Well...the Bomb Squad survived the weekend at at MIS this past weekend - if just barely. We had a new site this year, 3-C-18, and it worked out really well. All our neighbors were really cool and we had a GREAT time. Here's a weekend recap of what went down....
We rolled into the track around 8:15 after spending all day packing in the rain, and as soon as we crossed over the track and made it to the infield the rain stopped and we didn't see another rain drop all weekend!! We had the camper unpacked and the Jager Machine set-up and running by around 9:15 and it was ON!! There were 4 Liters of Jager consumed on Thursday night, which was pretty good considering that it was THURSDAY NIGHT! We got to know the neighbors a bit and had a pretty good time, shutting down sometime around 4am.
Friday morning was a little rough, but the weather was perfect and the ARCA race was set to go in the early afternoon. Lots of action in the race (wrecks, etc.) so it was pretty exciting. We set-up the Jager Machine around 4:30 and immediately had a crowd. We got the DirecTV set-up so we'd have the Stanley Cup Game 7 on under the tent for the fans to watch. Unfortunately the game didn't go as everyone hoped, and the Pens won the cup AT THE JOE - that's just blasphemy. The Wing's loss definitely affected the crowds' spirits as it was a pretty mellow night in the hours following the game. The tally for Friday night was a mere 7 Liters of Jager - quite possibly one of our slowest Friday nights EVER. Don't fret though....Saturday night was right around the corner!
Saturday was overcast, and rain threatened most of the day, but never happened. The truck race in the afternoon was excellent, and once the race was over the sun came out and the rest of the evening was gorgeous. We fired up the machine around 6:30, and all hell broke loose after that. We had a GIANT crowd at the site all night, most wearing orange glow sticks and getting "Bomb Squad" airbrush tatoos at various locations on their bodies ;-) The Red Wing's loss was no longer on anyone's mind, as the antipcation of "race day" was foremost in their minds! The Bomb Squad ened the evening with a tally of 27.5 Liters of Jager consumed Saturday night - the ALL-TIME single night RECORD! Nice job! Everyone had an AWESOME time and went to bed happy at around 6am (ugh!)
Sunday was race day, and we were fed and up on the roof of the rig just in time to hear the National Anthem and watch the flyover. "Boogity, Boogity, Boogity....Let's Go Racin' Boys!" It was a race with only a single crash and two debris cautions, which meant that about 180 of the 200 laps were run under GREEN! Jimmy Johnson was running away with the race, and definitely had the best car on the track all day, but in the end, both Johnson and Biffle ran out of gas on the back stretch and Mark Martin, who was saving fuel the entire final run, ended up winning the race (and even he ran out of gas in turn 4 and had to coast across the start/finish line!) It was an exciting finish, even if the race itself was a bit boring for the most part.
Sunday night, while many of the infielders were heading home, we once again set-up shop, hoping to party with the folks that were sticking around until Monday morning. Once again, we weren't disappointed. We had a fairly steady crowd for several hours, and shut down sometime around 12:30am, knowing that we needed a decent nights sleep since we needed to pack everything up in the morning for the trek home. We killed 4 more Liters on Sunday night, for a grand total of 42.5 Liters for the weekend! Not a bad effort at all.
So, now it's time to clean up the rig and get it back to storage, and start going through all of the pictures from the weekend. We'll get them up on the website sometime this week, once they are all consolidated and uploaded to the served. Check back often to see if your picture made it!!!
See you all in August!! We'll be in site 3-B-15 (our usual August home.)
Marc.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Michigan & NASCAR Hurting
Well, only a couple more days til we head out to MIS, and more bad news on the economic front for NASCAR.
In the truck series, the Red Horse racing team, with defending NASCAR Truck Series Champion (and Michigander) Johnny Benson, shut down operations of the #1 team effective immediately due to lack of funding. The #1 team will not race at MIS this weekend and the defending champion is currently without a ride. How awful is that for the Truck series??
