I wonder how much of a butt chewin’ Kyle Busch got over his Kanye West style ‘I can’t stand to drive them. This car sucks.’ comment after winning the first COT race at Bristol last week?

I thought it was ’suspect’ when Jimmie Johnson claimed ignorance to teammate Kyle’s post-race comments earlier this week on ESPN’s NASCAR Now.

Right, Jimmie. Whatever.

I’d bet that ‘this car sucks’ was the catch-phrase with the boys in the Hendrick Motorsports shop all week long. I’ve no doubt that Mr. H had a ‘fatherly’ talk with Kyle, encouraging him to continue listening to his Denis Waitley ‘Psychology of Winning’ tapes.

So, what does Kyle have to say this week at Martinsville? I just caught a snippet of interview during the 2nd practice session and young shrub (with his new Menard-chin styling) wasn’t nearly as critical of the COT. Even said that it ‘does have good forward bite.’

I’m not sure whether to consider it good that young pup Busch is learning to be more politically correct or consider it sad that the ‘Machine’ keeps drivers from speaking their mind even when we don’t want to hear it. For all of us that are pissed…oops, our age is showing.

“Welcome my son. Welcome to the machine.” (Pink Floyd)

Update: Jimmy Spencer just got a little jab at Kyle on NASCAR Race Day. “Think about this. Michael Waltrip’s gone home. Paul Menard. Kevin LePage. I believe that they would want to change positions with you. Do you ever think about that Kyle?”

Two drivers that have impressed me the most this year seldom make the race.

Yet, like the Little Engine That Could, each week they try. And, continue to try. All the while remaining (outwardly) optimistic and positive about their chances and their teams efforts.

The perseverance exhibited by Michael Waltrip and Brian Vickers truly does impress me.

The struggles that Michael Waltrip Racing and Team Red Bull have showcased this season is a motivating glimpse of reality. It serves to affirm my belief that CONSISTENT and PERSISTENT work pay off.

Take Brian Vickers scorched feet as the latest example of persistance. Or. Mikey’s continued good-natured ribbing of himself on Inside Nextel Cup. These guys don’t have a whole lot to get excited about, except for holding on to the dream.

Many people theorized that Toyota would ‘buy’ their way into the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. Much like the lottery sometimes brings the lifelong fool into a position of prominence. But, it just ain’t so. If I just counted right, 17 of the 36 Toyota entries have failed to make the first 5 races this year. Take out Dale Jarrett’s ‘gimmes’ and they would have 21 ‘go homes’.

Whoever brokered that purchase into NASCAR dominance ought to be fired. It’s a dismal showing when only 42% of the new ‘Big Money Boys’ entries make the race. Jack, you ARE paranoid.

Speaking of firing, I’m sure that will be happening. You can put Jeremy Mayfield and AJ Allmendinger at the top of the NASCAR Dead Pool list. (Hmmm…thought to self. Now there’s an idea for a fun Silly Season game.)

Now for the ‘other side of this coin’ give Green-White-Checker’s Blog a read as he puts Michael Waltrip in the grave.”

Goody’s Cool Orange 500

Fresh Out Of Bristol

I’m a little late this week because I just got home from Bristol and watching the debut of the COT.

This was the first time I have ever attended a race at Bristol and I was very pleased with how everything went. The only disappointment to the weekend was how bad NASCAR screwed up during a caution in the Busch race on Saturday.

My Pick To Win Martinsville

The only thing that stood out during the Cup race on Sunday was how well Tony Stewart’s car handled compared to the other drivers on the track. The racing was still typical Bristol with drivers bumping the car in front of them to open a lane up. But, because of the way Tony’s car handled I am going to pick him to win this weekend at Martinsville in the second COT race of the year.

Frontrunners at Martinsville

Before the Bristol race I was going to pick Jeff Gordon to win at Martinsville and he will still run up towards the front all day. Jeff started on the pole at Bristol and lost the handle on the car right a way the team worked on it in the pits every chance that they got and had Jeff in contention to win at the end of the race. This team is looking good and Martinsville is one of Jeff’s favorite tracks.

