Track Trash – The Paper Clip

The Playoffs are all but over. Everyone else seems to be racing to become the First Loser. I, like many other fans, am losing my interest, and may do more channel hopping during the race. Because at this point, the NFL is showing a better product.

Dominance: Fans are recognizing that the only race to the Championship is between Hendrick drivers, and are beginning to wane in their interest level. Yep, they’re dominant, but it wasn’t that many years ago that Roush had a gaggle of drivers in the running. But at least this year, there’s a dark horse candidate in SirMark and fans will tend to overlook that he’s a stablemate of the Bopsie Twins.

What if?: OK, say that JJ wins the Championship. Sure, he’ll be in the record book as the first FourPeat. But will he REALLY get the recognition he deserves? I tend to think not. Unfortunately, he’s Mr. Vanilla. Try eating a gallon of vanilla ice cream and see if you don’t start gagging at the end. Having absolutely no personality, few non-JJ fans will give him the accolades he will deserve. So he may get into the record books, but he won’t win the hearts of the fans. Just my humble opinion…….what’s yours??

FR9: The new Ford engine is about to be launched. It’s the first Ford engine designed from the ground up for NA$CAR racing and should allow the Ford teams to play catch-up. But at this point, it’s too late to make a big dent in the Playoffs. Coulda, woulda, shoulda. If they coulda launched it earlier this year, they woulda had more drivers vying for the Championship, and shoulda put an end to the ‘fourpeat’ scenario.

Mikie: Ooops. He was one beer short of being thrown in the clinker, and he’s extremely lucky the cycle driver didn’t get seriously injured. His erratic driving seems to be moving from the race track to the open road…..a progression perhaps best defined as ‘getting old’. Maybe he needs a new red fire truck so he’ll be more noticeable on the highway.

Da Race: Well, Jr. had his share of problems today. Flat tires on Laps 91,129 and then towards the end of the race. So the question is….was Jr. over-driving the car, or was McGrew’s setup all wrong? Based on Jr.’s previous good runs at this track, I suppose it might be the setup. Which then begs the question: Why is the Rickster keeping McGrew on as crew chief? Why not experiment during the last few races? If Rick likes McGrew that much, why not trade McGrew with LeFarte? Maybe both teams would benefit.

Pablo: This guy needs some credit. He’s doing a superb job of driving, and unlike SirMark, is not afraid to use his bumper when the need arises. And he’s probably the closest we’re gonna see anyone emulate Dale Sr. for awhile. He was lacking some good cars early on this year, but they apparently have done their homework. Could this be a preview of what we may see in 2010? One could only hope that an ‘outsider’ could give the Hendrick organization a run for their money.

JJ: One thing came to the surface today. We repeatedly saw JJ speed out of his pit, then slow down when approaching the speed trap line. Pablo even voiced his opinion that JJ was speeding, however, JJ was only speeding in the gray zone where NA$CAR can’t detect it. I wonder how long this will continue until NA$CAR puts another Rule in their book?

Congrats: To DennyHambone for a good, steady ride. He was itching to bump JJ out of the way to take the W, but it’s pretty hard to accomplish this payback when you’re leading the pack. To Pablo for a consistent run. To CrudeKyle for starting in the back and coming home 4th. To JamieMac for carving out a 6th.

Heaps of 3’s all over yer FedEx Freight driver,

Racing Maniac #3