On the Cup side of things, Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) gave nine more of it's employees pink slips Monday and reduced salaries in an effort to cut the budget and further streamline its operations. That's not a good sign since they already have the #1 sponsor in all of sports, Budweiser, on their side. It means that the Chrysler bankruptcy and lack of funding from Dodge is affecting them more than most people thought it would, and that they are hurting for cash while not yet halfway through the 2009 Cup schedule. Not a good omen for Dodge (and Kasey Kahne) fans. I even heard that although RPM debuted the Dodge R6 motor at Dover two weeks ago, they couldn't run it again in Pocano last weekend because they didn't have enough of the motors to support back-to-back weeks of racing (??!!) Talk about shoestring budgets...geez.
None of this is good news as the NASCAR Nation heads into the "Motor City" and the Irish Hills of Michigan this weekend. We'll see how things continue to unfold for the rest of the week. Maybe Johnny Benson will find a ride for the weekend and get to race in front of his hometown fans afterall and RPM will scrape together enough parts to run R6 motors again. Only time will tell.
Marc.
In the truck series, the Red Horse racing team, with defending NASCAR Truck Series Champion (and Michigander) Johnny Benson, shut down operations of the #1 team effective immediately due to lack of funding. The #1 team will not race at MIS this weekend and the defending champion is currently without a ride. How awful is that for the Truck series??
On the Cup side of things, Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) gave nine more of it's employees pink slips Monday and reduced salaries in an effort to cut the budget and further streamline its operations. That's not a good sign since they already have the #1 sponsor in all of sports, Budweiser, on their side. It means that the Chrysler bankruptcy and lack of funding from Dodge is affecting them more than most people thought it would, and that they are hurting for cash while not yet halfway through the 2009 Cup schedule. Not a good omen for Dodge (and Kasey Kahne) fans. I even heard that although RPM debuted the Dodge R6 motor at Dover two weeks ago, they couldn't run it again in Pocano last weekend because they didn't have enough of the motors to support back-to-back weeks of racing (??!!) Talk about shoestring budgets...geez.
None of this is good news as the NASCAR Nation heads into the "Motor City" and the Irish Hills of Michigan this weekend. We'll see how things continue to unfold for the rest of the week. Maybe Johnny Benson will find a ride for the weekend and get to race in front of his hometown fans afterall and RPM will scrape together enough parts to run R6 motors again. Only time will tell.
Marc.
Monday, June 8, 2009
More on the Axe Murderer, Kyle Busch...
OK, I just can't let this rest. I've had some more time to think about Kyle's antics on Saturday night in Nashville, and it's really eating at me. Plus, I just heard an interview that Dave Moody did on Sirius NASCAR radio with Sam Bass (the artist responsible for creating the guitar), and he had some interesting things to say.
First of all, Sam said that he did NOT have any idea that Kyle was going to take his priceless, one-of-a-kind piece of artwork and smash it into bits when he presented the guitar to him in the winners circle, and he's heartbroken over it. It wasn't until AFTER that fact that Kyle approached Sam and the Gibson reps and said something along the lines of, "I meant no disrespect and I hope you don't take it personally." Sam said that since it was after the fact, and the deed was already done (ain't nothing bringing back that guitar now) he decided to take the "high road" and not cause a scene.
When asked more about the guitar and artwork, Sam said that "creating that guitar is like raising a child." He said that "you put time into it, mold it into your vision, and hope that people like and respect it when it's done." He actually said that the guitar was LIKE HIS OWN SON to him! Kyle Busch killed Sam Bass' kid on national television, and smiled about it afterwards!! Sam went on to say that the destroyed guitar was the 30th consecutive guitar he'd created for the Nashville Superspeedway, and that each one was special to him.
