• On Pit Row
• The Show
• The Crew
• Bench Racing
• Fast Lap
• Contact Us
• Advertise With Us

Subscribe

• NASCAR
• Sprint Cup
• Drivers
• Nationwide Series
• ARCA Remax Series
• NASCAR Headlines

Latest Headlines

• You Thought Remembering the ARCA Drivers was Tough?
• NASCAR Haiku
• Do All-Stars Get Loose in Turn 3?
• Enough All-Star Goofyness Already
• Wind Tunnel vs Tunnel Vision
• Busch Rolls Over the Lady in Black
• The Darlington Stripe is Forever
• The Track Too Tough to Tame for Fantasy Picks
• The Growth Potential of ARCA’s Young Drivers
• Maybe Kyle Busch Just Got Loose in Turn 3

Comments

• Steve Wronkowicz on You Thought Remembering the ARCA Drivers was Tough?
• RevJim on Do All-Stars Get Loose in Turn 3?
• RevJim on Do All-Stars Get Loose in Turn 3?
• Bram on You Thought Remembering the ARCA Drivers was Tough?
• 2008 NBA Second Round Playoff Update · Sports Guru on Do All-Stars Get Loose in Turn 3?

Sections

• ARCA Remax Series
• Bench Racing Contests
• Boris Said
• Brad Kesolowski
• Brian France
• Bruton Smith
• Busch Series
• Car of Tomorrow
• Carl Edwards
• Casey Mears
• Chase for the Cup
• Chip Ganassi Racing
• Chrissy Wallace
• Clint Boyer
• Craftsman Truck Series
• Dale Earnhardt
• Dale Earnhardt Jr.
• Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
• Dale Jarrett
• danica patrick
• Darlington Speedway
• David Reutimann
• Daytona 500
• Denny Hamlin
• Diversity and NASCAR
• Eddie Sharp Racing
• Evernham Motorsports
• Formula One
• Frank Kimmel
• Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
• Gillette Evernham Motorsports
• Greg Biffle
• Haas CNC Racing
• Hendrick Motorsports
• Indy Cars
• Inside ARCA
• Iowa Speedway
• IRNMBSIL
• It's Only Cheating if You Get Caught
• J J Yeley
• Jacques Villeneuve
• Jamie McMurray
• Jeff Burton
• Jeff Gordon
• Jeff Hammond
• Jeremy Mayfield
• Jimmy Johnson
• Joe Gibbs Racing
• Joe Nemechek
• Joey Logano
• JR Motorsports
• Juan Pablo Montoya
• Kasey Kahne
• Kenny Shrader
• Kenny Wallace
• Kevin Harvick
• Kyle Busch
• Live blogs
• Marcos Ambrose
• Mark Martin
• Martin Truex Jr.
• Matt Kenseth
• Nascaholics
• NASCAR
• NASCAR & the Media
• NASCAR Bidness
• NASCAR Fantasy Gaming
• Nascar Legends
• NASCAR officials
• NASCAR Rumors
• NASCAR Tech
• Nationwide Series
• Nextel Cup Series
• On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio
• Phil Parsons
• Red Bull Racing
• Reed Sorenson
• Richard Childress Racing
• Robby Gordon
• Robert Yates Racing
• Roush Racing
• Rusty Wallace
• Ryan Newman
• Sam Hornish Jr
• Scott Speed
• Shut Up and Drive
• Sprint Cup Series
• Testing news
• The Busch Bros
• The Daily Bugle
• The Fast Lap
• The France Famliy
• The King
• The Pettys
• the Rock
• The Waltrips
• The Wood Brothers
• Toledo Speedway
• Tony Stewart
• Top 35 Rule
• Toyota
• Turn 3 posts
• Warren Wallace

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

I had this dream that Steve and I were asked to broadcast the race call for a fictional racing series I call the IRNMBSIL.  Since the invite came - in my dream - from the president of that series, Tony “The Destroyer” George, we accepted.  The following is a transcript of our pre-race conversation from the dream.

