I Agree With NASCAR On This. I Really Do.

As a passionate racing fan of many years, I have often disagreed with NASCAR rulings and policy.  One thing I do not disagree with is NASCAR rules force teams to build a stout car.  No car can be totally safe, but just how safe the Sprint Cup Series cars are was shown Sunday as Joey Logano’s Home Depot #20 rolled, flipped, slammed, and crashed down the “white cliffs of Dover.” 

Logano’s wreck was frightening to watch, yet he walked away from a pile of junk that just moments before had been a race car.  The 19 year old driver was obviously shaken, but that he was uninjured is a testament to the safety rules in place.  Thank you NASCAR.

Jimmy Johnson is not going to relinquish his Sprint Cup title without a battle, but it appears that Mark Martin and the #5 team are up to the challenge.  I am surprised by Juan Pablo Montoya, and a little disappointed in Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon.  I sound like a NASCAR TV analyst here-there are still eight races to be run, so it seems a little silly to be talking of disappointment right now. One thing I can say is disappointing is the continuing saga of “start and park” Sprint Cup teams.  Check out the last 5-6 spots in most races to see who I am talking of.  Apparently their sponsors are OK with this action, but I don’t see how you call it racing.

I have a Facebook friend named Simone  who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Now Charlotte seems like a city that would require you to love only NASCAR, but Simone is a huge dirt late model fan.  Her dad and brother had cars at the old Santa Fe Speedway in Hinsdale, Illinois and her friend Danny  is one of the best late model mechanics around.  Danny happens to be going to the Lucas Oil Late Model Nationals in Knoxville this weekend to help Kelly Boen.  Ouch.

I have said plenty about Boen in the past, and I doubt I will ever become a fan of the 07.  However, Simone made a comment on my Facebook page, and I thought since it was obviously well thought out (and not a “Boen rules, you suck” kind of post) it was only fair to show that reasonable people can disagree on matters like this.  Simone has a sports marketing degree she wants to use in dirt racing, and she frequents the pits at some of the biggest dirt model events of the year.  She is as passionate about dirt track racing as I am, I don’t take her opinion lightly.

She stated:

“Thanks for the video note. I actually looked up all Santa Fe YouTube stuff a while back. My Dad’s driver is in that one you posted. 🙂

Sorry you feel that way about Boen & I’ll have to respectfully disagree with you.

Kelly Is ‘Family’ to all of us and from what I personally know of him, he is a truly exceptional person, the kind that give 110% of himself on and off the track with the most amazingly positive attitude I’ve ever seen in a racer or person for that matter.

Don’t forget, the way things may “seem” from a grandstands view point is 9 times out of 10 not the “reality” of the way things actually are 😉

I am not publishing this for the purpose of debate.  I am just pointing out that while I can be very adamant in my opinions, others in the know may not agree with me. Simone and I have agreed on many other aspects of dirt track racing, and this is one we disagree on.  What is reality here?  It is probably somewhere between Simone’s beliefs and my comments.  Race fans do have strong feelings.

Thanks for stopping by.

What A REAL Fall Racing Special Looks Like

I am still grumbling over paying $20 Saturday night for what amounted to little more than a weekly show at I-80 Speedway.  I’ve heard from others who are upset too, including an anonymous source who sent me the following:

 

Overheard at I-80 Saturday night:

Wife to Husband:  “The story about the Octomom is just sad.”
 
Husband to Wife:  “Yeah, if she would have had one more kid 20 years from now she could have watched one in each of the divisions of the Cornhusker Classic.”

 

Things are looking up for this weekend though, as we are going to Knoxville on Saturday. With drivers like Bloomquist, Birkhofer, Moyer, Mars, Richardson, Francis, Owens, McDowell, Babb, Eckert, and McCreadie doing battle with NASCAR great Tony Stewart, it should be a great night.  I just hope Matt doesn’t sing Johnny Cash on the way home.

