5/2/04…….. Now that the "big show" is over at Talladega, we can get back to some real racing. Talladega's spring event was a "big show' gone haywire. Not only was the ending a farce, but the rough driving which was partly responsible for the record 11 cautions, showed the immaturity and non professional attitude of the drivers toward restrictor plate racing. Let's face it folks, the drivers and teams alike are tired of having NASCAR set up DEI with restrictor plates which give them a superior advantage.

No, I can't prove this, and neither can the other teams because now NASCAR doesn't allow teams to touch the plates. NASCAR used to hand them out to the teams, but now they have their people actually mechanically install the plates on the competitor's cars. Thus one of the main factors for the big "one engine rule" that they incorporated a couple if years ago. NASCAR has steadily been moving toward controlling the outcome of their events just like they were professional wrestling matches, and they're getting closer by the season.

NASCAR kind of lost control a time or two, and one of them was when Jeff Gordon ended up out in front of Earnhardt when the caution came out, giving him the win. The other was the Pepsi 400 event at Daytona when Greg Biffle won on fuel mileage. Then they moved to the smaller fuel cells so that teams would have to refuel more often, hopefully to take gas mileages runs out of racing to avoid them more embarrassment in the future. As much as they may strive to, they still can't boast total control over the field.

I got a couple of unsettling emails about a statement I made last week concerning how it was handy that Jeff Gordon's teammate spun out just as Gordon got ahead of Earnhardt. I was told in these emails that the No. 25 car was hit from the rear by the No. 41 car causing it to spin out, and was asked which race I was watching. Well folks, I was watching the Talladega race, and all it showed was a really quick clip of the No. 25 car spinning, it didn't show any contact. Someone stated after the event that the No. 25 was hit by the No. 41, and someone also stated that the moon is made of blue cheese, or was it green cheese?

I mentioned last week about the differences in the aero packages and that some of the teams would be complaining as they have constantly done so in the past. If there were any complaints, they were kept out of the media. Apparently the teams have been told that restrictor plate racing is now NASCAR's show and they'll do as they please. Let's take a look at what I'm getting at here. Last week at Talladega the top ten consisted of six Chevrolets, three Fords, and one Dodge. This week at California the top ten consisted of six Dodges and four Chevrolets. Last week a Ford won the pole and this week there are only two Fords in the top twenty with Elliott Sadler starting in 14th and Greg Biffle in 18th. There is quite a difference when you can really race without NASCAR's restrictor plates and aero packages. Just for the fun of it, the top ten for the April 4th Texas race on a 1.5 mile track consisted of five Chevrolets, four Dodges, and one Ford. On April 18th for the Martinsville event on the .526 mile short track the top ten consisted of five Chevrolets, three Dodges, and two Fords. It appears that regardless of where the event is, he Chevrolets and Dodges clearly have the qualifying advantage.

We've looked at the qualifying picture for the different models, now let's take a look at the racing picture and see what models finished where in those same races. The Texas race was won by the Ford of Elliott Sadler. There were four Chevrolets, four Dodges, and two Fords among the top ten finishers. The short track race at Martinsville was won by the Dodge of Rusty Wallace. There were four Chevrolets, four Dodges, and two Fords among the top ten finishers. The Talladega event went to Jeff Gordon in a Chevrolet. There were six Chevrolets, two Dodges, and two Fords among the top ten finishers in the restrictor plate event. What does all of this tell us? Don't race a Ford; Dale Jarrett would be better off racing the big brown truck!

Jeff Gordon seems to be back in his old championship form, winning two in a row by taking the checkered flag in Sunday's California race. The win was Gordon's second of the season and the 66th in the 12th year of the storied champion's career.

As in the Busch Series race Saturday, gas mileage was a major factor, with several competitors running out of gas on the white flag lap. Bobby Labonte had been chasing Gordon with a vengeance, but wasn't going to catch him to vie for the win. Instead, it appeared that Labonte was going to be a shoo in for second place, until he ran out of gas as Gordon took the white flag signaling the final lap of the event. The Evernham Motorsports cars of Kasey Kahne and Jeremy Mayfield also ran out of gas and lost out on what appeared to be top five finishes. They were both on pit road getting fuel in the No. 9 and No. 19 Dodges as Gordon passed under the checkered flag. Meanwhile, Bobby Labonte coasted across the finish line without power.

