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New Hampshire International Speedway always makes me nervous.   This year, maybe more so than ever.  The track has seen more than its share of carnage through its history.  Loudon may have been the track that most needed the soft-wall technology of the Safer barriers.   With long straights and sharp, relatively flat corners, the New Hampshire miler will be especially tough on drivers for teams that don’t have the New Car’s special handling requirements figured out.  Missing the set-up could hurt.

The Loose in Turn Three experiment continues this week with Do You NASCAR, Bruce’s NASCAR Bits and Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie each fielding a topic to chew on.  Here’s the Bench Racing hor dourve of the week….

After what we saw at Infineon Raceway, is there still a place for “road-course ringers” in the Cup Series?

Charlie:  If you run a top tier Cup team, your drivers better be able to at least hold their own on the road courses. Your best teams need drivers that can do it all. The ability of most of the regular Sprint Cup drivers to handle the road courses has improved so much that it would take the perfect storm of circumstances to have a non-regular win ANY Cup race.  Only if you have a team that is on the edge of top thirty five contention - or is out of the top thirty five all together - would trying to catch a specialist’s lightning in a bottle be worth disrupting your group’s chemistry.

Bruce:  No.  Only if you’re a 30th and worse team with driver proven to be inefficient on road courses would you even think about it.  Any time a team brings a ringer in, it’s a slap in the face to the regular driver, even if he appears on board, you’re killing his opportunity to accrue valuable driver points.  Everyone either has the talent, or can be taught the skills, if the team really wants to invest in their driver.
 
TZ: Of course any team that’s on the bubble for the top-35 in owner points should consider using specialists at courses like Infineon or Watkins Glen. But, to throw a wrench in your guys’ theory that it’s reserved ONLY for those teams, what about teams like the no. 8 DEI car? You’re already limiting his Cup experience to a measley 8 races this year, so there’s no real logic in making sure that he gets in there at the road courses. Then, there’s also occassions when that teams are well within the top-35, yet have no real loyalty in a multi-year sense to their driver … guys like a Dave Blaney. In this instance, lingering After what we saw at Infineon Raceway, is there still a place for “road
course ringers” in the Cup Series?

That’s what we think.  How ’bout you?  Leave your feedback in the comments section.  After doing that, head over to DoYouNASCAR.com for TZ’s topic for the week…..

After a lackluster 2007 season, can the no. 16 team keep it together long enough through the next 10 races to keep Greg Biffle in Chase contention?

Then check out Bruce’s Bits for this one…
 
Should NASCAR and Sunoco make a concerted effort to convert the sport over to a less fossil fuel centric sport?

Photo credit:  BethAnne Heisler - ON PIT ROW

The ARCA/ReMax Series will head to Long Pond, PA this weekend to team up with the Sprint Cup Series, and with the Trucks in Texas and Nationwide Series in Nashville, this could be the spot in which someone impresses the right person and moves up through the ranks. This race has been dominated by either Cup rookies moving down to get track experience, or a hotshoe from a Cup team gaining experience for a future foray into the series.

Since 2003, Cup drivers or Cup development drivers have won 8 of the 10 races at Pocono. These drivers include Casey Mears twice, Scott Riggs, Ryan Hemphill, Travis Kvapil, Chase Miller, Chad McCumbee, and Michael McDowell. Only the series’ great one, Frank Kimmel, broke the streak, taking the July races in 2005 and 2006. Also competing in these races have been drivers such as Kyle Busch, David Reutimann, and David Ragan. Previous polesitters have included Mears, Riggs, and Kvapil, as well as David Stremme.

As for the 2008 edition, there is no shortage of candidates to win. This season has been an exciting one in the series, as young drivers have come in and performed exceedingly well. Current points leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr., second-place Matt Carter, and sixth-place Scott Speed have all won this year. Speed also won the Truck race at Dover, and will compete in Friday night’s Truck race. Still, there are others who will pose a threat. You can’t discount Kimmel, who still maintains a top points position despite working on a shoestring budget with his own team. He could use a win, and it could come as soon as this very weekend.

One thing is for sure, the ARCA/ReMax Series is entertaining again, and this race fan is more than happy to see the return of its glory days.

