If you're interested, take a ride with me aroudn Charlotte!!!


Points and Congratulatory Remarks


First, congrats to Leprechuan93 for winning a restricter plate race!! After scoring changes were made in Daytona, I had to steal Daytona and the segment away from him... but this time, no such luck should happen as his guys were all in the top 5!!! Leprechaun won Talladega!!!! And with that, he launches himself into championship contention with Carl, Brent, and Mike!!


Overall:
1) carlm54stl 3128 Leader
2) JuniorCar 3092 -36
3) 03JGMonte 3079 -49
4) Leprechaun93 3063 -65
5) SupplySgt 3044 -84
6) Cowboy6622 3013 -115
7) bblackstone 3008 -120
8) zjerry 2998 -130
9) montecarlo3831 2991 -137
10) 02 Earnhardt 2923 -205
11) butch049 2911 -217
12) lougreen03 2870 -258
13) 77GP 2795 -333
14) STUMPMI 2665
15) silverfish33 1988
16) adgm2005 1905
17) MnteCrloSS47 1195
18) RocknSS04 1142
19) Ricks 2006 SS 1112
20) SuperSportSteve 928
21) 01 Monte SS 908
22) nichols2k 578
23) 06 Mistre SS 4282
24) Teacher 306
25) yutzybrian 211
26) SS Means Super Sexy 171
27) monte06ltz 92
28) Racebound2 83
29) Possum 77
30) 04chevyboy 76
31) Emily666 61
32) mousehousemoparman 54

After just three races, this segment is REALLY tight!!

Segment 4

1) 03JGMonte 355 Leader
2) carlm54stl 343 -12
3) Cowboy6622 342 -13
4) zjerry 340 -15
5) blackstone 340 -15
6) Leprechaun93 334 -21
7) STUMPMI 332 -23
8) butch049 332 -23
9) monte carlo 3831 328 -27
10) SupplySgt 321 -34
11) JuniorCar 321 -34
12) lougreen03 316 -39
13) MnteCrloSS 311 -44
14) 77GP 296 -59
15) 02 Earnhardt 291 -64
16) silverfish33 184
17) Ricks 2006 SS 115
18) SSmeansSuperSexy 111


Charlotte History

I love talking about late 60's early 70's NASCAR history when them Torinos were on the track... but here is a special story about the day Richard PEtty drove a car that wasn't blue and wasn't a #43.

When Richard Petty went to Charlotte in 1986, he crashed his primary car in practice. Rules at the time did not allow back up cars, adn when PEtty's crew reassembled the 43, they found it was 13 mph slower than before the crash. An independent driver offered Petty teh chance to drive his green and white #6 Monte Carlo, which blew an engine mid race.... I think PEtty was running like 20th after starting last due to changing cars.





The STP Decals were put on the car overnight and Petty ran it the next day!! Cool story for you 4th gen fans...



And now for some Torino history!! (You knew ti was coming!!) Here are a few shots of some Torino's on the track at Charlotte...







We've got to get into that garage area!!



And here is what I believe is a cool shot of Petty in the pits in 1969... he was running 2nd with Donnie Allison in this race, but wasn't watching his gauges to see he popped his fan belt off ,the engine wasn't cooling, and he burned it up.... hard luck for Petty that year!!






Adn this is the start of the 1970 race at Charlotte. It was one of the last superspeedway hoo rah's for the Torino Talladegas and the winged Mopars... NASCAR passed rules that virtually eliminated the car for competition in '71.





The Favorites

At this point, I have to think that hte favorites have to be the three going for championship contention. Keselowski, Johnson, and Hamlin I think will be the three dominant cars.

However, Johnson either wins this Charlotte race or has trouble. In the spring he was good but his pit crew mishap cost him a top 10. Last year, he crashed with Ryan Newman while running really well. I think he'll be really solid after Charlotte though when we get to Kansas, Martinsville, and the rest of them.

Kasey Kahne has always been really solid at Charlotte and with a Hendrick car, he'll be good.

Hamlin was so good at Atlanta and I think he'll be good in Charlotte.

Gordon has been really solid lately but Charlotte has alwyas been hit and miss for him, kind of like for Jimmie.

Keselowski is just good everywehre right now....

The Ones to Watch

The Ford's were good until Kenseth announced he was leaving. I think the Talladega win will be a fluke more than anything. Still, Kenseth and Biffle have to be ones to watch out for this weekend. Edwards just needs this year to be over.

Also, although Kyle Busch has never been ogod in the chase and never won a race in it, I think he is shaping up to be the guy who scores a lot of points in the chase and had he made it, actually been a championship contender. I'm watching him this weekend.

The MWR cars are solid too... Bowyer and Truex have just been "alright" ever since the chase started.... Bowyer needed Talladega to go his way to win a title and it didn't. Truex just isn't that lucky.

Stewart and his cronies are off this year so I don't look for them to be major contenders this weekend.

The ones to avoid

The same ones you always avoid.....




My Picks

I'm not quite ready to go for the championship contenders yet. Let's try...

1) Kasey Kahne, to sweep Charlotte
2) Dennis Hamlin, to run really well at Charlotte, kind of like he did in Atlanta.
3) Kyle Busch, always good at Charlotte, but never good during the chase... so we'll see how that works out.

 

Jeff Gordon
Jimmie Johnson
Brad Keselowski

 

Here's my Picks

1) Jimmie Johnson
2) Tony Stewart
3) Brad Keselowski

 

16
48
5

 

1) #48 Jimmie Johnson
2) #5 Kasey Kahne
3) #2 Brad Keselowski

 

I'm going to make picks for the "Better Half Dash" charity race being run on Thursday...

1) Jacquelyn Butler
2) Ashley Allgaier
3) Kristin Yeley

 

1.) Kasey Kahne
2.) Jimmie Johnson
3.) Brad Keselowski

 

Everyone may want to note that Dale JR will be out of the car the next two weekends following a concussion at talladega. just announced today, Regan Smith will fill in for those two races.

 

Yup I just heard the announcement on Mike and Mike. Maybe Jr was onto something when he talked after Talladega about how dangerous restrictor racing is. I may change my picks after Friday, but as of right now, my picks are:

5 Kahne
11 Hamlin
16 Biffle

When I first heard Jr's comments; I thought of his father's eerily similar comments about restrictor plate racing. Even with the added safety stuff put in, I could still see someone getting killed on one of those courses. That type of racing entirely dependent on drafting is a recipe for someone dying. I could give a s*** about the fans enjoying the massive wrecks. As many drivers as are speaking out; I'd listen to them if I were NASCAR.

 

This right here shows Nascar that the racing in that style is unsafe, jr is hurt thats gonna kill the attendance at the tracks and the people that tune in to watch the races the next two weeks. Not only that but if they continue to let the racing go on like this, next time someone could be killed. They need to make a change.