 

IMCA Modifieds are the support class for the Lucas Oil Late Model Nationals, and to be honest with you, I have enjoyed the modifieds more than late models this year.  I know, heresy, and maybe it is just there haven’t been many good late model shows in this part of the Midwest in 2009.  The modified entry list looks like an IMCA Who’s Who:  Chris Alcorn, Ricky Alvarado, Nate Caruth, Troy Cordes, Bill Davis Jr., Jordan Grabouski, Jimmy Gustin, Randy Havlik, Al Hejna, Benji Lacrosse, Adam Larson, John Logue, Greg Metz, David Murray, Jay Noteboom, Todd Shute, and Dylan Smith are among the pre-entered drivers. These are all drivers who know how to keep a modified pointed in the right direction, and how to get to the finish line first.

 

I don’t know why, but I may be the only race fan not into t-shirts.  I keep saying I am going to buy one when we go to this event. Lord knows there are at least several dozen souvenir trailers selling t-shirts, hats, and any other kind of souvenir you might want, and I do look, but I never seem to buy.  The last t-shirt I bought was a Scott Bloomquist t-shirt, and that was years ago.

 

I see the Knoxville pits are open to fans from 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.  I could use some photos for my blog, so maybe I can talk Matt into leaving a little early on Saturday.  What I really wish is that I could talk him into going over for all three days of the event, and staying in Knoxville like our good friend Steve Basch does.  Maybe next year.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

Cornhusker-Classic?????

Matt sold his tickets to the Nebraska game last night because we wanted to go to the Cornhusker Classic at I-80 Speedway.  He made a mistake.  We both did.

The Cornhusker Classic was once worthy of its name.  Actually not too many years ago it remained a classic.  The NASCAR Busch All-Star tour would roll into town, and finish two days of combat with a 100 lap race.  It was one of a handful of season ending 100 lappers, and it was always a joy to watch, despite the inevitable bad weather.  Classes like hobby stocks, Pro-Ams, modifieds, and Grand Nationals did more than support the super late models; they also put on great shows.

Last night showed just how far this event has moved from being a classic, unless you want to call it the Back Gate Classic.  I wonder just how many fans really wanted to watch sport compacts, sport modifieds, Pro-Ams, modifieds, NASCAR late models (aka Grand Nationals), and MLRA/NCRA late models.  Tonight’s show will add IMCA Crate Late Models and SLMR late models-a whopping eight classes of racing at one event.  My elementary school only had seven classes, counting kindergarten. How does Eldora Speedway manage to put on a great show and make money with only one class-super late models-at the World 100?  How can Knoxville run only 60 late models and 60 modifieds next weekend?  Guess what-at one time I-80 Speedway could be counted on the same list of super venues as Eldora and Knoxville.  Not any more, it is not even a shadow of what it once was.

And the Cornhusker, I won’t call it classic, is not even a shadow of what it once was.  To start off with, what is classic about a 30 lap feature race?  That’s right, 30 laps.  The weekly show feature at I-80 Speedway is only five laps fewer.  Other than I know a classic when I see one, I don’t have any real definition for such a racing event, though to even be considered worthy of such a name, the race ought to be at least 50 laps long.

I am not sure where the blame might be for three yellows and a red flag in the first five laps of the race.  It wasn’t a full moon, but a number of drivers obviously started the race with their head up their butt.  Making matters worse is the MLRA is simply the absolute worst tour around at lining up cars when the yellow flies.  Though the laps don’t count, the cars continue to run slowly around the track as scorers try to get the line-up right.  If the series was using transponders last night to track the cars, the time it took to line up cars was a disgrace.  If it wasn’t, the question is why the hell not? I did not count the number of times car ran around the track during the first yellow, but it was more than the second yellow, and cars ran around the track seven times during that caution.  It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.  This might be the first “classic” where cars ran more laps waiting to be lined up than they did racing.

It seems almost fitting that Kelly Boen won this race with one of his patented slide jobs.  Like Matt said on the way home it is a bullying tactic because 90% of the drivers he does this to can’t risk punting him for fear it will also tear up their car and cause them a lesser share of the purse.  Terry Phillips took him to task several years ago.  50 something Al Humphrey had to be restrained from cleaning Boen’s clock in the pits another time.  Last night Kyle Berck lifted the back of Boen’s car for much of the front straight away, pointing out in no uncertain terms he did not care for the typical Boen-head move.  Matt is a younger, less mellow version of me, and he wished that Berck had stuck the right rear tire of Boen’s car instead of just lifting him.

