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Do You Think Dale Earnhardt Jr. Should Have Been Given the Black Flag for the Pass on Kenseth Under the Yellow Line at Talladega?
Wow! I have lots of comments today, and know I will be getting a lot more later. Read on!
from Boomp
Hi mom, With the mark on Jr.’s door it almost looks like a 3 instead
of an 8. Thought it was neat. Gave me chills.
Boomp
from Sunnyday
"Don't come here and grumble about going too fast. Get the hell out of the race car if you've got feathers on your legs or butt. Put a kerosene rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up there and eat that candy ass." – Dale Earnhardt 1998
Get rid of the restrictor plates and let the boys race............I AGREE
"I'll just say we agree to disagree. We've got to go state what we think is right and wrong on it. It's a tough rule. We're just in there addressing that we want to make sure the rule is the same for everybody, because I can promise you, if Kevin Harvick went under that line one half-inch, he was done."
UNLESS your name is Earnhardt....then the rules get changed to suit the situation!! Seen it before and am sure we will see it again!
from Dave
Earnhardt made an illegal pass, but because it was Earnhardt it was
ruled legal! A fixed result by Mike (Fat-Boy) Helton and his "rule"
book! What a joke! Vickers ought to be mad enough to quit as should
the other driver who was black flagged for illegally passing. (The drivers
name escapes me at the moment) If it had been ANY other driver, I'd
bet my last dollar they would've have penalized!! I swear!! NASCAR just
keeps getting worse and worse!! They're going to ruin the sport yet!
Maybe some one ought to start another stock car organization like they
did with Indy type cars. Some one that doesn't play favorites or enforce
the rules willy-nilly.
Dave
from Tom
Go ahead and cheer, I would to if it were a FORD driver. If it's
your driver--it's okay to do anything and you will justify it in your mind
and no one will tell you different. If it were a Bodine and the same
thing happened and he beat Dale E. Jr., you would still be in a fit of
rage!! I know it, the readers know it, and you know it. But I’m still
happy that a FORD is in the points lead for now.
Tommy---A FORD FAN
“FOUR IN A ROW. Yahoo! Yippee Skippy. Hop, skip jump flip EEEEEEEEEEEHAAWWWWWWWWWW!”
And on the other side:
from Charlie
Dale, Jr. was clearly in a legitimate position when he eased below
the yellow line. He was committed, and had undoubtedly safely into
the pass when they both went low. So much for the crybabies. Let
them whine. Junior is a good, clean driver that has balls that clang
when he walks........just like his old man. He reminds me so much
of my man Jimmy Spencer.
Thanks,
Charlie
Whew, I will stay out of this debate. I am very one-sided when it comes to my Junior, so since I can’t remain impartial, I will remain silent.
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TEXAS RATINGS OFF 10 PERCENT
Today's Sports Business Daily says that final Nielsen figures for Fox's
broadcast of last Sunday's Samsung/RadioShack 500 Winston Cup race at Texas
Motor Speedway fell 10 percent from last year. This year's race had a 6.3
rating and 14 share, down from 7.0/10. But all sports events continued
to show the impact that the war with Iraq is having. The Daily says CBS's
coverage of the NCAA basketball tournament is down 22 percent from last
year and noted that NBC's coverage of Sunday's final round of the PGA Players'
Championship was down 23 percent. Overall, the Daily says Fox's NASCAR
coverage is up 3 percent this year, with an average of 6.3/15, compared
to a 6.1/15 in 2002.
By JIM UTTER
ThatsRacin.com Writer
TALLADEGA, Ala. - They beat and banged on Kurt Busch, but he would not relinquish the lead.
First Mark Martin and then Mike Bliss took turns trying to nudge Busch out of the lead in the final laps of Saturday's International Race of Champions event at Talladega Superspeedway, but Busch held off both for his first IROC victory.
Busch edged Bliss, last season's NASCAR Truck series champion, by 0.098 seconds for the win. Greg Biffle, last season's Busch series champion, was third.
Sam Hornish from the Indy Racing League finished fourth and Martin, who won the season opener at Daytona, rounded out the top five. Busch leads the points after two of four events.
"This is awesome, something I will cherish forever trying to race with the best of the best," Busch said. "I had so much fun out there.
"I helped Mark a little bit in his win at Daytona. I learned from Daytona and had a better strategy coming to Talladega."