To put this into perspective (at least in my mind), what Kyle Busch did would be like Nick Lidstrom going to take the Stanley Cup from Gary Bettman after the Wings win on Tuesday, and immediately slamming it on the ice several times in front of 20,000 screaming fans, his team and the rest of the world watching on TV. Or like Helio Castrenevez smashing the Borg Warner trophy into the famed bricks at Indy after taking his swig of milk in the winner's circle. Sam Bass mentioned that Sports Illustrated named the Gibson Les Paul Custom, given out to the winner at Nashville, "one of the most sought after trophies in all of sports." (I looked for the article online but haven't found it yet - but I don't doubt that it is.) I'm sure it's somewhere in the Top 10 behind the "Big 6": The Stanley Cup (NHL), the Borg Warner Trophy (Indy), the Vince Lombardi Trophy (NFL), the Larry O'Brien Trophy (NBA), the Commisioner's Trophy (MLB), and the FIFA World Cup Trophy (World Cup Soccer.)
I guess I just can't believe the audacity of Kyle. In an interview after the race he actually had the balls to tell a reporter that the whole thing was "pre-arranged" and that Sam Bass and the folks at Gibson had bought into his stunt ahead of time - which was a complete lie. Sam specifically said that had he KNOWN that something like this was about to take place, he would have put together a cheap replica guitar that looked just like the real thing, and was actually "scored" in the back (allowing it to better 'explode' on impact,) so that the original piece of art wouldn't be destroyed. Obviously, that didn't happen, and the trophy -estimated to be worth more than $30,000 - is history. It's probably on a band saw right now at the Joe Gibbs garage, being cut up into yet smaller pieces so Kyle can "give a piece of that guitar to all my crew members." Thanks a lot, Kyle...I really appreciate it.
I don't even know what else to say....
The bottom line: Kyle Busch is definitely NOT a Guitar Hero in my book! (oh...and he looked like a pussy on his first swing with the guitar too. It didn't even put a dent in it!! LOL!)
First of all, Sam said that he did NOT have any idea that Kyle was going to take his priceless, one-of-a-kind piece of artwork and smash it into bits when he presented the guitar to him in the winners circle, and he's heartbroken over it. It wasn't until AFTER that fact that Kyle approached Sam and the Gibson reps and said something along the lines of, "I meant no disrespect and I hope you don't take it personally." Sam said that since it was after the fact, and the deed was already done (ain't nothing bringing back that guitar now) he decided to take the "high road" and not cause a scene.
When asked more about the guitar and artwork, Sam said that "creating that guitar is like raising a child." He said that "you put time into it, mold it into your vision, and hope that people like and respect it when it's done." He actually said that the guitar was LIKE HIS OWN SON to him! Kyle Busch killed Sam Bass' kid on national television, and smiled about it afterwards!! Sam went on to say that the destroyed guitar was the 30th consecutive guitar he'd created for the Nashville Superspeedway, and that each one was special to him.
To put this into perspective (at least in my mind), what Kyle Busch did would be like Nick Lidstrom going to take the Stanley Cup from Gary Bettman after the Wings win on Tuesday, and immediately slamming it on the ice several times in front of 20,000 screaming fans, his team and the rest of the world watching on TV. Or like Helio Castrenevez smashing the Borg Warner trophy into the famed bricks at Indy after taking his swig of milk in the winner's circle. Sam Bass mentioned that Sports Illustrated named the Gibson Les Paul Custom, given out to the winner at Nashville, "one of the most sought after trophies in all of sports." (I looked for the article online but haven't found it yet - but I don't doubt that it is.) I'm sure it's somewhere in the Top 10 behind the "Big 6": The Stanley Cup (NHL), the Borg Warner Trophy (Indy), the Vince Lombardi Trophy (NFL), the Larry O'Brien Trophy (NBA), the Commisioner's Trophy (MLB), and the FIFA World Cup Trophy (World Cup Soccer.)
