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It’s Black Friday and I’m already sick of the traffic I’ve had to fight just getting to work. If only I had my own helicopter like Greg Biffle….oh wait. The Biff sold his in a fit of budget slashing the likes of which hasn’t been seen since, well, last week.

No matter. Mindy has some stuff on the musical crew chief situation, Joe Nemechek’s financial planning and touching goodbyes, Home Depot style.

It’s all there in the latest Monday Morning Crew Chief and you can watch it here.

Some people are just never happy. Especially so when it comes to NASCAR fans. If one driver dominates their favorite series - assuming that driver isn’t the one whose Fathead they have hanging in their dining room - they complain about inequities in the rules. Or that NASCAR is boring. Or it just isn’t like the old days. Or maybe that they just can’t stand that Jimmy Johnson - Jeff Gordon - Kurt Busch-Matt Kenseth - any Eanhardt…. whatever.

This will be the last Tight in Turn Two post for a while. Bruce’s NASCAR Bits and Pieces and Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie are going to put this one on the shelf until maybe February. One last go around though before we do. Here goes…

With Jimmy Johnson winning the last three Cup championships and three drivers winning three quarters of the cup races, is NASCAR competitive enough for you?

Charlie: Three different drivers, driving for different owners with one each in a Ford, a Chevy and a Toyota. They each dominated a different portion of the season, making it seem a bit less of a fight than it was. But I’d much rather have three really good driver/team combos battling it out for wins than, say ten different guys with a couple or three wins each.

We know that, at least until the last race, nobody could be accused of points racing. I’m hoping for more of the same in 2009.

Bruce: I’m with ya on this one Charlie. I’ve encountered some net denizens that want to see every driver in the field lead a lap and get their won wins. If they don’t see that kind of disjointed parity, they go off on their tizzy. I think they reach down deep and figure out how to be mad at NASCAR, no matter how “off” their perspective is.

I didn’t see any points racing this year… sometimes we saw some smart racing, but no one seemed to be really pacing the field and holding back.

Yes… we saw a few teams compete for the title, and though they seemed to have their own time frame of when they’re “on”. I’ve noticed that. Some teams seem to have a better grasp of the tracks at different times of year. I think is was a good season for the level of competition and it can only get better as the different teams improve in their understanding of the new car.

That’s what we think. What do you think?

Bruce has another rant going and this time it’s about NASCAR’s annual awards banquet. If you have an opinion on that deal - and who doesn’t - head on over and put your two cents in on this one…

The annual awards banquet brings us the high points of the year and presents awards to the top drivers in each of their categories as well as some other features. It’s treated as the gala event of the year for the sport. But….For me, it is the longest 10 hours of my life.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

I kind of like it when millionaires bitch about their circumstances. Unlike some politicians, I don’t care if we raise their taxes, but I don’t mind seeing them squirm. According to ON PIT ROW’S crack research staff, their aren’t many destitute Sprint Cup drivers. And the new car seemed to get many off their game this past season. Good.

I just found the quote that explains what I like about the car the most. It’s from 2008 Sprint Cup runner-up Carl Edwards and I found it in FoxSports’ Lee Spencer’s article…

“It does make it hard to pass at some of the tracks because so many guys are the same speed. But man, it’s sure cool to know that you’ve got a really good chance; you’re not going to get beat by some guy’s magical fender or something.”

The essence of the new car is that the days of the magic fender may be gone. The age of the great driver may be here. In the long run, the rules stability that makes for this situation may lead to money being saved too. Particularly if the number of cars needed by each team to compete effectively, is cut. But I don’t care that much about saving money really. It isn’t mine, you know?

Edwards seems to revel in the challenge of the CoT. Kyle Busch is a critic. Jimmie Johnson seemingly won’t say anything bad about anything. He doesn’t love the current car. He just deals with it. All three of these guys made it work to the tune of two thirds of all of the wins in this years’ Cup run.

I like it this way. I want the magic to be about the magician, not the props.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

There has been a huge amount written since the end of the season about how much NASCAR will be different in 2009.

I have to wonder if NASCAR will indeed be substantially different than in the recent past.  Will the competition between the haves and the have-nots equal out?  Most likely, if anything it will broaden, forcing teams like Furniture Row Motorsports to greatly reduce their participation.  The resources that Roush-Fenway, Hendricks and Richard Childress have in comparison to the Pettys, Yates or Stewart-Haas is will keep the disparity wide.  The elimination of testing for teams on any track that NASCAR goes to in its five touring stock car series will result in the teams with sponsorship dollars, reallocating those dollars to other forms of testing.

Wind tunnels, seven post shakers and video game analysis will replace on track testing for the teams that are looking to spend money.  Teams that don’t have that money will fall further and further behind.  And if that happens, then NASCAR 2009, will look for all the world like NASCAR 2008, where two-thirds of the races were won by three drivers.

