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Jim Caruso on Richie Evans vs David Pearson: NASCAR’s 64 Greatest Drivers Match Up
On Second Thought Maybe Jimmy Spencer was Right : NASCAR commentary,NASCAR video,NASCAR pictures, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie on Done With Danicamania: At Least Dale Jr. Won Races
phastphil on A Plea for the Death of the Top-35 Rule
rmiller on Hamlin To Race With Torn ACL, But Is It Worth The Risk?
Charlie Turner on A Plea for the Death of the Top-35 Rule

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NASCAR Christmas Presents from the Monday Morning Crew Chief

by Charlie Turner

I'm Charlie Turner co-host of the syndicated, mostly NASCAR radio show On Pit Row. Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. Oh yeah, Steve is an idiot. Follow me on Twitter @onpitrow

December 21, 2009 8:25 am CST 2 Comments

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What are the perfect gifts for NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin and, yes, Danica Patrick?

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Watch the 2009 holiday edition of the Monday Morning Crew Chief with Mindy Monday and find out.

Filed under: Brad Kesolowski, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, Monday Morning Crew Chief, NASCAR, NASCAR video, Phil Parsons, Tony Stewart, jimmie johnson

Tagged with: Mindy Monday, Tony Eury Jr

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Fast Laps with a Jimmie Johnson Hangover

by Charlie Turner

December 9, 2009 10:43 pm CST 1 Comment

We’ve all beaten Jimmie Johnson’s results to death by now. But there were plenty of other stories at the end of NASCAR’s 2009 schedule. Try a little NASCAR debate with Steve and Charlie, Fast Lap style.

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Turn 1 - Who will be first to win their fifth championship Jimmie Johnson or Jeff Gordon?

Turn 2 - What will spur larger crowds at NASCAR’s 2010 events?

Turn 3 - If Brad Keselowski is a “breath of fresh air” in the Cup field; what is Denny Hamlin?

Turn 4 - Could 2010 see no Rookie of the Year contenders?

Give us your take on these four, fast ones. Keep it short - preferably Twitter length - but bring the passion.

Filed under: Brad Kesolowski, Fast Lap Posts, Fast Lap video, Jeff Gordon, NASCAR, NASCAR video, jimmie johnson

Tagged with: NASCAR rookie of the year

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Really Jack Roush? Really?

by Mindy Monday, Special To NASCAR commentary,NASCAR video,NASCAR pictures, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

November 30, 2009 3:35 pm CST No Comments

Mindy Monday is back with a post-championship, Monday Morning Crew Chief NASCAR video.

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It’s about Denny Hamlin vs Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch vs Brian Vickers. And then there’s Danica Patrick vs whichever sexist pig wants to go a round with her.

Jack Roush maybe?

Watch it now.

Filed under: Brad Kesolowski, Brian Vickers, Danica Patrick, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Monday Morning Crew Chief, NASCAR, NASCAR video

Tagged with: Jack Roush

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Pat Tryson May Get Kicked Out of the Crew Chief Union

by Charlie Turner

November 14, 2009 10:09 am CST No Comments

Well that’s what Mindy thinks anyway. I mean how can a guy show up one day a week and out think 42 full-timers on the pit boxes of NASCAR?

Mindy has a business proposition for JR Motorsports too. It’s all here in the latest Monday Morning Crew Chief video with our Mindy Monday. Watch it now.

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Filed under: Brad Kesolowski, Chase for the Cup, Danica Patrick, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Mark Martin, Monday Morning Crew Chief, NASCAR, NASCAR video, Penske Racing, Texas Motor Speedway, jimmie johnson

Tagged with: David Stremme, Mindy Monday, Pat Tryson

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More Wrecks At Talladega: Hate To Say I Saw It Coming, But…

by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary,NASCAR video,NASCAR pictures, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

If OnPitRow.com was a NASCAR team, I’d be the development driver of the bunch. In the same way that young hotshots like Joey Logano have been driving since they were in grade school, I’ve been following and writing about all forms of motorsports since I was barely old enough to talk.

November 2, 2009 1:16 pm CST No Comments

Another Talladega race, another wild and dangerous finish.

