Road courses galore!!!

AJ WINS, AJ WINS

    Well the header says it all. What a great weekend of road course firsts. In the Nationwide race at Road America in Wisconsin, AJ Allmendinger gets his first ever NASCAR win driving the number 22  Discount Tire Ford Mustang owned by the Capitan himself, Roger Penske. Second chances are a great thing and this weekend proved it. AJ dominated that race from the green flag. Leading 29 of the 55 laps, Billy Johnson, driving for Jack Roush, was the only other driver leading double digit laps with 10.

    Excitement was the word of the day on Saturday, with several cautions late in the race, the leader was one of several cars that wasn't sure they could make it to the end on fuel. With all the cautions and a couple tries with the green/white/checkered finish, AJ was able to hold off second place finisher Justin Allgaier. Late in the race AJ had trouble with only one driver, Billy Johnson, a road course ringer, they banged doors more then once in the last 20 or so laps with Johnson bumping AJ out of his way, putting AJ back about 6th place, AJ quickly passed a couple cars to get back into 4th right before another caution came out. After that bump by Johnson, AJ came on the radio and said that the 16 had one coming and on the next restart did his own version of the bump and run on Johnson and then made short work of then leader Justin Allgaier to overtake the lead for the last time in what was a scheduled 50 lap race that ended up to be 55 laps.
  
    As you can guess the victory burn out and the victory lane celebration were very sweet for the one time troubled AJ Allmendinger. With his slow climb back from the ditches of a failed NASCAR drug test right before the race in Kentucky in 2012, he couldn't seem to thank Roger Penske enough for the second chance in his post race victory interview, and rightfully so. Roger never gave up on AJ, kept in contact with AJ during his "road to recovery," the NASCAR version of rehab, and his subsequent return to get back behind the wheel of anything race related. Driving for troubled NASCAR cup series owner James Finch in the number 51 and driving the first of 5 races last week for the number 47 JTG-Dougherty team hasn't gotten him the results he's wanted quite yet but I'm thinking with his great performance on Saturday, more teams have taken notice that AJ is serious about his recovery and his racing in NASCAR in the future. And I believe with this performance, and his amazing positive attitude, he will soon find a ride in either the Cup series or the Nationwide series before the years end.

MARTIN TRUEX JR PULLS OFF THE WIN

    Ok I'm saying it again, where the hell did he come from? A first time road course winner in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Martin Truex Jr, in only his second win in the cup series (the first coming at Dover in the number 1 Bass Pro Shops Chevy owned by now defunct DEI)
    Now Martin has been in the lead late in races before, many times, but always something crazy happens right before he got to take the checkers. This time however, he absolutely dominated the race, leading a whopping 51 of 110 laps. There wasn't another car even close to him on the last lap and not one, I believe, that could of had something for him even if there was late race caution. Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch maybe could of kept him in sight had they been closer, but the number 56 NAPA Toyota was a rocket ship on wheels.

    Kurt Busch sped on pit road twice and ended up a lap down because of it, but with a great car and a touch of determination unseen in Kurt that didn't lead to a blow up (not the car, but Kurt himself doing the blowing up.) And I think he did a great job recovering with a 4th place finish. His brother Kyle didn't have the same luck though and finished a terrible 35th place. Not because he had a bad car, he just had a ton of bad luck. Anyone count how many times he spun out? Did TNT even show all of the spin outs?

    Speaking of bad luck.... several drivers had even worse days then Kyle, Bobby Labonte for one. That poor guy didn't even get to take a lap in the race because of a broken oil cooler, the 51, driven by Jacques Villeneuve, was on jack stands when the green flag flew and the 52 driven by Paulie Harraka, ran into the back of another car while they were coming onto the track from pit road to take their parade laps before the race.

    Tony Stewart ran out of talent and spun Jeff Burton out for no apparent reason other then running out of talent. And that's sad too because Jeff Burton has had some terrible luck in recent years and was starting the upward swing with several top ten finishes in a row before Tony pushed him out of the way. Tony finished 28th right in front of his driver in 29th, Darrell Waltrips sliced bread driver, Danica Patrick. Some thought she might have a better showing, but she had yet another bad day of racing. Even with the 29th place finish, she managed several mentions on tv for some reason. While teammate Ryan Newman with a 15th place finish, sorry folks no blooming onion, managed to give at least a decent showing for the Stewart-Haas team. Finally he was the one bright spot for the team.

