38th Place Finish at Texas

The #48 finished in 38th place in the Dickies 500 today after being wrecked when my absolute favorite driver, Sam Hornish, Jr., was tapped by David Reutimann and got into Jimmie on lap 3. Well, at least that gave them plenty of time to work on the car, and they did a damn good job of it, too. Hats off to Chad and the 48 crew, as well as the guys from the 24 and 88 teams who came over to help out. As much as I hated to see that crash, I have to say, it was really interesting to see them work on the car...I wondered how mangled it would still look when they got done, but heck, all it needed was some decals and a little paint, and you almost wouldn't have known the difference! Here's a video from today's broadcast showing Chad and the boys going to work on the car.

Mark Martin finished 4th, which tightened up the points race considerably. Mark was 184 points behind Jimmie after Talladega, and now he is down to 73 points behind. Actually, I kind of like this. I'm sure Chad would disagree, hehe, but I think this makes it a lot more exciting. He still has enough of a points lead so I don't have to start freaking out, but now it's close enough that it'll be that much cooler when he gets the 4-peat because it'll be hard-earned. Jeez, I'm so excited for Phoenix and Homestead!

Ya know, that reminds me... I completely understand why they didn't race very hard at Homestead last year, and I wouldn't criticize that decision at all, but I have to say, I'm glad they're going to have to get up on the wheel a little more this year (unless Phoenix goes absolutely amazingly for them and horribly for Mark and Jeff). As much as I am in awe of Chad's genius strategies, sometimes my inner Rusty Wallace gets the better of me and makes me want to see Jimmie go out there and HAUL BUTT!!!  And due to the circumstances, I think we're going to get to see that this year!  Here's to a Homestead win and a 4-peat, woohoo!!

News Round-Up:

• In garage area, a different kind of championship effort (NASCAR.com)
• Johnson wills his team to finish (ESPN)
  
• Texas: Jimmie Johnson NASCAR Sprint Cup Quotes (PaddockTalk)
• JJ's delayed coronation, IndyCar gets new duds, more Texas notes (Sports Illustrated)
  

Great Interview with Chad

Here's a really good Q&A interview with Mr. Knaus from Yahoo Sports:

Chad Knaus: In his own words by Jenna Fryer

My favorite part?

JF: You'd be one intense hot dog man.
CK: I'd sell a lot, that's for sure.

That's for DAMN sure! Oooo-weee!! I would buy a hot dog from him any day! OMG, he totally needs a Knaus Sausage House franchise, haha! Ok, before this completely degenerates (because it so easily could, bwahaha), I'm just going to say that, along with "Big Bad Voodoo Daddy" and all the other silly nicknames I have for him, I now get to add "Intense Hot Dog Man" to the list, lol!

(And by the way, I want y'all to know how much restraint it took not to go there with the yoga pose question! *evil grin*)

12th in Qualifying

Ol' Double-J will be starting 12th (that's Row 6 for you non-math fans) on Sunday in the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. PLEASE win, Jimmie, I'm begging you, because I love seeing Chad in that cowboy hat so very much!

Since I'm feeling festive, here are a few "save a horse, ride a cowboy" worthy pics from the 2007 Dickies 500 to hold you over until Sunday (whereupon we will have more, hopefully):

Now isn't that just the cutest thing?  Love the extra-cheesy grin in the second one, hee hee - it just goes so well with the hat, lol! Good luck on Sunday, boys!

A Modest Proposal, courtesy of Ed Hinton

ESPN and I aren't always on the same page, it seems, especially regarding a certain other favorite driver of mine. This time, however, ESPN.com columnist Ed Hinton nailed my thoughts exactly and laid the smackdown Jonathan Swift-style on whiners everywhere.

I mean, ending the Chase at Daytona, and re-configuring the road coarse to make it a figure-8 race? And making the points leader a "provisional champion" and then have him race Dale Jr. in a match race for the final championship? Brilliant, am I right? See, you just gotta read it.

Here's the part that concerns our favorite hoopla-inducing crew crief:

Now none of this is to say Chad Knaus wouldn't analyze this carnival system and figure out how to beat it, the way he's done all the other systems. You know, the way he and Jimmie Johnson played against house odds but still broke the bank at Casino de Alabama this past week.

