashamed of itself for barring fans from watching Carl Edwards even get out of his car, much less do his anticipated backflip! I say if you can’t make a commitment to a major sporting event enough to show several interviews after the race has finished, then you shouldn’t even bother broadcasting it! Oh no, but they can drag on a boring hour long prerace show that most fan couldn’t care less about. Just absolutely appalling.

Michael and David failed to make the COT debut, but the small highlight for MWR came when Dale Jarrett qualified on time for the first time this year. Personally, I was also thrilled that A.J. Allmendinger made his first race of the season. That guy has so much heart and really deserved it.

Martin Truex Jr. started 13th, Casey Mears 16th, D.J. 30th, Dale Jr. 31st and Kurt Busch a surprising 42nd. It didn’t take long for the nature of the beast to hit one of our drivers. On Lap 43, Jarrett was looking to pass Kyle Petty. He let off on the straight and Matt Kenseth got a nose under him. Jarrett turned down across Kenseth and spun, later getting T-boned by David Gilliland. Dale wasn’t too pleased with Kenseth and made it known with a walk up to the banking and a couple hand gestures as the 17 drove by (the broadcast failed to air this). I can understand Dale’s frustration, but it pretty much looked like an unfortunate racing incident. Dale, who was looking to lock himself in the top 35 for Martinsville, finished 42nd and dropped to 39th in owners points. He is 37th in drivers points.

Martin did not have a pleasant day either. On Lap 253 he had a flat left front tire and went 3 laps down on pit road. Then, a little more than 50 laps later, he was hit by Mike Bliss, spun and got ran into by Ryan Newman. The #1 team repaired the car and sent him back out, but Martin came back in for some more fixing. He finished the race in 37th place, falling to 25th in standings.

Kurt Busch ran well and even led the race, but his 29th finishing position does not show it. His car progressively got worse and he fell a lap down while running in the low 20s. The #2 team chose to pit under green, a move that was costly enough, but even more so when Kurt drove all the way around pit lane instead of exiting in Turn 3. Afterwards, it was just making laps, but even after the checkers he couldn’t stay out of trouble. A wreck ensued in front of him and as Kurt slowed, Regan Smith spun him. Despite his problems, he remained 20th in points.

On the other end of the spectrum, Casey Mears rallied from his mediocre year so far to the 10th position at one of the toughest tracks on the circuit. His only incident of the day occurred when Martin was spun. Casey went for a harmless ride as well. He was also involved in the postrace melee, but nothing was mentioned of it. Because of his finish, he jumped to 26th in standings.

Dale Jr. also had a great day but he had to really work for it as a result of his poor qualifying lap. On Lap 136, Juan Pablo Montoya spun and Dale Jr. was hitting from behind by David Stremme as he slowed down. Luckily, he didn’t hit anything and continued to claw his way forward all over again. Once he got into the top-10, he stayed there. At the end of the race he was 7th and climbed to 17th in points.

I was very pleased to see Kyle Busch win the race, especially because he had one of the best guys behind him – Jeff Burton. Those two have raced together for the win in the Busch Series and it was wonderful to see Jeff treat Kyle with the same respect Kyle has given him. I know a lot of people would have loved to watch Jeff dump Kyle so that makes his win all the more satisfying to me!

Martinsville qualifying is today. It isn’t even worth trying to predict if Michael and David can make it. The fields are just too close. But…good luck to them regardless!

Nicorette 300 and Kobalt Tools 500 - Atlanta Motor Speedway

The Nicorette 300 was a nail-biter for many of the Busch teams concerned about tires problems, but for our heroes the race was either a huge success or a bitter letdown.

