Matt's Thread of Racing...

[NewYorkSpider]

I would love to see Childress win the championship this year. He hasn't had a title since Earnhardt won back to back in '93 and '94.

 

[El_Citrus]

Harvick and Burton are capable of doing it. If Martin can't win the championship this year, I'd love to see Burton win it.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

I'm going with Kyle Busch this weekend.

 

[El_Citrus]

Kyle and Jimmie are going to be tough this weekend. I don't think I can bet against Johnson this weekend, but watch out for Matt Kenseth. He may very well break Roush out of their irrelevant funk.

Speaking of Johnson, I was looking at some of past years and found some astonishing stats:

Since racing full time in what is now the Sprint Cup Series in 2002, Johnson has finished in the top 5 in points every year.

Combining the 03-04 seasons, Johnson was a mere 98 points from winning two more championships. He was only 127 points out in 05 after a bad wreck at Homestead, where he had a shot for ANOTHER Championship. That's THREE straight years he had a shot at more titles leading up to his 4 straight. The fact he could have won six titles, and maybe even seven STRAIGHT is just staggering.

Johnson didn't even win Rookie of the Year in 2002! He had more wins, and finished seven points ahead, but Ryan Newman won that year.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

I remember that '04 Homestead race. Came down to the last lap between like 4 drivers. One of the most intense races I've watched.


I was reading through my Facebook and saw that Carl Edwards mentioned something about keeping Brian Vickers in his prayers. Went to NASCAR.com and saw he was hospitalized for undisclosed reasons and will miss the Dover race. Hopefully everything is alright. Casey Mears is taking over the #83.

 

[El_Citrus]

Yeah. I saw that on Nascar Now yesterday. I'm reading here on jayski that he had multiple blood clots throughout his body, and it's unclear if he'll be ready for the All-Star race next week. I hope he pulls through, as he's the leader of that team.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

It's looking like my pick was another brilliant one. Kyle Busch dominated the truck race and lost because of fuel problems. In three Sprint Cup practices, he was 5th, 3rd and 1st. He qualified on the pole for the Nationwide race, to then go on to victory. He now qualifies 4th for the Sprint Cup race. I think it's safe to say that Kyle Busch is the car to beat this weekend.

Roush Racing is looking a little bit stronger this weekend. One of their cars could be in victory lane.

 

[El_Citrus]

Kyle is indeed the car to beat this weekend. There's no doubting that. I think if the Monster doesn't claim him (I still wish this track had lights), then he should dominate.

Looking at the charts, I think AJ Allmendinger could be a factor during the race if he can keep his car intact. He's definitely my dark horse pick.

I'm going to go and pick the guy that had a great run yesterday: Jamie MacMurray.

 

[El_Citrus]

I'm going with Kyle Busch this weekend.

Oh shut up.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

I'm sorry. I just can't help it.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will win the All-Star race. Let's see if I'm right about that.

 

[El_Citrus]

If he does, I swear I may give up on trying to pick the winner. I think we'll see Jeff Gordon go all out and be the Gordon he's been the past few races: aggressive and charging towards the front. I think this might be where he breaks through.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

Usually we see some suprises in the All-Star race. Some people try a set up in left field to see what happens. This way if they find something, they'll be fast in the 600.

 

[El_Citrus]

True, which also backfires heavily on a lot of cars. I hope we see a ton of aggressive driving during this year's All-Star Race, as it seems to bring out the best in everyone.

 

[El_Citrus]

Alrighty. Qualifying rained out, still a chance for rain tonight, but that just makes the race tonight even more of a crap shoot. I'll pick Kevin Harvick. Dark Horse: Jeff Burton.

 

[El_Citrus]

Well. Neither of our picks panned out. Some great racing though, as Kurt Busch looked like he was racing at Darlington and still won the race while his brother was piiiiiiissed at his own teammate! Great racing in that last segment.

I wonder if this could be a commentary on things to come. Jimmie and Denny fight so hard that they take each other out, basically, and allow someone else to sneak in and win. Wonder if that may be the case for the championship as well.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

I didn't catch some of the race since I was out at the bar. Hard to watch the race and talk to people at the same time. I saw Denny had blocked Kyle Busch. I'm gonna have to take Hamlin's side on this one. It's an All-Star race. Anything goes. Now if this was the 600, I think Kyle would have every right to be mad. Congrats to Kurt Busch. I was glad he won and not Johnson.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

Well, I tried predicting the PowerBall. Didn't have much luck. However, I could have some luck when Kasey Kahne drives into victory lane this weekend for his third career Coca-Cola 600.

