Submitted from NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

After yesterday’s Busch Series race in Montreal, anything today short of the 1979 Daytona 500 finish would pale by comparison - and it did. But none-the-less the Pocono race showed just how strong the Penske organization has been working to get their Dodges up to the front.

Kurt Busch was the class of the field today, a regular ‘Teflon Dodge’ on the track. He led the first lap and he led the last lap, and he led a whole bunch in between.

With this win Kurt is now 12th in the point standings, with Dale Jr just a few points behind him.

Dale Jr also ran a good race today. Considering his car handled like a Ford Pinto on a sheet of ice, resulting in a spin out in the last half of the race, he came away from Pocono with about the least amount of damage done to his point total as could happen. Jr finished 2nd today but still lost 12th place to today’s race winner Kurt Busch.

I’ve got to give the DEI Budweiser Team some credit, that was a pretty good call to change the shock. Pocono is a very long track and they had enough time to do the necessary repairs before the field came around to the start. You would not have seen that done at nearly any other track in NASCAR land.

Again, my congrats to Kurt Busch for winning the race.

**Photo found at REUTERS/Robert LeSieur (UNITED STATES)**

Submitted from NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

After watching the inaugural Busch race in Montreal today you would think that Marcos Ambrose was the biggest loser. Let me tell you right here and right now that Marcos Ambrose came out of today’s race in Montreal as a winner and he didn’t even win the race - he wasn’t even given a chance after what Robby did to him.

Robby and Marcos were fighting for the lead when an accident happened behind them (Harvick was justified in his shove of Pruett - but I really feel sorry for Ron Fellows who was an innocent bystander in all of this). Robby then put the bumper to Ambrose and passed him, on the grass no less - he couldn’t do it on the track - to get the lead. Ambrose then put the bumper to Robby as the yellow flag waved and spun him out. During the caution period Robby came racing back up to the front from his 17th place position and gave Ambrose a little fender rub. He then stayed beside Ambrose and protested the position with NASCAR. NASCAR determined that Robby was indeed in 17th place and told him to get back there. Robby refused and didn’t move from second place on the starting grid. NASCAR dropped the Green flag and told Robby he would be black flagged if he didn’t do as they said. Robby dropped the hammer and drove into the back of Ambrose, spinning him out thus giving Kevin Harvick the lead as NASCAR stopped scoring Robby at that point. Robby continued to pace the field however, even though he was being scored in the 17th spot and took the checkers and proceeded to do the celebratory burnouts. He then told everyone in the post race interview that he was the true winner of the race even though Kevin Harvick was in victory lane. What Robby really did here was prove just how much of hot head he is.

You don’t always have to win a race, or a Championship for that matter, to be a winner just look at Mark Martin, he’s a winner and Marcos Ambrose fits that mold. He has class.

Robby Gordon on the other hand has won races both at the Cup and Busch level, as well as in other racing series - the man can drive a car, no doubt about that - but his actions today show that he is not made of winner material. What an embarrassment for his sponsor and for NASCAR.

Sure, what happened today will give the fans something to talk about - all of the excitement and drama of the finish - but once the initial ‘finale’ adrenaline wears off what are they going to be talking about? Robby Gordon for his ‘loser-like’ actions both on and off the track and then they’ll be talking about how NASCAR mishandled the whole thing.

NASCAR knows what kind of immature behaviour Robby is capable of and they should have red flagged the event once he refused to listen to their directives, they wee under the caution flag already. Even the announcers knew what Robby was going to do, heck even my 6 year old son said, “He’s going to hit him, isn’t he?” and he doesn’t even like NASCAR (I know, I know, I’m working on it).

As much as it pains me to say this I have to admit that Robby shouldn’t bear all of the blame on this, NASCAR should of stepped up and enforced their rules better. If a driver refuses to co-operate the race must be stopped and the driver must be made to comply.

In his post race interview Robby said that there have been precedents set all the time for things like the situation that he was put in, but what Robby forgets is that there are also precedents set for behaviour like his. Remember NASCAR parked Harvick a few years back at Martinsville for what he did in the Busch race the day before, and let me tell you it wasn’t nearly as bad as what Robby did today.
Update: Robby is supsended from participating in today’s Cup race at Pocono for his actions in Montreal. Like we didn’t see that coming.

**Photo found at (AP Photo/Tom Boland,CP) - Gordon (55) does the deed to Ambrose (59)**

Submitted from NASCAR Eclectic

The June experience at Pocono left me with a bad taste. That place is horrible for a live race, rain or no rain. Yesterday’s race, The Penn 500, on the other hand was decent and worth watching, but that’s because I was in my own home in front of my plasma tele. Espn’s coverage is ok at best and Rusty Wallace should go back to commentator school, but I like the down force wind graphics. No other network can out-do Fox, at least not in my mind.

Aside from Kurt Busch’s domination, the race had some pretty cool racin. Did Jr.’s spin and comeback remind you of anything?? Young Denny at last years race… the only differences were the shock change and Denny did win it. Jr. did an awesome job, but Busch bumped him out of the top 12. The next 5 races will be very intense for the 10th through 14th spots and those Penske cars are on a rampage.

This weeks race is right here in my state at The Glen, but we won’t be going. Actually, we live closer to Loudon than we do Watkins Glen and although I’ve never been there I’ve heard that The Glen is also horrible as far a seeing a race.

Robby Gordon sat one out… at least he is man enough to stand up for what he believes in and then man enough to take the penalty without whining.