I guess I just can't believe the audacity of Kyle. In an interview after the race he actually had the balls to tell a reporter that the whole thing was "pre-arranged" and that Sam Bass and the folks at Gibson had bought into his stunt ahead of time - which was a complete lie. Sam specifically said that had he KNOWN that something like this was about to take place, he would have put together a cheap replica guitar that looked just like the real thing, and was actually "scored" in the back (allowing it to better 'explode' on impact,) so that the original piece of art wouldn't be destroyed. Obviously, that didn't happen, and the trophy -estimated to be worth more than $30,000 - is history. It's probably on a band saw right now at the Joe Gibbs garage, being cut up into yet smaller pieces so Kyle can "give a piece of that guitar to all my crew members." Thanks a lot, Kyle...I really appreciate it.
I don't even know what else to say....
The bottom line: Kyle Busch is definitely NOT a Guitar Hero in my book! (oh...and he looked like a pussy on his first swing with the guitar too. It didn't even put a dent in it!! LOL!)
Once a Busch, Always a Busch
Woo Hoo!!! Only three more get-ups until we're on our way to the rolling Irish Hills of Brooklyn, Michigan, and the infield at MIS! Can't WAIT! It's a bit rainy here today, but I'm hoping for a dry, clear weekend of racing. Rain or shine, it will be another EPIC weekend for the Bomb Squad!
Congrats to Tony Steward and Stewart-Haas Racing on their first point race victory yesterday at Pocano! They played the fuel mileage game and went "All-In" and it paid off big time for them. Jimmy Johnson and Chad Knaus weren't so fortunate.
In other racing news, I have to touch on this story. The Nationwide series traveled to Nashville this weekend, for the Federated Auto Parts 300. Kyle Busch dominated the race, beating Brad Keselowski and taking the checkered flag. What he did next was something that only a Busch brother would do. He took the Sam Bass designed and painted, Limited Edition Gibson guitar trophy - a trophy that every driver wants to win and put in their trophy case at home - and smashed it into pieces right there in victory lane. Un-freaking-believable. What an ASS! I'm sure that Sam Bass and the folks from the Nashville Superspeedway are pissed. Being an aspiring guitarist myself, I know that I'm pissed. What would possess someone to take a priceless work of art like that, and smash it into bits in front of everyone on national TV?? Here's what it looked like AFTER pinhead was done with it. Like I said, only from a Busch brother. I've never been a big Kyle Busch fan, but now I think I can officially be considered a Kyle hater, and as I mentioned a couple posts ago, he really needs to grow up. I just hope that he gets some backlash from his sponsors about his crybaby tantrums, blowing off of interviews and stupid stunts like the one he pulled Saturday night, because no sponsors equals no ride and no ride equals no money. And it couldn't happen to a more deserving guy!
Enough about Shrubby. Time to get back to packing! See you in a couple days!
Marc.
Congrats to Tony Steward and Stewart-Haas Racing on their first point race victory yesterday at Pocano! They played the fuel mileage game and went "All-In" and it paid off big time for them. Jimmy Johnson and Chad Knaus weren't so fortunate.
In other racing news, I have to touch on this story. The Nationwide series traveled to Nashville this weekend, for the Federated Auto Parts 300. Kyle Busch dominated the race, beating Brad Keselowski and taking the checkered flag. What he did next was something that only a Busch brother would do. He took the Sam Bass designed and painted, Limited Edition Gibson guitar trophy - a trophy that every driver wants to win and put in their trophy case at home - and smashed it into pieces right there in victory lane. Un-freaking-believable. What an ASS! I'm sure that Sam Bass and the folks from the Nashville Superspeedway are pissed. Being an aspiring guitarist myself, I know that I'm pissed. What would possess someone to take a priceless work of art like that, and smash it into bits in front of everyone on national TV?? Here's what it looked like AFTER pinhead was done with it. Like I said, only from a Busch brother. I've never been a big Kyle Busch fan, but now I think I can officially be considered a Kyle hater, and as I mentioned a couple posts ago, he really needs to grow up. I just hope that he gets some backlash from his sponsors about his crybaby tantrums, blowing off of interviews and stupid stunts like the one he pulled Saturday night, because no sponsors equals no ride and no ride equals no money. And it couldn't happen to a more deserving guy!