Jimmie Johnson struggled for most of the race at Bristol but that was to be expected. Jimmie has never really run well at Bristol but this weekend will be another story if they have the handle figured out on the COT. Jimmie runs almost as consistently well as Jeff Gordon at Martinsville and won there last fall.

Jeff Burton sits second in the points race only 3 behind Jeff Gordon. Jeff really struggled last year at Martinsville but this track is similar to Phoenix where he usually runs very well. Look for Jeff to have a competitive car once again this weekend at Martinsville.

Speaking of Phoenix, Kevin Harvick swept the races there last season and also had a good handling COT during the race at Bristol last week. This is the type of track that Kevin excels at and this weekend should be no different.

Last weeks winner, Kyle Busch, should be a handful for the other drivers once again this week. I really believe that the best drivers will be the ones towards the front of the pack this weekend. I think that the COT will separate the great drivers from the competition until they get a few more races under their belts with it.

Denny Hamlin had another great run at Bristol until the end of the race when he had some type of a problem on a restart and didn’t get his car up to speed until he was out of the bottom groove and freight trained to the end of the lead lap cars. This should bode well for the young Hamlin as he heads to Martinsville 9th in the point standings.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a great streak at Bristol from 2002 until the first race of 2004 but has struggled a little bit since then. He only has 1 top 10 in the last 5 races here but showed that he could bring his car from the back of the pack to the front last week at Bristol.

Martinsville A Struggle For Roush Teams

Greg Biffle had a good run at Bristol but his car failed inspection for being too low after the race and NASCAR will hand out a penalty this week to this team. Greg has really struggled at Martinsville during his career with a best finish of 17th in 8 races.

Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards both struggle here also so it doesn’t look like a good weekend for the Roush teams.

The one bright spot for Jack Roush this weekend could come in the form of Jamie McMurray.

Jamie has always performed well at Martinsville and had one of his best runs of the year last weekend. Maybe this team is ready to break out this weekend at Martinsville.

Yahoo! Fantasy Picks

Group A

• Tony Stewart (starter)
• Jeff Gordon

Group B

• Denny Hamlin (starter)
• Jamie McMurray (starter)
• Bobby Labonte
• Kyle Busch

Group C

• David Stremme (starter)
• Jeff Green

Darkhorse

• Jamie McMurray
• Bobby Labonte
• David Stremme

Stay Away From

• Greg Biffle
• Carl Edwards
• Kurt Busch

“

Sharpie 500

My Pick To Win Bristol

After a long weekend at Michigan the teams head to Bristol for Saturday nights running of the Sharpie 500. I am looking at a battle between Tony Stewart and his teammate, Denny Hamlin, for the win here. Both of these cars were the class of the field this spring at Bristol and only terrible luck kept them from victory lane back then.

I have to give the edge to Tony Stewart because he is very hot right now. He has won 3 of the last 5 races on the circuit. Both Tony and Denny are locked into the Chase already so the only position that matters to either of them is the position that gives you the win and 10 bonus points once the Chase starts. For these guys finishing 2nd is just as good as finishing last.

Bristol Front Runners

Jeff Gordon is in the same position, which is why he spun out the last 2 weeks. It doesn’t matter where he finishes unless he wins so he is pulling out all the stops to try and visit victory lane. It is also the reason that he wasn’t really upset this weekend after the race. He wasn’t in a position to win it anyway.

Matt Kenseth is the final driver to have secured a spot in the Chase already. Matt has won 2 of the last 4 races at Bristol but the Roush teams seem to be a bit behind on the COT. This will be a good race for Matt to try some different things on his car to see if he can get it to handle better for him.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is going to have to make a big push over the next 3 races to make the Chase and hope for some ill luck to some of the drivers ahead of him in the standings. Yes, he did move up to 13th this week at Michigan but now sits 163 points behind Kurt Busch for the final Chase spot. This is a monumental task to overcome but it could be done yet. Dale is very good at Bristol and has nothing to lose by going all out.

