Has Anybody Noticed?

I’ve had time to do a lot of thinking over the last 24 hours, as I drive around southern Oregon field testing radio broadcasting equipment  for the upcoming high school football season. Through it, I have gained a whole new respect for racers. I only drove 360 miles from school to school, and I am flat beat after a 15 hour day. And I was only driving 70! (Give or take).

As I ponder what’s presently going on, I’ve started to wonder.

Has anybody noticed?……

• Denny Hamlin has come alive. If there’s anyone in my opinion who’s flown under the radar in 2009, it’s Hamlin. Now he got some attention he didn’t want when his personal car got lifted, he’s otherwise not received the attention I believe he is due. While we were all watching Smoke, Shrub, The Kid and JJ, Hamlin was rolling up consistent finishes. After that opening lap disaster at Pocono in June, Denny has racked up 9 top 10s in his last 11 races. He must be doing something right. No less than teammate Kyle Busch, who’s been known to win a race or two, has begun watching what JGR’s resident geezer (LOL!) has been doing. If I’m Hamlin, I take that as high praise.
• For what its worth, the TV ratings are going up! As a former TV advertising executive, I’ll tell you that ratings for TV and radio aren’t worth a warm bucket of spit. I’ve seen some pretty weird, unexplainable fluctuations in ratings from one survey to another to take them too seriously. That said, one week up could be an aberration. Two weeks of increased ratings is still too early to call a trend. Three in a row, there’s something up. Four? Perhaps it’s time to keep ratings in perspective and not point to them either as a signal of decline or recovery.
• History is overrated. Wait! Wait! Wait! I’m not talking history in the Lee Petty or Rex White sense, I’m saying that maybe there’s some drivers out there having breakthrough seasons, and maybe history is meaningless when prognosticating whether or not the likes of Brian Vickers or Juan Pablo Montoya will make the chase. Remember? JPM was supposed to blow chow at AMS. He didn’t. Kasey Kahne was supposed to continue his descent towards NASCAR’s “Mendoza Line.” Uh, hello? And Matt Kenseth was going to pull it together and make the chase. (My bad). He still might, but I’d hate to be in his shoes come Saturday.
• The little game of musical cars worked out for everybody, and I think it’s safe to say all teams involved felt good about the outcome. Erik Darnell took the wheel of “96″ and kept his Goodyears off the wall. Didn’t really perform any better or any worse than the ousted Bobby Labonte, who took over the “71″ at TRG for a fraction of the cost. While the 2000 champion didn’t quite conjure up images of days gone by, he got that car, the team and its sponsors more attention than they’ve had all year. Meanwhile, the driver Labonte replaced- David Gilliland- finished 19th filling in for an injured Bill Elliott, just behind Labonte Sunday. Oh, the irony! This observer is beginning to believe Gilly might offer a good value in a good ride. Now Gilliland rides off to the “7″ of Robby Gordon and then on to Joe Gibbs.
• Danica Patrick isn’t only female racer out there? Don’t get me wrong, if DP wants to race in NASCAR, more power to her. At least the plan she’s rumored to have appears to be the right way to do it: ease into it. Me? I’m more of an Ashley Force kinds of guy. I’m also watching the budding career of Alli Owens. When I think about the path she’s taking, it just rings a little more true to me.

A person’s mind takes them to some pretty strange places over the course of 8 hours on the road.