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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.

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.

Double Clutchin’-The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly From Kansas

Well, since I’ve already covered some of the high spots of Sunday’s Camping World RV 400 here (what a stupid name for a race, by the way), let’s go ahead and jump right to the G, B, and the U from the home of Dorothy, the Jayhawks, and George Brett.

The Good:

Not every Willie Nelson song, Quentin Tarantino movie, or NASCAR races is good. But most are good and some are great. Sunday’s 400 was a good race with a great finish that actually happened because of the skill of the drivers and not because of a forced green-white-checker finish inspiring action. Over the last 10 laps race fans got the drama of one driver (Carl Edwards) relentlessly pursuing the leader (Jimmie Johsnon), catching him on the final lap, and then having the victory taken from him by his own aggressiveness. That was good, good stuff and Carl and Jimmie both added a great deal to their racing portfolio with that race and finish. Until further notice, these two are the top guys in the sport and not just because that’s what the points say, it’s because they’re just better than everyone else.

Also good, (and surprising to me) was NASCAR’s decision not to go yellow late in the race when someone (I disremember who) got into the wall and lost some of his car. Since the debris went off the track officials decided not to yellow flag the race, something I wish that they would do more often, as sometimes cautions are a bit too mysterious for my taste. I thought that was a good call, although an argument can be made that it’s just another example of NASCAR’s inconsistencies when it comes to such matters.

I’ve been very critical of Jeff Gordon here lately (and I’m not alone), but there was nothing wrong with Gordon’s fourth place finish Sunday. If reports are to be believed Gordon was sick as a dog during that race and wasn’t sure he could finish. Not only did he race, he competed strong all afternoon. Couple racing sick with reports that Gordon was very active with the crew during the week, and it’s not hard to figure that Gordon may be getting a little sick of something else and that’s criticism. If he runs like he did Sunday there will be nothing to critique.

The Bad:

Are there any Earnhardt fans out there besides me who are also sick of watching him come out of the gate smoking, looking like his car has a little something for everybody, and then having to watch the SOS as his team fails to make the corrections that his car needs to keep him at the front of the pack and he struggles to just stay near the top 10? Either Dale’s doing a sub-par job of letting his crew chief know how his car is performing, or Tony Eury, Jr is the Phillip Fulmer of NASCAR and just doesn’t know how to make winning adjustments. But I’m sure the 88 team will continue to work like heck (inside joke for any UT fans who may be reading and sharing in my pain) and will continue to wear out the middle of the pack in the weeks left to come.

Bad, bad luck for Martin Truex, Jr. After leading the race and running good all afternoon, Truex had the toilet bowl hung around his neck when his transmission went out and he ended up at the bottom of the Kansas ledger. A good finish would have been a great confidence builder for Martin and for DEI, but instead, it was just another entry in the DEI history of malfunctioning parts.

The Ugly:

Speaking of malfunctioning parts, is anyone else out there having trouble remembering when it looked like the only thing that was going to stop Kyle Busch from winning the championship would have been an alien abduction. Either that or other drivers and crew chiefs are taking Kyle’s engines pre-race and using them for pinatas. Kyle has gone from Superman to the Phantom Stranger in the space of three weeks. He’s virtually eliminated from consideration for the top prize. It’s not all Kyle’s fault (if any of it is), but if it’s just bad luck, then Kyle has worse luck than a seventeen-year-old me trying to find a date to the prom. I have to wonder how long it will be before Kyle’s frustration becomes apparent on the track. And I pose this question. If Kyle doesn’t have anything to race for and finds himself racing a Carl Edwards that does what will happen? Anyone that thinks that Kyle has forgotten Bristol needs to have their head examined, but it would be a shame if he decides that the only way that he can affect the Chase is by eliminating someone who can win it. Not saying that’s going to happen, but it wouldn’t really surprise me.

Also, I had to turn the volume down because the sound of Joey Logano’s knees knocking was getting on my nerves. The kid’s going to be a hell of a racer but he took some lumps on Sunday with his 39th place finish. In the long run, it’ll be good for him to take some lumps these last few races, and get those nerves out of the way while it doesn’t mean anything. When he steps into the big car next year, he’ll have to be ready to go and the learning curve will be very, very short. But, on the bright side, he still finished higher than Smoke.

That’s it folks. Any cards, cares, or criticisms of the crazy guy can be sent to wwwthreestrikesandout@yahoo.com.

