Meandering among the Marbles! Pocono Weekend

Notes and Observations from Pocono Weekend

ESPN is up to their shenanigans from last year, by not starting the Nationwide Qualifying on time. This time, it was a regional baseball tourney. It would not have been so bad, if they had considered moving the qualifying to another channel. Even the watchers most ignorant of baseball will see that when the team is at the top of the 8th with one out, that the Qualifying will not be coming up soon, unlike the scroll at the bottom of the screen kept proclaiming. I gave up after 40 minutes, and went about my life. When ESPN takes over the Cup season, we will have more of the same.

A requirement of the contract to sing our Anthem for a NASCAR race is that it MUST be sung properly. This is not an audition for American Idol or America's Got Talent!

In pre-race, Kyle Busch told of his last Dover Nationwide race, where he was 'moved' out of the way by his team mate. He admitted that he had a tire going down, and then dropped a bombshell by saying he didn't tell anyone, because he wanted to drag out the start and hope there was a wreck behind him.

"I have no issues with Joey at all," Busch said Friday at Pocono Raceway. "I must have punctured a tire I because I felt it in the last two corners before the caution came out that the right-front was getting soft. I didn't call it over the radio because I didn't want to give everybody Christmas and say that I had a tire going down.

"If I could have jacked up the restart enough and caused a wreck then I would have been fine, I would have been golden — it was a green-white-checkered so I would have won the race. That didn't happen.

"I went off into turn one and Joey was going to follow me and that's why I was as high as I was because I wasn't expecting him to follow. He got in the back of me a little bit (but) it was no fault whatsoever of Joey." (From USA Today)

Rusty Wallace called him out for it, and Kyle deserved everything that Rusty said, and all that he didn't say. Brad Daugherty even called Kyle out for not stopping to talk to the media. If Joe Gibbs Racing and M&M's haven't listened to the fans comment on Kyle's behavior, perhaps they will hear the commentary from the booth, and act on it. It is one thing to be a polarizing player in the sport, it is another to try and deliberately wreck the field. And the worst part, is that he didn't wait to talk to the media, and left his young team mate, Joey Logano thinking that he was totally at fault for the messed up restart.

Kyle further stunned the fans by smashing his guitar in Victory Lane. Forty-eight hours later, there are mixed stories on how much of this was planned, and how much was spur-of-the-moment. Sam Bass admitted that the act stunned him, but that he and Kyle talked in VL, and Sam is OK with it since Kyle has ordered two replacements. It is indeed Kyle's trophy, and he can do what he wishes with it. However, combined with the above tire issue, the guitar smashing, the refusing to talk to the press, and the general attitude that whatever he does is ok do not endear him to me, or to many fans of the sport. He may think he is a rock star, but this is racing, not rock 'n' roll!

The new restart procedures did help to jazz up the middle of the race. The long green flag runs, however, were still there, and the restarts did not counter the boredom that ensues for the hours and hours of cars all strung out.

There has been a tremendous amount of time given to the trials and tribulations of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and the crew chief changes. There has been little discussion on the crew changes for Kevin Harvick. Both will take time for changes to make an impact. Hopefully, the fans of both drivers show patience.

John Daly's blog, The Daly Planet, spent the weekend dissecting the three races. Much talk in all three events centered on Start and Parks. I am sensitive to this subject, since one of my favorite drivers and teams recently had to resort to this practice. I do not like it, and I am sure the driver and crew don't like it either. But, the economy has hit, and hit hard, among the teams on the lower echelon of each series. It is a hard decision to make, but my team is picking their races, and hope to make a showing in markets that are important to them. Frankly, I don't see many cars standing in the wings that will be able to move up to full-time racing, to replace the start and park cars.

On the Michigan!

NASCAR Sponsor Takes Over!

NASCAR sponsors have a way of becoming a focus of NASCAR fans. We generally support the sponsors of both the teams and the sport.

As a fan of Yates Racing, there was initial excitement at the beginning of 2009 when it was announced that Bobby Labonte had signed with Yates, and brought Ask.com to the table as a sponsor. That excitement quickly turned to dismay when I discovered that Bobby was 'in', and David Gilliland was 'out' of his ride. While I entirely understand the financial side of the deal, it left me feeling disgruntled.