• CT ” Who’s the chick in the #3?
• SW  “Dunno”
• CT  ”Do you know whom is driving the #4?”
• SW “Yes”
• CT  “Yes what?”
• SW  “No, Watt’s  in the #10.”
• CT ” What’s in the #10?”
• SW  “Yes”
• CT  “Yes what?”
• SW  “Yeah”
• CT  “When Roger Penske writes a check to the driver of the #4 Crunchy Critters/Roadkill Pizza car, to whom does he write it?
• SW  “Yes, he doth”
• CT  ” He doth what?”
• SW  “Art thou daft? Watt’s in the #10″
• CT  “I’m not asking thee….eh, you who’s in the #10….”
• SW  “Hughe’s in the #5″
• CT  “Huh?”
• SW  “The #6″
• CT  “Who’s in the #6?”
• SW  “No”
• CT  “No?”
• SW  “No.  Huh.”
• CT  “Huh?”
• SW  “Yep”
• CT  “So, Yep is driving the #6?”
• SW  “Are you drunk, hungover or just stupid?”
• CT  “What?”
• SW  “Watt’s the name of the driver of the #10 car”
• CT  “What?”
• SW  “Finally”
• CT  “Wait. I thought that I read at Full Throttle that Finelli was driving that #1 car.”
• SW  “Dat Wan?”
• CT  “Yeah. That one”
• SW  “It’s Dat Wan.  It’s a car”
• CT  “Which Dat Wan?”
• SW  “That’s Funny”
• CT  “What’s funny?”
• SW  “I disagree.  Watt’s a jerk.”
• CT  “Who’s a jerk?”
• SW  “No, Hughe’s one of my favorite drivers.  Very witty guy.  Reminds me of Catfish.  He makes me laugh.
• CT  “What’s so funny?”
• SW  “Yes. Yes he is”
• CT  “This is making my head hurt.  Let me try this a different way.  Tell me the name of the owner of the #3 car.
• SW  “Mr Originality”
• CT  “Thank you”
• SW  “Your welcome”
• CT  “..and his name is…?”
• SW  “I just told you his name.”
• CT  “What?”
• SW  “No, Mr Originality”
• CT  “Are you telling me his name is NO? Is he related to Dr No? And stop calling me Mr Originality.
• SW  “Shhh. Here she comes”
• CT  “Here who comes?”
• SW  “Dunno”
• CT  “I don’t know either, but she sure looks good.  Any idea who the Dude is with her?
• SW  “Mr Wong.”
• CT  “Yeah, I get it. I’d like to be Mr Right too. Do you know his connection to her?
• SW  “It’s Wong, stupid.  Says here he’s the crew chief of the #3.  What kind of car was that again?
• CT  “Dat Wan?”
• SW  “NO not Dat Wan. Yu Shure.
• CT  “You sure?”
• SW  ” Yeah. That’s the designer of the car talking to Mr Wong”
• CT  “Who? Dat?”
• SW  “No”
• CT  “Who den…er then?”
• SW  “Fo Shure”
• CT  “He’s the designer?  Of the Yu Shure? You sure?
• SW  “Yeah, Fo Shure”
• CT  “I can’t take this.  Tell Tony, thanks for the gig but I’m sticking with stock cars.
• SW  “Hey! Where you going?”
• CT  “Dunno. For sure.”

The Pit Crew Challenge

was typical of NASCAR.

Modest to a fault.

Yes it’s NASCAR’s All Star weekend. Speed TV has begun a 48 hour marathon of All Star coverage, beginning with the Pit Crew Challenge and ending some time long after the race winner has been feted. I’m not a huge fan and luckily for me, the ARCA RE/MAX Series is in town and that will keep me busy and distracted. I’ll have to TIVO most of the All Star coverage. That is a plus for me.

The race itself will probably be pretty good. And yes, even All Stars get Loose in Turn 3. The captains of the blogs, Bruce’s NASCAR Bits and Pieces and Tim’s Do You NASCAR? join me again to carve up three different NASCAR issues in this week’s Loose in Turn 3 triple play.

My question this time is a scenario and it goes like this….

