I can always count on Kyle Busch to give a good quote.
At the press conference announcing his arrival at Joe Gibbs Racing on Tuesday he dropped this little gem when asked if he was misunderstood.
I’ve done a very good job of tricking everybody. I show them the bad side, I don’t show them the good side. Why
show the good side? Then I’d be Carl Edwards or something. No! I’m kidding! Maybe with all the money J.D. is paying me, I’ll have to pay some more people to polish me up a bit … soften up my edges.
Charlotte Observer writer David Poole wrote in his blog that NASCAR doesn’t need 25 guys that are all like Carl Edwards, nor do they need 25 of any one type of guy. I agree, but here’s the thing. Fans are not asking for all of the drivers in NASCAR to be the same. I think we all know that that would be incredibly boring. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with expressing our displeasure with someone who seems to whine all the time, even when he’s gets what he wants. I don’t think that fans want Kyle to not be himself or to be more like Carl; we just want him to be a better man, to take the high road from time to time.
The thing that bugs me the most is when people talk about “bad guys” like Kyle or Barry Bonds and they say “but he’s such a talented driver/player” So what? I think it’s safe to assume that anyone who is playing professional sports today is talented. You have to be; you can’t suck and play in the big leagues. Just because someone is super talented doesn’t mean they get a free pass to be a tool or a prima donna.
Kyle is 22, and I’m sure as each year passes he’ll gain more and more maturity. If he wants to look to someone as an example, just look at Jeff Gordon after last week’s race at Watkins Glen. After the race he waited 45 minutes before speaking to the press. I’m sure he used that time to cool off and compose himself. It was obvious he was upset with his performance. If he had spoke to people immediately following that race he probably would have had a shorter fuse and said something he’d later regret.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr. won’t be driving the No. 8 next year! This is lame! GRR!
Ok… I’ve taken a few breaths and I’ll get over it, we’ll move on. But please tell me he doesn’t have to drive the No. 5. That would just be too wrong for words.
HENDRICK WILL NOT FIELD NO. 8 ENTRIES IN 2008
CONCORD, N.C. (Aug. 15, 2007) - Hendrick Motorsports will not have the ability to field No. 8 entries for Dale Earnhardt Jr. when the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver joins the organization in 2008.
“We’ve been working hard to secure the No. 8 for Dale Jr.’s car number next season,” said Marshall Carlson, general manager of Hendrick Motorsports. “Obviously, he has a tremendous history with that number, and we know how important it is to his fans. Unfortunately, we couldn’t reach a point where the terms made sense, and now we have to move forward with other options.
“We appreciate the efforts of Max Siegel and his team (at Dale Earnhardt Inc.), and are excited about unveiling our plans for 2008 in the near future.”
No timetable has been set for an announcement of Earnhardt’s car number or team sponsor
– It’s all been done before, hasn’t it? Tomorrow night is the premiere episode of ABC’s new five-part series “NASCAR in Primetime.” It’ll air on Wednesdays at 10 PM EST (check your local listings). ABC News is promising to “offer viewers a ‘behind the scenes’ look at the inner workings of stock-car racing.” The show followed Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Juan Pablo Montoya and others over the course of five months. Juan Pablo will be on Good Morning America with his wife Connie tomorrow to promote the special.
– The mayor of David Stremme’s home town — South Bend, Indiana — has declared August 21st to be David Stremme Day. To celebrate the city is hosting a party, “Stremme Comes Home/Rally to Bristol,” that’s open to the public from 5 PM to 8 PM.
“I haven’t really been back home in South Bend to spend any quality time in about a year, so this party is for my fans, friends, family and I to catch up,” said Stremme, who now resides in Concord, N.C. “It’s pretty easy to get wrapped up with work when you’re spending as much time as we do on the road. I’m thrilled to be hosting this event at Century Center in South Bend, and am looking forward to catching up with everyone and just having a good evening together.”
The event will also raise funds for Coaches Vs. Cancer headed locally by Notre Dame Basketball coach Mike Brey, as well as St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.
– Happy (sorta early) Birthday wishes to Carl Edwards, he turns 28 tomorrow.
– On Friday night feel free to give Kurt Busch a hard time on my behalf. He’ll be bartending at the Artesian Wells Sports Tavern in Cement City, Michigan from 8pm to 9pm. He’ll be there to raise money for charity.
– At this weekend’s Cup race in Michigan Casey Mears will be rocking a special 1957 Chevy paint scheme for his No. 25 National Guard/GMAC Monte Carlo SS. What’s the special occasion? To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1957 Chevrolet.
“I’ve always loved classic cars — I have a ‘61 Chevy Impala convertible and a couple of hot rods here and there. My dad is big into collector car shows, and that’s something I enjoy as well. Running the ‘57 paint scheme should be a lot of fun this weekend, and Michigan, being the home track for Chevrolet, is an especially fitting place for us to do it.”
