Tuesday, July 7, 2009

The Speeding Bullets: Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola



  • Congratulations to Tony Stewart on his second points win of the season. His pit crew made big contributions all night long by getting out first on every single stop; now that is a job well done! I could tell in victory lane just how much he has matured over the past year when he acted really upset and said that he didn't want to win races that way. I like his empathy, but he needs to savor this win as any other because the competition to get to victory lane is as fierce as ever. The calamity on the front stretch at Daytona came down to two drivers who would do anything it took to finish first, and it was all a result of one guy's error in judgment. The heat of the summer is the time of the year when Smoke really gets his game on. Let's just hope that it doesn't get turned off before the Chase starts or Jimmie Johnson will have another runaway championship...
  • Kyle, Kyle, Kyle; kudos on receiving your first Mistake of the Week award for 2009. As most of you have already realized, Saturday night's finish was practically identical to the one a few months back at Talladega. Kyle and Carl both made the mistake of blocking the second place car when there was virtually no space to make such a move. The difference between the two incidents is that we cannot blame this one on NASCAR's stupid little yellow line rule because Tony Stewart had absolutely no place to go to avoid the wreck. I know that it is a driver's gut instinct to block another driver, but I think there was a slight chance Kyle could have won if he raced Tony side by side to the line. The one positive thing I have to say about Wild Thing this week is that I think he made a good decision by declining the interview...
  • Things cannot get much worse this season for Dale Earnhardt, Jr.; he is already at the bottom of the trench. Do you realize that he hasn't even gotten a top ten finish since the Talladega race back in April??? That's almost three months! I would love to see this crew chief change produce stellar results, but I think Junior Nation just needs to finally admit the one thing they will do anything to cover up...
  • I really thought that it was finally time for Denny Hamlin to break his winless drought. He ran a great race but just got betrayed there at the end by Jimmie Johnson. This is not the first time that Jimmie has prevented him from winning a race. It seems that luck just hasn't been on his side so far this season. Maybe that will change as we start the second segment on Saturday night...
  • I think that Ralph Sheheen is a really good fit for TNT. They made a great call by firing Bill Webber and using him as a replacement. His knowledge from being a pit reporter is coming in handy since he is now having to talk nonstop for three hours. I also have to applaud TNT for a fantastic job with their Wide Open Coverage; I wish all races could be like that one. I could picture Billy Bad Boy cussing up a storm while he was sitting at home watching it all...

That's all I have for this week. I had a great birthday weekend all-around. I really impressed myself by finishing the 6.2 mile Peachtree Road Race in one hour, one minute, and thirteen seconds. My parents even surprised me with an iPod touch as my gift this year...



9 comments:

Gene Haddock said...

Great Bullets this week.

TNT's coverage was great with the Wide Open, and with Shaheen. But Wally and Kyle are getting worse.

Neither one of them called out NASCAR for not penalizing Hamlin when he passed under the line. They both tip-toed aroung it. They saw it, then mentioned it, then dropped the subject when they saw NASCAR wasn't going to do anything.

klvalus said...

Great picture of you Gonger!! Congrats on finishing the run too...

I agree that Kyle probably could have out run Smoke to the line had he not thrown the second block.

Junior had no place to go, nothing he could have done about that at all regardless of who his crew chief was. He was coming thru the pack when it happened. His luck is bad but Harvick's is WAY worse!

TNT was ok, Sheehan is better than Weber but that is putting the bar pretty darn low. Agree with Gene, Wally and Kyle are worse and always are giggling like school girls...

Course we are going to have to deal with Hot Rod Rusty soon so not sure what is worse.

jon_464 said...

Gonger, great Speeding Bullets as usual. Congratulations on completing the race! Shaheen is doing a GREAT job. He's a natural. Now if they can only replace those other two guys. As for Jr's luck, I concur with Kristen, Harvick's is WAY WAY worse. At Sonoma, Harvick was on his way to a top ten, perhaps a top five, when he: 1) cut a tire; 2) lost a cylinder. Jr Nation just has to face the fact he's lost his desire to drive. And once you lose it, it's almost impossible to get it back.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, there's no editing on here.

Good job, Gonger, on the Bullets and on the race. Wonder what Kasey's thoughts were with another car on top of him? lol

The AJC had the names of EVERY runner and where they came in at on their website. I started to look for you but then I remembered that all is know is GONGER! LOL

HAPPY 16TH BIRTHDAY, AGAIN!

tezgm99 said...

Tony may have matured on the track but has he done so off it? If not, then he really hasn't changed at all for me (please don't hit me, SB!).

storkjrc said...

gonger, nice bullets and congrats on the race. i agree with everyone that wally and kyle are getting worse. They kept yelling about Kyle blocking and him getting whats coming.

Its good to see blogs and comments from literate people again. LOL

SpeedBeagle said...

Great read as usual and congrats on the race.

As for race coverage, right now I'd settle for Brent Mussburger, Bob Costas, and Howard Cosell if I could watch a race. I won't get to see another race until they get back to ABC at Richmond.

Tez- I won't hit you, but Katie may be getting a Tasmanian devil chew toy :o).

Brent said...

Gene- Thanks. I agree with you about Wally and Kyle; I think they did much better of a job last year. The Hamlin situation is a perfect situation of how NASCAR is biased.

Kristen- Thanks. If Kyle managed to outrun him, it would have only been by an inch or two. With the criticism of Junior, I am just looking at the big picture...

Jon- Thanks. Harvick is to a point now where I am not even sure it is possible for him to make the Chase. His goal for the rest of the year should just be to win a race.

Brent said...

Beverly- Thanks. Kasey's heart probably started racing faster than his car to say the least... lol.

Tez- I think Tony has matured all-around. He always has been a little sassy though to the pit reporters.

Stork- Thanks. Wally and Kyle just haven't ever gotten in their groove this season. Although, they hardly have time to anyway with only six races.

SpeedBeagle- Thanks. I don't think it's right for Sprint Cup races to be put on cable t.v., especially one as big as this one...