New Year, New Cars, New Drivers And Junior Is Back!
Written by George Katinger · February 9, 2008
The Bud Shootout kicked off the Sprint Cup season tonight and I have to admit the action did not disappoint. Unless your name was Denny Hamlin.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the story of the second half of last year’s season and most of the off season what with not winning a race since 2006, his public split with DEI, and subsequent signing with Hendrick Motorsports.
Take that Teresa! Junior drove a great race and demonstrated again his prowess at the superspeedways like Daytona and Talladega. He ran up front most of the night, his team executed a flawless pit stop which brought him out in second in the 50 lap finale, and he ran clean and hard with teammates and competitors alike. It was amazing to see Junior, JJ, and Jeff Gordon freight training the high line and keeping Earnhardt at the front.
The race had it’s rough moments with a mini-big one in the 50 lap second segment which sidelined four cars (Truex, McMurray, Gilland, and Biffle). And what about that Hamlin guy? He was into more cars tonight than he was all of last year. Rookies have a red stripe on their back bumpers to alert other drivers who their racing with. In honor of JGR’s switch to Toyota this year they need to paint rising sun meatballs on Hamlin’s front and rear bumpers in honor of his Kamikaze driving style. If he keeps this up he’ll be in hot water with lots of drivers not to mention Mother Daytona.
The standings showed Smoke in second, but watching the replay I never saw him pass Johnson, who was listed as finishing third. Was I imagining this or did anyone else see the same thing?
But the short story is Junior winning the shootout does wonders for the sports marketing operations as well as the fans. With a new 88 number, new car colors and sponsors everyone wondered if he could step it up this year. It’s far from making the Chase, but it’s a great start and no doubt instills confidence in his new team and owner.
Pole qualifying tomorrow, Dual 150’s Thursday and the 500 on Sunday. It can’t come soon enough!
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5 Responses to “New Year, New Cars, New Drivers And Junior Is Back!”
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That race was the Jr. of old. Now go get that second Daytona win and the cup!!!!
I hate to break your roll but your points are somewhat wrong. First and foremost, RooKies wear yellow tape on their backs not red. Secondly, and most importantly, Dale, Jr. by all rights should be running DEI and not racing for another team owner. Jr. is by far a better driver than he is being given credit for. Regardless of the amount of races since his last win. But he ran those races with subpar equipment that his step-mother made be used. Give credit where is due.
Thanks for the info Ric166, I’ll remember the yellow vs. red next time I reference it. Having a successful Junior in the sport is good for everybody. And I agree Teresa is a witch who has subverted Sr.’s legacy to his son. As I’ve written elsewhere not enough bad things can happen to DEI, short of driver injuries or worse.
I am thrilled Junior won the race! Lets hope he wins Sunday. I am so into NASCAR I converted my Blog to be devoted to NASCAR. Click over and see…
ZuD
Hey there! It’s Geoff from SPEED (the motorsports TV channel). Don’t forget to watch Johnson, Gordon, Earnhardt Jr. and others tomorrow @ 2 p.m ET only on SPEED. It’s going to be in Hi-Def for the first time! All our other racing action is now in HD, too. Hope you can join us on Thursday for the Duel.
Thanks!
Geoff at SPEED