Thread: They're back!!!! Getting my 1st NASCAR fix of the season!!!!

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Originally Posted by Dave Severson

The Fords were strong all week and Kenseth brings it home 1st in what's probably going to go down as the weirdest Daytona Speed Week ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amen on the weird, Dave, Amen!! Some wild racing this week, and the Blue Oval's ran strong like you predicted!

At least the finishing hour wasn't so bad for most of the rest of you folks in distant time zones - it was close to 1:30 before I shut my eyes

Besides the pain of the "commentators" we seem to be having to listen to not one but two Waltrips. TG for a mute button

The actual racing, between various parties of multiple cars getting together, was really pretty good even with in-pack two car drafting. I believe that Jr had the only Hendrick car that stayed whole - and he actually ran a good race. Almost make me believe that he and Papa Rick had a sit down to discuss his future, contract not withstanding

I gotta say, that surface repair was impressive. The way the track crew methodically, and relatively quickly, went step by step through that process..................there had to be some excellent planning, training, and scenario gaming. They learned a lot from that stooges routine they did a couple years ago on the pothole.

Hamlin kept pushing his game all evening, surprised he couldn't get involved in the finish..........almost appeared like he and Harvick weren't going to help Jr. at the end. Biff did his job as a team mate, I don't care what he says about not being able to pull up on Kenseth. Probably Uncle Jack had a bit of a talking to him too about the antics of a few days ago. Considering how most of the other Chevs did it's a wonder that Jr. was anywhere near competitive. Kenseth did his job just about to perfection the whole night, deserved the win.

Watching the process I had not realized that they applied a patching compound, said to be "..street bond..." to the surface to lock in loose particles. Said the whole thing was ten or eleven steps, which they accomplished pretty quickly, all things considered. Putting out that jet fuel fire and cooling everything down was really done very well. Kudo's to their track support guys.

I was surprised that Hamlin didn't play a bigger part in the finish too, Bob. He'd been up front a lot all night.

Originally Posted by rspears

I was surprised that Hamlin didn't play a bigger part in the finish too, Bob. He'd been up front a lot all night.

I ran track in high school and had to learn the hard way when doing middle distance (440, 660) not to be the rabbit and run myself out too early. Competitive spirit makes you want to bury the competitors (in your mind anyway) early. The smart runners kept with the pace of the group and had energy in reserve to kick to the finish. I'm gonna guess Hamlin was embarrassed by his performance last year and wants to "make a statement", and he did himself proud last night. But when the end came, he showed (I think) that he wasn't quite in league with the top three finishers who were separateing themselves in the last lap.

My only complaint on the whole race echoes Dave W.'s, who do you suppose the idiot at FOX is who hired both Waltrips to be commentators? Michael can occasionally say something intelligent, but his older brother just babbles when he's not trying to convince us that he's the greatest that ever was......

The Ford guys really drove a smart race, saved it all for the end of the race and turned some 200 mph laps to stay ahead!!!! Only thing to say about the start of the race is that you can't win the race on the first lap, but you sure can lose it!!!

You know when in three races Danica was in three crashes and all are said not to be her fault,but yet I got to wonder..........why.Bad luck??.Or maybe she isn't ready for that level of NASCAR needing more seat time.

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Only thing to say about the start of the race is that you can't win the race on the first lap, but you sure can lose it!!!

Dave, that sounds like a quote from either Rick Hendrick (or Jeff Gordon) talking to Jimmie Johnson this morning

xxx times 3

Do you think Jimmy even stayed at the race??? or watched the end??? Hell, he might not even be up yet!!!

I did watch everything except the first 30 laps or so----would of liked more on track action instead of the garage stuff fixing Dmobile(Danica) but the track action (racing ) was boring--at least the last 100 miles weren't all planned pit stops( I've not enjoyed the 500 mile races ever since they went to the smaller fuel cells years ago to create more stops/action???????)