Enough about Shrubby. Time to get back to packing! See you in a couple days!
Marc.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
7 More Get-Ups
Only one week til we're on the infield at MIS!! On that note, we're having a meeting of the "minds" tonight at Buffalo Wild Wings to finalize our plans and make sure all the bases are covered (and to eat some hot as hell Wings, drink some beer and watch Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals!)
And to ease your mind....the Jager is being delivered TOMORROW!! So, even if we don't have anything else, the Jager Bombs will be flowing!!
So, it's a beautiful afternoon here in Michigan today. I think I'm gonna head outside and get some "to do's" knocked off the list. Talk to you later and see you next Thursday on the infield!!
Marc.
PS - Oh and for a little NASCAR news....Pocano this weekend. First TNT race of the year. And NASCAR.com is going to have some Twittering, Facebooking, e-mailing pit reporter at the track this weekend. We'll see how that goes....
And to ease your mind....the Jager is being delivered TOMORROW!! So, even if we don't have anything else, the Jager Bombs will be flowing!!
So, it's a beautiful afternoon here in Michigan today. I think I'm gonna head outside and get some "to do's" knocked off the list. Talk to you later and see you next Thursday on the infield!!
Marc.
PS - Oh and for a little NASCAR news....Pocano this weekend. First TNT race of the year. And NASCAR.com is going to have some Twittering, Facebooking, e-mailing pit reporter at the track this weekend. We'll see how that goes....
Monday, June 1, 2009
NASCAR News and Notes
Well Bomb Squad fans...Michigan is right around the corner. I'll spend the next week and a half getting all of the last minute shopping, prepping and packing done so we will be ready to take off in the Team Jager Racing hauler around 5pm on Thursday, June 11th. Stuff is arriving daily, so we should be all set. I have 2,500 Jager Bomb cups, the 2009 shirts are in, and have our infield pass in hand. Just waiting on a couple more small items, which should definitely get here before next Thursday.
I wanted to make a few comments on some of the recent NASCAR news, for anyone that's interested.
First off, Kyle Busch is a sore loser and a whiney bitch. As if that wasn't already apparent and a well known fact, he's proven it yet again with his crybaby antics this weekend in Dover. He led more than half of the laps in the Nationwide race on Saturday afternoon, then slows in the corner on a restart at the end of the race, gets bumped by his teammate (J. Lagono) and ends up blowing a tire - or did the tire go down and that's what caused him to slow?? I guess we'll never know since he lost the lead, finished mid-pack, and ran away from the media after the race to cry in his hauler while getting ready to run the truck race, which was rained out Friday and was instead run just following the Nationwide race on Saturday evening. Then, in the truck race he also leads more than half the laps, blows a tire at the end of the race, and doesn't win that race either. Once again, he runs for cover and crys in his hauler without talking to the media. What a baby. Some people say he's had "bad luck" the last several weeks. I say it's Karma. And it might also have something to do with the fact that he drives the freaking wheels off the car/truck the entire race, then bitches when he blows tires at the end which cost him wins. Those tires cannot take the punishment that he puts them through, running 110% for EVERY LAP from the drop of the green flag. Smart drivers know how to save the tires, how to race when you need to, and how to run a SMART race. You don't (typically) see Jimmy Johnson running out front right from the onset of the race, and leading 98% of the laps, then blowing a tire with 2 to go and running to his trailer crying. He and Chad Knauss run SMART races. They lay back when they need to, and they race hard with it's time. I'm not saying that Kyle's not a good driver - he is. He might be one of the best natural racing talents to come into NASCAR in a long time, but he's not a SMART driver - at least not yet. As long as he keeps running races like an idiot, he can lead all the laps he wants, but he's not going to lead the most important lap very often - the LAST one! I think he has a LOT of growing up yet to do, both on and off the racetrack. Right now, he's just keeping up the Busch brother's legacy - being the biggest idiot at the track. Kyle....GROW UP!
