The Kyle Busch Rundown

Also, as Brent as so kindly pointed out, Pyle Buschit could have a points penalty coming. Any modifications to the points concerning this 1/16th of an inch too low on the left front will be made here, with the Pocono thread being put the pasture by then, I assume.

My initial thoughts... remember last year at Dover, after Childress' cars failed inspection because the rear end geometry was off, Hamlin started talking about how that organization choose to push the tolerances, so they pay the price, no matter what caused the car to be off? And remember him saying his organization and team did not push those tolerances like that?

And after all that trash talk, the hits keep coming for Kyle Busch. First, a speed ticket in Charlotte. Then, a literal hit from Richard Childress. Pocono: his car is illegal. Maybe the poll questions should be more something along the lines of how will Kyle Busch screw up this week.


Yeahhhh..........

Anywho, Pyle Busch inspired this weeks poll. Enjoy.

My Late Excuse

Dudes, I'm looking forward to going back to college to relax! I've been working sun up to sun down on an NC State themed pick up truck. I have the red painted... then I find out the upholstery shop is late on the seat, and the dash is late, so there isn't much I can do on the interior... so I may as well slow down on trying to get it painted. I'm taking today (Thursday) off.

BUT PLEASE don't think I am any less dedicated to this thing! I check a couple of times a day for posts.... I really love doing these rundowns, hence why they are so long!!! At college, I always had a lot of time on Monday's to write a rundown.. at home, not so much.

Points and Congratulatory Remarks

Congrats to zJerry for his first win in the NASCAR Fantasy last week... and congrats to 77GP, who took and held the points lead despite a points penalty coming down!

1) 77GP 1421 Leader
2) JuniorCar 1420 -1
3) RocknSS04 1392 -29
4) Cowboy6622 1382 -39
5) montecarlo3831 1377 -44
6) lougreen03 1269 -152
7) KidSpace 1267 -154
8) zjerry 1227 -194

And the Segment for anyone who cares..

1) 77GP 518 - Leader
2) JuniorCar 510 -8
3) montecarlo3831 508 -10
5) zjerry 482 -36
4) lougreen03 477 -41
6) RocknSS04 476 -42
7) Cowboy6622 463 -55
8) KidSpace 450 -68

Michigan Thoughts

You know the NASCAR summer snoozefest is in full swing when you reach Michigan! Coming off of Pocono and Kansas, it's time for some Sunday afternoon Z's at Michigan! Someone wake me up when it's Daytona!

Anywho, long green runs, fuel mileage, and strategy usually summarize this race very well. Happy Fathers Day, by the way.

A little history... the first year for Michigan was 1969... 2 races that year: the winners: Cale Yarborough in a '69 Mercury Cyclone, and David Pearson in a '69 Ford Torino!!

DISCLAIMER

I am second to last in segment points and have been going down hill since the end of Segment 1, which I did win... and I haven't won a race since Bristol, which is my only win. So take all my recommendations with a grain of sodium chloride!

Roush Fenway Racing

So the Ford guys tore this place up the first year... and with the new FR9, a lot of people are looking forward to seeing the Ford's tear up Michigan this week. Historically, this is a GOOD Ford track.. probably their best, even better than Dover. However, don't be so fast to say a blue oval is going to win.... I don't even think a Ford made it into the Top 5 at California....

The thing with the Ford's this year... they're really fast, but they haven't really been sealing the deal..... but I'm going to have a Roush-Fenway Ford.

Biffe, Kenseth, and Edwards all have 2 wins a piece here... which makes David Ragan seem like he needs to get the ball rolling. Ragan has been good this year... and he needs to impress the ol' Cat in the Hat ot make sure he keeps his ride from falling into Trevor Bayne or Ricky Stenhouse's hands.

Petty Motorsports

I wouldn't be surprised if the Petty Ford's run good either... this might be a breakthrough week for Ambrose or Allmendinger as well. Just have to see how they do in practice and qualifying....

Childress Racing

This organization needs some focus... they seem more interested in keeping Kyle Busch down than lifting themselves up. If Kevin Harvick can steer clear of Kyle Busch, or be more interested in his own race than stopping Kyle, then he might just close the deal at Michigan. If not, they're going to pull themselves down.

Harvick is the only Childress car I'd consider this week... I'd leave Burton, Bowyer, and the plug, Menard alone.