We aren’t returning for the second night of the Cornhusker “Classic.”  We once would not miss a race at I-80 Speedway.  We visited the track 20-25 times a year.  If a race was scheduled, we were there.  The past few years we have voted our displeasure over what the track has become by avoiding the place accept for a handful of specials.  I would rather watch TV, read a book, or play a computer game than watch their weekly show.  However, when a special is nothing more than a weekly show with a catchy title, why bother going? 

Why bother going?  Well, the one thing that gave me any enjoyment last night was being with friends Mike Pierson and Steve Basch.  They too remember what once was, and they are easily as irreverent about what is as I am.  They also mourn what once was.  And they know that what is now reality at the track is not even a shadow of what once was.

Thanks for stopping by.

Read My Previous Post First

You didn’t read my previous post first, did you?  It has all the explanations.  This has only a link and my apology for not including a direct link to my website videos.  I should have added this to my previous post. Anyway, the direct link to the videos is:  http://www.therestofthedirt.com/videos.htm

 

I hope you enjoy them.  Thanks for stopping by.

Forget You Tube-Check Out The Videos At www.therestofthedirt.com

I have six new videos on the multimedia section of my website.  Yeah, I know, it’s about time.  I promise to do better.  I get wrapped up in writing this blog and forget that there is a tremendous amount of racing video that can be shared too.  Matt picked out the videos, and he did a great job.  Check out the following:

 

-2009 Sprint Bandits race at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City.  Yes, those are the topless 410 sprints I raved about in an earlier post.

 

-2009 Monster Modifeds from Lawrenceburg Speedway in Indiana.  This is a top notch facility, and the 2009 Dirt Track World Championship will be held there in October.

 

-2009 COMO Modifieds from Proctor Speedway.  No, Joe Proctor, aka Stroker, did not buy I-80 Speedway from LDI and name it after himself, although after his August heroics maybe the K’s should name it after him.  This Proctor Speedway is in Minnesota, and the COMO mods are WISSOTA type modifieds.

 

-1995 I-80 Pro Am Season Championships.  Racing was actually televised on Nebraska Educational Television (NETV) that year.  The network also televised an UMP Summer Series race from the track.  I have loved this division ever since the Sunset Speedway days, and for years it was the best support class at any track in the United States.

 

-1987 USAC Late Models at the old Santa Fe Speedway in Hinsdale, Illinois.  This was a USAC race, and was actually televised on ESPN.  Gary Webb started on the pole of the feature, and Billy Moyer and Ray Guss Jr. were among the late model drivers racing.

 

-1990 Busch All-Star Race from Moberly Speedway in Missouri.  Great racing with all the Midwest NASCAR stars on hand, in this Jim Wilson directed event. 

 

As I said, Matt did a great job selecting videos.  The videos include four different kinds of cars from six of the best tracks around. There is not quite an hour running time for these videos, and most are around ten minutes long.

 

I don’t have to visit my website to update my blog, so I don’t go there as often as I should. I forget that I do have some click ads on the website, for a variety of merchandise.  It would really help me out if you would click on an ad or two occasionally when you visit my blog or website.  You don’t have to buy anything-I’ll deny I said that if anyone from Google asks-but each time you click an ad, I do get a credit for that click.  I am never going to get rich from click ads, but if enough of you click the ads, my blog will go from abject poverty to where I am almost making minimum wage on it.  I do appreciate your visiting my site and blog, and that is the last spiel you will get from me for awhile.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

TMC and Humpy, Jay and Dusty-not Jimmy or Juan, and a benefit fund we should all contribute too.

I had a nice lunch meeting yesterday with Tom McLaughlin and Matt at Big Fred’s in Omaha.  Tom is one of many friends we have made because of racing, and it is always fun to talk with someone who is as passionate about the sport as we are.  When we say Fairmont or Albion, Harlan or Corning, I-80 or Eagle, there is no need to explain anything.  We all know the tracks we are talking about and we all have opinions to share.

 

I talked with Jay Poessnecker, another passionate member of the racing family today.  I hope to meet Jay sometime soon, just not between the evening hours of 6:00 p.m-2:00 a.m. when he is a deputy sheriff for Dodge County.  I am going to be doing a blog article on Jay’s brother Dusty.  While Jay and I had exchanged a few emails, we had never talked until today.  Once we started talking racing though, it was like we had known each other forever.  Jay owns a tire and body shop in my old home town of North Bend, and raced up to 2004.  However, the bug has continued to bite on him every season, and he is talking about running a B-modified next year. Good luck on that project, Jay.

