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All-Star Vote

PaulfromOhio — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 01:00:06 -0400

All-Star Vote 2011

Start voting now!

http://www.nascar.com/promos/allstar/2011/vote/index.html

Kvapil: Outside Looking In

Front Row — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 14:44:48 -0400

Rowdy.com Guest Blogger

Front Row Motorsports

(Travis Kvapil)

We’re packing up and heading to Martinsville (Va.) this weekend. And even though it’s one of my favorite tracks, it represents a place I wasn’t expecting to be: outside the top 35 in owners’ points. This means I have to qualify for the race on speed.

With our newer cars that we got in the off-season, the more powerful FR9 motors from Roush-Yates Engines, and the downsizing to two full-time cars at Front Row Motorsports, we knew we were in pretty good shape for 2011 with the resources we had. But we got caught up in one of the big wrecks in the Daytona 500, and another one at Phoenix. All of a sudden we found ourselves in a hole, through no fault of our own.

The next couple races we fought hard, made some changes within the team, but just didn’t have the results to climb back in to the top 35, which is the magic number to be locked in to the line-up beyond the first five races of the season. And so that brings us to Martinsville, outside looking in.

The good news is I have a lot of confidence in my team. We have good cars, good motors and good people getting our Long John Silver’s Ford ready for this track. I have no doubt we’ll be there on Sunday afternoon, taking the green flag.

The bad news is that the situation forces you to prepare for a race differently. In the days and weeks leading up to the race weekend, you’re putting more attention on preparing a car that will qualify fast, over a car that will race well. At the shop, we’ll strip the car down and try to get all the extra stuff out so we can have as much lead in the racecar as possible, which makes the car handle better. Once the car is in the show, then you take that lead out and replace it with coolers and brake fans and things like that. And now that Martinsville moved qualifying to Saturday, there is no practice time between qualifying and the race. So you’re switching to race trim, but won’t have the chance to really see how it shakes out until the race starts.

Then, of course, there’s the mental aspect. I’ve said this before when it comes to being a “go-or-go-homer” – it never gets easier. It’s all you think about all week. It’s on your mind when you get up in the morning and when you go to bed at night. And it all comes down to those two laps. All the work the guys have put into the car is done, and it’s just you in the car. And after those two laps, you either have the greatest feeling of relief or the biggest feeling of disappointment.

I’m proud to say that, with Front Row, we’re usually breathing a sigh of relief and then getting the car ready for the race. That’s where we expect to be this weekend in Martinsville.

Kimi Raikkonen to compete in NASCAR

CloudDog23 — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:22:50 -0400

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/90331

This news, amusingly, has got a lot of my fellow UK 'F1 Only / NASCAR is just driving in circles' all upset.

For the record I think Kimi will be a disaster in NASCAR. I have a friend who works at McLaren F1 and he says Kimi has trouble communicating on a human level and his ability to provide feedback to make the car better is non-existent. He inherited a good cars at Ferrari and McLaren, relied on Pedro Dela Rosa (McLaren test driver) and Montoya at McLaren to make the car better but was unable to make it better at Ferrari, hence why neither team renewed his contract when it was up.

NASCAR At Take Five

STP43FAN — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 00:16:53 -0400

MRN included a nice clip of the 1972 Miller 500 at Ontario Motor Speedway in its prerace show, then the ensuing California 400 wound up with a finish that was almost out of Ontario's days. Kevin Harvick's highside surge on the final lap gave the beleagured speedway the sexy finish it has heretofore never had and it also gave the Winston Cup Series five winners among five teams in five races.

So looking at the sport approaching its first sojourn to Martinsville of the season, what can we take from the season so far? A few offerings -

***************

[i]RIGHT NOW THE SPORT MAY HAVE HIT A PERIOD OF PLAIN STRANGENESS[/i] - Consider this -

* No one right now is able to establish any kind of consistent power. The Hendrick cars are good, but Jeff Gordon is 16th in points with a win, and Johnson is fifth without a win.

