Pit Pass Radio

Possible scenarios:
1. The obvious fit would be for Jr. to go to Richard Childress Racing. I do see him being very hesitant about driving the #3 though. In interviews since the announcement, he’s been saying that he just wouldn’t “feel right” about racing the number his dad made famous, at this point in his career. Jr. always talks about wanting to race that number many years from now. Sounds like he wants to get a championship or two under his belt first. That said, if he pulls out on the track at Daytona in a black #3 car, the Junior Nation might hurl themselves onto the track in jubilation...

2. Joe Gibbs Racing would be a great fit too, but I agree about the Budweiser issue. Make no mistake, Bud WILL follow Jr wherever he goes and I just don’t think Gibbs will take on that sponsorship because of his faith. The upsides are that JGR has won multiple championships with different drivers and could expand to four cars easily. Jr. gets along well with Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin. I just don’t see it happening.

3. I agree that Hendrick Motorsports won’t work either. Too many egos in that organization already AND, as was stated, they are full. NASCAR is about to restrict organizations to four teams max, and with the signing of Casey Mears, they have their alotment for the foreseeable future. Do I think they will talk, yes. Do I think anything will come of it, no.

4. Ginn Racing. Bobby Ginn has done some amazing things since buying the MB2 ‘also ran’ team last year. Signing Mark Martin away from Ford to drive Chevys was something I never thought I’d see happen…and it’s worked out well for both (I was at Daytona in February when Mark missed winning the Daytona 500 by a couple of feet). They have Hendrick engines. Ginn could throw a ton of money at Jr…but he has said it’s not about the money. He wants to win championships.…and that’s the one thing that Ginn Racing can’t offer right now, a history of winning championships.

Those are the Chevy teams I think are in the running for Jr.’s services, with Childress the clear favorite. Write it down…you will not see Dale Earhardt Jr. driving a make other than Chevrolet. As far as Mikey’s team…I don’t think anyone wants to touch that situation with a ten foot pole. If Mikey and DJ keep missing races there may not be a MWR next year.

One thing’s for sure, once Jr. signs with someone, it will definately send shock waves through the garage area and you will see other drivers and teams making major moves as a result. Should be fun to watch.

What’s next? I tuned in to NASCAR Now on ESPN earlier this week and heard a breaking story…once again the subject was Michael Waltrip. Mikey. The king of publicity, media and sponsor hound…and ring-leader of the gang that can’t shoot straight.

Seriously what is going to happen next? Will we tune in for this week’s race at Texas Motor Speedway to find that Michael Waltrip Racing is closing it’s doors immediately due to “circumstances beyond their control”? Nothing would surprise me at this point. You have to wonder what’s around the next corner with MWR and specifically, Mikey himself.

Waltrip basically threw away his season as a driver last year while trying to get his brand new mega-operation on its feet for 2007. He may have been occupying the seat of Bill Davis’ #55 Dodges in ‘06, but his heart definitely wasn’t in it.  All the focus was on this new team and being the flagship for Toyota’s entry into Nextel Cup (and Busch Series) Racing. It doesn’t seem to have helped the initial effort here in ‘07.

As has been well documented, Waltrip’s #55 team was busted for an illegal fuel additive found in the intake of the Toyota and the team was forced to rip the decals off of teammate David Reutimann’s backup car for Michael to use in his 150 mile qualifying race. Waltrip ran into former teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr’s Chevy during the race but was somehow able to recover well enough to make the Daytona 500.

He has failed to make a race since.

Not good for the sponsors who pour millions and millions of dollars into organizations like MWR  so that they can have those sleek rolling billboards present each sunday at the track and, more importantly, in front of national television cameras. You have to wonder how much patience Waltrip’s sponsors will have for this situation if the team continues to miss races week after week. Not to mention Toyota, the manufacturer that has been looking forward to their debut in the Cup Series for several years.

Now, as if Michael Waltrip needed more bad pub…he crashes his Toyota SUV about a mile from his home this week. Having seen the pictures of the wreck, it’s amazing that the guy was not killed…or at the very least severely injured. Thank God he wasn’t.

A witness reports that Waltrip got out of the vehicle with cuts on his arms and blood on his forehead, and started walking in the direction of his Sherrills Ford, N.C. home. Reportedly Waltrip hadn’t been drinking, but fell asleep and ran off the road early last Sunday morning around 1:30.

