It’s hard to believe how fast kids grow up these days. It’s been one NASCAR year since Denny Hamlin took over as driver of the JGR Fed Ex #11.

That’s right. Denny debuted his NASCAR NEXTEL Cup career at the site of this weeks race, Kansas Speedway, on October 9, 2005 at the Banquet 400. For Joe Gibbs Racing fans and Fed Ex…it was none too soon.

The #11 Fed Ex car had a miserable season up to that point. Even with veteran Terry Labonte behind the wheel, the #11 car was definitely not delivering.

Three different drivers tried racing the #11 car during the first 29 races of the 2005 NASCAR season. All with no success.

• Jason Leffler raced 14 races with an average finish of 29th.
• Terry Labonte raced 4 races with an average finish of 28th.
• JJ Yeley raced 4 races with an average finish of 32nd.

The team was even forced to have Bobby Labonte race his #18 car adorned with the Fed Ex paint scheme at the Coca Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. The #11 couldn’t qualify.

Denny Hamlin Saves The Day

One year ago, the #11 car rolls out at Kansas Speedway with Denny Hamlin behind the wheel. Who?

Denny finished 32nd that day. A little worse than par for the course with the #11 car. It was getting quite embarrassing. I remember wondering if Fed Ex would even stick around another year.

But wait! Then it was off to Lowe’s Motor Speedway and although they qualified 39th, Denny brought the car home to an 8th place finish. It gets better! The next week at Martinsville Speedway he qualified 5th and finished 8th again. A few weeks later at Phoenix International Raceway the wonder kid from Virginia is on the pole! Denny finishes out the year with an average finish position of 17th

The New Face of Fed Ex

We never saw a single ad with Denny Hamlin driving the ‘Big White Truck’. Never saw any challenges for the Fed Ex truck vs. the UPS truck. We did see ‘this kid’ driving lawn mowers, speedboats, golf carts…and one fast race car.

We’ve also seen the dead-on, runaway winner of the Raybestos Rookie of the Year and maybe even the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Champion.

Denny Hamlin has had a phenomenal year. He currently sits 3rd in the NASCAR points. He has 3 Poles, 2 Wins, 6 Top-5 and 16 Top-10 finishes. His average finish over the 2006 race year is 12th.

The #11 car has come a long way in one year. I’m betting it will do better than 32nd tomorrow on Denny’s 1-year anniversary at Kansas Speedway.

“I’ve got the answer.
I know why Tony Stewart has been so good-natured the past couple of weeks.
You know what I’m talking about. The Tony Stewart that gave us this quote after missing the Chase For The Nextel Cup.

“It takes 26 weeks to get to this point. We just missed it tonight. We couldn’t get it to turn in the center and all we did was make it loose in and on the exit. I’m real proud of this Home Depot team, they’ve done a great job. We’ve still got 10 more races to go out and win and I wish the guys that made the top 10, good luck this year.” – Tony Stewart (post-race Richmond International Raceway)

Tony’s sweet side was showing once again at New Hampshire International Speedway as well.

“It’s very nervewracking to race those top 10 guys. Your so timid around them and scared that if you make one little mistake around them and cause them to have a wreck – - you’ve just ruined a guy’s chance to have a championship.” – Tony Stewart (post-race NHIS)

Well what is the answer?

It’s obvious that Tony Stewart has finally found a GOOD WOMAN. A good woman can make even the most unruly man into a sweetheart. So, whoever you are out there ms-maybe-soon-to-be-mrs-stewart, we thank you. And Tony . . . savor it my friend, cause winnin’ championships doesn’t compare to having a good woman by your side.”

  NOTE: The ‘Official 2006 NASCAR Mulligan Chart’ is ’stuck’ up top until the end of the 2006 NASCAR season. There is fresh content below it

Like clockwork the past three NASCAR seasons, a peculiar word gets mentioned quite a bit. You might even find yourself talking to your race pals about it.

It’s the word MULLIGAN.
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NASCAR Quote Machine v2

Robby Gordon was the quote machine last year at New Hampshire International Speedway. This year, it’s one of my two favorite whipping boys, Jimmie Johnson.

Pre-race Interview

During the pre-race show, Marty Snider was talking with Jimmy Johnson just before driver introductions. The conversation went like this:

Marty Snider: “Happy Birthday to Jimmie . . . hey, it’s your birthday today. Have you ever raced on your birthday before?”

Jimmie Johnson: “Ahh, I think I have . . . it usually falls on a Saturday or Sunday . . . so I have . . . and I’ve never treated myself to a birthday win, so hopefully we can do that today.”

The Jimmy Johnson Birthday Cheatsheet

If you immediately see the humor in that statement, you may have laughed in unison with the wife and I. We looked at each other and promptly busted guts.

My birthday present to Jimmie is this handy little chart. He can now answer that question more intelligently in the future.

There you have it Jimmy. Print it up and laminate it. Keep it handy. I’m guessing you may race a NASCAR race again on your 42nd birthday. Hang in there slugger, and good luck!”

Old Format Nascar Points Standings

I created a page that will track the NASCAR Driver Points Standings under the old format or ‘Non-Chase For The Nextel Cup’ format.

