Brand loyalty in NASCAR can be fierce, especially when it comes to kids.
I had an interesting conversation the other day with a co-worker. She was talking to me about her daughter’s new favourite driver; Kyle Busch. Why is he her favourite? M&Ms baby.
Her favourite driver used to be Elliott Sadler, then David Gilliland (she could never really remember his last name) and now Kyle Busch.
She is excited about the racing season this year because the M&M car is racing up front more now and she can see it on the TV.
She has already started asking for Kyle Busch shirts and hats because the stuff she has now has a different number on it.
Yep, don’t come between a kid and their favourite sponsor, you might just get knocked out of the way.
Although, there is an opposite effect to brand loyalty that I call ‘brand disloyalty’.
My first experience to ‘brand disloyalty’ happened when Cal Wells replaced Scott Pruett in the number 32 Tide Ride with Ricky Craven and then Craven with Bobby Hamilton Jr.
I haven’t bought or used Tide since Pruett was replaced. No offence to Craven, my beef is with Cal Wells and Tide over this. For a sponsor to allow a car owner to screw over his drivers like Cal did with both Pruett and Craven and expect the fans to stand by and support their brand is arrogant and I will never use Tide again because of that.
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I got this shot at Daytona. It’s a bit hazy because it was shot through a window in the garage area. I was annoyed with Ryan back then because as you can see he was just hanging around but would not give any time to his fans… on that day. I’ve since gotten over it and he is back up in my top 5 fave’s list.
I have Vegas practice on the tele as I write this and Ryan just ran a quick lap.
I’ve uploaded a media video-news conference from the NASCAR Media only site. It’s worth the 16 minute watch as Ryan is very funny. He is quite the character and I laughed out loud several times.
Vegas predictions…..naw! I’m not a gambler, but Carl Edwards….hmmmm. And Bobby Labonte lookin real good during Nationwide practice. I’d love to see Bobby win a race…even a Nationwide.
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I got a couple of e-mails questioning NASCAR’s decision to keep trying to get the race done on Sunday instead of just moving it to Monday.
I find that no matter who you are, you are going to have a biased opinion on this - myself included.
I’d promise to try to be objective here, but I’m not making any promises.
Here is my opinion:
No matter what NASCAR did on Sunday they were screwed. Period. You know, “you are damned if you do, and damned if you don’t”.
Speaking from a perspective of one who missed a whole entire race because of rain, I would have been more happy seeing 87 laps than none at all as I couldn’t stay the extra day or two to see the re-scheduled race.
NASCAR is about the show, and I feel they have an obligation to put that show on for the paying fans at the track without putting their drivers in danger in the process.
What happened to me at Michigan last Aug. sucked. I knew there wasn’t going to be a race when they didn’t even have the cars out on the track, yet the went through driver introductions anyway. Why did they do that? For the TV audience and their TV contracts, not for the fans at the track.
In Michigan, there was a window of about 2 hrs prior to the race where they could have gotten some racing done, but since they had to live up to their TV contracts NASCAR couldn’t start the race earlier. I say screw the people at home in their lazy boys and put the race on when you can. ESPN, Fox, or whoever, can broadcast the race at their regularly scheduled time and do it on a tape delay as most people wouldn’t even know the difference or they record the race and watch it later anyway.
California was a little different, the rain was in the morning so they had to start the race later which is no problem as it gives NASCAR more exposure on the television networks for the rain delays.
Speaking from my personal experience, I support what NASCAR did on Sunday in trying to get the show in. Did you see how empty the stands were on Monday? NASCAR tried its best to get the race in for the fans at the track and they should be commended for it, although I doubt Denny Hamlin would agree.
Sorry Denny, what happened with the water seepage onto the track was not NASCAR’s fault, it just got worse as the race went on and they could not have seen that.
What I find weird about this is that, according to a comment that was left a few days ago, NASCAR apparently uses a train to shuttle people to the track and the train would not leave the track until NASCAR officially called the race. If this is true, I think NASCAR should have let the train leave at the time it should have if the race had run its regular course and then they could have brought it back for later, but I don’t know the logistics about this so I really can’t offer up anything more than what I just said.
As I surf around reading story after story about nothing exciting I wonder when the next big controversy will emerge. The biggest story this week has been Robby Gordon and correct me if I’m wrong but I’ve not found anything more on his appeal process. He is clearly innocent of any intent and it would only be in everyone’s best interest if NASCAR overturns the penalties…to some degree of lesser severity.
