Just a quick little something to note. In reading the comments of Michael McCarthy on Sunday’s ESPN coverage of the Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway I love this quote best.

Brent Musburger to Suzy Kolber - “Suzy, it’s not true they’re honoring the Allstate adjusters, it just seems that way.”

I also have to agree that the Draft Track is pretty lame. It just doesn’t add to the race coverage for me. Is there anyone that enjoyed that and thought it made the race interesting? I’m sure we will see it more in near-term races, but is it something that can grow on you given time? For me, not likely. How about you?

Was there a quote, or moment in the race that really got your attention? How are you rating ther coverage by ESPN so far? And what can they do to make it better?

Submitted from NASCAR Eclectic

NASCAR Coach Reveals Winning Strategy: ‘Drive Fast’

Submitted from NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

I just got this in my e-mail today.

Go here to enter the contest and get a free T-shirt, yep I said free - you only have to pay for shipping. You can also enter the contest without ordering a T-shirt.

If you are ordering a T-shirt don’t hesitate, I would imagine that there will be many orders and a lot will be put on back order. I ordered mine already.

Take Care, and good luck with the contest.

Submitted from NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

Today’s running of the Brickyard 400 (yes, I still call it that - don’t you?) quickly turned into the Junkyard 400. The safe place to be was out front, but that nearly turned costly for Harvick and Stewart as they ‘beat and banged’ their way around the track fighting for the lead. Stewart would eventually take and never look back - even when drinking from his water bottle, using both hands mind you, while driving down the straightaway at nearly 200 mph with just 10 laps remaining. Stewart’s comment about that when asked was, “I was thirsty”.

“Here, kitty, kitty, kitty,” Stewart called out over the radio as he chased down Harvick. “Come get you some of this.”

Whether you like Stewart or not, you cannot deny that he is one heck of a race car driver and he proved it yet again today.

Another driver of note is Juan Montoya. Using a slightly different driving lane than his fellow competitors he finished second after starting second in today’s race. It must be noted that after the start of the race Montoya was virtually out of the picture for the whole race until the closing laps when he appeared ‘out of nowhere’ to finish second in his first start at The Indianapolis Speedway as a NASCAR driver. Not too bad for a rookie. I wonder what Juan would have done if the caution flew in the closing laps and gave him a chance to get Stewart on the restart which were giving him problems late in the race.

To be honest with you, although I never documented it, I had Montoya pegged to finish in the top 5 today. The other 4 in my top 5 were Stewart, Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, and Jimmie Johnson with a possible spoilers being Kahne (with his new/old nose) and Denny Hamlin (who seems to do well on flatter tracks).

Speaking of Jimmie Johnson, man he took a hard lick today - thank God for safer barriers. I happened to have recorded the race today as I had a ton of things to do today and I went back to watch his wreck later (I was listening to the race on the radio at the time of the crash) and if you watch closely you can actually see the left fender of the car crumple against his tire about halfway down the straightaway followed by smoke and the tire blowing up as he enters the corner. This would go with what he said in his interview after where he explained that he felt something fall off the car, maybe a brace, about halfway down the straightaway and then the tire went down.

Talking about weird things; what a terrible place to finally stop - right in the middle of pit road while the rest of the field comes in for pit stops during the caution. I bet Dale Jr had a few anxious moments there while the cars drove around his stalled (for lack of a better term) vehicle.

You know, I wonder if there is something going on at DEI - sorry, this is not conspiracy theory - he looses the use of his power steering a few weeks back and had to finish the race with no power steering and today he reported that he lost his power steering just prior to the engine experiencing catastrophic failure. Can these two separate incidents be related somehow - maybe in the final assembly process where something is being put on wrong, or they are using the same parts that are defective somehow? I don’t know, but hopefully DEI won’t be doing a Ray Evernham here and they will actually look into this to see if they are related.

Let’s move onto the topic that everyone is talking about and that is ‘Bullpoo’. OK maybe not exactly Bullpoo, but you know what I mean. Yes I think NASCAR will fine Tony on Tuesday under the catch all Section 12-4-A of the NASCAR Rule Book (you know, “Actions detrimental to stock car racing …).