OK, on to Dale Jr. Big week for #88 news! Tony Eury, Jr. OUT! Lance McGrew IN. The bottom line is that the team needed to be shaken up. Whether Tony Jr. is a good crew chief or not, and I'm not going to argue that point one way or the other, it just wasn't working. There was no chemistry there any longer (if there ever was any to being with??), and it just seemed like it was one long bitch session over the radio each and every week. Dale Jr. might have been in his "comfort zone" with Tony Jr., but comfortable or not, this change needed to be made. In fact, when Jr. made the move from DEI to Hendrick, he should have made a clean break and not brought Tony Jr. along with him. Hendrick knows how to win. His teams know how to operate, set-up cars, and win races. He should have brought his helmet, shoes and gloves and let Hendrick supply the rest of the winning formula. Trying to bring a DEI team to Hendrick and create some sort of hybrid team with parts of DEI's system and parts of Hendrick's system was a recipe for disaster, and if you saw any of the in-car video from the Coke 600 you saw what the result was. If Jr. had to saw the wheel any more than he did, he'd have cut the damn thing off! Now I'm not a Jr. fan in any way, but I don't have anything against him either. I think he'll be way better off now, out of his familiar "element" and being forced to listen to true-blue Hendrick engineers and Crew Chief's for a change. He hasn't won all those championships by chance. Success has a formula, and Rick Hendrick knows what it is. Let him show Jr. what that formula is, and give it a chance. I think Jr. will be a very happy camper in the long run, as will Jr. Nation. I guess only time will tell, but they ran decent at Dover, which may have been a good start for them.
I could go on forever with all that's going on in NASCAR right now, but I'll finish up today with my boy Kasey and the Bud team. They ran well in the Coke 600, and might have had a win or at least Top 5 finish had it not been for the rain and that final pit stop (as it turned out to be) shuffling them back a bit. They had a fast car with a really good set-up, but then again they always seem to run well at Lowe's - just look at last year's All-Star win. This week at Dover they get the new Dodge R6 motor (finally!) and end up going out first in qualifying and still managing to start on the outside of row 1. They were 2nd fastest in practice, and 2nd fastest in qualifying. They ran pretty good the fist half of the race when the green flag stop was screwed up by the yellow coming out, which sent them way back in the running order, but again they managed to pass cars and pull off a Top 10 finish (6th). I think they've got a little momentum on their side, and they historically run well at Pocano and Michigan, so the next couple weeks should be big for them. Kasey currently sits 14th in points, just two spots out of the chase, with David Reutiman in the 13th spot. I think that by the end of the weekend at MIS, he should be in the Top 12 and in the hunt for the Chase. We'll see what happens on the track during the next couple weeks....
That's it for now. I'll talk to you again soon.
Marc.
I wanted to make a few comments on some of the recent NASCAR news, for anyone that's interested.