    The Hendrick racing team managed all 4 cars in the top 12 this week, I'm sure they were happy to all be running at the end with all the problems they had last week at Michigan. Jeff Gordon finished a respectable 2nd, while Kasey Kahne finished 6th, Jimmie Johnson finished 9th and Dale Earnhardt Jr finished 12th.

   Top 10 in points after this week in order, Jimmie Johnson maintains his lead with Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Dale Jr, Greg Biffle(tied for 6th with Jr) Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr finishing off the top ten.

    Can Denny Hamlin make the run into the top 20 and win some races? After Sundays race it's not looking very good. He has a very long way to go and the chances are starting to dwindle quickly. He's 83 points behind 20th place Jeff Burton.

    Next week all 3 top NASCAR series are in Kentucky. Can the fans survive yet another boring race at Kentucky Speedway, where the most exciting thing to happen at that track is watching the fans attempt to get into the track grounds and then get out again after its all over? Are they ready for single file, follow the leader, snoozfest! Will we have another first time winner? How about another winner that hasn't won in awhile? Only time will tell.

Until next time.........

Michigan Stunner

    Well I have to say this, I was shocked that Greg Biffle actually was the Ford to win. Ford's 1000th win, and it was not Carl Edwards, who by the way said Greg wasn't his teammate, (Carl has had problems with every Rousch teammate to date thus far, not a shocker here at all that he would say something like that) after not helping him get some garbage off his front grill. So now 3 weeks in a row I have to say this about the race winner.....where the hell did he come from?
    Actually a good part of the top ten kind of surprises me, starting with Toyota driver Martin Truex's top 3 finish, and 4th place Kyle Busch. Now I am not surprised that Kyle got a good finish, but after the last couple weeks I am shocked that with reduced horse power, Toyota made such a great showing. With 4 of the top 10 being Toyota's, they seemed to have solved the horse power problems because Michigan is a horse power track...not to mention a track that has to have an engine that will last at sustained high RPM's throughout the entire race and its not secret that Toyota has had more then their fare share of problems as of late.

    Jeff Burton has had yet another great race, finishing 10th yet again, yes only the 3rd top 10 this season, but hat team is finally showing a little forward motion and that is a good thing. They have been struggling for so long that they might just be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Everyone in the garage likes Jeff and it would be great to see him in the winners circle again.

Now JTG Daugherty did something that a few teams have done before....put another driver in their car to see if they can get some different information and try and find where they are going wrong. Red Bull did it to one of their drivers, the same driver that JTG Daughery put in their car this last weekend and 4 more weekends of racing. A.J. Allmendinger got to put his seat in the 47 while the normal driver, 2000 NASCAR champion Bobby Labonte ( who got into the 51 James Finch car) got to scramble to to find another ride to continue a streak of consecutive starts in NASCAR's premier series(that streak is now 705 races) Now A.J. finished in the top 20, placing 19th this weekend, which is not bad since that team has struggled to finish in the top 20 this season. With only 2 previous finishes in the top 20 this season, a 15th at Daytona and a 19th at Richmond, the team sits 30th in points. A.J. is hungry to not only have a break out win in NASCAR's elite series, but he is dying to prove once again, after his suspension for violating NASCAR's drug policy, that he can race and that sponsors and teams should put him in a car full time because he can get it done. And I for one sure hope he gets that chance. I enjoy watching A.J. race and I also think he has paid his dues and needs that chance to get into a quality ride. Maybe Roger Penske can see fit to give him another chance.

Ok I have put it off long enough.....what the hell happened to the Hendirck Racing team? Jeff wrecks in like lap 1, Junior blows and engine, and Kasey and Jimmie also hit the wall. This weekend cost poor(I use that word loosely because Rick has plenty of cash at hand) Rick a ton of money and also cost Jimmie a lot of points , now only 31 ahead of Carl Edwards.This is the second engine that Junior has blown this season. What had to be going through Jimmie Johnsons mind when he noticed his 3 teammates all had issues? Probably the same thing he was thinking after he himself hit the wall. Next week I look for Jeff and Jimmie to rebound at Sonoma and also Kasey does a nice job on the road courses so look for him to be there at the end. Can Dale Junior put one together at a track he has struggled at? He doesn't do to bad at Watkins Glen, but Sonoma not so much. With a 23rd in 2012, 41st in 2011, 11th in 2010, 26th in 2009, see the trend? He dropped from 4th to 7th in the points. While in the lead at Michigan he said that the car was bad fast before it blew the engine. I think once he got the lead he was going to be the car to beat, but having the lead yesterday was dangerous for the Hendrick team. Teammate Kasey Kahne had the lead and something gave way and he slammed the wall, presumably he blew a tire before hitting the wall a ton. On twitter Kasey said it was a very hard hit and was the first time he had to pull the fire extinguisher to put out a fire in the car.