NASCAR world has been turned upside-down. All of the drivers are free agents - the ultimate silly season has been declared. You are a team owner and you have three seats to fill with five year contracts. What manufacturer and which three drivers do you stick yourself with?

Charlie: Toyota is my car choice. I believe that Jack Roush is right - Toyota will take over NASCAR. Jimmy Johnson heads my team. He’s a two time champion with at least ten years left in him. Kasey Kahne is my number two. All he needs is equipment. Kyle Busch has to be in because it seems that he doesn’t even need that!

Bruce: That’s loaded. Does you having picked mean I can’t pick those now? I’m sticking with Ford.. Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and I like Kasey Kahne also. Clint is quietly consistent and I’ll take that any day of the year… heck, I won and online league by being in the top 5 every race with only one win. Jr: He’s pretty consistent this year and he’s showing what he can do with good equipment, so I have faith in him. Kahne: The only thing that held him up last year was a poorly programmed computer program that caused the team to make incorrect adjustments… once they got back on track, they’ll be good to go, or more to the point, Kahne will be good to go on my Ford powered team. (Yea, Yea, the guys will all have to break their manufacturer contracts to be on my team, what of it? That’s what silly season is all about!!)

TZ: Like Bruce said… definitely a loaded question. I’ve gotta go with Charlie on the manufacturer for my team, though. Forget about tradition and what got this sport where it is now. If I’m a team owner, I’ve got dollar signs in my eyes, and I’m going with the new wave, which has to be Toyota. As for my team itself, from a business perspective, I start with Jimmy Johnson for immediate on-track success and a bid at the Cup, and I actually build my team around him. Back-to-back titles, how can you argue with that? Then, I back him up with Carl Edwards. The cat’s only 28 years old, he wins, he does great with the media and I see him as a solid partner for Johnson. I finish up with the youngster to protect the future on my company, and for that I look no further than the 22 year old David Ragan.

OK, that’s what we think. What do you think?

Tim’s post query is…. There’s been a lot of talk about the “changing of the guard” in NASCAR this year. Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards have been running hot. Are they the future of our sport?

Bruce’s post starts with this…. Seasoned drivers and when is it their turn?

Enjoy the discussion and the All-Star extravaganza this weekend.

Photo Credit: Harold Hinson/HHP Images

Just give me some old fashioned Saturday night hell-bent-for-leather stock car racing.

Twenty-nine drivers are entered in the Sprint Showdown race to transfer the winner and first-loser into the Sprint All-Star Race. I can live with that; its not too far of a stretch to let the second place guy into the Big Race. Letting the fans vote in another driver is a bit far fetched, for a serious race, but this is an all-star event so we can throw some belief out the window.

Using the NASCAR Sprint Pit Crew Challenge to determine pit stall selection for the race is a bit off the wall, but again, I’m in on that one. The format of the pit crew challenge is a bit hokey. However, giving the over the wall guys some kudos is worth putting up with the made-for-TV antics of the event. I am a bit bothered knowing that Brian Vickers’ winning team is a PCoT (Pit Crew of Tomorrow). It was nice thinking that these guys who are changing tires and filling the tank are day to day mechanics. At least in this Red Bull machine that is bull.

Saturday night’s Sprint All-Star Race, with however many segments of whatever length is a worthy and entertaining all-star event. It ranks well ahead of many such stick and ball events. It is well ahead of the NHL and NFL events. The NBA all-star weekend is entertaining but the game itself isn’t very well received. Major League Baseball still does it best. The focus is more on the game itself, not the preliminary events. Sure the homerun hitting contest appeals to some; just as basketball’s slam dunk contest does.

What NASCAR does NOT need however is the Pennzoil Victory Challenge. Sorry Pennzoil but this is possibly the most ridiculous and demeaning event to grace an all-star event in years. Having drivers make “drag racing style” burnouts and 360’s before heading to a “finish line” to be judged on time and style points puts NASCAR back twenty years–maybe thirty. Who hasn’t become bored with these displays after a win? The whole burnout/360 thing has been done to death and now NASCAR, Pennzoil and Lowes Motor Speedway are throwing it in the fans faces, not only after races, but now before it begins.