Another big story has been Kyle Busch. This kid is like a rock… but in a Toyota. It’s too bad he is not a very likable guy because his success as a Champion is imminent, yet he really does not have the fan base to make it exciting.
On to Vegas. It’s another boring flat wide track, but it’s at least now a bit seasoned after last years repaving. The drivers should enjoy it more. Here is a short clip with Denny Hamlin on this subject.
Happy race weekend!!
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I was going to write the post I should have wrote last night and didn’t, because I was too tired, but I found something waaaaay better to share with you. You have to go over Mike Maruska’s site, “Trouble In Turn 2″, and read his latest post - absolutely the best piece of bogging I’ve ever read.
Go now, what are you waiting for?
I’ll post my California rant tonight.
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My Bubble hasn’t burst yet, so I’m going to milk it for what it’s worth.
Check out the standings, I’m still at the top - even after Hornish and Dale Jr crashed out! What saved me is that I have Newman, while most of the others that were in the top spots last week had Hamlin and they plummeted out of the top 10.
I know this won’t last, but I’m going to enjoy it until it comes crashing down. Heh.
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This two day race in California proved one thing, the CoT (Car of Today) is living up to it’s expectations. Maybe not as much as people would hope, but it is still better than the old car.
The CoT reminds me of the cars from the 70’s and early 80’s where you could rub up against the wall and still keep going and not have to come in for major repairs. I like that.
The drivers can control the thing better too. I don’t think you would have seen Kyle Busch go “three-wide by himself” (thanks DW) in the the old CoY (Car of Yesterday) like he did at Daytona this year.
Speaking of control did you see Jamie McMurray get sideways near the end of Sunday/Monday’s race? If he were in the CoY he would have lost it, pure and simple.
Let’s talk about hitting the wall and still being able to drive the thing as evident by many drivers over the last two days, including Jeff Burton. Jeff hit the wall hard enough to scrub off the yellow “Goodyear Eagles” raised letters on the side of his tires which resulted in the toe-out being off a little bit, but he was still able to run the car around at a competitive speed.
No matter how you slice it, the CoT is an improvement over the CoY. Not only does the CoT keep the driver safer while driving it but also allows for better competition by putting more emphasis on the individual driving the car and not on the areo-package they have developed.
Surely the CoT hasn’t lived up to everyone’s expectations, but it is still in it’s infancy - give it time, it will improve.
I’ll talk more about the race tomorrow - I feel a bit of a rant coming on!
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Carl made my day. I skipped the afternoon from my other responsibilities to watch the conclusive race and had images running through my mind of Jimmy Johnson in Victory Lane. It’s just too soon and the feelings of Johnson’s domination from last season still linger in my soul. It was a feel good finish to what was a not so feel good race weekend.
I’ll be watching some of the Nationwide race…. it’s just after 4:oo pm now. I’m heading out on a photo shoot, but will be back in time to catch the last half.
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This is the latest rumour to come out of California this weekend. I guess spreading rumours this weekend is the only thing to do since there really hasn’t been any racing due to the weather.
Anyway, getting back to Labonte and Childress, this rumour has not be solidly confirmed. I was watching Wind Tunnel tonight on Speed and Dave asked Bobby about the rumour during a phone interview and Bobby didn’t confirm it but he didn’t really deny it either.
Hmm…
Bobby would fit in with the other drivers at Richard Childress Racing (RCR), yes even Harvick, and his past Champion provisionals would really help out a new team with out any owner points.
The rumour also said that General Mills, Labonte’s current sponsor, would also come along for the ride to RCR.
If I were Petty Enterprises I would be very worried right now.
It will be interesting to see how all of this gets sorted out in the wash. I just hope nobody starts airing out dirty laundry over this.
It certainly is about time that I changed the way things looked around here. I’m still working out a few bugs, otherwise it has come together a little better than I thought it would.
This is something we don’t see very often. Dodge leading the pack. Probably not since the “King” days when Mopar ruled. This will change if Fontana ever dries out.
Last nights rain delay gave me a chance to watch a DVD… “Gone Baby Gone”. An awesome production by Ben Affleck, starring Ben’s younger brother Casey Affleck. It’s worth the watch…but it is a tad on the violent side.
What a discouraging weekend the drivers and crews have had. Today does not appear promising either.
I have access to press release videos and other multimedia stuff through NASCAR Media. I have placed this video on here but unsure if it’ll work or not. Windows Media player is a pain!!
There are many videos available… this is the latest.
Pray for dry weather.
