Pocono/Montreal Quals

Jess

CUP RESULTS
1. Jimmie Johnson
8. Brian
10. Kurt
12. Dale Jr.
17. Martin
28. David
33. Casey
42. Michael

I couldn't see a darn thing so I really have no idea what happened during qualifying! The only thing I know is that Michael went out first and was just awful.


NATIONWIDE RESULTS
1. Scott Pruett
17. Scott
32. David
34. Brandon

David was able to make it to qualifying because practice at Pocono was unexpectedly rained out (which makes me feel a little better about having to leave early, since it would have been a boring day at the track for us!). Chris Cook practiced the Aaron's Dream Machine - oops, NAPA car!! And what a pretty car it was!

And I'm still really tired after coming home last night so...yeah.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway - Brickyard 400

Danni

RESULTS
1. Jimmie Johnson
12. Dale Jr.
24. Martin
26. Casey
30. David
40. Kurt (41LD)
42. Brian (DNF - ENGINE)
43. Michael (66LD)

This was truly one of the most agonizing and depressing races I've watched in the five years I've known NASCAR. In fact, it couldn't even be called a race. The tire problem that we were nervous about during practice became more of a story than either of us could have ever guessed.

The day started off on a sour note when Michael dove underneath Sam Hornish on Lap 5 and lost it. In his effort to save the car he drove right down into Paul Menard and wrecked both of them. Despite not being overly fond of Hornish or Menard, this one was all on Michael. To make things worse, the car was one of a new generation for MWR and because of the crash, no one got to see what they were capable of.

But really, future chaos probably would have marred that anyway. The first competition caution was scheduled for Lap 10, but because of the wreck they moved it to Lap 14. The #88 team decided to gamble and pit under the yellow, which didn't make me feel good at all. On Lap 10 they field went green. David hit the wall but was able to continue. Then Kurt spun and took out both himself and Kevin Harvick. Wow. What a day so far!

Junior stayed out when everyone else pitted despite a lot of green laps on his tires (a lot being 4). He led 7 laps and was out on the track for only one more before he had to pit under green for a flat. Surprise!

The next competition caution was Lap 30, making it a 12 lap run, but Juan Pablo Montoya blew a tire a lap prior. By this time, everyone was exasperated because it appeared that you could only run right around 10 laps before the tires came apart! The track was not rubbering up at all - the tires just turned to dust.

The race went green on Lap 35, with the next yellow set for Lap 47 - 12 laps. On Lap 47, Matt Kenseth's right rear tire exploded, ripping his entire quarter panel off. A few laps before, Mark Martin, Sam Hornish and Carl Edwards also got flats.

Since only the rights were having problems, teams began taking just right sides for track position, including Brian. It seemed to work fine for some and horribly for others. But by now, I was so sick of the race that I didn't really care what happened, as long as everyone got home unharmed.

Competition cautions came out every ten laps or so for the remainder of the race. Some guys were saved from tires failures, while others were held back by not having enough time to pass others. It was so difficult to watch and so frustrating!

Brian was doing well until his engine dropped RPM and eventually blew up on the Lap 106 restart. I was proud of the way he handled it, though. He got up out of the groove and then just stopped to avoid tracking oil all around the track. Still, his contention for the Chase took a big hit. It was also on that restart that Jeff Burton hit a bird while going for the lead! I though it was a water bottle until they showed the replay! Poor bird!

Near the end, everyone started taking two tires so it was even hard to make up track position in the pits. The race for the win looked to be between Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin. With the last 10-lap stint, Johnson got off pit road first and from there on the rest of the field never caught him. I'm sure Jimmie would have liked to seen a better race at Indy, but another Brickyard win for him must be sweet.

The finishing order is hard to judge. With so many issues, drivers and crews required more luck than ever. Some had it and some didn't, plain and simple. NASCAR and Goodyear did what they had to do to keep everyone safe. Goodyear is taking a lot of heat for it. While they are to blame, I hate that people are calling for their heads. When was the last time something like this happened? Very few would remember. I highly doubt Goodyear was delighted by the fiasco at one of the most prestigious races of the year and I'm sure they'll do everything in their power to prevent it from ever happening again.

