Allstate Pit Crew Competition 400

All I can say is..."I am TIRED! Tired of hearing about TIRES!" (And for the first time, my header picture allows me to not use any other image from anywhere else! How appropriate for the subject!)

Today's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard has been wildly flamed among the world of NASCAR fans who live on the internet. There were immediate concerns while we watched the tire cords springing into view yesterday during the final practice sessions. Little did we know that the issue was going to explode faster than a right rear tire on a diamond-cut track.

NASCAR did not notice a problem Friday during practice, as most of those cars were making 3 lap runs, in preparation for qualification runs. Saturday's post qual practices are when the problems first arrived, due to the longer runs being made by teams. Many teams curtailed the last practice, in fears that there would be an extreme shortage of tires for Sunday's race.

Early risers on Sunday discovered that Goodyear had sent out orders to bring in 800 right side tires originally designated for Pocono next week. NASCAR made contingency plans on how to use the extra tires, and buckled down for a long race.

Announcing that there would be a competition yellow at 10 laps, the early part of the race saw several tire issues. The first caution was on lap one, and was caused by Michael Waltrip getting loose, and was probably NOT a product of the tires. The next caution at Lap 14 was also from a loose car, but there may be more of a tire issue on this one. As the cars continued through the race, it became apparant that the first signal that a tire was going south was a loose feeling. Many drivers did not react fast enough to get into the pits. Matt Kenseth had the most dramatic explosive tire rupture, with the tire even blowing into the cockpit, and dislodging the right side window.

After that, the race was made up of Competition Yellows every ten to 12 laps. Many drivers started taking care of their tires, with some improvement in cording. My driver, David Gilliland, observed that the restarts were where the cars were burning up the right front, but that the right rear was also impacted from a loose car. Keeping the car tightened up, and playing it safe on the restart helped him finish in 20th. Not flashy, but certainly safe and indeed a good finish under the circumstances. Jimmie Johnson ran a race to finish, and had flawless pit strategy coming from Chad Knause and his pit crew.

The internet fan-dom pundits are loudly blaming NASCAR and Goodyear, with outraged opinions that this was the worst race in the history of the sport. I am totally unable to disagree, and yet, I can see that there were really not a lot of options left.

The most dramatic suggestion of the day was that the race should never have been run. The fall-out of canceling the race would have been something that would deal such a strong blow to the sport that there would be no recovery.

It is hopeful that NASCAR and Goodyear learn from this, and are better prepared next year for the trip to Indy. Surely the open testing next year will help bring better knowledge for NASCAR, Goodyear, and for the teams. At least, today, the pit crews all had extra practice!

Wide Awake Racing Attitude!

The Coca-cola 600 was a race that was predicted by media and fans to be long, boring and a snoozer. I am sure there are fans out there who are on that bandwagon, but there is a field of NASCAR drivers who have a different attitude.

In fact, the racing in the NASCAR's top three racing series can be summed up in one word - ATTITUDE!

The Ohio 250 race at Mansfield was such a typical mess. For some reason the half mile tracks and the trucks seem to mix it more than the Cup drivers at Martinsville. Rookie Donny Lia smacked David Starr out of the way to steal the win. His jubilant attitude was evident in his post-race, however the final comment shows a different attitude.

You know, I got into (David) Starr right there a little bit and hey, that's last lap racing and I'm sure he owes me one now but that's cool. You know if it’s the last lap and I'm in his position then I'm going to anticipate him hitting me anyway whether I did it today or not. That's just short track racing and you know, I just can't believe we are here right now it’s just really unbelievable."

David Starr gave an impressive interview after the race, marked by the amazing amount of restraint in his comments. The 'read' certainly does not show how David was struggling to control his emotions. That struggle said far more than any angry outburst could have.

Can you talk about the last lap?

"It was just good short-track racing. He (Donny Lia) got a run underneath us, I guess. I left a hole open, and he got into me in the left-rear, as you can see. It's all beat up back there. It was just enough to break my momentum. Once we broke the momentum, we broke traction in the rear. We just drove into turn three on a prayer. He had the preferred line. It was a great race. I just feel bad this Red Horse Racing team. They did a heck of a job. Jamie Jones (crew chief) did a heck of a job. We had a good truck the whole race, we just didn't finish it off. Not a bad finish, but we're disappointed. We thought we should've won the race. That's just good short-track action. You just never know what's going to happen until the end."

Saturday’s Nationwide event at Lowes Motorspeedway, the Carquest 300 had more attitude than a bar full of retired Air Force pilots. Kyle Busch, in a non-Gibbs car, vowed to break the Gibb’s winning streak, and he succeeded!

"I said before the race that hopefully we could bring this Dollar General Toyota home in first, and the Joe Gibbs Toyota could be second. And fortunately, tonight it worked out that way……"That JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) team has been pretty stout this year and I've been fortunate enough to drive their cars a couple times and it's really been nice to see how fast those things are. But we had our Braun Racing car pretty fast tonight too. It sucked that we brought the streak to an end, but I'm glad that at least it's a JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) driver streak.

Amazingly, the attitudinal happenings were all taking place behind Kyle this time, involving the next three cars in the finishing order. Brad Keselowski, during a caution period, place his front bumper under the rear bumper of the car of Denny Hamlin, lifting the rear wheels a tad, or maybe it was a shove. Denny pulled back even with Brad, and then made a move into Brad’s car, damaging the left front of Brad’s car. Dale Jr, in 4th place, moved forward to give Hamlin another shove to the rear.

The emotions of that on-track episode spilled over into the pits, in the form a melee between the crew members of JR Motorsports and Denny Hamlin’s crew. (image courtesy of Getty Images)

Even more tense, were the two drivers, during the post-race press room interview. Watch for yourself!