* The notorious un-achiever Paul Menard is the most solid of the RCR cars right now even as Harvick reignites his team's surge with the Fontana win. Teammates Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer may have reached the point where points need to be forgotten and winning races needs to be the focus.

* That may be the quietest 233 laps Tony Stewart has ever led. Yet he's out-led Gordon AND Johnson.

* His teammate Ryan Newman has snuck up on everyone and is second in points.

The way the sport is playing out right now is curiously reminiscent of seasons such as 1991 when a number of teams beat each other down to where no one could establish a run for the season's first third, then one team took over, before ANOTHER team took over in late-summer; it was a season no one dominated and this one is playing out similarly.

[i]BRIAN VICKERS MAY HAVE FINALLY SHOWN UP[/i] - His surge forward at Fontana was the most muscle he's shown in several seasons.

[i]ONE SHOT WONDER EXPOSED[/i] - We may have seen something close to the last of Jamie McMurray for awhile, as he has been basically MIA this season.

[i]NOT ABLE TO SEAL A DEAL[/i] - Carl Edwards had that for awhile, as he'd surge for a season and then disappear the next year. Now it's Denny Hamlin who's looking like a title pretender exposed as lacking ability to seal the deal. Hamlin was quite vocal about JGR's sudden engine unreliability after Fontana, and there may be something to fan suspicions about where the engine care is going in the JGR shop.

[i]DECLARE THEM FAILURES ALREADY[/i] - Let's face it - Joey Logano, David Ragan, and Brad Keselowski are drafting busts. Logano's public gripe about being forced to take more chances now raises the question of where his racing was before now - where did he fight for anything before? Brad Keselowski carries himself like a Cup winner instead of the one-shot wonder he actually is; that he won the Busch title means nothing, and it shows in his consistent lack of muscle at this level. Ragan makes no noise, which makes him a nice guy but also proves he's been in over his head in any of NASCAR's major touring series. Expecting any kind of surge from any of this trio is expecting far too much.

[i]IS THERE ANOTHER DARKHORSE WINNER IN THIS GROUP?[/i] - If either of the Busch brothers can be considered darkhorses, they are it. Kyle Busch, though, has long had the problem of leading a lot and even winning a lot yet never sealing the deal, and Kurt is basically alone on a Dodge island.

[i]FORD ON RACE DAY[/i] - Carl Edwards leads the points while Matt Kenseth is another quiet tenth. Greg Biffle, meanwhile, has slid to 20th and one has to wonder if Biffle will ever get farther up the Roush pole than where he's been at for years. The Petty tandem is 15th with AJ Allmendinger and 18th with Marcos Ambrose - anything beyond 18th is gravy for Ambrose while Allmendinger rebounded decently at Fontana but has otherwise had something of an underachieving season so far.

There are plenty of racers in this group that need to start fighting harder as the second five of the season kicks off.

Random Gripes

Horseflyer — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 14:35:57 -0400

Winston put alot of years and millions of dollars into NASCAR to help make it what it is today
and I don't think it's right that they were forgotten so quickly,
Rusty Wallace did not win the 1989 "Nextel Cup"
Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon never won a single "Sprint" cup,they should always be referred to as "WINSTON CUP" Champions
I feel the same way about Anhueser Busch, former champs should be called "BUSCH SERIES" Champions

Why does Danica receive so much attention? because she's cute,
She gets more tv time than the leader.
She's got talent, but so does everyone else out there or they wouldn't be there,
Jennifer Jo Cobb is in the Nationwide series too,never hear her name mentioned.

I think the Champions Provisional should have a time limit, maybe 10 years,
Bill Elliot won his Championship 23 years ago

Las Vegas has the worst Victory Lane I have ever seen, banners in the infield parking lot, c'mon.

