tag:blog.news-record.com,2008:/staff/spotter/15 2008-05-14T20:24:33Z A racing discussion with John Newsom. Movable Type 3.34 tag:blog.news-record.com,2008:/staff/spotter//15.24755 2008-05-14T19:41:17Z 2008-05-14T20:24:33Z

Random Small Team news ... * Petty Enterprises announced Kyle's summer subs: Terry Labonte will drive five races, and Chad McCumbee will do two. (Release.) The fact that McCumbee (one of the 2007 subs) is back is good news for...

John Newsom http://www.news-record.com Release.) The fact that McCumbee (one of the 2007 subs) is back is good news for him and his career, though I suspect he wants steadier work in the Cup series, not to mention a full-time Busch ride from someone. But the Terry Labonte selection disappoints me. It's clear he's going to be behind the wheel because (a) he's available (though he's technically retired -- long story) and (b) he has the much-coveted Past Champion's Provisional, NASCAR's version of the Get Out of Jail Free But In Reverse card. So why not Richard? He wouldn't cost Petty a dime (and they're cheap cheap cheap), and he's three years younger than James Hylton, who turned a 185 mph lap in Daytona practice last year. * The All-Star race continues to disappoint (entry list): There's only one Small Teamer, and that's Bobby Labonte. Maybe Robby Gordon or Carl Long will race his way in. * Some vintage Wood Brothers love. How cool would it be to see this on the track? How cool would it be to see the 21 in anything other than a shot of it dropping oil and sheet metal after a wreck? * Hey, it's not just Joe Nemechek's fault. * Post-post update: Bob Pockrass explains why Jon Wood won't be racing Saturday. You think NASCAR would pull this on Hendrick or Roush? ]]> Rk. Driver ... Pts ... Beh .. Last wk 1. Brian Vickers ... 1,161 ... Ldr ... 1 2. Travis Kvapil ... 1,155 ... -6 ... 3 3. Bobby Labonte ... 1,128 ... -33 ... 2 4. David Gilliland ... 1,088 ... -73 ... 4 5. Scott Riggs ... 1,006 ... -155 ... 5 6. Robby Gordon ... 946 ... -215 ... 6 7. Dave Blaney ... 793 ... -368 ... 7 8. J.J. Yeley ... 702 ... -459 ... 8 9. Joe Nemechek ... 543 ... -618 ... 10 10. Jeremy Mayfield ... 490 ... -671 ... 9 ]]> tag:blog.news-record.com,2008:/staff/spotter//15.24706 2008-05-12T17:40:56Z 2008-05-12T17:40:57Z

Some random thoughts after a wild night at Darlington ... Lap 1: Yes, Shrub can wheel a race car. There's never been much doubt about that. But the way the guy won Saturday night was scary. He had the loose...

John Newsom http://www.news-record.com Lap 1: Yes, Shrub can wheel a race car. There's never been much doubt about that. But the way the guy won Saturday night was scary. He had the loose lug nut problem early, then bounced the car off the wall about every other lap after that. Jimmie Johnson has a knack (or used to, anyway) for starting out bad, working his way back through the field and coming out on top. KyBusch is pulling a page from that playbook. Lap 2: Dustin Long's story implies that there are Kyle Busch fans out there. I really, really doubt it. Unless, of course, I missed the new practice of throwing beer cans at someone you like. Is it like throwing AA batteries at right fielders? Kids today. More after the jump ... ]]> Lap 3: Junior continues to run up front but not win. My new prediction (after I blew my he'll-win-at-Richmond forecast): He's going to go 0-for-2008. Yes, my despari has returned, especially because Junior tends to be strongest during the first part of the season. You can look it up. Lap 4: What is David Ragan doing in the top 12 of my Cup standings? That's got to be a typo. It's not? Really? Turns out the kid, since wrecking in the 500, has driven all but eight of 3,464 laps in the past 10 races. Not bad at all. Lap 5: Headline of the week: "Sam Hornish Jr. Discovers 'Darlington Stripe' in His Shorts." (Link) It made me look at the term "post-race inspection" in a whole new way. ]]> tag:blog.news-record.com,2008:/staff/spotter//15.24595 2008-05-07T14:15:58Z 2008-05-07T14:15:11Z

Here are your Small Team Standings after the Richmond race. Bobby Labonte (13th at Richmond) made up a ton of ground on Brian Vickers (28th). David Gilliland (41st) was your big loser and dropped from second to fourth. Look who...

