BleedinBlue

I think it is reasonable to assume that Jr. will end up at the back of the pack in today's race as he has already shot his annual wad last Sunday. I just hope he takes out Stewart. If not him.....then someone!! If Jr. put Stewart into the wall.....I might actually start liking the guy. But I'm afraid he's so unlike his father that that is only a pipe dream!

If they banned the race car for a few races as well.......then that'd be justice. For all practical purposes, evereyone wonders if cheating didn't help Johnson gain his first Daytona victory. There will always be that cloud hanging over that win.

I'm a die-hard Knick fan, but I can tell you that they could get the best player in the country at every position, being coached by the best coach in the country and they would still be a .500 team. I've never seen anything like it. They are loaded with talent as it is and they already have Brown as their coach and they just plain suck, night after night after night. If they make the trade it will make no difference. The Knicks have just plain forgotten how to win. The first thing they should do is get rid of Isaiah. He's impetuous and makes trades for trades sake. He trades up and comers for old has beens. As soon as the team starts to gel, he trades away one of the meat-and-potatoes guys. We'd be in the lottery game this year if it wasn't for the fact that Isaiah traded away our no.1 pick without "lottery insurance".......................hmmmmm, I'm getting pissed just talkin about it

I think I'd go with Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch as they seem to have really fast cars and are willing to help each other out....unlike the old duo of Newman and Wallace. However, you can always go with the front runners of Stewart and Gordon

It is often said that the "apple doesn't fall far from the tree". Well.....in my opinion, junior's apple rolled down the hill after it fell from the tree because he drives nothing like his father did....not even close. Junior inherited one of the finest owner/crews in NASCAR and was handed an above competive car. I admit that he is a better than average driver at Daytona, but after that.....he's mediocre at best, not even qualifying in the top ten racers last year (in fact, had a pretty good "last race" that moved him up a couple of notches to claim the 19th spot in the 2005 standings) It doesn't get much more "average" than being right in the middle of the pack for regular drivers. Yet........every analyst in the media spends half their time cheering and talking about Junior. I watched a race last year in which he was in 35th position for half the race yet the cameras followed him the entire time as though everyone in the world was interested in Jr.'s race. Meanwhile, Carl Edwards drove a fantastic race in which he won, but only got camera time in the final few laps. Dittos for Biffle, Newman, Mayfield, etc......all drivers that were far ahead of Junior in the race and in the standings. When it was obvious that Junior wasn't going to be close to reaching the top ten in standings to make a run for the title, the media acted as if the world had come to an end and one by one, each lamented his poor season. The point: Why all the media fixation on Junior? Why do all the rednecks come out of the woods and leave their trailers on Sunday to ride in their pickup trucks to the racetrack wearing number 8 all over their bodies? Kyle Petty's son was killed in wreck in the same year that Junior's father was killed......but the Petty's haven't gotten more than 50% of all NASCAR news the way Jr.'s has. Regardless......I can't stand Jr. because of the way the media has tried to turn him into, "America's Driver", the way that Dallas' marketing gurus turned the Cowboy's into "America's Team".

Yeah....doesn't it suck when the driver you root for crashes??? Being the Ryan Newman fan that I am, I end up cursing about half the races. He crashes more than he finishes. If he would just drive with the attitude of working to protect his car, he'd be a perenial Nextel Cup Champion. Hell....he works his way towards the top of the points board even when he doesn't finish half the races he's in. Anyway....I feel your pain - not because of Biffle crashing - but because I know the feeling!

Yeah.....to bad he sucks as a driver

Geesh......what part of, "I don't like Gordon" do you not understand. I don't hate him, I simply do not like him. I don't like any driver that drives a Chevy period. But that doesn't mean I don't recognize a talented driver. FYI, I am a big fan of Ryan Newman. I have been ever since he joined the Nextel circuit. I also "like", Kasey Kahne, Kyle Petty, and Bill Elliot.....but Newman is the main driver I cheer for. I enjoy watching Gordon, Stewart, Junior, and Johnson crash and burn. In fact, it's almost orgasmic to see Stewart get into a really hard crash.

When it comes down to the final laps.....it's every man for himself and every position counts. Why would someone help Junior out at the expense of his own run??? The only time a driver will help another driver near the end of the race is if there is something in it for him. Sometimes drivers "owe" another driver a return favor. If you notice, Junior is not exactly out on the track helping other drivers and earning that "return favor" bump. I didn't see anyone help Tony Stewart as you pointed out in your followup post, but if they did, it was to get him out of the way or to push him into a hole that the bumper could follow him into. No one in the field likes Stewart as Stewart has alienated nearly every driver at one time or another. As far as Junior winning the race.......he had to earn it by being the best driver with the best car today. He met neither of that criteria and therefore, finished where he did. His fans should be happy that he finished in the top 5 because after his mental error a few laps back when he fell 15 spots in 15 seconds, he was damn lucky to end up where he did.

