DIGGER, Stay In The Fraking Hole, Here In Turn Two

Tight In Turn 2 is kicking it back in gear. It may not be the weekly thing we had last year, but when something is burning our butts, it's gonna show up here! Today, I'm dragging Digger over the coals, because frankly, I'm insulted by FOX if they think I like this crap. It's not as bad as say, ABC heading off to America's Funniest Videos with just a few laps to go, but if they keep hitting me up with this cartoon puke, it will soon overtake that infamous moment in television history.

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Let's hit Turn Two now, shall we?:

FOX is interesting. The group that telecasts the sporting events likes animated characters to boost up their sporting events. When FOX took over Soccer, a soccer fan said the telecast got all glitzed up and it hasn't been the same since.

Now with Digger seeming to get more air time, I am forced to suffer through these bits of cartoon FOX is shoving down our throats. Why? It's one thing when FOX has their football robot in the lower left corner. That's fine. It doesn't get out there and dance around on screen during the plays or when someone gets hurt. Digger, on the other hand tends to show up during racing scenes and accidents when they make Digger do cute things while race cars are wrecking. Digger trivializes the moment and the announcers have to jump in on the bandwagon and boost the gopher. Gads, I hope they're getting hazard pay, or stupid pay or whatever pay for doing that extra bit.

Digger is the name of the damn camera under the track. It has no purpose, no story, no redeeming feature or a place in this sports telecast except to show some pretty neat undercarriage shots when the cars do get that low. I'll give it that.

But what has me wondering is if FOX is worried about their ratings.

We have a ton more coverage of Digger. Yet from what I can tell, not a lot of people really like it. In fact I'm 2 for 2 in changing my channel to the Sci-Fi Channel and watching that rather than the rest of the pre-race show. Cripes, The Sci-Fi Channel should thank FOX. Digger makes them look good.

Now I've said this before, from both angles: FOX Looks like they're adding glitzy cute girls to their promo shots at the front of the show in mock victory lap scenes. I've never found it to be a good thing when a show adds a hottie to the cast. It usually means something bad is happening with the ratings. On the flip side, I am not technically complaining about having to see the girls on my TV screen.

Back on Track:

Personally, I'd like to see the actual tech behind the Digger 'Cam. If it's what I suspect it to be, it can be pretty cool. But FOX, leave us alone. Put your cheap Caddyshack mimic on the Cartoon Network and let us watch NASCAR, for real. If we need cartoon violence, we'll just replay Jimmy Spencer popping Kurt Busch in his car. OR watch wrestling on the Sci-Fi Channel.



Charlie from On Pit Row Has this to say about the issue:

I had fun during the race telecast from Auto Club Speedway, watching the race, while monitoring things on Twitter. There were a ton of negative - and often humorous - Tweets about Digger. I didn't see much positive. In fact, I don't remember anything pro-gopher.

I wonder if the producer of Fox' NASCAR broadcast was around, or is a disiple of, the original Tracy Ullmann Show. That's where, many moons ago, a little annimated short called the Simpsons got it's start. Maybe Digger will move on to bigger and better things. We can hope, at least.

Charlie Turner

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Since Charlie was so nice to participate here, we chatted a little bit over on his site about Dale Earnhardt Jr and if he's in trouble already, this early in the season. See what we have to say over on On Pit Row.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway Tidbits

Here are some tidbits about Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Some History
• The first ever NASCAR race was a NASCAR Camping World Series, West. That was won by Ken Schrader on Nov. 2, 1996.
• The first NASCAR Sprint Cup race was held on March 1, 1998. Mark Martin won that one.
• The first NASCAR Nationwide Series race was on March 16, 1997, won by Jeff Green.
• The first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race was won by Jack Sprague on Nov. 3, 1996.


Notebook
• There have been 11 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
• Five drivers have participated in all 11 races:
Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett, Bobby Labonte and Mark Martin.
• Eight drivers have poles, led by Dale Jarrett (Who won the inaugural pole), Kasey Kahne and Bobby Labonte (two each).
• Seven different drivers have won here. Jimmie Johnson has three.
• Only four of the 11 races have been won from a top-10 starting position and none have been won from the pole.
• Four of the 11 races have been won from a starting position outside the top 20.
• The deepest in the field that a race winner has started was 25th, by Matt Kenseth in 2004.
• There has been one green-white-checkered finish at Las Vegas: 2006 (270/267).
• Qualifying has never been canceled at Las Vegas.
• Matt Kenseth has a 9.0 average finish in nine Las Vegas races, the best of any driver with more than three starts. He has been running at the finish in all nine of those races and has finished on the lead lap in eight. Kenseth has also led 438 laps at Las Vegas – 179 more than any other driver.
• Roush Fenway Racing had five drivers finish in the top 10 in the inaugural Las Vegas 400 in 1998. In five of the 11 races, the winner at Las Vegas was driving for Roush at the time: Mark Martin (1998), Jeff Burton (1999 and 2000) and Matt Kenseth (2003 and 2004).