Very few laps were behind the field when the caution came out for a wreck—Michael Waltrip’s wreck. I must be getting stony in regards to Michael because I felt nothing but a dull disappointment. What made it worse was that it was basically Michael’s fault. He loves the high groove, but the high groove doesn’t always love him, and this time it decided to reach out and give the #32 Camping World Camry a good slap. It was too early to be going as close to the wall as he was on a greenish track, the commentators said, and I agreed with a sigh. I never pretend that my drivers can’t do anything wrong, but it still hurts when you have to admit they screwed up. Things got crappier when Michael brought out the second caution when a tire blew after some quick repairs. That was it for him—16 laps into the race Michael brought the beaten and bruised Toyota to the garage and finished a heartbreaking 43rd.

Both Casey and David had a very good day, quietly racing and ending up 9th and 13th, respectively. No doubt Casey was thrilled to have a run like that and actually get the finish to show it! David moved up a spot in drivers points to 11th and now he’s 13th in owners points! A good solid start to the season.

Of course the race wouldn’t be interesting if it didn’t have a little controversy. Unfortunately this incident involved Todd Kluever, who I’ve grown to be quite the fan of over the years. Todd had a good car but got trapped a lap down because of green flag pit stops, and with a little over two dozen laps to go he was in the position to get the Aaron’s Lucky Dog. The man he was racing with was Sam Hornish Jr., who I’ve not taken much of a notice of (I’m not all crazy about drivers from other series coming in…so what? They’re just drivers) until now. Hornish was fast, faster than Todd, and got up to his back bumper coming off of Turn 2. However, instead of passing Todd cleanly, he plowed—I mean plowed!—into him! On the straightaway, of all places! I was borderline insane with fury, and that intensified when NASCAR gave Hornish the lap back, with no aggressive driving penalty or anything. For one thing, I thought that if you were involved in the caution you were disallowed the free pass, and for another that was some blatant rough driving if I’ve ever seen any. Hornish waltzed his way to 15th while Todd was sat with bloody 33rd and a wrecked racecar. He was none too happy about it, either!

“We were trying to salvage a good finish for the 3M car,” he said. “We had a pretty good car. We started off real tight and we were fighting hard to stay the Lucky Dog there and get a caution, and the 12 car didn't think that was necessary. It was only a matter of time, a couple of more laps and he was going to pass me because his tires were better, but I guess he didn't want to pass us, he just wanted to wreck us.”

I had high hopes for the Kobalt 500. Kurt’s intermediate track program has improved a ton since last year and so has DEI’s. I thought that this could be the race that Casey would break out of his bad luck streak with and that David and DJ would get a pair of solid finishes to better their points standings. A few of these things came true and a few definitely did not.

When the race began I had already been listening to David’s radio feed on PitCommand for a while. I’d first listened to him during the Duel and really enjoyed the experience before he had engine problems and dropped out of the race. Since I work every other weekend, this was the first time I’d gotten a chance to listen to him (since he missed the race at Vegas). The first thing I noticed was that Frankie Kerr, David and Shawn Reutimann all have an amazing amount of chemistry. Frankie is a wonderful crew chief and a perfect fit with David. Shawn is a terrific spotter, great at giving David just the information he needs and with a calm, clear voice. I settled down to listen.

When the green fell, David began to drop back as a result of an ill-handling car. 36 laps later the caution flew for debris and the Domino’s team got their first chance at adjustments. However, this pit road trip ended up providing me with David’s first F-bomb! Apparently he had trouble seeing his pit board and told the crew that next week he “needs another fucking pit sign!” (Hey, that’s what he said!). I know everyone cusses, but it was almost comical hearing it from David’s lips, since he’s such a sweetheart. It seemed like he felt bad about it later because after he was back on the track he added (in a bit of a calmer voice) that he wanted another one for the next pit stop. I don’t think he got one, though, for when he pitted again he told the crew to wave the freaking thing around so he could spot it easier.

