Wringing out soggy late night Fast Laps from California
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 26, 2008 10:46 pm CST 5 CommentsIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Well, that sure was fun. Didn’t NASCAR dump Rockingham because of the bad February weather? Once the track at the Auto Club 500 got sufficiently wrung out the racing was decent and Jack Roush’s charges showed that 2007 is in the rear view mirror. The Fords will be there to challenge for the Chase and the Sprint Cup.
Matt Kenseth finished a solid 4th, Greg Biffle and Jamie McMurray hung around up front for most of the race. Even Travis Kvapil showed some strength before falling to mechanical problems in the Yates Racing #28.
But the Fusion that relentlessly ran down the front running Jimmy Johnson and Jeff Gordon was the #99 of Carl Edwards. According to Mr. Excitement, Jimmy Spencer ON PIT ROW tonight, Carl had been the favorite of nearly everyone in the garages all weekend.
The NASCAR caravan is headed to the mile and a half Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the first race for the new car on one of NASCAR’s best tracks. While you wait for a hopefully on-time start to Sunday’s big race, give these four variably banked Fast Lap questions your best shot.
1. In the interest of safety, should NASCAR stop drivers from climbing fences and doing back flips off of cars?
2. Would you have picked Kyle Busch to be leading the points after two races?
3. Did NASCAR handle the rain delays at California properly?
4. Will/should Bobby Labonte move to Richard Childress Racing in 2009?
Go high or go low, but remember to limit your answers to 100 words. This is The Fast Lap and we have big plans for some of the best comments here. Stop back often during the week to defend your position and trade some paint with commenters who don’t necessarily agree with your line through turn two.
Photo credit: Jeff Gross - Getty Images
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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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1) No. With that being said, I think the car owners should. I know if I were a car owner I would limit the type of celebrations by my driver(s).
2) No, but it does not surprise me either. Joe Gibbs does not go into anything half-cocked and if you think he wasn’t going to have his cars strong right out of the gate then you underestimated the man.
3) NASCAR was in a no win situation. They were damned if they did and they were damned if they didn’t. There will always be people who will disagree with you, especially if their little world was effected some how. Like mine in Michigan last Aug.
4) Should he? Yes. Will he? Probably. Bobby has a little unfinished business at the Cup level and Petty Enterprises can’t get him there. Bobby did his job in getting the Petty organization back on their feet but his work is done there. What Petty needs now is a younger driver to build the organization around - like a Kyle Busch.
Well, this is a bit late, Steve’s still an idiot, but here we go anyhow.
1) No. Not just no, but hell no. Let Tony and Carl be who they are. NASCAR needs it, heck they even told the world they want it. If something happens, something happens. The results lie squarely on the shoulders of those doing it. If Carl slips, he slips. Same with Tony. I tell you what though, these guys are a little better than you give them credit for. At some point, I’m sure they won’t feel as comfortable doing it, and they may put it to rest. Until then, enjoy it and let them mind their own business.
2) Not leading. Top 10, sure. It doesn’t surprise me either, but I would have said Stewart had you asked me to pick one of the Gibbs Boys. I definitely agree with Bob up there. Anyone thinking Gibbs’ would crumble is getting one big dose of reality. I’m not even surprised at Vickers in 11th. The Top-35 is going to look really interesting in 3 weeks.
3) Bob hit it. They were in for it no matter what they did. Their efforts can not be criticized, but how they handled it should be. I read where one fan attending the event, who sat through it all, said that they didn’t even announce it over the loud speakers at the track. The only way they knew it was off was that they saw the cars being pushed to the garage.
Lessons learned here are that NASCAR needs to:
a) Be more realistic with their situation.
b) Better communicate with the fans at the track.
c) It’s been said that most of the drivers told them to hold up before the first green flag, and they should honestly listen to them. Either that, or the new Gentleman’s agreement should be if the track isn’t safe, stop off turn 4 before you take the green flag. Get their attention one way or the other. The drivers have to race on it, and if they aren’t comfortable with it, fix it.
If this would have been Richmond, they would have called it well before 11pm local time. Been there, done that, slept in the truck in the parking lot. Sailed away when Martinsville rained out and they ran it on Monday, as well as trampled to the parking lot in Richmond all pissed off while Nemechek took honors under the dry roof of the garage.
Weather happens, but be prepared to deal with it rationally.