 

Dusty won 13 features this year, racing weekly only at Butler County Motorplex near Rising City, Nebraska.  He also won the hobby stock feature at the Eagle Shoot-Out over Labor Day weekend.  He is what I would call an aggressively smooth driver, kind of like Chris Alcorn is in modifieds.  He has great control of his car and is patient, but when he sees an opening he pounces.  Dusty has a great looking car too.  I would love to see him run for IMCA national points some day, though this spring he moved back to his home town of Atkinson and opened a body shop, so that might be a tough trail for him to follow.  Anyway, I will be writing more on Dusty Poessnecker in the near future.

 

I am also looking forward to writing more about Saturday night heroes in the coming months.  What I never seemed to be able to accomplish through pleas on my own site or talking with promoters, I have been able to accomplish because of Facebook.  I have become Facebook friends with over 3,000 drivers, fans, and tracks, and am developing a nice list of drivers to write about.  I would much rather write about Dusty Poessnecker than I would Jimmy Johnson or Juan Pablo Montoya.

 

I am sure many of you have heard of the passing of Pro-Am driver Greg Cooper from injuries he sustained in a fall in the grandstands during the State Fair races.  You can purchase Greg Cooper stickers or buttons at the Cornhusker Classic at I-80 Speedway this weekend, or the track is also donating $5.00 to the Greg Cooper Benefit Fund for every Cornhusker Classic t-shirt they sell.  They will also be taking donations.  If you are unable to get to the track this weekend, you can send a donation to:
Greg Cooper Benefit Fund
TierOne Bank
P O Box 83009
Lincoln NE 68508-2083

 

Thanks for stopping by.

This Boomer Leads The Pack, Super Late Models, Irregulars, And A Lost Championship Bid

Congratulations to Mark Martin on his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory at New Hampshire yesterday.  The 50 year old veteran may not have had the best car on the track, but couple his experience and talent with a great crew and the best young crew chief, and he walked away with a win. 

 

Runner up Juan Pablo Montoya complained about Martin’s driving on the last few laps of the race, but there were many more drivers likely to complain about Montoya’s bumping his way around cars yesterday. Montoya is a good driver, he has a good team, but he is starting to sound like Kyle Busch when he doesn’t win. Not good. 

 

Now that it doesn’t matter for him, Dale Earnhardt Jr. seems to be racing closer to the front than earlier in the year.  He still finished behind Paul Menard, but his late race crash was not of his own doing, and he seemed to be heading for at least a top ten finish before the wreck.

 

If Martin actually wins the Sprint Cup this year, it would be a great ending to a mediocre year for NASCAR.  There have been lots of complaints about the car of tomorrow, or I guess it is now the car of today, and there have been plenty of B-O-R-I-N-G races played out to less than full stands.  Martin winning his first championship at age 50 would gloss over a lot of the faults in most fans eyes.  He is a good spokesman too.  Our house is rooting for the 5.

 

Depending on the weather, it looks like both Matt and I will be spending an evening at I-80 Speedway this weekend.  Right now the plan is to attend the super late model show on Saturday night, but if the weather is the least iffy, we will probably stay home and watch the Nebraska game.  I have spent enough iffy weather nights at that track, getting home late and not seeing any racing. This may be the last time this season there is a gathering of the Sunday Night Irregulars, so I am hoping for good weather.  Really, I am.

 

Speaking of I-80, I hope their decision to cut short the modified feature during the non-wing sprint car show did not cost Dylan Smith a national championship.  Smith had just taken the lead in that race when a caution came out.  Reverting back to the last completed lap and throwing the checkered ended up costing Smith a win. Smith is now one point behind Keith White in the IMCA national standings and has no chance of scoring more points as he already has raced the allowed 55 starts.  I believe the top 20 finishes determine points, and while Smith had 24 victories in his 55 starts, he could have replaced one of his wins at Albion with a win at I-80. I believe the I-80 win would have brought more points because of the car count-Albion was barely meeting the required field to receive points and the I-80 field was more than 20, giving maximum points.