Give me a NASCAR Legends Race or a Crew Chief or Media Race on the 1/4 mile at Lowes if you’re in need of some extras to fill some time and keep the live audience entertained. But, you can keep your burnouts and donuts.

And one last bit of craziness was reported by Jay Busbee at From the Marbles. Patrick Carpentier will allegedly strip naked and run the pit lane if he is voted in as the third transfer.

“If we don’t race our way in, I promised I would run naked down pit road if they voted me in,” says the former open-wheel racer. “We’ll see if they give me that chance.”

Read Jay’s full take on the Carpentier Streak here.

I can do without the hoopla of the All-Star Race. Especially the made for TV stuff. Just give me the Consi and the A-Main and I’d be a happy race fan.

photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

I would like to welcome everyone to tonight’s meeting of Nascaholics Anonymous.  I’m Charlie and I  am a Nascaholic.  But I admit it and I’m trying to get help.

Are you one of the afflicted?  Here are some of the  signs.

• You have pictures of Wendy Venturini and Krista Voda covering an entire wall - or room - in your home.
• You write in a NASCAR blog more that you talk to your family.
• You know the date and time of the next Goodyear tire test for Cup Cars, but forgot Mothers Day.
• You get pissed when someone disses one of your favorite NASCAR celebrities.
• Your objectivity blurs when what you want to be true about something in NASCAR, just isn’t so.

There are many more symptoms.  I admit to having some - not the room full of pictures one! - and John Daly should fess up too.

J D’s  The Daly Planet has another one of his NASCAR TV show reviews of Dave Despain’s Wind Tunnel special for the NASCAR All Star weekend.  Once again, the Planet shows its disdain for Despain.  I guess it’s more that John sees disdain in Despain’s attitude towards NASCAR.  John has written this stuff before, taking the lead in blaming the demise of “Inside Nextel Cup” on Dave’s hosting skills.  Here’s a bit from the Planet’s post…

Although Despain has a long and distinguished history with NASCAR, his current relationship with the sport is prickly at best. He seems to continually be on the verge of exasperation where every NASCAR topic is concerned. 

Dave Despain was a guest ON PIT ROW  last night.  I admit, he is one of my favorite people in the media.  ON PIT ROW is a mostly NASCAR Cup Series show.  That’s what we talk about.  Dave knows this.  But I have never - not one time - gotten any feeling that he has a negative - or prickly - bias towards NASCAR racing.  He’s a pro. 

Speed TV and NASCAR must agree, or prime, showcase opportunities like last night’s All Star special and the acclaimed - even by Daly - show about the history of Daytona International Speedway would go to hosts ….

“….more informed about the specifics of the sport”

I’m going back to the meeting now.  You are more than welcome to join me, J D. 

If you have more ideas for signs of Nascaholism tell us.

Kyle Busch again made the rest of the Sprint Cup drivers look out classed.

Amid a chorus of boos when introduced and a general lack of fan support The Shrub once again proved to be the class of the field at the newly repaved Darlington Speedway. “The Track Too Tough to Tame” handed out more Darlington Stripes than I can remember in recent history. Drivers seemed to have problems negotiating the 200 mph back straight speeds once they hit turn 3.

The race which saw 40 cars beat the 12 year old track qualifying record was slowed by 8 caution flags. But cautions nor a pit penalty, for a loose lug nut, could slow down Rowdy as he led 169 laps and beat Carl Edwards by more than three seconds. Busch commented on the fan’s less than kind greeting:

“I’m here to race, If I win it just makes them more upset and crying on their way home.”

Busch seemed to revel in the fan’s disgust for his actions the week before. Fans were still blaming him for wrecking fan favorite Dale Earnhardt, Jr. at Richmond on his way to a possible victory. Upon exiting his car in victory lane, he bowed to the mostly jeering crowd in disdain.

Which leads to this weeks BUZZ ON PIT ROW:

Will fan’s dislike for Kyle Busch keep increasing with each win and is it good for the sport?

