Three days later, there is, amazingly, still more fall-out from the Sprint Fan Vote, which allows a driver to be voted into the All-Star race.
Fans of Dale Earnhardt, Jr, were tasked, by no less than Jr himself, to vote for Elliott Sadler. And now that it has been reported on NASCAR.com that Sadler finished third in the fan vote, the Jr. Nation is concerned that they are not quite as powerful as they believed.
Claims have ranged from voting bots and macros being used, to Budweiser 'buying' the vote. Even this morning's discussion on The Morning Drive (Sirius) has David Poole and Mike Bagley speculating on reasons for the actual voting stats not being revealed.
Fans of Elliott Sadler are claiming that Sadler really should have been the one winning the vote (if he had not crashed), as they are sure that Robby Gordon does not have enough of a fan base. (Oh, how wrong they are! Robby has a large and passionate group of followers. Anyone who was around back in the day of the Trackpass '11th man' voting will remember how it was impossible to go against the tide of their voting!)
It would be awesome if Sprint would release those numbers. However, I will not hold my breath waiting for the results to be published. After all, this was a vote sponsored by the series sponsor, and as such, they can make the rules.
Speaking of Sadler fans, there is a large contingent claiming that AJ Allmendinger never apologized for the accident with Sadler. It amazes me that they are still complaining, even after AJ's post-race comments have been widely published. In fact, AJ's comments post-wreck were broadcast. However, if one does not want to hear anything, it is a simple thing to keep the fingers firmly plugged into the ears while shouting 'LA LA LA LA LA!'
Great news for fans (and unofficial students) of Diandra Leslie-Pelecky! She will be a guest on Sirius Speedway this week, and it appears she will be a regular guest. If you haven't found her Stock Car Science blog, check it out. Her book, The Physics of NASCAR, is a must read.
More great news! If we can judge the entry list correctly, it appears that Travis Kvapil will have Lumber Liquidators on their #28 Ford Fusion for the Coca-Cola 600. According to an interview from Travis on "Trading Paint" (Sirius) last week, Travis said there was a sponsor for this race in the works, as well as a few in the future.
I also neglected to bid a fond farewell to Dale Jarrett. While it is sad that he will not be behind the wheel any longer, it will be wonderful to have him in the ESPN broadcast booth.
And don't forget, this week qualifying will be on THURSDAY! Get your fantasy picks in soon!
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Sliding through the Marbles!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Great post!
I am not a big fan of the fan vote. I guess because the driver I usually vote for never gets in. I voted for Robby Gordon. I think he would have made the All-Star race interesting.
Great site...I have added you to my site.
I am one of the Sadler fans who never heard Allmendinger's apology. A friend of mine recorded the entire race and said she played his interview over and over and never heard one iota of an apology. Frankly, I've seen enough of A J to think he would apologize, which was why I was surprised not to hear it. I'm not stupid enough to say there never was one, as I'm certain all these sites quoting it aren't making it up. I'm just saying that I never heard it.
This was broadcast on TV right after the incident:
“Tell Sadler I’m really sorry. I just tucked up tight under Brian and the nose got a little loose. Man, I tried to back out of the throttle to avoid hitting him. I feel bad.”
You might want to go down to the video posted a few blogs down, and listen in about 1:50 minutes into that video. Steve Byrnes was in the process of reporting AJ's apology, when they cut to Elliott's interview.
Post a Comment