Blown engines, wrecks, and questions left unanswered! That's what today's practice for the Budweiser Duel 150's had in store for us today.
So does Rick Hendricks teams have an engine problem? First Juan blew a motor ( yes Earnhardt Ganassi now uses Hendrick engines.) Now today Jr explodes one during the first practice for the duels. He did get the engine replaced and got to spend a little time on the track, running 17th during the last practice almost 2 miles per hour off the leader. He also has to go to the back of the pack for his duel. In the Sprint Unlimited he fell to the back and said he had a hard time catching the draft, lets hope this doesn't happen tomorrow in the duel and lets also hope he can scoot up front fast an challenge for the win so he can get a good starting spot for the 500 Sunday.
Ok I guess I have to talk about Danica just a little bit. Yes she got the pole for Sundays race, but who actually thinks she will finish the race in first or well.....finish it at all? I will be straight up here, I am not a fan at all. I still don't understand what all the hype is about besides she gets mostly undressed for the commercials. She was good racing go carts, mediocre in the IRL winning just one rain shortened race on an oval in Japan. Her best finish other then that was a 4th at the Indy 500. She didn't come even close to a win in 2 1/2 years in the Nationwide season ( 2 part time seasons and 1 full time season) she did finish 10th in points last year in the Nationwide series and that's a shock seeing as how a lot of the races she finished at least 1 lap down if not multiple laps down, the only thing that saved her was the fact that cup regulars were not able to score points in the lower series per NASCAR rules on only claiming points in 1 series. If they had been able to she would of finished way down the list on points. Yes that is a what if situation and under the rules of the series she finished 10th in points, but really, she is not a 10th place driver. Look back at her season, starting in Daytona and I will post starting position and finish position. 1-38, 21-30, 12-12, 19-27, 35-21, 8-17, 21-16, 13-17, 12-17, 30-9, 13-3, 30-17, 18-5, 12-10, 12-11, 31-3, 14-18, 14-13, 35-20, 11-18, 43-23, 27-4, 9-34, 13-17, 29-24, 12-12, 14-11, 16-25, 11-11, 10-13, 14-8, 10-14, 13-14. She didn't finish 16 of the 33 races on the lead lap, a half a race shy of half the season down laps. So tell me how does she warrant the exposure she is getting? The only thing I can think of is the bikini! Arguably Juan Montoya is one of the greatest all around drivers ever to sit behind the wheel, and after several seasons in cup, he is still struggling to have consistent seasons. So exactly how can she or anyone actually expect her to do better then Juan who is so much more of a driver then she has ever been? I guess we will all see at the end of the season, I am not one for all the hype on a nobody and to me she is a nobody. I say that Ricky Stenhouse will be the rookie of the year hands down, now "he" is a race car driver worthy of a cup ride. 2 back to back Nationwide championships earned him that chance, Danica? Not so much. Used to be you got a ride in cup because you earned it, not so these days, its how much money you can bring to the table.
OK, OK im done ranting. My wife is sitting here telling me "for a guy who doesn't like Danica you sure are talking a lot about her"..lol well what can I tell you, I'm stubborn and I truely believe she has not earned her ride the correct way.
In other news, I think Mark Martin has to be the underdog favorite here, the guy has been wrecked because of other peoples screw ups in both the Unlimited and now in practice. With car parts at a premium because of the new car, how many more can he wreck before they have to start borrowing from other teams to make a car? anyone know how much it costs to re-wrap the cars? I bet Michael Waltrip knows....
Until after the duels, see you tomorrow.....
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