I stopped subscribing to my local newspaper years ago when I began to change my morning ritual from picking up the local fish wrap, to firing up the lap top and hitting the handful of online news sources. The range of sites I hit is pretty diverse, from your basic newspaper sites, to Nascar sites, College Football sites to the occasional political site. I guess being a creature of habit can by fun, but this morning I ran across a couple of interesting reads and comments.
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In the past I have mention about the 'price of being an Elliott Sadler fan', and without knowing just who this person is speaking of in this CUP SCENE DAILY article, it appears she is just as frustrated with Fan Clubs and the fact that your are 'only a true fan if you pay the fan club price for it'. Maybe she is getting tired of receiving 'expired Tylenol packets' or pictures of said driver posed in front of a car that hasn't been driven in years, or waiting for the 'special gift', and always wondering just what that gift was supposed to be.
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I was scanning over a few of the non 'pay to play' message boards of the 'Southern Gentleman', and saw a few posts trying to justify the 19's poor qualifying attempt. Now first, let me explain that qualifying at a plate track maybe one of the most over-rated aspects of the whole speedweeks. But when I read that 'Everything will be okay because Elliott was qualifying in RACE TRIM' gave me a chuckle. While the 19 is locked into the 500 and the emphasis this past week has been to get the car to be as stable as possible in the draft, no race team will not tape the nose up tight as a drum and remove any spring rubbers in order to keep the car as low as possible during the qualifying run. It is no secret that starting near the front the 'Duals' is an advantage and one that Sadler would have wanted to have. All and all though, for teams locked into the 500, the Duals are simply racing for a pit stall selection.
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Speaking of perception, it is just a matter of time before a comment is made by fan after a disappointing finish in the 500 of "well, now we can get to 'real' racing". I always liked that 'excuse', but the fact of the matter is that plate racing is worth just as many driver points as any other style of racing. Is it a different form of racing? Of course. But it also requires a specific and just as difficult skill as the other types of racing. Some drivers maybe road course specialists while others maybe short track specialists, but that doesn't make them any 'better' than the driver that excels consistently on a plate track.
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Did anyone catch the almost sarcastic comment Dave Despain made after the Bud Shootout practice crash where teams were scrambling to get back-up cars down from Charlotte? His comment was something like 'So much for the C.O.T. being interchangeable at all tracks like Nascar had told us it world'. (paraphrasing) But such a knee jerk reaction may not have been warranted, as the 48 opted for a car that ran RICHMOND last fall, and another team used a car that ran at MARTINSVILLE. Even though the 48 needed some tweaking early in the race, it's finishing position had to make the Nascar hierarchy a bit happy showing that the need for race teams to have three dozen plus cars in order to be competitive at the different tracks, just took a step in the right direction and may not be as much a necessity.
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Yates Racing gets a temporary reprieve buy signing sponsorship for the 38 (Free Credit Report.com) and the 28 (K&N Filters) for the 500 much to the relief of many 28 and 38 fans. But what I find interesting is the almost nonchalant attitudes of people associated with Yates Racing. It is business as usual and a 'moving forward' commitment even without any long term sponsorship commitment. Have a good showing in the first few races and those long term commitments will be knocking the front doors down lining up to get their name on a Yates hood.
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And lastly, only 3 weeks till Sooner spring football practice!
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In the past I have mention about the 'price of being an Elliott Sadler fan', and without knowing just who this person is speaking of in this CUP SCENE DAILY article, it appears she is just as frustrated with Fan Clubs and the fact that your are 'only a true fan if you pay the fan club price for it'. Maybe she is getting tired of receiving 'expired Tylenol packets' or pictures of said driver posed in front of a car that hasn't been driven in years, or waiting for the 'special gift', and always wondering just what that gift was supposed to be.
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I was scanning over a few of the non 'pay to play' message boards of the 'Southern Gentleman', and saw a few posts trying to justify the 19's poor qualifying attempt. Now first, let me explain that qualifying at a plate track maybe one of the most over-rated aspects of the whole speedweeks. But when I read that 'Everything will be okay because Elliott was qualifying in RACE TRIM' gave me a chuckle. While the 19 is locked into the 500 and the emphasis this past week has been to get the car to be as stable as possible in the draft, no race team will not tape the nose up tight as a drum and remove any spring rubbers in order to keep the car as low as possible during the qualifying run. It is no secret that starting near the front the 'Duals' is an advantage and one that Sadler would have wanted to have. All and all though, for teams locked into the 500, the Duals are simply racing for a pit stall selection.
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Speaking of perception, it is just a matter of time before a comment is made by
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Did anyone catch the almost sarcastic comment Dave Despain made after the Bud Shootout practice crash where teams were scrambling to get back-up cars down from Charlotte? His comment was something like 'So much for the C.O.T. being interchangeable at all tracks like Nascar had told us it world'. (paraphrasing) But such a knee jerk reaction may not have been warranted, as the 48 opted for a car that ran RICHMOND last fall, and another team used a car that ran at MARTINSVILLE. Even though the 48 needed some tweaking early in the race, it's finishing position had to make the Nascar hierarchy a bit happy showing that the need for race teams to have three dozen plus cars in order to be competitive at the different tracks, just took a step in the right direction and may not be as much a necessity.
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Yates Racing gets a temporary reprieve buy signing sponsorship for the 38 (Free Credit Report.com) and the 28 (K&N Filters) for the 500 much to the relief of many 28 and 38 fans. But what I find interesting is the almost nonchalant attitudes of people associated with Yates Racing. It is business as usual and a 'moving forward' commitment even without any long term sponsorship commitment. Have a good showing in the first few races and those long term commitments will be knocking the front doors down lining up to get their name on a Yates hood.
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And lastly, only 3 weeks till Sooner spring football practice!
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