Does Tony regret what he said? Probably not. He had this to say afterwords, “It’s a little late to be concerned about it now,” Stewart said. “It pretty much is what it is. Whatever happens, they still can’t take this trophy away from me today.”

The other ‘hot’ topic right now is Kevin Harvick. After the race he deliberately ran into Tony on the cool down lap. Was it a congratulatory bump or was he peeved that Tony got into him while fighting for the lead? I think wa all know which one it was, don’t we?

Tony wasn’t too concerned about it after the race, winning can make you gracious after all. I wonder if the shoe was on the other foot if he would have done what Kevin did? After considerable thought, I think that yes he would have.

Kevin had this to say, “It was just good racing until I got the left front fender caved in. He didn’t quite give us enough room.” I don’t know if he said this ‘pre’ or ‘post’ visit to the NASCAR trailer for ‘rough driving’. I think it is post-visit quote, it is a little too tame for Kevin. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was even docked points under Section 12-4-A of the NASCAR Rule Book too.

Regardless of what anyone thinks, I still think that the battle between Harvick and Stewart was great. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I don’t think it was as deliberate as Kevin insinuates though, Tony could have easily cut down a tire or caved in his fender too. Rubbins’ Racin’ Kev.

Submitted from NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

Ray Evernham is blaming his organization’s bad performance on using information that was not correct and basing critical decisions on that information.

“According to Evernham, the team made changes to its simulation software and the aerodynamics of its Dodge racecars after a preseason Nextel Cup test session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The team built all of its Chargers based on that information, which no one realized was fundamentally flawed until last week. The cars that were being developed in the Evernham engineering lab proved to be nothing like the cars on the racetrack, and the performance level plummeted as a result.” - source: David Caraviello, NASCAR.COM

As a result of this new discovery at Evernham Motorsport the man in charge of the engineering department, technical director Eric Warren (who has been with Evernham since 2002) has been placed on leave and Ray Evernham himself along with Vice President of Competition Sammy Johns will take over Warren’s duties. In addition to these personnel changes at Evernham Motorpsorts, they will be using the 2006 Charger noses on their cars for the remainder of the season instead of the current 2007 noses which all the poor information is based on.

This is a pretty significant happening. It shows you just how reliant these teams are becoming on technology. It also shows you how, if not used properly, how technology can hurt your performance.

I just can’t believe that they couldn’t have caught this earlier in the season. You would think they have some sort of ‘checks and balances’ system established to prevent things such as this from happening. Also, if Evernham Motorsports is the ‘flag ship’ of Chrysler in NASCAR Cup then why couldn’t they have discovered the problem, especially with all of the support they are supposed to be given them?

Does this also effect other Dodge teams like Petty Enterprises since they supposedly share info with each other?

Personally, I think this whole thing is a bigger ‘pie-in-your-face’ for Ray Evernham than the Erin Crocker affair last year.

Submitted from NASCAR Eclectic

Jason Leffler’s newer tires gave him the edge to get past Biff in the final laps during last night’s Busch race at O’Reilly Raceway Park. The fender to fender racing was awesome. What was even better happened a few minutes earlier when Leffler’s Toyota locked horns with Reutimann’s Toyota. It was a battle for second that left dents and donuts in both cars with Leffler ultimately banging his way in front of the #99. Post race interviews had the usual finger pointing which I thoroughly enjoyed!! This was one of the best Busch race’s thus far this year.

Reed Sorenson on the pole!! With Monty riding in the 2nd spot, Flyin Ryan in 3rd, Jr. in 4th and Kasey topping off the top 5. Four Dodge’s in the top 5 starting grid!! But will one of them take the checker?? Nah!! Well maybe!!

Submitted from NASCAR Eclectic

I am suffering from a bit of writer’s block this morning. I came across the quill image and it made me think of Mark Twain of all people. He was once quoted as saying

“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man. “

Mr. Twain was many things, but his brutal honesty was his best friend. I think of the recent allegations against Michael Vick as purely horrendous crimes against dog’s, our best friends. Now I realize that Twain’s statement is not about dog brutality, but it says a lot about what some men are capable of. I just cannot imagine stealing someones beloved pet right out of their yard for the pure enjoyment of watching it get murdered by another dog. Vick’s plea of not guilty is a given, but if the evidence is true, the trial will make a mockery out of him and if in the end he his found guilty I hope the Federal prison term includes raising pups that become service dogs. But on the other hand this would allow him to feel his ego as he makes a statement in his own simple mind… “Look at me, I love dogs!!” Better yet… put him in a boxing ring with Hannibal Lecter.

