The MotorSportsNews.Net(work) » Robyn Reacts!

Some up-n-coming drivers to watch for…

Robyn Snell — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:47:16 +0000

Senior staff writer Robyn Snell takes a look at some of the young-gun drivers she thinks ought to be watched as they gain experience in NASCAR and stock car racing…

Trevor Bayne
Photo courtesy of www.TrevorBayne.Net

The most promising young gun to come along in years is Trevor Bayne! Trevor Bayne not only has the clean cut all American persona, he is well mannered, well spoken, a sponsors dream, and the best part is he can drive the wheels off of anything he climbs into.

Trevor may be the saving grace for Theresa Earnhardt and DEI. Trevor quietly debuted last weekend at Bristol and wheeled his ride to a 23rd place finish. It shouldn’t take very many races before Bayne catches the eyes of Gibbs, Hendrick and Roush. To start in Bristol and be able to finish this race with your race car running is an excellent accomplishment. Although Bayne was not totally satisfied with his 23rd place finish, it will not take him long to settle in and be a front runner within the NationWide Series. A Championship Title is also with the grasps of this young gun!

Bayne has raced in NC where we had the privilege of meeting and chatting with him. He just appears comfortable no matter who he is around or which type of race car he is driving. A genuine soul that takes every race in stride and drives the wheels off of his car…his satisfaction comes from driving his race car the best that he possibly can.

Being only 18 years old, I have a feeling that we will be talking about this Young Gun for a long time to come…In a great way of course…Follow Trevor’s progress at www.trevorbayne.com

Travis Kittleson and Bob Steele Chevrolet also join Rick Ware Racing
Photo by staff photographer Steve Langley

As far as drivers go, I have to admit, I do show favoritism to Travis. Why you ask? I have never meet anyone more determined to succeed in this sport than Travis. His long time sponsor Bob Steel Chevrolet has stuck by his side through all of the ups and downs this sport can hand out. Many young drivers and sponsors, would have given up along time ago but not Travis nor Bob Steele Chevrolet. They are the true meaning of “team.”

Travis has 5 races set for the 2009 season with Rick Ware Racing. We here at Motorsportsnews.net would like nothing more than to watch Travis bring home his first Nationwide Series Victory.

To learn more about Travis visit www.traviskittleson.com

Kerry and Jeffery Earnhardt Photo by ESPN

The Earnhardt Father and son have teamed up with Rick Ware Racing and will once make history having 3 Earnhardts in one race at Atlanta this fall. The father and son team have employed Paul Andrews and Clyde McCloud as there Crew Chiefs. If this isn’t motivation for Dale JR I am not sure what is.

Jeffery will run a light schedule this season and step into the pool of Raybestos Rookie of the Year for 2010. while his Father, Kerry will become the first Earnhardt ever to race in Canada at the Nationwide series race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

As far as the “gene pool” goes, I look for Jeffery to be the offspring that carries on the “Intimidator” name but time will only tell…

Scott Lagasse
Photo courtesy of www.Speed.Com

Scott has hit the race track this season in the Nationwide Series “quietly”, however producing great results. Out of the last 3 races, his worst finish is 13th. Scott hails from St. Augustine, FL and he too, is a sponsor dream come true.

Scott obtained a Bachelors Degree from Flagler College and graduated with honors. There is a solid young man behind the wheel of his #11 America;s Greatest Pizza Toyota!

Follow Scott at www.scottlagasse.com

Keep an eye on all of our up and coming young guns as they progress through the pack!

The best part of the newest “Young Guns” is watching the older guns like Stewart, Gordon and Kurt Busch, mature into racing’s finest and groom the Young Guns with on track lessons. Some good, some well, not so good but this sure could liven up some of our races.

Stay tuned as I update accordingly…

Until Next Time
Robyn Snell
Senior Staff

Like a race victory burnout, what goes around, comes around.

Robyn Snell — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:40:15 +0000

(Photo credit: Harold Hinson for Lowe’s Motor Speedway)

Since NASCAR banned testing in this past off season, it appears that fans, sports writers, commentators and such are frothing at the mouth to microanalyze every little thing that happened during Speed Weeks within all of three major racing series.

Every driver has been subject to this microanalyzation and I, for one, cannot wait to move onto California.

From Vickers to Dale Junior to the 48 team not being “on their game”… Each and every one of us is so excited to have our series back in action that maybe we forget that all of the drivers, crew chiefs, teams, sponsors and all involved were just as anxious as we were to get this season started.

Electricity filled the air 24 hours a day in Daytona. A sense of “urgency” filled every square inch of that track, like never before. The good news is that our sport is alive and well in spite of the economic blunder, we Americans, have been faced with. I guess we can lay those rumors to rest that the fans will not show up to the races huh?..Daytona was packed!

Yes, Junior made mistakes and so did a lot of other drivers… However, more drivers made great accomplishments as opposed to mistakes.

Leffler was held for 5 laps during the Nationwide race and was cast into the media being compared to Junior’s mistake….