On to Pocono! We'll be going on Friday (hotel expenses are just too much) and plan on thoroughly enjoying ourselves.

POINT STANDINGS
1. Kyle Busch
2. Dale Jr. -253
15. Brian -774 (-132 from the Chase)
17. Martin -858
18. Kurt -923
25. Casey -1137
27. David -1214
32. Michael -1407

NNS Indianapolis Raceway Park - Kroger 200

Jess

RESULTS
1. Kyle Busch
4. Scott
26. David (1 LD)
35. Brandon (79 LD)

I didn't much enjoy this race for some reason. The racing itself was very intense but not in a fun way - it was easy to block someone faster than yourself which made for some jaw-clenching moments. Early on both David and Scott were racing and being raced very hard by Clint Bowyer and Steve Wallace, respectively. It was like you expected a crash so much you could almost see it, and you breathed a sigh of relief when they were finally clear.

Meanwhile Brandon was already off the track, but he would get back on to beat other start-and-parkers, I'd assume. I assume that because neither Brandon's site nor Specialty Racing's site write race reports, so I have no idea what happens. It's very irritating because back when Kevin Lepage drove the #61 he had race reports. Then again, according to Jayski today Lepage and Front Row Motorsports are now suing Specialty Racing, so I wouldn't be surprised if this deal falls apart for Brandon before the season is over. Not that it was much of one anyway.

The one thing that impressed me was that Brandon narrowly avoided one of the race's accidents and Marty Reid immediately recognized him. That made me feel good.

By the midpoint of the race Scott was solidly in the top 10, although he wasn't getting much attention as a result of Carl Edwards's troubles. What a great job by Scott and I really wish RCR would put him in that car full-time!

David was also in and out of the top 10 until a flat tire ruined his night. He had to pit under green, which caused him to fall two laps down. When a caution came out after he restarted next to race leader Kyle Busch (apparently Edwards wanted to be in front because he gave David a bump under that caution...oh grow up! He was going to get the free pass anyway!). On the first restart David wasn't able to do much but on the second he got around Kyle and drove away. Unfortunately the race would go green from there on out, so David wasn't able to pick up any positions.

So far it doesn't look like NASCAR's rule to limit Toyota horsepower had any effect on Kyle Busch, for he led all but three laps. He remarked in victory lane that he wanted to thank all his competitors for complaining since he had great traction control! I got a kick out of that but I'm still a little nervous about the bigger tracks where horsepower is more important.

POINT STANDINGS
1. Clint Bowyer
4. David -290

Indy/IRP Qualifying

Jess

CUP RESULTS
1. Jimmie Johnson
7. Kurt
11. Dale Jr.
17. Brian
25. Martin
31. Casey
33. David
34. Michael

We've got guys all across the board! Hopefully for Martin on back they have some good race setups.

I'm worried about the tire issue - it's one of the scariest problems drivers and teams (not to mention fans) can face because you never know when a tire will blow out. At Indy you wreck hard. Goodyear does an awesome job but sometimes you're just going to have one of these weekends.

NATIONWIDE RESULTS
1. Colin Braun
9. Scott
21. David
31. Brandon

Despite what the commentators were saying today, David did in fact make it to IRP in time to qualify the Dream Machine, so he won't have to start in the back. Mike Skinner did a great job practicing the car - as usual! I'm looking forward to a good race tonight for the #99 team.

I'm very disgusted by NASCAR's new rule to decrease the horsepower in Toyota engines. Where was this "leveling" rule when the Chevys of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson were murdering the Cup Series last season? It's really not fair that Toyota is being singled out right now when other manufacturers have dominated in the past and not been penalized for it.

