3/7/04…….. What happened to Dale Earnhardt Jr.? I think ol’ D W hit the nail right on the head during the pre race show. With the new tire and rear spoiler reduction, the key to the success in the race was going to be the shock absorbers. The cars needed to be hugging the track and set up for a downforce race.

What mystified me was the problems that Dale Earnhardt Jr. had during the race. I just don’t understand how a team can arrive at a racetrack on Thursday, unload the racecar, practice, qualify, practice a couple of times again, and then at race time find out that they don’t have the car set up to race. And this happens to a team that was leading in the points. Winning the Daytona 500, a top five finish the second week at Rockingham where they usually performed bad, then arrive at a track where they place second the year before and just lose it? What gives? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, junior needs to get rid of the Eury’s and get himself a team. You can’t compete for the championship with people like that.

Dale Jr.s made countless trips to the pits, running his team through hoops with changing shocks and springs until the wee laps of the race. I guess he figured that if they couldn’t provide him with a competitive car to race, that he was going to work them to death during the event. This went on until he got to the point where he wouldn’t gain any positions by returning to the track so he parked the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet.

Dale Earnhardt Inc. teammate Michael Waltrip whacked the wall after getting tagged by Bill Elliott and left the infield care center without comment, relating that his mother taught him that if he didn’t have anything good to say that it was better not to say anything…. At any rate, it wasn’t a good weekend for the DEI organization; the No. 1 car doesn’t have sponsorship and is parked, so at least they didn’t lose anything there!

In Dale Jr.’s defense, his wasn’t the only team that messed up, but his was by far the worst. Ryan Newman’s team, usually keeping the top car under the man to beat, also missed the boat, as did the teams of Robby Gordon, Scott Wimmer, and Greg Biffle, and quite a few others.

The moderately banked track at Las Vegas is very weather sensitive and is known to change constantly during a race. If a team didn’t have the car dialed in at the onset, then when the track changes occur, they’re even farther behind, trying to figure out the new tire and the track changes at the same time.

Matt Kenseth was the driver who’s team kept the No. 17 DeWalt sponsored Roush Racing Ford dialed in for the win. The victory was the second in a row (early in the season) for Kenseth, and the ninth win of the 2003 Winston Cup Champion’s career. Kasey Kahne finished second for the second week in a row, bolstering his lead for the 2004 Raybestos Rookie of the Year title.

Following Kenseth and Kahne across the finish line were Tony Stewart, Jamie McMurray, Mark Martin, Elliott Sadler, Casey Mears, Bobby Labonte, Kurt Busch, and Rusty Wallace. The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Kasey Kahne* -- No. 9 Dodge – finished 2nd
2. Kurt Busch -- No. 97 Ford – finished 9th
3. Brian Vickers* -- No. 25 Chevy – finished 23rd
4. Jamie McMurray -- No. 42 Dodge -- finished 4th
5. Ryan Newman -- No. 12 Dodge – finished 27th
6. Jeremy Mayfield -- No. 19 Dodge – finished 14th
7. Bobby Labonte -- No. 18 Chevy – finished 8th
8. Brendan Gaughan* -- No. 77 Dodge – finished 22nd
9. Greg Biffle -- No. 16 Ford – finished 40th
10. Bill Elliott -- No. 91 Dodge – finished 20th

Matt Kenseth came into Las Vegas second in driver’s points and left sitting on top of the heap with 523 points. Tony Stewart moved up four spots to second place with his top five finish and is now listed with a -88. Elliott Sadler moved up five spots to third listed with a -118, while Jeff Gordon moved up one spot to fourth listed with a -119. Kurt Busch moved up two spots to round out the top five with a -123. Right on Busch’s heels with a -124 is Kevin Harvick who dropped three spots to sixth place. He’s followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. who’s 35th place finish dropped him six spots to seventh, and is listed now with a -125. The big mover in the top ten in driver’s points was rookie Kasey Kahne who gained 13 spots to eighth with a -138. Jamie McMurray moved up two spots to ninth, also listed with a -138 followed by Casey Mears who moved up five spots to round out the top ten in driver’s points, listed with a -156.

Next week the Cup Series travels back across the country to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Golden Corral 500. The event is scheduled to be televised live by the FOX network at 1 pm eastern on Sunday, March 14th. Qualifying for the event is scheduled to be televised by the SPEED channel on Friday, March 12th at 3 pm eastern.

