NASCAR season 2005.....

[bethie88]

There's a heck of alot of difference in who you WANT to win and who you EXPECT to win.

~Beth

[dixiegeneral]

I called the last race on the 5th lap when i was over at my bfs house. I said...'I wouldn't be surprised if Biffle would when the race'....all because he said he would get in the lead about the 5th lap and he did. He called that and I called the race. It was funny to see at the end when he won because all i said was just remember who called the race. I was laughing over it and they were like yeah sure. My boyfriend and his cousin are JR fans. But as for me I root for 3 drivers....Nemechek (my number 01)...Busch and Biffle. They have been running pretty good..as long as I'm not around anyone I do root for Gordon. I also root for Gordon a lil bit around my bf and his cousin just to see what they do. They hate Gordon.

I guess the main reason I root for Nemechek has to be these to reasons.....1- I use to be in the Army and thats the Army car and I support them....and 2- (this one kinda goes for also u've watched too much DOH when....you root for the car in Nascar with the number 01 on it or anything dealing with the DOH) basically the 01 and I relate that to the DOH.

I'm getting my own car tomorrow (Sat Mar 12) and even though its blue I'll somehow get the 01 on it....this car is gonna be my precious baby. U'll find on it everything to do with my fav things especially the DOH.

Braveheart

[Capt_Redneck]

I like Joe Nemechek . The guy has perservered to be in Cup racing and has proved himself to be a great driver. I think the #01 ARMY stock car is one of the coolest looking cars on the track. There is something about it that makes it stand out to me. It doesn't have the greatest or the brightest colors, just colors that fit the ARMY scheme.

[dixiegeneral]

Sunday I had to work so I barely got to listen to or watch the race so I have a few questions for anyone that watched the race.

Who won the race?

Where did Nemechek finish?

Where did Biffle, #5, and Gordon finish?

I'm pretty aware that JR went out early.....but did he ever get back in the race??? If he didn't well atleast he will be able to work on a better car for another race.

I think thats about it....if I think of any other questions I"m just gonna ask.

Braveheart

[Garrett Duke]

Well I can only answer a couple of your questions...but it's better than nothing, right? LOL

*Jimmie Johnson came in first

he was followed by both Busch brothers

and Jeff Gordon came in fourth!

*As for Jr....I don't think he ever made it back in the race. I had to leave with seventy-two laps left and he wasn't out as of then. Hopefully next race, he'll have better luck.

Hope that helps

[bethie88]

Jimmie Johnson? Crap!

[Capt_Redneck]

They should have taken the win away from JJ , just so NASCAR makes it fair for every who cheats to win....

Top Two Finishers May Face Penalties UPDATE Penalties, Fines and Suspensions: Speed Channel is reporting that #48-Jimmie Johnson, the winner at Las Vegas, was found in post race inspection to be too low and the 2nd place finisher #5-Kyle Busch's Chevy quarter panels were too high. NASCAR decisions will come Monday or Tuesday. The win will probably stand.(3-13-2005)

UPDATE: NASCAR probably won't take away #48-Jimmie Johnson's victory in Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400, despite his car's failing an inspection after the race for being too low at the roof. First, it might be difficult to give the win to teammate #5-Kyle Busch, who finished second, because Busch's car also failed post-race inspection, for being too high at the rear quarterpanels. But it's not nice to try to fool John Darby, NASCAR's competitions director, and his justice may be harsh for both Johnson and Busch. But, a win is a win, no matter the asterisks - and no matter the razzing from rivals. The low roof that led to Johnson's violation would likely provide both an edge in speed on the straightaways as well as better handling in the corners because more air would reach the crucial rear spoiler. The high rear quarterpanels that led to Busch's violation would likely provide an edge in handling in the corners, because the rear spoiler would be higher. What NASCAR will likely do is take away enough points, probably 25, to knock Johnson out of the Nextel Cup points lead. That would put Kurt Busch, who finished third, back atop the standings.(Winston Salem Journal)

Wanna stop the cheating....take the freakin' win away, make a statement, that starting next week, post-RACE infractions cost 25 points, if it is the winner, they drop to 4th or 5th, and the win goes to the 2nd place car, or the next legal car.(3-15-2005)

UPDATE - Fines, Penalties and Suspensions: NASCAR has announced that rule infractions this past weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway have resulted in the suspension of three NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series crew chiefs.