After 35 of 38 laps, Steve Kinser spun in Turn 3, causing the only caution of the race. Caution laps do not count in IROC, so the race restarted with Busch and Martin side-by-side with three laps remaining.
Martin tried to remain alongside Busch entering Turn 1, but moved up the track to stop an advance by Jimmie Johnson. In doing so, however, Martin fell out of contention for the win.
IROC features 12 drivers from various forms of motorsports competing in four, 100-mile races in equally prepared Pontiac Firebirds. The series winner receives $250,000.
Also... Traction Control Monitoring At Martinsville: NASCAR will employ “special help” to monitor teams for traction control this weekend at Martinsville, where spinning the tires coming off the corners is a big concern.
Also... 2004 Ford Taurus: Ford's new Taurus for 2004 has made it to the wind tunnel. The current model has been in competition for four years and needs a face-lift, but Ford engineers aren't optimistic that gains will be made now that common templates are being used. The car body must be submitted to NASCAR by July 1 and the components by September 1.
Also... Truck Series To Adopt The Common Template In 2004: The Craftsman Truck Series will adopt common templates in 2004. NASCAR wants to make the switch before Toyota joins the series. - The Sporting News
Also... Dustin's Pit Stops: Ward Burton led with eight laps left but said one driver blocked him and forced him to brake, slowing his momentum and letting others by. Burton finished a season-high seventh. ... The 27-car crash on lap 4 was the largest in track history. ... The 43 lead changes are the most since the 2001 Daytona 500, which had 49 lead changes. - The Roanoke Times
Also... Chicken soup: NASCAR has become the latest subject featured by the popular "Chicken Soup for the Soul" book series, which has sold more than 80 million copies worldwide in the past decade. "Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul" hits bookstores April 24, but is available exclusively on NASCAR.com until its official release. The book contains a series of inspirational stories from NASCAR officials and sports writers, as well as drivers Bobby Labonte, Jeff Gordon, Robby Gordon, Kyle Petty, Michael Waltrip and Dale Jarrett. Former Winston Cup champions Ned Jarrett, Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip are also included (Catchfence.com writers as well). A portion of the proceeds from the book will go the Victory Junction Gang Camp, founded by Kyle and Pattie Petty in honor of their son, Adam, who was killed in 2001 at New Hampshire.
After running in the top 10 for much of the day, Greg Biffle finished
22nd at Talladega. Credit: Autostock
Notebook: Biffle, Busch need
'time out?'
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Roush Racing teammates Greg Biffle and Kurt Biffle were dismayed enough to end Sunday's Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway with torn-up race cars. Adding salt to their wounds was the fact that they provided the coup de gras for each other's ultimately miserable day.
Biffle's No. 16 Ford was one of 27 cars involved in a huge accident on lap five. But even after that his Taurus was stout enough to run in the top-five. But as he and Tony Stewart coursed through Turns 3 and 4 on lap 91, Busch collided with them, knocking Stewart's No. 20 Chevrolet into the wall and Biffle almost into a spin.
"We need to work better together out there because it was a restart and if everybody fans out four-wide, that's not gonna get us up to speed fast enough," Biffle said. "Anybody can get a run on somebody and pass them on a restart, but I thought we had established the inside lane there.
"He (Busch) didn't have anybody with him, so I don't know? I wished he would have gotten on the brakes a little and not had that happen (though) I'm not pointing fingers. I moved up there in front of him because I assumed he wanted to go up and get a draft off the outside lane of cars and he just caught me on my rear bumper and turned me."
"I had a 10-mile-an-hour run on my teammate and he pulled out in front of me," Busch said. "That's fine, but we ended up running out of race track and we wrecked. I had a pretty good run and didn't expect him to come up like that."
The situation worsened for Busch when he and Stewart exchanged some heated words in the garage after the race.
"Yeah, he ended up on my outside when Biffle pinched me up against him," Busch said. "It wasn't like I ended up running into him purposely -- it was just an accident. My teammate pulled out in front of me and I didn't have enough time to make a move to get around him.
"If I would have slammed on the brakes, we would have lost the draft."
Moving on up
Elliott Sadler was the big mover in this week's Winston Cup standings. He jumped 10 spots, from 20th to 10th -- the second time he's been in the top 10 this season.
"I had a great race car all day," Sadler said. "We had some problems and got in a wreck or two and beat up the front end a little bit (and) we had some overheating problems -- but, man, we had some great calls in the pits again. I am so proud of Raymond (Fox).
