Lifelock 400

I never, EVER want to hear anyone say that a race is boring again! The last lap of the Lifelock 400 was very exciting. It looked as though Jimmie was gonna take the race, however on the last lap, he ran out of fuel, so it looked as though Greg Biffle was gonna win, then he ran out of fuel, so in third was Mark Martin and he had just enough to cross the line and get back around to pit road. He then coasted the rest of the way to victory lane.

Dale Jr had another good run, finishing in 14th and moving back up two spots to 18th in points.

Michigan International Speedway

Nestled in the lush Irish Hills of Southeastern Michigan, Michigan International Speedway is the Great Escape, a venerable NASCAR national park where fans can get away and enjoy the very best in racing and camaraderie.

It’s the love of racing and the thrill of a great time for race fans and drivers alike.


Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich., boasts a proud, 40-year history of hosting America's best racing action on its 1,400-plus acres in the scenic Irish Hills. With 18 degree banking and 73-foot wide sweeping turns, Michigan International Speedway provides drivers with three and four grooves to run around the two-mile speedway.


When Michigan International Speedway opened in 1968, the 12,000-seat center grandstand stood overlooking the new two-mile oval, a symbol of a new era for the Irish Hills area.


Today, the speedway seats 132,000 and home to the largest, single-day paid admission sporting event in the state.

War of Words

Just so we get this all straight and you know me, I won't post anything unless it's said by Dale Jr, Lance, etc. We currently have a war of words going on between our man, Jr and who else but Vyle Kyle Busch. When he says something about Dale Jr, that's one thing, but when he says something about Jr Nation, that's quite another thing. Dale will stand up for his fans anytime anywhere and my feeling is that Kyle is just jealous. Why? Because here he is, one of the most talented drivers (and admit it people he is) in the sport today, and yet he doesn't have near the fan base that Junior has gained. Anyway, here are the war of words that have been spoken by both drivers since Kyle was asked his opinion on Tony Eury Jr being replaced by Lance McGrew. (and the reporter that asked that is a moron if you ask me - just for asking such a stupid question)

"If [Earnhardt] doesn't run well, then [McGrew's] going to be the problem again. It's never [Earnhardt]: It's always the crew chief." - The Vile One

Dale was asked what he thought of Kyle's comment -

"That doesn't really surprise me what Kyle says. He's always had a chip on his shoulder for me. I expect anytime he gets an opportunity to throw a jab in there he's going to do it. That's just his personality." - Junebug

Kyle was then asked if he felt there was a rivalry (again) between he and Dale -

"I've got no issues with Dale Jr. It wasn't him that kicked me out of Hendrick Motorsports; it was Casey Mears."

(Woah, hold the phone! What does Casey Mears have to do with all of this?? Casey and Kyle were with Rick the same year, so there's no way that Casey would have kicked Kyle out. That was just a cop out so he wouldn't have to answer that question honestly.)

"I really don't see how that argument really is that relevant to anything and I don't even know really what kind of problem he has or what kind of solution he wants. I don't really get into it" - Junebug

(Now you would think that statement would have settled things, but of course Shrub had to take it a step further when he was asked about his disgraceful guitar smashing at Nashville.)

"It was fun and a lot of people enjoyed it and thought it was different -- the sport's not so vanilla. A lot of people hated it and I guess those are the ones with '88' tattooed on their arms... or maybe still '8'."

One reporter commented with a laugh, "You and Dale." To which Kyle replied --

"I've got no issues with Junior -- it's his fans that are crazy, but that's all right."

Then just to add to the already immature amount of comments he had already made, he added this -

"Sounds to me like the most popular driver award goes to Kyle Busch this year, right?"

Dale, who has bigger fish to fry, (article on that to come later) simply replied with this statement in which he stood up for Jr Nation.-

"My fans handle themselves well and they're good people. So I think anyone who would be calling them out and stirring them up is causing problems not only for himself but everyone else in this sport."

(Thank you Dale!!!!)

I'll keep up with this "rivalry" and add in anything else if it happens to be said.

Dale Earnhardt Jr Sees Progress

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said Friday that he and his Hendrick Motorsports team are making progress in getting the No. 88 Chevrolet Impala SS back up to speed.

“You show up every week thinking you can win and hoping you can win,” said Earnhardt, who is working his third race weekend with new crew chief Lance McGrew. “So it’s not too soon to think about that and try to realize that is your ultimate goal. We seem to have good communication. … The communication seems to be going good and I hope to be realizing some success from it soon.”

Earnhardt qualified a disappointing 30th for Sunday’s LifeLock 400 at Michigan International Speedway, race No. 15 of 36 on the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule and event that he won last year. Still, despite qualifying poorly, Earnhardt is convinced he and McGrew are on the right track.

Earnhardt finished 27th last Sunday at Pocono Raceway — his third finish of 27th in the last five races — but he was relieved to learn that the ill handling on his car was due to a mechanical failure.