I'm tired of seeing these drivers sipping on a full Coke on Que, I've never seen any one of them finish one,
or even have one half full

Why is almost every debris caution for something on the backstretch

I know we don't call DW "JAWS" anymore, I'm just wondering why we stopped

Tracks invite these "Celebrities", all expense paid I'm sure, to do all the pre-race stuff,
Grand Marshall, wave green flag, National Anthem, and they know nothing about racing,
don't even know who Jeff Gordon is for Christ's Sake.

A Case of Mistaken Identity Puts Nationwide Rookie in Spotlight

Farrah — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 22:34:01 -0400

After the debacle that was Cobbgate at Bristol, no one thought anything positive could come out of the start-and-park controversy that didn't go away for days.

But for those who paid attention to Twitter while the broadcast continued, you would know there was a case of mistaken identity going on. NASCAR (and the broadcasters) were announcing that Charles Lewandoski was getting behind the wheel, while it was actually fellow NNS driver Chris Lawson.

While Lawson finally drove the four laps, Lewandoski was credited on nascar.com for driving the car (although Lawson was credited in the official race report for the run).

Lewandoski took to Twitter and explained he had been approached to drive the car but wasn't prepared so Lawson took his place. However, he was thankful for the opportunity – and for the new followers and supporters he gained during the chaos.

Heading into Fontana, Lewandoski announced he would be driving the No. 39 SunRiseFord.com Ford for Archie St. Hilaire (the car was previously run by Josh Wise in Phoenix).

During practice, Lewandoski caught the eye of broadcaster Kyle Petty for making laps and being in the seat as much as he could. Within minutes, fellow broadcaster Bob Dillner was in the No. 39 garage stall giving the full bio of Lewandoski. Petty kept his eye on him, as did the other broadcasters throughout the weekend.

Lewandoski proved he could keep up, qualifying 21^st and finishing 25^th. Although he finished a few laps down, he led two laps during the race. Since he is competing for Rookie of the Year honors and this is only his third race of the season, that one bonus point is a huge deal (of the five rookies, he was second, eight places behind Ryan Truex).

The Nationwide series is on a break next week but keep a lookout for Lewandoski. He's chasing those ROTY honors and is just getting started.

Farrah Kaye is a Staff Writer for nnsracing.com. Follow her on Twitter at @FKayeNASCAR or on Facebook at facebook.com/FarrahKayeWritings.

Ding, Ding, Ding....Its Harvick

Iceman — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 21:08:41 -0400

Who said California Speedway is boring, coming down from my Nascar high I stared at the start finish line in awe of the finish.

I looked at all the different paterns that Harvick just layed down as to put his branding on the speedway after the smoke cleared.

The race was turning out to be a Kyle clean sweep with maybe Tony Stewart trying to steal one from kyle but the late caution flags changed everything.

looking back at the race was like three heavy weight fighters fighting for the win.

Kyle busch was jabbing at Jimmy Johnson inside seven laps to go trying to hold off Johnson waiting for that final bell to sound.

The bell never sounded for Kyle and Johnson connected a upper cut to Kyle and down went Kyle at turn three with three laps to go.

Johnson took the lead and another driver, Kevin Harvick entered the ring insided two laps to go.

The crowd at the speedway sense something was going to happen and stood up in anticipation when Harvick inched his way up towards Johnson on the backstretch coming to the finish.

Johnson jabbing desperatly at Harvick on the backstretch while Harvick started working on Johnson's mid section or bumper, coming to the final turn at Fontana.

The crowd was standing cheering and was in a frenzy as both drivers were going toe to toe, my daughter grabbed my hand and we started jumping as if we were at mush pit.

Then it happened, Harvick went high and Johnson goes low. Harvick pulled next to Johnson coming out of turn four and Harvick connected with a right hook and down goes Johnson, down goes Johnson. The crowd went wild and Harvick took the checker!

I have never seen the crowd go crazy at Fontana like it did today, it rivaled the Italian Colesium in its hay day.