Look, I think Michael Waltrip has been an asset to the sport over the years. I think most people were glad to see him get his first win in 2001’s Daytona 500 after so many years of futility. The win was overshadowed, of course, by the death of Dale Earnhardt and though he has been able to win two other Cup races on restrictor plate tracks, including another Daytona 500, he never been able to break through and become a consistent threat to win each week on the circuit. It’s hard to see how this inconsistency in performance coupled with a brand new three-car operation and a new manufacturer is the recipe for success.

It’s not like his two other drivers are faring much better this season. Former champ Dale Jarrett has struggled to make races and has already used 4 of his 6 allotted past- champion’s provisionals. DJ sits 34th in points headed into Texas. David Reutimann is a Cup rookie and is 43rd in the standings. It should be pointed out that the other Toyota teams have been struggling mightily as well.
OK, how does Michael pull out of all this? He’s dead last in points (27 points in the red after his penalty at Daytona). His hopes for even mediocre success this season are gone. I suggest he get out of the driver’s seat of the #55 and focus 100% on being a car owner and fixing what is wrong at MWR. Drivers at this level certainly don’t like being forced out of the seat, but at this point, I think Micheal should swallow his pride and take the proverbial bullet for his team in hopes of getting things on track for 2008.

Otherwise, history might lump Michael Waltrip Racing in with other owner-drivers who have had to close the doors of their race shops because they struggled handling both roles while attempting to compete at a high level in modern Cup Series racing. Those would include Brett Bodine Racing, Rudd Performance Motorsports and DarWal, Inc…run by another guy named Waltrip.

Imagine this. You’re working hard on a Tuesday. It just happens to be the Tuesday prior to the Daytona 500. You get a call from your brother in Florida and he says he’s thinking of taking off on Thursday to go to the Duel races.

Later he sends you an instant message saying that one of their company’s vendors might be proving a couple of tickets to the Daytona 500 for their use. The boss, knowing how big a race fan your brother is, decides to give him the tickets.

Your brother says, “If you can get down here you can go with me”…

That’s what happened to me last week! I still can’t believe I attended my first Daytona 500. Not only that, but the seats we had were terrific…right in the center of the tri-oval just a few feet down from the start-finish line, about 12 rows up…not only for the 500, but for the Busch race on Saturday.

To top it all off, this year’s Daytona 500 turned out to be one for the ages.

I’ve been following NASCAR racing for almost 30 years and have covered the sport for my radio show…but never did I believe I would have such an awesome opportunity. I’ll write more about my experiences and the carnival-like atmosphere of the Great American Race. It was an experience I’ll never forget!

Dierks Bentley during pre-race and Cowboy Crush singing the anthem. Yee Ha…

Whoa! Wild finish as Tony Stewart moves Kyle Busch out of the lead by getting into the back of the 5 car hard and almost wiping Kyle out. Tony goes on to win. Rookie David Gilliland takes a very strong Yates Ford to an impressive 2nd place finish after starting the final segment dead last. Kurt Bush comes home 3rd.

Coming to the stripe, Dale Jr. gets into the back of Elliott Sadler and turns him into the outside wall. The spinning #8 and #19 collect several other cars, including Sadler’s teamate, Kasey Kahne.

Tomorrow is Bud Pole qualifying. Favorites for the pole are Ricky Rudd in the Snickers #88, and David Gilliland in the M&M’s #38. Both were at the top of the speed charts in practice. Sterling Marlin was also very fast in the 14 car for Ginn Racing.

by Steve Sharbutt
Cup Scene Daily, January 30

I don’t like to make predictions. They usually come back to haunt me. Case in point? For 2006 I had Greg Biffle winning it all and Elliott Sadler 2nd. Whoops…

OK, I’ll give it another shot for 2007 because I like looking like an idiot in public.

Juan Pablo Montoya will win a Nextel Cup race this season. Yes, I know this is a long shot given his steep learning curve, but Juan has too much talent not to have a good opportunity to run in the top five at some of these races and, if things go just right, to win. He obviously had a great drive in Ganassi’s car in the Rolex 24 and really seems to adapt to new situations quite quickly. Best chance? Sonoma, Indy or Watkins Glen. Don’t be surprised if he runs very well at the plate tracks too.

NASCAR will make a dramatic announcement sometime after the midway point of the season that the COT (Car of Tomorrow) will be used at ALL the races in 2008 instead of waiting until 2009. It was interesting to read the comments of Petty Enterprises legend Dale Inman, in a column written by my editor Greg Engle. Inman commented that right now teams are having to maintain two separate sets of parts and pieces, one set for the current car and one for the COT.