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What a mess Mother Nature can make. The Speed Channel guys were shivering on live TV last night. Fontana rarely gets that chilly and after leaving 80+ Daytona weather…..
I got this from the NASCAR Media web site….
Revised Schedule: Saturday at Auto Club Speedway
Saturday, February 23rd
6:00 AM NNS GARAGES & REGISTRATION OPEN
9:00 AM NCTS GARAGE & REGISTRATION OPENS
9:30-11:00 AM NNS FINAL PRACTICE
9:30 AM NCTS DRIVER/CREW CHIEF MEETING (CONFERENCE ROOM )
11:30 AM NCTS DRIVER INTRODUCTIONS-SECURITY –CLEAR PIT ROAD
12:00 PM NSCS GARAGES & REGISTRATIONS OPEN
12:00 PM NCTS RACE (100 LAPS, 200 MILES)
1:00 PM NCTS REGISTRATION CLOSES
1:30 PM NSCS ** HOT PASS IN EFFECT **
I suppose we can say Happy Birthday to NASCAR. 60 years since Bill incorporated. I learned things about NASCAR history during Speed Weeks and one of the best multimedia events I saw was Dave Dispain’s on Assignment. I enjoyed that broadcast so much that I watched it twice. Bill France was a visionary.
NASCAR has been gracious to give me media credentials. Well, for whatever it’s worth I now have access to their Media website and photos. I am slowly working towards Photographer credentials. I have heard back from Getty Images and my application with them is under review…this can take months. I’ve learned that each individual track has their own PR department and I can apply for access on a track to track basis. My goal is to be among the many photographers at Loudon in Sept.,…. wish me luck!!
California weekend starts today. So much emphasis has been placed on Matt Kenseth. NASCAR press releases and storylines…. it would be awesome if he won it again!
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O.K., as most of you know I’m not the biggest fan of Robby Gordon’s, but even I think the penalty he got for an unapproved nose on his car is way too steep.
Robby switched from Ford to Dodge just before the Daytona 500. He showed up for opening day inspections on Feb. 8 with a nose on his car that was still “under consideration” by NASCAR’s governing body and had yet to be approved for competition.
This unapproved part never even made it on to the track and into competition, yet NASCAR still penalized Robby with 100 driver and owner points while crew chief Frank Kerr was fined $100,000, suspended for the next six Sprint Cup Series races and placed on probation until Dec. 31, 2008.
This isn’t like he added a ‘jet fuel-like’ substance to his fuel like Michael Waltrip did last year. Michael received a similar point penalty for his infraction. NASCAR didn’t even fine Kurt Busch who deliberately drove his car repeatedly in to Stewart’s car while both were coming off the track into the garage area during final practice for the Bud Shootout.
Robby mistakenly puts a part on his car and doesn’t even make out on to the track and Kurt uses his car as a weapon while on the track and Robby gets fined? I don’t get it. It isn’t like Robby was using the unapproved part in an obscure area of the car like Jeff Gordon’s unapproved wheel bearing from a few years ago. It was the nose of the car, how obvious can you get? How can he hide it? It has to go through the templates after all.
I just don’t get it. Maybe it is Robby’s slightly ‘tainted’ history with NASCAR, we all know Kurt is an angel in that department … right?
Robby Gordon loses 100 driver and owner points; crew chief fined and suspended for the next six races…
For an unapproved front bumper cover. A tad on the stiff side I’d say. He had an awesome day too.
They also nailed Todd Bodine and Ron Hornaday for infractions… so the “Getting back to Basics” means it’s ok for Kurt Busch to use his car as a weapon but zero tolerance for stupid infractions.
I won’t even go into what NASCAR did to 7 of the Nationwide teams.
This Blogspot site is acting horrible. I can’t copy and paste anything anymore…add links.. and it seems to have a mind of it’s own. I’m probably going to search for a new home.
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I was recently contacted by the people at Schmap and they asked me if I would be interested in testing out their new NASCAR Widget. So I placed the widget on my side bar and I have it in this post for you to look at.
Play with it and either email me or leave a comment about it and let me know what you think. Tell me what you like about it, what you don’t like, how to improve it, whatever.
Based on my poll from the other day, you have determined that the Remote Control “Fancontroller” from Toyota was the best commercial of the Daytona 500. As of this posting that commercial has 40% of the vote with the Diecast Autograph Michael Waltrip/NAPA commercial tied with Dale Jr’s Gorilla Amp commercial in second, each with 17% of the vote.