Ok ok this one is for my long time friend Darrick. Yes Danica had a good finish yesterday, finishing 13th and she didn't crash and she actually finished on the lead lap. I am interested to see how she does slinging a 3500 pound car around a road course next week. I mean she did come from the IRL and Cart world, you would think she would be some what good at it, although she has stated many times she isn't a fan of road courses and this fendered heavy car will be a lot different then an IRL car on a road course, I wouldn't be surprised to see her get a top 15 at Sonoma. So there you go Darrick, I didn't say anything bad about her this week lol.

    The drivers to keep and eye on this weekend? Marcose Ambrose, 2 time winner at Watkins Glen, Juan Pablo Montoya, always a threat at a road course because not only can he win on a road course, he has and he even knocked his own teammate out of the way for the win( believe that was the Nationwide race in Mexico at the 2007 Telcel-Motorola Mexico 200 at Audodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and Scott Pruett was the teammate) Also you cant count out drivers like Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Clint Bowyer, and Kyle and Kurt Busch. This is a track I wish Robby Gordon would be racing at because he was so fun to watch on road courses. Who will I pick on my fantasy team....? I probably wont even know until I actually hit the save button. Too many good road course drivers and not enough spots or money to pick them all.

    Until next time.........

POCONO: shorter race not so short on boredom!

        Well another weekend comes and goes and again, Jimmie Johnson racks up a comanding win...just another boring finish at another boring track?
Some people are saying it. Why? Well I will do my best to tell you what I think they mean. Remember its my interprtation of what I am seeing and hearing other people say mixed in with my own opinion. I am not sure which plays a bigger roll in what I am about to say, but here we go.

         Jimmie had such a large lead durring the race that there wasn't anything even close to a pass for a lead while Jimmie was on the track. If someone else took the lead it was because of a green flag pit stop, that once it cycled through, Jimmie was yet again 4 to 4 1/2 seconds in front of second place, hence the boring race as far as action. The only passing you seen was after a caution on the restart for about 1/3 of a lap. Then it went to single file.....follow the leader, if you could even see him.  Which most couldn't until he cam up and passed to putting you a lap down. Which 12 drivers ended up a lap down at the finish and even more were passed, but managed to get their lap back because of either the lucky dog or the free pass. Was there actually passing on the track during a green flag run? Yes there was, farther back in the pack I seen Tony Stewart pass a few cars along the way and I am sure there were plenty more passes during the race mid pack, but does that make it a good race? That seems to be the argument amongst the people who report on  NASCAR on a daily basis. My personal opinion is, I like the race at Pocono if for no other reason then the difference in the shape of the track. 3 distinct corners that they drive like a road course, shifting in the turns, but again does that make a good race? or good racing? I hate saying it, but.....it has not been a very good race as far as action up front. Once the leader gets "clean air" he's a goner. And no passing for the lead makes for a slow or boring race if you ask me. There was no threat once Jimmie cleared whomever started second during the restarts. In my opinion, thats just not racing, thats driving in cirlces fast following the guy in front of you.

            So the question is, what can they do to make the racing more exciting at Pocono? Folks thats the $1,000,000 question and I am not sure anyone has the answer. I know if I did I would be working for NASCAR or Pocono Raceway. From what I have been hearing and reading the concensus is to slow the cars down hoping that will put them in a pack with more side by side racing.....wait.....don't they do that at 2 other tracks and people scream because its too dangerous? I don't think thats the answer. Different tire compound maybe? Too hard they don't wear out and too soft they blow out and we are in the same quandary we were in at Indy a few years ago, changing tires every 10 laps. So....now what? They did a repave a couple years ago, so that didn't help much, but in the long run will it get better? And do we wait to do anything until the track wears in a little before we try something else? Again, another $1,000,000 question.