“None of those parts are interchangeable with the cars we have now,” he said.
“It would have been better if NASCAR would have said ‘on February 18th
(the date of the season opening Daytona 500), we will all race this car (the
Car Of Tomorrow).”

I think that as soon as the teams begin to run the COT at several of the tracks this year and start to get a handle on the adjustments the cars need to suit their drivers and start building new cars, most teams will be in favor of scrapping the current car in order to focus on the COT. Richard Petty added that, “If NASCAR said tomorrow that we’d have to run on three wheels, next week we’d be running on three wheels.” I agree. The teams are having to adjust anyway, so why not go ahead and make the switch? The three year rollout may have seemed like a good idea on the surface, but I think NASCAR will decide that having the teams maintain the current car as well as the COT will be a waste of money. Other than safety, one of the primary benefits of the COT was supposed to be to save the teams money, right?

Denny Hamlin will experience a sophomore slump. The one downside to over achieving in your rookie season is trying to top it. I don’t believe he can, at least not this year. Who would have expected Hamlin to win the Budweiser Shootout, to sweep of the races at Pocono, earn a Chase birth and a third place finish overall? Not many. Now with 12 available slots, Hamlin may still make the Chase, but barely.

Here’s my prediction for the top ten finishers in the championship for 2007. Don’t be upset if I don’t have your driver ranked high enough… I’m probably wrong.

1. Tony Stewart - Stewart rebounds from being locked out of the Chase last year and claims his 3rd Cup title.
2. Kevin Harvick - This team is hitting its stride and has focused a lot of effort on the COT. Look for the newly painted #29 cars in victory lane multiple times in 2007.
3. Jimmie Johnson - JJ won’t successfully defend his title, but he and Chad Knaus will be in the hunt ‘til the very end (as normal).
4. Jeff Gordon - The ‘Drive For Five’ stalls again.
5. Carl Edwards - “Reunited and it feels so good…”
6. Kasey Kahne - The #9 team will continue to be strong on the mile and a half tracks.
7. Greg Biffle - New crew chief Pat Tryson will help Biffle get back in the Chase with a much better start to the season than he had in ‘06
8. Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Contract talks et al will keep the Bud team from achieving all their goals in ‘07.
9. Jeff Burton - Cingular? AT&T? Whatever the color of the car, the #31 gets a solid top ten finish.
10. Juan Pablo Montoya - OK, OK, but don’t be surprised if this happens.

Oh, one more thing: Michael Waltrip’s new Toyota teams will struggle mightily in 2007. Let’s see…new manufacturer, new buildings, lots of new toys with which to build racecars and lots of money. Good right? Add to that two drivers whose best days behind the wheel unfortunately are behind them, and a raw rookie. Not so good. The combination of 1999 champ Dale Jarrett (with his past champion’s provisional) and former Ryan Newman head wrench Matt Borland will perform the best of the three in 2007, but even they won’t reach the top 20. The #55 and #00 will struggle just to make the races from week to week.

On the plus side, I’m sure they’ll sell lots of pizza, hamburgers and car parts.

Cup Scene Daily, January 25

Greg Alleck / LAT Photo

David Gilliland was getting nervous.

After receiving the call of a lifetime last season to replace Elliott Sadler in the #38 M&M’s Ford for Robert Yates Racing, David Gilliland saw his new team wrestling with its future.

Going into the 2006 season, Robert and Doug Yates were optimistic. Elliott Sadler was looking to improve on a lack luster 2005 and Dale Jarrett was content to ride out the remaining years of his career with Yates, the team with which he’s had tremendous success.

When Jarrett announced in May that he would be leaving RYR to join Michael Waltrip’s new Toyota team, it set in motion a series of events which eventually included Elliott Sadler’s departure along with general manager Eddie D’hondt and crew chiefs Tommy Baldwin and Richard “Slugger” Labbe. UPS, sponsor of Jarrett’s #88, elected to follow him to MWR.

Gilliland, coming off an unlikely win in the Busch Series race at Kentucky Speedway in June, was tapped to drive the M&M’s Ford full time in 2007 and beyond. The team decided to forego the shot at the Rookie of the Year title in ‘07 and put David in the car immediately, starting with the Michigan race on August 30th. Todd Parrott returned “home” from a stint at Petty Enterprises to resume his role as crew chief on the #38.