Scott Lagasse Jr, an up-and-coming Nationwide driver had a great run going until fate caught him up in a wreck. Since Lagasse is virtually unknown to the media, no attention was given to him…

Harvick, team owner and driver has got a program that is on the track to becoming a huge mainstay within NASCAR for many years to come. Kevin and Delana are building an empire behind the scenes and have grown so much in the past few years.

As media personnel, we should all take two steps back and relax. With little racing news for almost three months, everybody is banging their keyboard to produce a story, any story, even if that story has been beat into the ground.

There are so many “feel good” stories within NASCAR that there is so much to write about other than the common headlines.

Elliott Sadler and Jeremy Mayfield accomplished extraordinary feats during the off season. I sure haven’t seen many articles about Jeremy Mayfield starting his own team and making the Daytona 500 in 23 days! This is an accomplishment extraordinaire! Jeremy has been cast such diverse situations but with each and every occurrence he emerges stronger. Personally I am pulling for Jeremy to have the best season of his career in 2009!

Remember that once a word is written it can never be recalled. Sportscasters can “talk” their way into and out of just about any conversation they choose. It is our reputation that we are putting into print for the world to see, so beware when the words you say turn around and land right back in your face with a differing opinion.

If I was Dale Earnhardt Jr., I would be so mad at the media, print, radio and TV, that I wouldn’t do interviews for a awhile and just settle these beefs with on track “stellar” performance.

Me, I will just hang back and watch “what goes around, comes around” do its job this season…as there are individuals who will need a shovel to dig themselves out after they get their load dumped back upon them…

Until next time,

Robyn Snell
Senior Staff
Home of the Stock Car Gazette
www.motorsportsnews.net

The Sweeper… What’s Swept Under The Rug This Week?

Robyn Snell — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:46:19 +0000

Welcome Readers! This season I have drug out the “Sweeper”..Why the Sweeper you ask? Well it appears that NASCAR can lift their Rug and Sweep what they wish under it. Not only will the Sweeper bring to you things that don’t get much publicity, Sweeper will shake that NASCAR rug at various times and possibly bring a humorous look at some instances.

The Sweeper will not appear regularly, only on a “as needed basis”, according to what NASCAR chooses to sweep under its rug… Special thanks to a company by the name of Elgin Street Sweepers for inventing the most high tech street sweeper around! Might just make someone a good sponsor within NASCAR!

Sweeper Issue #1 How in the heck did NASCAR arrive at the Top 35 in Points 2009?

Let’s try and simplify this mangled mess of understanding the points system. Kinda reminds me of that ol’ saying “Such tangled webs NASCAR weaves!” NASCAR developed the owner point system to prevent car owners from selling each others points to better the position of the lower team owner’s car. Imagine that.

The loop hole has been found and now they just sell the team, merge with another team or dissolve their team and then re-emerge into another team as an advisor or technical advisor. Nice loop hole…

The first 13 drivers from 2008 are in tact, the shifting began with the 14th place car number which was #8 but is now the #42. Teresa Earnhardt “sold”/traded/merged/swapped (whatever) the number 8 for the number 42 owned by Ganassi’s Father Floyd. Since the DEI/Ganassi merger, #42 is currently 14th in owner points and the 8 dropped down to 25th…this is legal by NASCAR’s rules…No points sold here… (In back ground the NASCAR Sweeper has pulled up and swept this one under their rug!) It appears that since the #8 was “sponsor less” (here comes the Sweeper again) sweeping the #8 under the rug due to lack sponsorship was inline with NASCAR rules.So now that the number 8 no longer belongs to DEI…the proud owner of #8 is now Floyd Ganassi and Theresa now owns the #42…Simply amazing ~ A merge to better the points position for car owners? I think so.

#15 was 27th in points in 2008 now those points were sold/transferred/swapped(whatever) to the #34 and John Andretti now is 27th in points for 2009.

#01 was 32nd in points in 2008 now those points landed on Clint Bower’s new number 33. This one was legal (here comes the sweeper) “due to the team merger between RCR and Bobby Ginn.”

The Sweeper swept the #15 points under the rug that were aligned with the #34 and John Andretti at Front Row Motorsports who will have a technical alliance with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. Now the #22 points were swept over to the Penske Championship Racing and Bill Davis will be minority owner…Maybe NASCAR should just own all the race cars and rent them out on a as needed basis..Only joking readers…

Now the numbers 15, 22, 01 and 41…Poof! Parked for the 2008 season

Does anyone else think that NASCAR might have to update their rules to match the intelligence of the car owners to date? I certain do. Seriously if NASCAR’s first intentions were to “developed the owner point system to prevent car owners from selling each others points to better the position of the lower team owner’s car.’ What do you call what I just described?

I have to give it to these owners for reading between NARCAR’s rule book lines and putting this plan into effect. Clever business minds I’d say!

There you have ~ The Sweeper’s first edition! Wether you agree or disagree with The Sweeper, feel free to leave your comments below.