Ask.com, formerly known as Ask Jeeves, has made a huge mark in the NASCAR world. Not only are they sponsoring the 96, they have become the Official Search Engine of NASCAR. They are the 'go-to' source for trivia questions on television broadcasts. They have a browser toolbar that is configured for NASCAR fans. They were at each track I attended this year (California, Vegas, and Texas) handing out CD's with a contest opportunity and most likely, their toolbar.

I never loaded that CD, in part because of the YR deal with David Gilliland losing his ride. And because of a recent experience, I am glad that I left that CD sitting in my track backpack.

About two weeks ago, I downloaded a game from Facebook. It was a game from a company I had used several times, and indeed a company whose games are good enough that I have purchased three of their selections. This download, however, had a special little add-on....an opportunity to download ask.com. In a hurry, I did not take the time to read what I was installing, and therefor neglected to un-check the box.

Suddenly, my Firefox browser directed me to Ask.com. Internet Explorer did the same. Both had the toolbar loaded. And both had the search engine default switched from google to ask.com. Arrrgggg!

That hurried and totally stupid download has reminded me that I need to slow down. I managed to remove the toolbar, and I managed to changed the default search engines back to google. I have, however, been wrestling with one last vestige of this pesky software, as everytime I mistyped something in my url box, it redirected me to ask.com.

After two weeks, I found that removing that redirect from Firefox is an exercise in itself. You have to use the "about:config" function in a tab, to change the strings. Very scary for an Internet Apprentice (which is way below Internet Wizard on the Savvy Scale) and one that helped to increase my high-blood pressure. I stressed at the moment I saw how changing those settings could upset the stability of my machine. My MACHINE? What about MY stability?

Sadly, the easiest way to remove it is to go to Ask.com, and beg them for help. There have apparently been so many problems, that they developed a special removal tool. Since it was an executable file, I was worried about downloading that one, too. But quite a bit of research gave me some courage to try it, and it seems to have worked.

While I like Bobby Labonte, I am still peeved over the Yates Racing Deal. Now I am just as peeved over the sponsor taking over my computer. For me, DON'T Ask.com!

Meandering among the Marbles! Coca-cola 600!

The Coca-Cola 600 may be remembered as one with sadness, jubilation, reverence, and of course, controversy.

Sadness? I still find myself reading articles critically, and comparing them to the articles by recently departed David Poole. Lowes Motorspeedway dedicated the Media Deadline room to the memory of Poole, a very fitting tribute. Poole continues to be missed by fans and peers alike.

Jubilation? The look on Buzzy Ruetimann's face while his son David was being interviewed after being announced as race winner. Our parents are always proud of us, but Buzzy was so proud to be sharing this moment-in-time with his boy!

Reverence? NASCAR decided to take part in the National Moment of Remembrance. Stopping the cars on the front-stretch, and asking pit crew members to stand on the wall, and the fans to stand for a full minute was very touching. Sadly, I have seen many complaints on the internet that it 'robbed' the fans of 25 laps of racing. When so many of our service members have fallen, perhaps some of the fans in our sport need to realize there are far more important things in life than a moment taken away of our enjoyment.

Controversy? Check it out!

Rainy Daze? Fans have short memories. When the 2008 race in California went late before being called, we complained that NASCAR waited too long. When the Daytona race was cut short, we complained it was called too soon. And now, fans are making both of those complaints about the 600! Apparently, it depended on where you driver was finishing if it was called too soon, too late, or just right.

Looming Lawsuit? The Jeremy Mayfield drug testing scandal still looms over the NASCAR Nation. Mayfield's attorney, Bill Diehl hinted that he was prepared to file a law suit on Friday. However, it is likely that he thought better of it, as the holiday and the race weekend would over shadow the suit. In the meantime, NASCAR tested ten crew members for substance abuse, which would never have been newsworthy if it hadn't been for the Mayfield case. And one can't help but ponder....if Mayfields test was invalid, does that make all of the 'clean' tests of the other drivers invalid also?

No emotions? Tony Stewart and David Reutimann had a discussion on pit road, with Tony once again expressing displease with drivers who don't move out of his way. A crewman,Dwayne Bigger, from the #00 team interjected, and we saw him genuflect and bow to Tony, as if he were worshiping Tony's footsteps. Tony's response was to call the team member Big Bad Butt, which is a name that will always stay with that crewman! Look for it on the back of his uniform at Dover!