The #48 Chevrolet team received three penalties, due to the car's roof height being too low in post-race inspection — a violation of Section 12-4-A of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series rule book (actions detrimental to stock car racing) and Section 12-4-Q (car, car parts, components, and/or equipment used that do not conform to NASCAR rules). A penalty of 25 driver points dropped Jimmie Johnson — the race winner at Las Vegas — back to second place (500 points) in the standings, 10 behind reigning series champion Kurt Busch (510). Chad Knaus, Johnson's crew chief, has been suspended from competition for the next two races and fined $35,000; Jeff Gordon, the #48 car owner, has been penalized 25 owner points.

#29 Team: Todd Berrier, crew chief for the #29 Chevrolet driven by Kevin Harvick, has been suspended for the next four races and fined $25,000. Those penalties resulted from the #29 having an unapproved fuel filler and unapproved fuel cell vent. The car was in violation of Sections 12-4-A and 12-4-Q. The violation was found during post-qualifying inspection. In addition to Berrier's penalties, Harvick has been penalized 25 driver championship points, dropping him from eighth to 10th in the driver standings, while car owner Richard Childress loses 25 car owner championship points.

#5 Team: Alan Gustafson, crew chief for the #5 Chevrolet driven by Kyle Busch, has been suspended for two races and fined $25,000, due to the car's quarter-panel heights being too high in post-race inspection — also violations of Sections 12-4-A and 12-4-Q. Busch has been assessed 25 driver points, dropping him from 18th to 22nd in the standings; car owner Rick Hendrick loses 25 owner points.

In addition:

Harold Holly, crew chief for the #32 Chevrolet driven by Bobby Hamilton Jr., was fined $5,000 because of the #32 having an unapproved deck lid, a violation of Sections 12-4-A and 12-4-Q that was determined during opening-day inspection.

John Latchford, crew chief for the #89 Dodge driven by Morgan Shepherd, was fined $1,000 because of an unapproved fire suppression agent found during opening-day inspection. That also violated Sections 12-4-A and 12-4-Q.

Larry Carter, crew chief for the #2 Dodge driven by Rusty Wallace, was fined $1,000. During opening-day inspection, the car's shoulder harness did not have a date tag displayed, a violation of Sections 17.2-C (and 12-4-A).(Fox Sports/Sporting News)

POINTS UPDATED on my Jayski's Drivers/Owners Points after Las Vegas page.(3-15-2005)

Hendrick Responds to sanctions and to Appeal: Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports, today responded to sanctions levied by NASCAR on two of his NEXTEL Cup Series entries. "I'm not disputing NASCAR's right to levy sanctions," Hendrick said. "As a team owner, I understand why these standards are in place and have always taken pride in the fact that our organization has kept a very clean record. In this particular instance, though, we disagree with the severity of NASCAR's stance and plan to appeal their decision. I want to make it clear that we in no way intentionally ignored guidelines and I'm certain everyone understands that."(Hendrick Motorsports)(3-15-2005)

[bethie88]

NASCAR is turning into nothing but politics and advertisements... have you ever watched the NASCAR legends reunion? There were races back then where only 1 car wasn't cheating. lol. But it's good that they have to pay for cheating.

[Dixie Lee_01]

Racing used to be about how well you could build or modify a car - body or engine. The better mechanics as well as drivers contributed to a win. Now there are a lot more rules to try to not allow anyone an edge, to make all the cars alike. I'm not sure that, personally, that makes a race as interesting or fun to watch *or* participate in. I'm not sure that the rules are exactly fair to the teams or drivers. It's wrong to cheat, but at the same time it seems wrong to me to penalize those who built the car for simply coming up with a better design. It wasn't like that in dirt racing. Messing with another person's car was wrong, but building a good one of your own was to be admired. I think NASCAR probably used to be similar in that respect, from glimpses like the turbocharger Cale Yarborough built in the Dukes season 2. I'm not sure that'd be allowed anymore.