4) Yes he probably should, and he very well may. Nothing against Petty at all, I love ‘em to death. However, Bobby can only do so much for them, in so much time. He’s most certainly helped them in his tenure. He’s a natural leader, and has filled that role well in the stable by bringing stability to the organization. However, one person can’t fix it all or be the miracle cure, and at times personnel on the team need to change as the mix is fine tuned. That includes the driver.
It was an honorable, respectable move for him to move to Petty. While they most certainly would love for him to stay, it’s also the responsible thing to know when it’s time to shake hands, shed a few tears, and move forward.
There is nothing to hang heads over, here. There should be nothing but pride as Bobby has truly impacted that organization and got it started on the path back to competitiveness. I’m sure Petty Enterprises will also do the honorable thing and support Bobby in whatever he feels he needs to do in order to fulfill his career.
1. In the interest of safety, should NASCAR stop drivers from climbing fences and doing back flips off of cars?
— Ummm in a word NO. They want to bring excitement back to the sport and to allow the driver’s to show their personalities. Since that means they still can’t beat the heck out of one another when they get angry, at least let them celebrate their wins in their own creative ways.
2. Would you have picked Kyle Busch to be leading the points after two races?
— The “Shrub” certainly has surprised most everyone with his performance after moving to JGR and Toyota. While I would think (based on his behavior) he didn’t realize what a great opportunity he lost by being fired by Hendrick, I am almost certain that Hendrick may be looking back and thinking “hmmmm…maybe we should have kept him after all”.
3. Did NASCAR handle the rain delays at California properly?
— Yes and No. I think their intentions were great in trying to save the CA market by giving race fans as much racing as possible, BUT they really shouldn’t have started racing as soon as they did on Sunday, as the “weeping” wrecked too many drivers.
4. Will/should Bobby Labonte move to Richard Childress Racing in 2009?
Yes, and Yes.
Well I guess it’s about time for the hosts of this show to do their parts. Hey Steve - where the hell are you?
1. If they get hurt, they get hurt. For cryin’ out loud, they’re race car drivers! They could get hurt, you know. NASCAR has to be careful not to become the NFL - No Fun League.
2. I did pick Kyle to be leading the points early. He may lead the points all freakin’ year. The kid is good, Gibbs is good and the Camry is strong. Plus he has something to prove to Rick Hendrick.
3. What else were they going to do. They gambled on scheduling a double header with Nationwide and Trucks on Saturday. When they only got one of those two in, their hand was forced for Sunday. When they started the Cup race, some drivers complained - mostly the one who crashed - about wet pavement and others seemed to think it was driveable. After the second rain event, they tried until 11 pm local time to get the thing in. Nothing wrong with that.
4. There is smoke. And where there is smoke there usually is fire. It would be a tough deal for Petty Enterprises, but Childress would give Bobby a better shot at another championship. If the opportunity is there, I think he will, and should, take it.
1– Charlie–glag you are able to quote Clint Bowyer from an interview you did with him last year. NASCAR–No way should they get involved with this one. But, if I were the owners of those teams, I would certainly be a bit nauseas every time my boy won a race. One slip, one misplaced landing and a career could be over. It’s one thing to have a career ended because of an on track mishap (re: Ernie Ervan), but it would be quite another to have one end because of showing off.
2– Never saw this one coming. I never gave Rowdy the credit that some others seem to have known all along. But this could well be one of those: right guy, right place, right circumstance, super fit things. lets not forget also that that combo is including Steve Addington as crew chief. Some things just fit. I’m still leaving room for implosion.
3– The TV ratings are so much stronger on the west coast than they are on the east aren’t they Charlie? Trying to restart a race with 60% of it remaining at 2am eastern time was stupid, even if it had worked. Sometimes the best plan, for everyone involved, is to cut you losses and move along. That is what NASCAR should have done on Sunday. Forget about trying to use 6500 gallons of jet fuel to dry the artesian wells under the track and come back with a fresh start on Monday and get it in. The TV audience was about the same.
4– The Petty’s don’t owe Bobby anything and Bobby doesn’t owe the Petty’s anything. It would be special if they could be together to bring the team back to respectability. Bobby may have been the guy needed to start the process and someone else may need to finish it. It is time for Petty Enterprises to find the next rising star. That star could be the last piece of the puzzle.