This whole Jeff Gordon winning thing is becoming a problem.
I don’t like the fact that he’s been winning so many races lately. I don’t dislike the man, I’m just tired of him. We know who Jeff Gordon is, we know he’s a winner, blah, blah, blah. I want to see someone else, someone else who can become the next face of NASCAR.
Because even if you’re not a fan of NASCAR you know who Jeff Gordon is. I suspect that Jeffie is a little jealous of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Even though Gordon is still obviously kicking butt and taking names, I think he’s irked that Dale Jr. is more popular than him, especially now that there’s all this hubbub surrounding Junior’s free agent status. If Junior would just get out there and do stuff like Saturday Night Live (and win the Championship) he’d be the new golden boy.
Others are trying to make names for themselves outside of NASCAR, Carl Edwards for example. Lately he’s been on MAD TV and covers of many magazines. Carl has been working it and I appreciate that. He’s making the most of the opportunities that are being given to him. He’s got charisma too, which is helpful. I like Carl, but of course I don’t want him to win a championship before Junior.
If I’m anything I’m loyal.
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I come into work this morning and I start up Internet Explorer to find my personalized Google homepage filled with the same headline listed over and over and over again.
“Earnhardt Jr. leaving DEI after the season”
I had to do a double take. Maybe it was just the media being clever trying to trick me but no, it was all true. Dale Earnhardt Jr. scheduled a press conference for today (the invites to the media were sent out midday yesterday) and before the thing even began speculation was flying all over the place about what he was going to announce. Everybody’s money was on him announcing his departure from DEI, and so they were right.
It’s a very sad thing for him to have to leave DEI. It would have been the sweetest thing if he could have stayed and won a championship for the company his dad started. But I guess it wasn’t meant to be that way.
Being the true and dedicated fan that I am I don’t care which team he goes to next, uhm… wait… it can’t be Hendrick, puhleeese don’t go to Hendrick, not like he could anyway they’re already at the 4 team limit. I’m ok with Richard Childress Racing or Joe Gibbs Racing, although him having Tony Stewart as a teammate makes me want to retch, but whatever, I’d get over it.
I really hope that Dale Jr. and his sister Kelley get what they want and find the right team/company that can support their efforts to win (and win consistently).
I thought it was really awesome, and speaks to how cool Dale Jr. is, that he asked Darrell Waltrip to come down for the announcement. Darrell has said many times in the past that he thought Junior would have to DEI at some point in the future in order to really make a run for the Cup championship.
So my next questions are… Is Junior’s crew chief and cousin, Tony Eury Jr., coming with him?
Dale Earnhardt Jr. takes a break during testing at Lowe’s Motor Speedway Monday. (Photo Credit: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images for NASCAR)
– I didn’t think it was possible to dislike a driver more than I do Juan Pablo Montoya. He totally beats out Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart in the lack of warm & fuzzies department. He doesn’t give off any kind of vibe that says that he cares about his fans or anything. I’m sure he appreciates them in general, but I have a feeling that any kind of success that he has is purely for his own ego and that’s about it. He doesn’t show you anything that leads you to believe that there’s something more to him. When I think of Juan Pablo I’m reminded of a scene in the classic television sitcom “Seinfeld.” Elaine ponders if there was perhaps more to Jerry’s rival Newman than what they had seen/knew; he simply replies “No, there’s less.”
– Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon must be stopped! I’m not saying this because I’m not one of their biggest fans I’m saying this because it’s incredibly boring watching them win every weekend. And I would think other fans would have to agree with that. It’s just lame. I love close finishes, which we’ve had, but what we desperately need is some serious overall competition. It can’t just be one team or one or two drivers that swap trophies every weekend. It’s getting old.
– In July NASCAR will launch the “NASCAR Cooks! Race Day Recipe Contest,” in which one lucky fan will receive party at their house with a special NASCAR celebrity… which is another way of saying that it won’t be a NASCAR driver… details below:
The contest will consist of fans submitting recipes, which must include at least one “NASCAR Cooks!” family of products, online at NASCAR.com, where online visitors can also download and vote for their favorite recipe. Finalists will be posted online and the winner will receive a party at their house for him or her and their 20 closest friends. The grand prize winner will receive a NASCAR viewing party and backyard tailgate with a NASCAR celebrity during an upcoming NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race.
