Carl Edwards: This Isn't Politics.

Carl Edwards, this isn't politics where you pitch the attitude of the moment, depending on constituent opinion polls. You need to pick a character and stay with it.

You've threatened Matt Kenseth with air punches, and now you've TRIED to start something with Kevin Harvick and failed miserably.

You keep pitching this good guy aura in your interviews, but the jaw grinding tension you cover up is evident if one looks close enough during those same interviews. And that's fine. It's the edge needed to want to win and help you win.

Dude, the pictures that seemed to have taken an oddly long time to get released kind of tells the story. You aren't the best scrapper in the bucket. Stick to back flips.

Let Jimmy Spencer and Tony Stewart do what they do best, or at least better than you. But pick a character and quit pitching this good guy thing.

Thanks.

A great piece by Jeff Wolf at Review Journal inspired this bit. Source
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2007 NASCAR Awards Ceremony

I just got done watching the 2007 awards banquet on tape.
Yes, I'm either that slow, or that busy.

Thank you Dr Jerry Punch.
A perfectly delivered announcing task.

Thank you to all the guys in NASCAR, drivers, crews, even the governing body.

Thank you to the VCR gods for the invention of the VCR.
I don't think I could have sat through the whole show at real time speed.

The drivers seems reserved, or constrained. (I heard rumor NASCAR was putting reigns on their energetic possibilities!)

I think they even put a damper on Kelly Clarkson who normally likes bouncing and jumping around on stage while she sings, but not at this show.

I don't know who the woman is who announced each driver, but her drawl drove me batty and I literally thanked the VCR gods.


David Spade. I thought that with some fresh comedy blood in the mix, the comedy would be a nice mix of different, but it seemed like who ever wrote his skits, wrote all the skits for the previous NASCAR banquet years and I cringed for David during his delivery.

I liked Jeff Gordon looking more human than normal as he teared up thinking about is little baby. I liked the twist up of the supporting wife role when Tony Stewart had to extol the virtues of his crew chief.

Well, that officially closed the 2007 season for me.. on to 2008 Sprint Cup season in February. According to my clock, I've got 72 days until the Daytona 500!!

Yellow Flag Restarts on ESPN

an observation by Bruce Simmons

OK, I don't know about you, but one of my favorite parts of a race are the restarts after a yellow flag.

The tension and anxiety of watching the front runners restart skills, dealing with lapped cars, and seeing who gets the jump, and spins the wheels. That first lap of each restart is fun for me.

I am incredibly surprised that ESPN consistently comes back from commercial 1/2 way or into, or 1 lap after the restarts. Is this as annoying for you as it is for me? Argghh.. how can every other channel have the ability to cover the restarts and ESPN not? I am befuddled but then again, marketing dollars speak volumes for whomever will listen, like ESPN.

While I'm gripping, I also kind of annoyed that NASCAR is victim to whatever sport is on before it and we have to wait for it to finish.

Like I've said before, this is just like the old days with ABC. Same mentality, different era.

OK, 'nuff said.

UPDATE: Some days it just doesn't pay to write. Ever since I posted this, they've shown the next 2 restarts.. I tell ya...

My gripe still stands for MOST of the restarts then..

Does DEI now become a Museum?

by Bruce Simmons

I jokingly stipulated in a previous post that with Dale Earnhardt Jr. gone, DEI would become a museum.

It was a sound bite that Jeff Gordon had tossed out in an interview and I conjectured on it a bit. Now, with DEI and Ginn Racing merging, and DEI looking to move their operation into Ginn's existing, (and apparently superior?) shop, (As I heard on Sirius Radio this morning) what becomes of the original DEI shop that Dale Earnhardt Sr. worked so hard to build?

Snippets and quotes:
"There are three huge benefits to us - the real estate, Mark Martin and an ability to work with Bobby Ginn on strategic development projects that Teresa has been planning for years," Max Siegel said.

DEI's teams will continue to operate in the DEI shop as well as the nearly 180,000-square-foot facility that houses Ginn's teams. The buildings are less than five miles apart in Mooresville, N.C.

As David Poole of Thatsracin.com observes, "If the “new” Dale Earnhardt Inc. moves most of its Cup operations to the former Ginn Racing shop, could what’s now the DEI headquarters become a sort of interactive Dale Earnhardt museum/attraction? If so, I’ve got the absolutely perfect name – “3 Flags Over Mooresville.” "

http://www.thatsracin.com/247/story/5626.html

What do I always say? Time will be the telling ingredient here.

Kyle Busch Not Getting It?

Observation by Bruce Simmons

I came across an AOL SPORTS article touching on Kyle Busch's expectant perspective that his team mates should have been pushing him to the win on Saturday night, when in fact, maybe, they were driving for their own win, being the individual racers that we all expect them to be when flag end is in sight! (Go figure)

As the article's writer puts it about the last lap of the Daytona (Or any restrictor plate) race, ... the moonshiner, pulling out all the stops to outrun the revenuer, emerges when the checkered flag beckons?

But yet, there were gentlemen in the crowd, as they didn't break ranks in the rush, was Carl Edwards, who graciously assisted teammate McMurray en route to a win while Carl drove to fourth place, and Kurt was there for his brother, but as I've heard too many times in interviews with Kyle, he was pretty intent on catching the side draft from McMurray, and I add - rather than staying in front of his brother and letting him push him to the win. (At least in my humble opinion.)

Here's the article, at AOL SPORTS, and there's a survey asking your opinion on who you think is the worst team mate, and it turns out that we all think..... oh, you'll see.