**Photo from http://nascareclectic.blogspot.com/**

Submitted from NASCAR Eclectic

The “Roo” Marcos Ambros maintained his composure and integrity after Robo-Gordon purposely spun him in the final laps of yesterdays French Open in Montreal. Of course Marcos had done the same to Gordon just prior, and a caution was thrown at that point because of chaos behind them… but was it thrown before or after Ambrose nailed Gordon? The topper is Robby is now contending with NASCAR. He was told to drop back behind the #33 car before the Green flag but he refused, then shortly after the re-start he spun Ambrose who had the lead and Robby is now telling NASCAR he won the race!! Of course we know the win went to Happy Harvick. I have a soft spot for Gordon because he tries so hard on a shoestring, and I do think he has a legitimate gripe and he certainly has some brass you know what’s!! A battle with NASCAR is silly… right or wrong… they are always right.

Fellow Blogater Vroom reminded me that winter is creeping up on us here in the North. The recent heat that most of the eastern half of the Country has suffered has been bittersweet. The bad part is obvious… the good is the lack of clothing we need to wear and it’s a good excuse to go in the water. My Golden Retriever is now 13 weeks and because of the heat wave she has been afforded the opportunity to learn to swim and she has become an expert.

**Photo found at http://nascareclectic.blogspot.com/**

Submitted from NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

1) I’m back. You didn’t even know I was gone did you? Mrs. 3 and I packed up the kids and went to Darien Lake for a few days and we just got back tonight. We had a blast and let me tell you I met some really nice people down there - especially the guy from Syracuse NY who gave me a jump start after I accidentally left the electric cooler on in the 4ever3 family-truckster for 12.5 hours.

2) Thank-you all for your response to my previous post. I was overwhelmed by your support of my wearing my Dale Sr stuff to the race, but I still haven’t decided who to cheer for. Some of you provided good sound reasons to cheer for certain teams, but we’ll see. I’ll check to see if Boris Said is on the entry list - I’ll cheer for him if he is there.

3) Here is my rant:

I just read this a few minutes ago and I’m really ticked off about it:

“Johnson said American-based sponsors appealing to consumers in a French-speaking country could present potential barriers.” - Raygan Swan, NASCAR.COM

Hello Jimmie, (or did Raygan misquote you - after reading the article I think he may have) last time I checked Canada was an ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRY! Yes we do have two official languages, with French being the other language, but let me tell you it is English that dominates. Do a little research next time. Unless you think Quebec is a country - it is not. It is a Province, with a political make-up similar to a State in your country.

Also, Montreal is a predominately English Speaking city. I’ve been to Montreal several times (as well as other parts of the ‘country’ of Quebec), and the only French I can speak is; “It is cold outside and the car won’t start. Can you call the garage for me?” as well as “Hello”. Each time I’ve been to Quebec I’ve never had a problem with speaking English only, and the people have been great. So much for that theory.

As far as getting sponsors for NASCAR races in Canada, … hmm … let me see, I shop at Home Depot, and will shop at Lowes when it soon opens (next month I think), I drink Budweiser, Miller Lite, Pepsi, and Coke (only if I have to), get car parts at NAPA and Car Quest, eat Kellogg’s and Cheerios, worked for Dupont for a summer job while I was in University, drink Crown Royal and Jack Daniels occasionally, ship certain packages through either UPS or FedEx, drink Red Bull, see CAT machines at construction sites (never operated one though), my kids eat Snickers and M&M’s, I shop at Best Buy (got my I-Pod there), Office Depot and Bass Pro Shops (and I hear that Target is building a store near here to compete with the 4 Wal-Marts), I worked at Shell all through High School and University and turned down the offer from Shell to run my own station so I could go to Teacher’s College, I own Dewalt, Craftsmen, Snap On and Mac tools (sorry no Huskey or Kobalt - but I could buy them here), Waste Management empties the dumpsters at my work, I have a GMAC lease for my 4ever3 Family-Truckster otherwise known as a Montana, I have Texaco Havoline, Pennzoil, Valvoline, and Quaker State oil in my garage for my cars (I buy whatever is on sale - I don’t discriminate), I have an AAA membership (only in Canada it is called CAA), I ate pizza from Domino’s the other night followed by a Little Debbie cake and had Burger King the week before (my wife actually worked at Burger King in High School), I had an Interstate Battery in my old car before I sold it (should have kept it, but I digress), and finally I can buy either a Dodge, Ford, GM, or Toyota here in this country - in fact we make them here too.

We have a little economic treaty with your country and Mexico called NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), perhaps you’ve heard of it? It is because of this treaty that our economies, and the companies (like those above mentioned sponsors) that drive these economies, are so inter-connected.

Hey wait a minute I just thought of something: based on the above quote I guess that since Louisiana is a French speaking state, NASCAR won’t be able to find sponsors that will work for there either.

**Photo found at econedlink.org**

Submitted from NASCAR Eclectic

Kudos to Jr. for getting the pole. Seeing him with the award and the “Bud” backdrop in his Bud drivers suit was cool, but it may be the last time we ever see anything like that. He looked camouflaged and all we could see was his big smile.

Penske boys up front again. They need consistency to break that top 12 barrier. Ryan was a guest on Trackside last night and listening to him talk he always maintains a good attitude, although I noticed he is picking up a bit of the Southern accent, not that that is a bad thing, just an observation. This sort of thing happens… my sister Madeline has lived in Rotterdam, Holland for years and barely speaks English anymore. If anyone hung out with Elliot Sadler for long enough they’d have to pick up the heavy drawl… and Hermie…well I can hardly understand him.

Back at the Cottage… The heat wave is supposed to break today. It was unbearable for most of this week and I shut down the tools early every day. My carpenter, Mike, is grateful, even if he misses a few hours. I did put an extra few dollars in his pay… I told him he sweated out more than that.