An awesome opportunity to be sure, but David’s concern soon began to mount.

As he struggled to adapt to a new car, a new team and, well, racing against the best drivers in the world each week, something began to happen.

Robert Yates Racing found itself beginning to teeter on the brink of extinction.

This is the same proud team that has seen its share of tragedy as well as triumph. RYR was started when a young Davey Allison convinced veteran engine builder and friend Robert Yates to scrape together enough money to buy the financially struggling #28 team of Harry Ranier. The pairing of Allison and Yates, fielding cars prepared by Larry McReynolds, led to many wins and a championship run in 1992 that fell just short.

After the tragedy of Davey’s death in 1993, Ernie Irvan was brought in to fill the seat. Dale Jarrett came to Yates as the result of a near fatal crash Irvan suffered at Michigan. Both Irvan and Jarrett continued to have success in Yates’ cars. Jarrett even won the Cup championship in 1999.

Fast forward to 2006.

A promising open to the season had led to dissension, departure and uncertainty. There was talk of selling the entire team to Robby Gordon. DEI was interested in buying the #88. David Gilliland found himself on an island as lame duck Jarrett had one foot out the door.

“The sponsors assured me not to worry,” said Gilliland. “They put my mind at ease. But it gets to you.”

It was possible that David Gilliland’s biggest racing opportunity could become his biggest disappointment.

“We had come so close so many times, worked hard to make it. Yes, it was a concern but (the sponsors) reassured me.”

Things are definitely looking up now. Robert and Doug Yates are once again very optimistic heading into the 2007 season. Masterfoods USA stepped up its sponsorship of the team and would now brand both cars.

And oh yes, veteran and former Yates driver Ricky Rudd has returned to pilot the Snickers #88.

This could not have worked out better for Gilliland. It turns out that Rudd and Gilliland are roughly the same size. They use the exact same seats. Testing has gone very well for the team thus far as the information flows freely from veteran to rookie.

“We just hit it off,” Gilliland said of Rudd. “With DJ it didn’t feel comfortable as far as talking. But I can go to Ricky and ask him anything.

Gilliland is no longer on an island.

He now has the professor with him.

Cup Scene Daily, January 18

Howard Stern once proclaimed himself the “king of all media”. This year we might very well bestow that title on one Juan Pablo Montoya. Seemingly, wherever JPM goes, a throng of media members follows, eagerly asking their questions and scribbling on note pads.

How delicious is this story? The announcement that Montoya would run the entire Cup series in ‘07 was definitely a home run for NASCAR’s diversity program. This Colombian, ex-Formula 1 star is trying his hand at stock car racing, potentially bringing a legion of fans with him. Brian France could not have asked for a better situation (unless Danica Patrick had come over too).

When the sports car world descends on Daytona for the Rolex 24, it’s a good bet that the media will be there in greater numbers than in years past. Not only is Jeff Gordon competing in the race for the first time, he’s in one of the most competitive cars on the circuit, teamed up with former winners Max Angelelli and Wayne Taylor in the #10 Suntrust Pontiac Riley Daytona Prototype.

Reigning Nextel Cup champ Jimmie Johnson will be there, as will two-time champion, Tony Stewart. There are many other drivers with NASCAR ties in the field including Scott Pruett, AJ Allmendinger, Bill Lester, Bobby Labonte, Sam Hornish Jr., Boris Said and Wally Dallenbach, as well as several big names from American open-wheel racing such as Scott Pruett, Eddie Cheever Jr., Dan Wheldon and Paul Tracy.

That said, the big story will likely be Montoya. Driving the #01 Telmex Lexus Riley in the Daytona Prototype class for Chip Ganassi, Juan will share the wheel of one of the strongest cars in the field. He will split the driving duties with veteran Scott Pruett and Salvador Duran in the team car to the #02 Target Lexus Riley that won the overall title for Ganassi last year.

The Rolex 24 at Daytona is obviously a race of endurance, taxing the drivers and equipment to their limits. Should the #01 Ganassi team be able to keep their car in one piece throughout the night, they should have a legitimate shot at the win. There’s no doubt that Juan’s skill on road courses could pay big dividends for them.

Even though the cars and course are different, the race still gives Montoya the benefit of more track time at the World Center of Racing. The road course at Daytona makes use of the 31 degree banks on both ends of the speedway, most of the backstretch as well as part of the front straightaway, before making a hard left turn just past the exit of pit road to enter the infield section.