Photo credit: AP

Martin Truex Jr grabbed his first and, so far only, Cup Series win at Dover Downs in 2007.  By my count, he was one of three drivers to accomplish that feat last year - Casey Mears and Clint Bowyer were the others.

I’m looking at the line up for this week’s tilt at the Monster Mile and wondering who will be the next first timer.  The answer is not obvious.  David Ragan would seem the best bet.  He drives for one of the major teams, as did all of 2007’s first time winners.  Ragan has lately been running up front and looked like a contender at Charlotte.  But who else.  Is there anybody else?

Before his injury, Dario Franchitti would have been my pick if only because of the two road courses where he should be one of the contenders.  His lost seat-time may not hurt his chances at Sonoma and the Glen, but it steepens the learning curve elsewhere.

Fellow Dodger Reed Sorenson looked strong coming out of Daytona.  Since then though, his team has been a big part of Ganassi’s funk.  The stirring of that pot by Chip doesn’t bode well for the Target car.

Dave Blaney is the only non winner in a Toyota who seems a candidate.  A J Allmendinger didn’t convince me at Lowes.  David Reutimann looks like a journeyman.

Who do you like in a Chevy?  All of 2007’s virgin winners were Bowtie Boys.  But who’s left?  Regan Smith?  Too soon and not enough chances.  Same for Aric Almirola.  The Haas CNC teams probably killed their chances by losing crew and car chiefs for six races.

No, the next winner looks to be a Ford man.  If not Ragan then maybe one of the Yates guys.  Travis Kvapil looks primed.

With fifty laps to go in the Coca Cola 600 I was mentally writing a headline about the start of summer finally arriving with Tony Stewart’s big win. Not to be. Instead Kasey Kahne won NASCAR’s longest race. And Dale Earnhardt Jr became the poster boy for Looseness in Turn Three.

This week, TZ from Do You NASCAR and Bruce of NASCAR Bits and Pieces and the guys at Bench Racing will thrash on three racing related topics. Here’s mine.

Why can’t Junior finish?

Charlie: When is Tony Eury Jr going to have a come to Jesus meeting with his driver
and tell him to quit running every lap two inches from the turn four wall?
Earnhardt is the only driver who runs every track and every lap of every race, in
the highest line there is. It works for him, I know. He’s been fast everywhere
this season. But he has hit the wall in more races than not. It seems to me that
his crew chief should be talking him down off that wall later in the race. It
probably wouldn’t work. Listening to Junior on the radio does not give me the
feeling that he listens to much of anything. He tells - commands. It might be time
for a change in tactics.

TZ: I think you have to start with Dale Junior’s relationship with Tony Eury Jr.
More often than not, I, too, find Earnhardt to be a bit overly demanding - and, not
very understanding - over his team radio, but I think that most people probably tend
to be a little more short-tempered when dealing with family at times. I think that
Junior probably doesn’t do the best job of translating what’s going on with the car
in the manner so that Eury can understand it, and as a result, they tend to let the
track start getting away from them near the ends of the races. And, yes … there
are times when he’d probably be a bit better off finding different grooves in the
track.

Bruce: The team is not used to finishing.. Not used to getting out there up front
now that they seem to have more consistent, improved equipment. I get the high
groove and yes, they should try different lines, but if it works it works.. the
high groove will give you more gear coming out of the corners and saves tires a bit
in the long run, but I’m not sure it’s worth it all the time like he does.. At least
he’s closer to the wall when a tire blows and then again, maybe he’s got some
lingering issues from past hits and he has a reason? Bet we won’t see the high
groove at Dover! And you’re right guys, he snaps / commands the crew when he needs
to be listening too… at least it seems that way.

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

You should check out Tim’s post and discussion…

Should the no. 20 team have called for two right-side tires on Tony Stewart’s
next-to-last stop at the Coca Cola 600? 

And Bruce’s question this week…

My question is whether drivers should get over the idea of people moving over for them because they think they’re faster than they are?

There’s good stuff there.  We welcome your input.

I chose David Ragan to win the Coca Cola 600 during our picks weekly segment ON PIT ROW this week. What was I thinking? Admittedly that segment of the show is pretty “off the wall”. It isn’t meant to be serious fantasy racing analysis. It’s more about who can “out stupid” whom. Looking at NASCAR’s Loop Data this week makes me think maybe I have a lock on that for the 600. Ragan isn’t even on the sheet!