"He's not acting like a first-year crew chief at all - he's making some great, smart decisions giving us track position every week and they just built me a great race car."
Don't blame the track
Mark Martin had plenty of reason to be disgruntled with restrictor-plate racing and Talladega Superspeedway after his competitive day ended after four laps. But after finishing 26th he just shrugged.
"I'm not a big fan of all the stuff that we do here, but this was a flat tire," Martin said of Ryan Newman's cut tire that launched the wreck. "I mean, it wasn't anybody's fault. You can't point your finger anywhere on this one, it was just unfortunate."
Dang it, that hurt
Ward Burton had his chance for his best restrictor plate finish since he won the 2002 Daytona 500, but just got dialed out in the end. His No. 22 Dodge ended up seventh -- still his best but not as good as he expected.
"That's the best car I've had here in probably two years," Burton said. "We were going to be able to be a factor of who won it if we didn't win it -- but one guy put a block on us late in the race and I had to get on the brakes."
Burton skated up the track and nearly hit the wall in Turns 1 and 2, but was nonplussed by the event.
"From there it was just catch-up, but we needed this," Burton said. "That's a lot better than we've been running in restrictor plate races since we won the Daytona 500. We were able to drop back to 15th or 20th and come back today in the top-five -- we did it all day long.
"That's great because now we've got something we can take to Daytona for a change."
Don't blame the track, Part II
Jeff Burton weighed in with his take on restrictor-plate racing in general and Talladega's version specifically after his day was ruined by the 27-car wreck on lap five.
"That's the problem is that it is typical Talladega," Burton said. "It's fun to watch and it's even fun to do, but there has to be a better way. We've got to build some racing where, when something happens, not everybody gets in it and that's what we've got right now."
How bad was it out there?
Regardless of what it looked like on television, Ricky Rudd attested to the violence of an accident at Talladega when he described his pinball-like ride in the No. 21 Ford.
"I'm actually in good shape," Rudd said. "I took some hard hits, but all of that new safety gear did the job.
"I can count three times I got the wind knocked out of me -- at least three hard hits I had. But actually, I'm pretty good. I'm kind of upset like everybody else that we didn't get a chance to run no longer than we did."
Just plain disgusted
As his teammate Elliott Sadler did, Dale Jarrett suffered some overheating trouble in his No. 88 Ford, but his disgust went deeper than that after he recorded a 12th place finish.
"It wouldn't run and didn't drive very good, either (and) that's a bad combination," Jarrett said. "It just wasn't a very good race car. We tried to build a good, new car to bring here but we didn't succeed.
"I was getting outrun by cars that were wrecked. It's just unfortunate that half the field got taken out and I can't finish any better than 12th here."
You can add my vote
Bill Elliott streak of top-10 futility at Talladega continued, as the all-time NASCAR qualifying record holder has only one top-10 finish in his last 15 Talladega races after he finished 13th in his Dodge Dealers Intrepid.
"I'm just glad it's over," Elliott said. "This ain't what my definition of racing is."
RACING PERSPECTIVES
Talladega Tidbits
by Jeff Alan - Staff Writer
04/07/2003
It was a rock em,’ sock em’ weekend at Talladega. Between the Busch and Cup boys (and girls), over $2 million worth of equipment was destroyed. And, for one Cup driver, his pristine, undamaged $125,000 car was unceremoniously forfeited. But you know that. So, amid nagging controversy, yours truly has some leftover Talladega tidbits to throw into the microwave.
• Inconsistency. That’s all. Inconsistency.
• The drivers weren’t the only people at Talladega who were none too thrilled about that 27 car fracas on lap 4. The fans of those who didn’t make it through the big wreck weren’t exactly jumping up and down and clicking their heels, either.
• The track at Talladega looks like crap. Butt-ugly. Shameful. I think it is time for the folks at the ISC to give it a facelift ---a nice, new coat of asphalt. I’ve seen highways in North Carolina that were in better shape.
• I thought the object of inner-liners was to keep a tire stable in the event of a sudden loss of air pressure at superspeedways.
• Inconsistency.
• Those pit reporters from the networks have no problem bugging drivers after they crash. But when you turn the table and go to ask them a question, they are suddenly “too busy,” and brush you off like a gnat.
• Kudos to Ryan Newman for the barb he threw at FOX reporter-ette, Jeanne Zelasko. I got a kick of that one when I saw the replay.
