This is part of why I hate Jr. fans, not Jr. mind you, he is a skilled driver and his integrity far surpasses that of his father making him more admirable in my book. But his fans. Jeez!
They never get tired of tooting their horns. They can't even read each other's blogs and comment on them and have a discussion. No, they all have to toot their own horns.
Jr! Jr! Jr.!
Bring me a barf bag already.
Hell, half of his fans can't even tell you what the COT is.
Even Jr. says he was lucky. His fans won't admit it, but it's true.
Does it take anything away from the win? Hell no.
Fuel mileage is a part of racing and even a bigger part of racing in IRL and F1. So the win is nothing to be ashamed of. Michigan is often a fuel mileage track. That's part of why it is one of my favorites, that and four wide on the front tri-oval. Awesome track!
Look, jon talked enough about it, so comment on his blog.
Hope, sweetie, your welcome here but bring something new when you post, please?
Tyler, your recap is good, so I'll give you a pass. And don't let anyone give you #### regarding cutting and pasting. It is part of the history of blogging that evolved from newsgroups. Stand tall.
Joker. Man, your a good blogger. But this one wasn't necessary.
Rise up Jr,. nation? Please.
Watching from above? Nice sentiment. But there is no theology that indicates that looking down from above is even possible. In fact theology suggests a great gulf that can not be crossed. Dale may be racing with the other lost greats. But he ain't looking down.
Frever? Sunoco fumes through stainless steel lines? Sea of green, hell the sea parted and red and yellow Michigan seat colors were dominating by race end as most peripheral Jr. fans had left the building. But they'll tell all their friends thay stayed till the end and saw him win.
Change the life of Jr.,? I bet he's laughing his #### off at all this stuff. He know he was lucky, that it just worked out for him, and he's taking it all in stride and that's fine. But changing his life? A bit over the top I say.
Sr. passed away several years ago. It's been over five years. When will the opining stop? I miss Tony Roper, but nobody seems to remember him. I miss my dad, but I don't go on and on about it.
Time moves on. Let it go.
Inverted, you get a pass, you added a lot to the discussion with a different angle in your blog. Well done.
Cody gets a pass too. I like to see other drivers get mentions.
Bobdot can have a pass too. His rambles are, well, his rambles.
But bobat? Take the message board posts to a message board.
And what did all of you miss. Well something only us Jamie fans will remember I guess. We damn near stole that one from you. And hell yeah, we would have taken it, luck and all.
On a special Father’s Day afternoon at Michigan International Speedway, Roush Fenway Racing driver Jamie McMurray came close to giving his father, Jim McMurray the ultimate Father’s Day present – a trip to Victory Lane. Late in the race, the No. 26 Crown Royal Cask No. 16 team felt they had enough fuel to run the distance and battle with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. for the win but when the caution flew with just two laps remaining, the No. 26 team was forced to pit for fuel, and settle for a top-10 finish in this afternoon’s Lifelock 400.
Should the Charlotte Observer report that Jamie McMurray will be parting ways with Roush-Fenway Racing at the conclusion of the 2008 season be true, then adding McMurray’s name to the list of silly season spectacles could add yet another twist to this ongoing saga. Roush has already locked up Carl Edwards to another multi-year deal and appears to be only a few minor details away from re-signing Greg Biffle to his current contract. So, with Bobby Labonte, Martin Truex Jr, and Elliott Sadlerall already being reported as being re-signed with their teams for 2009, and Joe Gibbs Racing going on record by stating that they would not allow Tony Stewart to exit his contract obligations early, that would leave McMurray and Ryan Newman as the two biggest names on the market assuming that Roush’s deal with Biffle does in fact go through.
Richard Childress Racing has already stated that they are in search of a driver to field their fourth Cup car for next season, and the lineup at Penske Racing remains uncertain with Ryan Newman yet to be re-signed and the future of Sam Hornish Jr. with the team potentiall in question. There have also been a few reports that a release from Hendrick Motorsports for Casey Mears might not be out of question, and nobody appears to be safe over at Chip Ganassi Racing, so a potential return for McMurray there could even be in play. So, there could definitely be some opportunities for McMurray should the rumors of his departure from Roush hold true. As stated earlier, however, McMurray told reporters on Monday that as of right now the rumors are false.
McMurray first broke onto the Cup scene in 2002 while substituting for an injured Sterling Marlin over at Chip Ganassi Racing. He won the Fall race at Lowe’s that season in only his second career start. He drove the next three seasons full-time for Ganassi, finishing between 11th and 13th in points in each of those seasons. Since moving to Roush in 2006, McMurray has won only one more race (the Pepsi 400 last year at Daytona), and finished 25th in points in ‘06 and 17th in points last year. Jamie fell outside of the top-35 in points following the fifth race of 2008, but has since been able to climb his way back to 22nd thanks to seven top-20 finishes in the past nine races.
