Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog
Bud Shootout
Last night’s Bud Shootout was great, even if you are not a Dale Jr fan. I know Jr won but the racing was very good and Tony Stewart had a very good chance of winning, which would have given Toyota their first Cup win. Although it would not have a points race, it still would have been a good win for Toyota.
So, let me retrace my steps here. My predictions, by car manufacturer, on who might win the Bud Shootout were: Toyota - Tony Stewart, Ford - Greg Biffle, Dodge - Kurt Busch, and Chevy - Dale Jr, no, I mean Jimmie Johnson. How did they do? Remember, I made these predictions before Friday’s crash filled practice resulting in damage and outright carnage for 3 of my 4 picks.
Tony Stewart was involved, but he was able to repair his car, Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch both had to use back-up cars, while Greg Biffle was the only one not heavily involved - although he was still using his Martinsville car for the Bud Shootout. Dale Jr, the driver I hoed and hummed about, was not involved at all in any of the crashes.
Why did I hoe and hum about Jr? Because he is with a new team. I didn’t know if his teammates would work with him well enough to get him to the front and keep him there and I didn’t think Tony Stewart would work with him too much like he has done in the past because he is now in a Toyota and not a Chevy, so I chose Jimmie Johnson instead.So, how did everyone do? Jr won of course, Tony was 2nd, Jimmie finished 3rd, and both Busch and Biffle had problems with contact resulting in an accident for Biffle and last car still running (18th) for Busch (nice save by him BTW, he should have hit the wall).
Now, why did Jr win? Because of his teammates. If it were not for Jimmie Johnson pushing him he would not have won. I know, I know, but Jeff went behind Stewart and pushed him right? Yes he did, but not until he had to. Jeff was forced out of the Hendrick draft by a super aggressive Reed Sorenson and went low to get back in and in doing so went behind Stewart. Jeff eventually got shuffled back, but he was back near the end and went behind Stewart, not to make him beat Jr, but to get the best finish possible for himself and perhaps get 3rd away from Johnson.
I also think that if Johnson had a car capable of winning he would have pulled out of the draft and passed Dale because Jeff was behind him and probably would have went with him. Jimmie had several opportunities to do this and didn’t, I wonder why? It is probably because he was in a back-up car or (here is one for the conspiracy crowd) he and the rest of Hendrick Motorsports were under direct orders to do everything in their powers to get Dale the win, because a win by him would be very good for Hendrick Motorsports.
Personally, I’m with the back-up car theory.
In the past, when I’ve seen either Johnson, Gordon, or, worse yet, both, behind Dale I cringed. Now I found myself in the odd position of yelling at the TV for Gordon to hit Dale in the bump draft to get him going. That was a weird experience for sure.
It would ahve been interesting to see how all of this played out if no one was in a back-up car for the start of the race. It might have been even more competitve than it already was.
Qualifying
Well, Jimmie Johnson got the pole and he wasn’t in a back-up car either. No real surprise here.
Michael Waltrip got the outside pole. Good for him and Toyota. I just hope they don’t find a foreign substance in his intake manifold again this year. Have you ever noticed an official statement has never been released about NASCAR’s inspection into the matter? Worse yet, I haven’t heard anyone ask anybody involved about it this year either. Was there indeed an official finding made by NASCAR and I just missed it, or has this issue just gone by the wayside because nobody wants to know the answers? Help me out, does anybody know?
The Gatorade Duels are looking pretty cool. Tell me, how is it that somebody who qualifies 11th (Patrick Carpentier) still has to race into the 500 because he wasn’t fast enough. Oh, the top 35 rule … right … I forgot.
Oh, one of the stories I told you to watch out for this year has already started - note the lovely picture of Ashley Judd I included with 
this post - and you thought I just put it there to increase my hits on my sitemeter. Heh.
Hey, if you still want more of a NASCAR fix on Tuesdays after listening to Steve and Charlie on their ‘On Pit Row Radio’ show then tune into ‘Frankie The Sports Guy’ who will be doing two NASCAR related shows on Tuesday Feb 12 and 19 ( at 10 PM ET ). His guests for those two shows will include: David Poole, Mike Neff ( Frontstretch.com ). Dennis Michelsen, and James Hylton. There is one more special guest which is close to being confirmed- Larry McReynolds.
Go to www.frankiethesportsguy.com for more info.
Photo Credits: Ahley Judd - Chris Graythen/Getty Images, Bud Shootout - Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
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