Jimmie Johnson is Not In A Bad Points Hole Yet & Why I Think That

Right now, after Phoenix, and barring the penalty not being appealed, Jimmie Johnson is 71 points out of first in 37th place in the driver's points standings of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.  But this early in the season, there's enough volatility in the standings that just maybe, there's nothing for the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team to worry about.

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I know that numerically, Jimmie's spot in the standings looks a bit dire, but the new points system can actually help him in the early weeks of the 2012 season.

In the old points system we had various point gaps between positions that made climbing up through the ranks a bit tough.  But with the new points system in place, where only 1 point separates various finishing positions, the early weeks of the season could favor a strong showing for Jimmie Johnson.

Here's the thing... 

The point spreads right now aren't huge or insurmountable.  In this early part of the season while teams are feeling out their position in the season, there will be wins and 15th place finishes.  All leading to a variability in the points for the teams.

For instance, though Johnson is 71 points behind points leader Denny Hamlin, a win by the former and a 10th place finish by the latter would pull Johnson to within 57 points of Hamlin.  (This scenario assumes certain things to happen, and is the best case scenario for Johnson.)

If this happened a few times, things would be good.  Obviously things don't work that easy, but right now, during these first few weeks of the season, Johnson can work the system while there's still some variability to be had in the points.  It won't be too easy after the 4th or 5th week, but by then, Johnson has either regained his penalty points or not, and is in a position to work at his game.

The important part about the early weeks of the season is that positions will jump around at first.  Look at this week after Phoenix.  Kyle Busch climbed 8 spots into 9th and Brad Keselowski jumped 17 spots into 12th.  Martin Truex Jr. clawed up 6 spots into 6th and the points leaders all swapped spots of 3 or 4 positions.

Right now there's volatility in the points standings that Jimmie Johnson has to take advantage of.  At least if he wants to competitive early on and continuing into the latter-half of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.

But that's just my take.  Do you have any thoughts on the issue?


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Being A NASCAR Jet Dryer Driver Just Got Safer

No, Juan Pablo Montoya did not leave NASCAR.  But after Montoya's car broke under caution and slid out of control into a Jet Dryer truck at Daytona, things have been changed for the better, at least for the drivers at the truck.

After the marshmallow roast that was the Daytona Jet Dryer truck, it was noticed that while scampering for his life, the driver didn't have a fire suit or helmet.

As unlikely as this event is to happen again, NASCAR instigated some new rules.

When jet dryer trucks are deployed, there will be an extra pace car behind the trucks with lights on, to apprise cars passing by about the truck that can go up in a ball of fire.  And to slow down.

So the cars need to slow down when they approach.

Also the truck drivers will be wearing fire suits and helmets for the next time Montoya goes on a destructive bent! (sarc)-Bruce 

They initiated the new rules at the Phoenix race today.

Short Recap of NASCAR's 'Subway Fresh Fit 500' from Phoenix

Darian Grubb Continues His Winning Ways at Phoenix with Denny Hamlin

Denny Hamlin sent a message today at the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway by taking the checkered flag afte a hard-fought final set of laps.  And defending champion crew chief Darian Grub also sent a message by getting his driver into the winner's circle.

Those last few laps were pretty intense because for all intent purposes, it looked like Kevin Harvick was overtaking Hamlin and that it would be Harvick's to not win.  But with just over a lap to go, Harvick faded away from the back bumper of Hamlin's bumper, the conjecture being that he ran out of fuel.

Everyone was having fuel mileage concerns but Hamlin ran pretty good today at Phoenix.

Cars that had problems today included Clint Bowyer (tire), Kasey Kahne (Wall smack), Casey Mears (spin), Paul Menard (crash), collecting A.J. Allmendinger and Jamie McMurray, David Reutimann (engine), Ryan Newman (Crash) and Tony Stewart (FUEL INJECTION).

After 312 laps, 7 cautions, 15 leaders and 25 lead changes, Denny Hamlin showed that fear is not a factor... oh, wait, wrong show!

But Hamlin won, followed by Kevin Harvick, Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson, and Brad Keselowski.  Danica Patrick WAS NOT in this race, so the media coverage was minimal.  (snarc!)

Today's race propelled Denny Hamlin to the top of the driver points standings.  Other improvements from last week were Greg Biffle (now 2nd), Kevin Harvick (3rd) and Matt Kenseth is now sitting in 4th.

These big jumps in positions are to be expected for a few races until things settle out.

Results | Standings -Bruce

What? No Digger Mentions From Fox?

So far this year, Fox has avoided calling out their underground camera that they nicknamed Digger in years previous.  They've used shots from the in-ground camera, and I have seen the animated furry friend on the side of the TV frame, but no mentions.