Just my feelings, right or wrong. I don't claim to be *any* sort of expert on NASCAR.

[Capt_Redneck]

Racing used to be about how well you could build or modify a car - body or engine. The better mechanics as well as drivers contributed to a win. Now there are a lot more rules to try to not allow anyone an edge, to make all the cars alike. I'm not sure that, personally, that makes a race as interesting or fun to watch *or* participate in. I'm not sure that the rules are exactly fair to the teams or drivers. It's wrong to cheat, but at the same time it seems wrong to me to penalize those who built the car for simply coming up with a better design. It wasn't like that in dirt racing. Messing with another person's car was wrong, but building a good one of your own was to be admired. I think NASCAR probably used to be similar in that respect, from glimpses like the turbocharger Cale Yarborough built in the Dukes season 2. I'm not sure that'd be allowed anymore.

Just my feelings, right or wrong. I don't claim to be *any* sort of expert on NASCAR.[/quote]

I totally agree with that. BUT in the world of NASCAR racing today, it is too corporate. Racing today has gotten boring and there are very few personalites that you actually care to hear what they say.

NASCAR has set new rules and teams build cars within those rules and bend them as far as possible. NASCAR has been trying to level the playing field since all the corporate sponsorship and televison exposure , Do you think NASCAR would like to lose any amount of sponsorship money because they favor this over that ? Now they are policing the rules alot more stringent than ever before.

I wish stock car racing can go back to who had the fastest car and who was the best driver on the track. Not any of this pit stop gaining track postion or fuel mileage racing...But if they cheat now , then take the win away and that will show them more than points or fines that they mean business...

Darrell

[Capt_Redneck]

Here is a GREAT column that I found about NASCAR .It is exactly how I feel about NASCAR..

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/255-03112005-461650.html

It's not your father's NASCAR anymore - Ernie Saxton

Jimmie Johnson claims that California NASCAR fans are not necessarily excited about attending a race, but they are looking for the NASCAR experience. I think that is true with many people attending NASCAR Nextel Cup races these days. And it may even be true for those attending the Busch Series and Craftsman Truck races.

The reason for many to be there is to be part of the experience. It could be much like those who attended Woodstock so many years back. Many were not into the music, but they wanted to be there to share the experience.

Real race fans are claiming that Cup racing is boring. I can't argue that point. Even last Sunday's Busch Series race in Mexico City was a yawner. Martin Truex Jr. won by six seconds. Important to NASCAR was the fact that there were close to 100,000 people in the stands. They are already talking about bringing a Nextel Cup race to Mexico in 2006.

I have to admit that the last few laps of the Daytona 500 were pretty exciting. But fans paying what some experts claim are the highest ticket prices in sports should not have to sit through 190 laps to get just 10 laps of excitement.

Old-time race fans, those who remember the sport as I do, want to see drivers beating and banging on each other. They want to see racers who actually race for position and win a race by passing not pushing someone out of the way.

Old-time race fans are not into gas mileage strategy tests. They are not into races that are won in the pits rather than in high speed competition on the track.

Old-time race fans want to see a repeat of Richard Petty and David Pearson tangling just before they reach the finish line in the Daytona 500. Pearson was able to refire his car after the accident and limp across the finish line to win.

Old-time race fans want to see a repeat of the fist fight that Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough had after they crashed in the third turn at the 1979 Daytona 500 while battling for the win. It may be the most famous fight in the sport's history. NASCAR fines their drivers for fighting these days. They fine them for using curse words. NASCAR tells the racers that all that is not good for the image of the sport. However, when you look at the promotional videos, the commercial spots, being used to hype ticket sales, the fights and crashes seem to get the NASCAR seal of approval.