• If there is another reason to get rid of restrictor plates, here it is: Plate engines lack that “throaty” rumble that typically defines unrestricted engines. The special configurations of plate engines sound almost like IROC cars. Oh well. Still better than the sound of a V-6.
• If there is a ‘Driver-of-the-Race’ award, it should go to Greg Biffle. After the melee on lap four, that dude stayed in the lead draft for half the race in nothing but rolling junk. Matt Kenseth gets an ‘attaboy’ too. His car ran very well considering it was motoring on a wing and a prayer for most of the race.
• Inconsistency.
• Note to Mikey: Yes, it was your fault.
• NASCAR made a good (gasp!) decision to start the race a few minutes early. The last thing we needed, next to a 27-car crash, was to have this race shortened by rain.
• All those who saw Junior pass below the yellow line, raise your hands.
• All those who didn’t see Junior pass below the yellow line, raise your hands. (NASCAR officials are exempt from answering)
• Inconsistency.
• Nice to see Terry Labonte get a top-five. How long has it been? Something like 28 races since we’ve seen that?
• I think Elliott Sadler is doing a pretty decent job for the folks at RYR. He left Tally with a third place finish.
• Staff America Corp. has a good reason to give the folks at BACE motorsports a few more bucks. Tony Raines was the highest-finishing rookie in the event. Hey, maybe a few more bucks will get you a bigger logo, and folks will actually be able to see it, too!!
• Three of the top-ten drivers on Sunday were over 40. The vets aren’t quite finished yet.
• Inconsistency.
• Saw this question on an internet bulletin board: If Steve Park
had not slammed into Joe
Nemechek’s door as he passed him with only half his car below the yellow
line, would NASCAR have called it a ‘clean pass,’ and let him continue
racing without throwing the black flag?
• Ricky Craven didn’t do a bad job in his Pony-Yack on Sunday. He came away with a 4th place finish, and stands 6th in the points.
• Next to the #8 team, one of the happiest guys in the garage was Richard Childress. Not only did Kevin Harvick finish second, but Robby Gordon finished the race without destroying his, or someone else’s car.
• After the race, there was an awful lot of grumbling in that Winston-Cup garage. I just can’t imagine what it was that had all those boys upset.
• Inconsistency.
You can reach Jeff Alan at: Jalan@...
RACING PERSPECTIVES
The Real Issue...
by Lori Tyler-Assistant Editor
04/07/2003
I know, I know. Many of you feel that Dale Earnhardt Jr. was handed the win, that he got the elusive “call” from NASCAR that allowed him to claim his fourth consecutive victory at Talladega on Sunday.
I can certainly understand how some of you might feel that way. And, I can certainly understand that the domination of one team at the restrictor plate tracks can make for a rather boring afternoon. However, pardon me if I don’t share the same sentiment. I think, for once, NASCAR finally decided, after several botched calls in the past, to take a look at the use of the yellow line on an individual basis, rather than throwing a penalty to each and every car that dared trek over the line. It just so happened, that a DEI machine, namely Earnhardt, was the one who benefitted from the call. Coincidence? You decide.
The real issue, at least in my humble opinion, isn’t that Dale Earnhardt Jr. won both the Busch Grand National and the Winston Cup Series races. It isn’t the fact that he came from the back of the field in the Winston Cup race to grab the win. No, it isn’t even the fact that NASCAR finally decided to look at this rule with a level head.
The real issue folks, is that 48, no that’s not a typo, 48 cars were damaged or destroyed at Talladega this past weekend.
Why isn’t that an issue? Why is it that year after year we pile in the grandstands or sit, snacks in hand, in front of our television sets to watch the same outcome season after season. Why is it that year after year its always the same picture?
Millions of dollars were tossed out the window last weekend, and it seems that the only people that truly care are those who worked their collective behinds off to put that race car out on the track for a demolition derby run at 190 miles per hour.
No solution NASCAR has come up with to date, has consistently eliminated the dreaded “Big One.” And, in all fairness to them, I don’t know that a solution will ever surface that can allow these men to do what is in their blood to do…race.
This, my friends, is not racing. This is 188 laps of hoping and praying that you don’t end up roof surfing down the frontstretch while inviting 26 of your closest friends along with you. This is biding your time riding in tremendous packs, side by side, like sardines, hoping the guy along side of you doesn’t make a mistake. This is holding your breath for 168 laps, and then letting it all hang out. After all, the real racing doesn’t even take place until about 20 laps to go.
