Fast Laps in the Green Hills of Pennsylvania
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.
June 3, 2008 9:46 am CDT 7 CommentsIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
The contrast between Dover International Speedway and Pocono Raceway couldn’t be much greater. The tight concrete confines of the Monster Mile are nothing like the wide, flat turns and long, engine eating straights at the Green Giant.
It probably won’t matter to Kyle Busch though. The Shrub is putting his stamp on the early third of the Sprint Cup marathon. Make no mistake though, there is a long way to go.
Remember that this Sunday too when, after 400 miles or so, you are thinking that ‘ so-and-so has this thing sewn up. The Pocono races are 500 mile endurance tests, and there will be plenty of bitching about that this and next week. The complaints will come from the boredom that many will suffer. Just remember, it ain’t over ’til the fat lady says it’s over - or something like that.
And this ain’t over either. Try out the Fast Lap questions and win valuable prizes*.
1. Half way through the “regular season” can anyone catch Kyle Busch?
2. Is it time for NASCAR to stop giving points at the bottom of the grid, thus keeping broken race cars off the track?
3. Tony Stewart seemed to take the blame for the early race wreck - or was he just ragging on Elliott Sadler?
4. Who will win the 2009 Rookie of the Year; Joey Logano, Scott Speed, Brad Kesolowski or someone else?
That’s it. If we like what you have to say you may win a new car, or something**. Runners up might just get a shot to share the fame and fortune afforded the co-hosts of ON PIT ROW. The possibilities seem limitless, don’t you think?
* This is an exaggeration. ** This one is an out-and-out lie.
Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc
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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) You mean by Richmond? Can: Yes. Will: Not so much.
It’s possible, but doesn’t look likely at the moment. That team would have to really hose up a couple of races. Based on their performance thus far, multiple such catastrophes seem very improbable.
2) Nope, won’t work. What happens when there are a couple “wish I could run the full race” cars who bow out after lap 10, and the rest are running, and/or on the lead lap as well? Like at Daytona or Talladega for example, perhaps? Nope, nothing that can be done fairly for this. They could say if you’re tore up, you’re out. Which won’t work either. See: Martinsville, Bristol, Richmond (hood and fenders optional).
3) I don’t know. I think we crossed through some paradox in the universe that put us onto an alternate reality. Tony took the fall, willingly, without any snide remarks? Can’t remember that happening much, if at all.
If it was genuine, I applaud Tony for it. (Write that down.)
4) In the Nationwide Series? Nope, that can’t be it. You mean Cup?
Too much sun breeds questions like this, combined with too many of those foo-foo drinks as well. Did Steve write that one?
Joey would be the only one with even a remote chance of being in a Cup seat, the rest just don’t look promising.
Red Bull would have to go to 3 cars. Although out of the Top-35 for the year, AJ has show marked improvement since working with Skinner and learning about these cars. I can’t see him being fired after this season, unless he royally screws it up between now and the fall.
Brad? Nope. Where’s he going to run in Cup that he would have it better than he does now? Nowhere.
1. He can be caught. Both with a spot of bad luck that as yet hasn’t befallen the #18 and if that fails to materialize before Richmond the Chase format will make it happen and wipe out whatever pts advantage Bush had.
2. Got a differ with Luke on this one.
The “Ride & Park” teams/drivers aren’t in it for the points they’re in it for the cash. They scrape their way into the field, ride a few laps drop out after “X” number of laps for the [in]famous handling issues or “overheating” then head straight for the pay-out window.
They have a top 35 rule, so ok, take it to it’s full extension, no points for running 36th and below. Or… top 35 becomes top 25 and no points below 35th finishes.
3. Does this really need to be answered? I mean really, it dripped with sarcasm.
4. Blaney out… Scott Speed in and Rookie of the Year. (anyone know how to repair a Flux Capacitor mine is in the fritz?)
1. Rowdy can be caught, but sine the format changed last year and rank means nothing as long as you’re top 12 at the end of Richmond, it most likely won’t happen. A similar case with Gordon last year, when he jumped out to a massive lead that ended up not doing a bit of good.
2. I think it’s time to look at giving the same amount for 35th on back. Some races it’ll work, some it won’t them’s the breaks. At least if 35th is the cut off, some guys out of competition and riding around will have the better crews and actually fix the thing.