Ah, but you've still got NASCAR's ultimate equalizer: postrace inspection. And we all know NASCAR doesn't have to find anything illegal on a Chad Knaus car, just something it doesn't like or doesn't understand.

So, you have NASCAR's tech spokesman rush into the media center soon after the match race and announce, "We have issues with the 48 car."

You don't have to say what. Just issues. Suspense goes on, so you dominate the news on "SportsCenter" all evening.

Monday morning you announce the 48 car is being taken back to NASCAR's R&D
center in Concord, N.C., for further inspection. Get the TV news copters all along
the south Atlantic coast to do live aerial shots of the hauler progressing up I-95 with the impounded car aboard.

Now you're transcending ESPN and Speed Channel coverage and you're also live on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC.

Up in Concord, you still can't find a thing illegal about the 48 car, so after a few days you release it "without issues."

So the 48 five- or six-peats as champion?

Not to worry.

Think how furious and how mobilized Junior Nation will be. Think of how your revenues will soar as those slumping merchandise sales spike through the ionosphere. Especially the jackets and T-shirts that say on the back:

DALE EARNHARDT JR.
NASCAR SPRINT CUP CHAMPION
(IF THE 48 HADN'T CHEATED AGAIN)

You couldn't keep 'em on the shelves.

And you never know: A goodly number of Junior Nation just might stay camped out in the Daytona infield from November all the way to February, just protesting, just waiting for that dastardly 48 hauler to roll back in so they can boo it, rock it, throw things at it. Think of the revenue spike for International Speedway Corp., which could charge $1,500 a week for those reserved infield parking spots.

Hey, I'm just trying to help in these desperate times. I'm just applying NASCAR's usual modus operandi and adding a few old short-track promoters' gimmicks for a thorough fix to this whole thing.

Anything short of what I'm saying, NASCAR will just have to settle down and act like the other major professional sports leagues and accept the bad with the good -- the fact that sometimes you get dynasties like the 48 team that just whip the competition soundly, fair and square, over long periods of time.

Sometimes you can't manufacture drama, no matter how hard you try. (Full Story - ESPN.com)

A-flippin'-men. Things have turned into an absolute circus lately, whether it's on the fans', NASCAR's, or the media's part, and each one adds fuel to the others' fire. On one hand, people accuse NASCAR of manufacturing drama to suit the 48 and they don't like that, but on the other hand, in the last few weeks I've heard people come up with all kinds of ways to swing things in their driver's favor. I'm sorry guys, but which way is it? You know, I would never accuse the Rolling Stones of being wise, but they were right about one thing: you can't always get what you want.

HBO Doc on JJ at Daytona

HBO is going to expand their 24/7 series, which previously covered boxing, and will do a documentary on Jimmie while he gears up for the 2010 Daytona 500, fittingly called 24/7 Jimmie Johnson: Race to Daytona. It's going to be divided up into four episodes, with the last episode actually being filmed during the race (not broadcast live, though; it will air a couple days later). Supposedly we're going to see a side of Jimmie the fans don't normally get to see (ooh! does this mean there's going to be footage of the golf cart incident? hehe, sorry, couldn't resist), and hopefully there will be much Chaddage during the course of the series (and Ron Malec...please, God, let there be lots of Ron Malec, lol!).

Anyway, it sounds interesting... With four episodes to work with, I hope they really get into the preparation of the car as well as focusing on Jimmie himself. You don't often get to see/hear what goes on behind the scenes at a race, so over and above getting to know the boys better, I'm just excited at the opportunity to see how everybody works together and what all goes into getting the car ready for the biggest race of the year.

Get the whole story in an interview with Ross Greenberg, president of HBO Sports (from NASCAR.com)

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And speaking of documentaries, there's a new installment of the Chase 4 History video feature up on NASCAR.com from Sunday's race at Talladega. Um, I don't think I've posted the link to one of those since Kansas, have I? Sorry, guys, I'm falling down on the job! You can catch up on the rest of them by following the links underneath the video.

Talladega Photos

Looks like we got some good 'uns this week, yessir!  Good, that'll make up for the lack of Chadness from Martinsville (by the way, I did finally find another pic from last weekend, so check out the M-ville Photos post to see it).

Have I ever said how much I love his sideburns? I know - weird, but seriously, I do! I just love sideburns in general, really, but Chad + sideburns = extra cuteness. And WOW that second pic is a nice one!! Definitely a candidate for my next desktop background, I think.