Driver Rating at Las Vegas
Jimmie Johnson - 112.0
Jeff Gordon - 111.4
Kyle Busch - 109.8
Matt Kenseth - 107.8
Greg Biffle - 100.2
Mark Martin - 96.8
Jeff Burton - 95.4
Tony Stewart - 92.9
Carl Edwards - 92.3
Kurt Busch - 89.9
Note: These Driver Ratings are compiled from only the last 4 races, from 2005-2008 races, since the inception of Loop Data.
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Can Kenseth Get His Own Three-Peat?

After winning the first two races of the season, Matt Kenseth joined an exclusive list. Before Matt, a driver won the first two races only four times. The most recent was 1997 when Jeff Gordon won the Daytona 500 and at Rockingham.

Right now, no driver has ever won the first three races of the season.

Among the previous four, only Gordon won the championship in the season that he opened with two consecutive wins.

Kenseth like Vegas. He might have a shot at this 3-peat! He has two wins at Las Vegas (2003-2004) and has led 438 laps there, more than any other driver.

Since 2005, at Las Vegas, Kenseth has a Driver Rating of 107.8, with an Average Running Position of 10.8 and 90 Fastest Laps Run. All those rank in the top five in the series.


Source: NASCAR Media.

Jack Does Take His Hat Off!

I guess we found out when Jack does actually take the hat off!!!

CA Grand Marshalls

Emmy-nominated actor Hugh Laurie, the brutally honest doctor who combines an unconventional approach to his cases with flawless instincts in FOX's hit medical drama, "House" will serve as Grand Marshal for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway on Feb. 22.

As Grand Marshal, Laurie’s role at one of the largest single-day sporting events in California, will be to give the command of “Gentlemen, Start Your Engines,” to the 43-car field of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event televised on FOX.

He better do a good job at it!

ALSO:

Multi-platinum singer/songwriter and country superstar Billy Ray Cyrus, whose new studio album “Back to Tennessee” hits stores on March 31, will serve as Grand Marshal for the Stater Bros. 300 NASCAR Nationwide series race as well as perform the National Anthem prior to the start of the San Bernardino County 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event, both scheduled for February 21 at Auto Club Speedway.

NASCAR Teleconference - Matt Kenseth and Jack Roush

Matt Kenseth joined the media from New York City, in the middle of his media tour for the Daytona 500 champ and Jack from Roush Fenway Racing in Concord.

On Matt Kenseth returning to NYC as a champion. Last time in '03 he was doing it as a series champ and he said he's having a lot of fun with the 500 victory tour except for the fact that he's doing this teleconference from outside his room in the Waldorf because they turned their keys off. (Waldorf? Dudes, the economy is in the tank! Waldorf?)

He said it's also very humbling when your friends and peers call to congratulate.

Jack Roush said it's pretty different than he expected to be a Daytona 500 winning car owner. He reflected on his coming into NASCAR and how surprised he was at the pomp and circumstance about the enshrinement of the car in the Daytona 500 Experience, since it's quite the emotional event.

This is his 22nd effort at the Daytona trophy and he had just put it out of his mind at this point, well that is until last weekend.

Good 'ol Jack isn't Jack if he isn't taking a shot at NASCAR when he said he was surprised they called the race on rain because the call came hours earlier than he expected. Bruce says: I have to disagree with that one myself. I was watching the radar and had they waited, it would have been an easy 90 minutes before it even stopped raining and who knows how long to dry the track.

Jack said that the good thing about the Daytona winning car enshrinement process is that with the standardization of the COT, it doesn't impact the team as much to have the car taken away.

Winning the 500 does not take any pressure off any other event for the team. It might put a little spring in everyone's step but everyone still needs to perform, regardless. This is only one race.

Source: NASCAR Media

Matt Kenseth's Rain Win and What I Thought About The Show

Last night I woke up with the flu. I had been feeling not quite right so I got up at around 4 am. I tuned into the Daytona Nationwide race repeat again and then from about 5 a.m. on SPEED had nothing but Daytona coverage.

I was fine with that. I'm laid out on the couch passing out here and there. I finally got to the FOX pre-race show and it was OK... nothing new.. well, not too much new.

They're using the same theme song from last year that annoyed my wife a lot. But I have to wonder if they're worried about their TV ratings.

Did you notice the mock victory lane celebrations in the show opening and the driver is surrounded by four really nice looking young girls in tight tee-shirts and short shorts? It's getting cheap about the lot... though I am not complaining.

Then there was the line that DW tossed out there about Chris Myers:

Chris is from Hollywood Fl., lives in Hollywood, CA; works in the Hollywood Hotel and works with Hollywood Hammond.

I bet he thought he was funny. I didn't. Someone said that exact thing on SIRIUS Satellite Radio a few weeks ago. Bad move DW... if you're using writers, they need to be fired. If you did that, you need writers.

But when they got to the animated schtick of Digger and friends, I lost it. They wasted my time with that stupidity and I just left the show.

