I�m making a rare trip to der kino this weekend to be one of the first to witness the blockbuster hit of the summer � starring none other than #18 crew chief Fatback McSwain. The movie starts innocently enough, 43 cars take the field for a NASCAR Winston Cup, I mean Cell Phone Cup event. We get about halfway through the race before a caution for debris, just as Dale Earnhardt Jr. (struggling with a missed set-up) is about to be lapped. The 25 or so lead lap cars come in to the attention to their pit crews. Then it happens, Bobby LaBonte gets cut off by a competitor, and is forced into his pit stall in a crooked fashion. The crew still puts together a spectacular 14.6 second stop while also making a wedge and tract bar adjustment.
However, as soon as the #18 leaves his stall, a NASCAR official throws the black flag � saying The rear right wheel of LaBonte�s car was at least 18 inches outside the pit box. At this point, Fatback storms form the top of his war wagon like a bat out of hell and proceeds to go jaw-to-jaw with the Cup official. Let�s go down to Danielle Frye and see if we can get a word with McSwain�.
DF: �I�m trying to get a word with McSwain, but I�m not sure I want to. Fatback�s veins are bulging out of his neck and his face is turning red. No, wait � now IT IS TURNING GREEN!!!!! And all that flab, it�s NOW TURNING INTO MUSCLE!!!! His Testosterone has gotten out of control as Fatback is busting out of his Interstate Batteries uniform. I�M GETTING OUT OF HERE, TAKE IT AWAY JOE MOORE!!!!!��
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LAST SUNDAY FATBACK (LEFT) TURNED GREEN WITH ENVY... |
BH: �I�ll tell you what, you watch these races unfold every week for 25, 30 years and you think you�ve seen everything. Then something like this comes along and completely befuddles your mind. This is a wreck scene you would expect running full speed at Daytona or Talladega, not under a caution period here. All I know is there is going to be a lot of unhappy crews trying to put torn up race cars back together this week. And I don�t know if I want to be Mike Helton calling Fatback McSwain into the red trailer after this event is over. But do you know what, that's stock car racing baby...�
After the race, a reporter approaches a subdued McSwain. When asked what happened, Fatback calmly replies �It wasn�t me. I think that was actually Bill Bixby, or maybe Lou Ferringo��So, who is #1 right now in NASCAR. The point standings say it is no contest, Matt Kenseth has finished all but one lap for the entire year and is leading the point standings by seemingly a wider margin each week.
But wait, what about Kurt Busch, who became the year�s first three-time winner this past Sunday � just as Kenseth became the first three time winner of 2002 at Michigan last year. Dating back to the final five weeks of the �02 season, Busch has now won six of twenty race, a .300 batting average. Also, it could had been even better (8 or even 9 wins) with the close calls at Daytona, Rockingham, and Darlington. Sure, Busch has had a few DNF�s thrown in which damages his championship hopes, but who could ever discount the frequent trips to victory lane. Much like Kenseth last year (5 wins), Busch has become this year�s high reward driver.
And then there�s Bobby LaBonte, who since the second race of the season has gone 4th, 1st, 37th, 3rd, 37th, 32nd, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 17th, and 2nd. That�s an astounding six top-threes in seven races, and nine top-fives overall. Like Busch, Bobby has a few clunkers and also lacks the wins of Kurt Busch. As they often say, second place is just the first loser.
So my latest top 20 rankings shake down as follows�
1. (1) Kenseth, 2. (5) Busch (+2), 3. (4) B. LaBonte (-1), 4. (2) Dale Jr. (+2), 5. (7) Johnson (-2), 6. (12) Stewart (+7), 7. (3) J. Gordon (-2), 8. (6) Waltrip, 9. (9) Marlin (-2), 10. (8) Rusty (+2), 11. (10) Martin (+3), 12. (17) Newman (+4), 13 (11). Harvick (-4), 14. (13) Craven (+4), 15. (15) T. LaBonte (+2), 16. (14) J. Burton (+3), 17. (19) Sadler (-6), 18. (18) Nemechek (-8), 19. (16) R. Gordon (-4), 20. (22) McMurray (NR).
