Matt's Thread of Racing...

[BlackLantern]

the Olympics are great background noise

 

[NewYorkSpider]

NASCAR needs to some exciting racing this year and a new champion.

 

[El_Citrus]

Agreed. Close, dramatic finishes, active rivalries, and a new champ can help invigorate interest in the sport. Some personality would help too. The most personality in the sport right now is Kyle Busch and probably Carl Edwards. Nascar needs a John Force-esque driver to come in and take the sport by storm.

 

[El_Citrus]

Great Nationwide race yesterday. Seems a rivalry between Logano and Biffle is brewing.

Californ-i-a today. Roush and Hendrick look strong as always. I wouldn't be surprised though, to see Kasey Khane reach up and snag this win today.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

It was a great Nationwide race. So far, all the NASCAR touring series races have been pretty exciting. I love the Kasey Kahne pick, but I'm gonna stick to Jimmie Johnson. It seems like when he has a bad race, he comes back with a strong finish. Darkhorse pick will go to Clint Bowyer.

 

[El_Citrus]

Damnit NYS. Start handing over some lottery numbers.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

This weeks race is hard to predict. Every year I pick a strong canidate, and they finish horrible. Need to do more research.

 

[El_Citrus]

Vegas seems to be a very fickle track. It seems like Lady Luck picks a random driver that day to win sometimes. I'll look for Clint Bowyer to take it this week, though that will probably change come raceday.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

I'm gonna go with Jeff Gordon at the moment. It's a little early to tell, but it looks like Hendrick and Childress are the teams to beat.

 

[El_Citrus]

Damn NYS, you had the right car picked again, only Jimmie Johnson came up and snatched the win away. Jeff was dominant all day long and shoulda taken 4 tires.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

Yeah, Jeff should have went with 4 tires in the end. Might have made a difference.

Bit of a boring race today. I found myself flipping back and forth between the race and the USA/Canada hockey game.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

I was also really impressed with McMurray and Kahne. Could be a surprise upset on Sunday.

I don't like bragging, but I said this before the 500.

 

[El_Citrus]

Yeah, I found myself watching USA/Canada more than the race. Disappointing for Mac and JPM, as they were both running really well in that race. On the flip side, RCR, and more specifically Kevin Harvick, are back. I think they've surpassed Roush at this point. Strong showing for Logano today too, even though none of the Gibbs cars really contended today, which seems to be the case all this year so far.

And seriously man, go and get some powerball tickets asap, or hit up that Directv H2H challenge.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

I might try to play powerball Tuesday.

Yeah, it was a tough break for Montoya/McMurray. They both looked like they had decent cars to finish in the top 10. Hopefully this doesn't break McMurray's momentum.

I'll have my Atlanta pick on Wednesday. See if I can continue this streak of good picks.

 

[El_Citrus]

I think I blew all my mojo on that California race last year where I mentioned the drivers that ended up all finishing in the top four.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

I'm gonna go with Harvick this weekend. I love momentum. Plus, he's great at AMS.

Darkhorse pick will be Martin Truex Jr.

I'm also really impressed with Matt Kenseth. He's 4th in points with his new crew chief Todd Parrott. I think he could be a contender this year.

 

[El_Citrus]

Harvick is definitely going to be a favorite this weekend, though I wouldn't count out Edwards or Gordon, as both run extremely well at these tracks.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

And don't count out Johnson. The fact that he has won two races already scares me.

 

[El_Citrus]

Agreed. Johnson seems way more focused on his Drive for 5 than Jeff was after 01.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

As a Carl Edwards fan, I'm extremely dissapointed with the way he handled this. His actions were ridiculous. I'm glad that Brad is alright. Brad on the other hand deserved to be wrecked, but not at a track this size. Keselowski is an aggressive driver. He had that coming. Congrats to Kurt Busch on his victory.

 

[El_Citrus]

Yeah, that wreck was downright scary, especially with how damaged the car looked afterwards. Edwards used very poor judgement there and should be fined for that. If he had a beef with Kesolowski, he should have done it at Bristol or after the race, out of the cars. There's too much at risk out on the track. Needless to say, the spoiler can't get back on these cars soon enough.

If you look at it though, Edwards is up 3-1 on Kesolowski. They got together in a Nationwide race that was his fault, but the other two times here at Atlanta were Edwards' fault. I do agree that Brad had it coming at some point. He reminds me a bit of Earnhardt or a young Waltrip with his aggressive style.

Nascar needs to tell these guys its okay to show their emotions, but don't do it at race speed or wait to get out of the car.

Great win for Kurt Busch. Had the dominant car and made some GREAT moves at the end of the race. Congrats to JPM too, as he's primed to win a ton of oval races this year.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

I'm also impressed with Paul Menard and Scott Speed. After 4 races they're in the top 12 in points.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

I think NASCAR needs to send a big message and either dock Edwards 200 points or park him for the next race. They can't just fine him and put him on probation. I think that's just a slap on the wrist. You want to hit them where it hurts, take points away.

 

[El_Citrus]

I would certainly hope that Nascar comes down hard on Edwards, and in doing so, Nascar needs to explain that they want the drivers to "have at it", but do so in a controlled environment. Wait until after the race and out of the cars, or under caution, or at a small track like Bristol. They need to reel all the drivers in and let them know that wrecking someone at 190 mph won't be tolerated.

 

[El_Citrus]

CARL EDWARDS PUT ON 3 WEEKS PROBATION. NO SUSPENSION.

Of course Nascar only slaps him on the wrist and makes no public statement about any regulations on "have at it boys".

Granted, if the spoiler was on the cars and not the wing, and Kesolowski just spun out and backed into the wall, this wouldn't be as BIG an issue, but there's still no reason for a car 156 laps down to wreck a car running 6th. Wait until after the race is over or wait til Bristol, Carl. They said that both teams were called in to "clean the slate", but I doubt we'll see them sharing the track together happily.