Surprisingly, it was David's engine that had the most horsepower. This makes me even angrier because it's been the #20, #18 (JGR cars) and the #32 (Braun, but driven by Kyle Busch) that have won all the Toyota races this year, so obviously it's not the horsepower alone that is causing the Camrys to be so prevalent. But now all the Toyotas have to suffer for it. Heaven forbid if a Toyota wins their first manufacturer's championship and Chevy is second.

Hopefully the Toyotas will continue to run well and then the other manufacturers can get together and try to think of something else to cry about. But they might be sorry they complained in the first place because when they get their new breed of engines approved they'll be restricted as much as the Toyotas.

By the way, Rusty Wallace has just lost a ton of credibility with me for the nasty comments he made about Ryan Newman. He is completely out of line and what goes on at Penske now is none of his business. Even if Mr. Penske was in fact upset and told this to Rusty, that shouldn't be made public and maybe Mr. Penske will think twice next time about using Rusty as his confidant.

Is Rusty getting so frustrated with the poor performance of his organization that he has to take attention away from that by creating controversy with his big mouth?

With his crying about Toyota and now slandering Ryan Newman's name (and I saw a Jeremy Mayfield jab in there too!), Rusty is quickly losing all his credibility with me, not to mention I'm getting to the point where I sincerely can't stand him anymore. He's beginning to show that he can be very mean-spirited and that is not the type of person that should be calling races. ESPN should be ashamed that they have such a slanderer who thinks he can gossip about something that is no concern of his.



Rants over, let's go racing!

Gateway Int'l Raceway - Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250

Danni

RESULTS
1. Carl Edwards
25. David (34LD)
28. Brandon (DNF - TRANSMISSION)
30. Scott (DNF - ACCIDENT)

It's so exciting to watch one of your drivers make a charge to the front, throw down the fastest laps on the track and lead the field. Race night in St. Louis was just that! David backed up what he showed off in practice and immediately the #99 team declared their place in the Nationwide series. We loved every minute of it! David led twice for a total of 33 laps, clearly the dominant car. But unfortunately, as the term, "That's racin'" implies, sometimes things just don't turn out right.

It all started during a mid-race pit stop. The rear impact wrench malfunctioned and lost David several spots in the running order, putting him back in traffic where trouble usually starts. On the restart, he ran into the back of Reed Sorenson, causing quite the jam-up behind him. Those two have a slight history in Cup, but I'm not too sure what David was thinking right there. While Scott was attempting to pass Sorenson on the bottom, rookie Landon Cassill ran into the back of the #29 Holiday Inn Chevy, turning Scott sharply up into Sorenson and hard into the wall. Mike Bliss also joined in the melee when Scott's impact sent him back down into other cars. Bliss hit so hard his wheel came off! It was pretty horrifying to watch and despite the disappointment I was just relieved to see Scott and Mike get out of their cars okay. The massive crash brought out the red flag for nearly 25 minutes, but it wasn't the end of hell breaking loose.

David continued his march forward, now with Brad Keselowski trailing him. He got up to 4th place and then reached Jamie McMurray. Cue frustration! Shy of running into the back of him, David tried everything he could to pass the part-time #17 car. McMurray acted like he wasn't even there, constantly shutting the door on him even though he must have known that the Dream Machine was much better than him! Lap after lap passed. Eventually, Keselowski got impatient and went to the outside of David. After a couple more laps it was obvious Keselowski wasn't going to go anywhere. Coming off of Turn 4, David was going to beat him down the straight when all of a sudden, he swung up into the #88 and hooked himself into the wall.

As much as I wanted to, I couldn't blame Brad. It was very clear that David turned into him. It was numbing to watch - you didn't know whether to scream or cry, so you just sat there and stared at the sparks. David limped back to the garage for repairs. It all happened live, too. That always makes things worse.

Wait. No. It got worse. Friggin' McMurray broke an oil belt a handful of laps after the next restart. He acted nonchalant, even perky, about it when he was interviewed in the garage area. I think it was that that made me want to rip his head off and throw it across the infield! He acted like he didn't even care that he broke! So why was he blocking like hell?! UGH!!