On to the race itself:

            Well we all know how Jimmie did right? so what about some others that might of surprized you? Like Greg Biffle for instance! I asked a couple weeks ago a question about another driver, (Tony Stewart) where the hell did he come from? Well same can be said for Greg Biffle in Pocono. Greg has not been a factor at all this year, only scoring 2 top 5's this season, one of which was Sunday at Pocono (scoring a second place finish) and 5 top 10's this season, only leading 39 laps. He is in the top 10 right now only 2 points ahead of 11th place Jeff Gordon. Can he now keep the upward swing going and gain some points on the leader or more importantly, score a win or two along the way to help secure his spot in the chase? With the reshuffle of points at the end of race 26, a win or multiple wins are really all that count, the bonus points for the win along with the placement of race winners in the chase are the closing argument when it comes to the points race after race 26. If you don't win at least 1 race, even in the chase, I really don't think you have much of a chance at winning the chamionship, the ultimate goal of all drivers and teams. Now the question with Greg iss, is he running well enough and consistant enough to actually pull off a win? I am going to stretch my neck out and say no, he isn't. Can anyone in a Ford actually challenge Jimmie and his Hendrick Chevrolet for the championship this year? I don't think so. Ford is lacking in the win department with Carl Edwards only collecting 1 win so far this season in Phoenix.
I don't feel Ford is up to snuff yet to make a serious run at Jimmie.

             Clint Bowyer was nowhere to be found last week, partly I think because of the Toyota dialing down the hores power of their engines because of all the engine problems they have had this year. I think he has the talent to run up front and challenge for a championship if Toyota can get the engine problem figured out, he proved that last year.

               Can another Chevy driver bring anything to the table to compete with Jimmie? Dale Jr? Jeff Gordon? Tony Stewart? Maybe even the newly crowned "closer" Kevin Harvick? Maybe, Jeff needs wins, but must first get better finishes which usually lead to a win or 2. Tony needs to Continue with his normal summer swing and win a couple more to get up in points close enough after the points shuffle after race 26. Dale Jr, plain and simple, he needs wins,       more then 1 and he needs to run like he did during the opening 5 or 6 weeks of the season. And Kevin needs to keep his team and himself on the same page and not become the typical lame duck most teams become when the driver is leaving at the end of the year.

                I truely don't think any Toyota driver can come close to competing with Jimmie with all the engine problems they have been having this season, and Ford seems to be missing a little something, but I wouldn't count Jack Rousch out just yet, he has the ability and the smarts to get the right people on whatever has them a little behind and I know Ford wont spare no expense trying to catch up with the Chevy group. That being said I do believe that Carl Edwards is the only Ford driver that has to talent or the ability to keep an eye on a championship. With Ford losing Matt Kenseth to Toyota this season, Carl has to rise to the occasion because he has a long way to go to catch Jimmie.

                 On to Michigan this weekend, can Dale Jr repeat? can Jimmie make it 2 in a row and win at a track that has him perplexed? can Carl or Greg make a run at the win? Fords have dominated the fall race here and is the home of Ford and other Jack Rousch businesses. Will we have a different winner? Will this be another snoozer? This track has that follow the leader style racing of most of the other D shapped mile and a half tracks have, only time will tell. Lets hope its an exciting race with full grandstands.

until next time..........
              

THE MONSTER SPEAKS!!!!!!!

Well I have not posted on here since Martinsville, partly because I have not had time to watch a race and partly because so much has been going on at home I have not had time to think about what to write. This week I actually got to watch the entire race on TV and my wife is gone for a few days so I have time to do a little blogging. Not that she keeps me from blogging, but I enjoy just hanging out with my wife and kids and forget to actually get on the tablet to bang away at the little keyboard. So here we go, my opinion, like it or not lol.....

First the race at the monster mile:

Where the hell did Tony Stewart come from? I will tell you were he came from.....1 lap down to actually come back and win, the 1 and only bright spot for weeks at SHR (Stewart Haas Racing) Ryan Newman has been less then stellar this season. With only 1 top 5 and 6 top tens this year so far and only led 11 laps and no poles this season to date. With an average finish of 19.5, and a contract year when everyone including SHR looking for sponsorship, this in not a year to be in this slump. He needs to be performing to his potential, they can't blame the equipment for sure because if you didn't know, they use Hendrick parts and pieces including engines. So what is it? crew chief? crew? Ryan? Its not a secrete that Kevin Harvick and Bud along with Jimmy Johns, are headed to SHR in the 2014 season, so is it that Ryan sees the writing on the wall? Will Kevin be in the 39 next year and Ryan out looking for another driving job? Of course all this is speculation, but with the lack of performance with the whole SHR team, you have to wonder whats going on over there. Tony, up until this week has had a lack luster year also with 1 win, 1 top 5 and 3 top tens this year.....wow can you believe that, only 3 top tens half way through the season, unthinkable! Of course then you have to factor in the dismal performance by rookie Danica Patrick, her actually being the only SHR driver to score a pole (Daytona 500) and 1 top ten. Average start, 33.7 average finish 27.2 and I cant tell you how many laps she has completed, but its not all of them for sure seeing as most races so far she has been at least 1 lap down. But by the way Darrell Waltrip says it, she's the best non factor driver on the track, because this week they showed her on the broadcast and he said she was doing really good and is hanging in there....she was 5 laps down and finished a drab 24th and like I said, 5 laps down.