“In Charlotte we ran so poorly we didn’t have a mechanical piece on the car to point at and go, ‘That broke,’ or ‘That fell apart,’ and you feel terrible and you have no answers,” said Earnhardt. “We had a really good car in practice at Pocono and when the race started it felt pretty good for about 20 laps and then it just got so loose and we couldn’t fix it all day. We came back to the shop and found that part in the front suspension that had failed. It was good and it totally made sense. Actually in the middle part of the race I commented over to my engineer that I thought that part had failed. It was pretty good to be able to point at something and go well here’s the problem. At least you can start forming better solutions when you know what your problem is.”

Earnhardt said he can see a difference in just a few weeks working with McGrew. The frustration that he and his cousin and former crew chief Tony Eury Jr. had permeated the entire team, causing a distinctly unpleasant environment.

“We’re just putting our foot down and trying to work hard,” said Earnhardt. “The guys have got a better attitude. The team was really beat down over the last several months and that’s gotten better. That affects me and affects everybody. We just really want to see some results and things like that in the next couple of weeks to give us an assertion we need to move forward and keep improving. I think we will.”

One boost to Earnhardt’s spirits has been the support he’s gotten from the entire organization. “We’ll just see how it goes,” he said. “I feel pretty good about it. I think Rick (Hendrick, team owner) has gone far beyond what I anticipated in trying to get us assistance and trying help me. More so I’m surprised by how much the crew chiefs and drivers are participating and trying to help us. Everybody is just really trying to help and it feels great. That kind of thing has got to give you some confidence going in because I see that they want it to work just like
I do.”

Pocono 500

Another rough day for the 88 team, as Dale Jr's car was way loose all day long. I believe they'll bounce back, but I'm not sure on Dale chances of making the chase this year. He started 18th due to rain here in NEPA all day Friday, which canceled qualifying. Dale got as high as 12th, but finished 27th. He's slide down two points in the standings to 20th. I really hope the defending winner of this coming weekends race (Dale Jr) will be able to bounce back from this weekend at Michigan.

**I found out that it was a mechanical failure which lead to Dale Jr's poor run at Pocono.

Pocono Raceway

Pocono Raceway

Completed: 1968

Distance: 2.5 miles

Shape: Tri-oval

Banking: 14° Turn 1

8° Turn 2

6° Turn 3

2° straights

Frontstretch: 3,740 feet

Backstretch: 3,055 feet

Shortstretch: 1,780

Seating: 76,812

Pocono's unique 2.5-mile tri-oval has challenged NASCAR's best since the first Cup Series race was held there in 1974.

The Mattioli family, owners of the track, have been through some ups and downs while battling to make the triangular racetrack a success.

Soon after the first IndyCar race at Pocono, the Schaefer 500 in 1971, Hurricane Agnes hit the area. The ensuing economic crunch and energy crisis threatened Pocono Raceway's very existence and many other tracks didn't survive. Pocono Raceway owners Joe and Rose Mattioli considered selling out.

"We were almost bankrupt two or three times but were too dumb to realize it," Joe Mattioli said. "We were on the verge of selling the track when we received a telephone call from Bill France Sr., who asked us to meet with him in New York.

"At the meeting he tried to convince me not to sell the track, to stick it out and stay the course. He gave us moral support and a lot of good advice.

"He and his wife, Annie B., came to the race the next two years to show their support for Pocono Raceway. Shortly thereafter he and his son, Bill Jr., gave us our second NASCAR race and as they say, the rest is history.

"Had it not been for Bill France Sr., Annie B. and Bill Jr., Pocono Raceway would not be here today."

Since getting that second Cup date in 1982, the track has continued to grow. The Mattiolis welcome nearly 100,000 ticket holders to their home in the Poconos twice each year.

Pocono 500 Qualifying

Qualifying was rained out (and it's raining here where I live too) so Dale Jr will start 18th on Sunday. The weather is supposed to get better as the weekend progresses. This weather is the total opposite of the weather for last year's 500. It was very humid and muggy, and many of the drivers were more dehydrated than usual after the race. Hopefully the weather will hold up on Sunday and they'll be able to get the race in as scheduled. (If not and they reschedule it for Monday, I'll at least be home to watch it!!)

Thank you Chad Knaus!

I'm saying thank you to Chad why? Read on...

Eury's next task? To help Johnson win at Infineon

DOVER, Del. -- For Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Eury Jr., it's led to days of heartache and disappointment. But the separation of the No. 88 program's driver and crew chief worked out perfectly for one person.

That would be Chad Knaus, the crew chief for three-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson, who will turn the No. 48 car over to Eury for a closed two-day test this week at a South Carolina road course. Knaus has a scheduling conflict, but Eury's new role in Hendrick Motorsports' research and development program will free him up to help Johnson get ready for Infineon Raceway.

In his first race with Lance McGrew as crew chief, Dale Earnhardt Jr. seemed to have a rapport he never developed with Tony Eury Jr.

