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Harvick And Edwards Scuffle In Garage

There is nothing quite like it when NASCAR and WWE collide.

Two old-school drivers (IMO) Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick chose to discuss their disagreements about last week’s Talladega race like reasonable men. Then, when that failed, they started beating the hell out of each other. From SI.com:

Witnesses said Edwards and Harvick scuffled Thursday in the Nationwide Series garage at Lowe’s Motor Speedway after Edwards walked into Harvick’s garage stall and the two engaged in a heated argument.

Harvick appeared to try to walk away but, witnesses said, Edwards reached for his shoulder to turn him back around. Harvick then shoved Edwards, who stumbled onto the hood of Harvick’s car, and the two had to be separated.

Witnesses claimed a member of Harvick’s crew had Edwards in a headlock as numerous people tried to separate the two. (Sports Illustrated)

Well, Harvick was the most vocal driver after Talladega when it came to exhibiting his displeasure with Cousin Carl causing the big wreck that eliminated Harvick and several other Chase drivers from the race. Harvick commented after the race that Edwards had raced like a pansy by hugging the back of the line until late in the race in order to try to avoid getting knocked out early. The irony of course, is that when Edwards did decide to involve himself in the race he caused as much damage as an ex-wife at a family reunion.

So, do we now have Edwards vs Harvick as well as Edwards vs Busch? Honestly, if you had asked anyone a couple of months ago which of those feuds would be the most important to the Chase they would have overwhelmingly said the latter. However, with Carl sitting at second and Kevin holding down the sixth spot, any on-track incidents between the two of these guys could be huge in deciding who walks away with this year’s championship.

Just a hint to Carl though. I’d rather tick off ten Kyles than one Kevin Harvick. Kyle might bump into your car while you are on the track. Kevin might bump you off a bridge while you are driving home.

Carl, if it were me, I’d carpool for the next couple of days. You know, just to be on the safe side.

FastMachines.com Radio Episode #14

It’s Chris’ big Petit LeMans wrap up show! We’ve got interviews with drivers, engineers and team owners. We’ll also sympathize with Helio and gripe about the lack of gasoline in Atlanta. Show notes below the fold…

Let us know what you think by commenting on this posting, or shoot Chris and I an email by sending to radio@fastmachines.com.

Click below to listen to us right now in your browser…

Click here to download the MP3 of this week’s podcast and load it on your iPod or whatever you listen to your tunes on.

The FastMachines.com Radio Podcast is brought to you by:

Michelin - Race to Learn, Race to Win
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Carpentier Released From Gillett Evernham

Well, Gillett went ahead and cut Patrick Carpentier.

Sorry, that was bad.  I’ll try to do better in the future.

Anyways, according to ESPN, Carpentier has been released and the 10 Dodge will be driven by the great Mike Wallace this weekend and A.J. Allmendinger the rest of the season.  Carpentier was already going through the out door at Gillett, but this quick jettison was probably brought on by a disagreement between him and team director Mike Shiplett.  From ESPN:

“I think it’s a complete lack of respect,” Carpentier wrote. “I never was shy to take the blame when I thought it was my fault, but here, everybody knows that it’s like driving in a straight line. The driver just has to keep the steering wheel straight. He should have taken a time out and calmed down before he spoke.”

“I know [Shiplett's] criticism didn’t make any sense,” Carpentier wrote. “What is worst is that he seems to have forgotten pretty quickly races like Dover or in Atlanta where I’ve qualified a car that he himself didn’t think was fast enough to earn a place on the starting grid. I realize now that some people have a really short memory span in NASCAR.”

I tried to look at PC’s website myself but I got a nice little picture of a car, some contact info, and no active links, so either my computer is junk (probable) or he’s off-limit (possible) for the next little bit.

Carpentier’s best finish this season was 14th at Daytona in July.  However, he did lead three laps at Kansas and I guess that’s worth something.

ESPN

Double Clutchin’-The Good, The Bad, And The Tires From Talladega

“Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?”-Gladiator

Well, Talladega certainly pleased the dark side of why we watch racing didn’t it? To use what has become my least favorite cliche in sports, “it is what it is.” You know what you’re going to get with Talladega and it’s really just a waiting game for something bad to happen. When you throw in yet another problem with tires you end up with what we had on Sunday: the world’s largest demolition derby.