Start and Park to make money? The Start and Park controversy continues, as Scott Riggs announced that he was parting ways with Tommy Baldwins team. "It kills my soul to know that we go to the race track and we’re not going to be competitive. Even if the car is competitive, we’re not going to be there around at the end to be competitive." We watch as race after race, the same cars will run a few laps and then exit the track. Even the 'grass roots' team of TRG Motorsports had to resort to a couple of races where they 'developed problems' and left the race early.

Today, we saw the 09 entry of James Finch leave the race after 42 laps. It was noted by at least one crew member that they were packed up to leave before the end of the first red flag. Finch has qualified successfully for 8 of the 12 races this season. His car has been running at the end for two of those eight. Granted, one of those was a win, but the truth of it is the vast majority of his entries have been Start & Park. Then, when you look at the prize money for this race, you discover that a car that finished the whole race, and finished 15 spots ahead brought home less than $1400 more in prize money for all of that extra racing. Since the #71 entry used up five sets of tires that were not even purchased by the 09 entry, it doesn't make sense for a team to run the whole race! NASCAR promised they would research this, but no action has been taken. At this point, they really show that it is not important to them.

Ad naseum? Don't forget! We still have the great debate about the two Jr's of the 99 team. Also, will Jeff Gordon retire early? Is a rain finish or a fuel finish a true finish? And, there are plenty more stories where those came from!

On to Dover! The one thing about NASCAR fans, is that we are resilient. We will find something new to discuss after the race next week! Thank heavens! Because once we look at these few items, there really was not much exciting about this race. It will remain largely forgettable!

Gilliland Finishes Rain Shortened Coke 600 in 27th

Press Release
May 25, 2009

David Gilliland

Charlotte, North Carolina, (May 25, 2009) - David Gilliland finished the No. 71 TRG Motorsports Chevrolet Impala SS, carrying the CompUSA.com colors, in 27th at a rained shortened Coca-Cola 600 today at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

Gilliland, who also qualified 29th, had the “best race car of the year” in the 600 today, running as high as 14th. He was a fixture in the top 20 and moving toward the front. Crew chief, Slugger Labbe, made a call for two tires early to help with track position, but Gilliland did the rest on the track. On lap 180 during a restart Gilliland had transmission problems which dropped him back in the running order, which later manifested itself into a broken second and third gear. The team kept Gilliland out during the last caution, low on fuel, to eventually take 27th position.

“We had the best car of the year here today,” Gilliland said. “The car could turn really well and it was fun to drive. We were making very small adjustments on the pit stops setting ourselves up for the end of the race. The guys were doing great pit stops and it was looking like a great run for the team. The rain cautions were helping us because we took two tires early and things were falling into place.”

The team pitted on lap 131 and Gilliland was on a charge and had a small amount of wheel hop under braking which caused him to speed on pit lane, resulting in a drive-thru penalty.

“That was my mistake. I came in too hot and got some wheel hop in the car and it jumped out of gear. We had ourselves positioned to make up the lap when NASCAR decided to call the race. Ending the race early really was a blessing for us, as I had only high gear left and I would have been a sitting duck on restarts and out of the pits.”

Kevin Buckler, TRG Motorsports team principal, is happy with the team’s performance today.

“We showed, once again, that with our limited resources that we can field a very competitive car and run with most of the top teams, which is fantastic,” Buckler said. “We were flat-out better than a lot of big names today. The team did a great job working through the struggles in practice and getting the car right for race day, which is what counts. David was running strong at the beginning and had a lot of confidence in the car. We had the drive-thru penalty, which was a real bummer, but Slugger had us on course to make the lap back. The transmission was going, so we will take our 27th place and go onto Dover. We are still looking for that sponsor partner to help carry this team forward into the future. It is a great group and we showed a little of what the future holds for this team today running so strong.”

Up next on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Schedule is the Autism Speaks 400 at Dover International Speedway to be run on Sunday, May 31.

TRG Motorsports would like to thank associate sponsor Charter Air Transport.

TRG Motorsports is based in Mooresville, North Carolina. Currently the team fields a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series entry as well as a Camping World Truck Series effort and an ARCA RE/MAX Series team. The Racer’s Group was founded in 1993 and has been competing at the top level of sports car racing. TRG’s Porsche sports car program is run out of the company’s headquarters in Petaluma, California. The team has the most wins of any team in the Grand-Am Rolex Series with 27, including the 2005 and 2006 Rolex Series GT championship trophy to go along with wins in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona (three) and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

- TRG Motorsports, Press Release