Now I will admit to being influenced by the Sprint Showdown - the qualifier for the Sprint All Star Race. David finished a strong third, just out of the last transfer spot. Then Sunday I got to watch him - in person - start from the back of a 35 car field and work to the front for third place finish in the ARCA RE/MAX Series race at Toledo Speedway. Plus I talked to him in the infield at Toledo. He’s a nice guy. But 200 laps at the Glass City half mile isn’t even close to 400 at Lowes. I may have over-bought.

If not Ragan, who?

Once again, Jimmy Johnson is the overwhelming leader of the Loop Data stats. If Dave Ragan is a stretch - and he is - then Johnson is a steal if you get to pick him. But J J has looked the part at many other races in 2008 too, only to disappoint. His Driver Rating of 120.2 - nearly 26 points better than second place Kyle Busch - is a big number. He has Series best stats in nine other Box Score categories including Ave Finish of 5.0, Ave Position 7.5, 246 Fastest Laps and 1956 Laps in the Top 15 for 88.6% of the last six Lowes races. Johnson’s 990 Ave Points Gained is 100 pts better than the next highest total - the 899 for Carl Edwards.

The Loop stats for Lowes are a bit strange though. As stated, Kyle Busch has the second best Driver Rating, but his Ave Points Gained per race is only 596 - almost 400 less than Johnson’s total. The Shrub will start from the pole and he has been one of the best this season but the Loop stats don’t point to consistency at Charlotte. His Ave Finish is only 23.5.

Carl Edwards’ Driver Rating, despite the second most Ave Points Gained per race, is even lower than Busch the Younger’s at 88.6. Carl has been strong on the intermediate tracks this year and I expect he’ll do well at Lowes too. Five top tens in his six starts are a good indication.

Veteran Mark Martin has the number three DR at 93.2 and he’s a four time winner at the N Carolina track. There hasn’t been much talk about Martin in 2008. He could make some noise this week though.

Kasey Kahne, winner of the Sprint All Star race and two time Lowes winner has a Driver Rating of 92.9 and has led the most Loop Laps with 338 to Johnson’s 298. If the Thursday ruling on suspension settings by NASCAR doesn’t throw the #9 teams setups off too much, Kahne could be the pick this week.

You can throw a Loop blanket over the next dozen contenders. The only stat of the bunch that jumps out at me is Bobby Labonte’s Ave Points Gained - 812 from the 13th overall DR ranking position.

I haven’t seen enough from the #9 to pick Kahne for a 600 mile race. To me it’s between Johnson and Edwards. I’ll go with Jimmy, the big stat advantage and the five wins. Carl could get his first Lowes win, but I have to see it first.

Dark horse pick - Kurt Busch.

OK, so Marty Smith posted a story he has about Tony Stewart being in negotiations with Chevy teams, mentioning Haas CNC by name. The story has even been here earlier this week. So, would Tony really leave JGR for ownership of Haas? I think it is very likely. Haas is a satellite team of Hendrick Motorsports, of course. I would imagine if Tony takes over the team, he would be receiving much more assistance in that aspect. Then there is the option of him buying into the team, and driving for another Chevy team. Hello #5? Hello #33? Casey Mears hasn’t lit the world on fire, but the NASCAR world may explode if Stewart joins Jeff, Jimmie, and Junior. That would leave the #33, flush with funds from General Mills, and Stewart has a champion’s provisional to guarantee the team makes the field. Also, at RCR, he has a good relationship with Kevin Harvick.

It certainly would be intriguing if Tony becomes an owner. He would the highest-profile new owner in the series since Dale Earnhardt Inc. moved to Cup in 1998 with Steve Park. What is interesting to look at is how owning a team affected Dale Earnhardt’s performance from ’98 until 2001. He won just once in ’98, three times in ’99, and twice in ‘00. That’s a total of six wins, but taking a closer look, three were at Talladega, and one each at Daytona, Bristol, and Atlanta. Four of his six wins came at plate tracks, where he was the acknowledged master. Did owning those teams really affect his performance? Hard to say, but it’s worth mentioning. He finished seventh in ’98, eighth in ’99, and rebounded to finish second in ’00. Perhaps the biggest factor is the equipment, and depending on whom Tony is driving for: himself, Childress, or Hendrick, he may not add significantly to his win total.

