Nascar Nextel Cup Allstate 400 Race at the Brick / Indianapolis on NBC Sunday 8/7 , 2pm ET - 11am PT

Nascar.com ^ | 8/3/05

[steveegg]

Why do I have this feeling that Kurt will make Jeff sound like Frank Sinatra...

Because he'll try to imitate Harry Caray. Of course, I don't think he'll make the mistake Jeff did and call it Wrigley Stadium :-)

[fideist]

Is there anyplace online I can see or hear Flash's performance at Wrigley?

[steveegg]

Is there anyplace online I can see or hear Flash's performance at Wrigley?

Wish I could help you directly, but try searching on the search engine of your choice. You may want to hold your ears though.

[fideist]

Let's all pray for a more interesting Chase!

"Dear Lord, please see fit to give DNFs to JJ, Smoke and the Biff this week. Amen."

[fideist]

I found the video -- http://www.wcnc.com/perl/common/video/wmPlayer.pl?title=www.wcnc.com/0525-gordon.wmv -- No wonder he is cursed!!!

[Coldwater Creek]

Thanks, It was a really positive article for a change. I have known Joe Gibbs since we were kids in So. Calif., the Gibbs were our neighbors, and I know what a good influence Joe is on his people, just took a while.

GO TONY GO!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Coldwater Creek]

Leave Smoke out of this.

[WestCoastGal]

Isn't there some sort of jinx associated with singing there? At least bad singing and the wrong words?

I want to hear Kurt Busch sing like Frank Sinatra!!! :-)

[WestCoastGal]

I posted Carol's article last week about Allen Bestwick being booted from INC. Here is this weeks followup......

August 5, 2005

By Carol Einarsson

Usually this column is a combination of your comments about a race and your comments about something I’ve said. You take your turn, I reply; and so it goes. But this week, in response to What I Like About You: Allen Bestwick, I got more mail than I could have imagined, and I didn’t disagree with any of you. Thus, there’s no reason for me to reply to each letter other than to say this is how you can contact NBC, and this is how you can contact SPEED (contacts found at end of column). Can we change anything? I don’t know. But we can try. Like you who have started petitions, and you who had the ideas about making signs and finding cameras at race tracks, the thing I do best is write, so this is my best effort.

Link to Carol's e-mail

Here are the links to the networks that have to clue:

NBC Sports
Viewer Relations
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112
(212) 664-5313
(212) 459-1312

E-mail

Speed Channel
Two Stamford Plaza
281 Tresser Blvd
Stamford, CT 06901-3267
1-888-22-SPEED

E-mail

[WestCoastGal]

Goodyear Notes: This is the first time Goodyear has brought this specific combination of left- and right-side tires to Indianapolis Motor Speedway . . . this is the only track at which Nextel Cup teams will run this combination in 2005 . .

---

OH OH???

[WestCoastGal]

Dale Jr. speaks about crew chief changes: Brandon Mudd of 590 the Fan, KFNS, (www.kfns.com), spoke with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. who was in the St. Louis area yesterday for a Victory Junction Gang Camp function at Kenny Schrader's dirt track in Pevely, MO.

Earnhardt said there is a good chance Tony Eury, Jr. could be the crew chief of the #8-Budweiser team next season. "Absolutely. Anything in this sport is a possibility. We've talked about that and no decision has been made. We've got to concentrate on making the Chase; we won't make a decision before that. I don't think I can sit here and honestly tell you who will be my crew chief next year. I really like working with Steve Hmiel and in a way, I think that we make a great team. Me and him together have a good way of...I don't know, we just have a good way of working together that seems to want to build success. I think if me and Steve Hmiel stuck together, we'd win some races.

The only problem with that is he's been in this sport so long, he's overqualified. The things he was doing for the company before, those areas are now starting to suffer because of him having to come down and do the crew-chiefing side of it. So we need to figure it out. And I'm not sure if he wants to do it full-time or not, honestly, whether or not he wants to go back to that grind. We'll all have to just sit down and talk about it and see what everyone wants to do, but yeah, you have to consider that a possibility, me and Tony Jr. getting back together. Right now, though, we just don't know."(Brandon W. Mudd/590 The Fan, KFNS)(8-5-2005)

[WestCoastGal]

Sponsorship deal may realign teams
If NAPA remains, DEI says it has prominent driver lined up for ride


INDIANAPOLIS - If Dale Earnhardt Inc. can keep NAPA as a sponsor for a third car next season, an already topsy-turvy "Silly Season" could get even wilder.

DEI Director of Motorsports Richie Gilmore said yesterday the team is negotiating with the auto-parts supplier about staying with the No. 15 being vacated by Michael Waltrip after 2005.

Gilmore said DEI already has lined up a driver to team with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Martin Truex Jr. for the 2006 Nextel Cup season. Gilmore wouldn't disclose a name but said it was someone prominent on another race team "that's been on our wish list for some time."