Atlanta is Atlanta, and because of green flag pit stops and a grumpy car David wound up 2 laps down. He was still able to reach about the high 20s, though, and his Camry was just starting to get a little better when disaster struck. David was running the high line behind fellow Toyota driver Brian Vickers when Greg Biffle drifted up to “get a little air off of the 83 because we were side-by-side” the second David crept down just a little bit (looking at the replay he was very close to the wall). As a result of this synchronized movement the front of the 00 Camry hooked the right rear of Biffle’s Ford, which slammed into the wall and collected Vickers. Kasey Kahne slammed David from behind and spun him around so that the two cars were facing each other.

“I don’t know what the freak happened,” David said in disbelief. He was quick to put the blame on himself, though, if it was indeed his fault. Both Frankie and Shawn said that it wasn’t, that Biffle came up. I felt so bad for David—he sounded so bummed. However, I was incredibly impressed with Frankie. That man took charge and began to bark out orders like crazy because he wanted to “finish this thing”. David took two trips for repairs and although the injured car was handling horribly and also having some plug wire problems (David said), the team set out to avoid a DNF. Radio issues began to plague Shawn, so Frankie became a temporary spotter. Now the team impressed me further, for not only did Frankie do an excellent job, but he also had the spirits to tease Shawn about the “hell of a job” the crew chief was doing as a spotter! Shawn’s replies were mostly static until the very end of the race. After the checkers David again brought up the wreck and told them to tell him straight up if he caused it. They again affirmed it was not his fault. David finished 40th but moved up a spot in drivers points to 43rd and remains 44th in owners points.

Unfortunately Biffle blamed the wreck on David. “The 00 right-reared me at the end of the backstretch and turned me in the fence. I guess it’s payback from California, I don’t know. He must have been splitting the difference or something and got my right-rear, I don’t know. Maybe he didn’t mean to do it, but those are the facts.”

I think this is ridiculous and Biffle should have a talk with David before he brings up payback. David has too much to lose to think about revenge right now!

Kurt Busch had a great car, leading 14 laps, but was bitten by a mistake on pit road with a little more than 100 laps to go, which he never recovered from. He sped on pit lane during yellow flag pit stops and couldn’t get the blue deuce back into the top 10 from there. He finished a solid 14th, but that number doesn’t show how good that team was all day.

Casey Mears had another dismal day. According to the fans who listened to his audio feed today (on his forum), the car was just horrible at first. I don’t think it ever got very good, but he was better near the end of the race and Darian was saying that they learned a lot of things. I sure hope so, because even though Casey finished 28th and moved up a spot in points to 32nd, he’s still frighteningly close to the 35th mark.

Both Dale Jr. and Martin had good days, finishing 14th and 8th, respectively. Dale Jr. had an awesome, top 5 car until a bad adjustment messed up the handling and he dropped back. Martin’s run was just amazing—he could win one of these things soon! Martin is now 22nd in points and Junior is 26th…not incredibly good but way better than they were a couple races ago!!

Jimmie Johnson won the race after a great battle with Tony Stewart, making it an impressive two in a row (I was cheering for Jimmie, by the way). Congratulations to that #48 team!

On to the bullring of Bristol and the Car of Tomorrow!

Cold Atlanta

It’s not getting much easier.

Michael once again missed the race after a wretched qualifying attempt. It is so hard to imagine what this feels like, especially being near NAPA’s headquarters. On the Toyota qualifying notes, I was surprised to see Derrick Finley’s name associated with MWR - as the Project Engineer! I thought I heard or saw somewhere that Michael had hired someone away from BDR, but I had no idea it would end up being his old crew chief, especially since it seemed they did not get along. But here is what he had to say:

"We fought a loose condition off-throttle all day. We started loose in and loose everywhere, but we got the entry and the center better. We were just loose off for most of practice. For qualifying, we basically did what the No. 00 team did because they obviously had a really good car. They all did a really great job. But when we went to qualify, we don't know exactly what happened. The car was just a little bit loose off still in qualifying and there was some type of miss in the engine and right now that's where it stands."