Give us your comments and we may use them on this weeks ON PIT ROW. Listen to the live stream on Tuesday from 5 to 7pm ET, then stay tuned to INSIDE ARCA from 7 to 8:30pm ET.

photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Darlington Speedway no longer hosts the venerable Southern 500 on Labor Day weekend.   NASCAR and International Speedway Corporation had good reasons for taking that date from the Lady in Black and giving it to California Speedway - or whatever they call the So-Cal track now.

The Rebel 400, Firecracker 400 and Rockingham are gone too, from NASCAR.  The tradition trickles away.

But this past weekend stamped one NASCAR tradition emphatically on the sides of most of the Dodge Challenger 500 field.  The Track Too Tough to Tame still puts her mark on those who want to challenge her.  Long live the Darlington Stripe.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Kevin Harvick was - by all statistical evidence - the right pick for last weeks Sprint Cup race at Richmond International Raceway. It didn’t work out.  Picking winners in NASCAR racing often doesn’t. You can begin to doubt the viability of the stats.

But the drivers who rated right behind Harvick for RIR were two of the most dominant and - as it turned out - controversial guys in the event.

Denny Hamlin led 381 of the 400 race laps but finished 24th - due to a tire going down under green and his attempt to draw a caution. The controversial part came of that try for a yellow flag.

Kyle Busch finished second. He got there by - some say - driving through Dale Earnhardt Jr while going for the win. There has been plenty of hash and re-hash on that subject.

Harvick had a dominant position in the NASCAR Loop stats for RIR. The spread between drivers at Darlington Raceway is tighter and there are only three races in the Loop database for the Lady in Black.

Fantasy Picks for the Track too Tough to Tame

Some weeks ago, Steve and I interviewed several of the NASCAR internet community’s most knowledgeable writers for our first 7 Post Podcast.  We asked each of our guests who their pick would be for Darlington in May.  Most chose Greg Biffle.  Goodyear had just completed the spring tire test at the South Carolina track.  The news that Biffle had topped 200 mph on the back stretch was big.  Maybe that was an influence on the picks.  Or perhaps those blogger folks are pretty smart too.

Gregg Biffle has the top Driver Rating of 126.1. He is the top dog in Fastest Laps with 141 and Laps Led at 346 or 31.3% of the last three races at Darlington. Greg has the second most Laps in the Top Fifteen the third best Ave Running Position of 5.2. Top those numbers with three top tens and two wins and The Biff looks good this week.

Jimmy Johnson looks good every week, doesn’t he? Second best Driver Rating, Fastest Laps, Laps Led and the top Ave Finish of 2.3 make it so again. JJ has two top fives and eight top tens.

Hamlin has only raced twice in Loop races at the Lady. He has the third best DR of 119.2 in those two and two top fives and four top tens all together. Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Busch has only one top ten ever and a Driver Rating of 85.7 which is 13th.

Darlington has been good to Ryan Newman. Ryan is fourth in DR with 116.4 and number one in Ave Running Position of 4.951. Five top fives and six top tens show his consistency at this track.

Jeff Gordon has gained more total Loop Points per Darlington race than anyone else - 540 compared to Biffle’s 498 - and has the best Ave Finish - 1.7 - and Laps in the Top Fifteen - 1091 for 98.8%. Gordon is also a seven time winner here. Yikes!

Earnhardt Jr, Carl Edwards and Kasey Kahne all have similar DR’s - 99.6, 98.8 and 97.8 respectively. None of the three has ever won at Darlington. The only Loop stat that jumps out is that Junior has zero Laps Led.

I’m going with Jeff Gordon as my fantasy pick. That Ave Finish stat of 1.7 and his top Ave Points Gained combined with his history at the track and the fact that he is, well, Jeff Freakin’ Gordon finish the self-argument for me.

If you want a driver outside the Loop stat top ten, take Jeff Burton.Steady Jeff has two wins, eight top fives and fourteen top tens at Darlington to support his 2008 success.