I admit, I might not “get” restrictor plate racing. For the most part, I despise it. On the other hand, there are many of you out there that enjoy it like nothing else. I find no enjoyment in watching the attrition rate for the entire race happen in one lap. I find no enjoyment in watching any car go tumbling down the backstretch while half the field piles into him. I don’t enjoy watching millions and millions of dollars, hard work, and championship dreams being flushed down the toilet.
But, most of all, with all the advances we have in technology, I don’t understand why we can’t do something about it.
You can reach Lori Tyler at: ltyler@...
RACING PERSPECTIVES
Dale Jr - 4 in a row
The big one came early this week
By Cliff Maurand - Staff Writer
04/07/2003
Dale Earnhardt Jr managed to pull of quite an upset at Talladega this week, and one that no one is really surprised to see. Junior won the race in Talladega for the fourth time in a row, and this came despite trouble early in the race. The problems started long before the race, when a bad oil cooler helped fry a motor. That sent him to the rear of the field for the start of the race. And then "The Big One" forced him to sideline his way through the infield grass, damaging his front air dam. The subsequent 17 or so pit stops and pieces flapping in the wind didn't deter him. Nor did the controversial pass below the yellow line with only a couple of laps to go. Earnhardt as usual came through with flying colors, and another win at Talladega!
Trouble for half the field came hard, and early this week. They didn't even make it as far as the Busch teams did before the big pile-up that has become known as the classic Big One. Only 4 laps into the race, Ryan Newman cut a tire, which sent him sailing violently into the outside retaining wall. The resulting wreck-fest that followed, managed to collect more than half the field, a total of 26 cars were involved. NASCAR managed to dodge the bullet again this week, as none of the drivers involved in the big wreck were seriously injured.
The rest of the race went pretty much like any other restrictor plate race, a rather boring freight train run around the big track. At least it was that until the end. With only a couple of laps to go, Earnhardt made the pass that will be questioned and dissected for the rest of the week. Earnhardt was racing Matt Kenseth for the lead, and he was on the inside. Kenseth's car came down a little, and Earnhardt dove below the yellow line to avoid contact. However, Kenseth's car didn't come down that far, and he checked up, but Earnhardt went below the line anyway. Kevin Harvick was running behind the pair of them, and saw him do it too.
NASCAR ruled that the pass was a "legal move" and let it stand. Drivers were upset over this and several made it known to NASCAR that they weren't happy with the ruling. But as we all know, NASCAR makes the rules, and enforces them in a somewhat selective fashion. I've often said that the only thing that is consistent about NASCAR, is their inconsistency! So ends yet another chapter in that particular book.
As for 'The Big One' that comes with just about every restrictor plate track, todays was one of the biggest. Though everyone walked away from this one, that's something we can't predict in the future. Racing with restrictor plates has proven to be a nothing more than a paper tiger. NASCAR has imposed the use of these things on the premiss that it helps keep the speeds down, thereby making the races safer for the drivers and the fans. If anyone out there (besides NASCAR that is) actually believes that, then they aren't paying attention to driver injuries caused by 'The Big One' each time they bolt those plates on the cars.
Matt Kenseth continues to finish in the top ten, and by virtue of that maintains the series points lead. Dale Earnhardt Jr's win on Sunday helped boost him up into second place, though he's nearly 130 points behind the leader. Kurt Busch fell back to third this week, and trails his team mate by 187 points. Jimmie Johnson trails Kenseth by 220 points, and his boss Jeff Gordon is only 2 points behind him. clearly the series points are starting to spread out a little, and Kenseth seems to be holding a very comfortable margin.
We go from super big and very boring, to super small and very exciting this week. Thankfully, we won't see any more restrictor plates until July! Next week the Winston Cup moves to the smallest track on the tour, Martinsville Va. True 'Bull Ring' racing on the little paper clip shaped 0.526 mile oval located in the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains. We'll see plenty of bent sheet metal again this week, but at least it won't kill off half the field with a single incident!
You can reach Cliff Maurand at: cmaurand@...
Your
Momma
"Don't come here and grumble about going too fast. Get the hell out of the race car if you've got feathers on your legs or butt. Put a kerosene rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up there and eat that candy ass." - Dale Earnhardt – 1998
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