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Look close. Do you see it? Yep, number one with a Dodge bullet.
I may as well enjoy it while I can, because I don’t think it will last too long as I never really do well at these Fantasy NASCAR things. Although, I did finish 3rd overall last year.
Oddly enough second, third, and sixth are all people I work with - they must read my blog at lunch, how else could they have done so good?
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In one day the reunification of the IRL and Champ Car happens and the IROC Series officially closes its doors forever.
Talk about turning the racing world on its ear. I know, the rumours of the IRL and Champ Car getting together have been strongest since the split of CART 12 years ago, and the demise of the IROC series has been written on the wall for a while but to have both announcements on one day? Ironic.
Speaking about ironic, NASCAR’s Champion-less (4 time Maid of Honour) Mark Martin holds the record for the most IROC championships and over-all race wins with 5 and 13 respectively.
It was announced today that the IROC series will liquidate all if its assets including tools, equipment, race cars and memorabilia in a two-day public auction on March 7th and 8th at IROC headquarters in Tinton Falls, NJ.
IROC Champions include: Mark Donohue 1974; Bobby Unser 1975; A.J. Foyt 1976 & ‘77; Al Unser 1978; Mario Andretti 1979; Bobby Allison 1980; (Dormant 1981-1983); Cale Yarborough 1984; Harry Gant 1985; Al Unser Jr. 1986 & ‘88; Geoff Bodine 1987; Terry Labonte 1989; Dale Earnhardt 1990, ‘95, ‘99, 2000; Rusty Wallace 1991; Ricky Rudd 1992; Davey Allison 1993; Mark Martin 1994, ‘96, ‘97, ‘98, 2005; Bobby Labonte 2001; Kevin Harvick 2002; Kurt Busch 2003; Matt Kenseth 2004; Tony Stewart 2006 (The last official Champion).
Now the whole IRL/Champ Car thing isn’t as official as the IROC announcement today as it would appear that the official ‘official’ announcement of the open-wheeled Indy car reunification will take place sometime this week with some speculating as early as Wednesday.
“We’re close, it would be hard to see this not happening,” said IRL spokesman Fred Nation in Indianapolis.
Champ Car spokesman David Higdon said, “As long as everyone is still talking, there’s hope.”
With comments such as these being released to the media today it is looking like this whole reuniting deal is closer to being a reality than ever before.
Let’s hope.
What a sad and happy day in the world of North American auto racing.
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As with the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500, NASCAR’s version of the Super Bowl, comes with its own fanfare of ’super’ commercials. One thing that is different than the Super Bowl is that these commercials star the sports own athletes - the drivers.
My four favourite commercials, in no particular order, were;
1) the ‘remote control car’ one from Toyota, it had me rolling in my seat,
2) the Gillette Young Guns wrestling one, “You guys are good”,
3) the ‘angry race cars’ one from Sprint, which oddly enough uses the red version of Juna Montoya’s Dodge and not his familiar black car because I honestly think they wanted the car to look more like the Stephen King and John Carpenter version of “Christine” - they even made the grill look like the snarling movie car’s grill during the final confrontation in Darnell’s Garage,
and finally,
4) the Michael Waltrip NAPA one where the guy wants him to autograph his diecast of Michael’s burnt out California car from last year and then his wrecked Country Time/Kool-Aid car from Bristol in 1990 (?) - “Just sign the biggest piece” - that was funny.
Other commercials of note were the Amp energy drink one with Dale Jr running into a Gorilla several times and the Tony Stewart one where he is looking for a paint colour for his car 10 years ago and goes to Home Depot for help.
Let me know which one you liked by answering my poll:
Whew, what a finish. Who would have thought that Dodge would have 6 out of the first 8 finishers. Perhaps they were sandbagging after all.
None-the-less, after an uneventful begging, the 50th Daytona 500 turned out to be a real crowd pleaser. At first it looked like the race would be caution free but once the track cooled down a bit and the closer to the finish the excitement started.
The most exciting driver out there to watch was Kyle Busch; he was all over that track. He could literally put his car anywhere at will, and did so. I honestly thought he and Tony were going to be the cars to beat but the teamwork of Newman and the other Busch proved to be strong. Tony went everywhere with Kyle and jumped at the opportunity to win the race with two laps left and held the lead briefly but he didn’t have a drafting partner as Kyle couldn’t stay with Tony and the Penske team cars chewed Tony up and spit him out on their way to a 1,2 finish.