So Michael’s car had David’s setup. For some reason, I don’t think what runs good for David runs good for Michael. Okay…failure at some humor. But the engine missing causes some concern. I’m not going to go all up in arms though – I expected Toyota to have some engine issues. It just sucks because an engine issue in qualifying is fatal for star cars, which most of the Toyotas are.

In spite of Michael DNQing again, I was thrilled and relieved to watch David lock himself in. The look on his face after qualifying was enough to take the stress off of me! And of course, his quotes were hilarious:

“Frank (Kerr, crew chief) said that if my first lap was good enough to make it into the show that he would let me know and call me off on my second lap. I got to the start/finish line on my first lap and I didn't hear anything, then I drove into turn one and I still didn't hear anything. About halfway down the backstretch Frank came over the radio and said that he thought we were going to be okay. I thought, man, Frank, just thinking we're in isn't going to cut it. So I made sure to run hard the rest of the way and thank the good lord that we had a fast enough lap to get in the race. At least now I can maybe eat something and keep it down. I'm going to have me a lot of Domino's pizza tonight, I promise you that."

I love this guy! He will start 24th on Sunday – not too shabby!

Dale Jarrett made me worry again with his 4th Champ’s Provisional. I just wish I knew if he was being conservative and doing it on purpose or if the cars…are that bad. Because…ugh.

Kurt starts 17th, Martin 18th, Dale Jr. 22nd and Casey 34th. Mike Bliss was a huge surprise when he qualified 9th! What a great effort for that team! I’m also happy to say that Brian Vickers made the race, and very sad that Scott Wimmer and AJ Allmendinger missed it (the latter because of ignition trouble). Ryan Newman was back to his old self and won the pole.

The truck race brought some happiness. Good racing! It was nice to hear and see Todd Kluever during the prerace. Michael sounded happy, whether he was or not. I was pleased to watch Matt Crafton finish 3rd. Chad McCumbee ran great until getting involved in a wreck, ending up 18th. AJ in the truck version of the Dream Machine was a wonderful combination. He ran in the lower 20s to mid teens all night until choosing to take no tires with about 30 to go. Knowing that tires were being worn to the cords I questioned the move – until he took the lead and was out in front for a lap! But, disaster hit when he dropped back during an aggressive restart and got loose near the 13 truck. He hit the inside wall pretty hard. I was upset and that grew when he had a bit of a tantrum, flung his arms around, jumped the infield wall, ripped his HANS device off and threw it in front of him as he walked, while ignoring the medics the entire time. Normally I would groan and disapprove of this but…AJ did not have a good Friday.

I was glad for Mike Skinner’s win. He dedicated it to his dog Opus, who recently died. When a guy can devote a race win to his dog, he deserves it.

So…hopefully Mikey can finish well tomorrow (er, today) in the Busch race. I think he really really needs it.

Sam's Town 300 & UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Luck was not on a lot of drivers’ sides during the Busch and Cup races at Las Vegas. The newly repaved and rebanked track brought with it the possibilities of tire blowouts, forcing a harder compound. Unfortunately, hard tires do not grip well and the new setups threw plenty of teams for a loop.

David, after missing the Cup race, needed a good finish in the Aaron’s Dream Machine on Saturday. He started 25th and steadily moved up into the top-20. It looked like it was going to be a typical good day for the #99 team. However, they did not even make the halfway point. On Lap 64, the ignition box blew up as a result of faulty wiring. The team got back out on track many laps down and used the time remaining to experiment with changes. They finished 31st, 20 laps down. He is now down to 12th in driver points and 16th in owners points.

Casey also had a bad day after getting caught up in an early crash. Matt Kenseth lost control and Casey had no where to go, hitting the wall. He finished a miserable 42nd.

Kurt Busch ran great all day but just didn't have enough at the end to contend for the win. He was passed late by Tony Stewart, ending up a respectable 4th.