Jimmie Johnson Wins At Kansas, Carl Edwards Wins My Respect

First off, let me apologize for no race recap last week.  I could give some kind of weak excuse, but I’m just going to come clean with the truth.  The truth is that when I saw that Michael Waltrip had finished the race in the top ten, my head exploded and I’ve spent the entire week trying to collect all the pieces so that I could recover enough to cover a little race today in Kansas.  So if I’m a little more erratic than usual I probably messed up some electrodes or something, so just bear with me, but on the whole I’m feeling much better.

Just not as good as Jimmie Johnson is feeling right now.

Johnson was the man again on Sunday as he survived a spectacular last lap move by Carl Edwards to win his fifth race of the season and to take his spot at the top of the points standings.

I’ve been critical at times this season about the lack of interest of some of the races this season.  I don’t think that I’m alone in my opinion that there have been some duds this season, but anyone who has watched NASCAR or any kind of racing knows that’s just the breaks some times.  One of the drawbacks of being a racing fan is that if the race sucks you can’t just change the channel and watch a better race/game like you can if you’re a Raiders, Knicks, or Yankees fan (I’m one of the three, I’ll leave you to guess which).  So, when you get a race that’s not that good, you watch it like a good fan, you try to enjoy it, and you wait until the next week for another race.

Kansas was the kind of race that makes being a fan fun.  There was three and four-wide racing.  The top drivers in the points were all over the top ten.  There was tension between crews (that shot of the crewman kicking Tony Stewart’s door was priceless).  But as it is with most races, it was a great finish that made the race.

But this post isn’t really about the race.  (I’ll have a race recap soon, I promise.) This post is about the guy that came in second.  This post is about Carl Edwards.

I’ve complained about drivers being afraid to lose more than they want to win on several occasions, and with the importance placed on getting points it’s understandable that drivers would want to avoid bad finishes.  But, there’s just something about watching someone that wants to win at all costs, and boy, Carl Edwards laid everything out there when he tried to take the lead from Jimmie Johnson during the final lap.  Edwards pushed and pushed and pushed, and when it didn’t look like he could catch Johnson he pushed some more and managed to slingshot himself past Johnson for a brief moment before he slid up the track where he was passed by Johnson.  Edwards finished second, he didn’t settle for it.

Edwards could have easily (and almost did) hit the wall and in the process have been passed by everything on four wheels.  He didn’t care, he went for the win, and I for one loved every bit of it.

This was Jimmie Johnson’s race to win and he did, but Carl Edwards did what he’s done all year and that’s win more and more of my respect (something I’m sure that he worries about nightly).  He’s a hell of a driver, and that was a hell of a move to try.  I started this season a Carl hater.  Well, not a hater, I just didn’t think that a guy that did back-flips off of his car could be taken seriously.

I was wrong and I’ve been converted.

Speed in, Allmendinger out at Red Bull Racing…maybe

It was announced all over the internets this week that the writing that we all saw on the wall as of late was true.  A.J. Allmendinger is out at Team Red Bull Racing possibly as early as the Cup race at Talladega, and the very likely replacement for him next year is Scott Speed.  Mike Skinner, who is the current “mentor” for both Speed and Allmendinger, could be tapped to finish out the season in the # 84 Red Bull Toyota.  

Team Red Bull has seemingly come a very very long way in the two years of its existence in the NSCS.  With Brian Vickers at the helm, coming surprisingly close to joining the elite “superstars” in the Chase this year, and Allmendinger finally qualifying and competing mid-pack consistently at the end of the year, this team has much improved itself from a year ago.  The former seems to have figured out his new team and the new car, and the latter seems to have finally figured out how to finally be competitive in a stock car.  Both were ready, in this fan’s opinion, to seriously vie for Chase berths next year.  Up until a week or so ago, I would have argued vehemently with anyone who said that Speed should be in the #84 next year.  In fact, I made the prediction that Red Bull would most likely throw another car in the mix part time for the ‘09 season with Speed behind the wheel to get his feet wet.  How wrong I was.

I am going to go on record here and say that 2009 will be a failure for Scott Speed and the Red Bull 84, for the exact same reasons that it took AJ so long to adjust to the Cup Series.  This ain’t ARCA or the NCTS, it’s the elite series for Stock Cars in America.   It takes time to figure these things out, it’s a trial by fire every week, and that is only if you can actually qualify for the race.  Speed can thank Allmendinger for putting his car in the top 35 in points for the first 5 races, so he’ll make it on someone else’s merit, but after that, the goves are off.