It is hard to believe that with all his racing experience that this is Penske’s first restictorplate win, let alone his first Daytona 500 victory. This win also ends a two year winless streak for Ryan Newman. Congratulations to Penske, Newman, and the rest of the organization for this victory.
Another interesting development was the demise of the Hendrick team. Three of their four cars experienced problems late in the race. Jeff had suspension problems, something they noticed before in testing/practice and thought they had fixed, while both Jimmie and Casey were involved in accidents on the track. All of these problems left Dale Jr with no drafting partner and a snowball’s chance in hell of winning the race. Dale eventually finished a respectable 9th, but he still had his problems too.
During one of the late caution periods his crew Chief wanted him to come down pit road to get a fresh set of tires and maybe a splash of gas as they were cutting it pretty close on the fuel mileage, but Dale didn’t come off the track. Why? There was too much radio chatter between everyone else on the team that Tony Eury couldn’t get a word in edge-wise to let Dale know he had to come in to the pits.
You know, this missed opportunity to get fresh tires is an example of the same stuff that went on last year when both Eury and Earnhardt were at DEI. Dale is driving the car, he cannot manage the rest of the team while he is driving, and it is Eury’s job to do that. You can blame everything last year on the problems at DEI, but that excuse no longer works now. Eury needs to step up and take charge, and you know if he can’t do it Hendirck will, and replace Eury in the process.
I don’t have much time, on my way out to a suprise party, but I just wanted to chip in my 2 cents worth about today’s race.
For what I saw of it, it was pretty good.
I honestly don’t think that Kyle Busch could have blocked any better than he did without crashing himself and others at the same time. Although, I’m sure Kyle was worried about everyone around him, I get the feeling the only one he was really worried about was Dale Jr. Whenenver he was faced with a choice on which lane to block he always picked Jr’s.
If someone was willing to stick to Jr’s bumper I’m sure he would have been able to make the pass on both Busch and Stewart, but that wasn’t the case. It was cut-throat out there, everyone for themselves - except for Busch and Stewart that is.
I wonder if it comes down to Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart for the win tomorrow and it was up to Kyle to push one of them into victory which one would he choose. As much as I want to see Dale win, I think I might want to see that situation more.
Take Care.
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OK, I don’t claim to be an expert here, I’m just a passionate fan, but I have come up with my top 25 finishers in this year’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Some of you aren’t going to like it either, but none-the-less here goes:
1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Jeff Gordon
3. Matt Kenseth
4. Carl Edwards
5. Tony Stewart
6. Kurt Busch
7. Kevin Harvick
8. Dale Earnhardt Jr
9. Kyle Busch
10. Martin Truex Jr
11. Denny Hamlin
12. Ryan Newman
13. Clint Boywer
14. Greg Biffle
15. Juan Montoya
16. Kasey Kahne
17. Casey Mears
18. Jeff Burton
19. Jamie McMurray
20. Bobby Labonte
21. Reed Sorenson
22. Elliott Sadler
23. Brian Vickers
24. Dave Blaney
25. David Ragan
26. David Reutimann
Now, before you all go off half cocked, let me explain that this list is the final standings, not the standings getting into the Chase.
Personally, I hope that Dale Jr does better, and I think he can certainly finish in the Top 5 – easily – but I have some reservations about his team still. I think next year he will be a Cup contender for sure, but this year will be a building year, which can’t be all that bad because he will finish better than last year and he will win a few races too.
The other two drivers I have reservations about are Carl Edwards, and Martin Truex Jr. I think I might have placed them too high on the list, but there is something about them I just can’t shake yet. Edwards is last year’s Busch Champ, and he is fighting to keep his spot at Roush as Jack has to cut a team at the end of the year, and Martin will struggle at being DEI’s number one guy. Sure Martin will be there, but it is Truex that will be at all of the races this year leading a bunch of drivers with less Cup time than him, and he hasn’t been at this for very long. Come to think of it, I probably should have switched him with the Biff, but oh well, I’ll leave it as it is.
Now don’t go making your fantasy bids based on this list because I don’t want to be the blame of you loosing, let that be your own fault.
So do you agree? Let me have it. Come on, I can take it – and if I can’t, I’ll just delete your comments. Oh the power I wield! Heh.
Update:
Thanks to Trish in pointing out that there was no Bowyer on my list. After I read her comment I went back and checked my ‘rough’ notes - I actually did do them, using stats no less - and noticed that I had Bowyer tied with Ryan Newman for 12th - that is probably how I missed him - so I put him on the list at 13th. Take Care.
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