 

Jesse Sobbing is in third place in IMCA Northern Sports Mod national standings, and Garrett Rech is in first place in the Sport Compact standings.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

I Went To The Abe Lincoln Memorial Last Night-and I Wasn’t In Washington D.C. Or Illinois

No, I was not in Washington D.C.  I didn’t even go to Illinois.  I drove to US 30 Speedway near Columbus, Nebraska last night to watch the “Abe” Lincoln Memorial Street Stock and Hobby Stock Nationals.  And this Abe Lincoln wasn’t the Great Emancipator; he was a long-time dirt track owner and promoter.  Though Lincoln passed some years ago his family still runs the track.

I am not sure why I enjoy this track as much as I do.  I can come up with no specific reason other than it is the epitome of dirt track racing.  It isn’t fancy.  Concessions and restrooms are basic. You won’t find big rigs and motor coaches filling the pits like at Eldora Speedway.  The drivers aren’t whiney spoiled brats like WoO sprint cars drivers.  Last time I went to a WoO show the drivers demanded the track be reworked and it was.  If that happened at US 30 the driver would be told to pack up and leave.  I like that.  No $35,000 engines were on the premises last night.  None of these drivers races for a living.  They all race for fun.  What a concept.

I guess what I am saying is that the track takes me back to my racing roots. Last night that was pretty easy, as GOTRA-the Good ‘Ole Time Racing Association was present with their coupes from the 50’s and 60’s. Of course GOTRA cars are much safer restored versions of those coupes, and I am pretty sure they don’t go flying through billboards or take multiple car tumbles.

I liked bring all the cars present on the track for the national anthem.  That was a nice touch.  I wish they would have parked them four wide on the front stretch where fans could have a better view of the drivers, but that isn’t even a complaint.

I mostly had no rooting interest last night.  There were 94 cars on hand, and at most I knew who 10 of them were.  It really didn’t matter.  The weather was perfect, the crowd was good, and it was a night at the track, something we are rapidly running out of in the Midwest. I have to admit that I was shocked by some of the on track events.  The “bring out the yellow and you can go back in the pits mellow” rule was in effect.  Most drivers who spun simply straightened out the car and kept going.  Others seemed to be able to re-fire immediately.  Only twice did the yellow fly because a car had spun and stopped on the track. Yes, I am openly campaigning for this rule at all tracks for all shows.

Justin Hengler-sorry if I have your name spelled wrong Justin-takes the hardest hit of the year award.  Justin got caught up in another driver’s mess, and when he went over it looked like he was going for height, distance, and style.  The rear axle of Justin’s car was torn off and went flying.  The car went vertical, horizontal, and over several times, once hitting the concrete front stretch wall, and ended on its roof.  Fortunately the roll cage did its job and Justin crawled out of the car shook up, but OK.

As I said, other than a few drivers I interviewed in Albion last year, and Beatrice policeman Ernie Reiss, I did not know any of the drivers.  Maybe that made the event more enjoyable.  I was not worried about what one car might have done to another.  I wasn’t worried about track prep, or the safety crew (US 30 does have a good safety crew). I wasn’t worried about spin outs, cars smoking, or cars going to slow.  I watched 13 heat races, three consolations, a trophy dash, and four feature races, and other than North Bend’s Dusty Poessnecker, I can’t tell you who won any of the races.  Wow. And, since I went by myself, the only person dissecting the event on the way home was me.  I give it an A for entertainment, and an A for value.  And, if you live in Nebraska visit this track in 2010.  I guarantee you will enjoy yourself.

Friday I wrote about an all dirt TV channel and was somewhat chastised by two of my regular commentators.  Guys, I wasn’t born in a barn, and didn’t fall off a turnip truck.  I know it is a wild idea.  I mean it has as much chance of happening as men walking on the moon.  Maybe make that men walking on the moon again.  But if you don’t have dreamers dreaming, nothing will ever happen.

Also, I watched the first half of the Nebraska football game, and then listened to most of the rest of the game as I was driving to Columbus.  Yes, I did swear when Nebraska had a touchdown called back.  I swore a lot more when we turned first and goal into a punting situation.  I walked into the track after Nebraska had kicked a field goal to make the score 15-10.  I did not hear the last few minutes of the game, and I am glad I didn’t.  A 16-15 loss is no moral victory.  It is just a loss.  Matt emailed me about it, and made a good point.  He said “at least this loss hurts.  If Bill Callahan was still coaching I wouldn’t have cared.”