Submitted from NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

Another short but sweet one tonight, but I’m still posting (see post from 2 days ago to find out why I’m rushed). Anyway, the story I wrote about yesterday came true, how about that? The DEI/Ginn merger is a done deal and they haven’t wasted any time in moving points from the 14 car to the 15 car. Go here to read the whole thing. I guess DEI won’t be renting post-shaker time from Penske anymore.

I predict that sometime this weekend, either Friday or Saturday, Dale Jr and Hendrick Motorsports will make their much anticipated sponsor announcement - that is where the cal before the storm part comes in. But we’ll see, I haven’t renewed my fortune teller’s licence since 1992.

Gotta Go, Take Care!

Submitted from NASCAR Eclectic

So now that the Ginn-DEI marriage is on the honeymoon how long before Theresa’s talons dig deep? She has already gained tremendously by moving the whole operation into Ginn’s garage and picking up Mark Martin with the unwavering sponsorship of the US Army. Bobby pretty much gave her full rein, but sources say he maintains ownership of the #01 and has also taken over the #15 and Paul Menard. Perhaps this merger will work and become an example of what future teams will do. The “New” NASCAR… 4 or 5 major teams? And I’ve not read or heard what [or if] the name of Ginn-DEI will become. At least the merger of Rosox left us with a catchy name. With all due respect to Dale Sr. I would hope the name remains.

Back at the Cottage… It’s hard to believe that July 07 is about to end. My contracting business is so busy that I have lost track of everything and my head is spinning. I am behind schedule with one addition being held up due to an excavator that left me hanging for ten days, but that’s finally completed so I can start the framing… then to top it off I had problems with an employee and finally had to let him go. This too set back the clock, but he has been replaced with a nice guy carpenter/drummer, but today, his first day on the job, was put on hold due to his family being hit by a flu virus. The weather has put a damper on things, literally and as of next week I am suppose to be starting another big family room addition, but that will be put on the back burner for at least 3 weeks. The good thing is… my customers are patient and understanding and this I can pat myself on the back for because I have established myself after over 25 years of this. I am also the designer/engineer so my desk and drafting table are backed up too. Maybe I need a merger!!!

Submitted from Freshrubber.com

The recent arrest of Craftsman Truck Series driver Aaron Fike on charges of heroin possession has brought new calls for NASCAR to toughen its drug-testing policies. Driver Kevin Harvick, who Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway will try to win the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard for a second time, has been outspoken in favoring mandatory testing. “I believe every driver in every national series should be drug tested a couple times a year randomly, regardless of who you are,” Harvick said recently. “I think we owe it to the sponsors and the fans to 100 percent know that this is a clean environment. Shame on NASCAR for not policing our garage better than what they police it now.” Harvick’s Richard Childress Racing teammate, Jeff Burton, said he doesn’t believe a serious problem exists but “wishes NASCAR tested more” to remove any doubt.

– Indy Star

Submitted from NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

Hello everyone. I’ve got a really busy week, (relatives visiting - if you know what I mean) and I don’t know if I’ll be able to post everyday, but I’ll try. If you don’t see a post for a few days, don’t worry, I’ll be a regular Tour-De-Force this weekend with Indy and all (and with the relatives going back to where they came from).

Now lets look at the NASCAR front: Carl Edwards is released from the hospital after a weekend racing crash. Go here and read the article. Does it make sense to you that he was kept over night for a dislocated thumb? Me either, there is more to this story. My guess is that it might head related, but who knows for sure except him and the Docs, and maybe Jack.

Remember what happened to Tony Stewart in an extra-curricular race last year? Yep, and he missed The Chase because of it.

Stay tuned for more on this.

Sorry, due to time constraints no picture is available today. Take Care.