Expect lots of pre-race interviews with Montoya. He’s likely to spend almost as much time with microphones and cameras in his face that weekend than he will with a steering wheel in his hands.

Even with all the attention Juan will get the weekend of the Rolex 24, it will pale to the amount he will get leading up to the Daytona 500. The new “media king” will definitely have a full plate during pole qualifying and the 150s. His #42 Dodge was fast during January testing and even though the competition is typically faster when they come back in February, Montoya could likely end up with a good starting spot for the 500.

No doubt, his exploits will be well documented, and if he happens to run up front in the Daytona 500, his face time will increase even more. What if he pulls off the unthinkable and actually wins the race?

We are talking about the guy who won the Indy 500 in his first try, remember?

Montoya mania will be huge for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Texaco / Havoline, and all the team’s associate sponsors. If Juan is able to run well in the races this season with a minimum of mangled equipment, all the better.

This is definitely not meant as a swipe at the media. They have pages and airtime to fill and I love reading it, listening to it and watching it.

In fact, I’ll be right there in the crowd with my microphone as well.

Cup Scene Daily, January 4

Among the most interesting stories heading into the 2007 season is Toyota’s foray into the Nextel Cup Series. How long will it be before they achieve some measure of success? Can they put one (or two) of their sleek, new cars on the front row for the Daytona 500? Will they struggle on the 1.5 mile tracks that have been propagated throughout the sport? How about on the short tracks?
Also, can a fabulous open-wheel driver and ex-Formula One ace like Juan Montoya have consistent success in Cup? How long will his learning curve be? Is Chip Ganassi Racing (with Felix Sabates) going to be able to provide him with good enough equipment to compete with the Hendricks and Roushes of the world? (Side note: will Sabates ever sell his stake in those race teams?)
Oh, and maybe the most interesting of all…the COT. The Car of Tomorrow - NASCAR’s pet project that will now see practical implementation in ‘07. Gary Nelson, who has been instrumental in designing the new car, says the COT will eventually be called a ‘spec’ car.
NASCAR apparently went with that name over “butt ugly”.
Whether the teams like it or not, the time has long since passed to embrace the new design. Those who are just now getting their COT programs ‘in gear’ are likely to be waiting several years to see one of theirs in Victory Lane.
In the early 1980s, NASCAR also had teams and fans in an uproar about a new body style. Like the COT, it was smaller and boxier than its predecessor. The Pontiac Grand Prix, in particular, had a very odd look, including a sloped rear window. None of the Buicks, Fords, Oldsmobiles and Chevrolets looked as they once did. Yet it wasn’t long before no one noticed anymore.
I recently asked former Cup driver Lake Speed his thoughts on the Car of Tomorrow. “From the stands the average fan won’t be able to tell a bit of difference”, Speed said.
That’s probably true. Further, if the racing is good, will anyone really care what the new car looks like? Whether it has a rear wing or not? Or whether it has a bigger green house?
Regardless, there will be 43 of them on the track at Bristol in a couple of months. The car will definitely be ‘crash’ tested at Thunder Valley. At the end of the day, will we be talking about the looks of the car, or the bump and run?
The implementation of the COT is the third phase of NASCAR’s safety revisions. One could hardly argue a return to NASCAR’s recent past – the days before HANS devices and SAFER barriers. It’s been demonstrated that the new spec car is considerably safer than the current car. If it keeps one driver from being critically injured, the change will have been worth it.
If the racing is improved and teams are eventually able to reduce their operating budgets, all the better.

