So, it appears that mother nature had yet another mood swing and the result was another Monday NASCAR Sprint Cup event. Mother Nature was in a very foul mood Sunday morning and bombed the Watkins Glen International Raceway with heavy rain and lightning bolts. This was particularly stressful for fans who were sitting in aluminum based seats who understandably made quick work of vacating those seats.
If Monday NASCAR racing is going to become more the norm than the unusual then it occurs to me that it could open up a new television ratings challenge for the sanctioning body. They could find themselves in a rating war against daytime soap operas and re runs of “The Jerry Springer Show.” It would likely reap more benefits than taking on the NFL, which is now here, on Sunday afternoons. Who knows? The Monday morning price could turn out to be right.
Also from the weekend we witnessed a driver who seems to traditionally hit a hot streak during the hottest time of the year. We were all reminded why we fell in love with “Kangaroo Meat”, and unfortunately we were reminded exactly why the Car Of Tomorrow was needed to begin with. With all those thoughts in mind let’s get into this week’s HOORAHS and WAZZUPS .
HOORAH to “Smoke” for running around Watkins Glen’s 2.5 mile road course like he was on fire. Tony Stewart led 34 laps in Monday’s race en route to this third win of the season and the 36th of his career. There seems to be a rather unusual tradition surrounding Stewart that says he gets hot on the track when the weather get hotter. He’s certainly in the process of once again proving that point.
Last January the vast majority of the racing media, including yours truly, were saying that his decision to leave Joe Gibbs Racing to start his own team was going to be riddled with difficulty and we shouldn’t expect to see very much from its first season. I personally recall writing “this new team is going to experience growing pains and there will be times when it will feel like chest pains.” Now it appears that Stewart’s new team is going to place two cars in the 12 man line up for the Chase For The Championship and Stewart is looking and sounding like a future Cup champion.
“Mr Stewart: I was wrong and I apologize.”
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HOORAH to Australia’s Marcus Amborse, aka “Kangaroo Meat.” He did a fantastic job pulling off a race winning move against Kyle Busch during Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race. He was also a major player in Monday’s Sprint Cup event with an impressive second place finish.
Naysayers may point out that Amborse is a road course champion, in his native Australia, and is expected to perform well in this form of racing. But let’s not overlook the improvements he making in the oval track events. Off the track he’s one of the most likable people you would ever want to say hello to. Brad Daughtery, co owner of his JTG Daughtery Racing team, went on record last weekend as saying they were prepared to do whatever’s necessary to insure that they have this driver’s name on a long term contract.
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HOORAH for the reason that made NASCAR introduce the Car Of Tomorrow-COT to begin with: safety. When this car was first introduced there was the proverbial weeping and gnashing of teeth. But in the midst of griping over down force, handling and can’t see out the back window was the real reason for the car’s creation. That Monday afternoon savage wreck, involving the cars of Sam Hornish Jr and Jeff Gordon, was a grim reminder of why this vehicle was needed. The lap 63 incident brought out the red flag for approximately 19 minutes for track clean up.
But the really important issue here is the fact that both drivers walked away from the wreck uninjured. Granted, a crash like that is not going to be good for the chronic back pain Gordon has been dealing with for the past year, but he’ll be the first to praise the COT safety features that allowed him to escape serious injury from a very bad accident.
There has already been outcries for Watkins Glen officials to consider safety improvements for the track where turn 11 connects to the front stretch. Here’s hoping that they heed the call.
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WAZZUP with Dale Jr and yet another bad brake, (no pun intended). Not even the spending power of team owner Rick Hendrick’s bank account could buy this team some good luck. Earnhardt crashed hard into a tire barrier after his brakes failed and has to settle for a 39th place finish. That’s just plain bad luck for a team that has had more than there fair share of problems this year. One has to believe that Earnhardt would like to see New Year’s Eve come early this year. The team’s only real recourse is to buckle down and salvage something good from 2009 while laying the ground work for next year.
For that matter WAZZUP with Hendrick Motorsports overall performance at Watkins Glen a track where they were expected to shine at? In addition of the wrecks that ended Earnhardt and Gordon’s day, Mark Martin started this race from 28th and only worked his to 23d. Jimmie Johnson, who stunned everyone by winning the pole during qualifying, was virtually ineffective all day and had to settle for a 12th place finish.
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