Mark Martin’s Fast Laps are Numbered
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 23, 2008 10:04 pm CDT 2 CommentsIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Kyle Busch won his fifth Sprint Cup contest of the season Sunday at Infineon Raceway. That gives him at least fifty bonus points in the Chase to the first Sprint Cup. That Chase starts after only ten more races. Not all that much time for the likes of Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle or other pretenders to the Cup to get on the board, get off the snide, break the ice - win something - and maybe just as importantly for Shrub haters, keep Kyle from winning everything in sight.
Some drivers need to win to keep their championship hopes alive. Others to keep their jobs. It was a matter of time before Casey Mears’ disappointing 2008 start began to dog him in the speculation department. One of the big Sonoma rumors was that Mears would be moved to create a seat in the #5 for Mark Martin, who may be moving out of the DEI stable to free a full-time seat for Aric Almirola.
The move would set Mark up for the first ever - Third Times a Charm Retirement Tour. The #5 team at Hendrick Motorsports should be better than anything that DEI is fielding these days and Mark can still drive. But would Mark Martin be any better than the fourth best driver in the Hendrick Motorsports stable today?
What do you think? And while you’re at it, give the four, flat, all left handed turns of this week’s Fast Lap some thought. Remember your answers are limited to 100 words or less. But come on back and defend your position later in the week. Defense is unlimited.
1. What happened to the boos when the Shrub won? Are California fans truly more mature than the rest of NASCAR Nation?
2. David Gilliland turned one good Busch Series finish into a full time Cup ride. Can he turn one good Cup finish into a career?
3. Does the future of the Wood Brothers lie in Marcos Ambrose’s hands?
4. Juan Pablo Montoya is quoted in the London Times saying that NASCAR is better than F1. On Sunday’s Wind Tunnel, Scott Speed said that NASCAR is much easier than F1. Who is right?
We have plans for the best responses. What those plans are, I can’t say. Trust me. Would I lie to you? O, and listen to the live streaming broadcast of ON PIT ROW Tuesday from 5-7 pm edt. It’s good for you and trans fat free.
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. What happened to the boos when the Shrub won? Are California fans truly more mature than the rest of NASCAR Nation?
No, they are just spread out more along a road course, so they are not as concentrated therefore making the intensity of the volume seemingly significantly less than usually.
2. David Gilliland turned one good Busch Series finish into a full time Cup ride. Can he turn one good Cup finish into a career?
No, but consistently good runs like this one with an underfunded team just might.
3. Does the future of the Wood Brothers lie in Marcos Ambrose’s hands?
No, it lies elsewhere - whith an as yet unnamed investor like what Evernham, and Petty have now. Although Ambrose might be just the driver to attract such an investor, so I guess in this case the future, indirectly anyway, lies in Ambrose’s hands.
4. Juan Pablo Montoya is quoted in the London Times saying that NASCAR is better than F1. On Sunday’s Wind Tunnel, Scott Speed said that NASCAR is much easier than F1. Who is right?
Both. NASCAR is better than F1 because it is easier than F1. The reason it is easier is because more than one or two teams can be competing for the win on any given weekend, unlike F1 where it is really only two or three teams competing for the win on pole day.
In NASCAR they race for the win on race day while in F1 they race for the win on qualifying day.
Now granted, things do happen in F1 on race day that does effect the outcome of the race winner, but let’s face it the winner is usually the person who is sitting in P1 or P2 at the start of the race.
1. They’re the outliers of American society, the Land of Fruits & Nuts.
2. Possibly, but with his vast experience at Sonoma his second place finish isn’t a very good indicator of the future.
3. Immediate future yes, meaning the next 3-5 years. Beyond that they need someone of the Logano caliber to sustain them in the long term.
4. Both are correct for different reasons. F1’s competition level is near non-existent in comparison to NASCAR. F1’s techno side is just as far away from NASCAR as the comp level. In the end it’s and apples and oranges argument, to vastly different skill sets are involved to make a valid comparison.