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!

Stater Bros. 300 and Auto Club 500 - California Speedway

The Fontana race weekend started out well in the Busch Series with David Reutimann. He ran a very solid race all night and ended up 14th, which puts him 11th in points (the #99 is actually 13th in owners points because of the drivers switching cars and all that). The end of the race was actually quite painful, with Casey Mears catching Matt Kenseth at a blistering pace, but unfortunately the laps ran out and Casey settled with 2nd.

Sunday morning began with some stress, as NASCAR Raceday on SPEED reported that the #44 was having issues getting through tech inspection. Apparently something was wrong with the valence, and the UPS Camry went through inspection three times, failing each time. This was about 40 minutes before the race was scheduled to go green, which was really frightening. NASCAR must be annoyed with MWR to begin with, and I was hoping the UPS team would get the car legal quickly; it crossed my mind that NASCAR could get irritated enough that they might tell the team to go home if they couldn’t get it fixed! However, DJ and the #44 were on the starting grid in time for pre-race ceremonies, so that was a relief.

DEI was one of my first worries of the day. 2007 is the debut of all three series using unleaded fuel full time. It was experimented last year in the Busch and Truck series; firstly at Gateway International Raceway for the Busch Series. Notably, Paul Menard blew an engine during that race. Fast forward to Saturday night and the #15 Menards Chevy lost yet another engine. Coincidence? If it was, it isn’t anymore after the Cup race.

On Lap 15—Lap 15!—Martin Truex Jr.’s motor expired and his day was done in dismal 42nd not to mention being in a dangerous points position (38th).

A few laps later Dale Jr. had a tire going down and was forced to pit under green. He was trapped a lap down when the caution came out quickly after. Thankfully the Bud Chevy was fast enough to race its way back onto the lead lap, unfortunately this would be for nothing. On Lap 66 Junior’s problems began when he announced he was having engine issues. Half a dozen laps later he was in the garage. On Lap 111 he returned to the track, only to have the engine go up in smoke soon afterward. The #8 spun in its own oil but amazingly Junior kept it off the wall! He also had a good sense of humor about it, for he gave a bow and a hang ten as he exited the car. His amusement may have decreased some after he saw where he is in points…40th.

Let’s hope DEI can get their engine program straightened out before Vegas. Junior blew two engines there during testing earlier this year.

Kurt Busch had a quiet, solid day that could have been worse if he hadn’t received the Lucky Dog on Lap 91. He used this to his advantage and made up many of the points he lost at Daytona with a 7th place finish; he is now 19th with only 40 points to make up to be in the top 10.

Casey Mears had a rotten race, just the thing he didn’t want to happen at the place he considers to be his home track. The #25 was an ill-handling horror! None of the changes crew chief Darian Grubb made helped—the National Guard/GMAC Chevy had a mind of its own. Casey and team ended the evening 4 laps down in 31st and is 24th in points.

Dale Jarrett also had a miserable time with a UPS Camry that would not handle well and had some other possible internal issues. He, like many others, was trapped a lap down by green flag pit stops, but lost 3 more laps before the race ended with the #44 in 32nd. The upside of that is DJ is now 28th in points! Hopefully he can stay there so we don’t have to worry about using up Champion’s Provisionals.

By far, David Reutimann had the scariest day of our drivers. His plan was to run a smart, steady race, and for a while it looked very good for the #00 team, as David raced his way all the way up to 14th. Unluckily David was caught a lap down as was his MWR teammate, and for the rest of his day he struggled valiantly to leash the Lucky Dog.

Things got very frightening when he was tagged from behind by Greg Biffle with only a handful of laps to go. The Domino’s Camry slammed into the SAFER barrier with astonishing force. Shawn Reutimann (his spotter and cousin) immediately recognized the hard impact of the wreck and called to David repeatedly to talk to him. Meanwhile, David sat slumped forward in his seat, his helmet resting on the steering wheel. He only moved when Shawn yelled at him that there was fire and he needed to get out. David exited his crumpled car with the help of the safety workers and walked with a bit of a wobble to the ambulance. He was kept at the infield care center for a half hour before being released, where he assured everyone he was okay. “I am fine. NASCAR just likes to triple-check, so that is what we had going on.”

