Saturday, February 27, 2010

Sprint Cup 2010: Race 3: Sprint Cup in Vegas: Dice, No Dice, Paradise, and Old Spice


The Sprint Cup field has qualified for its third race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for their race on Sunday. Let’s look at what this race holds in store from a Las Vegas point of view.

DICE:
Top twelve qualifiers:
1- Kurt Busch, #2, Dodge
2- Jeff Gordon, #24, Chevrolet
3- Ryan Newman, #39, Chevrolet
4- Dale Earnhardt, Jr., #88, Chevrolet
5- Kyle Busch, #18, Toyota
6- Joey Logano, #20, Toyota
7- Greg Biffle, #16, Ford
8- Mark Martin, #5, Chevrolet
9- Tony Stewart, #14, Chevrolet
10- Juan Montoya, #42, Chevrolet
11- Matt Kenseth, #17, Ford
12- Carl Edwards, #99, Ford

Team Penske must have some lucky dice. Fielding the only competitive Dodges, Sam Hornish Jr. is starting to excel. Kurt Busch looks strong.

NO DICE:
Well, three races no starting spot, Casey Mears and Terry Cook have no shot at the top 35 and have nothing to show for their efforts so far.

Starting positions 15 (Nemechek), 33 (McDowell), 36 (Blaney). We’ve said all we can say about “start and park” drivers. We’ve laid out all the logic and rationale for banning this practice. If teams don’t have the crew members and materials to compete, they should not attend, period. Still, just look at it from a less informed view, it just doesn’t make sense, does it? The only thing magic about the number 43 with NASCAR was when it was Richard Petty’s number when he was setting the standard of excellence for the sport. Nothing horrible would happen if races started with less than 43 cars.

This column showed much compassion for Joe Nemechek’s plight a year ago, but at 46 years old and a career that has been in a tailspin since losing his ride when MB2 racing became Ginn racing in 2006. He is not showing up in a position to compete at the Sprint Cup level and his participation in the Nationwide Series shows little promise. Perhaps he should take his act to the Truck series. He could enjoy some exciting racing there.

Dave Blaney is 47 years old and talk about dishonor, in Wikipedia it states in his entry, “He currently starts and parks the #66 Car for Prism Motorsports.” OUCH!!! You can bet his fans will attempt to correct that. A champ in World of Outlaws, his NASCAR dreams would prove elusive seeming to be always on the wrong team at the wrong time despite spending time with Richard Childress.

Michael McDowell at 25 years old is still a young driver. McDowell is best known for his horrifying crash at Texas Motor Speedway while attempting to qualify on April 4, 2008. Between safety improvements in the “Car of Tomorrow,” his use of the HANS device, and the SAFER barriers, he was able to crash and not only survive a car that exploded into nothing rolling eight times going from165 mph to a complete stop, he miraculously walked away uninjured. He was a 3rd car in the early days of Michael Waltrip Racing before they became competitive. His time there would be short-lived.

Having never had a full-time ride, his talent at the Sprint Cup level is hard to assess, but how can he showcase his talent when not given the ability to compete whatsoever holding back and dropping out by the first pit stop?

PARADISE:
Joey Logano, the series youngest driver, looks like he has arrived for sure in 2010. He’s racing well and put in one heck of a good qualifying run for Sunday’s race. Though he is so boyish in many ways when it comes to racing and all that is involved in performance, he says the right things.
OLD SPICE:
Tony Stewart and especially teammate, Ryan Newman, have gotten off to a curious start. Newman was even in danger of facing being outside the top 35. Looking at their qualifying results, they are poised for good racing on Sunday. Where there's "smoke" there's fire!

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