Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie

The worst of NASCAR 2008

Alright NASCAR, we wouldn't want you to get too big a head or anything.  As I sit here preparing the tactics I will employ in the twin tasks of stalking roasted turkey and dealing with the likely disappointment the Detroit Lions will leave me with tomorrow - I thought I would remind the France family that 2007 wasn't perfect.

• It all started in Daytona.  The much anticipated debut of Toyota in the Nextel Cup Series along with the masterfully assembled and promoted flagship team of Michael Waltrip Racing crashed before it ever got started due to a stupid attempt by someone at MWR to doctor the fuel in Waltrip's own NAPA Camry.  The resulting penalty was devastating to Mikey, his sponsors and the team.

• Has there ever been a rule - in any sport - so universally reviled as the obsolete "Top thirty five" qualifying deal?

• There just should have been some way for the surviving Earnhardts to work things out.  In the perfect NASCAR world, Dale Junior fans and everyone else involved from sanctioning body to media to sponsors would want to have Junior driving that #8 Budweiser Chevy. The story was a huge distraction throughout the first half of 2007.

• After signing a high profile, big ticket contract with Waltrip's startup Toyota team, classy ex-champ Dale Jarrett suffered through a wasted year as he struggled to make races and showed poorly when he did qualify.  Jarrett's last full season in cup should have been better.

• Maybe DJ and sponsor UPS knew something when he left Robert Yates Racing for the joys of Toyota racing.  The slide of RYR has been fast and steep.  The one-time Ford super team is just a shadow of itself and will now operate as Roush - East.

• Craftsman Truck driver Aaron Fike's arrest for alleged heroin possession in the parking lot of an Ohio amusement park.  Nuf' said.

• Robby Gordon's meltdown in Montreal.

• ESPN's coverage of the Nextel Cup.  The early season Busch Series broadcasts gave me hope.  The fact that they never fixed the pathetic NASCAR Now with the awful Eric Kuselius should have been warning enough.  The race broadcasts went steadily downhill. 

I'm probably forgetting something significant.  But my stomach is growling and I better go dig out my Honolulu Blue and Silver turkey hunting gear.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ford's new direction

The 2007 Nextel Cup season hasn't been a banner one for the Ford Racing folks.

Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth managed to qualify for the Chase to the Nextel Cup playoffs.  They have slipped too far behind the Chevy juggernaut of Jeff Gordon, Jimmy Johnson and the rest of the bow-tie brigade to be considered contenders anymore.  Edwards and Kenseth were joined by Greg Biffle in Victory Lane this year, but that's about it for positives.

At the end of the year, Robert Yates Racing will become Yates Racing - and more importantly, a shadow of it's former self.  The Charlotte Observer's David Poole, ON PIT ROW this week, actually referred to RYR as merged with Roush Racing.  That's the first time I've heard anyone on the NASCAR scene actually call the spade the spade.

And now Lee Spencer of Fox Sports has this news about Robby Gordon Racing.

Brendan Gaughan substituted for Robby Gordon, who missed the first Cup practice on Friday because of rescheduling due to rain. Gaughan was 15th on the speed chart after 11 laps. Gordon was at his Charlotte office putting the finishing touches on his sponsor package for next season, which he claims is "seven-eighths of the way complete."

Lee goes on to say that RGR (check out the architect's rendering of RGR headquarters above) has fourteen Car of Tomorrow Fusions set for next year - perhaps a signal that Robby will have a second car for 2008.  She suggests maybe Gaughan will get a second chance in the Cup Series with RGR.

What about Robby's offers to Marcos Ambrose of drives in recent Cup races?  Maybe a Wood Brothers-Robby Gordon Racing alliance is forming.  That would, I think, be good news for Blue Oval fans.

Image credit:  www.howardmodels.com

Busch race exciting--Busch win boring

Kurt Busch wins the Pennsylvania 500 on Sunday in a ho-hum affair that saw him dominate the race.

Other than a slight misstep on a pit stop the Miller Lite Dodge had the  field covered.  Dale Earnhardt Jr., or maybe more correctly Tony Eury Jr. installed the DEI Magic Shock that propelled Jr. into a second place finish after stinking the place up for most of the race.

Sunday's race was a bit on the long and boring side; as opposed to Saturday's race in Montreal that was filled with passing, bumping and hard driving and feelings.  If next week's road course races at The Glen turn out to be as fun filled as the two outside the States, maybe NASCAR ought to start adding more right hand turns or more foreign races.

The Buzz ON PIT ROW is:

Should NASCAR drivers and/or owners be punished in one NASCAR series for actions that occur in another NASCAR series race?

The Fast Lap this week asks:

1) What should NASCAR have done differently, if anything, during the end of the Busch race in Montreal?

2) Should NASCAR re-evaluate the length of some of their races--especially at Pocono?

3) Five of the seven cautions at Pocono were for single car spins that didn't hit anything.  Was NASCAR trying to make a race out of this snoozer, or was there definite concern for safety?