To listen to the hype surrounding the beginning of this NASCAR season, the Hendrick Motorsports behemoth is poised to roll over everyone in its path. This amuses Jack Roush, who not so long ago was the other behemoth in the garages.
By JIM ALEXANDER The Press-Enterprise
Two years ago, when Matt Kenseth won the winter Cup Series race at Fontana, it finished a Roush sweep of the weekend after Mark Martin had won the truck race and Greg Biffle the Saturday Busch Series race. Roush had just come off two championships in the previous three years (Kenseth in 2003 and Kurt Busch in '04), and had placed all five of its drivers in the Chase for the Cup in '05. They were, some daffy columnist suggested at the time, the Yankees of NASCAR because of their financial resources and research and development assets.
The point is that Hendrick ascended to what appeared to be super-team status when Dale Earnhardt Jr. signed on, creating a colossal marketing/competitive triumvirate of Earnhardt, two-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. Yet through the first two weeks of the 2008 season, Penske's Ryan Newman and Carl Edwards have won races, and Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch -- the guy Hendrick tossed overboard to make room for Earnhardt -- leads the points standings.
Edwards, Kenseth, Biffle, David Ragan and Jamie McMurray acquitted themselves fairly well at Fontana in Roush Fenway's Ford Fusions. Besides Edwards' triumph, which he celebrated with his traditional back flip, Kenseth finished fifth, Ragan 14th, Biffle 15th and McMurray 22nd.
Bowles-Eye View · Thomas Bowles · Frontstrech - Monday July 23, 2007
As the 2007 season enters its final 16-week stretch, Sterling Marlin has recently found himself stretching for any help he can get – his career sidetracked by way of the unemployment line, courtesy beleaguered car owner Bobby Ginn. After releasing Marlin and fellow veteran Joe Nemechek this week due to team restructuring, Ginn made it clear that lack of sponsorship – both men were running without full-time support – proved the biggest motivation behind making changes to his team. Fans have been merciless in their criticisms ever since; for all I can tell, Ginn’s about as popular in NASCAR-land right now as Kyle Busch with Hendrick Motorsports.
In some ways, those fans have a beef. As I pointed out in Sports Illustrated two weeks ago, there’s no doubt Ginn hasn’t been the best of owners – right now, the way he’s running his team into the ground makes Britney Spears’ fall from grace look pleasant by comparison. But behind all the yelling and screaming from the old-time crowds and some of my fellow talking heads, Ginn does make one point about Marlin’s release that carries weight. To make an organization work at NASCAR’s top level, you need sponsorship to make it happen – and in order to snag sponsorship, you need to produce. Unfortunately for Marlin, now 50 and in the midst of what he claimed was his last full-time season, that hasn’t happened for quite sometime.
It’s not like the driver wasn’t given every opportunity to make things happen. After three crew chiefs plus an owner change, the No. 14 has been through several transformations – and none of them have worked. Twenty races in, Marlin’s lone distinction is the only driver to make every race and not come up with a Top 10 finish. When added to last season’s collection of disappointments, the best Marlin’s been able to come up with since sitting in this seat is a 9th at Richmond – over one year and 45 starts ago.
If those are the most recent numbers on your resume, it’s hard to get sponsors to invest in you, even if you once were a lucky break away from taking the 2002 Cup title. Ironically, should Marlin have held on that season he would be in high demand, the first in line for the Past Champion’s Provisional made famous this year for keeping both teams and careers afloat. But alas, a hard crash in Kansas kept Marlin sidelined for the final seven races that year– leaving him in the category of “better” and not the “best.”
Despite being repeatedly acused of "only" cutting and pasting, sometimes I think other authors are perfectly capable of summing things up very well. I think Thomas did that right here. Consequently, I see no need to add my 2 cents at this point. On the other hand, in the tradition of newsgroups, that later developed into blogs, I am happy to share this information with you and will gladly discuss it with you. Feel free to add your comments.
"But all this must be suffered by those who profess the stern order of chivalry" Most Interesting Blog, June 16, 2008 and six other occasions. Lisa awarded him Best "breaking news" blogger March 31, 2008. Blog of The Day, Christmas Day, 2007. edhardiman wrote, "Falco's tribute to Rocket Richard reminds us all the stars of today stand on the shoulders of giants..." October 23, 2007. Three Golden Swirrly p00p Awards (Hockey, NASCAR and Use of Graphics), FlyingPig, July 18, 2007. 2007 Memorial Day Weekend Trifecta sponsored by williamwilman . Featured on WFORacingFans April, 2007. "Stylin'" award, Dusty, February 07. "One of ten new bloggers to watch" Dudski, January 2007.