John Newsom http://www.news-record.com Here are your Small Team Standings after the Richmond race. Bobby Labonte (13th at Richmond) made up a ton of ground on Brian Vickers (28th). David Gilliland (41st) was your big loser and dropped from second to fourth. Look who squeezed into the top 10 -- Furniture Row Joe! But that's mostly because Mike Skinner hasn't raced since Phoenix. Vickers, meanwhile, your best-placed Small Teamer, is 17th in the real world. Your Small Team Standings after the jump. Rk. Driver ... Pts ... Beh ... Last week 1. Brian Vickers ... 1,073 ... Ldr ... 1 2. Bobby Labonte ... 1,019 ... -54 ... 3 3. Travis Kvapil ... 1,008 ... -65 ... 4 4. David Gilliland ... 980 ... -93 ... 2 5. Scott Riggs ... 894 ... -179 ... 6 6. Robby Gordon ... 882 ... -191 ... 5 7. Dave Blaney ... 655 ... -418 ... 8 8. J.J. Yeley ... 612 ... -461 ... 7 9. Jeremy Mayfield ... 490 ... -583 ... 9 10. Joe Nemechek ... 473 ... -600 ... NR Dropped out: Mike Skinner (was 10th)]]> tag:blog.news-record.com,2008:/staff/spotter//15.24535 2008-05-05T16:10:39Z 2008-05-05T20:01:07Z

My daily 5 a.m. wake-up calls mean that I'm fried after 10 p.m. and comatose by 11, which means I didn't make it to the end of the Richmond race. But I'm glad I missed it, because I think my...

John Newsom http://www.news-record.com Lap 1 (the wife): So, who won the race last night: Me: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ...... Lap 2 (wife again, prying what's left of the Sports section from my hands): Kyle Busch won? Me: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ...... The interview continues after the jump. ]]> Lap 3 (the wife): Says here he beat your boy Dale Jr. ... Me: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ...... Lap 4 (the wife): Sorry he beat Junior. Didn't you say Junior was going to win? Me: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ...... Lap 5 (the wife, after a long pause): Do you need to go back to bed? Should I take you to the Urgent Care? Honey, you're scaring the kids ... Me: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ...... (sound of recorder clattering to the ground and being stomped on) Green-white checker lap: Dude pretty much nails it here. I think the O Sentinel hits on something here. NASCAR needs a good rivalry, but Shrub and Junior aren't it. Best case, Shrub wears the sport's black hat, sort of like Senior and mostly like Stewart. Nothing wrong with that.]]> tag:blog.news-record.com,2008:/staff/spotter//15.24474 2008-05-02T15:10:10Z 2008-05-02T15:15:04Z

Welcome to the (mostly) All-Earnhardt edition of The Spotter because Senior would have been 57 on Tuesday: Lap 1: Ah, Richmond -- the second-best race on the schedule. (First: Richmond in the fall, the race before the cutoff for the...

John Newsom http://www.news-record.com on Tuesday: Lap 1: Ah, Richmond -- the second-best race on the schedule. (First: Richmond in the fall, the race before the cutoff for the Chase.) It's also the place where Junior won his last race two years ago. He'll win Saturday. You just watch. Lap 2: Jeff Gordon's still a whiner. Boooo hoooo hoooo, Junior didn't help me. (More.) Let's face it, 24 fans: The Hendrick cars just don't dominate at the plate tracks any more. Two-Time's rope-a-dope hang-in-the-back tactic isn't sandbagging. It meant his car just wasn't that good. And, no, I can't explain why Casey Mears was had the best Hendrick finish. Can you explain how Furniture Row Joe ended up on the pole? More after the jump. ]]> Lap 3: Speaking of 'Dega, there's nothing cooler than hearing the cheers of Junior's Green Army being heard above the noise. In every other sport you can hear the crowd -- except in racing. The exception is when the 8 88 does something good. Lap 4: And speaking of Junior, I'm still sit up everytime I see the 8 or the Bud Car during a race (though, admittedly, it's not all that often, which makes it sort of like last year.) That said, it took three drivers to replace Junior -- Kahne in the Bud 9, and Martin and Almirola (Martinalmirola?) in the DEI 8. Lap 5: What would Dale Earnhardt be today? Probably alive, if NASCAR didn't have its head up its collective hind parts before he ran up the hill into the fence at Daytona. As sad as it sounds, Kenny Wallace is exactly right. Green-white-checker lap: Look who has squeezed into the top 12 -- Juan Pablo! That almost makes up for that disturbing Juicy Fruit commercial. They still make that stuff? Cooldown lap: Denny Hamlin finishes fourth in the Denny Hamlin 150 at his old track. The winner? Are you sitting down? Kyle Freakin' Busch. Dude is on fire. ]]> tag:blog.news-record.com,2008:/staff/spotter//15.24421 2008-04-30T17:42:27Z 2008-04-30T17:57:31Z