So by now I was seething and wallowing in misery. Brandon running like typical crap added to my boiling mood. But like a good race fan I stayed until the end. David got back out on track to pick up a couple more positions. It doesn't sound like much but those six points could be crucial come Homestead.

Carl Edwards won his second race of the year. I know a lot of people say, "Oh, Carl. What a 'golly-gee shucks' goody two shoes." But you know what? He's one of the only drivers that will mention a competitor in Victory Lane and that's exactly what he did Saturday night. He stood there, in what should've been his time to shine, and acknowledged that David had the best car. I really appreciated that! The #99 crew got some more attention from Keselowski, who also said that David was the fastest one out there and he was intent on following him to the front. He explained the wreck like it happened and you could tell he felt bad. Really, if Keselowski wanted to crash David he had plenty of opportunities to plow into his bumper. He didn't. Keselowski might have an arrogant streak, but he didn't mean harm on David.

As expected, David lost a lot of points. It's pretty discouraging to look at, but I know that the #99 Aaron's Dream Machine Team can overcome it!

POINT STANDINGS
1. Clint Bowyer
4. David -266

Gateway Qualifying

Danni

RESULTS
1. Jamie McMurray
14. David
28. Scott
36. Brandon

Standalone Nationwide races are always interesting to watch because you can gauge the series regulars' talent without constantly staring at the Cup drivers. Plus it doesn't hurt that David looked pretty darn good in practice.

Not entirely sure what happened to Scott since we missed qualifying, but I'm sure he find his way to the front somehow!

Chicagoland Speedway - LifeLock.com 400

Danni

RESULTS
1. Kyle Busch
6. Brian
9. Martin
14. David
16. Dale Jr.
28. Kurt
33. Casey (1LD)
36. Michael (2LD)

Uncertainty was the main emotion going through the drivers' and crews' heads as the cars went around on their paces laps Saturday evening. It was the first time Chicagoland had ever held a night race and the teams had not gotten a chance to practice during the twilight hours. To make things worse, rain had washed much of the rubber laid down by the Nationwide series the night before. But despite everything, I'd call Chicagoland's inaugural race under the lights a success - a breathtaking sunset, side-by-side racing and an exciting finish!

The race went green until the competition caution on Lap 35 with Kyle Busch leading every lap (big surprise!). In another ten laps the yellow would fly again for Denny Hamlin's stopped car, but a long green run would dominate for over 50 laps following. Brian, Martin, Kurt and David were coming on strong approaching pit stops, while Dale Jr., Casey and Michael struggled. Things got bad for Kurt when he entered pit lane too fast because Travis Kvapil had knocked the cone down, making it difficult for Kurt to see where to slow down. He had to make a pass-through under green, dropping him a lap behind the leaders.

The next caution was unfortunately for Michael spinning into the frontstretch grass. While running behind Pat Carpentier and above Jeff Burton, Michael reacted to Carpentier scraping the wall by cutting down in front of Burton and getting turned. It didn't look too bad but apparently the wet grass damaged the splitter and made for a long night for the #55 team.

In the meantime, David was running some of the best laps on the track despite being unhappy with the way the car handled on exit. Some strategy played out, with some teams taking two tires. In this fashion, Kurt got his lap back when he was able to stay in front of the leader as a debris caution flew. But in a stroke of bad luck that seems to have plagued the #2 team all year, he had just gotten back into the top-15 when the engine dropped a cylinder. From then on it was just survival. It was also during this yellow that Martin got nailed for speeding after mistakenly following leader Carl Edwards down pit road when he was supposed to stay out. Considering his finish, he raced his butt off the remainder of the night!