It was simply "March Madness". JN Iceman

Auto Club 400 Recap

Chief187 — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 21:02:50 -0400

Often bemoaned as one of the most boring races on the Sprint Cup circuit, the Auto Club 400 from Fontana was as wildly exciting as they come, in the last laps of the race. An “out of nowhere” win for Kevin “Happy” Harvick jolted him out of the ashes of last year’s disappointment at the same race when he “gave the race away” to opponent Jimmie Johnson. This year Harvick was able to “take it back” from Jimmie Johnson and was quite elated!

With a win margin of .144 seconds, Harvick’s RCR #29 edged Jimmie Johnson for the checkered flag. Many eyes were glued to Kyle Busch who led the most laps, 151, for the day, but could not keep defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson behind him, had to settle for third. Jimmie Johnson and the Hendrick #48 team often wins at this track and were primed to add another notch on their collective belt when Harvick, who restarted fifth with nine laps remaining, powered his way to the front in the final two laps, passing both Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson. The victory, the first of the season for Harvick, marks his fifteenth in his career and moved him up to ninth in the points standings, a bump of six places!

Matt Kenseth came home with another strong Top 5 finish at fourth. Ryan Newman was the best finisher for Stewart-Haas with is fifth after teammate/owner Tony Stewart suffered a frustrating afternoon after what seemed to be a strong run for his #14 but wound up finishing thirteenth. Rounding out the Top 10 were Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, Brian Vickers, Kasey Kahne, and the race pole-sitter Juan Pablo Montoya who finished tenth. The sixth place finish for Edwards was enough to put him in the points standing nine points over Ryan Newman.

The points standings after the Auto Club 400 are the aforementioned points leader Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman in second, Kurt Busch in third and Kyle Busch in fourth and Jimmie Johnson rounding out the Top 5. Positions six through twelve are as follows: Tony Stewart, Paul Menard, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, and, rounding out the list, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Ready for IndyCar

Throttleneck Racing — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 19:44:22 -0400

While NASCAR is still my favorite, I’m excited that the IndyCar series is starting tomorrow. I had watched some Indy 500’s but I started following IndyCar a few years ago when Chicagoland required a NASCAR/IndyCar package. I wasn’t happy about spending more at first, but I’m glad I did.

Here’s why I like IndyCar:

Exciting racing: At my first race in Chicagoland, I was hooked when I watched a stretch of 3-wide racing for the lead for about 5 straight laps. It was like watching fighter jets in formation. These cars are crazy fast in the 200’s. I prefer the racing on the ovals but I’ll give the road courses a fresh look tomorrow. (Unfortunately, IndyCar won’t be in Chicagoland this year)

Driver accessibility: Before the Chicagoland races, all of the IndyCar drivers appeared together for autograph sessions. I became a Tony Kanaan fan because he was a nice guy when we met him. Last year, we met Danica and she was really to Lexie.

Forward looking: I like the fresh views of commissioner Randy Bernard. They’re trying some new things like the season ending race in Vegas and I like the overall feeling in the series right now. Also, some younger drivers are getting a shot like Rahal and Kimball at Ganassi.

Indianapolis 500: It’s one of the greatest spectacles in sports and I’ll be sitting beyond the start/finish line for my first one this year!

Fun: I cheer for Kanaan but I like the drivers so I don’t get stressed about the results.

Are you an IndyCar fan? What do you think about the 2011 season?

RPM- CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY

Iceman — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 02:39:55 -0400

Race #5 stops in beautiful sunny southern California, home of yours truly, Iceman!

Here'sÂ the first of theÂ big down force tracks for the year and should tell us a bunch on who's for real and who's not.

JGR with Hamlin,Â Kyle BuschÂ and Logano have been very fast today during practice and it showed for qualifying. Hamlin starting second and Joey Logano starting third and Kyle 8th. Kyle had to go to a back up car after spinning out on the first lap due to water weepers on the track. Kyle still managed a good qualifying effort in his back up car.

You probably think I'm picking them for my tiers but I'm not and here's why.