I remember the pain of Digger when it premiered and it got worse when Fox added an animated feature in 2009 for Digger, hoping to entertain the Nielsen demographic of kids.  But it seemed to not really work out.  The viewers felt insulted and I didn't hear too many good things from those fans.

So this year, as I tuned into the Fox telecast, I sit and wait for the inevitable mention... and yet, nada!  They've used the camera angle, and it is an awesome angle as the cars drive over the installation of Digger.  And I've seen the animation pull out some ads from the side of the screen and such.

(Back in the day, it had been noted way back when, that Fox's David Hill wanted an animated mascot, much like Cletus from the NFL.)

But I got wondering why they stopped mentioning Digger?  Why, after all that effort, would they be mum!

Maybe because the name Digger, as cute as it might seem, isn't the first time something animated has been named Digger.

I hate to say it, but Digger is the name for the Lamisil medication.  Digger is the animation used to represent toe-nail fungus.  Ug.

So maybe fox caught that and backed off a bit.  But with that said, I still love the camera angles the in-ground camera provides!  It's a unique and rare perspective. 

-NASCAR stuff on Amazon

NASCAR Nationwide Report on Danica Patrick & Austin Dillon

Today's NASCAR Nationwide race from Phoenix saw some hi's and lows for some drivers, as is always the case.

Elliott Sadler won the race and a race win has been a long time coming for Elliot.

Austin Dillon managed a 4th place win, while Danica Patrick was a few laps short, coming in 21st.

The emotional mishap of the day was watching Kenny Wallace blow a tire and calling it a day, despite being competitive.

Kenny is on borrowed time with just a few races left of his sponsorship coverage.  After that, the team has to hang its hat unless they find some fundage and fast!  (Anyone have around $100k per race laying around?)

Elliott Sadler was the top finishing NNS driver driving for this series points, and Brad Keselowski was the highest finishing, non-points driver, coming in second.

[nationwide results unofficial]-Bruce

Will Kenny Wallace Lose His NASCAR Nationwide Ride?

Did you know that if Kenny Wallace can't get any additional sponsor dollars after the fifth race of the NASCAR Nationwide Series 2012 season, he may be out of a ride?

It's sad to ponder that, but that's what is being reported over on Dave Moody's Soapbox article.

Right now, Kenny has sponsor money for the first five races of the season from American Ethanol and Family Farmers sponsors on his RAB Racing NNS entry.

If they get no money beyond the fifth race, team owner indicated he would be selling the ride.

Kenny Wallace said that sponsoring him costs $100k a race and you can use his likeness for a year, in any way you want, if you bring the sponsor bucks for a single race.

Sounds like a good deal, if you can afford the costs of a single-race sponsorship.  And sounds cool...  I'd love to see my logo on his hood!  LOL...  I gotta go play the lottery...  I'm sure my wife will understand that if we come into a huge monetary windfall, that I'll be spending it in a mere 7-day time period.

[ motorsports-soapbox: kenny wallace sponsor ]

-Bruce Simmons

NASCAR At The New Phoenix: Brad's Phone, Johnson's Appeal

NASCAR is going into this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway, we have past champions in arrears of the driver points, that same team appealing stiff penalties, and other goodies like Twitter dominating the media campaign this weekend.

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Last weekend during the Juan Pablo Montoya camp fire on the track, Brad Keselowski made headlines with his tweeted pic from within his car.

I thought it was a pretty neat thing with NASCAR getting the media attention from Brad's deed.  And I left it at that.  The media on the other hand, and others did not.

An issue came up that I had not thought about, and that was if Brad could have used his smartphone to possibly record data from the EFI system in his car.  And that's a hot subject, being how NASCAR is keeping a tight lid on the premise of tampering with the EFI systems they're using this year.

Brad had to answer as to why he had his phone in his car, and he said that having his phone in his car lets him contact family when he gets into a wreck.  He once had a frustrating experience where it took him a long time to get in touch with his family after a wreck in Fontana.

'Daytona 500' Telecast Top-10 Bonehead or Funny Observations

The Daytona 500 was a true test of the NASCAR fan, with the telecast having lasted six hours. 

And maybe the first caution that started on lap 2, that took out Jimmie Johnson and Danica Patrick might have been a warning. 

Though rain forced the postponement of the race until Monday, the huge stoppage this night wasn't for rain this time around, but for another incident involving the track.  Last year we watched the track get repaired with bondo after it came apart... all so the boys could get back to racing.  This year, Juan Pablo Montoya (by no fault of his) provided the two hour and five minute stoppage as something in his car broke and that sent his red No. 42 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevy up into the jet dryer trucks that were out blowing debris off the track surface.  This ignited a huge fire and set our next couple of hours on a course of action no one could evade.