Kyle Busch won a very close race over Jeff Burton at Bristol this spring and has found out how to drive at Bristol almost as well as his brother. All of the Hendrick teams should have great cars this weekend and any of them could visit victory lane.

Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick both had great cars at Bristol this spring with Jeff finishing 2nd and Kevin having one of the fastest cars very early in the race when he came from the back to the front in about 50 laps.

Yahoo! Fantasy Picks

Group A

• Tony Stewart (starter)
• Jeff Gordon

Group B

• Kyle Busch (starter)
• Jamie McMurray (starter)
• Kurt Busch
• Denny Hamlin

Group C

• David Stremme (starter)
• Jeff Green

“

That’s the draft as in wartime.

Look. I’ve held out from blogging about the should-Mark-run-or-not debate for long enough. I can’t wait until Bristol to see that Mark is no where to be found.

Sure, I’d love to see him continue to race.

But, Mark has decided that a NASCAR Championship is not worth fighting for anymore. I don’t see why people continue to try and force him to fight a battle he doesn’t want to fight.

The way I see it, Mark knows we are only going into race #5 of 36. Banking now on being the driver that is hoisting the Nextel Cup at Homestead is foolish thinking. Mark is a champion, no doubt, in many ways. Just not the NASCAR Nextel Cup Champion.

I look at the above picture and can feel the pain and disappointment. This shot is of Mark being consoled by his wife, Arlene, after losing the NASCAR Winston Cup Championship to Dale Earnhardt.

The year is 1990, and Martin led the points standings from early June through October, but Earnhardt charged past to capture his fourth championship.

Martin has tasted the Championship many times. But, in the end fell short of the points. Why set himself up for more heartache?

I applaud his decision to do it his way. Skip Bristol and Martinsville, and come back more in control of his NASCAR destiny than he has ever been in his life.

UPDATE: Have you read the Green-White-Checker NASCAR blogger’s thoughts on this? You don’t want to miss out on reading his angle…”

Jimmie Johnson. Tony Stewart. Matt Kenseth.

The planets were lined up during the Kobalt Tools 500 Sunday in Atlanta.

The top 3 drivers performed exactly as their prior performance predicted. At least according to the statistical model that our NASCAR numbers wizard Steve McClearn predicted they would in his Atlanta pre-race report.

Steve shares his thoughts and why the numbers proved out in the Atlanta post-race report.

Look for The McClearn Report each week for help on your fantasy NASCAR team.”

Anyone notice that ‘Pretty Boy’ Kahne is a punk?

Was it just me?

Yes, I’m a little riled up because I am on the verge of proclaiming Johnson, Knaus, et al as the new ‘Lords of the NASCAR World’ (94 laps to go…hopefully I can defer the proclamation another week.)

I really don’t have to think of any fresh content for this post. I wrote the same one a year-and-a-half ago. Just change the victimized driver’s name from Reed Sorenson to David Reutimann in my original Kasey Kahne Is An Idiot post on October 30, 2005 after SURPRISE the Fall race at Atlanta Motor Speedway and paste it in here.

Now, as then, Kahne is having a not-so-good run. He gets caught up in someone else’s mess and finds himself nose-to-nose with another car.

Does he stop? No.
Does he really slow down? No.

He finds his gear, punts Reutimann out of the way and goes roaring down the track.

Idiot!

Here, here Kasey. I raise a toast to you and sitting outside the top 35.”

Some interesting numbers for trivial talk and NASCAR fantasy race games relating to this Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Atlanta Motor Speedway

1: Start (and finish) position for Kasey Kahne in the Spring race last year.
1: Driver (Tony Stewart) to score bonus points during the last 3 races at Atlanta.
1.54: Miles around Atlanta Motor Speedway.
5: Seasons since Atlanta hasn’t been the home of the last race on the schedule.
5.5: Average starting position of race winner over the last 6 races here.
6: Number of consecutive Atlanta Motor Speedway Budweiser Pole Awards for Ryan Newman.
7: Paul Menard’s finish position in his one Nextel Cup race here.
10.4: Dale Jarrett’s average finish position over the last 20 races here.
15: Average number of cars finishing on the lead lap over the last 4 races at Atlanta.
23: Years ago that Benny Parsons raced his #55 Copenhagen car to his final NASCAR Series win at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
2,332: Length (in feet) of frontstretch.”