What Would You Change About The Chase?

As the second race of the 2008 Chase gets closer, there is no doubt that the Chase format, overall, has been a successful one since NASCAR switched to it back in 2004.   NASCAR (and motor sports in general) don’t lend themselves well to a playoff system, but on the whole, I think that the folks at NASCAR have done a good job at making the Chase interesting and of being proactive whenever a change in the formula needs to be made.

However; I’m the kind of person that likes to gripe and there are some changes that I’d make if I were in charge (scary thought).  But, I write this with the understanding that there are reasons that you will never-ever see these changes made, and I’ll go into that a little bit as well.

My biggest change isn’t the one that a lot of people are talking about.  I’ve read in several places that Kyle Busch shouldn’t have had one bad finish cost him his entire lead in the Chase.  Why should every thing he’s gained go down the tubes?  Because that’s the way a playoff works.  It’s the same in all other sports.  It doesn’t matter if a baseball team is 30 games over .500 or 10 games over; whoever has the hot hand during the playoffs is going to win and it doesn’t really matter what they did in the regular season.  So, I don’t have a problem with the way the points are broken down (plus, I’m not really smart enough to understand the math anyways).

My biggest problem with the Chase is this: NASCAR may be the only sport that allows teams that are not mathematically in the playoffs to participate and have an effect on the outcome of their championship.  It’s kind of like going to a playoff game between the Patriots and the Colts and the Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars are sitting on the sideline throwing snowballs at the teams while they play.  It’s just not logical.

Now, I know that you can’t cut the field down to just the 12 racers in the Chase.  That would be about as entertaining as watching a hamster run around inside a barrel.  But, there do need to be some drivers that are not on the track come Chase time.  Why should guys like Michael Waltrip be able to clutter the track when they did nothing to earn their way there?  I understand that some of the teams that are out of the Chase use the last few races to practice for next season.  What have they done to earn this possible advantage for next season?  Lose?  I understand there’s going to be the argument that these teams need the races in order to make money to survive and to that I simply say that it’s not NASCAR’s responsibility to make sure that teams succeed.  It’s the team’s responsibility to be competitive.

What I propose, if I were the man, is this:

I would increase the number of drivers in the Chase to 14.

I would next make a secondary cut-off for the next 14 drivers.  This would give the second tier of drivers something to actually race for down the stretch before the Chase.  It would give teams that aren’t in contention are reason to keep putting their best car on the track, because even though they may be out of the Chase, they would still have to earn their right to be on the track during the final races.

And the last 15?  They go home.  Better luck next year.  Hey, this isn’t Little League, and not everyone can get a trophy.  Go home, get better, and come back serious next year.  Yes, this would cause some of the smaller teams to have to leave, but I’m looking at this from purely a competitive stand-point and if they’re not good enough, they’re not good enough.

This limitation would increase the quality of the drivers still on the track, and it would allow for less of a chance that a driver at the back of the pack could influence the outcome of the Chase, either directly or indirectly.  To my way of thinking a 28-driver field would allow for more wide-open racing and would be a better product to watch.

Now, like I said before, the chances of this happening are about the same as the chance that this year’s Super Bowl will take place in my back yard.  The money involved is just too big for NASCAR to do anything even remotely similar to my suggestion, but I figured I would share, anyways.  As for you, I’d like to hear some suggestions.

What would you do to make the Chase more entertaining?  Or do you like it the way it is?  Chime in, comments are free of charge and encouraged (for the most part).

I’ll be back with a recap of today’s race sometime in the near future; until then, enjoy the races.

Fast Machines is on top, with Alltop

I’m a big fan of Alltop, a new online magazine rack of “all the top” feeds from hundreds of different blogs and a mind-boggling array of content.

One of the biggest problems for Web surfers, or anyone seeking good online information, is that there is so much content out there. Who has time to figure out what stinks and what is pretty good?

Search engines like Google may or may not bring back quality links, so it’s fantastic to have some “one-stop-shopping” on everything from successfully running small businesses in small towns to being a wedding planner in Paris.

You can find beer. You can find entrepreneurship. You can find fishing. You can find outer space.  You can find Moms and Dads.

And now, you can also find the Fast Machines feed under all the top auto racing news.

How cool is that?!

Here’s how Alltop works, from their FAQs: Read more

Double Clutchin’-The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly From New Hampshire

Wow, if Kyle Busch had fallen any farther back to Earth, he would have incinerated upon re-entry. Brutal race for Kurt’s little brother as he watched all of his hard work this season vaporized in the first race of the Chase.

