Bump-Drafts.com

I’ve got to hand it to this team, it takes a lot to become more unpopular as a team than Hendrick Motorsports, but Teresa Earnhardt achieved this dubious distinction by letting her step- son, Dale Earnhardt Junior leave the organization that her late husband built for his son.

The good news is that time will be kind to both parties on Junior’s departure. DEI is one of several race teams enduring a competitive down turn. It is my opinion that it will take some time for DEI to get their chops up. This makes for a good place for promising young drivers to grow, and for veteran drivers to lend their experience to help groom the youngsters.

That chemistry is in place with the current line up. 49 year old Mark Martin is in his second year of running a reduced schedule. DEI was the beneficiary of the veteran’s racing prowess when Bobby Ginn could o longer keep up competitively with the NASCAR powerhouses and merged with DEI. Running 26 of 36 race, Martin won’t be able to capture the Cup title that has eluded him during his illustrious career that has included 47 Busch series wins and 35 victories at the NASCAR’s top level. When Martin isn’t running, Joe Gibbs cast-off Aric Almirola will take over the #8 ride. Many feel the youngster of Cuban descent has a great career ahead of him and will be a good fit on a team that features other such young studs as Martin Truex Junior and Paul Menard.

Truex put himself on the map with his first career Cup win in 2007 and successful run to make the Chase. During the Chase, Truex got lost in the brightening glow of fellow newbie Clint Bowyer, but considering all the many mechanical problems DEI had, it’s really amazing that Truex made it at all. The New Jersey native looks like the real deal and one who will greatly benefit from Martin’s low key and calm demeanor.

The same is true for Paul Menard. He’s still seeking his first Cup win, but has had enough strong runs to lead one to believe he’s not far away. Like Truex, Menard tends to make the mistakes typical of a fledgling driver and again, this is where Martin’s leadership will help.

Because of Dale Jr.’s popularity, many NASCAR fans will never see the forest for the trees and they will likely hate her as long as she lives. But you know what? She can’t help Junior win right now. The move to HMS is a win for him, and a win for DEI as they will now have the opportunity to build a quality organization apart from the pressure of trying to further the career of NASCAR’s most popular driver.

The key will be capitalizing on the racing brains that exist in the organization. Teresa’s not a racer or engineer or crew chief. She’s a shrewd business woman.

The late, great Dale knew that….that’s why she’s here. After she moves on to further success and so does Junior, this will just be footnote in NASCAR history.

Time will prove me right.

I walk away from today’s race in Kansas with the same reaction I frequently had with a former co-worker who just tended to babble on in unrelated cliches: Huh?
I should have known something was up when the answering machine at home featured a cryptic message from my brother-in-law Brad. He with an evil Beavis-n-Butthead laugh and a “watch what happens around lap 30″ remark. I’ll let you in on a little secret: we frequently have to TiVo the races because we’re usually in church when a race starts 10 am PST. Given the fact he returns home earlier than we do, we often get such messages when something good, interesting or downright bizarre happens. In today’s case, the latter occurred on cue.
In my mind, it ranks up there with the Busch race in Montreal as the weirdest race we’ve had all year. Everything started out the way you’d expect with all the usual suspects (Kenseth, the Busch boys) running up front and all the usual suspects (Michael Waltrip, Scott Riggs) fading back after qualifying well. Then, as promised, Junior inexplicably whacks Kyle Busch on lap 28 for no apparent reason. Now I am no real fan of the #5 Kellogg’s Chevy, but it looks fishy. Junior apologized later and took responsibility, but you really have to wonder if the guy who had nothing to lose felt like messing with the guy he replaces at HMS next year. It makes me wonder.
Then there was the 2nd red flag of the day, and the ensuing drama of Tony Stewart’s fuel supply. In my mind, you could have made an argument for finishing the race here. I knew that a resumption of the race would result in circus following it, but since Tony’s no favorite of mine, I didn’t fuss much about it. I got to watch my beloved Broncos get pummeled by the Colts and would get to see the finish in real time. Like I said, it was shaping up to be a weird day.
I can’t forget the Jeff Burton “I wasn’t messin’ with my car” flap. He got sent to the back because he was working on his car during a red flag- a NASCAR no-no. I like J.B., but he’s gotta be the worst actor in NASCAR. I’m not a big fan of Rusty Wallace as a commentator, but I got a laugh as Wallace shared about having one of his crew on sentry duty when he would do the same. Seriously Jeff, with all those cameras around, you need to plan your skullduggery better than that.
Sure enough, though the race would be shortened, we weren’t shortchanged on drama. Throughout the race we watched the lead get tossed around like the old baseball game of “Flip.” We had Matt Kenseth running hard and running well, Dave Blaney making some noise, Kurt Busch representing Penske and Dodge well in this race, Jimmie Johnson charging hard from the back, and Kansas’ favorite son Clint Bowyer looking like he could be a man of destiny. Let us also not forget that Tony Stewart was looking pretty good for a while there too.
The Tony and a whole gaggle of other participants set off a chain of events that greatly altered the outcome. Chasers Kyle Busch and Jeff Burton were already having a bad day. Smoke already had a bent up fender and there were questions about how the fender on the Home Depot Chevy would “travel.” Crew Chief turned commentator Andy Petree questioned the move by the #20 team to stay out, and by golly, Greg Zipandelli and Tony Stewart made the former Earnhardt pit boss look like a prophet. Sure enough, Tony seemed to slow down a bit, got hit by his old buddy (NOT) Kurt Busch and got taken out of the game, while collecting Carl Edwards in the process. Unlike yesterday, Tony wisely took a look around and declined comment. The picture of him throwing his steering wheel said quite enough.
Oh, but only if the drama ended there! You remember how things got nasty between Denny Hamlin and Paul Menard yesterday. It was followed with more drama between the 26-year-olds. On one of the restarts, we had 3-wide action between Menard, Hamlin and Jamie Mc Murray. Mc Murray on the inside, brushed Menard in the middle, who in turn, rammed Hamlin. Of course Hamlin’s people blamed Menard. It was his fault right? Sure (cough,cough- Nextel’s next nasty rivalry).
So, as the race nears the finish we have Kevin Harvick gutting out a tough day and yet running towards the front with company from fellow chasers Clint Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. As the laps click away, it sure looks like Bowyer may have a shot at catching Mr. Hard Luck himself- Greg Biffle. Just as it looks like we’re gonna have a Dayonta style dogfight at the end, Juan Pablo Montoya brushes the wall. Caution comes out, darkness prevails, and Greg Biffle finishes under yellow. Or did he?
Of course there has to be more drama. For reasons unclear to me and a lot of other people, the #16 Aflac Ford cruises onto the infield grass. Some say Biffle was running out of gas and couldn’t finish under his own power. Others would say that the “frozen field” rule was in effect and this whole flap is immaterial. I’m not sure myself (after all, I am a fan and not an expert), but it gives those unhappy with the NASCAR governing body one more reason to complain about how such matters are handled.
Me? I was just glad to have it over, glad to see a face in Victory Lane we had not seen in a while, and glad to see the leaderboard shuffled just a little bit more.
Man, I need a nap.