Showing posts with label Have at it Boys. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Have at it Boys. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Step into the Ring: Nascar

Depending on how this season shakes up, Step Into the Ring will look into current rivalries shaping up in the Nascar Season.

Last time around in "Step into the Ring" I talked about Joey Logano and the mess he found himself in at the time. He was in the middle of a feud with Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart. Once again Stewart has been all Smoke and no fire (so far) and Denny Hamlin has been sidelined by the injury caused when he and JoLo got into a crash.

The past few weeks no driver has really stepped into the Nascar spotlight when it comes to new rivalries, but Nascar has started to bring up that "line" again.

After the race at Texas Motor Speedway Brad Keselowski came away furious. He claimed that he has
been "targeted" in the garage area. Many believe what he meant by that was that he was targeted by the Hendrick team. In the garage he was right next to the #48 crew (a crew that last year he pointed out that there rear end housings looked weird on the track, that they turned too well) and JoLo was right next to the #24 team. Nascar came down on the Penske Team and took their rear end housings before the race, leaving them to scramble to replace them. A big issue here for many fans (like or dislike BK) is that Nascar struck so quickly. Nascar didn't say they cheated but instead just that it was not in the spirit of the rule. When the Hendrick teams were called out for just about the same thing (being ahead of the learning curve) they got warnings and went 5 or 6 races before they had to change.

Here is the thing, everyone is chasing Hendrick. Everyone who knows Nascar knows that they have been ahead of the curve. Did it just happen that Penske had finally figure it out and found an edge? Maybe, we will know more when information comes out.

On the the important part here though, is this "line" that Nascar has created. Was that line crossed by Penske but somehow it wasn't by Hendrick last year? If so, how many turns and edge's does this line have?

Brad Keselowski vented his frustrations of the week after the race in Texas, ''There's so much stuff going on, you guys (reporters) have no idea - you have no (expletive) idea what's going on,'' he said. ''I can tell you there is no team in this garage with the integrity of the 2 team. The way we've been treated over the last seven days is absolutely shameful. I feel like we've been targeted over the last seven days more than I've ever seen a team targeted in my life.''

On Monday it was released that BK would not be fined for his post race rant. So, this little issue brings that "line" back again. I agree with the decision of not giving him a fine, but I also thought that Denny Hamlin should not have fined. That's where the line gets blurry (or winding).

I have no problem with Nacar drawing a line on some issues, every sport does. I hope that line lets drivers speak their mind though because as fans we love getting to know the drivers we follow. But right now Nascar has a problem with consistancy on the rules and needs to figure it out.

Much scrutiny is coming upon Nascar for many issues outside of racing (NRA 500) so the issue of what you can and can't say needs to be taking care of.

So step into the ring Nascar, you have a target on you to draw a straight line. Between a 3 year old and you, I will take the 3 year old every time to draw straighter.

**Edit note: Penalties were assessed for the Penske team after I finished this article. So here it is: each team loses 25 points, Crew Chiefs, Car Engineer, and Team Manager for 6 races. Also Crew Chiefs fined $100,000 each. BK moves from 2nd to 4th and JoLo moves from 9th to 14th in points standings. Penske will appeal. Ryan Truex was docked 6 points and will not appeal. (Side note, Ron Hornaday gets a $25,000 fine and 25 points docked while on probation).**

As you took the time to read about Nascar like me, to take your mind elsewhere just for a moment, we still pray for Boston and all of us as a Nation to back our fellow people.

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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Step Into the Ring: Logano

Depending on how this season shakes up, Step Into the Ring will look into current rivalries shaping up in the Nascar Season. First up, Joey Logano and everyone mad at him.

Well, Fontana was well, exciting! The Auto Club 400 had just about everything except Ricky Bobby running around in his whitey tidies thinking he is on fire. A few weeks ago I wrote the article "Boys Have at it." It called for Nascar to step up in the media and create some rivalries that are right in front of them. I was thinking along the lines of Brad Keselowski battling Jimmie Johnson for the top. Guys, this is way better. Now I still think that the media should keep hyping up what they can, because rivalries are part of sports and help any given sport thrive, but what is going on in Nascar right now is pure entertainment. 
Now we don't need to have post race fights every week, and I don't think Nascar should hype up the rivals to the point of that, but rather hyping it up and seeing hard racing like we did between JoLo and Hamlin. Leaving Bristol we had our first big feud of the season, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano. The former JGR teammates got into is when Hamlin hit JoLo a little too hard and sent Logano spinning to the bottom of the track at Bristol. After the race we had JoLo attempt to go after Hamlin while he was in his car but the teams kept that from escalating. Then the social media world blew up and JoLo went after Hamlin on Twitter. (Find some of it here)
 
Now, back to Fontana. Joey Logano has found himself in another pickle, dealing with Tony Stewart. Tony Stewart got all hot and bothered when JoLo blocked him on the final restart of the race when Smoke had a good run going to the bottom line. This block took both of them almost down to the infield grass. Smoke fell a ways back and finished 22nd while Logano fought, banged, and battled again with Hamlin. The result, Hamlin spinning out into the inside corner wall on turn 4. Logano still finished 3rd. After the race and after everyone caught there breath, Stewart came out of no where and had some thoughts for Logano. 