Blown engines have kept JGR from having a good start this season and at the Auto Club Speedway where engines run at the limit of the RPM gauge, I have to pass on both of them.Â Logano and Hamlin both done well here last year but this is another year and I can't pick JGR until I see more. If you pull for Toyota, go with theÂ teams using Toyota Racing Development engines(TRD).

The Fords have continued to show strength with Edwards starting 18th, Kenseth 11th, David Regan 6thÂ and Biffle who had a tire problem in qualifying starting 32, ouch!

Here is where Earnhardt Gannassi is going to show its strength with top ten finishes. Juan Pablo took the pole and Jamie Mac starts eleventh and runs strong at this track. Both of these drivers need a good run.

This is a track Jimmy Johnson dominates, but not this year. I look for Jimmy to get a top 15 at best.

Dale Jr fans might want to skip this one, Jr starts 30th.

This year the Auto Club 500 has been cut to 400 miles and should not come to fuel mileage, unless we don't have any cautions, not!

Here's my RPM(racing points = money) for the Auto Club 400.

Tier 1

Carl Edwards
Tony Stewart
Matt Kenseth

Tier 2

Juan Pablo Montoya
Jamie McMurray
Ryan Newman
David Reutimann

Tier 3

Regan Smith

Okay there you have it, have fun and a safe weekend. Comments and questions always welcome. Results of my picks always post after the race in the Forum section under drivers. Good luck! Iceman

Friday Music Blog

Chief187 — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 04:58:51 -0400

Welcome back to the Friday Music Blog! Today the alphabetical wheel has stopped at letter “I”. Include all songs that begin with the letter “I’ as well as the artist who performed the piece.

Spring Bristol race is behind us and Fontana is looming. Were you pleased with the Bristol race with the newer grooves and the different type of racing that occurred? Were you enthused by the lead changes, type of racing, and drama in the day, or did you miss old school Bristol beatin’ and bangin’?

What are you looking forward to in California? Fontana typically has the reputation of being a boring race. Do you feel this year will be the exception? The season, to date, has been full of surprises, exciting racing, and a new schedule. Does this bode well for Fontana or are you planning to opt out of this race?

Along with your songs beginning with “I”, please include your thoughts about these racing topics! But please do leave your song selections as this resource is growing and in need of all contributions.

Enjoy your weekend, thank you in advance for your song titles beginning with the letter “I”, and please let me know what you think of the racing to date, including your thoughts about Fontana.

Bristol: Hype Over Substance

STP43FAN — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 11:47:20 -0400

It was bound to happen. Suddenly it is no longer possible to say Bristol International Raceway - yes, I'm old-schooling it here - is an automatic sellout of a speedway. The Southeastern 500 this past March drew some 120,000, a superb audience by any standard and about what one should expect in one of the sport's strongest racing demographics. But given how the track was built up - literally and figuratively - this number is a huge drop-off and has led to [url=http://www.scenedaily.com/news/articles/sprintcupseries/Kenny_Bruce_Why_is_Bristol_no_longer_a_must-see_event.html]some press examination of the track's drop in popularity[/url].

That Bristol was considered a must-see event to begin with is puzzling to one who has watched Bristol races and studied the sport's history, as the track's ascension to superstar status was rather Swift (insert Taylor joke here) and to be blunt downright baffling.

Bristol debuted in 1961 and was just another bullring in a sport that was beginning to grow out of such tracks as the superspeedway boom was beginning. It was one of five short tracks to survive the 1972 revamping of the Winston Cup schedule - the others were Richmond, North Wilkesboro, Martinsville, and Nashville - and was usually one of the least popular; it was a competitive track until in 1969 Larry Carrier banked it from 18 degrees to 36 to speed up its races; wrecks increased greatly and Richard Petty for one lamented, "They ruined a perfectly good racetrack."

Some of the nastier events to occur there -

1971 - Relief drivers were prevalant as Charlie Glotzbach, with help from Raymond Hassler, won the Volunteer 500.

1974 - Neil Bonnett tore out over 50 feet of interior guardrail in a mid-race crash.