At first I was furious with Biffle. David may have been a lapped car but if Biffle wanted to get around him so badly he should have passed him up high. However, a friend of mine heard an interview with Shawn on XM Radio and he said that Biffle found David after the race and told him he didn’t mean to wreck him. I also read on the Roush forums that Biffle was very upset after David wrecked, dropping an F-bomb over the radio and saying that he hadn’t wanted to crash the #00.

That doesn’t matter anymore to me…I’m just relieved that David is okay. Shawn said that the impact was so extreme his left foot broke the clutch, and he has a sinus infection to boot, so today David is sore and sick. Next weekend is an off-week for the Cup boys but the Busch Series heads to the Mexico road course. I hope David is well enough to race.

It really goes to show that so what, MWR is struggling a little bit. Who cares. It could have gotten a lot worse when David hit that wall, so right now I’m glad that all three MWR drivers are alive and able to do the things they love.

*Sigh*

Well, we knew this was coming...

I realized pretty early on during qualifying today that it could come down to either Michael or David making the race. And it did.

For a few seconds I was terrified that David - by either an order or by his own choice - would purposely DNQ himself, but then I stopped and thought about it. First of all, Michael isn't that type of person or team owner, and secondly Ty Norris, who I've noticed has seemed to have taken David under his wing, wouldn't allow that to happen. Thirdly, I don't believe David is that type of driver. Outside the car he may be preciously goofy and nervous, but once he's in the car he turns into a calculating wheelman. Michael didn't hire him to not give it his all and Domino's and Burger King didn't sponsor him to DNQ. David did his job, and even though it meant bumping his boss out of the race, he had to do it.

DJ had his own problems during qualifying, like not having a car capable of making a time. Apparently the UPS Camry could not get out of first gear, so he made two embarrassingly slow circuits around California trying to get up to speed. Another Champion's Provisional used - only 4 left. I think it's about time DJ pulls out that awesome UPS truck and sneaks that onto the track!

Brandon also DNQed, but not for lack of effort. This CJM Racing team is trying so hard! It hurts because I know Brandon has all the potential to be a NASCAR star, and I was interested in DW's opinion on him today. Basically he remarked with some confusion that one second he was an up-and-coming driver with a CTS victory under his belt, and then he's out of a ride (thanks a lot, Hammond). My feelings exactly. These teams are always looking for the next big star when they're right in front of them! I just want to slap them across the face and scream, "Hello!! Brandon Whitt!!"

The DEI boys of Dale Jr. and Martin ran two fast laps, resulting in a 5th and 7th starting spot, respectively. Paul Menard also made the race unlike last weekend, which is great!

Kurt qualified 18th and Casey will take the green in 10th (which is really good considering he struggled mightily in practice!).

Other notable happenings are that Brian Vickers was the fastest star car and the second fastest Toyota behind Dave Blaney. I'm really happy that Brian made it! Actually, I'm happy for all the drivers who made it. John Andretti! He took that underfunded #37 and put it in the field. I really can't stand when fans laugh at the drivers that go home, especially when they are fans of a driver who needs to make it in as well. It's funny because some Michael fans laughed at Red Bull Racing, Paul Menard and Jeremy Mayfield because they DNQed for Daytona. Are they laughing now that karma has come back and bit them? It sucks when your driver DNQs, doesn't it?

I feel that Michael is in trouble now. He's got the biggest points hole ever to climb out of. Not to sound like I have no faith in him, but I'm thinking he won't make it into the top 35 this season. But I'm an MWR fan, too, so if Michael can't be guaranteed in I want David and DJ to be guaranteed in. MWR is Michael's future.

Daytona 500 - Daytona Internat'l Speedway

Despite triumph earlier in the week, the Daytona 500 did not find much else to give our drivers but heartache.

While the majority of the race was uneventful, the bad luck and crashes that did occur seemed to suck in DEI, MWR and Casey and Kurt. The first hint of poor things to come happened early on when Boris Said pushed off of Turn 2 and made contact with the side of David Reutimann’s 00 Camry on Lap 16. While David avoided wrecking, the damage hindered him more than I had expected. He fell a lap down as the race took on a long green flag run.

