Some would say the best Fast Laps ever - the 50th 500
by Charlie Turner
I'm Charlie Turner co-host of the syndicated, mostly NASCAR radio show On Pit Row. Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. Oh yeah, Steve is an idiot.
February 18, 2008 2:17 pm CST 6 CommentsIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
After listening to the various announcers in the immediate after-race of the 50th Daytona 500 I’m not sure if they were more excited by Ryan Newman’s very popular victory or the stunningly competitive performance of the New Car. The Great American Race lived up to it’s name in one of - if not THE - best of all time. And the CoT has arrived.
Newman’s triumph was Roger Penske’s first ever Daytona 500 win too and that was another feel good thing about the race. The Penske one-two finish, with Kurt Busch an adventurous second place headed a surprising seven Dodges in the top ten.
The Hendrick Motorsports power house and Roush-Fenway’s Ford factory team struggled. The Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas looked to be the strongmen most of the day but in the end, could not hold off Flyin’ Ryan and the Dodge Boys.
Those might well have been the best Fast Laps ever - we’ll talk about that. Next up is a trip to the Republic of California and these four un-restricted Fast Laps.
1. Were the Daytona 500 results a preview of the rest of 2008 or just the usual plate-track one offs?
2. Where do you rank this 500 in relation to past Daytona 500 ’s
3. Have we seen the end of the “Big One” with the arrival of the New Car?
4. Did anyone expect the over/under on Jacques Villeneuve’s NASCAR career to be the under at one race?
The Fast Lap has no restrictor plates but you’re answers are limited to 100 words. Give us your best and don’t forget to come back and defend your position throughout the week. We’ll use the best stuff for a future ON PIT ROW.
Photo Credit: Matthew Stockman - Getty Images for NASCAR
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About the Fast Lap blog
Fast Laps! Welcome to the On Pit Row Fast Lap blog. Every week On Pit Row we pose four Fast Lap questions. Four corners - four questions. On the radio show, Steve and I have 30 seconds each, to give our response to each of the four. If you are a listener, you already know that we rarely agree on any answer. The Fast Lap is NASCAR debate. Hannity and Colmes. Lincoln and Douglas. Wronkowicz and Turner. OK, maybe not Lincoln and Douglas. We have more fun than Lincoln and Douglas. Here's the challenge. We will post our Fast Lap questions some time each Monday. Four questions on topical NASCAR related subjects. Your mission is to comment with your answers and each answer is limited to 100 words. The questions, answers and comments will form the basis of this blog for that week. Comment on the Fast Lap questions. Comment on the comments. Insult the commenters. Witty ridicule is rated at least as highly as cogent commentary. Just remember that you have limited words and penalties are severe. Or not. Steve and I will select worthy blog entries to be featured on an edition of On Pit Row. That's the plan. I'm sure we will have some other things to post about each week but the intention is to pose most posts as questions. I want to argue with you! Bring it on.
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Hey charlie tw0 great blogs today on villeneuve and the 500 I wanted to answer your
questions
1. Were the Daytona 500 results a preview of the rest of 2008 or just the usual
plate-track one offs? Based on practice speeds from the test I think the Dodge’s are
for real and they may rack up many wins, but Iwouldn’t bet on all of them running
so well at every track. Maybe Robby Gordon is smarter then we give him credit for
2. Where do you rank this 500 in relation to past Daytona 500 ’s This year’s 500 was
far better then last year’s and quite possibly is in the top 5 of all time
1998, 2004, 1989, 2008, 2007 might be my list since ihave been a racing fan
3. Have we seen the end of the “Big One” with the arrival of the New Car?Yes it
appears so with those side wings drivers can get the car back under control and we
will not have to see those wrecks that took out half the field like Gordon at
Taladega in 1997
4. Did anyone expect the over/under on Jacques Villeneuve’s NASCAR career to be the
under at one race? No way I though he would at least try to break into the top 35
over thefirst five races. Apprenltly he was not into this kind of racing at all
Joshua Lobdell Featured NASCAR analyst http://www.fantasyinsideronline.com
Stand back… here comes Luke.
1) Define results. Positions? Performance? Racing?
Let’s evaluate.