So it goes every time the Sprint Cup Series visits the Alabama track, where upside down stock cars and a boring first 180 laps or so are about as inevitable as death and taxes.

Yesterday, both Ryan Newman and Mark Martin found themselves a little closer to the pavement than they would have liked over the course of the last few laps. Newman’s flipping Chevrolet actually landed on the hood of Kevin Harvick’s car, nearly putting his rear wing through Harvick’s windshield. Martin’s car was overturned by a spinning Martin Truex Jr. after the third controversial tri-oval finish in as many races.

At least there was some excitement at the end, though. For the majority of the race, cars ran in single file; before the race, Mike Helton warned drivers against bump drafting in the turns, threatening penalties against those who were too aggressive. Since nobody wanted to cross the line and find out how harsh NASCAR’s penalty would be, the cars ran as if in a parade for much of the race.

Everybody remembers Carl Edwards‘ car taking off into the catchfence earlier this year, when Brad Keselowski turned him to win Talladega’s spring race. That incident caused NASCAR to crack down even further on the drivers, adding to the old “out of bounds” restriction - no passing below the yellow line. Ironically, bump drafting in the tri-oval, where most of the problems at Talladega take place, is still fair game.

The restrictions have turned off drivers like Newman, who feels that the drivers should be able to police themselves on the track.

“The more rules, the more NASCAR is telling us how to drive the race cars, the less we can race and the less we can put on a show for the fans. They have created a lot of boredom because we couldn’t race. It is survival,” he complained after the race.

“Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, all those guys, they respected each other.”

The real cause of the problems that NASCAR currently has at Talladega dates back to the finish in October of last year. In that race, Regan Smith made an out-of-bounds pass of Tony Stewart in the tri-oval for what he and his team felt was the victory.

Smith cited NASCAR’s previous comments that any driver who was forced below the yellow line made an out-of-bounds pass, the pass would stand. Smith felt that Stewart forced him below the yellow line, and instead of deliberately wrecking the two-time champion, he made a clean pass.

NASCAR’s response was to dump him to 18th in the finishing order.

So when Keselowski found himself in Smith’s position this spring, he learned from the precedent that NASCAR had set, and dumped Edwards. The result, one of the scariest wrecks that the new car has ever seen, injured eight fans. NASCAR’s response was to further exacerbate the problem by giving the drivers even less control of the race, forcing them to be patient until the very end, at which point accidents happen.

The least that NASCAR can do to remedy the problem, if not removing all of their restrictions altogether and letting the drivers monitor themselves, is to change their rules about the tri-oval. The accidents are always caused by bumping and running out of room in the tri-oval in the final laps. NASCAR should be cracking down on bump drafting on the tri-oval at the end of the race, while allowing passes on the apron.

This forces separation between cars in the problem area of the track, while also freeing up another lane for those drivers who get forced down. It makes a whole lot more sense than risking more major tri-oval accidents at the end of the race, and putting more drivers in danger.

Then again, NASCAR hasn’t made a lot of sense with most of their decisions at Talladega in the past year or so, have they? I hate to say that I saw this coming when Smith’s win was disallowed last year, but the sanctioning body has made it clear that under the current rules, drivers will not be penalized for wrecking others to win.

As long as that mindset is around, there will be major wrecks at Talladega. And I don’t care how safe the car is, or that none of the drivers have gotten hurt (yet) - they shouldn’t be happening in the first place.

Filed under: Brad Kesolowski, NASCAR, NASCAR officials, Regan Smith, Ryan Newman, Talladega Superspeedway

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Mindy Monday at 50: I Want Danica Money!

by Mindy Monday, Special To NASCAR commentary,NASCAR video,NASCAR pictures, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

September 10, 2009 10:55 am CDT No Comments

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The Captain and the Kez. Is Carl a catcher or..flinger? And it’s all quiet on the trailer park front. It’s all here in the 50th - that’s right 50th Monday Morning Crew Chief. Watch it right here.

Then go here and watch the rest. They will make you smile.

Filed under: Brad Kesolowski, Carl Edwards, Monday Morning Crew Chief, NASCAR, NASCAR video

Tagged with: Mindy Monday

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