David Gilliland is trying to get a jump on his steep learning curve. He and his Robert Yates Racing team know that the going will be tough until David gets a handle on what he needs in a Nextel Cup car.
The #38 team has struggled mightily since David became the driver of the M&M’s Ford for the Michigan race on August 20. In four races, they have finished no better than 32nd. On Saturday night in Richmond, though, it seemed as if they would post their best finish thus far.
The #38 team started in the 24th position in the Chevy Rock and Roll 400 and, after falling back a couple of positions on the start, began to make up ground on the cars they were chasing, and began moving up in the order. They were running in the 16th position when the first caution flag flew at lap 81. The Robert Yates “Chocolate Thunder” crew made up one position on pit road and Gilliland restarted 15th.
Again, the 38 car began to fade slightly on the restart before coming back to life once the tires came up to temperature. Gilliland moved back up to the 16th position and was posting lap times as fast or faster than the leaders when the yellow flag flew once again on lap 119.
Gilliland’s bright yellow Ford Fusion was pitted between the #96 of Tony Raines and the #48 of Jimmie Johnson. After another good stop by his crew, David pulled quickly out of his pit box. That’s when his night of possibly finishing in the top 15 came to an abrupt end.
The M&M’s and Lowes cars made contact on pit road which ripped the sheet metal completely off of the driver’s side of the 38 car, exposing the roll cage underneath. The team was forced to bring the car back in for repairs and Gilliland rejoined the race in the 41st position, three laps down.
“We really did have a good car tonight,” said Gilliland. “Todd Parrott and the entire M&M’s team did a great job setting up the car for this race and we only had to make minor adjustments throughout the night. It’s a shame that we had contact with the 48 car because our finish didn’t show how strong the M&M’s Ford really was.”
The 38 car continued to be strong, gained a few spots before the end of the race and finished 36th.
My question is, how did the television cameras miss this? I know they can’t bring us everything that happens during a race, but a car gets the entire side ripped off and the announcers say nothing? Usually they catch big things like that.
I guess the broadcast team was so focused on the Chase contenders that it was hard to put emphasis on other things going on in the race. Jimmie Johnson was locked in, so no real need to follow what happened to him on pit road unless he was contending for the win, and David Gilliland was obviously a non-factor in terms of the Chase for the Nextel Cup.
Here’s hoping Robert Yates Racing returns to it’s status as one of the preeminent teams in the Nextel Cup Series. A lot will hinge on who is named to pilot the #88 car next season. David Gilliland obviously has a long way to go before he will be a contender for race wins and championships. But, then again, maybe not.
He did beat all the Cup drivers and Busch regulars at Kentucky earlier this year in an underfunded effort. Could lightning strike twice? There is the wild race at Talladega coming up in October when anything can and does happen. Robert and Doug Yates aways put competitive cars in the field for that race. In fact, the last win for Yates came at Talladega, when Dale Jarrett took the win in the fall race of 2005.

There’s no doubt that the Chase for the Nextel Cup has had an impact on the way the drivers and teams approach the first 26 races of the season. Yes, everyone would like to win every race, but each team knows that it’s consistency that will ultimately win out.
Take Matt Kenseth for instance. One could argue that one of the reasons there is a Chase format in place today is because of Kenseth’s run to the title in 2003. The Robbie Reiser led No. 17 bunch was on a roll. Their cars were fast every week, the ‘Killer Bees” were lightning fast on pit road and Matt led the point standings from week 4 until the end of the year. Critics of their run point to the fact that they only won one race that year, the third event of the season at Las Vegas.
Kenseth beat Jimmie Johnson by 90 points and the top 10 were separated by 860. This week with two races remaining before the Chase contenders are confirmed, point leader Johnson is leading Kenseth by a mere seven markers and the 4th through 10th place teams are separated by only 48.
It’s interesting to take a look at the situation that’s occurring this year in the Busch Series, running under the ‘old’ point system. Kevin Harvick is leading 2nd place Carl Edwards by 519 and 10th place Kenny Wallace is 1335 behind Harvick. So much for an interesting championship scenario for those guys.
Of course, many would point out that this year is an anomaly because so many Nextel Cup drivers (and teams) are participating in the Busch Series full time this year.
On the Cup side, it’s obvious that teams are thinking about points from the very beginning of the season. They know that they only have 26 race weekends during which they must perform at a high level, or risk being on the outside looking in when the championship “playoffs” start.
Seeing marquis drivers Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. miss the Chase last year seems to have gotten the attention of those in the garage area. Knowing that a mistake here or there could leave them without a chance at the big trophy is affecting the way the teams approach these last few races before the Chase. At Bristol Jeff Gordon’s crew chief Steve Letarte said he brought a car that was only about 90% as fast as it could be, sacrificing speed for reliability.
So, to Chase or not to Chase? There were a vast number of critics of the new system when it was first announced, but many of those have now seen the increased excitement it has brought to the end of the year and have become strong proponents. Not long ago I asked former driver Lake Speed what he thought of the Chase format.
“It’s a slam dunk.”, he said.
With only California and Richmond remaining until the point differentials are reconfigured, it seems that the ten contending teams in place, although there will definitely be movement within the top ten over the next two weeks.
During the time of year when many sports fans are looking more to college football and the NFL for their entertainment, NASCAR and Brian France have successfully brought a very stimulating playoff atmosphere to the table.
No wonder the sport continues to grow.