But Tony Stewart’s not going to give that victory back; nor should he. It’s kind of fitting that after the fireworks cleared out on Sunday that Smoke was left standing for his first win this season and his first at Talladega. I thought the call to disallow Regan Smith’s pass below the yellow line was correct, although I can see the argument from the other side. In my opinion though, Smith was planning on making his pass below the line the whole time, and hoping that NASCAR would rule that he was forced. It probably could have gone either way, but it went in Stewart’s favor and although I’m sure there will be some people claiming foul, it looked right to me. Now if you ask Paul Menard, he’s got his teammate’s back:

“Tony caused almost two wrecks in the last few laps just blocking people. You know, he blocked Regan, which I guess he’s supposed to. Regan countered to try to get around him. Dipped his left sides underneath the yellow line…we’ve seen in the past that they’ve allowed that to happen coming to the checkered. For some reason they chose not to this time.”

Now on the the G, B, and U:

The Good:

64 lead changes. I think I saw my sister’s Saturn leading this race at one point.

Great run for DEI in this race. After having the kind of week that made you wonder whether they would even be able to get a car on the track for Sunday, for them to have three cars contending for the win on the final lap was about as likely as Kimbo Slice getting knocked out in 14 seconds…wait.

Tony Stewart finally pulled out a victory at Talladega. I will be waiting on the thank you letter that Smoke owes me for not picking him this week. Because as everyone should know at this point, me picking Smoke=DNF. I figure he at least owes me a five dollar sub or something.

Kevin Harvick’s quote about Carl Edwards causing the big wreck was fabulous, “maybe he should have raced the rest of the day. I know that his fans won’t be very proud of him sitting back there riding around like a pansy. But when he got up there and decided to start racing, it caused a big wreck.”  With honesty like that, I officially prefer Kevin Harvick to either presidential candidate.

The Bad:

Bad day to be a Chase participant.  Brian Vickers’ tire exploding tooking out several contenders, including Jeff Gordon, and Carl Edwards finished off the execution when his attempted bump-draft of Greg Biffle caused the big wreck of the day.  Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Kevin Harvick both had cars that could have won this race, but instead they found themselves having to listen to a Carl Edwards apology.  Junior is like a different driver on these tracks, he’s more aggressive and he’s fun to watch.  I believe that he was on his way to a top three finish or better had he been able to keep himself out of trouble.  Of course, at Talladega, that takes a small miracle.

The Ugly:

Tires should either roll or go flat.  Not go BOOM without cause.  Once again a tire controversy had a big effect on the race’s results and by the time this season is over, I’m afraid that tires are going to play a big part in who wins…or doesn’t win the Chase.  Goodyear didn’t help themselves by sending a guy out to talk about the issue who looked like he knew as much about the issue as my girlfriend does.

The best part about this race though was that I was able to catch it with my dad for the first time this season, and I’d like to take this chance to wish him a happy 70th birthday.  Until next time, I remain your role model.

Rocky Kitts is the mad scientist of NASCAR bloggers and can be reached at wwwthreestrikesandout@yahoo.com.  If you have something that you would like a comment on feel free to drop him an email and he’ll try to sort it from the Viagra emails and respond ASAP.

Worldwide F1 Survey

Well, all you fans of Formula One and any other interested parties now have a chance at voicing your opinions of the sport, with a chance at possibly influencing it’s direction in the future. Read more

Helio in hot water

As I was tuning into ESPNEWS last night to see how the Dodgers fared against the Cubbies, I was shocked at ESPN’s report that Helio Castroneves has been indicted on charges of Conspiracy to Defraud the U.S. and Tax Evasion.
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Logano Out Of Hall Of Fame Car For Rest Of Season

In a move that’s kind of unusual, at least to my way of thinking, 18-year-old Joey Logano has been removed for the Hall of Fame car for the remainder of the season.  From ESPN.com:

Garfinkel said the decision was mutual between his team and Joe Gibbs Racing, for whom Logano is under a multiyear driving contract.

“It’s a joint decision,” Garfinkel said. “We talked to Gibbs and both decided that, for [Logano's] development and for our team, this the best thing for all of us. The best thing for all of us is for them to focus on Joey’s development, and us to focus on our team.”

Ken Schrader will drive the car for the rest of the season.

I’m not sure exactly what this is all about.  It has been apparent to every one that Logano has been struggling, but he is still a good draw if for nothing else, because of the novelty of his age.  I mean, you may gain a couple of spots in the finishes with Schrader, but I would have to think that from a publicity standpoint, I would rather have Logano behind the wheel of the car.

I will be very surprised if Gibbs doesn’t find another ride for Logano.   They have to get him ready if he’s going to be one of their top guys next year, or they’ll have to write off the first half of next season as Joey learns the ropes of the big boy circuit.

Be interesting to see how this goes.