Submitted from NASCAR Eclectic

Intrigued by an article I just read > FDNY Racing a true ‘grass-roots’ Truck Series team on NASCAR.com not only taught me a few things, but also reminded me of 9-11. I personally know a fireman who went through the Sept. 11th fiasco and well I’ll just say that for many months to follow he had a love affair with a bar stool. It’s cool to see one of these guys, whether or not he was part of 9-11, do something like this article reads.

Back to race week!! And The Brickyard 400!!

Submitted from NASCAR Ranting and Raving

Sometimes that’s what happens when you get somebody that invests in a sport that doesn’t really know anything about the sport,” said Petty about the release of Joe Nemechek and Sterling Marlin earlier this week.

Harry Gant, who retired from racing completely in 1994 added, “It seems like the sponsors dictate who they want, even when I was still racing it was just starting to come into play. When I was racing, (age) was no big deal, it used to be if you weren’t 40 years old, Junior Johnson and people like that didn’t want to hire you.” - source: Mark DeCotis, Florida Today

Read what you want into what Kyle has to say but the #01 car is still running better than any of the Petty Enterprises cars, so the people at Bobby Ginn Racing must be doing some things right. Yet I have to agree with Kyle, to let Joe and Sterling go at this time of the year seems a little out of the ordinary for a typical NASCAR team, but this is more of a business driven sport, and business does not look at other things besides profit margins and if the profit margins drop then costs are cut regardless of who it effects. That is the nature of the new NASCAR.

Submitted from Freshrubber.com

McLaren’s Fernando Alonso closed to within two points of the world championship lead by beating Ferrari’s Felipe Massa to victory in a chaotic, rain-interrupted, European Grand Prix.

Massa, leading Sunday’s chaotic race after his final pitstop, did his best to hold off Alonso on vibrating tyres but the Spaniard muscled his way past on the 56th of 60 laps with the cars touching. Television showed both men having words as they waited to step on the podium, with runner-up Massa turning away from the triumphant double world champion, who grinned and raised both thumbs to the camera.

Sumbitted from NASCAR Eclectic

The off weeks of The Nextel [Sprint] Cup leave me with a sense of separation anxiety. It’s like I need to check the schedule to remind me it’s for real. When one is as passionate about a sport as I am, the lack of the traditional weekend goings on from Friday Happy Hour, qualifying and practice to the actual race leave a big void in time. I could welcome the break and actually get some “Honey-do” things done or play some golf, which I may just do, or mow that rain soaked lawn, but I normally do those things anyway inbetween race stuff. Pattyjo and I do have a wedding to attend today, but those events usually make me want to go home as soon as I get there, especially when that one person who is always present at a wedding reception takes that 14th drink that turns them into a raging lunatic. Maybe the food will be good and make it worthwhile. I barely know the bride and I’ve never laid eyes on the groom, so why is it we feel obligated to attend a wedding when we get that invitation in the mail? Then there is the Busch race tonight. It could be a race where a non-whacker wins. But Cousin Carl is part of the lineup.

I hope all of you folks suffering from said affliction have a good weekend regardless of the withdrawals.

Over at the Sporting News I read an interesting blog. The question asked is what would you change if you could. Well that is interesting. NASCAR has changed a lot. CoT, the rules, the fines and so on. But what do the fans want?

Well the first item that Mattbud8 wrote on is probably the one I would pick. Not the Earnhardt move but the fines. Any fine given a driver or team is redistributed back to the top teams at the end of the year. That doesn’t sound like a penalty to me. If you are a top 10 team, do you really worry about a fine if you will get most of it back?

I agree that the fines need to go somewhere else, and I think a charity is perfect. Why not have the top 5 teams pick a charity each. ALL the fine money each year goes to those charities (picked at the beginning of the year). Now we get to see a penalty and some good coming out of it.

It’s a simple change but it makes an impact. It helps those that need it and forces teams and drivers to think twice about breaking a major rule (there is too much gray in the rules, or their application to believe none will be broken).

What else would you change? Who knows, maybe some officials will notice the attention and do something the fans are actually asking for.

