Garrett Duke

Another Chase contender article. More detailed... Well the plot thickens as we get to the last race of the regular season...where has the season gone? Anyway I am going to post the drivers in and elgible for the Chase. Everyone who doesn't get into the Chase will still race and can win races, but the best they can finish in points is thirteenth...which earns them a million dollars. DRIVERS LOCKED IN THE CHASE 1. Jimmie Johnson 2. Clint Bowyer 3. Carl Edwards 4. Kevin Harvick 5. Kyle Busch 6. Matt Kenseth DRIVERS IN THE WILD CARD POSITION 1. Kasey Kahne is clinched into the Chase since he has two wins so far this season (Kasey is currently 12th in points.) DRIVERS ELGIBLE TO MAKE THE CHASE 7. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 8. Joey Logano 9. Greg Biffle 10. Kurt Busch 11. Jeff Gordon (12 in points is Kasey Kahne who already clinched his spot with his two wins.) 13. Martin Truex Jr. 14. Ryan Newman 15. Brad Keselowski 16. Jamie McMurray 17. Paul Menard As the article says drivers in the 14 - 17 positions would need a super great race and help of other drivers ahead of them having bad races to get in...but it still can happen. It is only Wednesday...the race is Saturday night at 6:30 and I am already NERVOUS for Jeff Gordon. I may have to watch this race with my eyes closed:popcorn:. (On a side note about the truck race and Max Papis getting slapped. Mike Skeen's girl friend who slapped Papis has been fined $2,500 and suspended from all NASCAR track activity indefinately. Skeen's crew cheif has been fi ned $2,500 as well...the crew cheif is suppose to be in charge and have control over his driver and crew...she should be arrested, but am glad to see NASCAR FINALLY stepping in and doing something about this.)

Excuse me if you don't mind...why wouldn't he want to see the Pirates play the Cubs? They may not be ranked as high as the Cardinals, Reds, Pirates and the such, but that doesn't make them an uninteresting team or one you wouldn't want to see play in the playoffs. No matter how many times they have played...I agree with Roger. It would be awesome to see the Cubs play the Pirates in the play offs...it would probably have to be for a wild card position, but still, it would be awesome to watch! Hmmm I wonder how much money Roger has that I can win off of him when the Cubs beat the Pirates in the play offs?

Yes it is...lots of different scenarios. I glanced at the article...at least of Jeff Gordon's part and it seems like it is a bit generalized. Thanks Roger. Hopefully you will help him have a great night at Richmond and help him in the Chase.

Well I am ashamed of myself for letting this thread go like this...shame on me! Well, I will attempt to do better now that the Chase is about to start... As much as I want to write through the points and who is where, I better not do it tonight as it is getting too late and I should be in bed (four am comes way too early!). But did find this article that I wanted to share... Roger asked in my other thread on how Jeff Gordon can get into the Chase (Richmond on this upcoming Saturday night will determine who is in and who is out of the Chase for the 2013 NASCAR Championship.) and Jeff is currently six points out of the top ten where needs to be if he is to get into the Chase without a win (eleventh place and twelfth place are the wild card slots and whoever is 11 -20 in points with the most wins gets into the Chase on wild card). So hopefully this article will shed some info on how Jeff Gordon and a few others can get into the Chase...though I am really HOPING and PRAYING Jeff Gordon can get into the Chase... Chase Clinching Scenerios Hope this helps...

This is ONE great commercial if you ask me. The only thing that is WRONG with it is that they don't have Jeff Gordon in with the legends...which irritates me. But they didn't ask me when filming this commercials. Still a great JJ commercial! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6_Ln7_kHgc&feature=youtu.be

Hoss seems like he found the accurate information on how Jeff Gordon can make it into the Chase...either win it or finish six positions before Kurt Busch. Which is what I am hoping will happen. Or Dale Jr or Greg Biffle has some serious trouble on Saturday night that would help Gordon, but I don't want to wish that on Jr or Biffle. As for Max Papis...the story keeps getting bigger. Now Papis is being accused of bruising Mike Skeet's girlfriend (the girl who slapped and dislocated his jaw.) According to Mike, Max barged into his trailer and grabbed her down the stairs in front of NASCAR officials. According to Max, he pushed her away after she was yelling at him and told her he didn't want to talk to her, but wanted to talk to him (I assume he means Mike.) and apologized if that had bruised her. He didn't even know who she was. As of now, I haven't heard anything official from NASCAR. Max Papis is a driver who has visited all three series in NASCAR where as Mike Skeen, well, Sunday was his first truck series race ever. He is, what I read, a sports car racer. Well...great way to make your way into NASCAR with all this fiasco. Personally I don't know who to believe. I saw the slap on a video someone posted on Facebook and Max seems to be a pretty good guy of what I have seen of him. I find it hard to believe he would just run into some guy's hauler and drag some girl he doesn't know down the stairs. But I don't know. Max had slapped a driver in the Nationwide series but with the helmet on...also patted a driver on the face that he was mad at, but didn't slap him. Just patted him enough to let him know he had control but was upset at what he did to him (the driver spun him out on the last lap...).