What I’ve failed to mention is Gibbs in this scenario. How willing is Gibbs to let Tony go? Well, I think it depends on how well Joey Logano performs in the Nationwide Series this year. If Logano proves to be what he is hyped to be, he could very well find himself sitting in the #20 come Daytona in February 2009.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

The pressure is off for NASCAR fantasy players this week.  If you participate in a Sprint Cup Series fantasy game, you get an extra week to figure out your best picks to win your NASCAR fantasy league since the Cup Series is on Easter break. 

Perhaps now is the time to plot your ultimate winning strategy.  Or line up your latest wild ass guesses, which is what I’m planning to do.  For me, putting too much thought into this whole thing hurts my head.  But that doesn’t stop me.  In fact it got me to thinking about why certain drivers - having all of the requisite tools and pedigree - just can’t close the deal.  At least not as often as it seems they should.

Of the current crop of Cup competitors, Casey Mears and Jamie McMurray are the two that jump out at me.  Both drivers are approaching 200 starts in Cup rides ranging from pretty good to top-shelf.

McMurray won in his second start ever after taking over for an injured Sterling Marlin- who could very well make this list too  - and then went win-less, through the rest of his Ganassi career and high profile drives for Roush Racing, until 2007’s summer Daytona race. 

Mears broke the ice last year with his first win, but had nothing to show for his Ganassi seat time and, I’m betting, not enough to keep the Hendrick franchise happy much longer.

Those are winning percentages along the lines of .5 to 1%.  If that criteria is followed, I hate it but I have to put Kyle Petty in here too.  Eight wins in 819 starts makes winning a rare enough occurrence for someone who, at times has been in top equipment.  Sorry Kyle, it just seems like you should have been first more than this.

Picking four was tougher that I thought it would be.  I keep wanting to go back to New Zealander and 60’s-70’s F1 driver Chris Amon.  Amon drove for the best teams and was acknowledged by peers and journalist’s alike as  one of the best for more than a decade.  But he never won a race.   If I pick him, I’ll never hear the end of it from Steve - who thinks I live totally in the past - or Marc, who actually does.

No, unfortunately I’ll have to call recent ON PIT ROW guest and genuine good guy, Jeremy Mayfield out as my fourth enigma.  Big contracts with top teams (allegedly at least) Penske Racing and Evernham Motorsports produced just 5 wins in 425 Cup starts.  Mayfield did qualify for the Chase a couple times though, which ought to count for something.

Luke has an interesting take at the Thunder Lounge on the current crop of Rookie of the Year candidates, and how NASCAR’s goofy qualifying rules can screw with that race.  I just wonder if any of the four ROY favorites will make a list like mine in five or ten years.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Only the most blindly rabid Dale Earnhardt Jr fan would have predicted that Junior would be the Hendrick Motorsports driver with the most series points after three races. Finishing strongly in two of the three 2008 events has been a mark of consistency that Earnhardt’s teammates at the House of Hendrick have not been able to match.

Two time defending Sprint Cup Champ Jimmy Johnson bracketed his second place finish at California with a wreck in the Daytona 500 and a very so-so run to 29^th place at Las Vegas.

Jeff Gordon has two DNF’s to go with a third place run and Casey Mears sits 34^th in points, only 19 points ahead of missing the top 35 cutoff - with only two races left for him to live on his 2007 owner’s points.

Earnhardt Jr won the Budweiser Shootout and one of the Gatorade 150’s at Daytona in February but it’s been awhile since he’s won a regular Cup race. Atlanta Motor Speedway is a place where his winless streak could end. He has one career win and seven top five finishes at AMS and Loop Data Driver Rating of 100.2 which is fifth best. He also has 410 Green Flag Passes, second most and a series-high 210 Quality Passes, which are passes of cars in the top fifteen, under green flag conditions.

This field will be tough to beat though

The four drivers with higher Driver Ratings at AMS than Earnhardt are led by his teammate Jimmy Johnson. It seems like every track we look at has JJ as the stats-on favorite to win again. Johnson dominates the 16 Loop Data categories that make up the Box Score with series best stats in ten. His Driver Rating is tops at 118.2, he has run 1830 laps – 93.7% - in the top 15 and led 16.7 % of all laps in the last six races for a total of 326. Top those off with Series leading Ave. Finish of 4.7. Any questions?

