Double Clutchin’-The Good, The Bad, And The Michael Waltrip From Pocono
Written by Rocky Kitts · August 4, 2008
Gotta love a good cheap shot whenever you can get one in, don’t you?
Anyways, at least we had a race that ended up going the full, allotted number of laps, that did not end under a caution or green-white checkered, and had only one competition caution as opposed to 1000. When those things are taken into consideration, one can look at Pocono as being a successful race.
But if there was ever a race that didn’t need to be slowed down by the rain, it sure was that one. Take a race that has already been criticized for being too long and slow it down to a crawl with a potential rain-out and Pocono had the possibility of being a complete dud. But, while it wasn’t the greatest, most exciting race in the world, it did have an endind without any real controversy and saw Carl Edwards take down the victory thanks to a good car and a couple of lucky gas mileage gambles. So I guess it was kind of a fuel race, but after the last few weeks, I’m okay with that. Now, on to the G, B, and U. This was one of those races that really didn’t have much that stood out, so I did what I usually do in those cases; I nitpicked:
The Good:
Great run by Carl Edwards. Much has been made of how dominant Kyle Busch has been this season, and because of that, Edwards’ excellent season has been overlooked. But, with his fourth win of the season and a climb up to third in the points, it’s going to be hard for anyone to overlook Edwards, and I wouldn’t be surprised if when the Chase is finished, that Edwards will be the one holding the trophy.
A very, very much needed second place finish for Tony Stewart. Stewart was critical of his car early, but managed to pull a second place finish. This finish could be the shot in the arm that Smoke’s current team needs in order to get him on a late run, if they are now convinced that Tony isn’t going to take the rest of the season off to recruit for his team.
Once again, it was great to see a race finish under green. NASCAR should do that more often.
The Bad:
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. I hate to do this one, because as everyone should know by now, I’m a Junior guy; but I can’t be the only one that feels that Earnhardt is totally going to the Matt Kenseth school of “let’s try not to wreck, tenth is better than twentieth, let’s just get some points”.. I don’t mind points racing when you’re still going for the win, but it really hasn’t looked to me like Junior has really been pushing his car in recent races. Maybe I’m being overly critical, but I’d like to see Junior drive more aggressive, and all that I mean by that is I’d like to see him push the envelope more. He’s sitting in a good spot for the Chase, now go out there and try to get some wins.
Although this next criticism is aimed at Tony Stewart, it’s a sin that lots of drivers are guilty of committing. I’m tired of drivers talking about how they have a car that’s about a tenth-fifteenth place car during interviews, or over the air. Why? Because it’s the wrong place to say that, and here’s the reason. When Tony Stewart said that he had a car that wasn’t a top ten car and then finished second, it makes it look like “hey, Tony is such a good driver that he took a piece of crap car and finished second”, and if he comes in 10-15 he gets to have people say, “well the car wasn’t that good, he did the best that he could”. It’s not just Tony that does that (Kyle Busch is probably the worst for it) and sometimes crew chiefs do it as well, but it really smacks of hedging your bets at the expense of all the guys who put work in on the car up to that point.
If I hear the term “competition caution” one more time, somebody’s getting a tombstone piledriver.
The Ugly:
Is there a driver that is harder to watch right now than Michael Waltrip? Let me go ahead and answer that question: no, there is not. Thirty-sixth, forty-third, and forty-third are Waltrip’s last three finishes and God love him, he’s finishing the races running, but that’s the best that can be said for him. I know that I pan on the guy a lot more than I probably should, but I’m at the point where I’m starting to feel sorry for him. It’s like watching a wounded deer try to avoid a pack of hyenas. You know that it’s going to fall sooner or later, it’s just a matter of when. I wonder if Michael will go back to being just a driver, because it’s obvious to anyone with eyes that the owner-driver thing isn’t working for him. If he waits too long to admit that it’s not working though, he may have trouble finding anyone that will be willing to take the risk of taking him on, even just as a driver. NASCAR is as fickle a sport as any, and it’s about what you’ve done lately not what you’ve done. And lately, Michael hasn’t done anything. Sad to think that he should be the guy driving the FUBAR car and not Johnny Sauter.
Also, rain sucks. Except in Canada; because the Nationwide race sure looked entertaining. The shot of Carl Edwards taking a squeegee to his windshield was priceless.
That’s it for this episode of Double Clutchin’. Road race fever coming up! Yay. I heart road races. Well, not really, but I guess they’ll grow on me. Carl Edwards’ backflips sure have. Don’t worry Carl, I didn’t mean that earlier in the year when I said someone should shoot you out of the sky the next time that you did that. Sure, I said it, but what’s a little buckshot between friends?
Rocky Kitts can be reached at wwwthreestrikesandout@yahoo.com. This post is his opinion and his alone and should not be confused with the opinions of reasonable people.
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Michael Waltrip is done. I actually think that he should retire as a driver and stick with the team owner thing because that is what he seems to do best. Other than Humpy Wheeler, he might be the best pitch-man in NASCAR history. Why he’s fighting that and continuing to embarrass himself and his sponsor on the track is beyond me. He should focus all of his efforts on the team that will be his legacy and paycheck for the rest of his life.
Let’s face it, Michael was never really all that great of a driver, at least not compared to his contemporary peers. Yeah, he won a few restrictor plate races when DEI was *the* team to beat at Daytona and Talladega, but that isn’t real racing, it’s a 200MPH chess match. Sounds harsh, but Rocky started it!
One last dig at Michael while we’re at it. Michael, how about letting someone *else* talk on the weekly NASCAR wrap-up show (whatever it is called these days)? No one likes a conversation dominator, and when your fellow panelists have to physically hit you to shut you up, you might be talking too much.
A Waltrip that talks too much? Perish the thought.