Congratulations Roger on your Pirates winning 80 games this year! What a great achievement...haven't checked the standings for awhile, but am sure that has got to put them on top! Bet you are one happy fan!

Now Hoss...what is fun about growing up? Besides they are going over a hundred miles per hour, emotions are high...sooner or later they will get upset and then later will move on. And after 500 hundred miles of fighting each other, bumping and banging, fighting with your car, others around you...yeah tempers will flare. And knowing those two drivers and their temperaments, they will have put this long behind them by the times they unload their cars for Richmond for this upcoming race....

Thanks Hoss for the video and the feedback. I agree...Papis should press charges against her. NASCAR should step in and set a good example and stop things like this happening in the future. As for the Sprint Cup race yesterday there was an incident that I forgot to mention (was very tired after the race last night plus allergies made it hard to think...) plus didn't see it lead to much damage until I read it on Facebook. Towards the beginning of the race, Jeff Gordon did a slide job on Carl Edwards...where he passed Edwards and slid up the track right in front of Edwards. Had me a bit worried of a wreck when I saw it, but Gordon made it work. Well towards the end of the race, Carl Edwards and Joey Logano had stayed out while everyone got gas. Which was a bad choice in the end since everyone had fresh tires. Carl was quick to fall back. Logano slid back but was competitive. I don't know if this happened before that caution pit stop or after, but Carl Edwards decided to pay Jeff back for what he did. And in doing so banged the side door of Gordon. (That is how I saw it ... and supposedly how Gordon saw it.) The TV aired Gordon's radio communication and he wasn't very happy with Edwards move. Edwards on the other hand was mad at Gordon for side swiping him like that. I have read on Facebook where both drivers have supposedly agreed to disagree with what had happened. Gordon says it was uncharacteristic of Edwards to be so aggressive towards Gordon and says that after Gordon had passed him like he did, that Edwards raced him aggressively afterwards. Edwards says it was uncharacteristic of Gordon to be racing him like that and will give him the benefit of the doubt. Gordon got frustrated with their conversation and ended up walking away... I personally like both drivers and am really hoping that this is the end of the whole ordeal and that they will move on...as it sounds like they will move on.