But the red flag period, for what it was, actually provided some interesting NASCAR news fodder, after and during the fact.

First up was how the ratings did not suffer from the stoppage... Fox stayed at No. 2 in the ratings race for the night, and that's impressive!  I thought for sure viewers would tune out. 
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TV Ratings for the Daytona 500

Daytona 500 (Fox)
8:00 p.m.: 8.4/13 (#2)
8:30 p.m.: 8.4/12 (#2)
9:00 p.m.: 7.8/11 (#2)
9:30 p.m.: 8.4/12 (#2)
10:00 p.m.: 9.9/15 (#1)
10:30 p.m.: 9.2/15 (#1)

(Ratings via TV Media Insights)

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But what did ensue during the stoppage was interesting.  And if you keep score, I think Daryl Waltrip might have won this round of observations.

1. :  In the lap 2 crash, the in-car footage shows Jimmie Johnson letting go of the steering wheel and crossing his arms while getting hit.  Daryl Waltrip seems to credit Danica Patrick for the drivers adopting this practice.  (Never mind the previous years of experience and that this has been Johnson's practice for quite some time.)
2. : Daryl Waltrip credited Danica Patrick's driving skills for getting through the mess...  except that the car was hit, spun, thumped and slid out of control through a few cars, threading the needle, so to speak.  All, without any intervention from the driver who was along for the ride.
3. :  It's a sad statement of sorts as to your name-driver status, Juan Montoya's impact with the jet dryer truck was not captured on tape.
4. :  During the huge fire of the track dryer truck, while it's still burning brightly, Daryl Waltrip suggests on live TV that someone should get in the truck and drive it off the track to save the track surface.  (Oh look, Daytona has a mid-race entertainment show with a flaming truck screaming past the stands.)
5. :  During the red flag, Fox started showing the ads, side-by-side, with the "action" on the track... of parked cars and drivers walking around.  Then when the race gets going, we're back to regular ads.  Somebody needs to make better judgement calls in the booth.
   
6. :  During the red flag, I stupidly Tweeted that no one was doing the Sterling Marlin.  That means getting out of your car to work on it during a red flag.  Rules state you can't do that.  But then we find out that Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch both were sent to the back of the pack for pulling off their window tear-offs aka dust protectors.  Harsh!
7. : NASCAR Reporter Dustin Long tweeted something I RT'd:  "In the remastered Days of Thunder version, Harry will tell Cole to go out and hit the jet dryer instead of the pace car."
8. :  During the red flag, the cameras closely follow Danica Patrick walk off track and taking the top of her fire suit off...  So the race was turning into a GoDaddy ad or breaking NASCAR news was Danica runs for the potty!
9. :  During the red flag (Man, that red flag created some great events) Brad Keselowksi started tweeting from his inside his car and sent a pciture to Twitter... and gained more than 100,000 new followers.   Brad started the race with just over 80k followers.  Today, as I'm writing this, he now has 207K followers!  Brad even got himself on Mashable for it.
10. : For the Dave Blaney fan:  For 2 hours, Dave Blaney led the Daytona 500 field...  during the red flag.

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Matt Kenseth's 'Daytona 500' Victory Tour of San Francisco

Today Matt Kenseth visited the Bay Area and toured San Francisco on his Daytona 500 victory tour, sponsored by Infineon Raceway.  In fact Matt's appearance here in Northern California kicks off the Official Countdown to the Toyota/Save Mart 350 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series weekend at Infineon Raceway, that takes place on June 22-24.

The images included Matt Kenseth's fun in the city...

Press Release:

Penske Racing To Ford in NASCAR

After having ridden the Dodge banner for several years now, nine to be exact, it looks like it's time for Penske Racing to jump back into the Ford camp.  If you remember, Ryan Newman's early years at Penske were in a Ford and then they swapped manufacturers to Dodge.

Under the Dodge banner, they didn't have a dry spell though others are calling it a mini-slump.  But they did manage a few wins, with Newman delivering a few and Kurt Busch (who is having fun somewhere else now) gave the team and Dodge camp ten wins.  But it looks like Penske is trying to get the team back into a winning form.

Jayski is touching on the news that Penske Racing is changing back to Ford, starting in 2013.

But then where does this leave Dodge, in the realm of NASCAR?  All the major teams are already obligated to other brands.  Would they focus now on smaller teams?  Would they give the smaller teams any kind of support close to what they might have provided Penske?  This move by Penske could be a dark moment in the brand's time in NASCAR unless EGR (Earnhardt Ganassi Racing) had some issues and were swayed by some form of super-support, just so Dodge can not only stay in the sport, but be competitive.

You'll probably be seeing an official announcement from Penske Racing about the brand swap later today.  (Thursday, 3-1-12)

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