Jimmah starting 2nd @ MI

JJ is starting 2nd next to Kasey Kahne for Sunday's race at Michigan (weren't we just there? answer: yeah). Niiiice! That's what I like about being a 48 fan...you get a few "challenging" races here and there to make it even sweeter when they start winning again (and to make me laugh when the press inevitably starts in with the "OMG is JJ losing his touch aaaahhhhh apocalypse!!!" stuff).

Of course, I suppose this will be one of the more challenging races now that I've gloated all over the place, but really, as long as Chad's calculator has a fresh battery, and Jimmie doesn't floor it the whole time, and they FINISH the race, I'd consider it a pretty successful day at Michigan. Yeah, you're never going to live that one down, sorry, guys. I'm not that creative a writer, so I WILL exercise my right to bring it up whenever I have a lack of material. Like right now.

Also, speaking of writing, I'm also not that smart a writer and would like to take back most of what I said until the new schedule comes out. I am completely confused about when everything's going to be, so I will make more informed comments (such as, "OH HOLY GOD why is THAT race THERE?!" etc.) once everything is set in stone. Sorry.

Schedule Changes

Thought I'd put in my 2 cents about next year's schedule changes since part of it affects me.

While I'm really bummed that Fontana is losing a date, I understand. The track doesn't sell out, and Southern California isn't known for being the biggest NASCAR market around. However, I really hate that we're losing the Chase race. I know, I know, Chicago has the second-largest media market in the series, so we can't compete, but here's why it sucks:

• October was the perfect time of year for a race at Fontana. Not too hot, not too cold. I can't tell you how perfect the weather was last year.
• The spring races at Fontana and Las Vegas are too close together. If anyone else is like me, they would like to go to both, but they have to pick one or the other because it's too much money to spend all at once. I understand they're probably going to move Fontana a little later and make Phoenix the second race (which I'll get to in a minute), but if it's any earlier than April, it's not going to work. May would be perfect, or June. Don't even THINK about putting it back in August though - that'd be one way to be absolutely certain nobody shows up. I refuse to sizzle like a miserable piece of bacon on a hot skillet.
• I'm just mad at Chicago, okay? They won the Stanley Cup this year, somebody with an Illinois license plate cut me off today, and now this. It's a good thing Chad is from Illinois; otherwise I'd be REALLY grouchy. :thinks happy Chad thoughts: Okay, I feel better now. :)

One thing I do like, though, is that they're moving Phoenix into Fontana's former slot as the second race of the season. There's still too much of a chance of rain in Fontana in February, if you ask me, and Phoenix is already too darn hot in April, so this is a perfect switch. I just hope that they actually do SWITCH the dates instead of jumbling things around so that Fontana comes earlier than April; otherwise, like I said, it's too close to Las Vegas. I mean, I suppose everybody in Arizona is going to be bummed that Phoenix is so close to Vegas now, but Southern California has a much bigger pool of people who might want to go to a second NASCAR race, so I think we win that battle. I wish they could be spread out so all of us could go to all three races around here, but seeing as how Florida and the Southwest are the only places that aren't under piles of snow in February, a couple of them have to be back-to-back out of necessity.

Also, I think it'd be super awesome if Las Vegas was the last race of the year...it would segue so nicely into Champion's Week! It's so not going to happen, especially since Ford pours a whole bunch of money into the Homestead race, but just for the record, I think it's a great idea! I'm sure everybody in Florida would disagree, and I know if it was here and they took it away, I'd be heartbroken, so I won't whine about this too much. Just sayin', I sure wouldn't mind if the season ender was in Vegas.

...And a word on Pocono

Just really, really glad Elliott Sadler and Kurt Busch are okay. Elliott scared the absolute insides out of me. I never really understood the overwhelming importance of the HANS device until today...if a car hits something with enough force to yank the engine out of the car, ugh, I don't even want to think about what that's doing to your body. Yeah, let's not go there... Hugs for everybody!

I was hoping Tony would win since he got the pole and needs a win and all, but for once I'm okay with a Roush driver winning because I want Jack Roush to feel better as soon as possible, and if that doesn't make him feel good, I don't know what will. I'm so glad he's basically okay, too. What a week.

A load of BS by any other name will smell just as bad

Can I just say how completely torqued off I am that Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman got fined for "talking smack" about NASCAR?

Now, I understand that there is a need to straighten up and fly right when it comes to your sponsors; they're paying you to represent their company. But when a GOVERNING BODY, which is supposed to be for the benefit of the sport, suppresses freedom of speech, all that says to me is Soviet Russia.

NASCAR apparently thinks that drivers sharing their honest opinions about the governing body is detrimental to the sport. To me, this is denigrating and condescending to the fans. Do they think we're so stupid that we don't realize when a screw-up has occurred, and that if they shut up the drivers and the press, we'll just suddenly get amnesia about said screw-up and think everything is hunky dory? How very insulting to our intelligence.

