Bud Shootout Practice Crash

NASCAR continues its relentless futile efforts to kill the two car tandems and bring back pack racing, with predictable results. Tony Stewart tried pushing Kurt Busch in the corners, but it didn't quite work.




Expect to see something similar in tonight's Bud Shootout.

2-Car Tandems Are Here to Stay... For Now

In case you were wondering if the use of 2 car tandems (AKA "love bug racing") was more of a cultural change among drivers, or a purely technological one, the last 3 laps of the Continental Tire Challenge Series ST class at Daytona earlier this month was determined by Kias and Mazdas linking up to draft past each other on the NASCAR portions of the track.



Keep that in mind as NASCAR continues to futilely fiddle with the vehicles leading up to the Daytona 500.


Yeah. I hate to tell you if you aren't a fan of the 2 car bump draft maneuver, but we aren't going back to the way things were. At least we won't until the track really wears in and gets rougher 5-10 years from now.

Let the Conspiracy Theories Commence

NASCAR fans are a conspiracy minded lot, at times. After almost every race, every debris caution, and every penalty doled out, some jackasses are accusing NASCAR officials of favoritism and teams of cheating.

This weekend at Talladega, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s engine blew. Dale is leaving the team at the end of the year for Hendrick, but still has a chance to get into the Chase for the Championship.

Considering how well Kurt Busch is doing these days, if Earnhardt pulls it off, it'd probably come at the expense of DEI's soon to be leading man, Martin Truex. That'd be pretty embarrasing, if the guy who's ditching the team made it while the one who is supposed to be their new star gets locked out.

Maybe the DEI folks decided to make sure that wasn't a possibility. Maybe they gave Dale a shitty engine. Yeah, and maybe JFK was killed by aliens.

Of course, the more innocent explanation (besides just bad like for Jr.) is that Martin Truex is probably getting the top tier equipment and motors now, and Dale Jr's motor failure is just a reflection of that. It makes sense from an organizational standpoint.

Still, it is a lucky turn of events for DEI to save face. Dale Jr. will now be hard pressed to make the chase at Truex's expense. Though, it could turn out really bad if *both* of then fail.

Just keep an eye out for debris-wielding men in dark trenchcoats on the grassy knoll.

Ginn-DEI Merger Fallout

A lot of people are talking about what the Ginn-DEI merger means to those two teams, the uncertain future of all sorts of drivers, and Ginn's role in the sport overall. I'm getting the feeling the millionaire real estate man has worn out his welcome in NASCAR, or at least destroyed all the good will he built up earlier in the year.

But the biggest, most immediate impact we'll see Sunday won't have anything to do with that. Aside from the question marks relating to Marlin and Nemecheck, this will dramatically change the qualifying situation for the "go or go home" teams. Sure, the 15 car now has Marlin's points, but that's just a swap, but in the end this deal means that 2 cars that were always threats to make the field are no longer there. Plus, I think Nemecheck was in 34th, so that should move the Wood Brothers up into the top 35 either for this week or at least by next week (assuming, of course, they make the race and Ginn doesn't sell the 13's points to someone else.)

That's gotta be a good feeling for the 21 folks, especially with Terry Labonte trumping Bill Elliott's champ provisional this weekend. (I guess I was wrong about Mikey maybe asking DW to drive his car.)

With two Ginn cars off the track, a lot of other folks outside the top 35 have to be a little more confident about making the Brickyard. Nothing's guaranteed, but Ward Burton and Jeremy Mayfield have to be a little more optimistic this week than last.

It'll be interesting to see how this all pans out.