Old-time race fans would like to get back to the days of the Ford battling the Chevy. The Pontiac battling the Olds. They want to be able to tell the cars apart. NASCAR is changing all that. All the cars are being built to look the same. In fact when NASCAR is done, all the bodies will be the same and all the engines will be the same. Homogenized racing.

NASCAR, at least with its Cup, Busch and Truck divisions, seems to be headed in a different direction than what made the sport as popular as it is. And a lot of old-time race fans are not happy.

Like your father's Oldsmobile, the old-time race fan also seems to be disappearing, replaced by the youngsters, not so interested in the racing as they are in being part of the NASCAR experience.

Being an old-timer, I'm not sure I like what is happening, but I do understand why.

March 11, 2005 6:51 AM

[bethie88]

Can't disagree with that. And another thing... why is it that of all the cars they're racing, only one of the stock versions is an actual sports car? The Ford car and the new Chargers are hardly hot rods... they're 4-doors! Good grief!

[Dixie Lee_01]

Great article!

[DaneyDuke]

Thank you, Capt for sharing that article. =)

[Capt_Redneck]

I am glad race fans liked that article...Even newer fans can get a sense of what us " old time" race fans use to brag about..

I guess it is the name of progress, but it doesn't mean I have to like it either..

Darrell

[bethie88]

I wish I'd been around for racing like it used to be!

[Garrett Duke]

Thank-you for the articles Darrell. They were interesting and yeah, it is kinda too bad that it isn't how it once was. Oh well...I spose the rules have some purproses behind them.

~Garrett Duke~

[Julieduke]

D.W. put it best when he said why do they make doors on when I always use the windows, it in the beginng of the race.

[1hellraiser]

I miss the old racing. The problem is with the new racing is, the cars are to sleek. In the 70's and 80's, even the 60's, (cant count the superbird, that car was so good it was banned!!). The cars then were blocks with wheels. If you put mid 80's monte carlo, up against the new ones, on aero. alone the new car would win. Plus the cars now, are made almost to self destruct, so the driver would have a better chance of not getting hurt. Back then the sheet metal was thicker, thus making the car hevier. So if there was a petty-pearson like battle now, no one would have a chance. Also the drivers, you cannot compare drivers like Cale, Darrell, Junior Johnson, Fireball Roberts, to todays drivers, because they were better. They had a better feel for the car, because they either built it, or were more involved in the building of it. Also the speeds, if you looks at the 1985 (I wanna say Daytona but I really dont remember), Bill Elliot qualified @ 215 mph, after that we got restricter plates, racing is not racing with the horses being choked. The, way the drivers act now is scary, all they are is a corperate robot. I remember seeing david pearson, grabbing a smoke during a red flag stop, (lets see Jr. do that!). The drivers have to censor, everything they do and say, im sorry but if i'm drafting gordon, and I see Jimmy Spencer come up behind me, you bet your rear end, I'll be cussing, (and for good reason). What nascar needs, is 1), make pit road speed 65, and a big orange flag to mark the beginning and end of pit road. 2), bring back, the old shorttracks, and lose places that don't care for nascar. 3), make the lapped cars, leave the track, in the last half of the race. Why should I have to see my driver, struggle, with the lapped cars, and give him bad air, just so they can get a couple of points, even though they are nowhere in the hunt, for the win or championship. 4), Hendrick teams, they are the dark side of nascar, with jeff gordon, being Darth Vader, make them disband, (wont happen but a nice thought). 5), Restricter plates, they are just no good, as I said why choke the horses, ok speeds wold be high, but look at the IRL, they average 200 mph, with the same car field. I believe Darell is right, Capt. Redneck you are right!