Michael’s day was dismal from the start. He wanted a spring change and it ended up doing just the opposite of improving the NAPA Camry. The car developed a massive push, causing him to hit the wall and, according to Dale Jarrett’s race report, cut a tire. With a combination of an ill-handling car and a lot of green racing, Michael went 2 laps down, finishing 30th. Because of the 100 point penalty earlier in the week, he will start the season with -27 points. Yikes! On the flip side, at least he didn’t wreck it!

Kurt Busch’s day ended early but not because of poor handling or the Big One. In fact, he led the most laps and had one of the two best cars. However, while riding behind Tony Stewart, in the other best car, havoc broke loose – literally. In Turn 4, Tony’s Chevy wiggled and he let off the gas. Unfortunately, Kurt was currently closing in and could not make evasive action in time. He just barely tapped the 20 and the plumes of smoke that followed indicated a wreck brewing. Because Kurt was so close, when Tony spun and hit the wall hard, Kurt ran into him again, severely injuring the front end of his car. Kurt unnecessarily took all the blame and was very hard on himself. Luckily, Tony did not jump to conclusions (so I did not end up roaring at him through the TV). The #2 car concluded the first race of the year in 41st. Kurt said on a practice broadcast today that after reviewing replays he realizes the crash was not his fault and that he and Tony are good.

Only about 20 laps later, David’s improving run was over. With his lost lap back and damage fixed, he began moving forward. Alas, off of Turn 2, Jimmie Johnson was moving backwards! He got loose and admittedly overcorrected, sending the car on an insane zigzag journey along the backstretch. With so much happening and so little time, David smashed right into the side of the defending Daytona 500 Champion. Several other cars were also collected, including Denny Hamlin. David would finish 40th.

DEI teammates Dale Jr. and Martin ran decently all day, although Junior later stated that the engines weren’t making enough power. It showed. When it came to crunch time in the closing laps, the #8 and #1 could not really make many moves. With only 4 to go, a huge wreck ensued when Matt Kenseth hit his own teammate Jamie McMurray a little to hard. McMurray hit the wall and triggered a domino effect behind him. Dale Jr. was running with Martin behind him when the crash started. This drafting is good until they all start spinning. As a result, both Junior and Martin were taken out in one fell swoop. Dale Jr. finished 32nd with terminal damage. Martin was able to limp it home to a 29th place finish.

Dale Jarrett had a good day. Not a great one, but good. He was never in contention and really seemed fine with riding around at the rear of the field. Although effort may seem to be lacking at first, in reality this saved him from the late-race wrecks, even the enormous one on the last lap of the green-white-checkered. He was the highest finishing Toyota, ending the day in 22nd. DJ’s website says he finished 23rd. Hmm.

Remember “the enormous one on the last lap”? Our last driver, Casey Mears, got taken out in that one. The wreck began just off of Turn 4. Now, it appears that Kyle Busch tagged the apron and got loose, but I noticed something more. Watch Matt Kenseth – he comes down very close to Kyle just before his back end came around. It may not have just been the quick transition in banking that caused Kyle to lose it.

But back to the wreck itself. Cars twisted and turned everywhere. Casey drove blindly – for there is really no other way in that situation – through it and was at the wrong place at the wrong time. He hit Clint Bowyer broadside, causing the #07 to flip over and slide in the grass, even cross the finish line, on his roof! Thankfully for Clint, the grass was kind enough to flip him over again because the car had some flames leaping out from under the hood. Clint was able to get out of the car himself. Casey finished 20th – not too bad!

While the wreck happened behind them, Kevin Harvick and Mark Martin battled to the end to be the Daytona 500 Champion. The caution never flew despite the crash, leading to a great finish. Kevin inched out Mark by .02 seconds! Of course, there was all kinds of controversy about NASCAR not throwing the yellow, saying that they wanted Harvick to win on the 6 year anniversary of Dale Earnhardt’s death. You know what I say to that? Bull! The race ended the way it should have – a race for the win! And if NASCAR had thrown the caution, people would complain that they gave it to Mark. Plain and simple, everyone that was in the wreck would have been in it whether the yellow was out or not.

Congrats to Kevin Harvick! He may get on my nerves from time to time, but he’s a good guy and deserved this win.

On to California. Qualifying for the NEXTEL Cup is only minutes away. It looks like it is going to be a very tough race to get in to. In practice, the star cars swapped speeds quicker than the commentators could broadcast them. It looks like we’ll only know everything when the qualifying session is over. We can only hope!

