Track Trash – Richmondo

Who woulda thunk? A driver who gets 4 wins in ’09 actually missed the Playoffs. And by a mere 8 points. The sorry part about the Playoffs is that ABC will relentlessly focus on the Top 12, and will forget the other 31 drivers in the field. What would happen if none of the Top 12 won any of the remaining races?? An interesting concept, eh?

Merger-itis: OK, I think I’m beginning to lose track of things. Evernham merged with Gillett, who later merged with Petty, and now they are merging with Yates and will field Ford cars. Two questions: (1) what will the new organization be named (it appears that Yates will succumb and go back to building engines, which dashes his dad’s empire onto the rocks), and (2) will this new organization become a larger off-shoot to Roush (the initial report is YES, they will be tied at the hip with Roush).

Outed: The above merger puts I’mSore-enson out on his buttocks at the end of the year. This scenario was not altogether unexpected, cuz he certainly didn’t light any fires this year. Frankly, this woulda been a great time to dump Saddleburns, too, but for some strange reason he gets to hang around for awhile. He probably has some unbecoming photos of one of the owners….. Maynerd gets keep his seat cuz he’s finally beginning to show improvement….and his daddy brings big bucks in as a sponsor.

My Humble Opinion: Sometimes when you add 2 + 2, it equals 4, and everyone wins. However, when you marry two mediocre teams together, the AVERAGE result just might be another mediocre team (does Earnhardt/Ganassi come to mind?). Now that Petty will have the Roush engineering department behind them, the only thing they need is (a) a top flight management team, and (2) a few new drivers. With Maynerd (from Yates) and Kahne, Allmendinger and Saddler (from Petty), they have about 2.5 good drivers. Kasey and Dinger are the class of the new organization, and the other two are sort of like anchors……..dragging them down.

Silly Season: With all the hoopla over the Petty/Yates merger, JamieMac is quietly sitting there, waiting for someone to offer him a ride next year. Roush wanted to move the 26 car to Yates, but that option no longer exists. But JamieMac’s name has surfaced as a replacement for Saddleburns next year (this is one rumor that might actually make some sense). And Blobonte’s name is being bantered around as a replacement in the O7 Jack Daniels machine at RCR (replacing CaseOfMears, who has not lived up to expectations). Petty has indicated that he might want to move Dinger from the 44 to the 43 car next year.

Da Race: Many thought that this race might be a wreck-fest, what with many drivers trying to nail down spots in the top 12. However, it was sort of a yawner from that stand point. No one tried to muscle a competitor out of the way, so this sport is turning into a gentlemen’s sport, much like golf. Egads, give me the old fender-bender, beatin’ and bangin’ of yesteryear…….. But the race did offer certain degrees of interest.

Hambone: Was he going to finally win a race at his home track? That was one of the lingering points of interest, and it played out all night long.

MattyBoy: It was Matty’s race to lose, and he professed that his team was not running on all cylinders. When they had to step up to the plate and hunker down, his team seemed like it was out to lunch. His car was junk, and he missed his pit stall. Thus, Matty missed the Playoffs for the first time. Expect to see a shake-up in this team during the off season.

The 12th Spot: Most of the interest all night centered on the whether KidKyle or VickersVapoRub was gonna get the last spot in the Playoffs, and it turned out to be a nail biter. What with Kyle’s bad boy persona, most spectators were quietly rooting for Vickers, and he barely (just barely) was able to pull it off. Just by passing one car at a time, the points started accumulating, and Vickers just barely had enough points to send Kyle to the garbage heap. But Kyle then surprised us by giving a good post-race interview. Gee, maybe he’s beginning to mature…… but then we have to recall that the guitar smash was just a few months ago.

If you look at the top 10 at the end of the race, everyone that needed to have a good night was able to do so (except Kyle, who needed a Hail Mary miracle to make the Top 12). It was good to see Bowowyer in 6th, and Hornish had another stellar outing. And it was surprising to see that Gordo still doesn’t have that winning attitude, and his twin brother JJ is going to start the Playoffs with a sour taste in his mouth.

The Playoffs: SirMark has slipped into the lead position, but I can’t imagine him staying there too long. I know, he’s been pretty consistent lately, but he lacks the killer instinct. It’s gonna be an interesting 10 race schedule, and most of the top 12 will have at least one miserable race in that time period. It’s too bad they don’t offer Mulligan’s……… It’s good to see both of Smoke’s cars in the Playoffs. How many 1st year teams can pull this feat off??

Heaps of 3’s all over yer local FedExExpress truck,

Racing Maniac #3