1977 - Five relief drivers were needed as Cale Yarborough led all but five laps in the Southeastern 500.

1979 - Buddy Baker and Cale tried to climb the frontstretch fencing in a huge crash in the Southeastern 500; rookie Dale Earnhardt won.

1981 - Earnhardt tore open the pit road guardrail in the Volunteer 500.

1987 - Melees galore as Earnhardt took the win.

1988 - During Volunteer 500 practice [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1ib5bxdOrc] Wallace clobbered the wall off Four and tumbled down the frontstretch, needing to be revived by Jerry Punch.[/url]

1989 - Rusty Wallace took the win amid some fifteen crashes.

1990 - Crashes and a garage-area fight between Ricky Rudd and Sterling Marlin; [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lguhdz53UJI]Davey Allison won in a photo finish.[/url]

1991 - Marlin survived an inferno as Wallace edged Ernie Irvan amid one of the worst epidemics of wrecks the sport had ever seen.

And it never got better. 1993's Southeastern 500 was a demolition derby. 1995's Volunteer 500 was a bigger demolition derby and it is often cited as the race that made Bristol a must-see event; 1999's Volunteer 500 and the massive crash on the finish is even more loudly cited. If it is, then people are going to races for the wrong reasons.

The track is a strong racing demographic but its sellouts have been padded by the bulk-purchase of tickets by Bruton Smith companies - a tactic common in sports, notably with the Boston Red Sox, whose streak of sellouts is padded by bulk-buys of tickets - and this helps fan the myth that the track is a must-see race.

The reality is Bristol is a lot of hype and not that much substance. The refurbashing of the corners has helped with the racing - there is an actual ability to pass for position up front now that wasn't there for the years the track was concrete - and the race as a result is no longer the demolition derby it had been for years. But it's not a compelling race, and the new corners have had the unwanted side effect that the top groove is so fast the bottom groove too often becomes unraceable.

Kyle Busch has become the track's newest monopolist, being all but unbeatable there. The track has had a history that a driver who gets in a groove there becomes unpassable. Given his unpopularity with the fanbase it won't help Bristol's cause.

It seems unlikely Bristol will ever see the 180,000-strong crowds of yesteryear, but one can fell confident the 120,000 this time around will remain the norm. Regardless, Bristol shouldn't be promoted as something more than it is.

Bristol Race Recap

Chief187 — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 05:07:49 -0400

Kyle Busch ended his day and race weekend as Mr. Bristol, sweeping the two races run there this weekend and the last five across NASCAR’s top three series. Kyle Busch owns Bristol. Although not leading the most laps, Kyle Busch led the most important one, the last lap of the Jeff Byrd 500 from Bristol Motor Speedway with the checkered flag flying and Victory Lane waiting for his return.

Kyle beat out Jimmie Johnson, the driver who led the most laps during the race, and competitor Carl Edwards. Edwards still holds some venom from when he and Kyle had an accident in Phoenix that took Carl out when he had an “incredible” racecar. Carl had to settle for a respectable second yesterday that is indicative of the consistency Edwards is showing this season save the unfortunate Phoenix outing. Jimmie Johnson took third leaving him eleven races from his last win. Rounding out the top five for this race were Matt Kenseth, scoring his first top 10 of the 2011 season, and Paul Menard who hadn’t posted a finish this high since finishing fifth in Atlanta in March 2010. Kenseth’s finish, along with teammate Edwards’ 2^nd and Biffle’s 8th shows the strength of the Roush stable (David Ragan posted a 16^th) and Paul Menard’s fifth puts him still as the top RCR driver. Positions six through ten were Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, the aforementioned Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne, and Stewart-Haas driver Ryan Newman.