Jeff Burton won the race in wild finish with hometown boy Kyle Busch. Burton took the high groove off of Turn 4 on the last lap, going neck and neck with Busch to the line. Just before the checkers, Burton sidedrafted slightly off of Busch and got the latter unstable. Kyle lost control and crashed across the line. Despite the accident, he still ended up second but was obviously disappointed. His brother Kurt even slowed after the finish near Kyle’s car to check if he was okay – this was something I loved to see! After the cool down lap, Jeff did not take any time to celebrate. He, too, drove his car near the wrecked #5. Discovering that Kyle was walking down pit road, he drove after him. Then came the second good thing to see – Kyle congratulated Jeff on his win, shaking his hand through the window. Kyle, a hardhead? Yep. A sore losing jerk? Nope.

The Cup race held apprehension for the hard tires. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as disastrous as was hyped. Casey Mears started far back in the pack in 34th and they always say you’re more likely to get in trouble in the back. As Casey was passing Ward Burton on the top entering a turn, Robby Gordon decided to dive underneath Ward’s #4, making it three-wide on a track that could barely support two-wide. He got loose and shoved into Ward, who spun and got into Casey. Casey’s car was severely damaged and so was his opinion on Robby.

"It amazes me - every time I think Robby can't do anything any more stupid than he's already done, he one-ups himself," he said. "It's such a long race and he puts us three-wide going into Turn 1. It's ridiculous. He's trying to pull something off in the first opening laps when it means nothing. I guess he's trying to be a hero, you know?"

The #25 team would get the car repaired, but they could only progress up to 40th. Casey is now 34th in both driver and owners points. His need for a good run has now turned desperate.

Dale Jarrett in the #44 UPS Toyota did not crash, but faced his own clouds. He began the race last and found it difficult to improve his position. The car was incredibly loose, something that was apparently caused by a malfunctioning tire gauge and incorrect tire pressures. Already two laps down, Dale then sped on pit road during green flag stops and had to serve a pass-through penalty. The dismal day resulted in a 33rd place finish, 4 laps down. Dale dropped to 32nd in points, flirting dangerously with the cutoff in 35th.

Kurt Busch also faced misfortune. He had an excellent car, but during green flag pit stops he, like Jarrett, sped and was penalized. To pour salt in the wound, the #2 Miller Lite Dodge then began to lose power and sent fumes into the cockpit for the last 100 laps or so. He fell to 23rd in points after salvaging a 26th place finish.

The #1 Bass Pro Shops Chevy stayed clean all day and took home 12th – his best finish of the year – as a reward. They missed several wrecks after starting 26th and remained in the top-20 much of the day. The good finish launched him up to 27th in points.

Finally, Dale Jr. was looking to take a huge jump in points. While running in the top-5, a caution came out. Jeff Burton, just in front of the #8, came down pit road to check on an engine problem. Dale Jr. and the team failed to realize pit road was closed and followed him. They were issued a penalty and had to start at the end of the line in 13th. Thankfully, there were more than 10 laps to go and several cars were off the lead lap. Junior was able to get back up to 11th. He moved up to 28th in points, a far cry from where he was previously.

Jimmie Johnson won Vegas for the third time in a row. Congrats to him!

Qualifying is today for Atlanta. David was 11th in practice after leading for some time! But…Michael was slow in 43rd and Dale even worse in 45th. Kurt led first practice, with Martin 11th, Junior 19th and Casey 39th. I am also happy to say that Scott Wimmer is attempting to qualify in the RCR #33 – he was 23rd. I know he is competing with David and Michael for the grid, but I wish him the best just the same. Good luck to all the star cars!

Vegas Qualifying....

Well, I guess we all should have been expecting this. I mean the chances of it happening were two out of three, and it was a chance of when, not if, it would finally occur. It didn’t make it any less painful, especially in the way it went about…

David was the biggest shock because he was pretty good in practice. When he ran a “borderline” lap during qualifying my heart sank, because I was already predicting that it wouldn’t be fast enough to make the show. David is a great qualifier and it made me even more worried about Michael’s chances at racing his way in and DJ’s hopes of avoiding another Champion’s Provisional. My only speck of optimism was that David went out early while Michael and Dale were further down the order, but it wasn’t a big speck and it turned out I was right in thinking that way.