Brian Vickers opens up a lead on the rest of the field after a wild 'Dega race that saw Brian Vickers get a top 5 and four (!) other Small Teamers (Kvapil, R. Gordon, Gilliland, Riggs) crack the top 20....

John Newsom http://www.news-record.com Brian Vickers opens up a lead on the rest of the field after a wild 'Dega race that saw Brian Vickers get a top 5 and four (!) other Small Teamers (Kvapil, R. Gordon, Gilliland, Riggs) crack the top 20. One of those running well was *not* Bobby Labonte, who got caught up in that late wreck and got dropped to 34. David Gilliland (15th) passes him for second in the Small Team Standings. In the real world, Vickers climbed three spots to 16th and has a weak, but still possible, shot at the Chase. The Small Team Standings after nine races is after the jump: Rank. Driver ... Pts ... Beh (Last wk) 1. Brian Vickers ... 994 ... Ldr (1) 2. David Gilliland ... 940 ... -54 (3) 3. Bobby Labonte ... 895 ... -99 (2) 4. Travis Kvapil ... 893 ... -101 (4) 5. Robby Gordon ... 797 ... -197 (6) 6. Scott Riggs ... 788 ... -206 (5) 7. J.J. Yeley ... 551 ... -443 (7) 8. Dave Blaney ... 546 ... -448 (8) 9. Jeremy Mayfield ... 490 ... -504 (9) 10. Mike Skinner ... 423 ... -571 (10) ]]> tag:blog.news-record.com,2008:/staff/spotter//15.24288 2008-04-24T16:35:35Z 2008-04-24T16:40:05Z

Here goes: Lap 1: It's about time NASCAR took away a win for cheating (or, more technically, a rules violation. This case seems more stupid than intentional). The argument against doing that has traditionally been the fans and the sponsors...

John Newsom http://www.news-record.com Lap 1: It's about time NASCAR took away a win for cheating (or, more technically, a rules violation. This case seems more stupid than intentional). The argument against doing that has traditionally been the fans and the sponsors and all the money that's tied up in both. The thing is, your bottom line might look better if folks didn't think the winner was cheating. I don't see much different between Peyton Sellers' bad shock and Carl Edwards' loose oil pump cover. Do you? More from Dustin Long here. Lap 2: Yes, it would great if Junior won this week. No, I don't think it's going to happen. (My bet is Richmond next week.) My hope is that Four-Time wins. Do you throw Amp cans at the 24 even though he's now Junior's teammate? (My bet is they'll throw Bud cans just for old time's sake. Some habits die hard.) More after the jump ... ]]> Lap 3: Memo to Tony Stewart: Dumping Gibbs for Hass CNC would be career suicide. Yeah, I know you can drive most everything with four wheels. But how much fun will life be on the back side of a 400-race losing streak? Dustin has more. Lap 4: Let it go, Boris. It was a road course. It's tight racing. Ambrose was racy, and you were in the way. Say your peace and move on. (Marcos Ambrose is a fan favorite? Who knew?) Lap 5: Looks like this was a fuel-mileage blog post, 'cause I'm out of gas and can't make it one more lap. Sorry.]]> tag:blog.news-record.com,2008:/staff/spotter//15.24133 2008-04-17T15:10:10Z 2008-04-17T15:15:03Z

Must have been something I ate, but I'm in a foul mood. Maybe it's the inane debate over NASCAR's drug policy. Remember, it took the death of the sport's biggest star for NASCAR to finally do something serious about safety....