Dropped out: Jarrett (who would had thunk).Behind Busch, LaBonte, and Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth finishes fourth after late race contact with Dale Jr. (who placed seventh), more to come on that. Sterling Marlin dominated much of the race and built a six second lead during a long run, but missed a shift on a subsequent restart and ultimately placed sixth. Michael Waltrip again shows he�s become more than a one track wonder with a fifth place showing. Other impressive finishes included Terry LaBonte (10th) along with Casey Mears (a much needed 20th). In a disturbing development Dale Jarrett was never even close to being a factor all day and ultimately places 32nd. It is one thing to blow up or wreck, but just squeezing past the ranks of Tony Raines definitely sounds alarm bells in the Yates camp. And so much for the three weeks of good fortune for Ryan Newman as he suffers the mother of all blow ups early on with the #12 bursting into flames. I don�t even want to know what weird setup Matt Borland had going this time around.
No one needs to start a rumor when someone out of provisionals manages to qualify behind Hermie Sadler, Derrike Cope, and Christian Fittipaldi in qualifying � and wind up joining Larry Foyt in missing the show � one�s job is in serious jeopardy. Sure enough, Morgan-McClure wastes no time sacking driver Mike Skinner on Monday. Sezs Larry McClure: �We feel it is necessary to perform better for our race team and sponsor� � which the team is also feeling heat from. Adds McClure, �Our team has potential that is not being utilized in a maximum way�. Skinner had only one top-ten with 50 races in the #4. John Andretti, along with several current Busch Series drivers have been mentioned as possible replacements (which won�t be named until Daytona in two weeks) while Skinner has been mentioned as a possibility in the Truck Series, where he starred in the mid 1990�s.
Brett Bodine lost his sponsorship earlier in the week, then sustained injuries (broken collarbone, caps knocked off) in a practice wreck. Sezs Hooters: �We are clearly disappointed in the performance of the team. It does not make business sense to continue to pour money into a marketing venture that does not get exposure on race days�. So a couple of miserable seasons and one scandal later, Brett is history.
More well-known teams are not immune neither, as in a surprise Citgo announce it is ending it�s affiliation with Jeff Burton�s #99 team at the end of the year. Rosch racing is optimistic on getting another sponsor lined up quickly, which makes sense considering the #99 is still a fairly successful team. However, one still has to feel that Burton is at a crossroads as he has slipped back to fourth in the Rosch pecking order while Kenseth and Busch have taken off in less than two years.
Casey Mears may be next on the sponsor/driver hot seat. The team/driver can talk all they want about learning curves and that Casey is just a pup. Still, Target is a high profile sponsor and is not used to seeing their cars in back (their open-wheel entries consistently contend). Love him or hate him, at least Jimmy Spencer provided some attention along with occasional good finishes.SONOMA PREVIEW
I would normally say not to over-react too much to the semi-annual invasion of the �road-course ringers�. None of the specialists (Boris Said, Ron Fellows et al) have managed to finish any higher than 11th in the past three runnings of the Sears Point 350. However, that may be changing, P.J Jones managed a fourth place finish with Scott Pruett also contending last August at Watkins Glen. More intriguing will be the fact that three of the prime road-warriors will be in full-time cars this week, trying to help out with valuable owners points. Fellows gets a huge shot pinch-hitting in the DEI #1 car (Jeff Green), Said will fill in for Mike Wallace with the #01, while P.J Jones will once again be riding in the #14 in the place of Larry Foyt. It will be interesting to see if Said tones it down just a tad this time around. Traditionally, Said dives into the turns and runs the wheels off his car like no other. He is very capable of a top ten, but more frequently ends up crashing out. Someone named Johnny Miller will be filling-in the #4 car at Sonoma. That will be history, a former golf tour player and major winner in a NASCAR Cup event. Myself, I think Miller could be better utilized in the broadcast booth suggesting that Tony Stewart use a 2-iron instead of a 7-wood, while shoving DW out the door a week early. Perhaps we could also get David Feherty to conduct interviews from the garage�'Mr. Newman you�re car just burst into flames like a roman candle, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED LATTE???' That would be epic. Paul Menard will make his Cup debut in the #33 car while yet another perennial road-ringer, Brian Simo will be standing by to relieve Bill Elliott, who is usually an excellent road racer but will be hampered by his bum foot.