Last season’s winner of the spring Atlanta race was Bobby Labonte. He was followed across the finish line by Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Elliott Sadler, Jimmy Spencer, Dave Blaney, Joe Nemechek, and Ryan Newman.

Ryan Newman won the Bud Pole Award with a qualifying speed of 191.417 miles per hour. There were seven caution periods for a total of 34 laps out of the 325 lap event on the 1.54 mile tri-oval.

3/14/04…….. One week can make a lot of difference! If any of you actually believe that, I’ve got some ocean front property in New Mexico that I’ll unload on you really cheap.

At any rate, Earnhardt Jr., and his woe-begotten team that completely let him down last week, rose up from the ashes of defeat and claimed victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The win was Earnhardt’s 11th on the Cup circuit and his second this season.

The Dodges of Evernham Motorsports were really on top of things, with Jeremy Mayfield taking second place away from Kasey Kahne who finished third, scoring three top five finishes in a row while keeping his place atop of the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings.

Following the top three across the line were Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Dale Jarrett, and Jeff Gordon. The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Ryan Newman -- No. 12 Dodge – finished 6th
2. Brian Vickers* -- No. 25 Chevy – finished 21st
3. Jimmie Johnson -- No. 48 Chevy – finished 4th
4. Jeff Gordon -- No. 24 Chevy -- finished 10th
5. Elliott Sadler -- No. 38 Ford – finished 29th
6. Dale Jarrett -- No. 88 Ford – finished 9th
7. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- No. 8 Chevy – finished 1st
8. Kevin Harvick -- No. 29 Chevy – finished 32nd
9. Casey Mears -- No. 41 Dodge – finished 34th
10. Bobby Labonte -- No. 18 Chevy – finished 18th

Kasey Kahne seems to be taking the rookie battle by storm. He’s already had his bad luck, losing his engine on lap 42 of the Daytona 500, starting out the season at the bottom of the rookie standings. With three top five finishes in a row, he’s setting a quick rookie standard, much like Tony Stewart did in his rookie season. Kahne’s abilities are no fluke, and you can rest assured that he’ll find victory lane soon. There are Cup tracks that he hasn’t raced stock cars on, I can think of two right off to top of my head. The Busch Series doesn’t race at Pocono or New Hampshire, so that’s two tracks right there that may give him a problem. If I know anything about Ray Evernham, he’ll have Kasey running as many testing laps at those facilities as he can get away with.

Matt Kenseth’s sixth place finish was good enough to help him stay atop of the driver’s point’s standings in fine fettle. Kenseth is still sitting pretty with 673 points, 82 points ahead of second place driver Tony Stewart. Earnhardt’s win brought him up four spots to third and is now listed with a -90. Rookie Kasey Kahne’s great finish also moved him up four spots listing him at the fourth position with a -123. Jeff Gordon dropped down one spot to round out the top five with a -130. Kurt Busch also dropped down one spot and is now listed in sixth with a -146. Jeremy Mayfield’s great showing moved him up seven spots to seventh on the list with a -159 while Elliott Sadler missed the boat and dropped five spots to eighth on the list with a -192. Jimmie Johnson’s top five finish moved him up ten spots to ninth on the list with a -193. Bobby Labonte moved up one spot to round out the top ten with a -204. The biggest gainers this week were Jimmy Johnson and Ryan Newman. Newman also moved up ten spots and is listed in the 11th position with a -206. The biggest loser this week was Rusty Wallace, who dropped ten spots down to 22nd.

Next week the Cup Series travels a short distance up to Darlington Raceway at Darlington, South Carolina to once again attempt to tame “The Lady in Back.” The fifth race of the season, The Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 is scheduled to be run on Sunday, March 21st at 1 pm eastern. Qualifying for the event is scheduled to be telecast on the SPEED channel on Friday, March 19th at 3 pm eastern.

Last season’s winner of the spring Darlington event was Ricky Craven. He was followed across the finish line by Kurt Busch, Dave Blaney, Mark Martin, Michael Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Elliott Sadler, Matt Kenseth, Bill Elliott, and Tony Stewart.

Elliott Sadler won the Bud Pole Award with a speed of 170.147 miles per hour. There were 7 caution periods for a total of 33 laps out of the 293 laps on the 1.336 mile egg shaped oval.

