Back at it
After a three-month layoff and a change in job title, I'm back on the blog.
My time away from the blog: I didn't have much to say, really. NASCAR had worn me out by the end of 2007, and not much interesting happened in the two weeks of the Winston/Nextel/Sprint Cup off-sesaon. But, yeah, I'm glad the 500 is next week. Oh, and Junior's back.
The change in job title: I'm no longer assistant sports editor. That was 100 percent my call. (You want to hate sports? Work in the business for three years. When watching racin' felt like being at work, I knew it was time for a change.) Now I'm the online news reporter here. I'm operating under the pseudonym "From Staff Reports." (It's a shared byline, by the way. I'm not nearly so prolific.)
Back at the blog: Sort of. I'm going to change the focus this year. Instead of writing on things that happen as they happen -- I know, I know, it was hard to pass up piling on Hippie Stewart and Bad Busch -- I'm going to write once, maybe twice, a week. (Think of it as going from a daily newspaper to Sports Illustrated. And, yeah, I'm well aware that this corner of cyberspace ain't SI. But what is up with Stewart's hair?)
More on the team aspect after the jump ...
NASCAR has become a team sport, and I'm going to treat it as such. So each week I'm going to bust out with a team report -- and team rankings. I've got my own rating system that takes into account finishes, poles, laps led and how much I like (or despise) the team's drivers. I'm going to split everyone into two groups -- large teams (three or more cars) and small teams (everyone else).
And that brings me to the opinion-laden portion of this post: The reason I'm doing the large team/small teams split is because there are essentially two different races going on in Cup. (Think Grand Am, which runs the uber-cool Daytona prototypes and the GTs on the same track at the same time.) Consider that the large teams (Hendrick, Childress, Gibbs, Roush and DEI) won 34 of 36 Cup races last year. The only small team to win was Penske (Kurt Busch won the remaining two races), but Penske's adding a third team and moving up into the world of Big Teams. Eleven of the 12 Chase drivers were from Big Teams. Penske (Kurt Busch again) had the lone small team rep. The highest-finishing Small Team driver: Bobby Labonte (Petty), who was 18th.
I'm not sure exactly what my motives are. Maybe it's to give some love to the little teams that don't get much notice these days in the world of Corporate NASCAR. Maybe it's to avoid having to write about the big teams that everyone else is covering. (I'm a little burned out on Hendrick news. I bet you are too.) Maybe it's a desire to be different just for the sake of being different.
I'll look back at 2007 later this week. Yep, that's right: more posts.
Comments (10)
To report abuse of the comment feature on this site, please use the feedback form at the bottom of any page.
Not only that it looks like Tony may have swallowed one of his sprint cars, its a good thing the new cars have the larger window opening.
A small team to start talking about would be "almost Front Row Joe".
Posted on February 11, 2008 2:38 PM
Glad to hear from you, Mark. That Stewart crack was priceless.
As for Furniture Row Joe, what makes you think he might run in the front half of the field?
Posted on February 12, 2008 7:22 AM
One more thing: In case my post wasn't clear, my team report won't be so much sober stat-driven analysis as half-baked personal opinions colored by my own driver likes (Junior!) and dislikes (both Busches) with a keen focus on all of the silly and stupid stuff that goes on in NASCAR.
In other words, I think I'll be posting more than I promised.
Posted on February 12, 2008 7:29 AM
My hope for FR Joe is part wishful thinking and part based on improved equipment.
I believe I heard on the broadcast that #78 has a Hendrick engine in it. I'll combine that with the fact that as a former Hendrick driver FR Joe may get a little behind the scenes help from his former employer.
FR Joe is one of the last of the "old school" drivers before the "new NASCAR" took over. I still remember his break through win in Busch up in New Hampshire when he bumped Big E out of the way for the win.
I would just like to see him have one more good race in him. It wouldn't have to be a win, Geoff Bodine was one of my favorite drivers and what always impressed me the most was when he stole a "3rd place" a few years ago at Daytona in the race that Ward Burton won and Sterlin Marlin did a little fender repair during a red flag.
Enjoy a little, this could be Day's of Thunder come to life.... A plot based on Hendrick's character putting his engine in his former driver's car.
Posted on February 12, 2008 7:23 PM
burned out on hendricks news ? and ur a boomhauer fan ? congrats on the shootout win.
get used to it man, i predict boomhauer to take the checkers at least 2 more times this yr and he will make the chase, as a hendricks fan i welcome boomhauer to the clan, just another way hendricks can continue it's assault on the nascar record books. oh, let me charify the boomhauer reference, dale was so jacked up in victory lane, he was talkin' so fast he reminded me of boomhauer on king of the hill. even as a diehard #24 fan it was awesome to see old boom so happy after such a win draught. i never really cared for "little e", "jr", or "june bug" anyhow, new #, new car, new team, thus new nickname.
Posted on February 13, 2008 1:28 PM
A caller on NASCAR Sirius Radio said that he saw a shot of Tony Stewart and the first thing that came to mind was "Oh my God, he looks like Ron Jeremy!"
Posted on February 13, 2008 4:00 PM
Spam comment deleted. C'mon, if you want to advertise your stuff, I'll hook you up with our ad department.
Posted on February 13, 2008 7:35 PM
It's a reader service to let folks know that the Daytona twin qualifiers will be shown starting at 2 p.m. today on Speed. The rest of your message, eh.
Posted on February 13, 2008 7:44 PM
Some updates:
* I rewrote a couple of comments above. I think they're better that way.
* Weaver - I think Stewart's a couple of Subway sandwiches with extra mayo away from Ron Jeremy status, but he's close. (And that's funny.)
* Sorry for the lack of promised updates. My job now is breaking news, and breaking news doesn't seem to understand that I've got blog posts to write. They're coming - I promise. (But this time I really mean it.)
Posted on February 14, 2008 9:55 AM
You were gone?
I thought you were standing in line at the "for every three Budweiser items you get one Mountain Dew AMP t-shirt" exchange...
Posted on February 16, 2008 2:51 PM