Once again, for two weeks in a row, major controversy surrounded driver Tony Stewart. Stewart started the race driving very rough, first getting into Jeff Gordon, then getting into Rusty Wallace twice, finally putting him into the wall and out of the event. Media reports had stated that Cup Director John Darby had requested a meeting with Stewart to discuss his faulty driving during the Talladega event, with Darby stating that it was all behind them and that the meeting was very productive. Apparently Darby just thought it was productive.

Last week at Talladega Rusty Wallace stood behind Stewart, while making excuses for the troubled race drivers actions and bad attitude. This week Wallace decided that Stewart was a pariah that needed to be dealt with severely. Even the FOX TV commentators were on Stewart's case because of his wanton disregard for his fellow competitors. Darrell Waltrip made the comment that the only way to effectively deal with Stewart was to park him for a race, like NASCAR did with Kevin Harvick when he appeared to have gotten too big for his britches.

After the event at Fontana, Stewart refused to talk with reporters, but later made statements that put just as much of the blame on Rusty Wallace as the other drivers were putting on him. Stewart claims that Wallace ran into him and that it was just one of those racing deals. Joe Gibbs, Stewart's team owner, claimed that the incident where Stewart got into Jeff Gordon at the beginning of the race was Stewart's spotters fault, and that the alteration with Wallace was just one of those racing deals. This kind of surprises me, it's clearly obvious that Stewart has an attitude problem and needs to be dealt with severely. I'm also surprised that someone from Stewart's sponsor, Home Depot, hasn't injected their two cents into the ruckus. Last season when Stewart was in trouble for man-handling a photographer, Home Depot was very vocal about making sure Stewart represented them with nothing but the highest integrity. I wonder what happened to that line.

Getting back to this week's race; following Gordon across the finish line was his teammate Jimmy Johnson, Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth, Bobby Labonte, rookie Brendan Gaughan, Terry Labonte, Casey Mears, Kevin Harvick, and Ward Burton. The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Kasey Kahne* -- No. 9 Dodge – finished 13th
2. Joe Nemechek -- No. 01 Chevy – finished 28th
3. Jeff Green -- No. 43 Dodge – finished 37th
4. Scott Riggs* -- No. 10 Chevy -- finished 25th
5. Brendan Gaughan* -- No. 77 Dodge – finished 6th
6. Brian Vickers* -- No. 25 Chevy – finished 29th
7. Ryan Newman -- No. 12 Dodge – finished 3rd
8. Sterling Marlin -- No. 40 Dodge – finished 27th
9. Rusty Wallace -- No. 2 Dodge – finished 35th
10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- No. 8 Chevy – finished 19th

Dale Earnhardt Jr. maintains the driver's point's lead by a narrow margin. One little slip and he's down the list. Jimmy Johnson and Jeff Gordon remain in second and third and are right on Earnhardt's heels with a -25 and a -27 respectively. Matt Kenseth moved up one spot to fourth listed with a -96 while Kurt Busch dropped down one spot to round out the top five listed with a -137. Kevin Harvick remains in sixth, tied with Busch with a -137, while Ryan Newman moved up two spots to seventh listed with a -154. The embattled Tony Stewart dropped down one spot to eighth listed with a -169. Bobby Labonte moved up one spot to ninth listed with a -188 while Elliott Sadler dropped two spots to round out the top ten with a -203.

Just for the fun of it, there are now 18 drivers within 400 points of the leader with Dale Jarrett coming in with a -387, and would be eligible for the Chase for the Championship at the end of the season. You can expect this number to decrease every week as the pints build and the spreads get wider. This week's big mover in the driver's points was rookie Brendan Gaughan who moved up five spots to 22nd. The biggest loser was rookie Scott Wimmer, who dropped four points to the 25th position.

There will be no Cup race next weekend due to the celebration of Mothers Day. I wish all of the mothers out there a great day!

5/16/04…….. It appears that Tony Stewart has become the favorite whipping post of the media. The two weeks off for the Cup Series didn't seem to do much to calm the storm surrounding Stewart and his penchant for bumping and banging.

During the Richmond race Stewart managed to get into the side of one of the golden boys after getting loose in turn three. Of course we all know that's the oldest trick in the book, to go into a corner too hard on the inside and use the outside car as a pick to bump off of to get you through the corner faster. Drivers have been using that one for years and will n doubt continue to use it as long as there's stock car racing.