"[NAPA] has some options with us, Michael and some other race teams," Gilmore said. "We've put about a two-week window on it where they've got to make the decision and we've got to make a decision and go forward. But we have a driver kind of laid out, and everything laid out."

Gilmore also pooh-poohed the idea of reuniting Earnhardt Jr. with Tony Eury Jr. if the No. 8 Chevrolet were to qualify for the Chase for the Nextel Cup. Earnhardt won a career-high six races last year with Eury as car chief. An offseason shake-up moved Eury to Waltrip's team as crew chief this year.

"I would say that scenario would take away from both teams, so we wouldn't even look at that," Gilmore said. "That would affect both teams in a negative [way]."

Gilmore said the possibility of naming Eury as Earnhardt's crew chief for next season hadn't been discussed much.

"It's still too early," he said. "There's been a lot of talk outside of DEI but not at our company."

LINK

[steveegg]

News from the local fishwrap (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) -

• The Milwaukee Mile (home to a Truck/Busch weekend set of races, as well as one of the few tracks where both Champ Car and IRL compete) may have found a new promoter. The State Fair Park board, which has been running the facility in the red since buying out Carl Haas' promotion contract last year, has scheduled a meeting for August 15 to discuss this.
• Boris Said says to watch the bouncing pingpong balls in the qualifying draw today, and the field-fillers that draw low ones have a better shot of making the field because of the early qualifying.
• Quick report on how the Ford Fusion handled down in Atlanta - more downforce, better balance than the Taurus.
• Scott Riggs likely will stay at MB2; he'll join the team in a sponsor announcement scheduled for today.

And wider news from Jayski -

• Update on the ringer situation at the #4; it looks like it will be PJ Jones in the car again.
• Casey Mears talked to a St. Louis station about McMurray and 2006 plans, discounting the idea that he'll be the next driver of the blue deuce.
• The Toyota Camry is scheduled to be at AMS for mandatory NASCAR testing sometime next week.

[steveegg]

Like cheese through the shredder, so go the days in NASCAR. Thus we bring you another episode of "All My Silly Seasons". After Matt Kenseth spouted off to Marty Smith of NASCAR.com about STILL not being consulted about Jamie McMurray's 2007 signing at Roush Racing (in a related note, McMary's been ducking the Robot, claiming he'd try the Flash method of anger management), RacingOne is saying the rumor mill is that he'll be leaving Roush soon and there's a spot at DEI in his immediate future.

Will Robot no longer be senior man at Roush Racing? Will McMary actually bite off more than he can chew? Will DEI instantly become a force to be reckoned with, and can Jr's and Robot's frienship survive being teammates? Tune in next time, when we speculate on these and other questions.

[Fierce Allegiance]

Thanks for the ping and hosting this weeks thread!

[Fierce Allegiance]

It'll always be the Brickyard 400 to me!!

It will always be Winston Cup for me.

[Fierce Allegiance]

Cool!

[fideist]

RE: Kenseth and DEI

As WCG said on the other thread, the problem with Robot coming over to DEI is he has another year on his contract with Roush. Although I would love to see it happen!

RE: Junior and Junior

Junebug's season turned for the better after DEI had the "big sit-down." Watching NASCAR-IN-CAR, following the "big sit-down," Eury, Jr. began coming over to Junebug in the car and wish him well before the races. They joke, and laugh. Eury, Jr. pats Junebug on the shoulder, and jokingly punches him in the gut. They talk about going out to dinner together after the race. I have no doubt they will be back together next year.

[NormsRevenge]

http://www.nascar.com/2005/news/headlines/cup/07/30/debate_profanity/index.html

Asked by NASCAR broadcaster NBC about the significance of his fifth victory at Talladega, Earnhardt said, "It don't mean s--- right now. Daddy's won here 10 times."

Profanity police?

Debate over NASCAR's stance on questionable language still fierce

By Mark Spoor, NASCAR.COM
August 3, 2005
10:44 AM EDT (14:44 GMT)

[steveegg]

I'm slightly-remiss in not posting the entry lists earlier, but with Carl Long dropping out of the Brickyard 40..er, Allstate 400, maybe it was a good thing.