John Newsom http://www.news-record.com Must have been something I ate, but I'm in a foul mood. Maybe it's the inane debate over NASCAR's drug policy. Remember, it took the death of the sport's biggest star for NASCAR to finally do something serious about safety. NASCAR is running the same play ("We're NASCAR and we know") with its substance abuse policy. Gimme a break. A grade-A rant is below the jump. If you're in a good mood, I suggest you go outside and enjoy the sunshine and read something else. That's what I'm going to do shortly. Lap 1: This might be the dumbest racing story you read all year, and we're not even to Talladega. David Caraviello's logic goes something like this: Drug testing in sports exists because athletes take steroids, and there aren't any steroids in NASCAR, so NASCAR doesn't have a drug problem and therefore doesn't need drug testing. Wow. That's just ... stunning. The fact that NASCAR didn't lay down the smack on Aaron Fike until the cops busted him shooting up in the King's Island parking lot tells you all you need to know about NASCAR's pathetic drug policy: You had a smack addict driving a race car, and nobody knew. Lap 2: Lost in the debate about steroids and drugs is this: Steroids aren't just about making yourself big and bulky. Yeah, I know, Barry Bonds' super-sized melon is the symbol of steroid abuse. But look at cycling, the most drug-riddled sport this side of track and field. The road cyclists (think Tour de France) are tiny, but they use all sorts of chemical trickery to help them ride 100+ miles a day and recover overnight so they can do it again the next day. Then you have Formula One, which uses the WADA list of banned substances. (Here; PDF warning.) F1 drivers are specifically prohibited from using alcohol (technically, too much alcohol) and beta blockers, which tamp down the body's adrenaline. Who's to say NASCAR drivers aren't taking something to keep them alert during a 500-mile race? Or something to help them recover for next week's 500-mile slog? Or something else to keep them from mashing the gas and spinning the tires on restarts? You're a fool if you think it might not be happening. Lap 2A: NASCAR does deserves major credit for how it deals with drug violations -- drivers are gone till NASCAR says otherwise. Too bad other major pro sports don't back up their alleged concern about drugs, performance-enhancing or otherwise, with serious punishment. Lap 3: Dustin Long explains the reasoning behind NASCAR's announcement of a two-day test session at LMS: So, why do this? Better competition (... and) TV. It's odd to think that NASCAR thinks much at all about open-wheel racing. But evidently the IRL-Champ Car merger has them ... well, not exactly spooked, but concerned. The Indy 500 is the only open-wheel race I'll make a point of watching (other than the always bizarrely entertaining F1) during the year. I guess NASCAR wants to make sure that the Other 500 stays in what NASCAR considers to be its proper place - second. Lap 4: Here's one race that BAM Racing can win: the race to the bottom of the NASCAR standings. The team has made only three of eight races this year, and it looks like they'll miss a bunch more because a potential sponsor fell through. (More from BAM here; click on "Important Message from BAM Racing.") If the economy is truly in the tank, and all signs seem to be pointing that way, expect some other low-budget teams to start missing some races. I think you'll see the biggest impact in 2009 when sponsor contracts start to expire. Best I can recall, there hasn't been a less-than-43 car field in a while (does anyone remember when?). I wouldn't be surprised to see one in the second race of '09. Lap 5: Mike of "Trouble in Turn 2" delivers the best dramatic interpretation of the top 35 rule here. For some reason I'm now craving breadsticks. Green-white-checkers lap: Here's something way off-topic. Frank Deford thinks MMA is kicking boxing's behind because MMA is bloodier. No, Frank, you're wrong. The reason boxing mostly stinks (Pavlik-Taylor and Pacquiao-Marquez aside) is because the matchups are awful -- lopsided, predictable and often miserable to watch. Even Floyd Mayweather is too bored to fight any more. Then you have heavyweight champ Wladimir Klitschko, who's afraid to take a punch. His last punch-less defense against Sultan Ibragimov is 12 rounds of my life I want back. See? I promised you a rant. Now go outside and enjoy spring. ]]> tag:blog.news-record.com,2008:/staff/spotter//15.24082 2008-04-15T14:09:09Z 2008-04-15T14:10:04Z

Bobby Labonte has caught Brian Vickers for the lead among the small-team drivers thanks to a 12th-place finish at Phoenix. (Vickers was 25th.) David Gilliland (15th) was the only other Small Teamer in the top 20. Four other drivers swapped...

