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.