Submitted from NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

Well I went and did it, I went and saw the number 26 Jamie McMurray show car today. It was in town at two locations - one at the West End of the City and one at the East End. Even though I live closer to the East End location I went to the West End showing because it was earlier in the day, therefore I would be able to coach my son’s T-Ball Team tonight. As it turns out, it rained cats and dogs so the game was cancelled, and I would imagine they put the show car away early too. So, unlike the Tony Stewart autograph session that I missed, my luck today held out.

I’ve been to a lot of show car appearances around this neck of the woods, and let me tell you I’ve seen some high calibre machines like the Dale Earnhardt collection (Wheaties, Olympic, Taz, Silver, Peter Max, Bass Pro Shops) and I’ve seen some pretty low calibre machines as well, like the Jeff Gordon show car that came to town just after he switched to his current flame job paint scheme. The Gordon car looked like somebody just ‘put it together’ thinking that since it had the 24 on the side everyone would oooh and awwwe about it - that didn’t happen, there were a lot of disappointed fans - but the car was junk. Unlike the Gordon car the RCR cars of Dale Earnhardt were nice pieces, every attention was given to detail - there was even a detail printed history of each car.

Today’s viewing of the Jamie McMurray car would fall closer to the Earnhardt cars than the Jeff Gordon car (don’t get me wrong here, I went and saw another Jeff Gordon car a year or so later and it was nice - I guess someone back Hendrick’s listened to all of the complaints from the Gordon fans who were disappointed in what they saw earlier)..

What makes the whole show car experience even better is when the person, or persons, who are in charge of displaying the show car know their stuff and are truly fans of the sport. Such was the case today. The guy, Paul from Just Marketing Int., who was displaying Jamie’s car was awesome, he knows his stuff and was very personable. The show car is slowly making it’s way across Ontario where it will end up in Montreal for the Aug. 3 & 4 Busch race.).

Anyway, let’s talk about the car. The car originally started life skinned as a #17 Dewalt Taurus built for Matt Kenseth. The car ‘fell out of Matt’s good graces’ and was ‘parked’ until Jamie came to Roush. Jamie tested it and liked it. He raced the car at Bristol that first year at Roush’s and hit the wall pretty hard. His crew were able to piece it back together and get him back out 87 laps later, which at Bristol, where they run 15 sec. laps, it is pretty quick work to get back out on the track after a wreck and only be 87 laps down. The car was taken back to the shop and during the rebuilding process, actually it was the tear-down process that precedes the rebuild, they found a significant hairline crack that compromised the integrity of the frame. The car was then placed on the show car circuit.

My one problem with the show car was that it was obviously a short track car, based on various things seen throughout the car and by what Paul told me of the history of the car, but when they re-skinned the car as a Ford Fusion they didn’t put any of the cuts into the front nose-piece to allow for the venting of the brakes and so on. When I looked under the car, most of the ducts and coolers were in place, butted up against a solid bumper with no screened hole cut out for ventilation.

Here is another bit of info that Paul told me that many of you might not have known - I certainly didn’t - the car Jamie just won in at the Pepsi 400 at Daytona was brought back to Roush/Fenway and place in Jack’s museum as is, and the back up car from that race was immediately placed on the show car circuit and will also be be in Montreal the weekend of the Busch race. As a matter of fact, the guy in charge of that show piece was called back off the road to drop his current show car off and to pick up that one for display. With no use for the super-speedway CoY, I can only assume that a lot of other teams are doing the same as Jack did with his - turning them into show cars, or selling them to ARCA etc..

When going to see a NASCAR show car, it is about the whole experience; seeing the car in detail, talking with knowledgeable presenter(s), getting some pretty good pictures, talking with other fans, and maybe getting a little swag, like a sticker or promo picture. All of these requirements were met, except seeing the car in detail part - but to the car’s credit, it wasn’t that bad, I’ve seen a heck of a lot worse passed off as show cars. If you get a chance to see it over the next few weeks as it makes its way to Montreal I recommend you do so, and don’t forget to talk with Paul, it’ll make your experience that much better.

Everyone loves an underdog. It’s true of virtually all sports, especially when that underdog makes good and wins. Sometimes that win takes a bit of time though.