I like the premise that they named the techonology they use to film from under the track surface as Digger. Cute. But giving it a comic book and cartoon that we have to suffer through just put me over the edge. I left and didn't come back until the green flag. Now maybe my patience is a little thin because I'm sick but I've had it with Digger. Cute, but intolerable. Don't shove that crap down my throat. Let me go find it for myself. UPDATE: See What The Digger Camera Looks Like.

As I wrap up this article, they're under a rain delay with 48 laps to go. If anyone has looked at weather.com and seen the radar, they've got at least an hour of rain and it looks heavy at times. Give it up folks. It looks like Matt Kenseth has this one in the bag. The wet paper bag.

Ah, just as I finished that paragraph, the race was called. There is some sense. Now I don't have to sit around in the rain delay.

I hate a non-racing win, but it is what it is. Right gang?

Did Jason Leffler Get The Harsh Stick?

Jason Leffler.  He's a great racer.  Gets his nose in there and takes the chances necessary to win...  if only.  Instead, he gets his nose in there and things just happen that some don't like.

Do you know what one of my memories of Leffler is?  When he managed (Not intentionally) to take out the entire DEI entourage in the summer Daytona race really endeared him to many.  Actually, it may have made him many fans to take out Teresa's team in one fell swoop.  LOL.

Did he do something intentional today in the Nationwide Daytona race?  I can't tell.  The replays just didn't seem to show me anything concrete yet NASCAR seems to think he did and held him in-check for 5 laps.  Wow... there's no coming back from 5 laps, that's for sure.

Me, I think they need yet one more rule for the system: Be penalized by the number of cars you take out or involve in your antics.  Yes, I'm evil yet practical.  The driver will decide how many laps he's held!

Your take?  Did Jason Leffler do a bad thing, or was it just a racing incident?

Should the Top-35 Rule Be Modified? Maybe Top-25?

I'm watching the Gatorade Duels and Gatorade's new stupid ad.  The recap ad sucks the most as everything is out of context, so it makes even less sense.  The G ads make me need my B.  As in Budweiser or Amp!!  Who the H*** do they think they are marketing to?  Have NASCAR fans become bee-bop dance fans?  I think Gatorade has seriously goofed in who ever or what ever yahoo they hired to spin their product.

Anyway,

While I was watching the Duels, I came across an interesting article on how NASCAR is reevaluating the Top-35 owners points rule.

The article goes on to mention how the 35th spot in owners points has become a marketable commodity.  The bubble spot gives a team a guaranteed starting spot in the next race, or the first 6 races of the next season.  The spot has a lot of focus from the media, including myself so it has some notoriety in the coverage.  IE:  How often would we have read about Kyle Petty or Sam Hornish Jr. without the bubble spot?

As far as the top-35 rule goes, it's based on owners points for the car.  But owners points can differ a bit from drivers points.  A team can get a minimal number of points for just trying to qualify but I don't think these meager scraps make a car competitive in the owner points standings.

So what do they have in mind for rule changes?  Not sure yet.  They have vowed to look it over.

Me?  I don't know what to say.  Don't change the owners points.  Let that just keep on rolling along so we can have the owners standings race for the year end owners championship.

Car points are fine, but it's the driver that got the car there.  Do we keep the top-35 points with the car / owner, or give it to the driver and let the driver position in standings determine the top-35.  But then if a driver switches teams, then what?  If the top-35 points start "guarantee" stays with the driver, this would make the driver himself more marketable to the teams.  It would give them pause in the idea of letting a driver go. 

It could minimize the musical cars that starts up, unless the driver drops out of the top 35.  But if their driver falls out of the top 35, who would be available to actually get themselves back into the top-35?  This process I am tossing around would actually force a team to dig in and get more behind their driver than just up and toss him because of some bad luck or a few bad days.

Yes, teams are the ones that get the drivers there, but it is a team sport and if they are behind their driver, then the rewards are going to be the same.

Heck, you know what?  Let's make this whole process even more interesting.  Let's make the guaranteed starting spot go with the driver points.  Then, let's raise it from the top-35 to the top-25.  Now qualifying will be more interesting!

Yes, the top-35 rule gets a name driver in the field no matter what.  But they're going to have the points to support themselves in the process, so I'm not sure that would be a valid concern any more.  If a driver doesn't make it, guess what?  Who ever doesn't make it, the entire team HAS to be required to stick it out during the whole weekend in an autograph or fan event tent.  So no matter what happens, the fans still win.
 
Right now, 81% of the 43 car field has got it on easy street for getting into the next race.  How's that a competition?

Anyone else have any ideas we can pitch to the NASCAR CEO's?

John Wes Townley Approved For Daytona

John Wes Townley's performance in the ARCA Daytona race on February 7th helped NASCAR make a decision. That decision is to approve John to be able to drive at Daytona in the Nationwide event.

John steps back into his car and is ready to compete on Saturday.

His stand in (Wouldn't that be a sit-in?), Travis Kvapil, is available to anyone needing a driver for the weekend folks!!

Source: ARCA Racing.com,