Well I just got done watching the Advocare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway and didn't see one person from Hazzard County. Perhaps they were camera shy or something. LOL. It was a fun race to watch for the most part...and with two races (now one) race to the Chase, it added a lot of drama to the mix. Ricky Stenhouse Jr won his first pole in his short NASCAR Sprint Cup career but seemed to fall back rather quickly and do believe he finished sixteenth. NASCAR had thrown a competition caution on lap twenty due to rain earlier today and when they came back, Jeff Gordon had a hard time going and then Matt Kenseth bumped him (bet y'all can guess who wasn't too happy with that move...) which in turn forced a pile up as Jeff Burton got into the back of Jimmie Johnson and spun out Kasey Kahne. (Also bet you can guess who wasn't happy with all of that.) Kasey took his car behind the wall for 31 laps while JJ stayed out but ended up spinning out later on in the race as well. Believe he ended up three laps down. Jeff Burton had fought hard from the accident and was thirteen at one point before he lost a tire and it forced him up into Austin Dillon and the wall. I don't know what exactly had happened to Matt Kenseth, think it was some sort of car issue, but it sent him back to thirtieth for a long time in the race but he held on for a twelve spot finish. Clint Bowyer who led a lot of laps before reported that he thought he was having engine problems (which no one seemed to believe him since it was a new engine he was trying out...) before his engine finally did blow and he had to exit the race early. Later Brad Keselowski was leading when he too suffered from engine problems, but Brad was able to hold on and stay out for a long time before having to end the night early. Clint who is locked into the Chase it was a big deal, but not as big of a deal as it was to Keselowski who is trying to race his way into the Chase. Kyle Busch went on to win his fourth race of the season with Joey Logano second, Martin Truex Jr, and older brother Kurt Busch fourth. Here is the official results of the Advocare 500: 1. Kyle Busch 2. Joey Logano 3. Martin Truex Jr. 4. Kurt Busch 5. Ryan Newman 6. Jeff Gordon 7. Juan Pablo Montoya 8. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 9. Kevin Harvick 10. Brian Vickers 11. Jamie McMurray 12. Matt Kenseth 13. Marcos Ambrose 14. AJ Allmendinger 15. Greg Biffle 16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 17. David Gilliland 18. Carl Edwards 19. Austin Dillon 20. Aric Almirola 21. Danica Patrick 22. Casey Mears 23. David Ragen 24. Paul Menard 25. Mark Martin 26. Dave Blaney 27. Travis Kvapil 28. Jimmie Johnson 29. David Stremme 30. JJ Yeley 31. Timmy Hill 32. David Reutimann 33. Mike Bliss 34. Jeff Burton 35. Brad Keselowski 36. Kasey Kahne 37. Landon Cassill 38. Denny Hamlin 39. Clint Bowyer 40. Joe Nemechek 41. Josh Wise 42. Michael McDowell 43. Scott Speed As of now the top six drivers in points (will update the points tomorrow) is set in the Chase while the others do have a chance to fall out as well as others to work themselves into the top ten in points or to earn a win into the wild card chase. After next Saturday NIGHT race at Richmond, the Chase field will be set. And this 24 fan is nervous...LOL. On a side note...there was some excitement in the truck series race today which was the inaugural race in Canada. I don't watch the truck series nor really keep up with it that much but do hear about it from time to time. Well Hendrick up and coming driver, Chase Elliot (who is Bill Elliot's son) and is only 17 years old, won his first truck race at the truck Series inaugural race in Canada. Sounds like he did something to wreck Ty Dillion (didn't see what happened...) but what has gotten my attention was what happened to Max Papis. I guess him and this 19 year old driver wrecked, both trucks had damage. Well the 19 year old's girl friend got mad about it and started chasing Max yelling at him before she slapped him. Max now says that she has dislocated his jaw by the slap and that he is still hearing ringing noises in that ear. He is seeking the director of the truck series to take action towards the girl friend for what she did to him...if that was to happen out on the streets, she would have assault charges placed on her and yet NASCAR didn't do nothing? No need for that to happen no matter what. (I know this isn't the regular NASCAR Sprint Cup Series that I normally talk about, but did think I should mention it...add onto the drama. LOL)

I do believe it is the same car. It was sprint cars that has injured Tony Stewart and am pretty sure it was what killed Jason Leffler. They may be fast but they look like they have little control over them...of what I have seen of them.

Well Hoss will be very excited to see who starts the Advocare 500 at Hampton Georgia...though it is called Atlanta Motor Speedway. Do believe they have said in the past that Hampton is an hour away from Atlanta. Anyway...here is the qualifying order to Sunday NIGHT's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway: 1. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 2. Carl Edwards 3. Juan Pablo Montoya 4. Denny Hamlin 5. Jeff Gordon 6. Matt Kenseth 7. Martin Truex Jr. 8. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 9. Kyle Busch 10. Jimmie Johnson 11. Joey Logano 12. Clint Bowyer 13. AJ Almendinger 14. David Ragen 15. Jamie McMurray 16. Paul Menard 17. Ryan Newman 18. Kasey Kahne 19. Casey Mears 20. Marcos Ambrose 21. Danica Patric 22. Brian Vickers 23. Brad Keselowski 24. Greg Biffle 25. David Stremme 26. Austin Dillon 27. Mark Martin 28. Jeff Burton 29. Aric Almirola 30. Kevin Harvick 31. David Gilliland 32. Kurt Busch 33. Josh Wise 34. David Reutimann 35. Scott Speed 36. Dave Blaney 37. Travis Kvapil 38. Mike Bliss 39. Landon Cassill 40. Joe Nemechek 41. Timmy Hill 42. JJ Yeley 43. Michael McDowell The NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway is Sunday night at 8:00 EST on ESPN. We have this race and next week's race at Richmond to see who all will make it in the Chase as the Chase will start at Chicagoland (that is not in Chicago but in Joliet Illinois) the week after Richmond. My fingers are crossed and am holding my breath that Jeff Gordon will be able to make it since he is a driver that is on the bubble....