4) Who deserves more credit; Pat Tryson for getting Kurt back to victory lane or Tony Eury Jr. for the "Magic Shock" replacement.

Let us know how you feel; about these questions, or anything else that happened during the running of the Pennsylvania 500.   If we like your comments we could use them on the air during Tuesday's ON PIT ROW.  Leave us a comment on the blog or call the show--toll free at 1-877-502-8255 between 5-7pm edt on Tuesdays.

Montreal Busch race - well that was different

I didn't see the end of NASCAR's first ever Busch Series race in Canada.  I have been reading all about Robbie Gordon's eruption ever since returning from a disappointing night of watching my, recently, inept Detroit Tigers lose another game.  It looks to me like you all have it pretty well surrounded.

This morning NASCAR announced that Gordon will have to sit out the Nextel Cup race at Pocono.  Other penalties will follow.  Could be a bad week for Gord-O. 

It surely was a bad finish for Kangaroo Meat - Marcos Ambrose.  I loved this quote, when asked how he was handling the anger.

"I'll be in therapy for about two years, I think," he said.

Is it just me, or was this kind of a hockey-like finish to the Montreal race.  Maybe they should just let Robbie and The Australian Turtle drop the gloves and go at it.

Speaking of hockey - NHL goalie Martin Brodeur worked the pits during the race.  The three time Stanley Cup winner acted as the stop-sign holder for Greg Biffle's Fusion during the race.

It's a good thing Biffle's team didn't ask any of the Tiger's pitching staff to fill the position.  They can't stop anybody.

Picture credit: The Backstretch

Harvick--oui, Robby agi comme un idiot

Robby Gordon acted like a spoiled brat again today at the Busch race in Montreal.

  With 4 laps to go, while cars were wrecking behind him and Marcos Ambrose, Gordon and Ambrose swapped paint, positions, more paint and positions again before or during the yellow flag that ensued.  Television replays were unable to verify if Robby got into Marcos before the tide was turned and Robby went spinning.

NASCAR ruled that Gordon needed to restart in 13th place for the Green-White-Checker finish.  Robby disagreed and refused to leave his second place spot behind Ambrose.  Even after NASCAR displayed the black flag to the Nextel Cup regular, Gordon stayed behind Ambrose and may as well have displayed a neon sign that said something like, "I'm gonna wreck your sorry kangaroo meat ass."  Everyone, including Ambrose I'm sure, knew what was going to happen--Robby would soon punt Ambrose into the bushes.  No one was surprised.

NASCAR issued this statement on his placement for the restart:

“Once the caution came out on Lap 72 the field was frozen. Once the field is frozen, all cars must maintain cautious pace in order to be scored.

“At the time that the field was frozen, the 59 was in the lead.  The 55 did not maintain cautious pace and by NASCAR rule, cars not maintaining cautious pace are scored only when they blend back into the continuous line. The 55 based on our scoring was ordered to blend back in behind the 33 in front of the 7. 

“The tower ordered the 55 multiple times to get in to position. The directive was acknowledged by the crew chief of the 55 and the crew chief also communicated the order to the driver of the 55. The driver ignored NASCAR’s directive.

“He was warned that he would be black flagged if he did not comply. Once the 55 crossed the start-finish line he was posted per the NASCAR rule book and at that time the directive to display the black flag was given. 

“After contact with the 59 on Lap 73, NASCAR took emergency action per the rule book Section12-2 thus parking the 55, which was also ignored. The black flag with the white cross was displayed to the 55 when it crossed the start-finish line on lap 74. The 55 finished the race in the 18th position.”

No one was surprised either when Robby pretended to win the race; even doing a celebratory burn out, along with the actual winner Kevin Harvick.

What will become of Gordon?  Will he be given the usual 100point / $100,000. fines or will NASCAR sit  him down for the remainder of the Busch season?  Will they get real aggressive and sit him down for the Cup race on Sunday?  NASCAR probably doesn't have enough guts to do that--but should.  This was a premeditated act; committed in the face of the NASCAR brass, in attendance in Montreal for the first ever Busch race in Canada.

Robby--you stepped over the line this time.  NASCAR is going to make you pay.  What will your response be?

photos:  Robert Leberge (Harvick)  HHWEB.com (Gordon)

Sadly no Kangaroo Meat on the menu at Infineon

The Australian (actually Tasmanian) Turtle will be wall bait at the Milwaukee Mile rather than his first Nextel Cup race this weekend.

Marcos Ambrose, Australian V8 Super Car star and one of The Pit Crew's favorite interviews, will skip the first Cup road race of the season.  Ambrose is currently in eighth place in the Busch (soon to be something else for $30 mill) Series.  That puts him on the heals of the Busch-wackers and the Wood Bothers have decided that practice, car set-up  and qualifying for the Milwaukee race is more important right now than a one-off Cup event.

Disappointing to fans of the affable Ambrose, but understandable.  Maybe we'll get a few extra showings of those Busch Series commercials though. 

Go get 'em Kangaroo Meat.