Bump-Drafts.com

(A Special Weekly Edition Prepared for NASCAR_Nation)

I should take the week off……but I won’t. I’ll keep it a little more brief, but the occasion gives me opportunity to weigh in on trends as we make our way into Turn One of the 2008 season.

Biggest surprise- For me, it’s not Junior, I expected improvement. It’s not Toyota’s performance, you may remember I predicted that. It’s Richard Childress Racing. I had been dissing on them after their late 2007 collapse in the Chase. Kevin Harvick has been remarkably consistent, Jeff Burton is our most recent winner (plus he’s posting an average finish of 8.2), and Clint Bowyer has flashes of true racing brilliance. The tire strategy at Bristol was a HUGE gamble- and they made it work.

Biggest disappointment- It’s not Jeff or Jimmie. I’m predicting no 3-peat for J.J., and I stand my forecast that Gordon will not make the Chase. For me, the biggest disappointment has to be…..The Open Wheel Invasion. I support their presence in NASCAR, but man I didn’t think we’d see Jacques Villenueve and A.J. Allmendinger without rides, or Dario Franchitti as a “go or go homer.” Sam Hornish is hanging on, and Patrick Carpentier can’t get in a race. Reed Sorenson isn’t fulfilling his potential either.

In my opinion, things are better in NASCAR in 2008. Our first 5 races have produced 4 different winners from 4 different makes from 4 different teams. In doesn’t get much more even than that.

Did anyone really think (outside his legion of fans) that Junior would be Hendrick’s Top Driver statistically?
Rock Solid Shops- Joe Gibbs has brought respectability to Toyota. Richard Childress is solid to to bottom (imagine Bowyer being your #3 driver). Roush-Fenway has three drivers running solid, with a 4th showing signs of promise. Penske and Gillett Evernham are getting their money’s worth from Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne.

Hanging On- Richard Petty Enterprises looks to be in rough shape. Yates Racing can’t get a sponsor for Travis Kvapil. Bill Davis and the Wood Brothers appear to be on life support.

Did anyone really believe that DEI would be doing as well as they are? Martin Truex is looking pretty good and so is the Martin/Almirola Show in the #8.
T.V. Ratings Are Up
Crashing Out Is DownI’m not ready to say that this is a great year, but NASCAR seems to have something for 2008.

Now get out there and enjoy some spring air. Oh yeah, enjoy the Nationwide race in Nashville.

(Prepared Specially for NASCAR_Nation)

What’s Next- The Food City 500, Bristol, Tennessee, Sunday, March 16, 2008, 2:20 p.m. EDT, 11:20 Pacific, Broadcast on FOX.

Track History- This is a .533 mile oval track affectionately known as a “bull ring” or short track with 36-degree banking in the turns and 16 degree banking on the straights. The track surface is concrete, though it started out as an asphalt track.

The first NASCAR race ran here on July 30, 1961. Jack Smith took the checkered flag that day. In the last race ran here, Carl Edwards won on August 25, 2007.Kyle Buschwon the first 2007 race, when the “Car of Tomorrow” made its debut. Shrub will be remembered for saying he thought the car sucked.

Flyin’ Ryan Newman owns the qualifying record at the “Volunteer State” track with a time of 14.908 seconds on March 21, 2003. Cale Yarborough has earned the most poles with 9.

The immortal Charlie Glotzbach ran the fastest race at Bristol Motor Speedway with a speed of 101.074 m.p.h. (2 hr. 38 min. 12 sec.) on July 11, 1971.

20 caution flags flew at Bristol in the Spring of 2003, 0 flew on July 11, 1971.

Many of the issues currently facing NASCAR revolve around change. There’s been a lot of change going on this decade from the Chase to the ”Car of Tomorrow”. Issues like this and controversies over the “Lucky Dog” and invasion of open wheel drivers to stock car racing’s top level have pitted long time fans versus NASCAR leadership and a newer wave of fans who may be fewer in number.