It is now official...Kyle Larson will be driving the 42 car start the 2014 season...will be interesting to see what he can do in the Cup Series.

Happy birthday Cooter! Enjoy your day!

Can't recall hearing Darian say that...but by what Denny said it was stuck and he couldn't do it in time.

Well it looks like Martin Truex Jr is not the only driver to get hurt in the accident at Bristol last week...it is now being reported that Denny Hamlin's finger got stuck in the wheel and he couldn't get it out and that he sprained his hand. He too is still expected to race this Sunday night at Atlanta. This is the second time this season that Denny has gotten hurt during a wreck during the race...

I can't believe I didn't post this yesterday when I read it...I must have been in complete shock that it escaped me of posting about it here. I do got some scary news regarding Jeff Gordon's merchandise bus. It was on I85 in Georgia when it caught fire. Luckily no one was hurt and it was carrying merchandise and not his cars and race gear. Still scary and still not good. I think Waylon Jennings said it best on one of the DOH charcters..."If Jeff Gordon and his team didn't have bad luck, they wouldn't have any luck at all." Waylon put Dukes there instead.

Well y'all I got some more NASCAR news for you. One that I am happy and sad to report. I am super excited that AJ Allmendinger has found a full time ride next few seasons driving for JTG Daughtery in the 47 car. Sadly it is at the expense of Bobby Labonte who currently has that ride...though has been sharing the seat with AJ this past season. As posted above, this comes a day after Labonte was hospitalized after a bicycle accident left hif him with three broken ribs.

Happy birthday Enos!

Well I doubt I will be of much help here but had to say something...LOL. 1. I am sure there are some, but can't really think of anything at the moment that seems like a must go. 2. Once again, I am sure there are, you pointed out a good one. But once again, my mind is too tired think. LOL. 3. Personally I use the NASCAR thread the most and do enjoy the way it is...but that is my opinion so don't go by just me. It is easy for me to find and to go to...but like I said, that is just me and don't feel like you have to go by it.

Well I got some more sad news for you all. Looks like Bobby Labonte will be missing this upcoming race after getting in a bicycle accident near his home where he will be spending the night in the hospital with three broken ribs. Well y'all know how much I love NASCAR and talking about NASCAR, but this is getting out of hand with all the injuries in NASCAR. Of all the years I have watched NASCAR, I can't remember a season with so many drivers injured, missing races, or the amount of rumors going around of who is leaving what team and who is going to be driving for what team next season. . . Guess it is giving me lots of opportunities to talk about NASCAR, of which I love, just wish I could come here spreading good news and not sad news...

You are welcome Roger. I am glad my NASCAR updates come into use for you...you must have some pretty good friends if they are crazy about racing.

Well I had a feeling that Martin Truex Jr. had gotten hurt in that horrible accident he was involved in last Saturday night at Bristol where Denny Hamlin got a flat and took out several Chase contender cars. The camera showed Martin Truex Jr (who seemed to get the hardest hit) when he hit the wall and afterwards he was holding his hand. He went back to the care center as is expected of drivers in wrecks and then the pit reporter had talked to him and asked him if he was OK. Martin had said he weas fine, just frustrated with the accident with the points and all that. Had me a little relieved but skeptical just on how he was holding his hand after the accident. And sadly my feeling was correct. They just came back that an MRI has shown Truex Jr has a fractured and sprained right wrist...will be racing with a special cast and is Ok to race this Sunday NIGHT. (YAY another night race! Sorry Hoss, know they are late for you...) Also, Chip Ganassi will make an official announcement on Friday as to who will be replacing Juan Pablo Montoya in the 42 car next season...though it is already rumored that it is going to be Ganassi's rookie Nationwide driver, Kyle Larson, who is 21 years old. But like I said earlier today...will keep you posted when all of that comes official Friday.

As for those Kurt Busch rumors they seem like they weren't much rumor to them after all. Kurt Busch has just told ESPN that he has already signed the deal to race for Stewart-Haas Racing next season. Stewart - Haas Racing will look like this in 2014: Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, and Danica Patrick. And for more NASCAR rumors...LOL.... It is looking like ESPN and TNT are wanting to end their contract with NASCAR a year early (remember they are leaving at the end of next year's season. As of now...) but they are wanting to pull out after this season. Leaving FOX and NBC the only NASCAR coverage. Looks like NBC would have to OK it first before they would be able to drop it. As always, will keep you updated when I learn something more official.

Oops...sorry.