Fans interested in participating will be able to download contest rules and an application online at NASCAR.com later this summer.
– In honor of Mother’s Day (which is actually on Sunday) the Nextel Cup series drivers’ moms will be the official grand marshal’s of the Saturday night race at Darlington. Casey Mears’ mom Carol will be in attendance and he’d like nothing more than to win one for her, says Casey, “I’ve told my mom before that I wouldn’t be where I am today without her, but it would be pretty special to tell her again this weekend in Victory Lane. She’s an amazing person and a great mom.”
All of the mom’s will gather before the race to give the command “Sons, start your engines!” Awwww.
– And now something for those IndyCar fans out there. There’s a headline that says “Danica feels pressure to win more races,” how about just winning one for a change?
Like I’ve said before the Indy 500 is on May 27th and this entire month will be dedicated to speculation about every angle, every possible outcome and analysis of every single driver in the field. My hope, my deepest sincerest hope is that Michael Andretti can pull out the win this year. It’s so annoying to have come so close to just fail again and again. I would say that even if Michael doesn’t win it, then it’d be great if his son, Marco Andretti did, but even that’s not good enough. Michael has to win it, period.
The Crown Royal Presents the Jim Stewart 400 at Richmond has been red flagged due to rain. I highly doubt they’ll get the race underway, but ya never know. I really don’t mind because I loooove rain delays.
A rain delay means that the broadcast team must go around and interview all 43 drivers if necessary. There’s the usual lame attempts to be funny by Chris Meyers and Jeff Hammond, and the obligatory analysis of the weather radar by non-certified weathermen. I also enjoy hearing the pit reporters ask each driver the same question in a different way, “How do you feel about the weather?” “What do you think of the rain?” “Doesn’t rain suck?”
As I type this they’re officially postponing the race until tomorrow. Aw shucks! They didn’t even get a chance to interview Dale Jr.!
I am invested in the success of Toyota’s NASCAR race teams.
Why you ask?
Well I own a Toyota (a cool and fun Toyota Matrix XR named “Trinity” my homage to the lead female character in “The Matrix” film franchise) and I like the company. So if Toyota isn’t a winner I’m not a winner! Well, sort-of. I don’t take it that seriously but you get my point.
My first car in high school was a 1970-something Toyota Corolla named Betsy (right) that every member of my family drove before it got handed down to me in the late 1990’s. I loved that car, it was old but it lasted for a long time. Toyota knows how to make great cars that last, that are reliable. But now they need to make some race cars that can win, heck, just qualifying would be nice.
While Dave Blaney is currently ranked 3rd (David Reutimann of Michael Waltrip Racing is in 4th) in the points standings for the Busch series — which is really awesome — his teammates at Bill Davis Racing and the other Toyota teams are seriously lagging.
As much as I was annoyed with Brian Vickers for stupidly spinning out Dale Earnhardt Jr. last year (I have a hard time letting things go, can’t ya tell?) at Talladega I’m starting to root for him again. Part of that is because I dig Red Bull (eventhough I’ve never drunk a Red Bull in my life, I appreciate great marketing) and of course Toyota in general.
I feel bad because AJ Allmendinger is completely new to this NASCAR thing and he’s not getting the opportunity to really prove himself, show us all what he can do. Jeremy Mayfield is back but you can hardly tell because he’s only been in 3 races so far this season. I’m looking forward to him racing — competitively — against his ex-Evernham teammates.
Then there’s Michael Waltrip. Only one race under his belt this year and the rest of his race teams are seriously struggling. Dale Jarrett is out of provisionals, so if he doesn’t qualify on time for Richmond he’s not going to be in a Nextel Cup race for the first time after 424 previous starts. Maybe there’s an early retirement ahead for Dale? He’s really good at analyzing the Busch races on ESPN.
In other news…
At least someone at Red Bull Racing is winning… Today they announced that 20-year-old mechanical engineering student Matthew Marchiando from the University of California-Davis won the first-ever Red Bull Velocity Lab internship. He’ll be spending his summer at the Red Bull Racing race shop in Mooresville, N.C. I post this because he’s local to me (Davis, Calif is an hour north of me in the San Francisco Bay Area). Marchiando’s internship application included a plan on how to perfect “how the front splitter limits front-end travel” on the Car of Tomorrow. Good luck Matthew!