It is a popular notion among NASCAR traditionalists that the sport is pure American with a particular emphasis on the southern U.S. When you consider that NASCAR was Florida born and its top legends from places like North Carolina, Alabama and the Sunshine State- you’d tend to agree. These same traditionalists have tended to cringe at the building of new tracks throughout the North and West, and they, as a general rule, are not fans of West Coasters such as Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. Adding to the angst is the presence of a foreign manufacturer (Toyota), and a flood of drivers from foreign lands with names like Franchitti and Carpentier who used to drive funny looking race cars.

Many traditionalists will argue such events are ruining NASCAR, taking it away from its roots. Some will tell you that your dad’s NASCAR was just fine without all of this, and they point to falling TV ratings and ticket sales as evidence to their point. You can imagine the delight of some when owner Bill Davis replaced former open wheeler Jacques Villenueve with Johnny Benson and Mike Skinner on an indefinite basis after the Canadian failed to qualify for the Daytona 500. Then, just this week, former open wheeler A.J. Allmendiger’s NASCAR Cup career was put on hold by Team Red Bull.

Such prejudice is short-sighted at best, and downright prejudicial at worst.

First of all, this is not the first time open wheelers have been present in NASCAR. Do names like Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt and Johnny Rutherford ring a bell? They all ran part time NASCAR racing schedules back in the 60s and 70s. In fact, Foyt earned 7 NASCAR victories and even once won the Daytona 500. What about Tony Stewart? He came over from Indy Car racing. J.J. Yeley and A.J. Allmendinger are also just a couple of NASCAR’s drivers of today who have made the switch- so this is nothing new.

Some argue that these drivers, by jumping from IRL and Formula One without rising through the ranks, are depriving up and coming drivers from sitting in a Sprint Cup ride. Oh really! So if the likes of Scott Wimmer or Jason Leffler were truly ready for the big time, wouldn’t they be given full time Cup rides? Well, considering the expense of competing and the need to be as successful as possible, I think it’s safe to say NASCAR car owners will put the most successful fannies in the seats of their cars, even if it’s a 74 year old from Botswana. What’s more- these are not unproven neophytes, but accomplished drivers. There’s a learning curve, but the open wheelers are just as qualified, if not more to master the learning curve. I submit Sam Hornish’s solid run Sunday as evidence of a guy who’s "getting it" quite quickly.

Besides, if our home grown guys are so great, let them prove it on the track against the likes of Juan Pablo Montoya and Sam Hornish (an American born Indy champ). Given the pressure and need to make money in this expensive business, the open wheelers will be gone quicker than you can say Patrick Carpentier if they can’t perform.

I know many fans think the sport was just fine the way it is. In this ever change day and age, NASCAR would have stagnated without the growth brought about by the infusion of new blood behind the wheel. No major sport can sustain itself on purely regional support. Just ask the National Hockey League.

NASCAR fans hate it when I compare it to other sports, but what if baseball kept out the Latinos? There’d be no Juan Marichal or Big Papi Ortiz. What if the NBA shut out Europeans? Say good-bye to Tony Parker and Dirk Nowitski. Without the presence of foreign born players, the NFL would be deprived of Christian Okoye and Usi Omenyura. So why should NASCAR be any different?

I, a proud American of conservative political leanings, want to go on record as being supportive of the presence of the open wheel drivers. It’s a great topic for debate and its good for growing the fan base of the support. Think about it. Your favorite driver is someone you relate personally….more than anything else.

Welcome to NASCAR open wheelers…..let’s see what you’ve got.

(A Weekly Special Edition of Bump-Drafts prepared for letsgoracingfans.com)

You could see the race was effectively over on the last two re-starts. Each time, Carl Edwards-in his #99 Dish Network Ford- took off like a scalded jack rabbit to win the UW-Dodge 400. This makes 6 wins for Team Roush at Las Vegas, to go with a pair of victories each by Jeff Burton and Matt Kenseth, as well as Mark Martin, who took the #6 to Victory Lane back in 1998.

