Points, Intro, and Congratulatory Remarks


Last week was a big week for Carl Martin at Sonoma! He won the race, stretched out his overall points lead over Brent and the rest of us, and gained ground on the Segment!

We only have two more races to go in this segment. It's coming down to a 2 man race to take the segment....

If SupplySgt or myself can knock out a 1-2-3, and get lucky in Daytona, we might seal it up though.... but it's Leprechaun and Carl Martins to lose....

1) Leprechuan 779 Leader
2) carlm54stl 764 -15
3) SupplySgt 736 -43
4) Cowboy6622 732 -47
5) bblackstone 721 -58
6) 02 Earnhardt 716 -63
7) STUMPMI 710 -69
8) JuniorCar 707 -72
9) lougreen03 700 -79
10) zjerry 697 -82
11) silverfish33 681 98
12) 03JGMonte 675 -104
13) adgm2005 659 -120
14) 77GP 639 -140
15) montecarlo3831 626 -153
16) butch049 565 -214


But Carl is rnning off with this thing right now.... we've got about 19 races to start running him down and getting him...

1) carlm54stl 1714 Leader
2) JuniorCar 1673 -41
3) bblackstone 1642 -72
4) Cowboy6622 1642 -72
5) SupplySgt 1640 -74
6) Leprechaun93 1630 -84
7) zJerry 76 1609 -105
8) lougreen03 1586 -128
9) 02 Earnhardt 1582 -132
10) montecarlo3831 1563 -151
11) 03JGMonte 1560 -154
12) butch049 1510 -204
13) 77GP 1490 -224
14) silverfish 1420 -294
15) STUMPMI 1359 -355
16) RocknSS04 1142
17) adgm2005 1131




This week, going to Kentucky.... our defending winner is...


DEFENDING WINNER: KidSpace!!!!

I'll invite him to return and defend his victory!



Kentucky History


The good thing going for a lot of you is that NASCAR has only run this track once. Nationwide has run here for awhile, and Joey Logano pwns on this place in the Nationwide series... and I expected more out of him last year when we came here.

Since NASCAR has only run this place once, I really don't have a lot of 1968-1969-1970 Torino history to bore you with.


But I wouldn't mind knowing what the heck the deal with this picture is....










The race is Presented by KFC... appropriate since htis race is in.... Kentucky.

KFC isn't new to NASCAR. After the July 4, 1984 race when Petty won that infamous 200th race against Cale Yarborough, the President was there, rand we all knwo that story. what a lot of people overlook is the "banquet" NASCAR had with the President following that race. As the winner, Richard PEtty got to sit beside the President that day at the dinner, Bobby Allison on the otherside. And KFC catered it.




This Week at Kentucky

I wish this place had just remained a test track. It sucked last year. Traffic was so terrible, a lot of fans threateneed never to return. Some fans were in traffic during the race and coudln't even get to the track. And once you get to the track, you get more of the lack luster racing you see at Kansas, Chicago, California, and Michigan.... flat, 1.5" tracks just suck. I might not even watch, I might go drink with my friends or something and not even worry about this race. Seriously.

Joey Logano was the man in the Nationwide. He was undefeated for a while I think. But this is cup. I do notice a lot of Toyota dominance here. Kyle Busch dominated last year. Reutimann in a Toyota ran well.

Really, the teams to watch out for, are the teams already dominating 1.5"s....

Plus, the long green runs might be coming back. This track had a lot of that last year, this track type leads to a lot of that, and with only 2 cautions at Sonoma, 2 cautions at Texas, like 3-4 cautions at Kansas, we might just do it again. We might even run caution free. Qualifying and not making mistakes will be keys to victory.

CHEVROLET TEAMS

Hendrick Motorsports

Jimmie Johnson is running really well. I think he is a little bit chipped about not winning that title last year, nad he is getting that little look in his eye and starting to put together the program and the momentum to run for 6. Jeff Gordon is solid, but just has no luck. Junior was running okay last year until this race and it began his downward momentum, but this year, something is different about Junior. He could very well win the next 2-3 races on the schedule. Kasey Kahne is getting more nad more solid, but I don't think any Hendrick cars really measure up to Johnson

Stewart-Haas Racing

Tony Stewart is going to be solid. Depending on which tire compound they bring, he could be a dominant factor in this race. He won Chicagoland and ran well at Kansas last season, which are both very similar tracks.