The guy with the next best Ave. Finish to Johnson’s 4.7 is Carl Edwards at 9.7. Of course Carl’s Ave. Finish the last two weeks is a perfect one. One as in won – first place, run the table, the winner. Edwards is hot and the penalties that his team and he were hit with on Wednesday may just make him hotter. The 100 point deduction took away his short-lived Series point lead. If he’s going to take his frustration out on the rest of the Sprint Cup Series, he’ll have to do it without crew chief Bob Osborne who was suspended for six races and fined a cool $100 grand. But Edwards goes to Atlanta as a two time winner there and he’s finished in the top ten every trip to the Georgia fast track. His Loop Driver Rating is fourth best at 102.8.

Roush-Fenway driver Greg Biffle has the third best DR at 103.5 and Biffle has been running up front all year. He could have won any of the three 2008 races and may have had the fastest car at Las Vegas. A couple of pit lane infractions caused him to start at the back of the pack on re-starts otherwise Greg may have been the Roush Ford to run away with the Vegas win. Biffle is always fast and his best results are on the fastest tracks. Atlanta fits the description and Greg is on form with a Series high 201 Fastest Laps Run. He also has second best stats in Ave. Green Flag Speed, Laps in the Top Fifteen and Ave. Running Position of 9.4.

Tony Stewart has two wins and eleven top tens in eighteen career starts at AMS. He owns the second best Driver Rating at 104.2 but other than a third best Ave. Running Position of 10.2, his Loop stats don’t jump off the page at you. Smoke also took two very hard hits in his two races at Las Vegas and he was still very sore at testing in Phoenix on Tuesday. This weeks race at Atlanta is a 500 miler. I discount Tony a bit with the injury and a long race.

The winner could well come from the second five in the Loop stats; Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton, Mark Martin and Kasey Kahne. I touched on Gordon’s results thus far, but he and Kenseth were battling for the win at Las Vegas when they tangled. The wreck took both drivers out of top five finishes at least. The other three all finished top ten at Vegas.

I like Biffle to win at Atlanta. For a sleeper, look at Georgia native Reed Sorenson. It’s just a matter of time before Reed gets his first win and it won’t be his last either. He may be too quiet for his own good but with a top five and three top ten finishes in his six AMS events, he might just make some noise this week.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

The Dodge’s were strong but they weren’t that strong.  The 50th Daytona 500 was a good one but it was subject to the  restrictor plate roulette that is always part of these long plate races.  This time the ball fell on Ryan Newman and the Dodge Boys’ number.

Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch led a charge of Chargers to six of the top eight spots in the 2008 Daytona 500.  The Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas of Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch were supposed to be out front at the end as they had taken turns leading much of the race.  Along with teammate Denny Hamlin, the JGR drivers led 134 of the 200 laps.  But on the last lap, a freight train of Dodges including Reed Sorenson, Elliott Sadler, Kasey Kahne, Robby Gordon and Kurt pushed Newman to the win.  Dale Earnhardt Jr., in ninth, was the only Chevy driver in the top twelve and Greg Biffle’s tenth place the only Ford in the top eighteen.  So what does it all mean? Do you believe the Hendrick Motorsports and Childress Racing Chevrolets suddenly suck?  Is the Roush-Fenway-Yates super-team an also-ran that will fill your fantasy racing group C, field-filler picks for the rest of the season?  I say, no way. 

You’d better have been watching closely this past week because restrictor plate tracks are the freak shows of NASCAR. That train of Chargers had a pretty clear path to the front in the high line groove at the end of that race.  The high line has been the winning line most years at Daytona but Stewart had been on his radio earlier telling Kyle Busch that the #20 handled better down low.  That conversation pretty well committed the two Toyotas to the lower line if they were going to help each other.  That left the usually faster high line to Newman and the Dodges and they had it to themselves because of the attrition among most of the other strong contenders.