Thanks for stopping by.

An All New ALL DIRT TV Channel

On rare occasions I let myself go crazy and venture into the Never Never Land of dirt track racing where my son Matt spends most of his waking hours.  I came up with a strange but great idea at lunch today.  Maybe it was burning my mouth on too hot microwave chicken noodle soup that triggered some odd chemical reaction in my brain.  Whatever it was, I came up with an idea for an All Dirt cable TV channel. 

 

Yes, ALL DIRT, nothing but dirt, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.  Naysayers are chanting it can’t be done.  I say yes it can be done.  All you need is one person with a love for dirt racing who has deep pockets and not only doesn’t care if he makes any money, he doesn’t even care if he loses a lot of money.  OK, I realize that is almost like saying it can’t be done.  Almost, though not quite.

 

If you are like me, you are a fan who lives in the 90% of the country that gets cold in the winter and has no live racing.  Wouldn’t events from Arizona, Georgia, or Florida televised in January and February feed your racing habit desperately in need of a fix?  I would love to come home from work some cold February evening, turn up the fire place, kick off my shoes, and turn on a TV channel that would show me Big Block Modifieds and Super Late Models racing at Volusia County, Florida. 

 

There is at least one big dirt race every month of the year.  In the racing season-whatever that means these days-there are often several a month, even every week.  These races would become features of the channel and would include everything from sports compacts to modifieds to late models to sprint cars to truck and tractor pulls.  Certainly events like the World 100 or Outlaw Nationals would be a part of the programming, but televise big regional events too, like the Alphabet Soup Race, the UMP Summer Nationals, the Tiny Lund Memorial, the Nebraska Cup, or the Wild West Modifieds from Las Vegas. I am not sure hours and hours of pre-race shows are needed, but some type of pre-race show would be part of the bill.

 

Obviously there are 168 hours of programming to fill every week, and even with reruns the events mentioned above would not begin to do so.  Many weekly tracks video their races.  Why not contract with 20-30 venues to provide weekly shows?  Production standards would have to be raised a little, but nothing that tracks couldn’t do.  I can think of multiple tracks in at least 26 different states that I would love to be able to watch weekly shows from.  The focus would be on the actual racing, but interviews with drivers, officials, and fans would liven up the telecast.  I wouldn’t mind watching a Pennsylvania Posse sprint show from Williams Grove every week.  I would love to watch stock cars from Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, SC, and modifieds from Independence, Iowa. These videos could be used in winter months too.

 

Dig deep in the basement tapes too.  I can remember watching a show called Jalopy Derby when I was growing up.  It came from California and I would love watching such programs again.  How about videos of all 39 World 100’s?  Or all of the Knoxville Sprint Car Nationals?  The Million Dollar to win show from Eldora?  A $100,000 to win modified show?  I would say a NASCAR race on dirt, but if a certain family owns the copyright, you know they would not want any more people to know the sport grew from dirt. 

 

Biographical programs on drivers like Steve Kinser or Scott Bloomquist or Billy Moyer could be done.  There is no shortage of past and present dirt drivers that deserve to be mentioned as much as NASCAR drivers for what they have done for the sport.  How about a weekly show like Dave DeSpain’s ‘Wind Tunnel,’ but all about dirt?  There could be tech programs.  And of course, a nightly wrap up show called “The Rest of the Dirt.”  Sorry, couldn’t resist that.

 

I think an All Dirt channel is a great idea.  Now if I could just hit a really big Powerball, or find 10 Randy Palmers, big bucks boys who love dirt racing.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

Chase-to pursue, to follow quickly, to hasten, to drive away.

NASCAR’s ballyhooed (ballyhoo means far too much hype) Chase to the Sprint Cup has finally arrived.  Twelve drivers will do battle over the final ten weeks of the season and with Chase seeding, only 40 points separate the top driver from the bottom driver.  Drivers can survive one poor outing, but two bad weeks will end their dreams of taking home the championship trophy.