John Newsom http://www.news-record.com Bobby Labonte has caught Brian Vickers for the lead among the small-team drivers thanks to a 12th-place finish at Phoenix. (Vickers was 25th.) David Gilliland (15th) was the only other Small Teamer in the top 20. Four other drivers swapped spots farther down in the rankings. Top 10 Small Team Driver Standings after the jump ... Rk/Driver ... Pts ... Beh (Last wk) 1. Brian Vickers ... 834 ... Ldr (1) 2. Bobby Labonte ... 834 ... Ldr (2) 3. David Gilliland ... 817 ... -17 (3) 4. Travis Kvapil ... 743 ... -91 (4) 5. Scott Riggs ... 673 ... -161 (6) 6. Robby Gordon ... 667 ... -167 (5) 7. J.J. Yeley ... 551 ... -283 (7) 8. Dave Blaney ... 546 ... -288 (9) 9. Jeremy Mayfield ... 490 ... -344 (8) 10. Mike Skinner ... 423 ... -411 (10) Dropped out: Nobody Best-placed overall: Vickers and Labonte are tied for 19th in the Cup standings. So much for my fantasy that a non-Hendrick-Childress-Roush-Gibbs-Penske-DEI driver might make the Chase for a change.]]> tag:blog.news-record.com,2008:/staff/spotter//15.24068 2008-04-14T17:13:30Z 2008-04-14T17:14:56Z

A look back at the madness: Lap 1: That wasn't one of the estimated 16.5 million major league baseball games scheduled for 2008 on my TV when I tuned in Saturday night for the race, was it? It was? Really?...

John Newsom http://www.news-record.com Lap 1: That wasn't one of the estimated 16.5 million major league baseball games scheduled for 2008 on my TV when I tuned in Saturday night for the race, was it? It was? Really? Did Fox delay the start of the race so it could finish the game? And then did Fox switch to the race before the ball game was over? It did? E-Fox. Story here. (P.S. to USA Today: This was not a repeat of the Heidi fiasco. Not even close. So why mention it?) Lap 2: Props to Chad Knaus for his win Saturday night. Not only did he draw a straight flush when he needed it, but also ... did you see him screw with Jimmie Johnson's head? Telling his driver that he's 20 seconds up instead of 10 seconds was a stroke of evil genius. More nonsense after the jump. ]]> Lap 3: Yes, I do like a fuel-milage race, thank you very much. Building a good engine is more about raw power. It's about the trade-off between power and fuel milage, and a good engine builder can get both out of his motors. Hendrick apparently can do both. Lap 4: What has happened to Penske since the 500? Newman followed up his pole win with a dead-last finish Saturday, and he's clinging by the hairs that the Young Guns razor didn't get to the final spot in the Chase. Kurt Busch (he was second in the 500) hasn't cracked the top 10 since. He has one top-20 finish in the past 5 races, and that was 20th at Martinsville. Penske is rumored to have a third driver, but I haven't seen him in a while and don't remember who he is. Lap 5: Matt Kenseth has a 14-year-old son?! Apparently so. Yes, he's racing. Green-white-checkers: Speaking of the Penskes, Jaynelle of Track Talk spent Saturday in the No. 12 pits. It's a good read, so go read it. Pics are here.]]> tag:blog.news-record.com,2008:/staff/spotter//15.23990 2008-04-11T15:10:10Z 2008-04-11T15:15:03Z

First Saturday night race of the season. Whee! Lap 1: This ESPN piece about Aaron Fike is a great little piece of journalism. Props to Ryan McGee for doing such a nice job on the story. But I don't think...