I noticed this story from the Kennebec Journal, written by Travis Barrett, about driver Travis Adams. In 2005 he qualified for his only career start at the time, and finished 40th in a race of 40. Not the most auspicious start. Definitely the underdog going forward.

But now Adams has rallied and risen to the point of being the favorite at the TD Banknorth 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway. You just have to love that. From a 40th place position to 5 wins this season and favorite consideration. That’s inspiring.

Wiscasset Raceway Late Model rookie Dan Trask must be paying attention to this story. Who knows, maybe he will be the new underdog that makes good. That makes good racing, and if feels good too.

Submitted from NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

About a year ago I talked about DEI possibly buying out MB2, which didn’t happen. MB2 was later bought by land developer Bobby Ginn. Now it looks like that the new team of Bobby Ginn Racing is going to merge with DEI.

Looks like Theresa is going places. She just inks an engine development deal with RCR to share their engine technologies and build a better motor, and now it looks like she is going to ‘merge’ somehow with Bobby Ginn Racing. If this is true then she is finally going to get that former MB2 team that she ‘almost’ purchased last year.

But the changes don’t stop there, check this out:

- Stirling Marlin and Joe Nemechek are kicked out of their rides - some hard feelings there, that’s for sure. The 14 car will continue on with Regan Smith driving it, while Mark Martin continues to drive the 01 Army car and the future of the 13 car is up in the air - especially without a solid sponsor to flip the bill. My guess is, we won’t see the 13 car again for a while.

- Ginn closed down their Busch program, laying off 30 or so people at BGR.

- Aric Almirola has now left JGR and joined BGR, although he will race the remaining 5 races with JGR. Aric will really take Ragan’s place and play second fiddle to Mark Martin in the 01 car.

With all of this merging going on, 3 of the top 5 GM teams, anchored by DEI, will have ties with each other somehow and with rumours of JGR going with Toyota next year that means all of the top GM teams, except Hendrick, will have some sort of alliance. But wait, here is where it gets interesting, doesn’t BGR get their engines from Hendrick already? I wonder if they would still get their motors from Hendrick once the merge takes place. My speculation is probably not, as they would get their motors from the new combined engine house of DEI and RCR. I don’t think Rick Hendrick would lease motors to a team that essentially run by DEI.

It will be interesting to watch this story develop over the next few days. If Dale Jr doesn’t have a sponsorship announcement, or Kyle Busch doesn’t make a team announcement, this story will be the big thing during the mid-season vacation for the Cup drivers.

Photo Credit: markmartin.org

Now here is an interview that will without doubt cause some conflict among fans. It’s an interview by Speed of Road Racing World with Dave Despain. In this interview Despain discusses NASCAR, the Car of Tomorrow, Formula One, Lewis Hamilton, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Michael Schumacher, Nicky Hayden and more. Talk about covering the bases.

In this interview the future of Formula One racing in America is considered. Effectively it is compared to Pele entering the U.S. soccer arena. Nicky Hayden is taken down a notch, though he is the greatest American driver. NASCAR is questioned for the changes being made and the decisions that are supposed to expand the sport to new fans, possibly at the cost of old fans. Of course the question on the CoT come up as well.

This is a great comprehensive interview. You’ll agree with parts, and be very upset with others. If you are into auto racing, you will want to read this. It’s worth the time.

Submitted from Freshrubber.com

The shake-up at Ginn Racing continued Tuesday, when the team replaced driver Sterling Marlin, released driver Joe Nemechek, promoted Regan Smith and signed Aric Almirola in a whirlwind of activity.

Smith, 23, who was Mark Martin’s co-driver in the team’s 01 Chevrolet, will replace Marlin in the team’s No. 14 Chevrolet, beginning with the Brickyard 400 July 29 in Indianapolis. Almirola, also 23, will become Martin’s co-driver in the 01 U.S. Army Chevrolet for the remainder of the 2007 season and will also share the ride with Martin in 2008. His first race will be Aug. 12 at the road course in Watkins Glen, N.Y. Almirola also will compete in five remaining Busch races for Joe Gibbs Racing, the team he is leaving following a disastrous fallout last month.