Bad Busch Series Luck

The opening of the 2007 Busch Series season didn't exactly get off to the start I had hoped. It all started with Casey Mears, who wrecked both his primary and backup cars in practice. As if that weren't bad enough, he had a dismal qualifying lap yesterday and failed to make the race. It wasn't for a lack of effort - his crew worked incredibly hard under a lot of pressure to put a setup in Kyle Busch's backup car - but even though it isn't vital that Casey makes Busch races, it was pretty obvious he was saddened by the DNQ. However, another notable name in J.J. Yeley also didn't make the field, so at least he was in good company (yes, I think Mr. Yeley is a talented driver, and also a very good person).

It didn't get a whole heck of a lot better during the race today. David ran very well up until he started pushing, and then he hit the wall. As a result he lost a tire, but luckily enough that brought out the caution, and the Dream Machine got the Aaron's Lucky Dog and remained on the lead lap! Unfortunately, a short time later he hit the wall again, and that took him out of contention to a 29th place finish.

Dale Jr. ended up 7th behind teammate Martin in 6th, and Scott Wimmer and Todd Kluever also had a one-two finish in 14th and 15th, which I'm pretty satisfied with. What I wasn't too happy about was the racing itself...it just seemed hard to pass. I was really hoping someone would go with Dave Blaney at the end to pass Kevin Harvick, but no luck. Darn! I guess after the wild Craftsman Truck race last night this one just seemed dull. To top it all off, I wasn't impressed with the ESPN coverage. Maybe it will get better...

The Spirit of the 55

I suppose you could say Michael making the Daytona 500 was a miracle. It certainly felt like it after all he's been through this week...the penalties, the fear, the sadness, the stress. But something kept nagging me about the whole deal, something deeper than just sucking it up, buckling down and driving as hard as you can. Suddenly it hit me - a possible reason for how a man could accomplish what so many had already written off as impossible.

He had two angels riding with him in the #55, just as they had ridden in it themselves years ago.

Benny Parsons drove the #55 from 1982 to 1986. Bobby Hamilton took the wheel from 2001 to 2002.

I'm not religious, I don't worship God or any other higher power besides the natural powers of the earth. But I believe in spirits and that they live on in the people and the places they loved the most. And I truly believe they were with Michael on Thursday.

Tomorrow is going to be a difficult day for all those who were close to Dale Earnhardt. But maybe, just maybe, he'll be flying with someone when he takes the checkers at Daytona.

From Ruin to Redemption: Part 2

Gatorade Duel #1. Michael would start at the back of the pack in a car that hadn’t been on the track since January. Many wrote him off – no way would he be competitive enough to make it. Even I had my doubts.

But…he was in the race. And anyone with half a brain knows that Michael can draft.

We decided to try out TrackPass Race View, even though I didn’t expect much because according to that, Denny Hamlin caused the Bud Shootout wreck instead of Dale Jr. It was about a quarter to a half a lap behind real time, but it was interesting to watch and somewhat useful during commercials. Michael became our car to track, visually and through audio.

Scott Eggleston, Michael’s replacement crew chief (and, ironically enough, Michael’s crew chief when he won his first race during the Daytona 500 in 2001), and Michael’s spotter who I believe was named Mark, sounded calm but apprehensive. Michael himself still seemed down and out. Not very encouraging.

When the field took the green, Mikey remained in the back for some time. Then, all of a sudden, he was MOVING! I could not believe how good that car was. With a Camry that did not have to lift in the turns and a driver who knows how the air works, the only direction was forward.

The typical draft dance played out, however. Michael got hung out several times. He’d make up spots only to lose them again. Finally, the first caution came out when Jeremy Mayfield was squeezed by Stanton Barrett and Bobby Labonte. Michael was close to top-10 at that point. There was some discussion on the radio. They stayed out…and everyone else pitted.

From last to first!