Hendrick

With their cars 2nd and 3rd in points, and Gordon winning 2 races this year, I think Hendrick has finally turned a corner. Gordon admitted they went through a time where they weren't competitv,e but like Hendrick always does, he figures out what is wrong and fixes it. I think the Hendrick cars are back... and I think they're ready to win some races.

Jr.'s last win was here... maybe he breaks the string here... or does he wait for Daytona? Hmmm.....

Gordon is solid here... don't think Gordon has won here in years though. Don't forget Mark Martin

For a long time, Jimmie Johnson would be leading this race with a few laps to go and run out of gas... think he did that in both Michigan races one year. He isn't really closing very well this year.. blew up at Charlotte... did win Talladega though.....

Joe Gibbs Racing

Could there be a better spokesman for bad luck this year than Denny Hamlin? He had a car that could run with Kyle Busch at Cali, but blew the engine. The nlast week, a freak incident with a valve stem... I just don't think this is Hamlins year. I think it is panic time for that team... they need to win, but what are they going to risk to win.

Kyle Busch could be too busy checking over his shoulder for Kevin Harvick to win this week.. but then again, he might not care either.

Joey Logano needs to get the ball rolling. He was good last year, but is having a bad junior slump.

Earnhardt Ganassi

Where have these guys been this year? Montoya was good at Pocono, but that crew chief lost it for him... at a track where strategy is key, and the driver matters a lot, I just don't think Montoya will pull off a win at Michigan... sorry. McMurray had a good year on big tracks last year.. not so much this year.

Penske

Roger Penske owned this track at one time... literally, man had the deed to it. His drivers... I don't know about how much pwnage they do here. They seemed to be running good last week, so maybe that guy they fired was the right guy to fire. I'd see how they do in practice before picking them though.

Michael Waltrip Racing

Yeah, yeah.. watch out for them on the commercial breaks.. yeah yeah, you know.

Red bull Racing

Brian Vickers was good at this place and won a race here the year before he had the health condition... I think he might just run good again at Michigan, barring bad luck. Kasey Kahne ran good in one of the races here last year for Petty... hard to read how these guys will do this year. Kahne was good at Darlington and Charlotte though.

TRG Motorsports

I had to look up this team too... the Andy Lally group. the guy drives a Ford, and this is a Ford track, so look for him to make it to 39th this week.


My Picks

I'm going to watch practice and qualifying... I think this is one of the few tracks left where that actually matters. Hope you enjoyed this weeks rundown and poll, and have a good nap Sunday afternoon!

 

I like the caught cheating on his wife option! Probably be with a transvestite or something!
How do you think he would have to screw up for NASCAR to consider him in violation of his probation? Not a lot left for him to do. Maybe if he pulls out a gun and stars shooting people?

 

As far as I am concerned, Harvick violated probation by chasing Busch around the track at Pocono like he did. He nearly ran Busch into a pit wall... Busch should have just turned hard right into Harvick at that point.

I like how all the Harvick fans overlook what a ***** whip he is. He wouldn't even get out of his car at Darlington until he had about 3 pit guys there to back him up. He's big and macho in a car, and his car owner had to actually do his fighting for him. He won't get over the fact that he is the one who really started all of this when he wrecked Busch last year at Homestead hoping for a shot at Jimmie and a title... then he gets mad when Busch only spins him at Darlington. Seriously? And Busch is the bad guy here? REALLY?

Harvick wants to get all aggressive about how Busch races too hard.... well Busch has been in this sport for half the time that Harvick has, and Busch has 21 career wins to Harvicks 17. It's a RACE! You're SUPPOSED to race hard!

And, to just add an insult to an injury, his wife wears the firesuit.

Sheesh..... I edited in a rundown too.

 

I can see how Harvick was violating probation too. Bottom line is that there isn't really such thing as probation in NASCAR. It means nothing.

The six point penalty and $25,000 fine Buschit got was a joke. NASCAR penalties usually are. If he was given a pass through penalty during the race it would have cost him more. NASCAR penalties make it kind of stupid not to cheat.

