With smoke in the air from all the wild fires still burning in southern California, the Los Angeles Kings outlasted the Dallas Stars for the first time since April 2006 on Thursday night October 25th at the Staples Center. A third period goal from Alexander Frolov snapped a 1-1 tie. With Dallas fortunate to be tied after two periods, the Kings finally took the lead early in the third on Frolov’s third goal of the season just 1:40 in. Derek Armstrong slid a no-look, behind-the-back pass out of the right corner to Frolov cutting through the right face-off circle, and the Russian winger blasted a one-timer past Marty Turco to give the Kings the 2-1 win.
Well my man Bobby Hamilton Jr. gave me a little bit more to cheer about on Friday night at Bristol. I was pretty excited when he used a gas mileage strategy to get to 5th place at one point in the race.
A gas mileage strategy at Bristol sounds like an oxymoron. But with the new track configuration that is what he did. That is some pretty smart strategy right there. And in the end it gave him a top 15 finish which isn't bad when there are as many Buschwackers out there as there were on Friday.
Never Give Up! The three words that best describe the effort of McDonald’s NASCAR Busch Series driver Bobby Hamilton, Jr. during Friday Night’s Food City 250 race. After qualifying in the 39th position, Hamilton very easily could have settled in for a long night of racing on the half mile speedway. Instead, he reached down deep and found the ability to pilot his No. 35 Team Rensi Motorsports machine to the front.
“We are happy to start as far back as we did and come home with a 12th place finish,” Hamilton said. “Chris and all the guys on the McDonald’s team gave a strong effort, allowing us to pass so many cars. We needed this run tonight and now we can go to California with some momentum.”
With the 12th place finish, Hamilton remained in sixth place in the season long Busch Series Point’s Championship.
With private-equity investors reported to be hungry for the prize, DaimlerChrysler could net up to 9 billion euros for the sale of its US division Chrysler, a German newspaper said Saturday. Welt am Sonntag, releasing news to appear in its Sunday edition, quoted sources close to the negotiations as saying the sale could yield 'between 6 billion and 9 billion dollars,' well ahead of earlier estimates. The Goldman Sachs investment bank had earlier forecast bids would top out at around 6 billion euros. Private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management lodged a bid for Chrysler on Friday, the newspaper said. Cerberus was reported to see the key value in Chrysler's financial services division.
Mike Skinner started on the pole and stayed out front virtually all day at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, leading all but seven of 253 laps to win his third consecutive NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. Coming off victories at California and Atlanta, Skinner set a series record by leading 246 laps and won for the 22nd time in his career. He became only the second driver in the series to win twice on the small, tight oval at Martinsville. "This was about as good as it gets right here," he said in Victory Lane.
Skinner beat Todd Bodine to the finish by 0.527 seconds after the 15th caution of the race brought about a two-lap dash to the finish in overtime. In all, the race went 253 laps, and 85 of them were run under a yellow flag because of numerous accidents. Each restart, however, only reinforced that Skinner's Toyota was the truck to beat. Series champion Bodine ran second in another Toyota, but never really challenged for the lead. "His truck was just incredibly strong the whole race," Bodine said. Skinner grew weary of the cautions, but appreciative of Bodine's style.
Mike Skinner had just secured the victory when his crew chief, Jeff Hensley, boomed over the radio: "We're going for No. 4 at Kansas." No rest for the dominating.
The win is Skinner's 22nd of his career. Ironically, Bodine was the last series driver to win three in a row, in the final three races of 2005. "That was cool, wasn't it? The thing just hauled butt all day," said Skinner, who leads the series standings by 94 points over Bodine. "I remember a couple years ago these Toyotas wouldn't run on short race tracks."
The only time Skinner didn't lead was during pit stops early. Even when Bodine used pit strategy to get better track position, he moved into second but couldn't close on Skinner.
It's the money stupid! Dope! What was I thinking? It's always show me the money!
Last year in California last place paid $80,000. Why? Should we really pay this for last place? No wonder some teams were trying to make a living as field fillers then parking a car only fit for qualifying after one lap. What was the point in that?
Thankfully, with the entry of Toyota this is not happening this year. But there is still something rotten in Denmark. Busch fields are short of entries. Why aren't these extra Cup teams running Busch?
Chorus:
It's the money stupid! Dope! What was I thinking? It's always show me the money!
Busch paid roughly $24,000 to start.
Cost to send trailer from North Carolina to California...$10,000
Cost to send four people with team...$5,000
Tire bill...$3,000
Not exactly priceless.
O.K. So why not run trucks?
Chorus:
It's the money stupid! Dope! What was I thinking? It's always show me the money!
How much did Mike Skinner win last Friday by winning the truck race?
$60,000.
$20,000 less than it pays just to make the Cup race?
Yep.
Which brings me to this. What should NASCAR do to rectify this situation?
How about revenue sharing? Pay less to start in Cup? Pay less to start in Cup and use money to pay more to start in Busch? Pay less to start in Cup and use money to pay more to win in trucks?
The brush south of the border can get thick in places I hear. Never fear. The Buschwackers are coming. Carl Edwards is leading the way.
Edwards says, “I really love traveling to Mexico. They have great fans and I am very excited. The Mexican drivers are fast. They’re going to be very hard to beat because this is their third year in the Busch cars. We have finished in the top-10 both years, but we struggled a little last year. I feel like we can do much better this year and I would love to do my back flip in front of the Mexican fans!”
On his right flank is Dave Blaney.
Although this is the third Mexico City race for the Busch Series, it will be Dave Blaney’s first time participating in the Telcel-Motorola 200. Blaney has never even seen the 2.518-mile road course, but he’s been doing his homework. Blaney has been watching tapes of the past two Mexico races to get a better feel for the track. Kicking off the season with a second place finish in Daytona and capturing the pole in California, Blaney and the Fan1st.com team plan to keep the momentum going in Mexico. Although he has never raced at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, he has logged a combined 21 starts at Watkins Glen International and Pocono Raceway.
Behind them are David Gilliland, Juan Pablo Montoya and David Reutimann. O.K. so it isn't a big bunch of wackers. Which makes my point. Separate the venues between Nextel Cup and Busch and you get a truer Busch race.
Of course I am also trying to drag you in here and get you interested in Busch racing. So stick with me.
Actually this is an excellent opportunity for Regan Smith to climb in the point standings and see if he can win the Busch title this year. Currently Edwards is second, Blaney is fourth and Smith is ninth.
Apparently, after filing an entry, wacker Greg Biffle who is currently fifth in the points, has decided not to make this trip. Current points leader and wacker Kevin Harvick did not plan to race. Neither did wackers Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart or Kyle Bush.
Coverage of the Telcel-Motorola 200 begins Sunday at 1:30 p.m. ET on ESPN 2.
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