There were enough debris cautions to keep anyone from completely running away with the race (and to prevent fuel mileage strategy!). In the closing laps, it was clear things would get interesting. Kyle Busch had been leading much of the race, but got passed by Edwards. Then Edwards came down pit road unexpectedly for what he thought was a flat tire (it turned out to be a broken splitter). With just under 20 to go, it was clear that Kyle's handling was waning and Jimmie Johnson was coming fast. He eventually passed the #18 and drove away. It looked like a certain win for the #48 crew when David Gilliland blew an engine with only 6 lap remaining, setting up a 2-lap shootout. Johnson led the field to the green slow - too slow! Kyle stayed on his bumper and literally pushed him to go, then had enough momentum to pass Johnson on the high side. It was amazing to watch, although I did feel pretty badly for Jimmie. In his excitement for his 7th Cup win of the season, Kyle got stuck in the soaked frontstretch grass and had to be pushed out by his crew!

It was an excellent night for Brian and David. David was having a lot of problems passing lapped traffic on restarts and probably deserved a better finish, but 14th isn't something to be ashamed of by a long shot! Even Junior was able to crawl his way forward to a decent result. On the other hand, it looked to be another dismal race for Casey. It's hard to tell why...and easy enough to speculate. I think everyone had heard of Hendrick's "lame duck" drivers being barred from meetings and such. But does that translate to sub-par equipment? Casey did hit the wall in practice so that may have had something to do with it and the spread out cautions kept him a lap down. It's just depressing to see him run so poorly.

The Cup guys get a well-deserved weekend off and they certainly need it. Indianapolis is a tough track to decipher, especially with them introducing it to the new car. Then on to the Chase!

#44 Quotes of the Race

During a late caution, discussing the four tire stop.

Ryan: "I should've been a little more aggressive there, but I don't know what it's going to be like with 45 laps on the left sides, you know. We have to run another 35 [laps]."

David: "You're telling me you're scared, right?"

Ryan: "Yeah, 10-4. I'm scared. All right, coming to the green. You're doing great. I know I've said that 100 times... but you're really doing a good job."

David: "I never get tired of hearing it."



POINT STANDINGS
1. Kyle Busch
2. Dale Jr. -262
14. Brian -693 (-95 from Chase)
17. Martin -831
18. Kurt -843
24. Casey -1099
27. David -1164
30. Michael -1318

NNS Chicagoland Speedway - Dollar General 300

Jess

RESULTS
1. Kyle Busch
4. Brian
5. David
41. Brandon (DNF - driveshaft)

Please ESPN...we need Dale Jarrett back. Rusty Wallace is starting to get on my last freaking nerve with his big mouth!! He went on a complete rant about how NASCAR needs to do something because Toyota has an advantage and makes twenty-two more horsepower than Chevrolet (he had a piece of paper telling him this - okay, now where did this paper come from I wonder?). Of course this riot against Toyota is created mainly by the #20 car and more specifically Kyle Busch winning six races already this season. I understand that it's frustrating, especially to the Nationwide teams that have a hard enough time competing against Cup-funded cars to begin with and now they have to deal with the best driver in NASCAR right now driving the best cars in NASCAR. However, it's completely unfair for Rusty to lump all the Toyotas together! If all the engines have so much more horsepower than the other manufacturers, why isn't his brother Mike Wallace winning all these races? Jason Leffler? Heck, David Reutimann? This is where Rusty flounders but that's never stopped him from opening his mouth. He wants NASCAR to level the playing field aka. take horsepower away from Toyota. I'm sorry, but that would be ridiculous and unjust to all the Toyotas that aren't under the Joe Gibbs Racing banner. Because you see, that makes all the difference. Joe Gibbs Racing builds amazing engines! Yes it's frustrating to see them dominate, but it's their hard work paying off. I think because it's Toyota people (or the closed-minded and/or racist/xenophobic people, rather) have a big problem with it (the same ones that laughed at Toyota last year, too). No doubt Rusty has something against it because he can't figure out how to get his own organization running well - he acts like Toyota is the only thing holding him back from dominating! He just needs to be quiet, stop letting his bias show in the booth and realize that this is NASCAR, not some kiddie sport where everything is easy.

There.