Edit 11/4: Ya know, just when I think I've found most of the pics for the week, another one pops up! I mean, I'm not complaining, but since nothing tells you that I've updated the post, you're not going to be looking out for new ones after I post the first few, unfortunately. I guess just check back throughout the week to see if I've posted any more...I can't think of a better way to do it.

Chad on Addington Firing

Here's an article from the Orlando Sentinel about Chad's reaction to #18 crew chief Steve Addington's firing:

Chad Knaus on Steve Addington firing: "It sends a really bad message"

I spoke to Chad Knaus, Jimmie Johnson's crew chief, a few minutes ago about the 48 on its quest for its fourth consecutive championship. Curious about his take on Steve Addington being fired as the crew chief of the No. 18 Toyota, I finished up by asking what he made of it.

His feelings were strong about the crew chief who trails him in wins by just one over the last two years. Knaus delivered an impassioned defense.

"I'm really disappointed in that," Knaus said. "You know, I think it sends a really bad message throughout the garage and through that company for a team to be as successful as what they were, and win the amount of races that they had, and do the things they’ve done. And for Steve to lose his job, I think is really bad.

"I don't live it so I don't know when you shut that door, nobody knows what's said, so it's difficult to really say much about it other than I hate the fact that this has happened to him because he has done a good job.

"Whether the communication between he and Kyle went south and it was just unbearable, I don't know that. I just think it's terrible that a guy that's won 12 races over the course of the last two years and led as many laps as they have and been potential winners more times than even those 12, for that guy to lose his job, I think is just disgusting."

I asked if he had any doubt Addington would end up with another crew chief job.

"I think there's a lot of great teams out there that would be foolish to not approach Steve. Roush, Roush has been struggling. Childress. I think if you look at a lot of places, he’d be a great fit and I hope he can go somewhere and be successful.

"Nobody pours more into a race team than a crew chief, I can promise you that. And for him to work there with that 18 car through sub-par drivers at different times, a multitude of drivers and finally to get his hands on a very, very talented driver in Kyle, and to have the rug pulled out from underneath him, I just don't think that's fair." (Tania Ganguli, Orlando Sentinel)

I pretty much agree. Like Chad says, we can't really know what went on between Steve and Kyle, but when you look at the numbers, it sure seems like a shame that after winning 12 races with Kyle in two years, he gets the same treatment Tony Eury, Jr. did for winning 1 race in almost the same amount of time. And it seems even more out of left field when you take into consideration that Kyle was just as surprised to find out about it as Steve was. I just don't get it.

JJ Squeaks by at Dega

Jimmie took 6th place today, which I consider a miracle, after avoiding two wrecks at the end of the race. Just when I thought there was no way he could get back up to the front there at the end, all heck broke loose, and when the dust settled, there was Jimmie, all set to take home a top 10 finish. According to his post-race interview, I guess Jimmie, like me, wasn't so sure he could get back up there before the wrecks happened, but once again, Chad came through with a little reassurance, and sure enough, just like he said, things worked out in their favor.

 I'm so relieved that both Ryan Newman and Mark Martin are okay. Good lord Newman's wreck was scary. I wish most of the HMS and SHR cars could've gotten better finishes, but honestly, I'm just glad nobody was hurt. I have to say, that was NOT my idea of a good race. I'm pretty hard to tick off since usually I understand why NASCAR implements a rule even if I don't like it, but I do NOT understand what they thought they would accomplish with the new "no bump drafting in corners" rule. A) It made for a boring race up until the last 20 laps or so, and B) it didn't make the race any less hairy than usual because OF COURSE the drivers were going to do what they had to do to get up front, and just like we used to say in high school, they can't send everybody to detention ("detention" in this case being a pass-through penalty). So nice try, NASCAR, but no cigar. Not even a cigarette. I don't know what they're going to do about Talladega, but that wasn't the answer, if you ask me.

And way to go, Keselowski, for wrecking your future teammate (Kurt Busch). Man, I hate to say it, but you are setting yourself up for one heck of a year next year, and I don't mean the good kind.

Congrats to Jamie McMurray for winning the race - I hope this helps with his ride search for next year. It was nice to see him in Victory Lane for a change!