Matt Kenseth had a Ford that might have won the race. He led it for awhile and then got caught up in a spin by fellow Roushy David Ragan, who does this kind of thing a lot.  Biffle had a good car. A tenth place finish with nobody in a Ford to help push him to the front was probably as good as it could get. Things at the front could have been much different if, say, Kenseth and Casey Mears had been around for the final ten laps or so.  With all of the cautions and re-starts, having someone to pit with and draft with makes a huge difference.  Somebody just might have been able to break up that Dodge train.Picture credit: David Graham-Associated Press

Onward to California Speedway

There won’t be any restrictor plates at Fontana, California this week and California Speedway is a fast two mile clone of Michigan International Speedway.  Don’t forget that when you look at past performances in your picks.  The fields tend to stretch out and cautions are rare, often of the “debris on the track” nature that artificially bunch the field.  Fuel economy and tire wear strategy is always a factor.  Know your crew chiefs – which means guys like Chad Knaus, Steve Letarte and Greg Zipidelli give your driver more bump at Cali than some other tracks.

This is a fast track.  California and MIS always make me think Greg Biffle and Kasey Kahne and they have good Loop Data Driver Ratings of 95.4 and 96.5. Kahne’s numbers across the board are right in line with his DR – Ave. Finish 16.5, 946 Laps in Top 15 and he’s led 10% of all laps the last six races.  Biffle though has led 232 Laps - #2 in category- and has an Ave. Position of 13.5 and a category best 134 fastest laps. Both drivers are past winners at Fontana and Michigan, with Biffle getting two at MIS.Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart and Mark Martin are next with DR’s of 100.6, 101.2 and 103.6.  Martin’s the only one to have won here, but he’s only led 13 laps during the Loop era. His Ave. Position and Ave. Finish are both 8.8.  Edwards has an Ave. Finish of 7.8 which is second best and he’s run 73.4 % of his laps in the top 15.   Stewart has a the best Passing Differential at 114 and he’s led 124 laps. All three of these guys is a Michigan winner – Martin having won there four times . 

Kyle Busch is a past Fontana winner, has a DR of 109.3, has led 14.2 % of all Loop Laps with 214 and has spent 83.7% of his time in the top fifteen.  He looked awful good in Florida too.

Jimmy Johnson sat on the pole in Daytona, but never got it going in the race. Johnson has two wins at California Speedway. He has Loop Data leading stats with 1381 for 91.8% of Laps in Top fifteen, 320 Passes Under Green and an Ave Finish of 5.8. His DR of 111.3 puts him second to Matt Kenseth. 

Kenseth too, is a two time Cali winner. He has a Loop Stat best 244 Laps Led for 16.2% of the last six races, Ave Mid Race Position of 6.0 and Ave. Position of  7.2. His DR is 113.9 and Matt Kenseth has two wins at Michigan as well.  Matt might have won the Daytona 500 last Sunday had Ragan not taken him out.

Jimmy Johnson is never a bad pick but I’ll take Matt Kenseth or Greg Biffle this week.  For a longshot from your C-team, look at J J Yeley or Brian Vickers, both fast drivers in fast Toyotas.    Bram has more Loop Stats over at Backstretch Motorsports.  Check it out. Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett-Getty Images for NASCAR

It’s a good thing that the best brains in NASCAR discovered they had an engine issue before the races. Word is, a coating on a batch of lifters used by Hendrick Motorsports’ engine builders - and other motor shops too - is failing and the failure would have been fatal.

According to Lowes #48 team crew chief Chad Knaus, there’s no way the faulty power plants would have survived 150 miles. Jimmy Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Casey Mears and Dale Earnhardt Jr all were forced to change engines, sending them to the back of the grid to start the Dual Daytona 500 qualifiying races.

The bad parts infected the Toyota of Dale Jarrett, Scott Riggs’ Haas CNC Chevy and probably others too.

As a blogger, I kind of wish they hadn’t found the problem. There would have been some great posting opportunities in the aftermath. Just think of the possibilities.

• Visions of hope in the eyes of Ford and Dodge teams as all of the HMS cars and their clients went up in smoke.

• Lists of the best trash talking lines used by Hendrick/Gordon/Johnson haters as they kicked the evil empire while it was down.

• Conspiracy theories - tons of them.

• How it’s obvious that the engine problems are Dale Earnhardt Jr‘s fault. I mean, look at what happened at DEI!

Now we’ll probably have to write about a brilliant, come-from-behind win or two instead.

Photo credit: Rusty Jarrett - Getty Images for NASCAR

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