The last time Tony Stewart started on the outside row next to David I was incredibly pissed off by the time they made one lap, since Stewart pinched David down like an asshole and took the air off him, snatching the lead away. Maybe I'm just cynical regarding Stewart because I don't trust him, but it looked like he was thinking about attempting the same thing this time around as well, but luckily for David he got the jump and Stewart missed a shift and nearly caused a pileup when Kevin Harvick rear-ended him. David sailed away (oh that feels so good! ) and kept on sailing. No one could touch him!! It was wonderful and lovely and boy did I bask in the glow of seeing that little Aaron's Dream Machine out front!

Sadly my joy faded a little when Brandon quickly fell off the lead lap and was in the garage shortly afterward. The official reason for being out of the race was a driveshaft, but was that just an excuse for a start-and-park? Brandon is far too talented to have to put up with start-and-park organizations (I realize that a lot of teams do it to save up money to race again, since they don't have sponsorship) and equipment that fails twenty laps into the race. There is no race report up on his site or Specialty Racing's site so I have no idea what happened. This just wasn't what I'd hoped for being his first race in a long time...

David led the field through the start of green-flag pit stops, where unfortunately Brian sped big-time coming onto pit road (he had to pit early as a result of a loose wheel). When he was caught by NASCAR he didn't put up a fight because he knew that he hadn't gotten the #10 slowed down enough. Chicagoland actually appears to have a very tricky entrance to pit road under green conditions. David was one of the last cars to pit and then the caution came out for Jason Leffler's spin while he was still on pit lane. Thankfully he had enough of a gap on the other cars and wouldn't lose any positions. He was the technically the leader on the restart but visually he had a lot of cars in front of him since it was a tail-end of the lead lap restart (always very frightening! ). For a short time he methodically worked his way through traffic but Matt Kenseth was spun by Bobby Hamilton Jr. (both cars trying to stay ahead of David), bringing out the caution and giving David clear vision on the next restart.

Jeff Burton would take over the top spot on lap 88. The rest of the night for the #99 team would be a battle to keep up with the changing racetrack (he became very tight and brushed the wall a bit) and get the best finish they could obtain. Brian would make an impressive recovery from two laps down and in the closing laps raced David for the 4th spot. In his post-race interview David looked a little bummed but remarked that it's a good day when you're disappointed with a top 5.

Kyle Busch won. Yet again. As always, as much as I wish someone else would get a chance I love his burnouts and how he never fails to bow to the grandstands!

POINT STANDINGS
1. Clint Bowyer
3. David -217

Chicagoland Qualifying

Danni

CUP RESULTS
1. Kyle Busch
2. Dale Jr.
15. Brian
18. Kurt
19. Martin
25. Casey
28. Michael
29. David

Qualifying was canceled due to a nasty line of thunderstorms that rolled through. Sounds like a broken record, doesn't it?

NNS RESULTS
1. David!
8. Brian
38. Brandon

Of course David gets the pole while we're on another college trip to Syracuse and we didn't record it!! Nevertheless, I'm absolutely thrilled for him and the #99 crew! Hopefully they'll make the best of the track position, lead some laps and be in a good spot when it counts.

It appears that Brandon will have a tough time tonight. The #61 has no sponsor and only made the field because of owner points. It's just a shame to see someone who has won a race in the past in a ride where he'll be lucky to make it all the way to the end of the race.

Brandon Gets a Nationwide Ride!

Jess

Yesterday it was announced that Brandon Whitt will be taking over the #61 Specialty Racing car, replacing Kevin Lepage. It's always a little awkward when one driver gets fired for another, but I've been wondering if Lepage's job has been in jeopardy since his bonehead move at Talladega in April and his nasty reaction to follow.

While I'm excited about Brandon's return to racing I was hoping he'd be with a more successful organization - and more importantly one with a full-time sponsor - but I can't complain too much because at least he has a chance. Looking at Lepage's stats this year his average finish is 26.4, which isn't too bad for an underfunded team, so I'm hoping Brandon's talent and youthful enthusiasm will put some spice into the #61. In any event it sure will be nice to see him on the track again...I've missed him sorely in the truck series these past few years.