Roush Racing did themselves proud. Not only was Edwards strong, Kenseth looked good up until the Gordon incident at the end, Greg Biffle finished 3rd, and even David Ragan got in on the fun by edging Kasey Kahne out for 6th. Jack Roush must have some magic in his hat that he uses for Vegas, because his teams are good to the point of making you think that somebody at the “Diamond In The Desert” must owe him a favor or two.

I was just sure this was Kyle Busch’s race to lose, in spite of the fact that no one has ever won from the pole at Sin City. The younger Busch made me look like a prophet for a bit until the handling on his car went south on him late in the race. Edwards ran with the #18 M&M’s Toyota all day, first overtaking Shrub on lap 21. By lap 117, Busch surrendered the lead, and although Dale Jr. and Jeff Gordon had good runs- today seemed destined to be a Roush day.

It didn’t look that way at first. Roush driver Jamie Mc Murray almost took flight in the infield after a spin-out and Edwards darn near got penalized for a pit road incident involving a stray tire. Fortunately, crew chief Bob Osborne kept a cool head, stayed on top of officials, and they ultimately ruled in favor of Edwards, blaming a TV camera man for being in the way (Dang media types anyway).

There were a record number of cautions as it seems that NASCAR teams are still figuring out how to work the “new” car at Las Vegas. Accidents cut short the days of Tony Stewart (who bit the wall hard on lap 109) and Robby Gordon (victimized by a lfat tire on lap 144), Patrick Carpentier, DaleJarrett, Kurt Busch, and Scott Riggs.

Speaking of Riggs……it was nice to see some less familiar names up front. I thought the Haas-CNC cars of Scott Riggs and Jeremy Mayfield looked great in stretches, and it was good to see another solid performance by Elliott “Rabbit Release” Sadler. It was also weird seeing Ken Schrader up front, though he gave way later in the race.

It wasn’t a good day for Open Wheelers. Sam Hornish, Patrick Carpentier and Dario Franchitti all saw their best laid plans go up in smoke.

I’m glad Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon weren’t hurt too seriously.Gordon had two words for track owner Bruton Smith concerning the inner wall “Safer Barriers.”

Though it was a bummer to see wrecks mess up otherwise good days, there’s no doubt this race belonged to Edwards. The Columbia, Missouri native was just too much. He and his Roush teammates (Kenseth and Biffle) were easily the most consistent cars out there, with apologies to RCR teammates Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick, and the HMS combo of Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

It just hit me- another random thought- no Jimmie Johnson today. Apparently, Johnson was a victim of Murphy’s Law. Everything that could go wrong apparently did to the #48.

This may not have been the best race I’d ever seen, but it was a good one. Today’s outcome springs forth yet more new story lines in a 2008 season that bears no resemblence to 2007.

Will Carl Edwards make it three in a row, to turn At-lanta into Hot-lanta? I wouldn’t bet against it.

Maybe it’s all the red paints schemes on the cars. Maybe it’s the foreign intrigue that Dario Franchitti and Juan Pablo Montoya bring to the sport. Perhaps its all the young drivers in the garage. It could be Chip Ganassi’s success as an owner in open wheel racing. Whatever it is- there’s something very eye grabbing and very “new school” about Chip Ganassi Racing. 2008 should hold more of the same for Ganassi, be it for the good, or for the bad.

Juan Pablo Montoya is the face of Ganassi Racing. If you look at the description in the above paragraph, they all seem very reflective of Montoya himself. Montoya made a lot of headlines right from the get-go. In early 2007, Montoya became the first F-1 driver to defect to NASCAR, where he spent six seasons. The winner of the 2000 Indianapolis 500 showed indications of his brashness by all but skipping the lower tiers of NASCAR to compete in Cup racing. After a relatively quiet Daytona 500, the 32 year old Colombian made waves by crashing out a teammate in the Mexico Busch Series race. He made further dubious headlines for a number of in-race rubs and crashes. The most famous incident was his collision at Watkins Glen with the equally tempestuous Kevin Harvick. All the pushing and shoving didn’t amount to much, but the melee did a lot to push Montoya’s unpopularity to an all-time high, especially the more traditional NASCAR fan base. These events overshadowed Montoya’s first victory in a late surge to victory at Sonoma in June.