None of us would have ever believed that we would see the excellent racing like we did at the Shoot Out with no testing in the off season but NASCAR just might be on to something with that plan. As far as this tangled points mess, I understand the how and the why, just not sure I agree with it. Only time will tell…

Until next time

Robyn Snell
Senior Staff
Home of the Stock Car Gazette www.motorsportsnews.net
and www.racetalkradio.com Top 20

“Pussy-Foot” Was NEVER Dale Earnhardt’s Nickname!

Robyn Snell — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:57:37 +0000

So David Gilliland got parked for ramming ol’ Juan Pablo Montoya into the wall nose first after a few laps of good ol’ bumpin and banging?

I agree with Dale Earnhardt Jr. that this was not the best solution for the issue at hand, but how did Dale Earnhardt Sr. get the name Intimidator?

It sure wasn’t by pussy-footing around the race track letting guys plow all over him…

During my reading the NASCAR articles of the past few days, I read and hit the back button. I agreed with some, disagreed with others… nothing out of the ordinary. Then I received a few emails from dear friends of mine that sparked this article.

To understand my point, please read: http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Articles/08/110408Dunn.asp

To better express my point, click here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3McWHzgMdi8&feature=related

Alrighty then..NASCAR has come a long way in safety over the years. It is a rare sight for us to see violent crashes such as you just watched in that video courtesy of Nitro4292…Nice video! The roof flaps that NASCAR has implemented have pretty much stopped the flipping violet crashes. When I overhear fans say “Man, NASCAR has ruined this sport…we never see any good crashes.” OK that is just warped to attend these races just to see violent wrecks. For the most part, loyal fans understand there is more to a race than waiting on the big one.

No one can tell me that all of those crashes in Nitro4292′s video, were caused out of innocent happenings on the race track! Racers, true racers, when they strap in and tighten those belts, all have one common goal; To win that race.

Drafting an article that requests a driver to depart the sport is crazy. If you are going to ask Gilliland to depart the sport then you better ask Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Dale Jr., Jeff Gordon, Michael Waltrip and my list goes on. For at one time or another, each and every driver has made a huge mistake and thrown another driver into the wall. Unintentionally and intentionally.

America’s freedom of speech is a gift that some writers, news casters, and politicians abuse, not only within NASCAR but around the world.

NASCAR receives a lot of criticism over the COT and how it has ruined NASCAR. From a safety standpoint NASCAR has improved the race car to prevent drivers from sustaining critical injuries.

Thank you NASCAR for taking the time, effort and the billions of dollars to make all of our drivers safer when an instance such as Gilliland throwing Montoya into the wall occurs.

Personally, I think the true drama lies in the motor home parking lot at any given race track on any given race weekend. Maybe Mr. Joe Dunn should check that area out to write on.

Until next time…

Robyn Snell
Senior Staff
Home of the Stock Car Gazette www.motorsportsnews.net

Junebug and Happy in the Hollywood Hotel

Robyn Snell — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:14:23 +0000

In case you didn’t get to see these events, when they originally occurred, sit back, relax and have a few laughs on us here at MotorSportsNews.Net.

I’ve gathered just a few little things to lighten up the tension within the “Chase for the Cup”, as it is “On!”…

Video of Dale Jr. and Harvick in the Hollywood Hotel

Or this one:

How Dale Jr. would like his MTV Cribs show to be:

and for the Denny Hamlin fans:

How about one for Kevin Harvick at the Hee Haw Raceway:

Carl Edwards and romance novels?

Jeff Gordon sings (well, he tried!)

Martin Truex:

Kasey Kahne (Was Kasey even in this car?)

and last, but not least, Tony Stewart:

Lighten Up and laugh! The Chase is on….

Until next time,

Robyn Snell
Senior Staff
Home of the Stock Car Gazette www.motorsportsnews.net

No “bull”… this girl can sing!!

Robyn Snell — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:12:05 +0000

Who is Cameron Marion Bull?

Known professionally as “Cameron Marion”, Cameron is a beautiful young lady who hails from Kernersville, NC, just minutes away from Kevin Harvick’s race shop.

Cameron has danced for most of her life, but within the last two years, Cameron has turned to music.

On the Red Carpet

She has a beautiful voice, and the aspiration to sing at any of the NASCAR Series or ARCA or any other race track that would be in need of a National Anthem singer.

Cameron holding her “Female Country Artist of the Year” award with her family

Cameron was awarded the North Carolina Female Country Artist of Year 2008. You may check out her website at http://www.cameronmarion.com/

Not only is Cameron a personal friend of mine, I have watched this young lady mature and grow over the past 18 months and her goals are attainable.

So any of you NASCAR readers that are inclined to listen to Cameron’s National Anthem and are able to get her singing with NASCAR, your assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Click here to listen to Cameron’s rendition of our National Anthem.

Until next time….
Robyn Snell
Senior Staff
www.motorsportsnews.net
Home of the Stock Car Gazette