Nascar

[Jmmccutc]

I just finished watching the BUSCH race from Vegas. this got my wheels turning...(pun intended)...what's the deal with NEXTEL cup regulars running in this series? I understand the principal of running these races, same as flying, you wanna get seat time. but i guess what i'm getting at is do you guys feel it's right to let NEXTEL's "big guns" such as Busch, Harvick (toadays winner), Kenseth, and M. Waltrip to run in the Busch races?

 

[chperplt]

No.. I don't think the regular Nextel Cup drivers should run BUSCH. It seems to me like they are limiting the exposure of potential future stars.

 

[THE Flying Ace]

I agree that Nextel guys shouldn't race Bucsh. It is like major league baseball players playing AAA teams and beating the snot out of them.

Then on the other hand, the Bucsh guys get some real good expirence. Maybe accelerating their careers into the Nextel series.

 

[enigma]

Does anyone think that the media might now start to back off on their assertions that Kenseth shouldn't be the Champion because he didn't win enough races? It looks like Mr. Kenseth has a point to prove, and he's going about it pretty convincingly.

engima

 

[Jmmccutc]

Does anyone think that the media might now start to back off on their assertions that Kenseth shouldn't be the Champion because he didn't win enough races? It looks like Mr. Kenseth has a point to prove, and he's going about it pretty convincingly.

engima

I'm not a big Kenseth fan, cause he drives a Ford, but i do respect a person that can step up to the critics and kick them in the teeth the way he has...

 

[Flying Illini]

The CUP drivers race in the BUSCH race b/c it's usually a sponsor issue. The sponsor will get alot of air time when the "pro" is in there running out front.
I'm glad Kenseth won today, everybody who says he didn't deserve that championship can kiss off. It looks as though he is gunning for another one this season!

 

[350DRIVER]

Kenseth is ok but I do not think he is the ideal media darling that some make him out to be, nor is he overly media/fan savvy in my opinion. I think a rush to make him "champion" at this early point in the season is nothing more than a wish/ and or hope. With the final ten race set up that is currently in place those in the running at the end will have just as good of a chance as him. It would be quite foolish and premature to count out all the other much more experienced guys in the field. Time shall tell but if I had to bet Illini's career on this my money would not be on Kenseth to win it all...

#8 car all the way

3 5 0

 

[chperplt]

#8 car all the way

What was up with them quitting yesterday? SO the car wasn't very good. Stay out there and drive it the best you can. I've never seen a top series driver and his team give up like that before.

 

[2000flyer]

What was up with them quitting yesterday? SO the car wasn't very good. Stay out there and drive it the best you can. I've never seen a top series driver and his team give up like that before.

Had Junior continued, he would have finished in the same spot, according to press releases.

There are two thoughts to your question. First, put the car in the garage, as they did, work on it and use the race as more a "test". Second, continue running a poor performing car and risk getting flagged for running too slow (thats hard to say about a champion of his caliber!).

Why run a car that was definitely not performing as it should and risk wrecking the car and possibly injuring the driver. I think DEI did the right thing. Better to save the car and driver to race another day.

As for Kenseth, he does have a point to prove this year. How would it work if the NFL awarded the Super Bowl not to the true winner, but to the team that scored more points during the year? Ask any driver, second (or a top ten for that matter), while "nice" is still a loss!

2000Flyer

 

[enigma]

Kenseth is ok but I do not think he is the ideal media darling that some make him out to be, nor is he overly media/fan savvy in my opinion. I think a rush to make him "champion" at this early point in the season is nothing more than a wish/ and or hope. With the final ten race set up that is currently in place those in the running at the end will have just as good of a chance as him. It would be quite foolish and premature to count out all the other much more experienced guys in the field. Time shall tell but if I had to bet Illini's career on this my money would not be on Kenseth to win it all...

#8 car all the way

3 5 0

350, where do you come up with the idea that Kenseth is any sort of media darling? Heck, the media doesn't really like him, he's boring, polite, doesn't cuss and throw things, etc. There is no "rush to make him champion" from anyone other than Darrell Waltrip. Junior Earnhart is the media darling, all one needs do to prove that is to point out the airtime he received Sunday when he was running with the backmarkers. Had the 8 car been driven by Dave Blaney, it wouldn't have gotten ten seconds of airtime. As it was, Jr received almost as much attention as the race winner.