Now, in my opinion it was JoLo's right to block Stewart, and he also mentioned after the race a few smart comments. He said that if I don't block him I would never get in position to win at the end. Logano is right, he would have lost all track position and never got up to Hamlin to have that finish we all got to take in. At the same time, Joey does seem to be finding himself in the middle of everything right now. Is that a sign of something Logano is doing wrong around other drivers? Does anyone in Nascar like him?
Tony Stewart may not have been a fan of the move by Logano this past Sunday, but he may also have a short memory.
I'm not going to pick sides on any of these rivalries, but this is definitely setting up for a crazy Martinsville. It is also nice to see Nascar not fine someone for speaking his mind. Nascar fans what to know the drivers, know there personalities, and hear them speak up. When it comes down to it, which is more manly, the helmet throw by Tony Stewart or the water bottle by Joey Logano? Tony running his mouth is great for Nascar in my opinion, and just check out the ratings.
That is up 32% and it is during College Basketballs March Madness. Nascar could not have asked for a better start to the season. Denny Hamlin's fine may have been the wrong decision, but it got the Nascar world buzzing again. Denny may have hit Logano a bit harder than he meant, but it got everyone talking on social media about there feud. Tony Stewart may have been in the wrong about blocking him low, but it started another rivalry heading into Martinsville

The only thing that hasn't gone Nascars way is that this is a bye week. This may fizzle out by next week, but if Nascar media does it right they will use this time to hype every story line up. (Hey, did you know Kyle Busch won this past weekend? "That might be a story"). 

Maybe Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer can get back into it here, Bowyer hasn't completely forgot about it. Matt Kenseth also wasn't too happy with Greg Biffle when Biffle hit his right rear (at Fontana), could that make noise at Martinsville? And there is always BK and JJ fighting for a title (or will that start to fade with Jr on top of the points?).

So we are coming up on MLB Opening Day, who do you have throwing the first pitch? Joey or Tony?
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Sunday, March 24, 2013

Tweets of the Race: Auto Club 400

Not an every week thing, the race at Auto Club Speedway was too good not to post some tweets. This race had all the Drama of a Hollywood movie, and very fitting in Fontana, CA. Tweets go in close order from beginning of the race to the end. Everything from pit strategy to post race profanity will be covered.
































Well that's it on the week. When updates come in on Denny Hamlin I will get them in here, also check my Twitter for even quicker news.
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Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Boys Have at it


Last season ended with a new driver on top of the points standings, a new kid with a loud mouth. Jimmie Johnson had fallen, but not without a fight. I may be a Brad Keselowski fan, but I try to keep everything on my blog as unbias as possible, but I thought last year was one of the most entertaining finishes in the past chase seasons. I think this not because BK won the title, but because it was so much more riveting to have someone fight Johnson for the top spot. Every lap mattered, every pit stop was important, and it happened to finish up with one misstep meaning the biggest difference for Jimmie Johnson. Phoenix seemed to be the end to JJ's title hopes when he finished 32nd. During the 10 race chase the two drivers won 4 of the 10 races, 2 for Brad and 2 for Jimmie. They lead the most laps often, they got poles, and they just fought hard down to the last race.

Nascar has fallen on some hard times. Fans are showning up less and less to tracks and even some TV ratings have slipped. Car sponsorships have been slipping as well and the top manufacturers seem to have a strong hold each week.  Nascar thus has tried everything they can, from "Have at it boys" to the new Gen 6 car that looks more like the car's fans can buy on the street. Drivers getting after it can be entertaining at times, and some old school fans found it appealing and had flashbacks of Dale Earnhardt Sr in a competitors rear view mirror, but in the mass media it created a frenzy. The Gen 6 car has brought some fans back in by appealing them to an actual "stock car." But the racing has been par so far, whether that's the tracks or the cars fault, the ruling is still out.


Is a garage clearing brawl really what Nascar needs to get fans back? Or is the fan base all about the car and how it races? I think one huge key that gets overlooked is the rivalries within the sport. Does that mean Dale Earnhardt Jr has to hate Greg Biffle because he drives a Ford? Does that mean BK and Carl Edwards should get back into it again and pull a Jeff Gordon and purposely take one another out? No. But back in the day when drivers were on the track they hated Earnhardt, but they respected the hell out of him off the track. Would they trade paint with him on it? Hell yes, and every now and then some arguments came from it off the track but ended before the next week.

That's where Brad Keselowski and Jimmie Johnson come back in. Entering 2013 did every fan expect these two to be back 1 and 2 so soon? This is the perfect opportunity to start a real rivalry. BK has a big mouth and says what he feels, Jimmie hold back some and appeals to higher Nascar most the time. These two can be made opposites and the media needs to hype this up, every week they're head to head fighting for points. If their was more emphasis on these rivalries I think it would help bring in some casual fans. Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards fighting for comeback racer of the year or heat up the Gordon vs Bowyer rivalry from last year but in a good light. We are heading to Bristol where trading paint is normal and their is nothing more natural than rivals that can be enhanced there. More love/hate relationships never hurts a sports following but rather helps it blossom. Yankees vs Red Sox, Lakers vs Boston, UNC vs Duke, Michigan vs Ohio State and on and on. These are what make the regular season something to watch.

If this season keeps going the way it is I think we could be in for another interesting finish. Brad and Jimmie fighting for the top, can Carl regain form, will Kyle Busch get going earlier rather than later, and will Jr finish the season as strong as he has started it? If the media can make something of the million story lines out their and stop worrying so much about the Gen 6 car, this season could go somewhere and be the turnaround of Nascar.

So, "have at it boys," lets see some racing.
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