3. Heh. Tony Stewart is the master of sarcastic replies to pit reporters, and he has some serious ill will towards Elliott Sadler right now.
4. Joey Logano, should he be the selection for the soon-to-be vacant #20 car. Marc’s mention of Speed in #22 is intriguing, however.
1– The Shrub has them covered to this point and I don’t see that changing before the Chase. He has been racking up the bonus points and he will be strong right up to the end. If he doesn’t win the championship it will be an upset.
2– Rolling debris has been a problem in this serie for years. It’s time for NASCAR to change the points. I like Matt’s idea of 35th on back getting the same points. But I would keep the payout lessen to the back of the field. That would keep the the “three lap wonders” from returning.
3– Best quote of the year-by far. Tony actually had me sucked in for a few seconds. I actully thought he was taking blame–which confused me because I couldn’t see how he could have been the cause. Then I saw just a hint of the Stewart Smirk show through and knew he was shooting at Sadler. As far as sarcasm goes–well done Tony.
4– Scott Speed will be the ROTY for ‘09, but I don’t get the connection with BDR. Maybe as a second driver if Red Bull helps out.
1. If Kyle Busch can win four races out of thirteen, then someone else can. I think all the teams are improving as the season goes on, and the new car gets more use. There will be other drivers who have winning streaks, beginning with Jimmie Johnson on Sunday.
2. Marc’s right about the teams that start the race to get the money, but I don’t think they should stop giving points beyond the top thirty five finishers. Use the current scale up to fourtieth position, with the last three finishers getting the same amount of points.
3. Classic Smoke. I think he was being as sarcastic as he could without jeopardizing his friendship with Sadler.
4. We don’t know for sure if any of those guys will be racing full time next year, so I will say someone else.
1. If not for a 100 point hole dealt to him by NASCAR, then I’d say that the “regular season” would come down to a battle between Busch and Edwards. Because of that penalty, though, no, nobody’s going to catch Busch before Richmond.
I still don’t think he’s winning the championship, though.
2. Ironic that “rolling debris” left from the previously wrecked cars is THE problem, yet, Dover desperately needed one of those cautions at the end, and since there wasn’t one, Kyle Busch won with a couple seconds to spare, and many people thought the race sucked because of the final quarter of the race.
I have no problem whatsoever with the damaged cars getting back out there, or with their current points system at the end of the grid. (They still need to make a bigger difference in points between 1st and 2nd, 5th and 6th, 10th and 11th, and 20th and 21st, but that’s an entirely different story). What they could do, though, is in the final 50 miles of a race, any car “x” number of laps down is forced to leave the track. I’d be okay with that.
3. I don’t care what words were spoken, Smoke never assumed responsibility for that wreck. Yes, he was ragging on Sadler.
4. This is a no-brainer. As long as Logano runs the full season, then Logano + a Gibbs car = ROTY. If he doesn’t run for some reason (such as Gibbs waiting another year to field a fourth car full-time to see what happens with the Stewart situation), then I’d say Brad Keselowski.
Thanks to all of you for commenting here. I don’t tell you that often enough. But then, I don’t put the toilet seat down often enough either, according to my wife.
1. If Kyle Busch’s fortune turns into something akin to Tony Stewart’s early season experience, then he will be caught by thr start of the Chase. Not likely, but not a 1 in 100 deal either. Once the Chase starts, it’s going to be a 4 or 5 car race to the Cup. Kyle will be one of the contenders.
2. Rolling chicanes are part of racing - particularly stock-car racing. This kind of siggestion is similar to the one that would have the drivers who qualify for the Chase on a separate points scale. You know - finish 43rd in the race, but only twelth in Chase points. It changes the game to something it’s not. Pulling damaged cars also deprives fans the chance to cheer or jeer their favorite/least favorite driver as he valiantly/stubbornly thrashes his sled to the bitter end.
3. I don’t know what Elliott did to Smoke. But that was a payback. A slam. And funny as hell.
4. If Speed runs a Cup schedule - and I don’t think he’ll run enough Cup races in ‘09 to be ROY - it will be with Red Bull, not BDR. His ARCA program is with Eddie Sharp Racing, running him for Red Bull. Logano is probably no better than 60/40 to run enough Cup races in 2009. ROY in the Nationwide Series is a good likelyhood. Kesolowski won’t be in Cup enough either. It might be Eric Darnell in the #26 car though. That’s my pick, because I can’t think of anyone else.