My dark-horse pick is Bobby Labonte - hopefully in that Speed Racer-painted #43 again.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Yours truly made the journey to Rockingham last Sunday to witness history, the return of racing to the rechristened Rockingham Speedway. While I hope the race is shortened a bit heading into future years (312 laps is too many for these cars, 250 would be excellent – and still longer that most) I hope it will still attract this sort of young gun all-star field it did this year. In that light, based on my own personal observations from the infield, the garage, and pit road (hey, this new gig is awesome!) I am ranking the top young drivers in the race that I see going on to bigger opportunities down the road. Given that this race was contested on a track that hadn’t seen official racing in years, I feel it was a good measure to see who could withstand the pressure and who can manage a race the best. Here we go:

Honorable mentions: Matt Carter, Billy Leslie, Scott Speed, John Wes Townley

Each of the four had circumstances that kept them from my top 5 list, be it accidents (Speed) or early trouble (Leslie), or simply not running as well as the top 5 (Carter, Townley). Speed may have a Cup ride in his future, but he went out early, so he isn’t on my top 5. Leslie and Carter ran well early in the race, but faded as the race went on. Townley, in my opinion, is Todd Kluever with three names. He may get pushed beyond his talent level, and won’t last.

5. Matt Hawkins – I didn’t know much about Hawkins before the race Sunday, but he looked like a driver who can make the most out his equipment during this race. He seemed to be driving a smart race, and didn’t bang up his car so that he would fall late in the race. Hawkins looks like he may need a little more seasoning, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see him advance within the next year.

4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – Stenhouse is a talent, but the fact he drives for Roush could hurt his growth potential unless he signs with another team. He is making a solid transition to stock car racing, and I believe he will be going Truck racing for Roush at some point soon. But I don’t see him sticking with Roush long-term, simply because Colin Braun is ahead of him and a Cup ride may be out of the question. Here’s an interesting scenario, how about Stenhouse ending up with his open-wheel owner, Tony Stewart, in a few years?

3. Michael Annett – I’ll be the first to admit, I wasn’t sure Annett was everything he was billed to be simply because I hadn’t seen enough of him to make a judgment. That’s out the window now, as I became very impressed with him during the race, particularly how he worked his way into the top 5 and really got better as the race progressed. I think Annett could step into a Truck right now and compete for top 10s.

2. Austin Dillon – What gives Dillon the tiebreaker over Annett in my mind is Dillon just turned 18 days before the Rockingham race. I had done a bit of research into Dillon prior to the race, most of his notoriety had been his use of the #3 – some don’t like it, but those people never believe anyone except Dale Earnhardt drove with that number. I think it’s cool that he is using it, as a way to honor his grandfather’s underappreciated career as a driver. Dillon won at Greenville Pickens Speedway in the Camping World East Series a few weeks ago, and has been a force on the dirt tracks in the southeast as well. I would be interested to see if he drives an RCR Nationwide car next season, once he gets a little more experience. He’ll be hard-pressed to rise as fast as the number one driver, but certainly has the opportunity if he possesses the talent. I think he just might.

1. Joey Logano – Seriously, you expected anything else? The kid’s the real deal. Leading 257 of the 312 laps was insane, and it felt like he led even more. Visually, that car was flying around the track… prompting a running joke between myself and my buddy to wave bye periodically. I got my trusty cell phone and used the stopwatch function, and almost couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Logano at some points was running almost a second faster than second place, and the top lead I clocked him with was 20.6 seconds… when he nearly lapped the field. Of course, it helped that Denny Hamlin’s Cup team was on hand to pit the car, the #20 Nationwide team was on hand to lend moral support, the Venturini team was looking like they just won the lottery. An interesting side note to that is seeing Wendy Venturini not stray far from that pit stall. Still, bringing this back to Logano, Gibbs has to run this kid in every Nationwide race from Dover through Homestead. I know I’ve heard something about 18 races, but if at all possible, it needs to be more. If it becomes a legitimate possibility that he steps up to Cup for 2009, that will only help. I’ll go out on a further limb, and says Gibbs brings out an R&D car this year for Logano to run, most likely at Richmond, as he has done before. It’s easy to see what Mark Martin saw years ago, and why Gibbs pushed so hard to sign him. Soon, the rest of the racing world will see as well.

So, there is my list. Agree? Disagree?