If you've been a stock car fan for any length of time, you will recognize a team on a roll. Kenseths team has been of a roll for almost three years. They won the most races of 2002 but didn't win the championship so they raced for a championship in 2003. Obviously they won it handily. Now that they have their championship, they're focused on winning again. Until they prove that they are flawed, as did Jr's team at Vegas, they have to be the presumptive favorite. I wish the 8 team all the luck in the world, but to be so far off is completely unacceptable for an championship contender. I expect that they have worked so hard to dominate the restrictor plate tracks that they've let their flat track program suffer and it bit them on the behind, hard.

enigma

BTW, Illini didn't predict a Kenseth championship. He only stated the Kenseth was "gunning for" the title.

 

[enigma]

What was up with them quitting yesterday? SO the car wasn't very good. Stay out there and drive it the best you can. I've never seen a top series driver and his team give up like that before.

The 8 team didn't quit. They unloaded an uncompetitive car and started from the rear. If you watched the coverage, the driver certainly wasn't giving up. He fought that turd until there was nothing else to be gained. They only parked the car, when they became so far behind that it was mathematically impossible to gain any more ground. When you get a bunch of laps down, you reach a point where you will beat the cars more laps down than yourself and where there is no way to gain on the cars ahead of you. When you reach that point, you save the car, yourself, and the other competitors by removing the moving roadblock from the track.

I have seen teams quit. They usually announce that the car developed a "vibration" or some other BS. Tony Eury and team continued working on the car at a time when many teams would have invented the "vibration" as an excuse to avoid embarrassment. I'm not a 8 fan, and I think that this showing bodes particularly dark for their team, but it certainly isn't fair to say that they "quit".

enigma

 

[Flying Illini]

BTW, Illini didn't predict a Kenseth championship. He only stated the Kenseth was "gunning for" the title.

Thanks Enigma, you said it before I could.

 

[350DRIVER]

What was up with them quitting yesterday? SO the car wasn't very good. Stay out there and drive it the best you can. I've never seen a top series driver and his team give up like that before.

He really had no other option, to continue would not have done anything positive for the team. He could not get a feel for the car at all, was loose and tight at all the wrong times. I think they are still trying to determine why all he!! broke loose with no other option(s) but to retire early. a drop all the way to #7 in the standings surely will put a few pit members in some mild hot water. So early in the season though I doubt it will effect much... 8 should do well in ATL.

3 5 0

enigma> I said he was not the ideal media darling. Part II, we will pretend part I never happened...

Kenseth is ok but I do not think he is the ideal media darling that some make him out to be, nor is he overly media/fan savvy in my opinion.

 

[2000flyer]

You just gotta love the expectations! Three weeks into the season and some are already crowning Kenseth. Some predicting doom and gloom for DEI.

With so many races left, many drivers and teams are going to have great days and horrible days. My guess is that the points leader will change hands five times minimum before the final ten races.

2000Flyer

 

[low-n-slow]

No.. I don't think the regular Nextel Cup drivers should run BUSCH. It seems to me like they are limiting the exposure of potential future stars.

The way that some of these up and coming young guns are running, there's going to be a whole heap of Cup regulars in the Busch series in the near future.

What about that Kasey Kahne? I was listening to NASCAR on XM last week and an open wheel team owner that has had J. Gordon, Stewart and Kasey Kahne as drivers said that out of the three he thought Kasey was the better driver. Wow.

 

[flyifrvfr]

I'm not sure I agree with everyone on the #8 car being saved for another day. Normally when a bad car is loaded off the trailer and no matter what the team does to fix it with shocks, springs and spring rubbers, tire pressure, trackbar adjustments and such, A team will go to the back-up car early on. They had practice time before qualifying and qualified with the main car. If the main car was so bad, why didn't they go to the back-up car when they had the chance. If you drop out of the race when there is no hope of winning and your car is not handling well, you use the time on the track to make changes to the car so you learn for future races at this track. What they did was called missing the set-up, someone somehow dropped the ball on the set-up and believe me a sponsor like bud wouldn't be happy with a driver and team who up and quits while the race is on-going. Further Little E has enough money to ball that car and the back-up car up in little tiny pieces, money to him is no object. Most of these cars are track specific built, it could be possible that the car they built was total junk for some reason and they didn't have faith in the back-up car. I will bet you hear nothing more of it until the further in the season when they return to this track and the reporter reminds them of the fuster cluck they had for a car last time they were here.