Summary:

Rewind to Jeff Gordon’s Martinsville victory celebration a week ago. An out-of-practice Jeff Gordon rambles off his sponsors. He is looking on his car and firesuit in an attempt to get them all. Well, obviously he forgot Lay’s Potato Chips.

His second place finish this weekend at Atlanta, garners him post-race TV time again. As he’s talking, he deftly manuevers a bag of Lay’s Potato Chips into view and says he forgot to thank them last weekend.

My Take:

My wife and I were rolling on the floor laughing.

Mark Martin had just finished his ‘Gatorade Chug’. And now, here’s Jeffy Boy with his bag of chips. Thank God he didn’t start munching on them like Elliott Sadler did the M&M’s.

You’d think they just got done smokin’ a fatty, rather than racing 500 miles.

Frito Lay’s is right here in the D/FW metroplex. I’ve read about their 2005 plan to advertise more aggressively, since their share of the fried spud market was waning. Jeff Gordon’s 10-second promo makes it blantantly obvious that sponsor’s demand a mention for their advertising dollar. And, car owners (and ultimately the driver) will bow down to them for it.

Hey you big shots at Lay’s! Why don’t you bone up the money to sponsor the full car?”

Summary

Kasey Kahne gets caught up in Reed Sorenson’s spin into the wall. Sorenson spins clockwise, ending with his driver side against the wall and nose-to-nose with Kahne.

Several seconds after the dust should be settling, Kahne still is pushing Sorenson backwards along the wall. Finally, he punts him out of his way and drives on.

My Take:

Sorry ladies (my wife and daughters included.) I hate to break it to you, but Kasey Kahne a.k.a. ‘The Real Deal’ can also be ‘The Real Dummy’.

Kasey Kahne’s true colors are showing this year. Remember his road rage at New Hampshire? He’s a young punk.

Okay. I agree that maybe I’m a little over-the-top on this one. But, age and experience certainly is an advantage on the track in more ways than one. The ability to hold his temper ‘in-check’ is something Kahne must ’still be working on’. Many more incidents like today though, and he’ll need to call Tony Stewart about ‘that guy that helped you with your anger issues’.

What really surprised me during the incident was that no one commented on it. Clearly, Kahne kept the accelerator down long after he and Sorenson were nose-to-nose and able to stop. Right?

I like Kasey. His year is lackluster from what he (and we) had hoped. Today he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but c’mon Kasey, quit smacking the other young pups around.

I wonder if Reed could read Kasey’s lips as he pushed him along the wall?

Were there any inappropriate gestures?

Or, was the backwards push for several hundred feet statement enough?”

Summary:

Jeremy Mayfield’s #19 has a mechanical problem and puts him behind the wall for 100 laps. Pit reporter asks him, “Looks like your championship hopes are over now?”

Rusty Wallace’s #2 gets its front-end flattened and pits several times to fix it. Eventually, he’s behind the wall. Pit reporter asks him, “Championship-wise, Rusty, this may end it?”

My Take:

No fuckin’ shit, Sherlock!

Intelligent and reporting are two words that don’t go hand-in-hand with the NBC pit guys.

How about, “Are you going to be able to get back out there?” or even, “Sucks to be you, hunh?”

I’ve been holding off ranting about Tony Stewart and his smart-aleck remarks to Dave and the boys. Especially his standard, “What do you think Dave? Why don’t you tell me.” But now, I think I’m coming around to his way of thinking.

Asking a Chase contender if “today’s wreck puts you out of contention” is a legitimate question. But, isn’t the answer obvious? I would like to see a pit reporter think a little before firing off the ‘dumb questions’.”

Summary:

Rusty Wallace is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Again. Third week in a row with a terrible finish. His last five weeks have been mostly dismal.

• Talladega: 25th
• Kansas: 7th
• Lowes: 24th
• Martinsville: 19th
• Atlanta: 37th

My Take:

You may hate Rusty. You could say he whines too much about other drivers. But, ultimately, he is a great optimist.

I met Rusty at a Miller Brewery shindig a few years ago. I scored the limited invite tickets for free from a friend. I figured I could at least snag an autograph to sell on eBay.

Prior to that night, my opinion of Rusty wasn’t real high. But, that event changed things for me. He was a nice guy. Personable. And, at least made me feel like he meant his handshake, smile and greeting.

Whining aside (Rusty’s not mine) you got to admit that he always will put a positive spin on things. I’ll be sad to see him go.”

Summary:

Silly Season Updates:

My Take:

Yet to come.