First off, Kyle Busch is a sore loser and a whiney bitch. As if that wasn't already apparent and a well known fact, he's proven it yet again with his crybaby antics this weekend in Dover. He led more than half of the laps in the Nationwide race on Saturday afternoon, then slows in the corner on a restart at the end of the race, gets bumped by his teammate (J. Lagono) and ends up blowing a tire - or did the tire go down and that's what caused him to slow?? I guess we'll never know since he lost the lead, finished mid-pack, and ran away from the media after the race to cry in his hauler while getting ready to run the truck race, which was rained out Friday and was instead run just following the Nationwide race on Saturday evening. Then, in the truck race he also leads more than half the laps, blows a tire at the end of the race, and doesn't win that race either. Once again, he runs for cover and crys in his hauler without talking to the media. What a baby. Some people say he's had "bad luck" the last several weeks. I say it's Karma. And it might also have something to do with the fact that he drives the freaking wheels off the car/truck the entire race, then bitches when he blows tires at the end which cost him wins. Those tires cannot take the punishment that he puts them through, running 110% for EVERY LAP from the drop of the green flag. Smart drivers know how to save the tires, how to race when you need to, and how to run a SMART race. You don't (typically) see Jimmy Johnson running out front right from the onset of the race, and leading 98% of the laps, then blowing a tire with 2 to go and running to his trailer crying. He and Chad Knauss run SMART races. They lay back when they need to, and they race hard with it's time. I'm not saying that Kyle's not a good driver - he is. He might be one of the best natural racing talents to come into NASCAR in a long time, but he's not a SMART driver - at least not yet. As long as he keeps running races like an idiot, he can lead all the laps he wants, but he's not going to lead the most important lap very often - the LAST one! I think he has a LOT of growing up yet to do, both on and off the racetrack. Right now, he's just keeping up the Busch brother's legacy - being the biggest idiot at the track. Kyle....GROW UP!
OK, on to Dale Jr. Big week for #88 news! Tony Eury, Jr. OUT! Lance McGrew IN. The bottom line is that the team needed to be shaken up. Whether Tony Jr. is a good crew chief or not, and I'm not going to argue that point one way or the other, it just wasn't working. There was no chemistry there any longer (if there ever was any to being with??), and it just seemed like it was one long bitch session over the radio each and every week. Dale Jr. might have been in his "comfort zone" with Tony Jr., but comfortable or not, this change needed to be made. In fact, when Jr. made the move from DEI to Hendrick, he should have made a clean break and not brought Tony Jr. along with him. Hendrick knows how to win. His teams know how to operate, set-up cars, and win races. He should have brought his helmet, shoes and gloves and let Hendrick supply the rest of the winning formula. Trying to bring a DEI team to Hendrick and create some sort of hybrid team with parts of DEI's system and parts of Hendrick's system was a recipe for disaster, and if you saw any of the in-car video from the Coke 600 you saw what the result was. If Jr. had to saw the wheel any more than he did, he'd have cut the damn thing off! Now I'm not a Jr. fan in any way, but I don't have anything against him either. I think he'll be way better off now, out of his familiar "element" and being forced to listen to true-blue Hendrick engineers and Crew Chief's for a change. He hasn't won all those championships by chance. Success has a formula, and Rick Hendrick knows what it is. Let him show Jr. what that formula is, and give it a chance. I think Jr. will be a very happy camper in the long run, as will Jr. Nation. I guess only time will tell, but they ran decent at Dover, which may have been a good start for them.
I could go on forever with all that's going on in NASCAR right now, but I'll finish up today with my boy Kasey and the Bud team. They ran well in the Coke 600, and might have had a win or at least Top 5 finish had it not been for the rain and that final pit stop (as it turned out to be) shuffling them back a bit. They had a fast car with a really good set-up, but then again they always seem to run well at Lowe's - just look at last year's All-Star win. This week at Dover they get the new Dodge R6 motor (finally!) and end up going out first in qualifying and still managing to start on the outside of row 1. They were 2nd fastest in practice, and 2nd fastest in qualifying. They ran pretty good the fist half of the race when the green flag stop was screwed up by the yellow coming out, which sent them way back in the running order, but again they managed to pass cars and pull off a Top 10 finish (6th). I think they've got a little momentum on their side, and they historically run well at Pocano and Michigan, so the next couple weeks should be big for them. Kasey currently sits 14th in points, just two spots out of the chase, with David Reutiman in the 13th spot. I think that by the end of the weekend at MIS, he should be in the Top 12 and in the hunt for the Chase. We'll see what happens on the track during the next couple weeks....
That's it for now. I'll talk to you again soon.
Marc.
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