Also, I'm not sure what they're afraid of if the drivers DO say something negative about NASCAR. If so-and-so says, "NASCAR sucks and here's why!" on national TV, do they think we're going to say, "Yeah, he's right, I'm going to stop watching NASCAR from this moment on"? Uh hur hur, maybe if we didn't pass 3rd grade. However, if we did, we're probably going to say, you know what, he's right, there's a problem, now let's see how we can fix it. And we'll all call up Chocolate or Moody or whoever on XM (hehe, I listen to that channel wayyy too much) or write in our blogs or even send some mail off to Brian France c/o NASCAR with all of our ideas on how to fix the screw-up. We like NASCAR, capisce? We appreciate drivers' honesty on what's wrong with it because they're our voice and because we, the drivers and the fans, all want to see it improve! Call a spade a spade, for frack's sake, and let's move on!

My other big beef is the complete inconsistency and unfairness with which NASCAR handled this particular situation with Ryan and Denny. I specifically remember Carl Edwards, after one of his episodes at Dega (probably the Brad run-in), saying something like, they'll keep going along until somebody gets hurt and then they'll finally change something. Now why didn't he get fined for making comments detrimental to the sport in that case? And I'm SURE Tony Stewart has mouthed off before, and sometimes he gets in trouble, and sometimes he doesn't. I don't like that at all. I always thought NASCAR did a little better than most other sports about having fair and consistent rules, and then stuff like this comes out of nowhere and makes them look like the damn NHL (you know I love hockey, but Gary Bettman can shove it). Some people are already sure NASCAR plays favorites with drivers, and picking on two drivers out of all of them to fine does not help their image whatsoever.

In a nutshell, this inconsistency in rule enforcement, coupled with the total bass-ackwardsness of trying to control their image by suppressing the drivers' thoughts, is doing WAY more damage to the sport than Ryan Newman saying, "Hey, these restrictor plate races have some problems" EVER could.

Chad on Race Hub Tonight!!

The one and only Chad Knaus will be on SPEED's NASCAR Race Hub tonight at 7 pm ET.

Will write more later...was out of town.

Why JJ hasn't picked a name yet

Wondering why JJ and Chandra haven't come to a decision on what to name their baby daughter? Well, I think I might know what happened: seeing as JJ implicitly trusts Chad in all things, he certainly must have asked his 4-time champ crew chief for some suggestions on what to name her, knowing that, much like his creative solutions at work, he'd come up with something besides the usual choices like Ashley or Emily (I like those names myself, but you smell what I'm cooking...I mean, hell, my name's Jessica - doesn't get much more common than that in the '80s). What he didn't count on was how much Chad's passion for his work would influence his suggestions...

Chad's list of baby names:

- Micheline
- Valvolina
- Chevelle
- Mercedes
- Pennzoilita
- Daytona
- Charlotte

So, after JJ read the list, one of two things must've happened: either he realized that the names weren't exactly what he was looking for, or else he thought they were great but Chandra nixed them. Either way, at that point they must have reached a bit of an impasse when it became clear that Chad, despite his uncanny prowess at the track, was not going to help them in this field. Hence, they still need a few days to think about it! Sounds logical, right?

You know, in all seriousness, after writing that list, I actually think it would be kind of cool if they named her Charlotte. I think it's a good, normal-sounding name by itself, and it also happens to be a track that Jimmie's really good at, so it would have extra significance without scarring the kid for life (unlike Daytona, for example). But Pennzoilita's my real favorite, though, lol.

New Hampshire Photos

I only gave it a quick look, but I didn't see any Daytona pics, so I guess I'll get up-to-date on last week's pics, at least. And sorry for the lack of race recap this week...I was in the middle of writing it on Monday when I got on Twitter and found out that former Red Wing and general hockey legend Bob Probert had passed away, and I didn't really feel like writing anymore after that. It wasn't really shaping up to be anything exciting, anyway. It's a lot harder to think of flowery language when your guy gets wrecked with 12 laps to go...but it's a lot easier to think of colorful language, on the other hand. Anyway, the pics:

Ya know, I can't say that's my favorite pic of either one of them. JJ looks like he's entered into an oddball sunglasses contest versus Kyle Busch, and my dear Chadly has Graham Chapman-meets-hat-hair. Nothing personal, boys, you're still studs, but I just couldn't let this one go. The first pic, for instance, is much more indicative of your inherent charm. Even if you do look slightly tense there, heh. And, of course, Johnson still needs to lose the shades, but bonus points for the pose. Okay, catty fangirl will try to get some sleep now...you know it's late when you bring up a thesaurus and then type the word "thesaurus" into it, ha.

Congrats, JJ!

Congratulations to Jimmie and Chandra, who welcomed their daughter into the world today! July 7th...I like that date. They say 7's a lucky number, and it's 7/7, so there you go! I hope all three of them have a wonderful first day at home!