As soon as I saw the NAPA Camry on the track I knew it was going to be bad. As the booth guys like to say, he was wrecking but not hitting anything the entire first and second three-quarters of the run. Poor Darrell sounded so upset the entire time and I believe he already realized how it was going to end. Michael lost it in the frontstretch and smacked the back and front of the car into the wall. The tires smoked as he spun it around and headed dejectedly into the garage without completing the second lap. That’s not how I wanted to see the NAPA car do its first burnout.

My heart was breaking for Michael, but I also couldn’t help feeling awful for DW. You could tell by the way he talked how shaken he was, and he quickly said that there was no way Michael could have qualified that car. It’s like a nightmare come true for Darrell. He’s been worried since the beginning that Michael took on too much and that he was going to become the uncompetitive driver Darrell was at the end of his career. Michael can say over and over that his plate was never too full, but it’s showing now.

Then DJ goes out and his Camry was horrible as well. The third Champ’s Provisional in three races.

MWR has a lot of work to do, but I expected that. The funny part is the way some of Michael’s fans are now reacting. Here’s an impression.

September 2006: “I can’t wait to be gone from BDR! Toyota is gonna be awesome!!”

November 2006: “Finally this season from hell is over! Bring it on 2007, Toyota will prove all those naysayers wrong!!!”

January 2007 (testing): “Um, they’re sandbagging! Toyota’s gonna be great! If Michael could make most of the races last year in BDR crap, he’ll have no trouble at all in awesome Toyotas!”

Fast forward to March 9th, 2007: “Toyota better step it up and start giving MWR good equipment!!!!!”

It just makes me laugh. Look, MWR is a brand new team that was hurriedly put together and hasn’t even really been a united organization until very recently (just watch MWR: A New Era—they were separated into three different buildings while Waltrip Racing World was finished…actually, I don’t even know if everyone is under the same roof yet!). Two out of the three teams don’t have a guaranteed spot. That’s an immediate disadvantage no matter what organization you’re driving for. Toyota is a new Cup manufacturer. They struggled in the CTS at first too, why did so many Michael fans think they’d come out swinging in Cup, with the competition as tough as it is today? It is what it is. We as fans can’t do much but suck it up and go on to next weekend. DJ is still in the race—one car is better than none, and if he can pull off a couple more decent finishes he won’t have to worry about relying on his provisionals, which is a very good thing!

Brandon’s run bummed me out because he was fairly good in practice. Here are some notes:

“It didn’t feel bad. It’s never a good thing when the car feels good because you’re comfortable side. At least we unloaded better and we had a better practice. We picked up again in qualifying but everybody else is. We’ll go home and regroup, take some time off and see what happens.”
WHAT IS THE NEXT RACE ON YOUR SCHEUDLE? “I don’t know. I think it’s going to be a while. We’ve really got a lot of work ahead of us before we should come back and try to attempt it. We’ll see what happens and hopefully when we come back we’ll be better.”
ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO TEST OR GO TO THE WIND TUNNEL? “That’s the stuff that we really need to do and we know that. We need to be spending time at the wind tunnel. We need to spend time at Kentucky, we need to be doing this and doing that and we may have jumped in a little too fast. With the competition the way it us you can’t come in behind the eight-ball.”

I’m definitely glad he had a good practice if nothing else! I think this team can make a few races this year if they keep working as hard as they have been so far. They’ve been making such a wonderful effort and get a little better every week.

Thankfully Kurt had a great qualifying time and will start his home track race in 10th as long as the rest of the practices go well (since both the Busch and Cup practices today were filled with wrecks, I don’t say that was much confidence!). It would be great if Kurt could win at Vegas! With the way Penske’s intermediate program has improved with Dodge’s new nose, I have high hopes for the Blue Deuce.