 

[El_Citrus]

I think it's not out of the realm of possibility, but I'm gonna beat this dead horse one last time and pick Jeff Gordon, though Johnson will be the favorite. A darkhorse to keep an eye on is Martin Truex Jr. He's got the MWR 56 in the top 12 and wound up second during the All-Star race.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

Truex has been fast all weekend. I would love to see him win this race for MWR for the second year in a row.


Been hearing rumors that the Indianapolis 500 could be moved to Saturday in the near future. I hope this happens. This way we can see more NASCAR drivers try for the double. Stewart, Montoya and R. Gordon are the names that pop right out. Hell, we could see other people that normally don't run in the IRL try to win this race. Kurt Busch said he wouldn't mind running it.

 

[El_Citrus]

Truex has been fast all weekend. I would love to see him win this race for MWR for the second year in a row.


Been hearing rumors that the Indianapolis 500 could be moved to Saturday in the near future. I hope this happens. This way we can see more NASCAR drivers try for the double. Stewart, Montoya and R. Gordon are the names that pop right out. Hell, we could see other people that normally don't run in the IRL try to win this race. Kurt Busch said he wouldn't mind running it.

I think a lot of traditionalists would throw a tantrum if it was moved, and in a way, I can see why, as this Sunday is a marathon of racing. At the same time though, I think the move would be good, as Indy would have it's own day (again), and they can have the cross promotion with Nascar drivers trying to win the double. I'd be really intrigued to see it.

 

[El_Citrus]

Damn. Big wrecks and fights at the end of a looooong Pocono race. Denny Hamlin is still undefeated driving that specific car, then wrecks it on the burnout

I was very impressed to see Logano stand up to Harvick like that, though he'll apologize for calling out Harvick's wife and possibly be fined for it. Still, it was good to see that he won't be a pushover to the veteran drivers out there. He damn near saved that car from spinning as well.

Good to see everyone walk away from that last lap wreck. Kahne and Martin really slammed hard. Scary stuff.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

NASCAR should consider shorting that race to 300 or 400 Miles. It's one of those race tracks where the long green flag run becomes boring because everyone is stretched out and there's hardly any racing going on. The restarts were fun to watch though.

Poor Denny. 3-0 at Martinsville, Darlington and Pocono with that car and he wrecks it. Good to see another name start to dominate this sport other than Johnson. I really wanted to see Bowyer in victory lane today. I think he'll get a win somtime in the future.

I'm glad Logano stood up for himself as well. Harvick, IMO, had plenty of room on the bottom. The wife comment was uneccesary, but it's the heat of the moment. Harvick also didn't need to hide behind 20 guys. He should've let Joey come up to him and talk about what had happend. Also...

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Glad to see Kahne is alright. For a minute I thought his car was gonna leave the track and roll over into those shrubs on the backstretch.

 

[El_Citrus]

They need to reduce a LOT of races to 300 and 400 miles. 500 milers should be big events like Daytona, Bristol, and Darlington. Pocono is just a gruelling race to watch until the end.

Luckily for Denny, his car seemed to sustain only body and som suspension damage to that car. It should be fixed and ready to go for Atlanta or Bristol in a few weeks. I'm glad to see Hamlin become the rival to Johnson we thought he would be.

I don't think Harvick hid behind his guys. They would have been there regardless to protect their driver. I do think Harvick could have let off early and given Logano room, but they were racing for the same strip of pavement coming to the white flag.

Thanklfully Kahne didn't go over the fence on that one. I think Pocono should add at least a small catch fence on those straightaways.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

Harvick should've still told his crew to let Logano in so they could talk. It should've been like what Burton and Kyle Busch did at Lowes.

I think Pocono raceway needs to pave their backstretch first. They talked about that on NASCAR Now.

 

[El_Citrus]

Even Kyle had a crewman and a couple officials trying to keep Burton back. I figure no one expected Burton to go off like that and caught them off guard, but Logano parking right in front of Harvick probably tipped them off that maybe he's pissed. Either way, I'll be watching for Hamlin and Bowyer to get together at some point.

Pocono does need a good many changes, including paving and some catch fencing along with a shorter race distance. But then again, Pocono's not really about the race when you go, but the infield party. Kids have received sex education during those weekends.