Arena Raise Hell, Praise Dale - NASCAR/North American Racing Series Discussion

So, I'm not a big NASCAR fan, but the headline Earnhardt Jr. to drive for Hendrick caught my eye.

Again, not a big fan, but a team consisting of Dale Jr, Jeff Gordon, and Jimmie Johnson is enough to catch the ear of even this not-even-a-casual fan.

 

Heh, Jr and Jeff Gordon will be teammates. I'm expecting chilly temperatures in Hell tomorrow.

This brings back memories of the Hendrick #25 Budweiser Chevy from years back. Jr fans should be very happy. He'll be at the best team in nascar.

Terry Labonte to run the #55 at the road courses? UPDATE: hearing that two-time Cup champ, Terry Labonte, will run the #55 NAPA Toyota at the road course races at Infineon Raceway [where he finished 3rd in the #96 last season] and at Watkins Glen in August. Labonte would have the past champions provisional to use and since he won his last championship in 1996, he would vault ahead of #21-Bill Elliott who win his championship in 1988, guaranteeing the #55 will make both races.(6-12-2007)
UPDATE: Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) announced today that two-time NASCAR Nextel Cup Champion [1984 & 1996], Terry Labonte will step into the #55 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry for the road course races at Infineon Raceway and Watkins Glen International. "It's not an easy decision for me to remove myself from the car, but I know it is for the betterment of our whole program," said Waltrip. "I know Terry's experience and road race savvy will breathe a little bit of fresh air into my young NAPA team." Labonte has had much success at road course tracks finishing third at Infineon Raceway last year and has six top-10 finishes at Watkins Glen International. "To put Terry in the car is a reflection of the big picture we are trying to establish with this NAPA Racing team and hopefully, it will be the spark this team needs," Waltrip said. "I look forward to watching the NAPA team compete and learning more about all the MWR cars from a different perspective, exclusively as an owner." NAPA supports Waltrip's decision. "NAPA appreciates and respects Michael's dedication to move our racing program forward and regain our on-track competitive edge," said NAPA President Bob Susor. "We thank him for his efforts and dedication to NAPA and welcome the addition of NASCAR champion Terry Labonte to the NAPA family for these road-course events." Waltrip will return to his NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota for the Lenox Industrial Tool 300 on July 1st at New Hampshire International Speedway.(NAPA/MWR PR)(6-12-2007)

And it just keeps getting more pathetic.

 

I think I'm going to be very confused now. I know Jr. wants to win and I can understand him doing this, but how am I going to root for a Hendrick team? I can't stand the other guys but their organization has been winning everything. with a for JR.

 

Well it's official. Dale is going to Hendrick next year.

 

As a Junior fan, I'm feeling nauseous.

 

Oh man, I'm so going to call my sister tomorrow and tease her mercilessly about this. Jimmie won't be winning so many races next year.

 

I think the transition is going to be very rough. Who is going to be number one on this team? The only good thing is Busch won't be there.

 

Hendrick will now be all 4 of my favorite drivers, hehe.

This is awesome for me. I've always like Jr., but I'm not a DEI fan. I like the whole Hendrick camp, but I really dislike Kyle Busch. A nice switcheroo and it's all good!

I am surprised though, I totally expected him to go to Childress. It would have been the perfect 4th team for them.

As far as PocoNO(Hate that track, way too long and the two races are WAY to close together), that was the best race I'll probably ever see there. Steve is a genius, though he did get lucky there. Newman would have had the lead in the Tunnel's exit.

Also, I understand why NASCAR was hesitant to through the caution while Jimmie was throwing crap all over the track, but.. well he was throwing crap all over the track! At least it didn't cause any more problems.

 

Hey J-A-S, been a long time.

I want to thank Steve Wallace for wrecking the **** out of Carl Edwards in the Busch race tonight. He, as well as Kevin Harvick last year, are destroying the Busch series and I don't even care about it anymore.

Oh my, is a Busch series driver going to win a Busch series race tonight? What are the odds of that?!?

 

I'm looking forward to NASCAR R&D getting the CoT done, so they can make a new car for the Busch Series and get it running as it's own series, not just Nextel Cup Super Practice.

I mean c'mon, Mustangs, Camaros and Challengers are what they should be racing, not Impalas & Fusions. (Avenger's okay I guess.)

 

So Mak, are you going to be at the Busch Race this weekend?

 

For the first time in 10 years I think, I will not be at the Busch race. My girlfriend is dragging me to a wedding in Iowa.

I know I won't be missing much though. The races have always stunk. We just hang out in the infield all day and watch the race at night. I'm sure Carl Edwards will dominate anyway.

 

My condolences. Not for missing the race, but for having to be in Iowa.

 

Yeah, no kidding. But her uncle owns a bar and beer's always on the house when family is there so I guess I can sneak into that deal.

 

Now Herman, we know you love Iowa. You are there all the time.

You know I had a nightmare that Dale joined Hendrick and Kyle Busch joined Childress the other night.

 

Jeff & Jimmie parked after their cars fail inspection.

Ouch. Kinda reminds me of Jeff's T-Rex car, the guys at Hendrick push the cars in directions Nascar doesn't want to go.

Anyway, congrats to Jeff on his baby.

Also, Marty Smith seems 100% sure that Nextel will be changing the name to the Sprint Cup Series next year. I have the same PoV as Darrell Waltrip on this.

There has been conversation about Nextel changing the name of the series next year to Sprint. I don't like the sound of "Sprint Cup." There are too many other "sprints" in racing like sprint cars. But if you had "Sprint to the Cup" or "Sprint to the Chase," those two would work. You've got to have a little something to go with "Sprint Cup," and "Sprint to the Cup" sounds good to me.

 

I vote for bringing Winston Cup back.

I'm avoiding all nascar related media this week because I don't want to hear about how great JPM is. From my point of view, it looked like he drove those final 10 laps like a 7 year old racing Sears Point on Playstation. How many times did he lock the brakes up?

Until he wins convincingly on an oval, I'm unimpressed.

 

Well, really, he won a fuel mileage race. Credit to the team for that one.


And where is this place in Iowa with the free beer?

 

You have to be with the family to get that. Sorry.

Herman, can you explain why everyone in Iowa smokes? The wedding reception was half empty because everyone was outside lighting 'em up.

 

I got my Milwaukee Mile fix today because I stood in the turn 1 grandstands watching Bill Elliott, David Ragan, Robby Gordon, David Gilliland, and Jamie Mcmurray testing. Not the most exciting list of drivers, but it's still Nextel Cup cars.

 

Well I picked a very upsetting day to come back and start talking NASCAR around here, with Jeff, Jimmie, and the penalties that came out today. As a die-hard Johnson fan I?m getting tied of Chad being suspended, but hey, can?t blame the dude for pushing that envelope. That's what I like about him.

 

Iowa sucks, so smoking just comes naturally to them, I guess.

 

Wallaces clash over career expectations

Um...

Rusty Wallace: 55 career wins
Steve Wallace: 55 career wrecks

 

LOL.


So with Chad Knauss gone for a bit maybe the playing field will be leveled a bit.

 

I think we're also going to find that as the season wears on, other teams will catch up to Hendrick regarding the COT. The Gibbs team and the RCR cars seem to be stepping up quite a bit from where they were with the new car.