Stewart took his media frustrations out on Darrell Waltrip, who has been calling for a suspension for Stewart from his highly visible media position in the commentators booth. Stewart fought a hard battle for position during the event with Michael Waltrip, and complained that Waltrip had the upper hand because of his brother's media power in the booth. Stewart was afraid to bump him or race him too hard for fear of reprisals in the media. He alluded that he would be better off going back to racing sprint cars where the bumping and banging isn't an issue. With the open wheel cars, one bump will take both competitors out of the race, they usually either race clean or they don't race at all.

We all have to concede though that Stewart may be telling the truth about these incidents. He claimed that he got loose in turn three on the speedy dry with a car that had been adjusted a little too much. He was the first car in the lead group with fresh tires and was able to move faster than the others ahead of him. He claims that he didn't hit Gordon intentionally, but is sure that Gordon will see it that way due to the way he has been chewed up in the media over the last four or five races.

The North Carolina Speedway at Rockingham is the latest casualty in NASCAR's quest for a bigger and better future. It's hard to comprehend if the track was dropped from the schedule due to the settlement over the Texas Speedway flap, or if it was just the result of the new schedule realignment. At any rate, the facility is history on the major NASCAR circuits.

Darlington also lost an event, narrowing down the monopoly that tracks in the south had for over 50 years in NASCAR racing venues. Both dates went west to the higher market areas of the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas and Phoenix, Arizona.

The big push these days is to fill up the seats in the grandstands and make all the money that can possibly be made from the big show as it rolls into town. It leaves one to ponder if Roger Penske knew how the International Speedway Corp. was going to handle racing venues in the future, would he have sold them his tracks? I feel that was a bad thing for Penske to do, although the France family probably made him an offer he couldn't refuse. If it weren't for O. Bruton Smith, the France's would have a monopoly in all of NASCAR. I wonder what kind of surprise they're cooking up to get Smith out of the Speedway Motorsports Inc. so they can control it all?

Dale Earnhardt Jr. prevailed to win his third race of the season and his 12th race in the fifth full year of his Cup racing career. In fairness to Junior, lots has been said about his restrictor plate dominance, and it should be noted that this was his second short track victory, having also won at the Richmond facility on May 6th, 2000. Junior took the lead late in the race by passing up a pit stop. His car was performing better on worn tires and he had enough fuel to make it to the end, making the decision a no-brainer. After a close battle with Jimmie Johnson for the lead in the waning laps, he pulled away to clinch the win.

In comparing careers, his father only won nine races in the fifth full year of his career, and four time Cup Champion Jeff Gordon only won ten. It seems that Junior is ahead of the game in the win column, and the best part of it is that this season isn't over yet, there's still over two thirds of it left to race.

Following Junior and Johnson across the finish line were Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Brian Vickers, Ryan Newman, and Michael Waltrip. The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Brian Vickers -- No. 25 Chevy – finished 8th
2. Ryan Newman -- No. 12 Dodge – finished 9th
3. Jeff Green -- No. 43 Dodge – finished 37th
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- No. 8 Chevy -- finished 1st
5. Jimmie Johnson -- No. 48 Chevy – finished 2nd
6. Robby Gordon -- No. 31 Chevy – finished 24th
7. Rusty Wallace -- No. 2 Dodge – finished 16th
8. Joe Nemechek -- No. 01 Chevy – finished 36th
9. Casey Mears -- No. 41 Dodge – finished 32nd
10. Greg Biffle -- No. 16 Ford – finished 21st

Dale Earnhardt Jr. still holds the driver's point's lead, now listed with a 40 point lead over Jimmie Johnson and a 62 point spread over Jeff Gordon. Junior had better keep all of his ducks in a row, one little slip by the Eury crew and the Hendrick teammates will pass him by like yesterday's news. Given the history of his crew's performance, it doesn't look good for Junior to lead by such a narrow margin. If we were into the middle of the Chase for the Championship, he would be in big trouble.