Have to give Jr some credit that he didn't just slam the two fords hoping to get thru the debris for the checker(like some old timers did )

Originally Posted by 1gary

You know when in three races Danica was in three crashes and all are said not to be her fault,but yet I got to wonder..........why.Bad luck??.Or maybe she isn't ready for that level of NASCAR needing more seat time.

Probably some of both. Post race interview - she said she was really wrung out physically and looked it

Then there are some guys (male drivers, that is) that have a hard time accepting the fact that there really is a competitive woman driver mixing it up with them and in good equipment and in this case, a bit of jealousy with her celebrity status to top it off.

Originally Posted by jerry clayton

Have to give Jr some credit that he didn't just slam the two fords hoping to get thru the debris for the checker(like some old timers did )

He gets a lot of flak for not meeting expectations, some deserved, some not. But I think he and Kenseth really showed how a plate race should be run. No doubt their equipment was a big part of it, but at just over 100 miles to go, when the weather predictions showed possible rain coming, those two hooked up together and moved from roughly mid pack to the front in fairly short order. Shows an understanding of how that game is played well. Kenseth ended up with the advantage of a team mate, while Jr. didn't apperar to have any committed "friends" up front when needed. Gotta say, he made the most of it despite being a somewhat "lone ranger".

Originally Posted by jerry clayton

Do you think Jimmy even stayed at the race??? or watched the end??? Hell, he might not even be up yet!!!

I did watch everything except the first 30 laps or so----would of liked more on track action instead of the garage stuff fixing Dmobile(Danica) but the track action (racing ) was boring--at least the last 100 miles weren't all planned pit stops( I've not enjoyed the 500 mile races ever since they went to the smaller fuel cells years ago to create more stops/action???????)

Have to give Jr some credit that he didn't just slam the two fords hoping to get thru the debris for the checker(like some old timers did )

He's probably sleeping in, Jerry, unless Hendrick's woke him up with a phone call. During the long delay one of the drivers, when asked what they were talking about in the big group mentioned they were saying that Jimmie was probably already home, and maybe in bed!! And ya' gotta think that some of those old timers were looking at that final lap hollering, "Bump 'em, Junior, Bump 'em!! Don't be a (pansy)!!"

Well, ya gotta catch em before you can bump em!!!! I think Jr. was smart enough to remember that the big bump and run out of turn 4 on a superspeedway usually takes out the bumper and the bumpee!!!! With Jr. pushing on Biffle they couldn't close on Kenseth. Maybe that lower spoiler on the rear lets enough air down off the back of the car to slow the rear car down unless he's ready to drag the brake, back off, and take a run at the leader.... Kenseth definitely had both Biffle and Jr. out horsepowered on the last couple laps! That, along with whatever the air is doing now with the changed aero package on the rear on the rear of the car pretty much sealed the win for Kenseth! I'm sure that Jack had also mentioned to both Biffle and Kenseth that he didn't want to see 2 of his cars pounding on each other for the win!!!! Kenseth had the car, the power, and the crew all week!! Sure was good to see the Ford's win another one at Daytona, I'll say that! Roush ended up with 1st, 3rd, and 8th, not a bad speedweek for the Cat in the Hat!

I've been on a jobsite over here in Suffern New York so I haven't been able to spend time on the "finer things in life" , but I did get to watch some of the race, 'til about 11 PM EST.. I didn't find out the winner 'til 4:30 the next morning on ESPN.

So here's my two cents.. Thank Goodness for Juan P. Montoya! for giving us something to get excited about! I know I am in the minority in a big way but I HATE pack racing and am disappointed that nascar "nation" wanted this back. So we go back to the sponser with the deepest pocket wins. All the front runners are the big names. IF they had called the race over after JPM smacked the jet dryer, that would've at least given the race to a "nobody". And he (the car owner) was worried that they would be required to leave that winning car at the track for the year 'cause he didn't have enough parts to run Phoenix!

Sorry, I still root for the underdog, bad habit but I get tired of the same winners over and over. And the pairings of cars caused a lot of lead changes and ANYBODY could for 2 car teams and have a shot of getting to the front and contend for the win.

So, I found the race boring, dragged on & on, and I'm glad it's over!