Matt Kenseth & Jimmie Johnson have a pretty healthy lead on the other drivers. But, it will be pretty interesting to see just how the 2006 NASCAR season will pan out under the ‘old school’ points system.

Right now, I’m especially interested to see how Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Tony Stewart & Kasey Kahne finish out the season.

Plus, if Kenseth & Johnson finish out the year in a close battle, it will be interesting to see what the actual points would have been. Matt Kenseth actually would be going into the 27th race of the 2006 NASCAR season 57 points up on Johnson.

You can always view the current version of the NASCAR Points Standings under the Chase For The Nextel Cup format.”

“There is the proverbial ‘pie in the face’ then there is the real ‘pie in the face’.

This one is real.

Kevin Harvick gets a square shot of full on face pie into Denny Hamlin during NASCAR Cup qualifying at New Hampshire International Speedway.

“

Happy Birthday to NASCAR’s Lucky Dog

The ‘Lucky Dog’ is offically 3 years (+ 1 day) old.

The Lucky Dog is Born

On lap 159 of the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway (my favorite driver) Dale Jarrett wrecked. I don’t recall the particulars, but I remember the race. They were showing an in-car shot of DJ right after the wreck. I remember watching him take off the steering wheel and then thinking better about it.

As had become the trend that year, the ‘gentlemens agreement’ of holding track position had all but vanished. Cars were running break neck speed back to the finish line. Dale sat in serious harms way in the middle of the track.

As a result, NASCAR banned racing back to the caution flag. The decision was to give a ‘free pass’ to the first driver 1 lap down. I think it was Wally Dallenbach that contributed to coining the phrase lucky dog. If my very bad memory serves me correctly, I seem to think that Jimmy Spencer (driving the Sirius Satellite sponsored car) was one of the first recipients of this ‘free pass’. The play on words regarding his sponsors dog logo evolved into using the term ‘Lucky Dog’. Am I way off on that? Someone with a better memory please help me out.

Good Dog

I think the ‘lucky dog’ award has been kind of cool. If for nothing else than creating a ‘race within a race’ to stay at worst the car 1 lap down. Plus, it has really helped many a team get back on the lead lap and even win races. It has ultimately solved the problem of racing back to the yellow.

Bad Dog

It can also be very well argued that the ‘lucky dog’ is no solution at all. Take Kyle Busch’s 5 free laps given to him during the AMD at the Glen at Watkins Glen earlier this year.

Either way though…Happy B-day to the Lucky Dog.”

Fantasy Racing Perspective

Here’s some quick statistics to help set your NASCAR fantasy racing team for the upcoming New Hampshire International Speedway ‘Sylvania 300′.

Best Average Finishes

Just like last weeks race at Richmond, once again, Denny Hamlin has the theoretical best average finish at New Hampshire Speedway. He leads all active drivers with an average finish position of 6th at NHIS. This is from his 6th place finish in the New England 300 in July.

Matt Kenseth is not far behind with an average finish of 6.1 over his last 7 races at New Hampshire. Jimmie Johnson likewise has made great finishes here with an average of 7.7. Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick round out the current NASCAR drivers who average in the Top 10 with a 10.7 place average finish each at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Track Position

50% of the top 10 finish positions during the last 7 races at New Hampshire have been filled with drivers starting in the top 10. 4 of the last 7 winners have started in the top 10. An interesting statistic, but how can you use it for your fantasy team? It’s a toss of the coin. I think more than anything, the real factor is which teams can get themselves to the front through strategic pit calls during the early cautions of the race.

New Hampshire is a Flat Track

New Hampshire Speedway is a flat race track with only 12° of banking. Indianapolis has 9° of banking, Kansas has 15°, Martinsville has 12° and Phoenix has 11° of banking.

A quick look at who runs best at those tracks and you see the same names keep popping up: Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Greg Biffle.

Everyone of those driver’s look like they would be good points makers for your fantasy NASCAR race team.”

“In case anyone is interested, here is the run down of how many points the top 10 drivers were adjusted as they move into the Chase For The Nextel Cup.

I’ve been overanalyzing Tony Stewart’s performance for the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup season. I’ve got an odd sort of shock over him not making the Chase.

I’m seeing 7 specific races that really knocked him out of contention for back to back championships. Of course, a few spots better in any one or combination of races (or just a little more remodeling) over the season and he would be ahead of Kasey Kahne for 10th place.

Below Average Finishes

If Tony had been running par with his averages over the last 4 years, his point total after Richmond would be 3417. Enough to put him solidly in the Chase For The Nextel Cup.

The table below is a summary of Tony’s performance this year as compared to his averages over the last 4 years. You’ll see his average finish position & points. Following that is his 2006 finish position.

The + / – column is how many positions off his average finish he was. The ‘Off Average’ column is a cumulative total of how off he was throughout the progressing NASCAR race season.

When Good Race Tracks Go Bad

The ‘Chase Killers’ for Tony this year were: California Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Lowes Motor Speedway, Dover International Speedway, Michigan International Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway & New Hampshire Speedway.

Each of these tracks, except for Lowe’s & New Hampshire, are historically good tracks for The Home Depot team.