Dale Jr. and Martin struggled a bit, ending up 28th and 26th, respectively. But at least they didn’t wreck like Paul Menard! That was absolutely wild!

Finally, I continue to fret about Casey’s Cup team. 34th.

Fortunately Busch quals were better. Kurt in 4th, Casey in 8th and David in 25th.

Ohhh I just hope something good happens this weekend to cheer me up! At this point I just don’t want to see anyone wreck anymore.

Telcel-Motorola Mexico 200 - Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez

College has taken up some time that I wanted to use to write about NASCAR’s third race in Mexico, but a mere few days isn’t enough to let me forget what happened.

David had been mediocre in practice and even ran off course once during Happy Hour, but truthfully I wasn’t expecting a great finish since firstly I was still worried about his condition after the wreck at California and secondly this was his first road course race. He also had to go to the rear of the field because of an engine change. On Sunday morning I told myself that I would be happy with a top 25.

How does 12th sound?

Wow! David is doing nothing but impressing me over and over again. To finish in the top 15 at a track you’ve never raced at before and that’s so physically exerting is amazing. But David really didn’t do more than keep his nose clean, which is one of the key elements to becoming a road course expert. It was frightening near the end of the race because there were wrecks going on all around him, but he made it through and got a great finish to boot. Now he’s 8th in points!

I was also happy because Todd Kluever ended up one spot ahead of David in 11th. Hey Roush—do you think you could be so kind to put this guy in a full-time ride?!

On to the things that didn’t make me happy. For one thing, the coverage of the race was anything but coverage…mostly a Montoya and Steve Wallace show. Montoya sure, it’s Mexico blah blah, but why Wallace? The funny thing is that it’s not even Rusty who is constantly bringing him up, but Dr. Punch and Andy Petree. Then they talk about him for what seems like forever and make him seem like he’s already a champion of the sport. A bit irritating. Then you have Juan Pablo Montoya…yes, Mexico would be his “home track” but the camera doesn’t have to be on him every second! The broadcast focused so much on him that you rarely—if at all—heard about any other driver outside the top 5 or who wasn’t wrecking. I think I heard David’s name once during the race and it was only a passing reference. Ridiculous! Bobby Hamilton Jr. finished 17th, Jason Leffler 6th, Marcos Ambrose 8th, but does anyone care? I guess not! Or maybe ESPN doesn’t think anyone else cares, which is vexing enough since the commentators seem to be a bit rusty (no pun intended) when it comes to the current NASCAR. It’s pronounced “klee-ver”, not “kloo-ver”!!!

Juan Pablo Montoya. Oh, Montoya, just when I started to kind of like the guy. DIDN’T ANYONE TELL YOU NOT TO SPIN OUT YOUR TEAMMATE? Oh yeah, they did. Scott Pruett has done nothing but come to help out Ganassi’s NASCAR drivers on road courses. He basically taught Jamie McMurray, Casey Mears, Reed Sorenson and David Stremme how to race on them. He himself loves to race in NASCAR. Yes, he’s gotten aggressive, but who hasn’t on road courses? It doesn’t mean he deserves to be spun out. The leader. With 8 laps remaining. By your teammate!

Sorry, Montoya dove into the first corner as hard as he could. I believe he had no other thought in his mind but passing Scott, no matter how he did it or what happened as a result.
The #42 crew chief, Brad Parrott, said it all for me. I love Brad. Totally fell in love with him when he was Casey’s crew chief last year. In my opinion he’s one of the most loyal and encouraging crew chiefs in the garage toward his driver. So it came as a shock when he looked devastated after Montoya wiped Scott out, and even more of an alarm when he was very upset—instead of celebrating—after Montoya won. Finally, there was a certain someone missing in Victory Lane. Brad. Where was he? With the #41 team of Scott Pruett.

Thanks Brad, for admitting when your driver has made an error. At least you have Casey’s Busch victory to still smile about!