A gracious and polished post-race Kyle Busch credited his team and the race off pit lane during the last pit stop as the reason for the win in Sunday’s race at Bristol. This victory was Kyle Busch’s 20^th in the Sprint Cup Series in his 226^th start. The victory increases his record to 33 wins across NASCAR’s top three series and ties him for career victories with Speedy Thompson. Kurt Busch’s sixth place was enough to land him number one in the points this week by one over Carl Edwards, while his brother’s race win propelled him eight spots to sixth in the standings. Regardless of his winless streak, Jimmie Johnson improved five spots landing him seventh in points. And fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. was able to gain enough points with his eleventh place in Bristol to push him one spot up to ninth in the points.

Veteran driver Bobby Labonte posted a decent top 15 spot when he drove home a 13^th position after racing Mark Martin hard the last laps for twelve. Martin edged Labonte out by a bumper. Labonte’s day may have ended poorly when on Lap 247 he was engaged in a battle for position with the top ten running cars of Martin Truex Jr. and Paul Menard and spun out in Turn 4. Expertly keeping the car off the wall, Labonte was able to complete the spin with the car pointed in the right direction and without losing more than a couple of positions.

Some critics are saying the multi-groove surface made Sunday’s race rather boring and, save a wreck toward the end of the day, uneventful, while others cheer the event and applaud the technique, myriad lead changes, and actual racing that occurred. Certainly the 2011 Season is shaping up to be one of the most exciting seen in years with constant lead changes during races and in the points standings. Stay tuned for when the action moves to California this weekend.

Who's in and who's out?

ryan — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 00:38:19 -0400

With four races officially in the books, I think we can now start to look at the top 10 and begin to analyze the race to the Chase. First one must look at some of the drivers in the top 10 who may not quite make it when it's all said and done . At first glance I've come up with 4 drivers, who I wouldn't necessarily sleep well at night if my life depended on them making the cut. Those drivers are:

1. Paul Menard

2. Juan P. Montoya

3. Jr.

4. Martin Truex, Jr.

Not to discount the talent of the aforementioned, but as you'll see in the number of heavy hitters on the outside looking in, there are historically more consistent drivers outside of the top 10. They are:

Bubble drivers (11 & 12th respectively) Mark Martin & Kasey Kahn, along with the following:

1. Matt Kennseth

2. Denny Hamlin

3. Kevin Harvick

4. Jeff Gordon

5. Biffle/Bowyer (toss up)

I for one am enjoying a little shake up in the standings. After 5 years of Mr. Johnson, it's nice to see a Paul Menard running well, Dale Jr. consistent, and even a Bobby Labonte hanging around the top 15. Nevertheless, it will be tough to hold most off the guys listed above. Something has to give in this equation. Thoughts?

Kyle Busch...Making It Count!

Iceman — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 21:08:33 -0400

A week ago we all watched in awe as Japan was hit with a double dose of natures fury. I was glued watching wave after wave of a tsunami eating up a towns as if it came out of a Hollywood movie. As the days went by more horrific scenes kept turning up from Japans devastation and like most of us we asked ourselves what if that was us and what can I do to help? I know from experience of being a disaster worker for the state of California, the images are everlasting.

I don't know Kyle Busch personally but I'm sure Japans disaster was on the back of his mind when his team arrived at Bristol. Kyle drives a Toyota and he was on a mission this week to give something back to those affected. Not that his sweep of this weekend at Bristol makes it any better for Japan, but his actions and thoughts are with the Japanese people by dedicating the weekend wins to Toyota and its people. I know the media portrays Kyle as a rebel but Kyle Busch just made his donation.

Podcast

Grumpa — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 22:36:27 -0400

Everyone seems to like listening to the Rowdy Podcast. Is this available to listen to on this website? I don't have an IPod and I am a person without a single APP on my IPhone and couldn't listen to the live broadcast because of my work schedule. Is there a place on this website that I could click on when I get home from work to listen?

RPM-BRISTOL

Iceman — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 01:19:14 -0400

This is the third time trying to post this blog. I can't even post pics on the blog.

Finally we get to race four of the Nascar schedule, Bristol. It isn't what it used to be but its still a short track and tempers can boil. It should be a interesting weekend with Goodyear tires being recalled and switching to last years tire. It just astonishes me why Goodyear can't get it right. Read the blog by Bass for more tire info.