The test at Carolina Motorsports Park, a 2.3-mile circuit located in Kershaw, S.C., had been scheduled for last week, but had to be rescheduled because of rain. Although NASCAR has banned testing on sanctioned tracks for the 2009 season, the sanctioning body has no such sway over an independently owned facility that does not host NASCAR events. Eury and Earnhardt were testing at another road course, Virginia International Raceway, the day before car owner Rick Hendrick announced the changes to their team.

Now, one of Eury's first big jobs in his new role will be to help Johnson win the June 21 event at Sonoma.

"From my standpoint it's actually been a blessing in disguise," Knaus said of Eury's move. "We had some poor weather last week at Lowe's Motor Speedway, so we weren't able to race on Sunday as everybody knows, and then there were some storms that came through South Carolina where we were supposed to be testing on Tuesday and Wednesday. We weren't able to go test, so we postponed the test until this coming week.

"So quite frankly, with Tony taking on a new role in the research and development department, I've called on him to go to South Carolina with the 48 car on Tuesday because I can't attend and help conduct that test and get everything going in the right direction for us there. They just tested last week at VIR, had a productive test, and I think he's going to help contribute, and hopefully we can get to Sonoma and have a better run than we've had in the past. For me, it helped me concentrate on Dover this week, because I didn't have to worry about next week."

Improvement on road courses, where he's never won at NASCAR's highest level, has been one of Johnson's primary goals the past two seasons. He finished 15th last season at Infineon.

"Tony is a great crew chief, a great man, and can come down and conduct the test, run the test, look at the things that Chad wants to work through in his test plan and matrix, and go from there," said Johnson, who won Sunday at Dover International Speedway to record his second victory of the year. "As Chad said, it's taken the pressure off of him to worry about the test and really focus on Dover and focus on Pocono. Testing takes a lot out of the guys and out of the crew chief for sure, because there's a lot of time and effort that goes into those things."

Eury also will work as crew chief in the remaining Sprint Cup events this season for Brad Keselowski, whose next scheduled race is at Chicagoland in July. Hendrick said he has spoken to
Eury daily since the changes on the No. 88 team were announced, and reports that the former crew chief is in good spirits and embracing his new role. The fact that Knaus is leaning on him, he added, speaks volumes.

"That means Chad's got total confidence in him, and that maybe Tony will come up with something that he hadn't thought about and try some things different," Hendrick said. "I've seen Tony really engage with simulation, and with no testing, you've got to depend on that. These crew chiefs have to depend on somebody that has been there and done that. His job now is to help us win a championship. And that's what's he's committed to doing."

My rant about drivers....

who ask why there are cup races run at Pocono. I know the track needs a total makeover, and the garage isn't the fanciest, (and to those drivers who feel it should be updated, why not ask the Mattioli's if there's some way you can help) To those of us who live in Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania, NASCAR at Pocono is a huge deal. (and when I say huge, I mean HUGE) It's as huge to us as the Little League World Series is to South Williamsport. It's seriously like a slap in the face to Pennsylvania race fans when a driver is quoted as saying something like that. What? Are we not good enough to have a NASCAR race in our home state or the two we currently host for that matter? When I hear someone ask that, I feel like saying, "Well then why do you race at any other track that is on the schedule?" To me, unique is better. There are so many race tracks that have the same shape. (Oval, "D" shape, etc) Pocono presents more of a challenge to the drivers, and a challenge every now and then is a good thing. Sure, Pocono isn't near or in a city, but who said a race track has to be near a city in order to have a race run there? We l-o-v-e having the drivers up here for three days. (six really, if you count the three in June and the three in August together) It gives us a chance to say thank you, good luck, you're my favorite driver, put Kyle Busch in the wall for me (lol, just kidding on that last one), but you see what I mean. The Mattioli's have fought hard to keep people (mostly ones whos last name end in Smith) from buying the track from them, and that's what makes Pocono a great place to race. It's a family owned and operated race track and there are seldom tracks that are like that anymore. Last year, I had an awesome time at the August race with my father, got to sit at the very end (right after the exit of turn 3), paid a very reasonable price for where our seats were located, (the family section at Pocono is at track level, which is where we sat) and although we couldn't see the start/finish line, (or Carl do his back flip), we still had fun. So are both races at Pocono worth it? You bet they are, even though it's mostly humid, the miles the drivers put in driving those cars is worth it. After all, the sport is driven by the fans..... right? So please drivers, quit complaining about the track, have fun on The Tricky Triangle, and above all, enjoy your time here in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

An article on Pocono and Dr. Rose -- Five things about ... Pocono's Dr. Rose Mattioli

Headlines

Yay, finally some worth posting!! (as you know by now, I will not post anything negative about Dale Jr) Here they are!!!


Earnhardt pleased with new crew chief

The Hot Pass: Dale Jr. takes positive first step

Earnhardt interim crew chief takes over at Dover

Unless there's others, and if there are I'll post them, that's all I could find for today.