This work was previously published at Suite101.com

3/21/04…….. The new rules concerning the use of unsuitable language during media interviews has taken the same old usual “double-dealing” spin that NASCAR is becoming so well known for. If one of their favorites comes out with an off-color comment during an interview, it’s brushed away without a second thought behind a bevy of excuses that would boggle the mind.

On the other hand, if a member of the show that isn’t in their clique happens to slip up in the heat of the moment, he’s dog meat. It’s okay for Dale Earnhardt so say the “D” word in an interview, but it isn’t acceptable for Johnny Sauter to say the “S” word. Sadler got fined $10k and 25 driver’s points while Earnhardt got a pat on the back.

This past Thursday evening, Jeff Gordon was exiting the restaurant at the Lunken Airport outside of Cincinnati, Ohio when he was confronted by a TV news reporter and cameraman from a local television station. Gordon pulled the classic Tony Stewart approach by treating the crew very badly and also using language that was unfit for broadcast.

Apparently Gordon had been in the Cincinnati/Kentucky area earlier in the day and was forced to return back to the airport after taking off, due to a mechanical problem on the private jet. It was reported that there was supposed to have been a fire in one of the plane’s engines, but no smoke was reported by on-lookers or the responding fire company. Gordon had dinner and bided his time for a couple of hours in the airport restaurant while waiting for another plane. He was accosted by the news crew at the door of the restaurant after the more than two hour wait.

NASCAR has refused to reprimand Gordon and has used the excuse that Gordon was upset by the fire incident and was in an agitated state of mind because of it. That’s a crock of bull! He had more than two hours to calm down. He had dinner, and probably had a few drinks at the bar if the truth was known, and may even have been inebriated when he got nasty with the news crew. The bottom line here is that he got away with using the profanity toward the media, and received the proverbial pat on the back from NASCAR. Their poster boys, Earnhardt and Gordon, can do no wrong! If NASCAR only knew how sick some fans are of having those two boneheads shoved into their faces constantly…….

Jimmie Johnson hung onto the lead in front of a hard charging Bobby Labonte after the green flag signaled the final four laps of the race following a late caution. The victory was Johnson’s seventh in his third full season in the Cup Series, his first in 2004, and his first win on “The Lady in Black”

Following Johnson and Labonte across the finish line were Ryan Newman, Robby Gordon, Elliott Sadler, Kurt Busch, Mark Martin, Kevin Harvick, Jeremy Mayfield, and Dale Earnhardt. The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Kasey Kahne* -- No. 9 Dodge – finished 13th
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- No. 8 Chevy – finished 10th
3. Greg Biffle -- No. 16 Ford – finished 12th
4. Kurt Busch -- No. 97 Ford -- finished 6th
5. Derrike Cope -- No. 5 Dodge – finished 25th
6. Ryan Newman -- No. 12 Dodge – finished 3rd
7. Rusty Wallace -- No. 2 Dodge – finished 29th
8. Tony Stewart -- No. 20 Chevy – finished 17th
9. Jeff Gordon -- No. 24 Chevy – finished 41st
10. Elliott Sadler -- No. 38 Ford – finished 5th

There were ten cars out of the event when the checkered flag flew, including Jeff Gordon, who had plenty to say about slow field filler cars getting in the way. Gordon got tangled up in the side of Andy Hillenburg’s No. 280 Ford after he was tapped in the rear and spun out by Tony Stewart. Both Gordon and Hillenberg retired their cars before the 30th lap of the race.

The narrow track at Darlington was a problem with the slower cars that fill the field to make up the 43 car total. There has been controversy in this early part of the season regarding these slow car field fillers. Some drivers tend to think that NASCAR should be thinking more about quality instead of quantity. NASCAR was accused of hiring nondescript teams to show up at Rockingham because of the low number of race entries for the event. It was rumored that NASCAR was offering teams $50k to show up and enter the race. The sanctioning body has vehemently denied these allegations, but certain insiders maintain that it actually happened.

Matt Kenseth still maintains the driver’s point’s lead, but only by a mere 21 points over second place Dale Earnhardt, who moved up one spot to take second. Tony Stewart dropped down one spot to third and is now listed with a -35. Kurt Busch moved up two spots to fourth with a -56 followed by rookie Kasey Kahne who dropped one spot to round out the top five with a -64. Jimmie Johnson’s win moved him up three spots to sixth listed with a -78. Jeremy Mayfield’s top ten finish allowed him to keep his spot at seventh listed with a -91. Right on his heels in eighth place listed with a -99 after moving up two spots is second place race finisher Bobby Labonte. Ryan Newman moved up two spots to take the ninth position listed with a -106, almost tied with tenth place Elliott Sadler who dropped down two spots listed with a -107.