NASCAR likes to boast that there are more cars capable of winning each week than ever before.  Maybe that is correct–but they don’t win.  2008 saw Kyle, Jimmie and Carl win the vast majority of the races and that won’t likely change in 2009.  The names might change to Jeffy or Junior, The Biff and Happy; but the sport will be dominated by the big three car owners because they have the wherewithal to ride out “these tough economic times”.

And that leads us to this weeks BUZZ ON PIT ROW:

What team will be most affected by the loss of their driver; Stewart from JGR, Newman from Penske or Menard from DEI/Ganassi?

Let us know what you think and we just might use your comment on this week’s ON PIT ROW radio show.  Listen live from 5-7pm ET, Tuesdays year round at www.onpitrow.com.

photo credit: Icon Sports Media

The U.S. economy hit NASCAR teams in a big way at Homestead-Miami Speedway this past weekend. Dozens - maybe hundreds - of crew members were called to the trailers pre-race and told to be ready to pack, post-race. Adios amigos. Happy holidays.

ON PIT ROW isn’t going anywhere though and neither is our intrepid reporter, Mindy Monday.

Mindy didn’t like that too much. And she has more to say on several fronts as NASCAR heads to a short and shaky few weeks off.

Watch the Monday Morning Crew Chief right here.

NASCAR has banned testing on the Sprint Cup car that most drivers have called evil or worse and leaves their crew chiefs scratching heads or screaming into radios - “I already tried that!”. The ban will save money, the suits in Daytona claim. Most owners and their managers seem to agree. But is this move really more of a gesture than a real solution?

According to Mike Mulhern’s article on the subject of cost cutting in NASCAR, Toyota’s Lee White proposed something more radical - actually  limiting each team to as few as five cars.

“White says that during mid-season discussions the issue of limiting teams to just five cars was raised: “NASCAR is already putting holograms on the frame-rails of every car, so just tell the teams ‘You only get five cars. And when you start testing, design a car that can be adjustable to running speedways, intermediate tracks, short-tracks and road courses,’” White says.

OK, using the list above, one car each for plate tracks, intermediates, shorties and road courses leaves a team with one extra. That car would have to do multiple duty - hell all of these cars would. Damage your Bristol car in practice and what - break out the plate car? Remember when  - who was it Junior? Stewart?  - used his Bristol car at Daytona last year? And what about back to back to back cookie-cutter weekends like the Chase produces?

Then there is the travel complication. If you wreck your intermediate car at Fontana in February do you send it back to North Carolina to fix it before Atlanta and make do at Vegas with something makeshift? I could see mega-budget teams like Hendrick Motorsports and Roush-Fenway Racing  flying cars around - just as Formula One teams do -  to save time, using some of the dollars that NASCAR sees as savings. The small guys probably couldn’t do that.

Limiting the number of cars in a team seems like a legit way to cut investment and expenses. But five cars isn’t enough. With twenty unique cars being the norm right now, cutting to ten seems doable though. It’s the best idea that I’ve seen so far.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Well, everybody, the 2008 NASCAR season is finally over. After ten grueling months of hard-fought racing, drivers and teams have earned the right to two months’ rest and relaxation in preparation for 2009.

Except, of course, it’s not going to be all relaxation for anyone by any means, as personnel cuts in the Sprint Cup garages have reached the triple digits, dozens of drivers are looking for work, team owners can’t find sponsorship to save their life, the Nationwide Series only has about 20 full-time cars right now, the Camping World Truck Series doesn’t have manufacturer support in some cases anymore…

…like I said, two months’ worth of well-deserved R&R. We saw Jimmie Johnson win an incredible third consecutive Sprint Cup, becoming only the second driver to ever do so. Clint Bowyer won his first Nationwide championship after battling Carl Edwards to the final race at Homestead. And of course, Johnny Benson won his first Truck Series championship after coming into the season finale with a single-digit point lead over Ron Hornaday. This was one of the most exciting years in NASCAR championship history, to say the least.

Then again, Johnson took all the fun out of this championship by making a mockery of the Chase format. Bowyer, Edwards, and the lot proved yet again that the Nationwide Series is Cup Lite, as six out of every seven races were won by Cup drivers. Even the Truck Series finale featured Benson’s teammate Scott Speed mixing it up with Hornaday in the final laps, all but handing the championship to Benson…

…like I said, one of NASCAR’s most exciting years ever. We also saw over 43 full-time cars in the Sprint Cup Series for much of the season, with teams like Richard Childress Racing and Germain Racing (with newcomer Max Papis) adding still more to the car count for 2009.

Oh, but did I mention the fact that many Truck races didn’t have enough trucks to fill the field? That MSRP Motorsports start-and-parked a grand total of 61 times in 70 attempts this season in Nationwide? That only about 30 Sprint Cup, 20 Nationwide, and a handful of Truck Series programs have set their driver and sponsorship programs for 2009?

Oh, and did I mention that Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Chip Ganassi Racing were forced into a shotgun marriage by virtue of lack of sponsorship and performance, which helped lead to the elimination of nearly 200 jobs?

I’ll take my two months’ rest and relaxation, thanks.