It can certainly be argued that as the season wore on, Montoya got the hang of the driving. It remains to be seen how his attitude will be going into 2008. Montoya’s experiences in making the adjustments from open wheel to “stock” car racing may prove valuable for Ganassi’s latest addition- Dario Franchitti. The former Indy car champion tested the water late in 2007 in the Busch Series, and apparently felt the call to go full-time in Cup racing in 2008. His development will be interesting to watch as Franchitti seemed to struggle and just plain looked uncomfortable in the heavier, boxier NASCAR rides. Nonetheless, the Scot will have his chance to try his hand at NASCAR racing free from having to worry about making the field, thanks to the top 35 owner points qualifying rule. In spite of the struggle, Franchitti has loyal fans and plenty who believe he’ll figure out the learning curve quickly, thanks to a greater commitment to the sport. Franchitti takes over David Stremme’s old ride- the #40 Dodge.

After arriving at the Cup level with great expectations in 2006, the forthcoming season may very well be hot seat time for Reed Sorenson. The youngster from Peachtree City, Georgia is still searching for his first Cup victory and some measure of consistency. Sorenson has shown promise, finishing 4th in the standings at Busch Series level in 2005. As a 17 year old in 2003, he became the youngest driver to win ASA regional rookie of the year honors. For the most part, Sorenson has shown an ability to run well on the one mile tracks, but has generally struggled in restrictor plate competition. Perhaps the most intriguing question may very well be what he thinks of the path his teammates have taken into NASCAR, as opposed to his own more traditional ascent to the Cup level.

With a crowd rooting for Sorenson, against Montoya, and studying the development of Franchitti- Chip Ganassi will NOT be a fly under the radar team. It seems this team has a Dale Earnhardt philosopy. Whether they’re cheering you or jeering, you know they’re paying attention to you.

One way or the other, Chip Ganassi is on the map.

If you’ve come here looking for great revelations, I have none. I do this more for the purpose of record-keeping than anything else. There will be things that seem like big deals today that won’t be tomorrow. It will also measure on some level my prognosticating skills. Ahem, I warn you that my track record is VERY spotty on a good day. I subscribe to the “hand grenade theory” of predictions: if I throw enough of them up there, I’ll hit something sooner or later. Here’s what’s making noise today:

1) We can stop asking questions about Jr.’s number and sponsor. He’s driving the #88 car with Mt. Dew/Amp and the National Guard. I like the green car.

2) Silly Season For Sponsors. Word has it that the #18 car that Kyle Busch will be driving in 2008 will be sponsored by M&Ms. No idea what this means for David Gilliland who currently drives the #38 M&Ms car, or Interstate Batteries for that matter. The Budweiser logo will now go to a guy who doesn’t look old enough to drink the stuff- Kasey Kahne.

3) David Reutimann. There’s word going around that Reutimann could be leaving Michael Waltrip Racing to take on a 4th car at Richard Childress. Officially, Michael Waltrip is committed to keeping “Beak.” Rumor has it that Reutimann is seeing who ponies up the best offer. Prediction: IF RCR takes on a 4th team, Scott Wimmer will be driving it. #00 is staying put.

4) Mighty Mo is with Jimmie Johnson. JJ won the pole today at Dover. This guy can’t seem to do anything wrong right now. I still say this is the most underrated driver in NASCAR. I think he’s a victim of being an HMS driver (which makes him unpopular in some circles), his crew chief has been in trouble (Chad Knauss)- so some label Jimmie a cheater. Soome hate him because they fancy him a “Gordon lite.” I say the man’s a winner. Prediction: His late charge will steal Jeff Gordon’s thunder, and he’ll win a 2nd consecutive cup.

5) A NASCAR invasion.It looks like open-wheelers Dario Franchitti and Jacques Villanueve will be joining the ranks next year, as well as Sam Hornisch Jr. I spoke with a fellow fan today who’s concerned we may see more Juan Pablo Montoya types in the sport. Hopefully, they have learned from JPM’s experience and have a smoother transition.