Fuel Economy Fast Laps in the Irish Hills
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.
August 12, 2008 9:45 am CDT 5 CommentsIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Maybe the only question left for Kyle Busch to answer is whether he and crew chief Steve Addington can win a fuel economy race. They will likely get a chance this week in the hilly cottage country of Southeast Michigan.
Dale Earnhardt Jr won the June race at MIS with what seemed at the time, the ultimate gas gamble. It worked and Junior broke a long winless streak in the Sprint Cup Series. But the win had a “great taste - less filling” feel for many of his fans.
Much as we hope for victories by the bravest and the fastest every week, races at the Michigan track are often decided by the educated guesses of the guys up on the box. Just such a decision by Tony Eury Jr may have cost Earnhardt a win last weekend at Watkins Glen. That decision is actually Steve’s Buzz on Pit Row topic this week. We’ll be kicking that to death ON PIT ROW along with these Fast Lap questions too.
1: Being the first ever to win three road course races in one Cup season, is Kyle Busch the best Nascar road racer ever?
2: Can the Wood Brothers parlay their third place finish at The Glen into a company turn-around?
3: Should the “The Chase” be a microcosm of the season-with all track types present in the final ten races?
4: Why don’t “The Ringers” do better at the road courses, that they supposedly excel at?
Take your best shot at all four of those fast left handers as you prepare your pit stategy for Sunday’s race. Remember, 100 words or less for the answers but unlimited ability to defend your answers and attack your fellow Fast Lappers. Just be nice, or we’ll have to call you to the trailer. Again.
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. The best full-timer, maybe. But let’s see how he does in the next few years. A couple more wins, I think, and we’ll be able to say so. One amazing year does not an all-time great make. Just ask Ryan Newman about his 8 wins in 2003.
2. No, not when their only driver under contract for 2009 is the underwhelming Jon Wood, they’re losing Little Debbie to former partner team JTG Daugherty Racing, and when all the BAM Racing crew members on loan return to their old team. The only way the Woods will ever become a top team again is to merge with Yates Racing and the 5th Roush car for 2010.
3. Yes. There’s no reason to make it otherwise. The Chase is a shootout for the 12 best drivers of the regular season, and the schedule should reflect it as such. This means a road-course race, a super-speedway race or two, multiple short tracks (Martinsville alone doesn’t cut it), and then cookie cutters to fill the remaining 4 or 5 slots.
4. The ringers usually sign with poor teams, and poor teams won’t do well no matter who’s behind the wheel. Give P.J. Jones the 5 car and he’ll be in the top 5; give him the 96 and he won’t be anywhere near as good. Ron Fellows won in Montreal with one of the the best cars in the Nationwide Series; at Watkins Glen he had DEI’s worst car.
1. Despite Steve’s attempt to make it so during tonight’s show… not only no, but HELL NO! A single season with 3 wins does not make a “best ever.” Let me know when Kyle matches Gordons 9 wins or Dan Gurney’s 5 wins including 4 in a row at Riverside.
2. In short, no. It will take more money from the long rumored merger/invester.
3. Probably, but it will never happen. Also not to be seen…. somewhere between 3-5 of the Chase events rotate thru different tracks every couple years.
4. Umm, probably because 90% of them are stuck into 4-wheeled crapwagons with their owners looking to make a one-time splash for their sponsors or scoot into the top 35.
1: No, nein, absolutely not. Busch deserves credit for winning 3 races at the 3 tracks, but that opportunity hasn’t been available to most of the drivers. Imagine if Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon in the 90s had that many chances, or recently with Tony Stewart. No, I won’t give that one to him - yet.
2: Again, no. They’re a 1-car team in a 2-3-4 car team world, and they just have too much going against them… no matter how much support Roush and Ford will give. Add to that the loss of Ambrose and Little Debbies, I don’t like their future anymore than I did years ago.
3: Yes, and it needs to happen soon. They could take a step in the right direction by getting Atlanta out of the Chase for ‘09, but there needs to be some more changes, and a road course wouldn’t be bad either.
4: It depends on your definition of ‘doing better’ I suppose… I think they do fine by earning top 10-15 finishes. Said, Pruett, and Fellows have all done that multiple times.
[...] Mac | On Pit Radio on Hamlin wins… Hamlin loses… Shrub shrubs… Junior pondersFuel Economy Fast Laps in the Irish Hills | The Fast Lap on Pit Strategy a bit Different when Going Right and [...]
1– Kyle is kicking ass. Nobody has done what he has done this year on road courses–NOBODY. There have been others who have been prolific. i maintain that the quality of competition was suspect when any of the other “bests” are mentioned. Give me Kyle on the twisties anytime.
2– Its an uphill battle until such time as the Bros find their “Joey Logano”. They need to hit the jackpot with an up and comer. Eddie will get the cars straightened out, but they need to strike up a working agreement with the other Ford teams to share–share–share.
3– the Chase needs to have a good representation of all its tracks–short, medium, long and twisty.
4– Quite simply put–they tend to run in crap cars. All the talent in the world won’t make up for sub-standard machinery.