Kobalt Tools 500

Repeat Race Winner This Week?

Three races three different winners so far this year. Will that trend continue or will someone become a repeat winner this weekend at Atlanta?

My Pick to Win Atlanta

In my opinion we get our fourth winner of the year and his name is Kasey Kahne.

Kasey won this race last spring and I believe he will repeat at Atlanta once again. Kasey was one of the cars to beat at Atlanta and Texas last season in both races at these tracks and was solid at most of the mile and a half tracks.

He also looked good at Las Vegas last week until a late race wreck took him out of the running.

Drivers To Watch

Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon finished one-two last weekend in Vegas and both of these guys have been good at Atlanta with average finishes over the last few years in the top 10. Each of them has a win over that stretch and 9 top 5 finishes in the last 8 races between them here.

Mark Martin had another top 5 finish last week and leads the points race right now. He still says that he is not going to race at Bristol in 2 weeks but I for one hope that he has another solid run at Atlanta this week and changes his mind.

Mark had 4 straight top 5 finishes at Atlanta until last fall when he was involved in an accident and finished 36th.

Carl Edwards won 2 races at Atlanta during his first full season on the NEXTEL Cup circuit and has 4 top 10 finishes in the 5 races he has run there. This team isn’t at the top of their game yet but they are looking like they are ready to come out full force soon.

Matt Kenseth came from nowhere at the end of the race in Vegas last weekend and looks to be one of the contenders for the championship this year. Matt has had his ups and downs at Atlanta over his career with 7 top 10 finishes in his last 14 starts there.

Tony Stewart won the race here last fall and has finished in the top 10 in 10 of his last 11 races.

He also has 1 other win during that stretch. Tony is like Carl Edwards in the fact that his team isn’t hitting on all cylinders right now but looks like they could breakout at anytime.

Drivers On The Fence

Dale Earnhardt Jr. made it through Las Vegas with his engine intact but this weekend will be the real test for this team.

I’m still not sure if they have their engine problems fixed and I don’t want to take a chance on him during a 500-mile race until I see that the troubles are over. Junior does have 9 top 10 finishes in the past 11 races at Atlanta.

Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton started out this year on a tear but have had their share of mechanical problems over the last 2 weeks.

If these teams can figure out what the problems are and get them corrected they are going to be tough every week this season.

Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman are above where they were at this time last year but still have a little way to go to start consistently running in the top 10. I look for these teams to be very good in the second half of the season but not consistent enough to use on your fantasy team right now.

Fighting To Be In The Top 35

One final thought before I give you my full field of predictions. There are only 2 more races to run before the top 35 in owner points is set for the sixth race of the season.

Right now the drivers on the edge are Kyle Petty, Casey Mears, Jeff Green, Kasey Kahne, Paul Menard, Scott Riggs and the #21 car driven by Ken Schrader and Jon Wood.

These cars and drivers will be battling for that top 35 spot so that they don’t have to qualify their way into a race every week.

Yahoo! Fantasy Picks

Group A

• Kasey Kahne (starter)
• Jimmie Johnson

Group B

• Mark Martin (starter)
• Elliott Sadler (starter)
• Kurt Busch
• Scott Riggs

Group C

• J.J. Yeley (starter)
• Sterling Marlin

Dark Horse

• Joe Nemechek

“

Here’s the UAW DiamlerChysler 400 submission of Darrell Waltrip quotes:

Every Friday is Friday the 13th when your not in the top 35 in points.

The tires are one thing, it’s the ‘restrictor tank’ that I don’t agree with.

If they’d make the tires and the cars and the tracks all perfect, I wouldn’t have quit driving.

Wasn’t Snickering either was he. (After Ricky Rudd almost t-boned Kyle Busch)

Add more as you recall them. Minor accuracy is all that is required.”