Position results: No, it doesn’t give a clue to 2008. Plate tracks rarely do because of the complexity of the outcome. Zero to hero in 1000 feet or less, and you need friends out there to work with.
Performance results: Again, no clue to 2008. See: Position results.
Racing results: The car looked good out there. They weren’t balls to the wall for 200 laps, but when are they ever for the entire distance? While not riding around, they tend to be cautiously aggressive and strategically place themselves as best possible to push it to the end. If you don’t last to the end, you can’t win.
2) Um, best of all time? No. In no particular order, 1979, 1997, 1998, 2007 for sure. Not to mention a few others. Historically speaking, of course it was important. It was the 50th anniversary. Excitement/competition wise… just outside the top 5 probably. Not that it wasn’t good, it was. I’d say top 6 or 7, but 5 or higher would be pushing it.
3) I don’t think we’ve seen the end, as the stupidity factor is still there. However, it does seem thus far that the recoverability of the car is better due to the wing on the back.
4) Taking a few factors into consideration, like BDR, lack of sponsorship, under achieving team, etc., I’m not surprised it ended. I am surprised it only took one race, but the way I’m reading into it is that it is more of a BDR decision than Jacques decision. But hey, go JB!
1. No, Daytona and Talladega have always been outliers because of track configuration and restrictor plates being utilized.
2. Top 5 in the last 20 years.
3. Never, as long as there are 43 starters and from 10-20 still “in the hunt” in the last 50 miles someone will always do something stupid.
4. Short answer, no.
1– Daytona is Daytona, and Talladega is Talladega. As long as restrictor plates are put on race cars, the results seen at these two tracks will stand alone. The type of racing, good or bad, has little relationship with much of the rest of the schedule. Just like road course results are not indicative of the rest of the schedule, look for the usual suspects to return to the front of the pack once the hit cali and Vegas.
2– I don’t know if it THE best of all time. There have been some great finishes to the 500 over the years; 2007 and 1979 will always be firmly entrenched in my mind. But, I will certainly take the 2008 race as one of the best, flag to flag, that I have ever seen. There was more side by side racing and passing for the lead in this race than any I can remember. Again; there may have been better races, but from where they have come from in the recent past, this one was terrific.
3– I think the design of the new car has made it much easier for drivers to recover from some bad situations. Charlie gave me shit on the air saying it was more stable–maybe not on the race track with cars around it but more stable once it got out of line. Drivers were able to recover in many instances that kept “the big one” at bay. No cars flipping down the front stretch or taking out thalf the field. there will be big ones in the future, just don’t bet on them any more.
4– Speaking of betting. As Charlie said in an earlier blog , “see ya Jacque.” I thought he would have made a go of this NASCAR thing. Once the talks of a unified open wheel series got serious and he couldn’t buy BDR, I think he saw a different opportunity presenting itself. Look for Jacque to be an open wheel owner and dabble in a Nationwide Series ride. Good luck Johnny Benson.
Ah, four lambs waiting for the slaughter. Yum.
1. It previewed a yeaar of improved, on the track, racing. One of the biggest complaints about the old car was the lack of “passes for the lead”. The dreaded aero push is either gone or changed in a fundamental way. There will be more passing and it won’t all be in the pits. But I don’t believe that the Dodges are going to push Chevy and Toyota out of the top two spots on most weekends.
2. It was a damn good race. But since it didn’t end in a fist fight on the infield after the finish, it is not the best Daytona 500 that I’ve seen.
3. No way. There were at least three “big ones” in Sundays race. It just so happened that Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch and Clint Bowyer didn’t hit anything this time. But they will.
4. I had the over/under at about 7 and I would have bet the under. I did think he’d give it a bit more of a shot.. Why was he unable to find any Canadian sponsorship? That’s the real question.
1. Usual plate track one-offs.
2. Top 10 maybe, but you know there have been some really good ones in the past; the
fight, the Allisons finsih 1-2, 1990 Earnhardt’s last lap flat, 1998, 2007, the very
first one with the photograph finish, and so on.
3. NO!! There will always be the potential for the big one as lone as they are
driving nearly 200mph.
4. I’m like Marc, I could go on about this for a little while, but the short answer
is no.