I’m sure that just breaks every one’s hearts, doesn’t it?

On to the G, B, and U from the Granite State:

The Good:

Good job by Greg Biffle. He’s been on the cusp of a victory all year and he finally pulled one off at Loudon. More importantly, he moved up six spots in the Chase standings into third place. Biff is a good enough driver to be a fly in the ointment during this Chase and this win should give him and his team the confidence that they can compete with the favorites.

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good and the man that made the most out of Kyle Busch’s troubles was Cousin Carl Edwards, who took the lead in the points with a strong third place finish.

Jimmie Johnson is still hotter than a trailer in the summertime. He sits at second in the points and had a great race Sunday, running right there with Biffle until the end. If I had to bet the truck on anyone right now it would probably be on Johnson. He’s the New England Patriots in the playoffs; he might not be the favorite, but I’ll believe he’s out of it when I see him lose.

The Bad:

I’ve harped on Jeff Gordon for awhile, and Rich also mentioned it in his post here. Gordon looks bored, but more than that he just appears to be completely unsure of what his car can do, and I believe that may be making him question his own abilities. A fourteenth place finish isn’t bad…if you’re Bobby Labonte, but Gordon is supposed to be one of the guys racing at the front. He can’t use the COT argument anymore, not with DE88 and JJ in the top five. If Gordon can’t get his act together soon, its going to be too late.

The Ugly:

Kyle Busch, Kyle Busch, Kyle Busch.

Did I mention Kyle Busch?

A “broken” sway bar cause Busch some problems early. (I heard Dr. Punch say that it was nearly impossible to break a sway bar and that he suspected that some one in Kyle’s pit had actually not put it on correctly.) If that speculation is correct, that’s the kind of mistake that you can’t have by a crew for a car that’s sitting as the favorite to win the Chase. Busch had about as bad a day as you can without a DNF. There’s no reason to panic after one race, but Busch better get his bad races out of the way early or he’s going to have people whispering that he’s going to choke the title away.

Whisper, whisper, whisper.

Rocky Kitts can be reached at wwwthreestrikesandout@yahoo.com and he can assure you that his sway bar is working like it’s supposed to.

Double Clutchin’-The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly After Richmond

Well, that race certainly doesn’t leave me with much room to complain.

The NASCAR regular season closed itself out on Sunday with one slobberknocker of an event at Richmond.  In one of the better races of the season, Jimmie Johnson held off Tony Stewart to win his second race in a row and set himself up to make a legitimate run at his third straight championship, which is kind of impressive.  Kind of impressive in the same way that walking into a frat party with a Playboy Bunny on your arm is impressive.  Anyways, the Rock and Roll 400 had a little bit of entertainment for everyone, so let’s get started with the G, B, and U:

The Good:

I’ve already made an argument that we may not really appreciate how good Jimmie Johnson is, so I’m not going to go over that again, but when you’re the best driver on a team that has a four-time champ and the son of Dale Earnhardt, you’re probably going to be a tad bit under the radar.

It doesn’t matter whether or not Dale Junior intentionally crashed Kyle Busch or not, the fact is that the timing of it couldn’t be funnier.  The guys in the booth had just finished talking about how if Junior was going to get payback that this would not be the time he would get it, and then the next thing you know, Kyle goes for a teacups ride.  For the record, I don’t really think that DE88 did it on purpose, but the Kyle Busch haters in the crowd really could have cared less.

A strong second-place finish by Tony Stewart is going to give Smoke some fabulous momentum going into the Chase.  Also, anyone who doubts that Stewart is still focused on bringing a championship home and winning races, needs to wind back the DVR and check out Stewart’s reaction upon finishing second.  He wanted to win, thought that he had a good chance at the win, and second place was not a bit satisfying to him.

Clint Bowyer clinched the final spot in the Chase with a exclamation mark by moving up seven spots in the final pecking order.  Bowyer and his team are having a great season and he’s really positioned himself as a dark horse/wild card/whatever cliche that you want to use, going into the Chase.

The Bad:

I found out the only thing that can stop Kyle Busch’s winning ways.  I predicted a win for him on Sunday and he ended up getting used as a pinball for much of the day.  Sorry, Kyle.  However; even with those obstacles, Kyle still finished 15th, but that’s not acceptable for K Quick.  Kyle either belongs up front or in the rear.  He’s not a middle-of-the-pack kind of guy. Read more