Matt Kenseth still remains in the fourth position listed with a -126 while the embattled Tony Stewart moved up three spots to round out the top five listed with a -194. Ryan Newman moved up one spot to sixth listed with a -201 with Bobby Labonte right on his heals after moving up two positions to seventh listed with a -213. Kevin Harvick dropped down two spots to eighth listed with a -239 with Kurt Busch dropping four spots to ninth listed with a -252. Elliott Sadler remains in the tenth position now listed with a -266. There are now 14 drivers eligible for the championship race-off with Rusty Wallace remaining in 14th listed with a -396. As the races progress, this number will be lowered considerably to the point where it's doubtful if the tenth driver in the point's standings will be within a 400 point spread from the leader.

Next week the Cup Series moves to Charlotte for the annual All-Star event. Please keep in mind that this is a non-points event and has nothing do with the Chase for the Championship. The race is scheduled to be telecast live by the FX channel on Saturday, May 22nd, at 7 pm eastern.

Drivers who won Cup events during the 2003 season and drivers who have won events this season are eligible for the race, as well as current drivers who are former All-Star event winners. This season only one driver, Mark Martin, is eligible as a former winner. The other 22 drivers that will be racing in this season's event are 2003 and 2004 race winners which can be found by looking at the 2003 schedule from the link on the index page on this site and by looking at my 2004 schedule for the 2004 race winners.

As most of you know, they hold a short "Open" event and the winner transfers into the All-Star race. This season they are allowing the fans to vote in another driver by voting on the NASCAR.com web site. You are supposed to be voting in your favorite driver, but not all drivers are on the list. The only drivers who you can choose by voting are the drivers who registered for the race. Please note that a lot of the drivers on the voting list don't even have rides or jobs this season. Anyone with a NASCAR license to race in the Cup Series was eligible to register, which put a lot of off the wall competitors on the list to try and lure fan support.

Believe it or not, I voted for Jimmy Spencer driving the No. 4 Morgan McClure Chevy. After all, what's an All-Star race without Mr. Excitement?

5/24/04…….. Matt Kenseth took the majority of the marbles away from the other all-star drivers in the annual event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Kenseth is known for keeping his cool and biding his time, and that's what got him the victory Saturday night.

That, and fresher tires than race leader Ryan Newman. When Newman passed up a pit stop before the last 20 lap segment, it was the move that sealed his doom costing him the cool million that the cool Kenseth won. With just a couple laps remaining, Kenseth moved up close to Newman's rear bumper and then easily drove around him stretching his lead to several car lengths by the time he crossed the finish line.

While Kenseth won the event for Roush Racing, there was still a lot of dissention within the Roush camp. Eager beaver Kurt Busch decided to involve his teammate Greg Biffle a "bump draft" maneuver which backfired. Someone needs to teach the over zealous Busch that bump drafting is best left to the restrictor plate tracks. I'm sure he's heard that more than once from team owner Jack Roush since the fateful Saturday night screw up on his part that took out several cars including he and his teammate Biffle. Last season's winner Jimmie Johnson was also taken out by Busch's move, along with Kevin Harvick, Joe Nemechek, and Robby Gordon. To say that Biffle was upset would be an understatement. He certainly didn't have any kind words for Busch during his post race interview.

Following Kenseth and Newman across the finish line were Tony Stewart, Michael Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, rookie Kasey Kahne, Elliott Sadler, Rusty Wallace, and Mark Martin. The top ten starters and how they finished the all-star event:

1. Rusty Wallace -- #2 Dodge – finished 9th
2. Ryan Newman -- #12 Dodge – finished 2nd
3. Matt Kenseth -- #17 Ford – finished 1st
4. Mark Martin -- #6 Ford -- finished 10th
5. Tony Stewart -- #20 Chevy – finished 3rd
6. Kevin Harvick -- # 29 Chevy – finished 22nd
7. Elliott Sadler -- #38 Ford – finished 8th
8. Michael Waltrip -- #15 Chevy – finished 4th
9. Bobby Labonte -- #18 Chevy – finished 15th
10. Greg Biffle -- #16 Ford – finished 19th

Sterling Marlin won the Open event which moved him up into the all-star event. The fans voted in a driver, and the lucky winner was Ken Schrader. Open winner Marlin only raced 11 laps and ended up finishing 18th after being taken out of the race by Kurt Busch's shenanigans, while Schrader finished 13th, completing all 90 laps in the segments.

Next week the Cup Series remains at Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600 Memorial Day event. The race is scheduled to be telecast live by the FOX network at five pm eastern on Sunday, May 30th. Qualifying for the event will be televised by the SPEED channel on Friday, May 28th at four pm eastern.