The Fords have been fast during first practice and in qualifying at Bristol. I look for two Fords to impact this race. Carl Edwards has been on a tear lately and looks like the man to beat this weekend. I also look for Matt Kenseth to surface and play a key role for laps led. Biffle has a unproven gas man and David Regan seems to self destruct during a race.

Jimmy Johnson looked good during practice and qualified third. Tony Stewart should lead a few laps and figure in the race late Sunday. Stewart qualified 13th.

The Toyota camp has Martin Truex Jr in the eigth position and Kyle Busch 12th.

Dale Earnhardt Jr should do well here and he likes Bristol. I hope LeTarte can still keep him in check so he doesn't lose his cool and regress. Look for a top 15 out of Jr.

Well here's my picks.

Tier 1

Carl Edwards
Jimmy Johnson
Kyle Busch

Tier 2

Dale Earnhardt Jr
Ryan Newman
Kasey Kahne
Martin Truex Jr

Tier 3

Marcos Ambrose

Lets hope Goodyear doesn't have a melt down Sunday, if they do some of us might not recover during this segment of fantasy racing. Good luck!

Old Rowdy

Dr. Chris — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 09:22:45 -0400

First off Rowdy has been more than good to me. I was part of the Martinsville Rowdy Meetup. I won free tickets to a Martinsville race from AMP energy. I have made some very good friends form the site. As you can see from my profile pic i have a Rowdy Nation T-shirt......to which i wear to 2 races a year!! Buck you were a very cool dude to meet and to spend my mornings at work listening to. I wish you and your family lots of luck.

Rowdy has changed over the years and i do miss the way we used to be closer. But i am still here just in the background now.

See all of the nation at Martinsville

Changes to the Site

Admin — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 09:10:49 -0400

Rowdy Nation,

We understand this has been more than a difficult week for everyone. Buck was on the podcast yesterday in case you haven't heard him yet (which is doubtful)

As for the glitches with the site...

Today will officially mark our move back to being exclusively about racing. No more sticks, no more balls, just four tires and an engine. We were let down by several vendors who promised to push fans and make the overall community a bustling vibrant palace of sports fandom in all categories...but they failed.

The base of Rowdy has always been NASCAR and it always will be. INDYCAR and NHRA will have a place here which we are excited about, but the foundation of the site will be NASCAR.

So we are going back to the old navigations, no more drop downs, other sports disappear. You will see that the forums have already made the switch. Where you can categorize the blogs has too but there aren't any landings for INDYCAR and NHRA yet. And yes the podcast will stay just about NASCAR.

I believe a lot of the frustrations surrounding the community that uses the site now (NASCAR) is because it seems a jumbled mess and is difficult to navigate, wading through other divisions that are interfering with your experience here. Rowdy Racing is back, Rowdy Sports is gone.

For the first time on Rowdy there will be headlines from around the NASCAR universe that you can consume and comment on without having to leave the site. Commenting will follow in the coming weeks, articles will appear almost immediately.

Thank You for sticking around during a difficult time for the site. We can only hope to stay part of your web and NASCAR experience. For those of you at Bristol this weekend have a blast! For those watching on TV yell a little louder, maybe they can hear you.

As we go back to refocusing the site please let us know what we can do better. This is the World Wide Web and it never stops evolving, we want to have all the features that will give you the absolute best experience.

From all of us to all of you,

Have a Fun, Safe, and ROWDY weekend everyone.

See you around

J.D. — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 07:42:02 -0400

Just a quick word to say A)Yeah, I've not been too active here ina while. Sorry. Life changes, I have to choose my time sucks. And frankly the Rowdy today is not the Rowdy that we enjoyed. Not that I'm resistant to change like most. I just don't like the changes that happened to Rowdy since the buyout.

And B) See you over at the Stag Illness Fan Club: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Stag-Illness-fan-club/153697748023911

As Vonnegut would say, "So it goes".