Allstate 400 at the Brickyard (Cup) entry list -

Car	Driver	Hometown	Make	Sponsor	Owner
0	Mike Bliss	Milwaukie, OR	Chevrolet	NetZero Best Buy	Gene Haas
1	Martin Truex Jr.**	Mayetta, NJ	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops/Tracker	Teresa Earnhardt
01	Joe Nemechek	Lakeland, FL	Chevrolet	U.S. Army	Nelson Bowers
2	Rusty Wallace	St. Louis, MO	Dodge	Miller Lite	Roger Penske
4	Mike Wallace**	St. Louis, MO	Chevrolet	Lucas Oil Products	Larry McClure
5	Kyle Busch*	Las Vegas, NV	Chevrolet	Kellogg's/Delphi	Rick Hendrick
6	Mark Martin	Batesville, AR	Ford	Viagra	Jack Roush
7	Robby Gordon**	Orange, CA	Chevrolet	Fruit of the Loom	James Smith
07	Dave Blaney	Hartford, OH	Chevrolet	Jack Daniel's	Richard Childress
8	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Kannapolis, NC	Chevrolet	Budweiser	Teresa Earnhardt
9	Kasey Kahne	Enumclaw, WA	Dodge	Dodge Dealers/UAW	Ray Evernham
10	Scott Riggs	Bahama, NC	Chevrolet	Checkers/Rally's	James Rocco
11	Jason Leffler	Long Beach, CA	Chevrolet	FedEx Express	J D Gibbs
12	Ryan Newman	South Bend, IN	Dodge	ALLTEL	Roger Penske
15	Michael Waltrip	Owensboro, KY	Chevrolet	NAPA Auto Parts	Teresa Earnhardt
16	Greg Biffle	Vancouver, WA	Ford	National Guard	Geoff Smith
17	Matt Kenseth	Cambridge, WI	Ford	DeWalt Power Tools	Mark Martin
18	Bobby Labonte	Corpus Christi, TX	Chevrolet	Interstate Batteries	Joe Gibbs
19	Jeremy Mayfield	Owensboro, KY	Dodge	Dodge Dealers/UAW	Ray Evernham
20	Tony Stewart	Rushville, IN	Chevrolet	The Home Depot	Joe Gibbs
21	Ricky Rudd	Chesapeake, VA	Ford	Motorcraft Genuine Parts	Glen Wood
22	Scott Wimmer	Wausau, WI	Dodge	Caterpillar	Bill Davis
23	Mike Skinner**	Susanville, CA	Dodge	History Channel AutoManiac	Gail Davis
24	Jeff Gordon	Pittsboro, IN	Chevrolet	DuPont	Rick Hendrick
25	Brian Vickers	Thomasville, NC	Chevrolet	Garnier Fructis	Mary Hendrick
29	Kevin Harvick	Bakersfield, CA	Chevrolet	GM Goodwrench	Richard Childress
31	Jeff Burton	South Boston, VA	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops/Cingular	Richard Childress
32	Bobby Hamilton Jr.**	Nashville, TN	Chevrolet	Tide	Calvin Wells, III
34	P.J. Jones**	Torrance, CA	Chevrolet	PEO Pros	William Edwards
37	Kevin Lepage**	Shelburne, VT	Dodge	Patron Tequila	John Carter
38	Elliott Sadler	Emporia, VA	Ford	M&M's	Robert Yates
40	Sterling Marlin	Columbia, TN	Dodge	Coors Light	Felix Sabates
41	Casey Mears	Bakersfield, CA	Dodge	Target	Chip Ganassi
42	Jamie McMurray	Joplin, MO	Dodge	Texaco Havoline	Floyd Ganassi
43	Jeff Green	Owensboro, KY	Dodge	Boxtops for Education/Cheerios/Betty Crocker	Richard L Petty
44	Terry Labonte**	Corpus Christi, TX	Chevrolet	ditech.com	Rick Hendrick
45	Kyle Petty	Randleman, NC	Dodge	Georgia-Pacific/Marsh Stores	Kyle Petty
48	Jimmie Johnson	El Cajon, CA	Chevrolet	Lowe's	Jeff Gordon
49	Ken Schrader	Fenton, MO	Dodge	Schwan's Home Service	Elizabeth Morgenthau
50	Jimmy Spencer**	Berwick, PA	Dodge	Arnold Development Companies	Don Arnold
66	Mike Garvey*/**	Lakeville, MN	Ford	EAS	Jeff Stec
77	Travis Kvapil*	Janesville, WI	Dodge	Kodak/Jasper Engines	Douglas Bawel
88	Dale Jarrett	Hickory, NC	Ford	UPS	Robert Yates
89	Morgan Shepherd**	Conover, NC	Dodge	Victory In Jesus	Cindy Shepherd
91	Bill Elliott**	Dawsonville, GA	Dodge	Stanley Tools	Ray Evernham Sr.
97	Kurt Busch	Las Vegas, NV	Ford	Crown Royal	Georgetta Roush
99	Carl Edwards	Columbia, MO	Ford	AAA	Jack Roush
100	Kenny Wallace**	St. Louis, MO	Chevrolet	Aaron's	Buffy Waltrip
104	Bobby Hamilton**	Nashville, TN	Dodge	BHR Dodge	Stephanie Hamilton
136	Boris Said**	Carlsbad, CA	Chevrolet	CENTRIX Financial	Bob Sutton
151	Stuart Kirby**	Bowling Green, KY	Chevrolet	Marathon American Spirit Motor Oil	Joe Auer
192	Tony Raines**	La Porte, IN	Chevrolet	Front Row Motorsports	Bob Jenkins

* Denotes Rookie
** Denotes driver/team not in the top 35 in owners' points, must qualify on time (fastest 7 of 17 plus either Terry Labonte-1996 Winston Cup champ, Bill Elliot-1988 Winston Cup champ, or 8th-fastest of 17)