Last season's winner of the 600 was Jimmie Johnson. He was followed across the finish line by Matt Kenseth, Bobby Labonte, Jimmy Spencer, Ryan Newman, Michael Waltrip, Sterling Marlin, Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett, and Ward Burton.

Ryan Newman won the Bud Pole Award in the #12 Alltel Dodge with a speed of 185.312 miles per hour. There were eight caution periods for a total of 46 laps out of the 276 lap event which was called short of the usual 400 laps due to inclement weather.

5/30/04…….. "NASCAR really isn't worth watching anymore, it's obvious that it's fixed and the races are getting more boring by the week." This is a statement I received in an email after the finish of the Coca-Cola 600. I usually don't like to allude that the Charlotte Motor Speedway sold its name to Lowe's and that most folks call it Lowe's Motor Speedway. To me, it'll always be Charlotte Motor Speedway. In this case, I'm making an exception. Both cars sponsored by Lowe's won weekend events at the Lowe's facility. When something looks too good to be true, it usually is!

Jimmie Johnson, piloting the #48 Lowe's Chevrolet, lead 334 laps out of the 600 mile 400 lap event. There were times when he was ahead of the field by more than half of the 1.5 mile race track length. These cars are supposed to be equal, with the same carburetors, the same sized engines, the same aerodynamics, and the same spring packages in the chassis. If this was truly the case, one car shouldn't be so dominant. I guess NASCAR figures that if they can get away with it on the DEI cars at restrictor plate venues, then they can get away with it anywhere. Hey folks, at least they go to the trouble to make professional wrestling look real!

The win was the eighth for Johnson in the third year of his career, and his second victory of the season. Following him across the finish line were Michael Waltrip, Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray, Elliott Sadler, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Casey Mears, Jeremy Mayfield, Tony Stewart, and Rusty Wallace. The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Jimmie Johnson -- #48 Chevy – finished 1st
2. Ryan Newman -- #12 Dodge -- finished 35th
3. Jeff Gordon -- #24 Chevy -- finished 30th
4. Elliott Sadler -- #38 Ford -- finished 5th
5. Brian Vickers* -- #25 Chevy -- finished 15th
6. Tony Stewart -- #20 Chevy -- finished 9th
7. Brendan Gaughan* -- #77 Dodge – finished 33rd
8. Jeff Green -- #43 Dodge -- finished 27th
9. Bobby Labonte -- #18 Chevy -- finished 13th
10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- #8 Chevy – finished 6th

Earnhardt Jr.'s sixth place finish barely kept him in the driver's point's lead. He now tallies in with 1798 points, just five measly points ahead of second place driver Jimmie Johnson. Defending Winston Cup Champion Matt Kenseth moved up one spot to third listed with a -111 while Jeff Gordon dropped down to fourth listed with a -144. Tony Stewart remains in fifth with a -211 followed by Bobby Labonte who moved up one spot to sixth listed with a -244. Elliott Sadler's top five finish moved him up three spots to seventh listed with a -261 with Kurt Busch moving up one spot to eighth listed with a -280. Ryan Newman's blown engine near the end of the event dropped him down three spots to ninth listed with a -298 with Kevin Harvick dropping down two spots to round out the top ten with a -300.

After 12 races, there are only two drivers left out of the top ten who are eligible for the Chase for the Championship. Kasey Kahne remains in 11th listed with a -375 and Jamie McMurray moved up one spot to 12th listed with a -384. Rusty Wallace is in the 13th position listed with a -417, which makes him ineligible for the Championship run. The way this has shaken out with only 12 races in the books for the 2004 season, it's clearly obvious that there will not be ten drivers participating in the infamous "Chase for the Championship" that the sanctioning body has been touting as its new charm for NASCAR racing.

Next week the Cup Series moves up the pike to the Dover International Speedway at Dover, Delaware. The MBNA 400 is scheduled to be televised by the FX Channel on Sunday, June sixth, at 1 pm eastern. Qualifying for the event will be telecast by the SPEED channel on Friday, June fourth, at 2:30 pm eastern.

Last season's winner of the June 1st Dover event was Ryan Newman in the #12 Alltel Dodge. He was followed across the finish line by Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart, Johnny Benson, Rusty Wallace, Matt Kenseth, Ricky Craven, Robby Gordon, and Terry Labonte.