[Capt_Redneck]

Got this off Jayski... PLEASE READ THE HIGHLIGHTED PART. I am hoping it might be true in very near future. Maybe the France family is seeing what Brian is doing to the sport and it's long time fan's and doesn't like Brian's direction. Maybe the France family does care about the tradition. Hopefully we will find out soon...

http://www.jayski.com/cupnews.htm

France and the NFL rumor resurfaces MORE II: Brian France's on-and-off plans to get into the National Football League as part-owner of a proposed new Los Angeles franchise may be back on again, according to sources who say France is working with Magic Johnson on various NFL-NBA angles. Johnson is on the NASCAR business roster to help this sport's diversity program. The latest thinking on France-to-the-NFL is that he will complete NASCAR's current round of TV renegotiations before making any big moves. France has insisted he's not planning on leaving NASCAR anytime soon, though he has left the door open.(Winston Salem Journal)(3-21-2005)

MORE: Former Los Angeles Lakers great Magic Johnson says he and NASCAR chairman/CEO Brian France have held discussions concerning the purchase of an NFL team for Los Angeles. Johnson, a co-chairman of NASCAR's diversity committee, said he has met three or four times with France in Los Angeles, where France has a home [it was announced last year France had sold his house in LA and moved to Daytona Beach...Philly Inquirer in Feb 2004], and he said the two will meet again in two weeks. "I'm working on trying to bring the NFL back to L.A.," Johnson said in a telephone interview Tuesday night. "I've met with the league three, four, five times, hopefully to be a minority owner." Los Angeles, the nation's No. 2 media market, hasn't had an NFL team since 1995. NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said during his annual state of the game address before the Super Bowl that the league intends to return a team to the Los Angeles area sometime this decade. "It would be wonderful that Brian France would be interested in being a part-owner or owner in the Los Angeles franchise," Johnson said. "He has the money, he has the marketing tools and he lives in L.A. He loves both the NBA and the NFL. So I would see him being an owner in one or the other league. I'd love to work with Brian." France — a grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. who has been credited with increasing the sport's popularity since taking over from his father, Bill France Jr., in 2003 — was not available for comment Thursday. "Brian and Magic have had several conversations," said Ramsey Poston, managing director of NASCAR corporate communications. "Mainly they've talked about diversity in NASCAR, but ... they've talked about a lot of sports. They both like the NFL, but there has not been any specific conversations between the two about acquisition or ownership of an NFL team. Brian is firmly planted as CEO and chairman of NASCAR and is here for the long haul."(USA Today)(3-25-2005)

AND Despite the denials, sources continue to indicate that Brian France’s tenure as leader of NASCAR could be shorter than expected, NFL or not. There is credible word that Jim France, brother of Bill France and vice chairman/exec vp of NASCAR, and Bill France’s daughter, Lesa France Kennedy, are seeking to acquire Brian’s shares in the company. Why this would be done is not clear, and it may have nothing to do with the NFL. Brian France has denied this as well. “I have a huge economic interest in this industry today, and I plan to have for a long time,†he told USA Today in February. Credible sources say any such move by France would not happen soon, calling it “a slow burn.†Indications are that, if all goes as planned, the Frances would wait until after renegotiation of the network television contracts, due for renewal beginning next year. Brian France played an important role in negotiation of the current contracts in 2000.(Speed Channel)(3-26-2005)

[bethie88]

hm....

[Garrett Duke]

The boys are at Bristol this weekend! After being at Bristol for DukeFest last year...I have to say it is my favorite track. I have never been to a NASCAR race or been to any other track. Of course there wasn't a race going on at the time, but it was great to be there to say that I have at least been to a NASCAR track and was able to sit in the seats for a while. It'll always be a special track to me...one to remember at least.

~Garrett Duke~

[Capt_Redneck]

Let the beatin' and bangin' begin... I am sure tempers will flare up Sunday during and after the race...

Hopefully this will be a good race. The others, including Daytona, weren't that exciting for 90-95% of the race except for the last few laps. Aero stuff is thrown out this weekend . It's time for racin' , short track style...

[bethie88]

I <3 Kevin Harvick. Not as much as Jr., but I still <3 him!

[Capt_Redneck]

Alright .WHOOOOHOOO...#29 - Kevin Harvick , it's about time for him.

But the best finishe belonged to #45 Kyle Petty - 8th place. Great to see Petty Enterprises getting back to where they belong..