John Newsom http://www.news-record.com Lap 1: This ESPN piece about Aaron Fike is a great little piece of journalism. Props to Ryan McGee for doing such a nice job on the story. But I don't think this is the thing that will shake NASCAR to its proverbial core. Think about the whole safety saga for a minute. There was a collective sad shrug when Kenny Irwin and Adam Petty died less than two months apart in 2000. Dale Sr.'s death at Daytona in Feb. 2001 was the holy-hell-we-need-to-do-something moment. Same with drugs. A few nobodies (Aaron Fike, Shane Hmiel, Kevin Grubb) get nailed, and NASCAR continues to say everything's fine. If Jeff Gordon or Junior or Jimmie Johnson gets busted, game on. Don't expect anything to change until that happens. More rants after the jump. ]]> Lap 2: I'm not the only one ranting this week. The Dude goes off on three-fourths of the Hendrick organization. I think he's a little too hard on Junior. The cousins have always acted like this, and the two of them rarely make a car better during a race. (Welcome to life as a Junior fan, btw.) But The Dude is a fan of the 24, and he's most hacked that Gordon drove like a blind man backwards last week at Texas. If it's any consolation, it's only the second time Gordon has finished 43rd. (The first time: 1999 at ... drum roll ... Texas!) That's only one more than Sam Hornish Jr. in 516 more career starts. Buck up, Dude! Lap 3: Speaking of the Earnhardts ... If I had a cardboard cutout of Dale Sr., I'd have it under glass in a locked room and surrounded by security guards. Note to whoever is tempted to say the 5-foot tall cutout is "life sized": I'm pretty sure Senior was taller than 5 flat. The only drivers that small are Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne. Maybe Jamie McMurray, too. Lap 4: If the Associated Press (aka the World's Largest News Cooperative) writes a story about you that might appear in hundreds of newspapers nationwide, are you really out of the spotlight? Lap 5: Back to ranting for a minute. The fact that Michael McDowell has gained more fame (or notoriety, take your pick) for wrecking his car than driving his car leads to this one conclusion: Most people see racin' not as sport but as a death-defying freak show. You think Leno has booked Carl Edwards or that Jeff Burton will be on "Fox and Friends" anytime soon? Green-white-checkers: Speaking of rants, WTF is up with this unbelievable conflict of interest? I'm not sure which is worse - Fox announcer Jeff Hammond owning resort property along with at least three drivers and a crew chief, or Fox announcer Darrell Waltrip calling races when he was shilling for Toyota. Fair and balanced my rear end.]]> tag:blog.news-record.com,2008:/staff/spotter//15.23937 2008-04-08T17:11:39Z 2008-04-08T17:11:59Z

No change in the top 9 from last week as the top 4 all finished in the top 20 and everyone else finished toward the back. The only change this week was that Skinner squeezed into the 10th spot. Kyle...

John Newsom http://www.news-record.com Here's the story. See if you can read behind the lines.) The Small Team Driver standings after the jump ... ]]> Rank/Driver/Pts-Beh (Last week) 1. Brian Vickers ... 746 (1) 2. Bobby Labonte ... -39 (2) 3. David Gilliland ... -47 (3) 4. Travis Kvapil ... -100 (4) 5. Robby Gordon ... -155 (5) 6. Scott Riggs ... -158 (6) 7. J.J. Yeley ... -241 (7) 8. Jeremy Mayfield ... -256 (8) 9. Dave Blaney ... -273 (9) 10. Mike Skinner ... -402 (11) Dropped out: Kyle Petty (was 10th) Note: Vickers is 18th overall. tag:blog.news-record.com,2008:/staff/spotter//15.23912 2008-04-07T18:50:01Z 2008-04-07T18:52:20Z

Some post-race thoughts: Lap 1: Why is Michael McDowell not dead? That's a rhetorical question, of course, but that was one hard hit. SAFER barrier, HANS Device, COT -- take a bow. Lap 2: Yep, that was Jeff Gordon finishing...

John Newsom http://www.news-record.com Lap 1: Why is Michael McDowell not dead? That's a rhetorical question, of course, but that was one hard hit. SAFER barrier, HANS Device, COT -- take a bow. Lap 2: Yep, that was Jeff Gordon finishing 43rd. Sadly, because I'm a Junior fan, it hurts a little to see a teammate in distress. Not a lot. I mean, I no longer laugh hysterically when the 24 runs badly. Lap 3: When was the last time you saw TWO unsponsored cars in the same Cup race? And what does Robert Yates have to do to get someone to throw some money his way? Both of his drivers got much-better-than-you'd-think top 20 finishes. Lap 4: So Carl Edwards won again. Last time he finished first, it cost him 100 points and his crew chief. Either (a) Edwards was that good, or (b) the Roush crew has gotten better at hiding its work. I vote (a). Lap 5: I ran out of gas a lap from the finish. Seriously, though, did anything stand out about Sunday's race? Anything at all?]]> tag:blog.news-record.com,2008:/staff/spotter//15.23853 2008-04-04T15:35:34Z 2008-04-04T15:40:03Z

The weekend's almost here. Let's get to it. Lap 1: The weather doesn't look great at Texas today - showers in the morning, cloudy in the afternoon. The three people who are praying for sunshine: Patrick Carpentier, Burney Lamar and...