Needless to say the team as a whole has 2 bright spots this whole season, the pole at Daytona and Tony winning yesterday. Can this win by Tony turn things around for SHR? You bet it can, they have a wave to ride, all be it is a small wave, Tony could turn it into a hurricane. He is known for his summer fire starters, when the track gets slick, Tony gets rolling.

On to the next subject....Juan Montoya? What the hell was up with that last restart? Was he trying to catch Jimmie off guard? Sure looks like it. Jimmie was a car length past the start box before Juan even hit the gas. Was that call by NASCAR the right one? NASCAR seems to think so. Jimmie didn't think so and I am still on the fence on this one. Jimmie went like he was supposed to, it looked like to me that Juan was playing possum. And it worked. Jimmie got the black flag, Juan went on to.....finish second to Tony. Not what Juan wanted, but with the season he has been having a second is like a win to the EGR team.
Speaking of the EGR team, poor Jamie McMurray, that guy had one hot car, he was doing great running in the top 10 all race long, until his engine blew up, a Hendrick engine to boot. Juan's second place could be the start of something good for him this season. He has been here in NASCAR awhile with only a couple road course wins, that has to be eating away at arguably one of the most talented drivers ever to get behind the wheel.

Jimmie took a hit in the points with this one, but still retains the lead by 30 points over Carl Edwards....speaking of Carl...and the whole Ford team. Where the hell are they? Biffle is struggling to say the least and Ricky Stenhouse is too busy playing footsie with Danica( wrecking her didn't get him laid last week for sure lol) Half way through the season he only has 4 top tens this season. Brad and Joey are lagging a bit also, but that could be understandable with the switch from Dodge to Ford, Brad and Joey losing crew chiefs and engineers for a couple weeks. But in the whole of it Fords have not been a bright spot this year at all. Falling behind at tracks over 1 mile, they seem to be down in horse power compared to the Chevy's and Toyota's. Toyota's seem to have a huge amount of horse power but are lacking in the finishing department. With Pocono coming up next weekend we could see a few Toyota's headed to the garage way early in the race. This is a long race even with the shortened race (reduced from 500 miles to 400 miles) the straightaways are really long and the RPM's have to be right at the max limit for long periods of time. I don't think the Toyotas will be a factor at Pocono this weekend. Denny is trying so hard to get back into the top 20 after his long absence from the seat while healing from a back injury and surgery to fix it. Just can't catch a break,  wrecking with 20 to go in the race and finishing 34th. Matt Kenseth blew and engine ending his great run with a 40th place finish and Kyle Busch finished 4th, the lone bright spot for the JGR team. Kyle had a good weekend all together winning the truck race and a 5th in the Nationwide series. Former teammate Joey Logano takes the win in the NNS (NASCAR Nationwide Series)

The Michael Waltrip team has had an up and down season so far, with Clint Bowyer leading the way in 3rd, 50 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson, with Martin Truex who had an awesome race going until the TRG(Toyota Racing Group) engine decided to take a crap and start puffing big plumes of white smoke indicating a blown engine and dropped to 15th in the points. He was aiming for a win here, its been a very long time since his last win, ironically at this same track, but for the now defunct DEI.

Believe it or not Paul Menard is still in the top 10 in points...total shocker to me that mid way through the season and he is still 10th. Can he hang in there and continue to have good finishes? With the equipment he is in, it can happen. I say after the next 6 races if he is still there in 10th spot, he will stay there the remainder of the season....I know, I know, I usually don't speak very highly of Paul, but I must say with crew chief Slugger Labbe, he seems to finally be putting together a good year. Jeff Burton? good finish this weekend, but they are very far and few between. I hate to see Jeff doing so poorly, he is such a great driver and a great person, Jack Rousch used him up in his good years I'm afraid and did to him what he did to Mark Martin and did not give him what he needed to get the championship Jeff deserved.

Last but not least, I can't leave without a shout out to home town boy Brian Scott, driver of the number 2 Shore Lodge car. Holding tough in 8th in the points with some really great runs( although this last weekend was not one of them, he's hanging in there doing really great in that awesome looking Chevy Camaro. His Idaho fans are looking for great things to come later this season for Brian.

Until next time.........