For the time being, I’m working on a modest proposal on how to fix NASCAR. Yes, single-handedly. You’ll see that on here in… I don’t know, I’d like it to be a quality project, so bi-weekly installments? I have a life, you know, applying to colleges and whatnot.

In the mean time, thanks for reading and putting up with my Jekyll-and-Hyde optimistic pessimism, and see you in February.

Carl Edwards did all he could do to win the championship on the last day of the playoffs.

His win at Homestead-Miami Speedway while also leading the most laps gave him his only chance to derail the juggernaut that was Jimmy Johnson in the 2008 Chase for the Sprint Cup.  Edwards knew going into Championship Weekend that his taking his first NASCAR cup championship was tenuous at best.  Jimmy Johnson was nNationwideot going to let Edwards spoil his quest for his third consecutive Cup championship.

Not only did Edwards win the race and loose the championship on Sunday but it was a “Groundhog Day” type experience.  Sunday’s disappointment came on the heels of a similar incident on Saturday.  Edwards won the  race on Saturday only to have to watch Clint Bowyer celebrate the championship.

Jimmy’s third Cup championship have all been under the new Chase format.  Cale Yarbourogh’s three came under the old system.  Arguments have been made that Yarborough’s feat was more impressive because he had to race the entire field throughout.

And that leads us to this week’s BUZZ ON PIT ROW:

Is winning three championships in a row under the Chase format more or less of an accomplishment than winning under the old system?

Let us know what you think and we could use your comment on this week’s ON PIT ROW radio show.  Listen live at www.onpitrow.com from 5-7pm ET on Tuesdays.  Or you can call the show live and give us your opinion toll free at 1-866-502-8255 and if you are deemed the Shell gunk free call of the day, you could win a Kevin Harvick bobblehead.

Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR .

Let’s hear your best Brian France impersonation. We think Mindy’s is pretty damn good.

The newest Monday Morning Crew Chief gets into the King of France’s latest brilliance and Jimmy Johnson’s mortal lock of the 2009 Sprint Cup.

You can watch Monday Morning Crew Chief right here and see Mindy’s take on how NASCAR could save dough for the teams and how fond she is of numbers.

She even sings in this one. But watch it anyway!

It’s late in the race. The last round of pit stops is done. As always, regardless of where you are in the standings actually, you need every possible place. The car is far from perfect. In fact it’s real tight in turn two. Now what?

The best of the best will make it work. Winning drivers, championship capable winners find the lines that others don’t try. They get the most out of it, and keep the thing off the wall, and other cars. Top crew chiefs will have a tactic to suggest, part of an overall strategy that merely mortal box-toppers fail to find. Elite team owners are like master painters in that they find the perfect mix of disparate hues and blend them into a work of mechanical-performance art. But which part of the masterpiece is the key?

That question is the theme of the Bench Racing blog’s Tight in Turn Two post this week.

Looking at all three major series and picking one individual from all of the drivers, owners, sponsors or crew chiefs, who is your NASCAR Most Valuable Player?

Charlie: Pick one and just one of the above to start your 2009 NASCAR team. How’s that for tough? I’ll take Rick Hendrick. It’s about leadership. He brings the best of the best together, makes sure that they have whatever it takes to be at the top of the NASCAR game. He keeps his teams relatively happy all the while never settling for mediocrity from any of them. And then he’ll gamble to make it all better. Dumping Kyle Busch for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Changing Jeff Gordon’s crew chief. Bringing in Mark Martin and convincing him to return to full-time driving. The best owner in NASCAR is the MVP.

Bruce: I hate second round draft picks. All the good players get snatched up! But let’s play it in your court and I am going to stick with a car owner.. they do make the calls, put the teams together, pull the money in, and support the processes they’ve developed.

So who would I go with? Man, that’s tough. I’ve looked at the top 10 in owners points across the three series, Trucks, Nationwide and Cup. I came up with the inevitable 2nd stable for my choice of the Cat in the Hat, Jack Roush. It’s a pure numbers game, but across all three series, he’s got the breadth of performance. Across all three series his shop has 117 top 10’s, 73 top 5’s, 17 wins. I thought maybe these numbers were skewed because of the number of starts his teams had across all three series, but it broke down to a win every 12 starts, a top 5 every 3 starts and a top 10 every 2 starts. He’s got the edge and focus to see a broader picture and he’s almost got a Cup under his belt this year - but that’s OK if it doesn’t happen this year… I think as they actually come up to speed in the COT, next year will be their year… if Johnson or Ky Busch don’t break out next year and have a better year!!

That’s what we think. What do you think? Let us know in the comment section of this post.

Then head over to - if you haven’t already been there - to Bruce’s NASCAR Bits for Bruce’s topic of the week, which is more of a rant this time. All the better. Bruce isn’t happy about ABC’s decision to preempt  the Phoenix Cup race and move the end to cable. That just get’s him started though. Check it out.

With that said, just what informational outlets do we have that don’t inundate us with online ads, or focus on what we really want in the world of NASCAR? Are we being diluted to the point of over-saturation?

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

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