Bristol in the mirrors and postus interuptus

It seems for most of the past week that the blog-gods are against me.  Stormy weather and stubborn work complications kept me from watching the Friday Busch race and blogging anything for a couple days.  Little did I know then that the chicken I ate Saturday would seek it's own revenge.  Four days worth.  Enough.

Opinions about whether the re-pave of Thunder Valley improved or wrecked the track seem to be unanimously positive.  The fact that the Saturday Cup race proved a relative snoozer to the excitement of the Friday Busch clash is likely more the fault of the Ugly Little Freakin' Toad (read CoT) than the new surface. 

That opinion seems to be shared by David Poole, NASCAR writer for the Charlotte Observer and one of the hosts of The Morning Drive on Sirius.  David's blog about the race puts it better than I could.  My favorite line from the post though is this...

I don’t know a whole lot, apparently, but I do know that the more drivers like racing at a place the less likely fans are to want to watch races there.

Think about it.  The drivers all weekend seemed rapturous about the new Bristol.  Saturday's race - at least at the lead - sucked.  Drivers like Mark Martin and others, love Chicagoland.  The races are yawners to watch.  Most of these guys profess to hate restrictor plate racing - yet plate races are often the most compelling and exciting to watch, as a fan.  Watching and driving ain't the same thing.

David Poole was our guest ON PIT ROW Tuesday - and can be heard Thursday at 7:30 pm EDT on RaceTalkRadio.com.  Talks with Poole are always good and last night's is worth a listen.

I asked David what he thought of the rumor that Robert Yates Racing had applied for the right to transfer the #38 to....eh...some other team.  He said that he had heard - as had we - that it probably wasn't going to happen.  He went on to say that someone had suggested that he check the trademark records to see if Hendrick Motorsports had made any recent applications.  Brilliant - why didn't I think of that?  Other than the fact that I am not brilliant.

He checked.  They had.  HMS has apparently made copyright applications for the #38.  They have also, according to Poole, applied for the #81, #82, #08 and the #58.

Steve has been betting on the#81 for a while and I the #08.  David Poole thinks the #58 is intriguing.  What say you Red Nation?

Picture credit: Jeff Kluss/SIT - I think

Comments

[robert bourne]

I'm not sure if it was the COT or not but the cup race was abit of a snoozer..I heard daid on his Sirius radio program being a regular listener..I think he has a point..when nobody can pass the leader it's a problem..what causes this aeropush,the tires ,the car or whatever I am not sure which has to be adressed ..I don't think it was the track...but something is amiss...

I vote for the 81.....

Hope your feeling better now

[marc]

"... is likely more the fault of the Ugly Little Freakin' Toad (read CoT) than the new surface."

But... but... but, then how do you explain the Aug '06 event that saw Kenseth lead 415 laps of 500?

The "likely" cause is the closeness of the Chase and the fact 500 laps at Bristol is and always has been about laying in wait, preserving brakes and tires then hitting the "go button" with 150 laps remaining.