What’s yours?”

Summary:

Anyone who follows NASCAR knows about the sad state of racing affairs at Lowes Motor Speedway on Saturday night. So, I won’t recap anything but the raw facts.

 

My Take:

For about 9 months, I used to drive 2 roundtrips from Tyler to Fort Worth every weekend. 500 miles total. My car was outfitted with really bad $20 used tires. I blew one quite regularly. Sometimes I would start the trip already seeing some wire poking through.

What’s my point?

It’s the pits to worry the whole trip about which one of my tires is gonna blow.

I usually ran about 75mph. Not 185mph. I wasn’t driving in a pack of cars with equally pitiful tires.

That wasn’t racing we watched. That was accidents waiting to happen. I sure am glad I recorded the race on my DVR and watched it the next day. My ’seat time’ was much shorter than the 4 1/2+ hours that most had to endure.”

Summary:

If you play any NASCAR fantasy sports games, such as ESPN’s Stock Car Challenge, you know what a waste your fantasy dollars have been on Jeff Gordon. Is it time to pick him back up at his rock bottom price?

My Take:

I hope so. I’ve been hemming and hawing now for weeks, wondering if it was time to shout ‘BUY’ on Jeff Gordon stock. I’ve declined the urge and picked up Dale Earnhardt Jr. instead. His stock price was way low too.

Thankfully, I sold Jr. before the Kansas race and went with Gordon. Perfect timing. His 10th place finish brought his value up .6 (a good thing) and earned me 134 points for my total race score.

Thanks Jeff. Now, I may be stuck with you for the rest of the year.

Show me the money!”

Summary:

During Matt Kenseth’s 60+ laps in the lead at the Banquet 400 at Kansas Speedway, teammate Kurt Busch wanted a favor. Have Matt let him get 5-bonus points by conceding the lead for one lap. Kenseth holds strong and won’t slow down. Busch doesn’t make the pass. In fact, never leads a lap all race.

My Take:

I’ve said it before that NASCAR teammates equal more points and I’ll say it again. The Roush 5-point-ballet makes me puke. Matt said it best during the race Sunday.

“I want to be friends with everybody. Everyone wants to lead laps. I understand all that, you’re just relaying a message. But, when it gets to the Chase, we’re all racing each other for a championship. I’m not gonna get beat by 4 points at the end of the year because I gave away a free 5 somewhere. So, we’re all just gonna have to race to get them. That’s gonna be the way it has to be right now.” -Matt Kenseth (in car audio)

Summary:

Brian France, King marketeer of NA$CAR, says he doesn’t like fans flying Confederate flags at races. His comments are part of his 60 Minutes interview that will air on Sunday, October 9th.

My Take:

Maybe I’m too white? Maybe because I was born an Ohio yankee and now live in Texas, but never over there in the true South? Or maybe, it doesn’t have anything to do with my color or my birth place. Maybe its the fact that WE, as a nation, are just too darned spineless to dare offend anyone.

Political Correctness is the dilution of fact, good or bad. Don’t you dare use words, behaviors or symbols that might offend the blacks, the whites, the hispanics, the homosexuals, women, the crippled, the mentally impaired, the fat or the ugly.

My guess (correct me if I’m wrong) is that the Confederate Flag is not about racism or slavery to 99% of the people who fly it.

1. It is a pretty cool design
2. It simply shows honest pride in being from the south
3. It plays a part of the personal history of those who like it.

What do you think?”

Summary:

Jimmie Johnson wrecks Elliott Sadler in the UAW Ford 500 at Talladega. He immediately claims he was, “hit from behind…pushed right into the #38.” Like a surveillance camera, tv video shows this is untrue.

Now, two days later, he admits he was at fault.

My Take:

If this was the only the first (or tenth) time Jimmie adamantly blamed someone else, denying responsibility for his own bonehead move, then I would be forgiving. But, it’s not.

Blaming the other guy is Johnson’s MO. We’ve seen it time and again. Guy is never wrong, never at fault. My intuition tells me this apology is a PR attempt to regain peer and fan favor.

Did you hear the cheering as he limped around the track with his blown tire? His reputation with his peers is becoming notorious at these restrictor plate races. Johnson has never finished the Fall race at Talladega, keeps wrecking himself out.

So, stick a sock it it Jimmie. Go ahead and cry your crocodile tears. You’ve got to prove yourself with actions now buddy. All available sympathy for you in my sympathy bank is used up. I’ll just be watching.”