I also think Martin is in a lot of trouble and it's time to hit the panic button over there. Pocono was the second race this year that I picked Martin to win and both times Jeff Gordon got the win driving for Martin's old team. That's cuz Alan G is great and Lance MacGrew sucks! When McGrew replaced EuryJr it wasn't easy to detect where the problem was with the team. But obviously Junior's game has improved when they switched it up again. How the hell did McGrew get that gig? He has never won crap! And now he's running the show on one of the premier teams in all of NASCAR? Hendrick can afford better - he can afford the best! Not a rookie winless crew chief. I'd move Eury Jr back into that spot today!

 

I think Ray Evernham and Jeff Gordon were both winless nothigns when Rick Hendrick gave them a job in 1992......

I do see what you are saying about McGrew though... he's not going to make it where he is now as far as I can tell. I don't know that Eury Jr. is the answer. Eury Sr. and Earnhardt was where the magic was... now Eury Jr. does a lot with JR Motorsports though. If I was Rick Hendrick, I would be begging Ray Evernham to come back for somebody... put him back with Jeff Gordon. Instead, Rick has him managing his performance division at the dealership level or something. I'd beg and plead him to be a crew chief again myself. But Evernham apparently wasn't interested... he had said one time he felt he did all he could ever do as a crew cheif and wanted something new to do. I just think if Evernham was back with Gordon, it would be a 24 and 48 run for the championship... put Alan Gustafson back with Martin and you might have something.

Steve Retarded was looking pretty bad last year too... he and Jeff Gordon had an excellent run in 2007, but fell off for the next 3 years. Now, Letarte and Jr. are looking good. I do'nt know what to think of the guy anymore.

Hendrick proved when he shuffled the teams up last year that he was NOT scared to make a change to what appears to be a working program.

Plus, during the Pocono broadcast, they kept talking about that new 48 pit team that Chad Knaus was training... I know last year some of those pit guys had been on the team for all 4 championships. Now, even though it had worked in the past, Knaus and Hendrick realized they needed to make a change. Iwouldn't be surprised if Hendrick makes more shuffles before the chase... and with the mid point of the season upon us, I wouldn't be surprised to see an announcement of some type if things don't start turning around starting now.



And about me Ford guys... article on NASCAR.com about the new Mustang coming to NASCAR for 2013... looking forward to a new chassis, I think NASCAR realizes that the fans don't really like the COT in its present state. I hope the new chassis and design gives cup racing something more like the Nationwide has... the Nationwide cars seem to be able to race side by side and run better than cup cars. Cup cars seem to be in a state that whoever gets out in front can drive off... whether he bay Jeff Gordon or Landon Cassill... okay, maybe not Landon Cassil, but you get the idea...'
'
http://www.nascar.com/news/110616/fo...ype/index.html

 

Great rundown guys, I would love for a Ford to at least resemble a Ford and the same with the rest. Cookie cutter tracks and cars alike. Not jsut a front fascia that looks like a Mustang. make the sides look like it too. I am gonaa take Duanes attitude and at least see some practice on this one. Now That I have the lead, I will do my research and probably lose my A$$ and let Brent pass me. I have not researched all year. Just going by what I remember about the tracks and drivers. I may not have a signature quite up to par like Brents but, I could be like Kenseth and win the points without a victory. Catch me if you can. LOL guys jsut razzing you having a little fun while it lasts.

 

You might not want to abandon the method that got you to where you are... although I wonder what you will do when we get ot Kentucky. Maybe you should just consult that 11 year old. When will he turn 12?

Last week, the points stretched out a little... they had been getting tighter for a long time. Watch out for points penalties!

 

He turned 12 in April. I may let him pick one soon. Maybe this one.
Somebody has an updated signature.....Could it be ZJerry?????
Good Job.

 

Only a fool would pick anyone from JGR (Pyle Buschit, Hammy Hamster, or Joey) this weekend! All three were busted with illegal oil pans at the practice inspection. So these guys may all receive penalties before the race even begins! Usually not until Tuesday, but that would still count against you if you pick 'em.

Then Joey blew an engine in happy hour (musta forgot to put another oil pan on).

But aside from that, those JGR would be a pretty dumb pick this weekend anyways...

 

HMMM...
I will go first then.
1. Harvick (again, he has gotten me this far)
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr.(knows how to run the high line)
3. Jimmy Johnson (dont care for but cant deny his results)


There you have it, and Duane I didn't take my sons input. his picks were Kyle, Hamlin and Kenseth. Of course he doesn't know anything about the oil pans. We will see if I should have.

Good Luck Guys.
(sorry for all the humor, I am bored.)