Meanwhile, Nemechek’s sponsorless No. 13 Chevy is being parked for the time being. If sponsorship is found, the car may race again, but a more likely scenario is selling off the rights to another team outside the top 35 in points. With the No. 13 safely in the top 35 cars in owner points, it would have tremendous value to one of the teams outside the top 35 because it would be guaranteed to start races – assuming a deal could be struck before the Brickyard.

Submitted from Freshrubber.com

He holds off Kenseth on late-race restarts to take Nextel Cup victory at Chicagoland Speedway. Tony Stewart finally broke through for his first victory of the season, holding off Matt Kenseth on several late-race restarts today to win the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway.

“I’m glad this is over,” said Stewart, who also won at Chicagoland in 2004. “I’m going on vacation.”

Depending on how you look at it, having teammates on a NASCAR track could be a great thing or a huge source of frustration. When it works well, you get winning drivers and occasionally a nice line of teammates crossing the line (like with Roush Racing recently). When it doesn’t you get Kyle Busch.

I don’t understand why the term teammate is used. Drives help each other, sometimes, but not every time. If it was a team in other sports acting in this manner you would get basketball players never passing the ball or outfielders that may or may not go after the ball. The sacrifice bunt would never happen.

Obviously auto racing is a very unique sporting event. Every driver is rewarded individually for their own actions. Only one will be in the winners circle. But driving for the same owners in the same team is beneficial in many ways. Slipping past a slower teammate at a crucial point in the race and be the key to a win. Drafting is always a benefit. But where is the line.

Did the lack of a true team cost Kyle Busch the six or seven inches that would have made victory. Was it the feeling of team camaraderie that could have caused Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon to not help him out? Did Denny Hamlin deserve the tongue lashing that Tony Stewart gave him?

Perhaps the best view of teammates in NASCAR comes from Dale Earnhardt Jr.,

“But when it gets down to the last 50 laps - I always say after the last tire change on a mile-and-a-half track - it’s every man for himself.”

Mr. Michael Vass is a contributing author.

Well it’s about time that a comment, and better yet a response came from NASCAR. I have spoken several times now that a zero tolerance stance should be taken against NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Aaron Fike. It seems that my thoughts were finally understood.

For those that are unfamiliar with the Craftsman Truck series, or this driver, Fike was arrested in possession of what is reported to be heroin and drug paraphernalia. It has been, and continues to be, my position that he needed to be made an example of. Drug use cannot be tolerated or have a blind eye turned to. Scandals in baseball, and the tragedy that is the current wrestling world’s bane are just part of the reason. Ultimately, sports figures are role models to some, and this is a message the kids don’t need to hear.

While it’s taken almost a week, NASCAR has come to the same conclusion. The announced that Fike, and his fiancée crew member have both been suspended indefinitely. While I would have taken a stronger stance, barring him from the sport pending being proven innocent of the charges, I feel this makes a statement. Why it took so long I cannot answer.

There are many things in the world we cannot protect kids from, or prevent them from doing. At the same time we should have no tolerance for those that promote the most dangerous and illegal activities to the youth. At least that’s what I think, and NASCAR finally came to the same thought.

Mr. Michael Vass is a contributing author.

July 19th. That could be a day of note for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and more specifically Red Horse Racing and Aaron Fike. As was reported here on July 9th Fike was arrested on possession of heroin and drug paraphernalia.

The 19th will be the a preliminary hearing on the felony charge, and I reiterate my position before, zero tolerance. If Fike is guilty NASCAR must make an example. Even if he is not a heroin addict, his possession of drug paraphernalia is enough for me. Drivers are too much of a role model for too many youths to not elicit a strong response.

NASCAR and Red Horse Racing should not wait to see if there will be a felony conviction before taking action. This is a serious matter, and should be treated like such. Too many sports figures get handled with kid gloves in matters like this, and I’m tired of it.

Perhaps my reaction is harsh. But I rather being too harsh than to blaise when it comes to drugs. This is where NASCAR and Red Horse Racing can make a strong stand. Winning a race, keeping sponsors, and all the money that goes with it are not worth even one kid being motivated to try heroin. Do you agree?