And who ended up behind him after pit stops? Dale Jr. Unfortunately, that joy didn’t last too long. Since Michael had older tires, he led for some time before Dale Jr. and Tony Stewart decided it was time to go. They started passing on the outside in Turn 1. Off of Turn 2, the spotter told Michael there was a small hole behind the 8. Apparently, Michael decided to make a squeeze. Halfway up the track, he realized there was no room and tried to turn back down. By that time, he picked up a push and nailed Junior pretty good in the left rear. In what disturbingly looked like the Mikey/Junior incident at Charlotte in 2005, Junior did a 180 and spun into the grass along the backstretch. Numb, I watched him slide along. Amazingly, he hit nothing! The damage was minor but he still had to limp it to pit road to avoid tearing the car apart because of flat tires. By the time he got in and out of pit lane, he was a lap down. He was calm, however.

“He turned me,” he said over the radio afterward the near-wreck. “Huh. That’s weird.”

Michael’s car had some right front damage – not a good place. I was devastated. I figured Junior was screwed, but he was in no matter what. Michael would be done for if the injury to his car was harmful to his race. The crew pulled out his fender and sent him back on the track. Now there was only hope.

Michael rode around at the rear of the field, avoiding the wreck that ensued when Robby Gordon turned down across the #84 of AJ Allmendinger. From then on, it was a march straight to the front. Dale Jr. also got his lap back.

Things began to get tense after David Ragan lost a right rear tire and crashed by himself. Michael was close to the other “star cars” – Boris Said, Johnny Sauter (both locked in) and 72-year-old James Hylton. After the restart, it all looked about over for Mikey. Several cars checked up and got loose, including Casey Mears directly in front of him. Luckily for Michael but sadly for Ward Burton, another driver racing for a spot, the wreck occurred a few cars back and Ward was tapped, crashing hard.

It was clear there would be a green-white-checkered. Two laps for Michael to keep Boris Said, Johnny Sauter and Mike Bliss behind him and to pass James Hylton, several cars ahead. But help was on Michael’s side – his friend Ken Schrader in the #21 somehow got right behind the #55 during the caution and agreed to try and push Michael to the Daytona 500. As long as he didn’t do anything crazy. Good old Schrader!

The green-white-checkered laps were some of the two longest laps I’ve ever watched. I felt light-headed. Hylton got hung out. Michael, with Schrader in tow, drafted by him. I only started screaming with half a lap to go.

“GO MIKEY!! GOOO!!!! YES! YOU DID IT YOU DID IT!!”

In the face of controversy, against all odds, Michael raced his way into the biggest NASCAR event of the year. First car to get in. He finished 8th.

And then I heard it over the radio. Because Boris Said was the second car to race in and was already locked into the 500, David Reutimann was next in line by qualifying speed. He was in.

ALL OF MWR WAS IN THE DAYTONA 500!!

Michael sounded on the verge of tears as he thanked his crew over the radio. According to a NASCAR.com article, Scott was in much of the same state. “I don't know how to put it into words,” he said. “I don't cry hardly at all, and I almost cried today.”

David, hearing the news, held his face in his hands and leaned on his parked car, the pressure melting off his shoulders and emotion clear as day on his face as he stood again, just in time to see Ty Norris congratulating him. Dale Jarrett drove beside Mikey on the cool down lap, waving. As they parked, waves turned to joyous clapping.

Just unbelievable. A miracle.

Michael was somber but thankful in his post-race interview. “I'm just sad and happy at the same time,” he said. “That's what Daytona does to you.”

Dale Jarrett was more outspoken and praised his teammate and owner. “I told Michael before this race that if anybody could drive it in, it would be him. He went out and did it.”

To top it all off, Dale Jr. rallied back and finished 2nd! He later said about Michael, “He is a great drafter, a great racer at the restrictor plate tracks. It is no surprise to me [that he made it in].”

David was fortunate for his locked in position, althought he joked, “They say its official, but I'm hoping there isn't a recount or anything. It is Florida, after all.” In the second Duel, his #00 Domino’s Camry had electrical problems and went to the garage.

When it is all said and done, Dale Jr. starts the Daytona 500 in 5th. Michael is 15th, Reutimann 40th and Dale Jarrett 43rd, using his Champion’s Provisional. Kurt Busch will take the green from 3rd after an impressive Duel (and winner Jeff Gordon’s time being disallowed), Martin Truex Jr. 13th and Casey Mears in 17th. Brandon Whitt, as expected, did not make the race but it was not for lack of effort.

BRING ON DAYTONA! WE ARE READY!!