 

Mathematically all drivers have a chance to be #1.  If you interview any of them they will all tell you they like their chances.  Realistically only five drivers have much of a chance to be the final driver introduced at the Sprint Cup banquet in Las Vegas.  Below is my take on each driver’s chance to hoist the cup.

 

Mark Martin is the number one seed, and is certainly the sentimental favorite.  Baby boomers love watching the 50 year old Arkansas native kick the butts of NASCAR’s young guns.  This in Martin’s best shot ever at winning a championship, and at his age there ought to be a sense of urgency.  Martin doesn’t show it if there is.  He has been saying he wants to win the points battle for his team, and he seems believable.  He does have the best equipment of his career, a much underrated crew chief, and the wisdom garnered from years of racing at the sport’s top level.  He has a legitimate shot at being the big winner.

 

Tony Stewart is seeded second in the Chase.  I have been impressed with both Stewart the driver and Stewart the car owner this season.  He seems to have matured from the surly racer of the past, and he has always been the driver with the most talent.  He clinched his spot in the Chase early, and since then his team has not produced close to its best efforts.  I wouldn’t say they are limping into the Chase, but they do need to turn things around starting at Loudon.  I don’t think you can ever count Stewart out.  His desire to win anything, anywhere in a race car is just too strong.

 

Three time champion Jimmy Johnson is the seeded third in the Chase.  The 48 team has the Chase figured out.  If he can win three championships in a row, why not a fourth?  The team seems to maximize each race, even their bad outings are good bad outings.  Other drivers are hungry, but Johnson and crew seem as hungry as they did before championship #1.  Sprint Cup #4 for Johnson would be no surprise.

 

Virginian Denny Hamlin is 4^th seed in the Chase.  After winning last week’s Richmond race warned competitors “this team is dangerous.” He might be right.  The Fed Ex Cup is a golf championship, but it is not a stretch to see the driver of the Fed Ex Sprint Cup car winning auto racing’s top prize.

 

Kasey Kahne is the number five seed.  Call it the cuteness factor, but I just don’t see him winning the Cup. I don’t know if this is some kind of prejudice, but I don’t see a Dodge winning the Chase.

 

Jeff Gordon is the number six seed.  I think he is going to be a tough competitor this year.  The team has been consistent all year, and while Gordon is hardly old, I don’t see him racing years and years more.  If he starts out fast, look out.

 

Kurt Busch is seeded 7^th.  I used to be among the legion of fans that loved to hate Kurt.  He was never quite as immature as his brother Kyle, but he was terribly irritating.  Like Tony Stewart he seems to have matured, and I really don’t mind listening to his interviews.  Driving a Dodge, I don’t think he will win, but he is a past champion, so he knows what it takes to win.

 

I think eighth seed Brian Vickers is simply thrilled to be in the Chase.  So are his competitors because if Kyle Busch had made the Chase it might have been an entirely different game.  For weeks, every race was a must do go for Vickers, and that could mean that the team is well prepared for the next ten weeks.  It could also mean they are burning out.  I don’t see them as being a factor.

 

Carl Edwards is the 9^th seed in the Chase.  Lots of people like him.  I don’t, even though he is from the Midwest.  Call it personal bias, but I can’t or won’t acknowledge him as being any kind of threat to win this championship.  Yes, I do have a good reason for not liking him.

 

Ryan Newman is the 10^th seed in the Chase, so Stewart Haas Racing put both teams in the Chase in its first year of operation.  That is a major success, and even though I don’t see Newman as being a factor in the championship run, he has still had a great season.

 

Juan Pablo Montoya is the 11^th seed.  Is he on “Target” to win a championship?  I don’t think so.  No bad vibes about his chances, but no good ones either.  I think he could finish in the top ten, and that makes for a super season for him.

 

Roush Racing’s second entry in the Chase is 12^th seeded Greg Biffle.  I would not be surprised to see Biffle finish anywhere from 5^th-12^th in the final standings.  I would be very surprised to see him finish higher.

 

My prediction:

 1-Mark Martin

 2-Jeff Gordon

 3-Tony Stewart

 4-Jimmy Johnson

 5-Kurt Busch

 6-Denny Hamlin

 7-Kasey Kahne

 8-Ryan Newman

 9-Juan Pablo Montoya

10-Carl Edwards

11-Greg Biffle

12-Brian Vickers

 

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