Photo credit: ARCARacing.com

 Do you think that “the incident” at Richmond International Raceway Saturday night was evidence of the “vengeance of the Shrub”?  After-all, Dale Earnhardt Jr did spin out of the lead because of contact with the guy who used to have his seat at Hendrick Motorsports. 

Just about everybody that we have talked to in the last week - from Larry McReynolds to Joey Logano say that they think this was a racing deal.  Plain fact.  I just can’t find the stones to argue that.

I may not agree with Tim Zaegel or Bruce Simmons though, as we each give our opinions on three separate, NASCAR related topics in this week’s Loose In Turn 3 go-round.  Here’s my question of the week.

Should NASCAR drop the “ruse” of team owners being allowed only four Cup teams?

Charlie:  First, you have to believe that the present rule is a false one. The rule was written with a real intent to limit the size and power of the super-team organizations.  The advent of satellite teams for the Hendrick, Gibbs and Roush’s of the NASCAR world has effectively circumvented the spirit, if not the actual law, of the original ruling.  That said, there is still a limiting effect on the big teams which gives an impression that teams like Hall of Fame Racing and Yates Racing are maintaining independence.  I say let the ruse continue.

Bruce:  I think it’s ridiculous that they pretend to have a team limit.  First, owners, their wives, their kids, heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone’s dog shows up as an owner some day.  Now that we have satellite teams forming with partnerships, it’s getting even more complicated.  (I’ll avoid the ridiculous term here for the moment)  So if a team has a limit, is there a limit to how many satellite teams a team can have a team under with a team? (Look out Dr Seuss)

TZ:  I think that between the both of you, you two hit the nail on the head on this topic.  There is one thing Charlie said though, about Yates Racing maintaining independence, because they would actually be involved in the basis of my argument on this.  Yates is the beneficiary of Roush-Fenway in so many ways, it’s not even funny.  Roush plays a huge role in their engines, they’ve been trying to help them lock on some sponsorship deals, and in 2010, they’ll probably be handing them a driver.  To answer the question though, not only should they “continue the ruse” as Charlie put it, but I would actually like to see them limit it to three teams - that’ll never happen though.

There you have it.  That’s what we think.  What do you think?

Continue the discussion with Tim’s post:

Do you think that the Nationwide Series will ever truly develop its own identity and if so, what will it be?

Bruce’s post asks for comment on this:

Denny Hamlin is having the worst luck in the world.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Advertisement

Blogroll

• Amy’s Bad Groove
• Answer This
• Bruce’s NASCAR Bits & Pieces
• Car a Day
• Catfish Show
• Church of the Great Oval
• Do You NASCAR?
• Fast and Fabulous
• Fast Machines
• From the Marbles
• Full Throttle
• In the Pits
• Kathy’s Pit Stop
• Laidback Racing
• Life in the Turn Lane
• Lug Nuts
• Motorsports Soapbox
• NASCAR Bloggers Full Throttle
• NASCAR Chase
• NASCAR Eclectic
• NASCAR Ranting and Raving
• NASCAR This Week
• On Pit Row
• One Bad Wheel
• One Lugnut Short
• Restrictor Plate This
• Rev’ Jim’s Rants
• Robby News
• Ryan Newman Fan
• The Backstretch
• The Chick’s View
• The Daly Planet
• The View from Here
• Thunder Lounge
• Trouble in Turn 2
• TSR Fan
• Unrestricted
• Vroom
• ZuDfunck the “Dude”

Racing Websites

• ARCA and Toledo Speedway
• Asian Motorports
• Backstretch Motorsports
• Cup Scene
• Inside the Pit Box
• Jayski’s
• Lori’s War Wagon
• Nascapper
• NASCAR Fanhouse
• No Fenders
• Race Space
• Race Talk Radio
• Sports Mates
• Stock Car Pit Pass
• Stock Car Science
• The Backstretch Boys
• USAC

Copyright © 2008 Bench Racing Productions, LLC. · All rights reserved.
Content may not be duplicated, or redistributed without express written permission.

OnPitRow.com | Bench Racing | Fast Lap | About Us | Contact Us
Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Advertise with us!