I would knock Scott Pruett a notch below Fellows, Said, and P.J, simply since Pruett will be racing in a fourth Chip Ganassi entry. Thus he will not have an experienced pit crew, and will not be in a car running for valuable owners points. And then there are a few regulars you normally wouldn�t think of, except in this type of event. You may remember Jerry Nadeau, pinch hitting in the Petty Enterprises #44 darn near winning this race one year ago before clunking out in the waning laps. With that under consideration Chrisitian Fittipaldi contending in the #43 would be anything but a shock. Casey Mears could also fare extremely well considering his open-wheel genealogy. Unfortunately, John Andretti will be left out in the cold this time around, he would had been a nice sleeper pick filling in for almost anyone.
Don�t discount the �young guns� too much in this event. Surprisingly Ryan Newman placed ninth first time out of the box at Sonoma, then followed up with an impressive second place showing at Watkins Glen. Kurt Busch also scored a fourth place finish in this race in �02. I also have a feeling about Jimmie Johnson, he crapped out here last year, but qualified well and also had a solid outing (16th) at the Glen. Plus you know about California drivers.
Tony Stewart (2nd in Sonoma, win at the Glen in �02) and Jeff Gordon (seven-time road course winner) rank as the favorites, while Mark Martin, Rusty Wallace, Bobby LaBonte and Ricky Rudd also have enjoyed tremendous road course success over the years. Robby Gordon (robbed by the lapped car of Kevin Harvick in �01) also jumps into the elite tier here.
And then there�s the point race, which leads us back to the Junior/Kenseth contact at Michigan. Junior was hot happy afterwards and said in so many words �If that�s how they want to play, we�ll play that game as well�. Beautiful. And if anyone can get away with punting the punting the point leader out of a race, Junior would be it. Neither Junior or Kenseth historically run well on road courses, although Junior would like to tell you that he�s learning from playing EA Sports games. Still the next two weeks give a golden opportunity for the likes of Junior, Gordon, and others to climb into contention, for the #17�s worst tracks are road courses and plate tracks. After Daytona in Week 17 we will see if there will be a points race on our hands, or if Kenseth will turn this into a boatrace and end up winning 6 and 5.
Opinions of Cup races on road courses vary, some feel they should be eliminate while others wouldn�t even mind one or even two more added to the schedule. There is some talk of the Glen being eliminated for another ISC track. Some also foresee the Sonoma (SMI track) race being moved to Texas somewhere down the road. But Northern California is a valuable area NASCAR doesn�t want to lose and the Infineon track has made vast improvements in recent years.
Myself, two road races a year is about right for me. Here is my top 30. Also, there is less than two weeks remaining in the First Round of our Most Despised' voting - top five advance to Round Two.| 1. Tony Stewart | 11. P.J Jones (#14 car) | 21. Scott Pruett (#09 Ganassi Car) |
| 2. Jeff Gordon | 12. Terry LaBonte | 22. Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
| 3. Robby Gordon | 13. Christian Fittipaldi (#43 car) | 23. Boris Said (#01 car) |
| 4. Mark Martin | 14. Michael Waltrip | 24. Casey Mears |
| 5. Rusty Wallace | 15. Ron Fellows (#1 car) | 25. Bill Elliott |
| 6. Bobby LaBonte | 16. Dale Jarrett | 26. Kenny Wallace |
| 7. Ricky Rudd | 17. Jeff Burton | 27. Ken Schrader |
| 8. Kurt Busch | 18. Jimmie Johnson | 28. Dave Blaney |
| 9. Elliott Sadler | 19. Kevin Harvick | 29. Johnny Benson |
| 10. Ryan Newman | 20. Matt Kenseth | 30. Johnny Miller (#4 car) |