John Newsom http://www.news-record.com Lap 1: The weather doesn't look great at Texas today - showers in the morning, cloudy in the afternoon. The three people who are praying for sunshine: Patrick Carpentier, Burney Lamar and John Andretti. Eight others who are praying for rain include Sam Hornish Jr., Dave Blaney and Chad McCumbee. Persistent showers all afternoon mean that those three would be washed into Sunday's Cup race. Lap 2: Has time passed by Petty Enterprises? Uh, yeah. Memo to NASCAR.com's Bill Kimm: A team that that has fewer wins in 23 years (3) than Jimmie Johnson ripped off in four races late last season (4) is not in a "times have been tough" phase -- it's in freefall. More after the jump. ]]> Lap 3: I hate to harp on Petty, but it just tears me up that the team is running on fumes. But let's face it: The teams that are winning (Hendrick, Gibbs, Roush, Childress) changed their business models to adapt to the changing economics in racin'. The teams that are losing (Petty, Wood Bros., all the other one- and two-car teams) didn't and are struggling. Ask Woolworths and Sears how clinging to their former successes in a different era worked out for them. Lap 4: Three cheers for this valiant rescue effort! Lap 5: NASCAR writer (and blogger) Brett Robinson takes a few laps at Talladega. (Via Mike M.) Robinson's post cries out for some video, so here's one. Here's another (that really, really, really needs to lose the awful music at the beginning; skip ahead to 2:30 where it starts to get wound up). My favorite all-time Talladega video, however, is right here. ("And Earnhardt is going for the lead!") It still sends chills up my spine. ]]> tag:blog.news-record.com,2008:/staff/spotter//15.23803 2008-04-02T18:55:58Z 2008-04-02T18:55:05Z

Lots of Small Team news this week. Let's get to it. Lap 1: When Petty moved its shop to Mooresville this year, it was billed as the start of something new. Now it looks like the beginning of the end,...

John Newsom http://www.news-record.com Lap 1: When Petty moved its shop to Mooresville this year, it was billed as the start of something new. Now it looks like the beginning of the end, or maybe the middle of the end. Kyle Petty missed Sunday's race at Martinsville, a place that should be called Pettyville because King Richard own the place. Kyle's going to skip Texas this week, too. Worse, General Mills, tired of backing a team that has won just three races in 23 years, is going to Childress next year. Dustin Long and I were talking last week about which team we thought would be the next to follow Morgan-McClure to the garage. The likely candidates (other than BAM, which isn't much of a team) are the Wood Bros., the Pettys and and Yates. I had Wood, Yates and Petty in that order, but now I'm not so sure that Petty won't be the first. Lap 2: Speaking of BAM, they're not coming to Texas this week. That's a death blow, because there's no way that team will climb back into the top 35, and they're not usually fast enough to qualify on speed. Three more laps after the jump ... ]]> Lap 3: I'm thrilled as heck that Jeff Burton is atop the points standings. I was convinced back in 2004 that RCR had made a sympathy hire, sort of like it did when it kept Mike Skinner on the payroll for all those years. But the Littlest Burton has been money -- in the Chase for the past two years, wins in each of the past three. It's rare to see an elite athlete return to top form when success was so long ago. Remember Burton's run of four straight years of top 5 finishes? That was 1997 to 2000 -- in other words, a lifetime ago in athletics. Lap 4: If the Chase started tomorrow, these four Chasers from 2007 would miss this year's edition: Martin Truex Jr., Carl Edwards and past champs Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch. Interestingly, these four drivers are ranked 13-16. Lap 5: Now that it's clear that Junior's move to Hendrick won't be a flop, it's now time to figure out when he might actually win a race. The schedule is very favorable for a Junior. He has wins at Texas (his first career win in 2000), Phoenix (2), Dega (a million) and Richmond (3, including his last win, which was in May 2006). My vote: Richmond, followed by a 100 percent chance of JUNIOR'S BACK! stories. Green-white-checkers: The headline of the week: Allegations of Nazi-style orgy may topple FIA boss You can't, as they say, make this stuff up.]]>