Next week the Cup Series travels to Bristol Motor Speedway at Bristol, Tennessee for the storied Food City 500. The event is scheduled to be televised by the FOX channel on Sunday, March 28th at 1 pm eastern. Qualifying for the event will be telecast by the SPEED channel on Friday, March 26th at 3 pm eastern.

Last season’s winner of the Food City 500 in Thunder Valley was Kurt Busch. He was followed across the finish line by Matt Kenseth, Bobby Labonte, Ricky Rudd, rookie Greg Biffle, Sterling Marlin, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and Kenny Wallace.

Ryan Newman won the Bud pole award with a speed of 128.709 miles per hour. There were 17 caution periods for a total of 121 laps out of the 500 lap event on the 0.533 mile high banked (36 degree) concrete oval.

3/28/04…….. Slower cars continue to create problems during events on the smaller tracks this season. NASCAR black flagged a couple of competitors during Saturday’s Busch race for not running at what they considered to be a minimum speed.

NASCAR President Mike Helton is looking into the situation very carefully, which will no doubt lead to some future action. A certain set minimum speed can’t really be instituted because of the disparity between the different tracks on the circuit. The sanctioning body will have to determine a minimum speed for each venue. It may also set a certain minimum speed for qualifying at each venue, a move that may eliminate some of the slower cars from the onset.

It stands to reason that all competitors can be having mechanical problems, whether they are the regular stars, or those considered to be fill-ins. I don’t imagine that when the minimum speed is set, NASCAR will differentiate between them. A slow race car is a slow race car regardless of the driver or team. At this time, the emphasis is on the slow fill-ins, but when rules are mandated they will cover all competitors.

Sometimes we’ve seen the stars kind of limp around the track for several laps waiting for a caution instead of pitting under the green flag and losing a lap or two. If they black flag slow cars, this will change the strategy for teams that have fast cars with mechanical problems and will no doubt affect the outcome of the event.

Kurt Busch won the Food City 500 for the third year in a row, one of only a handful of drivers to have accomplished the feat. It was the first win of the season for Busch and the 9th win of his career.

Rusty Wallace ran a close second, and tried furtively to break his losing streak, but this wasn’t the race for that to happen. Kevin Harvick finished third followed by Sterling Marlin, Matt Kenseth, Ken Schrader, Ryan Newman, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Gordon, and Michael Waltrip.

The usual ruffled feathers prevailed, with a couple of drivers getting penalized during the race for their antics under caution. Tony Stewart, who had previously been warned about rough driving, was trading paint with rookie Scott Wimmer during caution, causing both drivers to serve a one lap penalty. Actually, it cost Stewart more than that as he had to stop in the pits several times for repairs to the damage caused in the incident. Jamie McMurray got into a ramming and banging session at the end of the race, ending when McMurray rammed the back of Kenseth’s car entering pit road. You can expect a fine to be handed down to McMurray for that one. McMurray was also warned for tough driving after he rammed Kasey Kahne on lap 59, taking him out of the race. It wasn’t one of McMurray’s better days.

Matt Kenseth managed to hang onto the driver’s point’s lead, but only by a narrow margin of 21 points. Kurt Busch’s win moved him up two spots to second listed with a -21 down from the leader. Dale Earnhardt Jr. dropped down one spot to third listed with a -41 while Tony Stewart also dropped down one spot, now listed in fourth with a -94. Ryan Newman moved up four spots to round out the top five with a -110. Right behind him listed with a -113 is Jimmie Johnson, who still remains in the sixth position. Kevin Harvick’s third place finish moved him up four spots in the standings to seventh listed with a -125. Jeremy Mayfield dropped down one spot to eighth listed with a -134 while Elliott Sadler moved up one spot to ninth listed with a -141. Sterling Marlins top five finish moved him up six spots to round out the top ten with a -171.

Next week the Cup Series travels to Texas for the Samsung/Radio Shack 500. Race number seven is scheduled to be televised by the FOX network on Sunday, April 4th at 1 p.m. eastern. Qualifying for the event will be televised by the SPEED channel on Friday, April 2nd, at 4 p.m. eastern.

Last season’s winner of the event was Ryan Newman. He was followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jerry Nadeau, Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, Jeff Green, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, and rookie Jamie McMurray.