Newman, well, he's Newman... might win, might be in the garage, might run 20th like he normally does...

Richard Childress Racing

This team just sucks right now. Harvick is the only man keeping that place going. One of those other guys might have a breakthrough one day... but I doubt it. Harvick might just pop up and win any thing, but it's hard to say....

FORD TEAMS

Roush-Fenway Racing

I feel like the Fords are still in the place they've always been... they're good on 1.5"s, always have been, but they really need the higher banked 1.5"s to be able to dominate. Kenseth and Biffle will run well, but not like they did at Charlotte. Edwards just isn't right right now. Every time that 99 ever switched sponsors, it went to crap.

Case in point, When Jeff Burton drove that car in the 90's, sponsored by Exide, he won races....



Then Citgo came on... car went to crap, Burton left for Childress...




Carl Edwards ran Office Depot, switched to Aflac in 2009, and went to crap for over a year and a half...



Then it went to this....



He got it running well, now they've gone to Fastenal, now it's back to crap....




So hey, your call.

PETTY ENTERPRISE

Marcos Ambrose proved ot be a major disappointment at Sonoma. His 8th place run was much better than he deserved. He took fresh tires on the last restart and got lucky driving through the pack. He was really running about 15th. Edwards has his set up and they both ran like junk.

Almirola will probably run 10th-15h.

Look for these guys to qualify up front and drop to the abck... they're good at that.

TOYOTA TEAMS

I look for some of these cars to be the ones to watch out for. Kentucky isn't hard on an engine like Michigan or Pocono, it's a track they run well on, and it's only 400 miles... perfect for their durability and speed!!!

Michael Waltrip Racing

I feel like this is the top Toyota team right now. Craziness. Bowyer runs well on this track type, although he had an engine failure at Kansas, and Truex is running so well right now.

I feel like this team is using experimental engines in Mark Martins car nad he keeps blwoing up at the end. The team is learning a lot at Mark MArtins expense. He's risky... and he cost me that win at Kansas

Joe Gibbs Racing

Kyle Busch is overdriving cars, having bad luck, and tearing up equipment right now. Denny Hamlin bounced back after a bad week to win Kansas, and might do tia gani. Joey Logano almost had some swagger there at Pocono, but now he is back to bad luck and running like junk again.

DODGE TEAM

Penske

This team is starting to narrow its fleet. They admit they don't have many car choices becase they aren't building any new Dodges. But is this the case for all the teams, since we're changing the cars next yeaR? Penske admits they're doing it because they're switching to Ford next year. So they'r urnning older cars, but at the same time, they haven't got much incentive to take care of them.

Brad K just seems to run well at the extremes. Darlingotn, Talladega, Bristol. Those intermediate tracks just don't seem to come to him this year. He is a threat anywhere, with the right car and set up, but he doesn't have the consistency.

Allmendinger just hasn't found his stride wtih this new team yet. I think he will next year.



My Picks

I'm going to do something differnet. I know I want a pair of MWR Toyotas, but I don't know if I want Johnson, Hamlin, Biffle, or Kenseth for my third pick.... I'm picking one for now, but I might change it.


1) Clint Bowyer
2) Martin Truex, Jr
3) Dennis Hamlin

 

Gordon
Johnson
Dale JR

 

Dale Jr
Jimmie Johnson
Martin Truex Jr

might change after practice.

 

Remember this is a SATURDAY NIGHT RACE!!!!

 

Also, all you Jr fans out there need to clarify that you mean Earnhardt, Jr or Truex Jr... I'm going to start giving out which ever one does the worst if you don't clarify which

 

Fine I'll fix mine

 

Here's my pick's

1) Jimmie Johnson
2) Dale Earnhardt Jr
3) Tony Stewart

 

1. Dale Jr
2. Jimmie Johnson
3. Pyle Buschit

too early to say really tho...

 

I live about 60 miles from the KY track. They have redone all the main roads leading to the track and vastly expanded the parking and parking attendants. I am hoping it goes a lot smoother this year.<O:p</O:p

 

I won Sonoma?