– I had to post these quotes from Dale Earnhardt Jr. He is by no means out of the Race to the Chase:
“I’m sure some people are gonna write us off for the Chase after our problems at Watkins Glen,” said Earnhardt, who finished 42nd at the Glen because of engine problems.
“But, I think it’s foolish to do so because we’re a great team and we’re gonna do everything we can to scratch and claw and fight for wins and every position on every lap.
“We have four races coming up at four tracks where we’ve been very, very good lately. No one has been better or more consistent at Michigan than we have the last few years. We’re taking our favorite car – chassis No. 39 – that we’ve been using there and it just seems to really get up and go at Michigan.”
It’s OK Dale, I believe in you. 
First, I want to say that I still have one pair of tickets to the NASCAR Sharp AQUOS 500 at California Speedway, courtesy of Kodak, available to giveaway. Email me and they’re yours. Winners have been selected.
Watkins Glen was… something. That’s really the best way to describe it. It wasn’t fun for Dale Earnhardt Jr. which is incredibly annoying to me. I could not believe it when they said his engine blew up. I didn’t think that DEI could be trying to sabotage Dale on his way out, but after this weekend I can’t rule it out entirely. I mean this is just too messed up for words. I don’t know if I can take another Chase without Dale in it. The world will not be right. So I’m not counting him out yet until it’s all over, said and done. A lot of things could happen between now and when the Chase is locked in. Right? Right.
A few things that tickled me about the race this weekend:
1.) Juan Pablo Montoya as the in-race reporter. Yea, I knew that wasn’t going to work out well from the get-go. He’s a punk and even before the race started he couldn’t talk or give any insight because he was too busy whining about his steering wheel. Ok, I’m sure he had real concerns, but I just thought it was funny that the first chance they try to talk to him he’s pissed.
2.) The tussle between Juan Pablo and Kevin Harvick was classic. I loved it. I don’t care if Harvick was overreacting — he is a hot-head so I’m not shocked that he got into a shoving match over something that wasn’t even really JPM’s fault. It was highly funny and Harvick outdid himself at the end of the race when he said that he wanted to kick Montoya’s a**. It’s a shame he’s going to get fined for that. I dunno how I feel about the whole fining thing for saying a “bad” word. I’m ok with the money part, but the docking of points is a bit much. And I do agree with Rusty Wallace that instead of that money going to the points fund, they should give it to charity. That’d be a far better use of that money.
3) Ok… so what was up with that fool who decided to try and get Matt Kenseth’s autograph during the red flag? That was very bold of him and yet so very stupid. Although it would have been better had Matt actually signed his hat for him. I wonder if NASCAR would have fined him for that? I guess you wouldn’t want to encourage that kind of behavior.
4.) Seeing Jeff Gordon frustrated was a highlight. It is sad that he lost the entire race with one mistake, but after seeing Junior fall out of the race with his engine issues I wasn’t that sympathetic. I guess the thing I appreciated about seeing Gordon pissed after the race was that those were real, true emotions and he had no one to blame except himself, and he knew it. Plus I also liked the fact that he didn’t put on that happy face racers are always famous for doing, putting some happy spin on top of the fact they lost. But there was no getting away from this one, this was a hard loss.
How cool is this? Thanks to the wonderful people at Kodak I get to give away five (5) pairs of tickets to the NASCAR Sharp AQUOS 500 race on September 2, 2007 at California Speedway in Fontana, California.
The first five readers that email me (vallih@gmail.com) with the text “Kodak Rocks” in the subject line will receive a pair tickets to the Labor Day weekend race courtesy of Kodak. The deadline to enter is Tuesday, August 21st. Winners have been selected.
If you’re not one of the lucky winners of this amazingly awesome contest fear not because you have a second chance at picking up free tickets. Kodak is also going to give away 75 pairs of tickets to the NASCAR Sharp AQUOS 500 race on September 2, 2007 at California Speedway. The first 75 fans to bring an old inkjet printer to the Hollywood & Highland Center’s Awards Walk on Saturday, September 1 from 11 am to 3 pm will receive 2 tickets to the race! All printers will be sent to an electronics recycling center. Ryan Newman’s No. 12 Kodak Dodge will be on display with the winning paint scheme from our “Ink Ryan’s Ride” contest (http://www.thinklikeryan.com).
How much do we love Kodak right about now? The funny thing is, I can’t even go to this race because it’s my birthday that weekend (Well, August 31st to be exact — if you want to buy me a present mosey on over to my wish lists on Amazon.com) and I’m going to be in Las Vegas! Gah! Oh well… I’m sure the winners of these tickets will have a great time on my behalf.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. makes an appearance in the latest video for Canadian rock band Nickelback’s song “Rockstar”. Check it out at MTV.com.
“It’s always cool to be in videos for big-time music artists, because it allows us to branch out and reach a whole group of people we might not reach through racing,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I really like Chad Kroeger and the guys from Nickelback. I met them in Richmond a few years ago. They were really cool then, and it was an honor to be asked to be in their latest video.”