In my opinion, Denny came off looking a bit worse than Brad. Hamlin fans will probably disagree. The real shame though, both of those boys? men? used to race with each other in Dale Jr’s DMP sim league. I would think that at one time they were friends. It does not appear that there is any friendship left between Denny and the Jr Motorsports drivers.

The Big Show on Sunday, Humpy’s Last Hurrah, the Salute to the Troops, had many salutes of other kinds! Mostly digits on hands wedge between A-posts and window nets.

Jeff Gordon:
YOU JUST HAD A CONVERSATION WITH KYLE BUSCH. WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT? “I don’t know. I guess he doesn’t like people to race him. You know, Kyle and I never had any issues. But I raced him hard tonight just like I did everybody. And when track position is as important as it is here, you’ve got to race every single car for every single position. And I wasn’t going to give anybody an inch and I was racing for position. He’s got an issue because he gave me the finger and you know what? That’s not necessary for a guy he just didn’t like racing him the way I did.”

Really Jeff? Then talk to your buddy, Jimmie Johnson. I heard he was displaying the same finger to at least one other driver during the race! Was it necessary then?

Tony Stewart, on his radio, was wondering what was going on with Juan Pablo Montoya, saying he had ‘gotten’ bad again. Patrick Carpentier should realize that he doesn’t get points for every pinball hit he makes.

David Gilliland was the recipient of the ‘What in the HECK was THAT award.” He suddenly went from a 20th place car in the lucky dog position, to having his hood bashed in by the loose wheel from Brian Vickers machine. Fortunately, David was not physically hurt, nor were the fans in the infield. It is always a scary moment when a 75 pound wheel goes flying in the air. Hmmmmm! I wonder what happened to the tether those wheels are supposed to use? And Brian said he was going to send some 'stuff' over to the camper site. I wonder what he would give David?



And, as America spends this Memorial Day Monday relaxing and visiting with friends, remember the real reason for this holiday. Thank a member of the military today. The ones that survived can be thanked verbally. The ones that didn’t, please send a prayer of thanks for them. And remember, we wanted out drivers to show emotion. We have it, but we must accept it from all drivers, whether or not we like that driver. Thank the military for giving us the freedom to speak our minds!

Tony Stewart: Champ or Chump

Tony Stewart is proving to me that he is a Chump, not a Champ. He had another on-track altercation with David Gilliland during Happy Hour practice at the Michigan venue. David had old tires, Tony had fresh tires. Tony managed to run up on David's rear, and David became loose and then Tony made contact with David.

First off, I watched the NCTS and the Cup racing at Michigan, and I marveled at the wide track, and views of three and four wide racing. You cannot convince me that Tony was forced to get that close to David, when they were the only ones at that point of the track. Tony was being an arse and trying to spook David.

Second, have you ever seen such a tantrum? Glares, Snarls, Stomping his way to the NASCAR hauler, and Slamming of sliding door at the hauler. Oh my! How fearsome! The only things missing were the holding of breath until blue in face, and the flailing of arms and legs while on the ground, and don't forget shrieking at the top of the lungs. I mean really, Tony, if you insisit on having a tantrum, I am sure there are several three or four year old children who can give lessons.

Third, David had one short interview about the situation. Tony wailed to any and everyone about it, and in fact held court on it with a posse of reporters. He declared that David had apologized, but that it wasn't enough.

Tony, after his last issue with David, used his radio show to declare that he and David had talked, but that he did not believe David was sincere. I have no doubt that Tony was still bearing a grudge. How ironic that David does not have a venue in which to rail against instances like this.

Tony claims that drivers should run a full Busch series first. Tony, you should have also. I am sure that at least one more year may have given you some more maturity before stepping up into the big leagues. In fact, you may have even had a win in the NBS, something David had, and you didn't before running in Cup.

You mentioned Kasey Kahne being wrecked by David at Vegas. No sir, Kasey wrecked himelf. He got loose, and spun. David never touched him. Yet, both you and Kasey show a distinct lack of class by claiming David must not be that good after all.

NASCAR.com had a headline that declare GILLILAND WRECKS STEWART. How interesting is that, as all of the damage to Tony's car was on the right front, ahead of the midline. David had damage on left rear. Who ran into who? And then, today we watched corporate shills on Race Day claim it was all David's fault, and that it was David's responsibility to apologize. (BTW, Mr. Excitement, he already had!) It is ironic though, that Jimmy and Kenny both were sitting there on a Home Depot stage, and surrounded by Home Depot hard hats. Jimmy Spencer used to speak up, now in the last few years, he only speaks what the sponsors want. At least the boys in the booth at the time of the incident, Kyle Petty in particular, declared that it was a case of old vs new tires. Mr. Spencer, I trust Kyle far more than I do you!

Finally, Tony....look inward. Since you have been racing in Cup, you have had issues with Gilliland, JPM, David Ragan, Kurt Busch, Clint Bowyer, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, Mike Bliss, Robby Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Brian Vickers, Rusty Wallace, Terry Labonte, Scott Wimmer, Greg Biffle, John Andretti, Ryan Newman, Kenny Scharder, Bobby Labonte, Kenny Irwin, 2 Photographers, 1 Reporter, Several NASCAR officials
and who the heck else? At this rate, by the time you quit NASCAR, there will be no one left for you to harass.

Tony, you have TWO Championships. You have a chance to become a leader who can help new drivers, rather than one who verbally and physically attacks them. I am sure you are looking for respect, but at this rate, I don't see that ever happening. Right now, you are no Champ, but you are one helluva Chump.


Click to see video of incident