I'm certainly no Johnson fan...........not by any stretch of the imagination. But give the guy his due. He raced a clean race and did a superb job of driving. If his car is illegal, it'll be caught. If it isn't....then suck it up and tip your hat to the man who won the big one.

I watch about 20 races a year and always read up on Monday mornings to see who did what. I certainly don't live or die NASCAR like some people I know, but I know a lot about what's been going on with the Nextel drivers. I never liked Earnhardt Sr.,......hence some of the sarcasm you may have gleaned from my previous posts. I really dislike Jr. because he is treated by the media like the second coming of Babe Ruth to baseball or the second coming of Jim Brown to football............when from a pure skill perspective, he's more like the second coming of an average baseball player who hits 18 HR's, 90 RBI's, and has a lifetime BA of .270.........not exactly Ruthian. I understand that people feel bad about his father dying in a wreck, but geesh....that was 5 years ago and he got himself killed trying to block faster drivers behind him. That doesn't make his redneck son the greatest driver in NASCAR since Richard Petty. I say "enough already"......I've seen races where Jr. is in 30th place and doing nothing to gain on anyone and the camera team still dedicates more than 50% of the race following him while completely ignoring racers in the top 5 or racers who have climbed 20 spots and working their way up to the front. A good example can be taken from today's broadcast. There was never a time when the media did not let everyone know exactly what Jr. was doing.....what troubles he had.....what position he was in....etc. But to someone who follows Casey Mears or Ryan Newman........you were on your own trying to figure out what they were doing even though they ran faster and finished higher than Junior. Dittos for Johnson. As far as I'm concerned, when Junior is winning the race....focus on him. When he isn't......focus on all the other drivers who are ahead of him and/or running better. The time for, "let's all get behind Junior because his dad died" has run it's course as far as I'm concerned. Let's go to the next chapter and follow winners. But back to your point. Gordon isn't a dirty driver and rarely loses his temper or crashes some other driver because of anger. For Stewart.....that's just an every week thing!

It's good to be near the front on the last laps of the Daytona and Talledega cuz all the guys in the middle are subject to get collected by the first hothead to start the big one!!!

I respectfully disagree. I'm no Gordon fan, but I respect him as one of the great drivers of my time. He's had his moments....particularly with Stewart, but overall, he doesn't start a lot of crashes. Stewart on the other hand has always been a hothead with a big mouth. There's hardly a driver in the field that Stewart hasn't purposely crashed because of his short fuse.....and it's the shortest fuse in NASCAR. BTW....I'm a Ryan Newman fan first and foremost, and he's lookin real good right now!!!!! :lol: (knock on wood.....the man crashes and burns more than any other driver )

I know that there are always changes, but I just can't picture a Labonte in anything but a Chevy and I can't picture Coors not sponsering a car this year. One change I like (at least I think it's a change) is that during a commercial break if an accident happens they cut the ad off immediately and take you right to the action. They should do the same in all sports where something is being played out live!

I don't follow NASCAR like a crazed fan, but always get excited when the Daytona 500 starts off the season. The only races I will refuse to miss all year are the ones at Daytona and Talledega. So anyway.....I'm shocked at a few things: 1) no "VIAGRA" on Martin's car.........what the hell's that all about??? 2) Sterling Marlin driving a Chevy with not a hint of "COORS" in the race????? 3) Holy shit!! Bobby Labonte without a Chevy and driving the famed 43 Dodge of the Petty's.......WOW!!! 4) Kurt Busch driving a Dodge - the famed "2" Dodge of Rusty fame????....I didn't see that coming! 5) Didn't Nemechek used to be a decent driver?? He seems to like the back of the pack lately. 6) How can anyone have worse luck than Kyle Petty? Is he proof that "nice guys" always finish last? 7) Will Tony Stewart ever get his just dessert by getting put into the wall every race for the next year? 8) How is it that there are 200 million "Junior" fans when he has no personality, cannot get along with his crew, and has been a really shitty driver for over year now. Surely, there must be a limit to a man's fan club craze that was built simply out of sympathy for his father's death by his own hands while trying to block in the last lap to ensure his son's position in the race. These are just a few of the things that have me baffled this year.

This race is turning to bullshit. Stewert is driving the race like it's kid's bumper cars. Must be he's afraid of Gordon and Kenseth and figures the only way to win is to crash them. What a friggin loser!!!

Today's race would be great if Junior crashes bigtime and in so doing, collects Gordon, Johnson, and Stewart. Then it all comes down to a nasty tight race for the last 20 laps between Newman, Biffle, Martin, Kahn, McMurray and Mayfield.........but out of the clear blue comes Kyle Petty to take the checkered by a nose!!!! Now that would be a race worth watching!!!!! :lol: