Let the Dominoes fall

With the news that Tony Stewart has been given the official okie dokie to leave Joe Gibbs Racing, the path has been cleared for the falling dominoes of this summer’s silly season. So the seat that has produced two CUP Championships is now open and it goes down hill from there. So lets put on the tin foiled hat and see what opportunities are out there for Elliott Sadler and see if another ‘plan’ is in the works. [insert music ‘Tempted by a fruit of another’, by Squeeze]

Now I realize that Sadler has just recently signed an extension to his contract with GEM which runs though 2010, but we all know that is just a piece of paper. I also realize that Sadler has also been quoted during the announcement that "This is the place where I want to race," when referring the GEM. But let’s be frank here, Sadler has been known to say one thing to the press while at the same time making ‘deals’ behind the scenes. [insert 2nd chorus ‘Tempted by a fruit of another’, by Squeeze]

Also during the announcement Sadler can be quoted; “I think what we are building here is special and something other drivers and crew members envy”. Ironically he said very similar things after signing his extension with Yates only to bolt less than a year later. Yes, the 19 team is running good, although the over all results don’t show it all the time. But when ‘Tempted’, Elliott Sadler has that wandering eye, no matter how happy he says he is.

PR Man/Spotter Brett Griffin has been AWOL for SFC for months now (something he also did in the ’06 silly season. Is a ‘plan’ in the works?) Lets get that tin foil hat on and have some fun (if Jayski can do it, why not myself)by starting at the top and look at some of the possible open rides.

Sadler to the 20 car?
The main problem here has little to do with on track performance or even off track fun. The real problem is that Sadler or his family does not own any Toyota dealerships, or do they? Not to mention that Sadler's ‘new’ house has just recently been completed, so there goes any chance of a “Home Depot’ home improvement advertising campaign.

Sadler to the 1 car?
If Truex leaves DEI [insert 3rd chorus ‘Tempted by a fruit of another’, by Squeeze] and if the rumors are true that BASS PRO is signed through 2010, for some reason I am thinking that Sadler would be the sponsor’s dream. Maybe even better than Purina when Sadler was in the 38 and having a gazillion dogs! I have always felt that Sadler would end up at DEI at some point in his career, may as well strike will the iron is hot.

Sadler to the 12 car?
Either Alltel or if the merger works out, Verizon should be on the 12 car in ’09. Since Sadler has been involved in an on and off ‘long distance’ relationship and now a date has been set, the chances for a no ‘family plan’ ad campaign could be in the works. Only one draw back might be for a driver who has a history of bad ‘driver/Crew Chief’ communication skills, shilling for a communications mogul might be a problem and nix the deal.

Sadler to the 21?
Just like ole times and little has changed. Sponsorship problems, low expectations, no pressure. Sadler could ‘work hard and play hard’ all he wants and the owners would just be happy to be there. Drawback is that the 21 would fail to make too many races, forcing Sadler to have to pay out of his own pocket to jetset from track to track.

Sadler to the 33?
Another DEI/RCR venture looking for a pilot. General Mills/Cheerios is the sponsor and there are some good possibilities here. ‘A WAFFLE MAKER?’ not being a ‘morning’ person Sadler could let us all know the importance of a well-balanced breakfast. Rutledge will have to been involved somehow.

So its Elliott Sadler to the 1 car in 2009, you read it hear first!!!
See? This Jayski thingy isn’t so hard!

Perception is a funny thing

Yesterday, Nascar announced the penalties for the #7 team and driver/owner Robbie Gordon for attempting to pass through pre-qualifying inspection a non-approved nose. It didn’t take long for the ‘NA$CAR flaming’ all over the innerweb defending the #7 team and the cries of the ‘NA$CAR agenda’. This is where perception comes into play, and how that perception creates memory loss to many of the Nascar faithful.

First lets hear from the team owner himself:

“This was an innocent mistake made by someone not even on my team. They accidentally supplied us the new Dodge noses that NASCAR hasn't yet approved because of what amounted to a clerical error. It was discovered during technical inspection and corrected before the race. It was not even close to being an intent to create some competitive advantage, and the mistake was not even made by my team.”

Now I understand why Robbie would want to point fingers and deflect the blame to someone else. (In this case GEM supplied the nose) But this is not the first time a team has been penalized for having ‘unapproved’ parts supplied by another team. Hall of Fame Racing was fine and had points taken away in their VERY FIRST RACE two years ago thanks to Joe Gibbs Racing. At least that was where the blame went. There is your precedent Robbie and you stance takes another blow when one looks at the penalty for the 8 team last season for using 'unapproved rear wing brackets' on the C.O.T. and they attempted the same 'it was just a mistake' justification.

The first volleys thrown were the ‘comparisons to any Rick Hendrick team violation’, whether it was from the C.O.T. or not. So that got me thinking, just how a team that fields FOUR full time teams can be compared to a single car team in terms of ‘frequency of violations’. These fans might be surprised just how many times over the past few years the #7 team/driver/owner has been caught ‘cheating’, yet somehow is ‘innocent’.

Just a quick scan of Jayski’s penalty pages shows that the one car team seems to appear almost as much as the four car Hendrick Motorsports teams.

2005 Daytona: “unapproved intake manifold on the #7 Chevrolet discovered during the initial Daytona 500 inspection”, $50,000 fine and 25 owner points (car failed to make the field so no driver points were deducted)

2005 spring Martinsville: “unapproved deck lid”, $5,000 fine, no points deducted

2006 fall Atlanta: “intentionally causing a caution condition during the race”, $15,000 50 driver and 50 owner points

2007 Summer Daytona: “equipment used do not conform to NASCAR rules”, $25,000 fine, 25 driver and 25 owner points.

I will omit the handful of penalties access by Nascar to Gordon for altercations or language.

No I am not going to sit here and say that HMS is an ‘angel’ when it comes to rules violations but I will say that ‘perspective’ and bias comes into play if one wants to defend the #7 team. As a single car team they have proportionately been guilty of just as many and just as severe violations. Maybe more importantly comes from the ‘innocent’ justifications Robbie gives in many of these violations with ‘we are not doing anything different that anyone is doing’ or the ‘the issue was found before qualifying so way the severe penalty’?

Nascar has to take and stance (and has) that simply submitting a car for pre-race inspection show intent to run that car’s configuration during qualifying and during the race. If not, then why was the car submitted to the inspection line in the first place. Bottom line, once the car enters the pre-qualifying inspection line, the ‘official entry’ for that team has been made.

Robbie can shift the blame to Evernham all he wants, and there are enough Evernham violations to go around over the past few years to fill the bucket, or he can say it was just a ‘clerical’ mistake all he wants, but that doesn’t change the fact of what his team attempted to do. Nascar has taken a firm stance one ‘messing with the aero of the C.O.T.' and the fines/penalties ($100,000 fine, 100 driver and 100 owner points) issued for this was in all honesty the ‘minimum’ in terms of precedent. Robbie feels differently with this quote: "Other teams who have had similar issues to what happened with the nose on my car were only penalized 25 points." I challenge Robbie to site just one 'similar' C.O.T. violation where only 25 points were deducted. In fact, I would go further to say that he could look for ANY C.O.T. violation. Fact is, he can't.

If Nascar was to turn the other cheek on this, doesn’t that open Pandora’s Box?

I think it would.