"Day 1 AM Testing at Daytona: #99-Erik Darnell was the fastest in Day 1 AM Testing at Daytona Int'l Speedway with a speed of 177.420 followed by #6-Colin Braun, #09-Joey Clanton, #7-Andy Lally, #18-Stacy Compton."
18 Stacy Compton, hey hey, way to go. Nice run in Dennis Setzer's ride.
Or is it Setzer's ride? It begs the question. Does a number on a team truck driven by a teammate constitute the other driver's ride? I guess it might if indeed they were two distinct teams with two distinct crew chiefs. But I am not even sure if this is the case at BHR at this point in the year and this jucture in their merger with Arrington. I don't even know if they are operating out of Tennessee or Virginia at this point.
"Day 1 PM Testing at Daytona: #10-Brendan Gaughan was the fastest in Day 1 PM Testing at Daytona Int'l Speedway with a speed of 184.638 followed by #7-Andy Lally, #09-Joey Clanton, #11-David Starr, #30-Todd Bodine. The fastest Dodge [20th] #18-Stacy Compton. "
20th! 20th?
What the heck happened over lunch. How much did Stacy eat for Pete's sake. Did a cloud come over the track? Something changed. Did it snow?
"Day 2 AM Testing at Daytona: #99-Erik Darnell was the fastest in Day 2 AM Testing at Daytona In'tl Speedway with a speed of 178.547 followed by #29-Scott ####, #5-Mike Skinner, #9-Justin Marks, #4-Stacy Compton. "
O.K. Maybe Stacy just needed to rest. Back to fifth just like that.
My point? I guess it is this. While I enjoy looking at test speeds for a little info. They really don't mean that much necessarily. You don't know what the situation was.
Were they single truck runs? Were they drafting? Were they in qualifying trim? Were they in Racing Trim. Were they on new tires? Were they on old tires? Were they simulating a race run? Were they adjusting this? Were they tinkering with that?
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.
A tangle on a late-race restart with second-place driver Ron Hornaday sent Mark Martin sliding through the grass and opened the door for Mike Skinner just enough to allow the 1995 Craftsman Truck Series champion to slide through and claim the lead. Skinner made a clean restart with two laps remaining and was able to hold off Hornaday to take the 20th win of his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career. A native of nearby Ontario, California, Skinner becomes the first home state driver to score a Truck Series victory at California Speedway. "I am going to make sure I find my teammate Tyler Walker tonight and pick up some of that 360 OTC," Skinner joked in victory lane. "We're going to go back tonight and celebrate, so we may need some hangover relief in the morning!"
Mike Skinner
While Skinner was all smiles after the race, he knew exactly where he needed to be in the final laps in order to put his No. 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota in the winner's circle.
"I knew my best chance to win the race was going to be the restart," Skinner said. "If they got together, or even if they didn't, I knew the restart was it. If they went down into one side-by-side, I was going to get a good run on them down the frontstretch and slide down on the inside in turns one and two. My truck was great down there all night long. But they ended up getting together and I drove hard until I heard the spotter call for the caution.
"I was ahead of Hornaday and I knew when they went back to the scoring loop we'd be the leader. But it wasn't over, I had the King of Restarts Ron Hornaday on my back bumper. I had to be smooth. I could have held it wide open in one and two on those last two laps but I just barely burped it. Once I got to the backstretch and I was leading, I knew we had enough horsepower under the hood of our Toyota to hold him off."
Mike Skinner
Martin was pragmatic in defeat. The No. 21 Bad Boy Mowers Ford led the race three times for a total of 45 laps and seemed to have victory within his grasp until the restart with four laps remaining.
I don't know what happened," Martin said. "All of a sudden the motor revved up and the wheels started spinning and I got behind on the steering. That was a lot of fun. It was awesome, but (NASCAR) has got to get their cautions there at the end."
Two-time series champion and fellow California native Hornaday was regretful about the contact with Martin, but the driver of Kevin Harvick's No. 33 AES HR Solutions Chevrolet said he had no other option. "I knew what Mark was doing," Hornaday said. "He slowed it down just enough so that I would have to get off the gas and flood the carburetor with fuel.
But, I drag the brake on the restarts so I don't spin the tires. When he slowed down, I got up under him and the bumpers didn't line up. If they did, all I would have done is shoved him down the straightaway. But it lifted the tires off the ground and he lost it.
Mark Martin
I feel bad about it because Mark doesn't race me that way and I don't race him that way. In all my years racing with Mark, that may be the first time we've ever gotten together."
"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.
Mike Skinner
Mike Skinner
Mark Martin
