February 15th, 2009 
T.C. Wait, that’s it? The 500 is over? Oh, well, okay… Pack it up boys, its time to go home.
Oh yeah, and congrats to Matt Kenseth. How about Drew Blickensderfer winning the Daytona 500 in his first ever Cup race as a crew chief? He stepped in last season as Carl Edwards’ Nationwide Series team boss and almost led the team back to the championship. Then Roush asks him to take over as Kenseth’s crew chief in hopes he could turn around a team that went winless last season. That didn’t take long.
Even with all the new teams and cars entering the races this weekend, the feared start-and-parkers only really bit the Truck Series. Of the 36 starters, eight teams retired before lap 15 in Friday night’s truck race. But there wasn’t a single S&P effort in either the Nationwide or Cup Series races. Whether that trend will continue next weekend at California remains to be seen. The first west coast trip of the season could be a good barometer of what to expect for the rest of the year.
With as much doom and gloom as we heard all winter, I was pleasantly surprised by the crowds at Daytona. I heard the 500 was sold out and the infield sure felt like it was packed full of campers and motorhomes. There also seemed to be a lot of folks in the Fan Zone and on pit road. Kudos to the folks at DIS for packing them in.
On the drug testing front, I did hear through the grapevine that NASCAR did randomly test as many as 14 crew members. I also heard that one of those tests may have been positive. I certainly can’t confirm any of this, and I don’t know if NASCAR will release any of this information to the public. But that is what I heard. If it is true, I don’t understand why somebody would even take the chance. Is losing your job and having that black mark on your record really worth it?
As much as I really love the Truck Series, it was a shame seeing an unsponsored truck in victory lane. The racing is always good, and I don’t see how a company couldn’t find value sponsoring a team in this series. I’ve got to give credit to the Germains for putting the truck out there, and hopefully the win will help them secure a sponsor and run the rest of the races.
Now, as we like to do, I’m going to turn this over to you. What are your thoughts following Daytona? What did you think of the pit stop situation in the Truck Series? Are we getting tired of seeing Cup drivers dominate the Nationwide Series? Were you hoping for more out of the 500? Anything that is on your mind is fair game.
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Wow if that is true about a crew member failing a drug test on the first “random draw” that is a shame. I hope they offer a way back for the person not just one and you are done.
Truck series was sad. Only in reality 19 trucks running at the end. Sure looked empty on that big Daytona oval. Undecided on the pit stops, I think it is wrong, but going to give NASCAR the benefit of the doubt for a few more races until I say positive have made a mistake. If not for the good job Speed did calling the race, I would have turned it off before the half way point.
Can anyone explain to me why the heck they are doing the truck race at Fontana on fox? I mean if you are trying to promote the series, and give it 2 fox races why in the hell would you pick Fontana as one of them?? It has to be the worst race of the year, with no one in the stands for the cup race let alone the trucks! At least give us the Bristol race to get some people hooked on it!
I hope this doesn’t come across as too negative, but the TV watching experience was certainly lacking this year. The pre-show felt like a complete rehash of last year’s 50th Datyona 500 coverage (where they already dug up every interesting tidbit about the race). Fox has gotten even more gimmicky: their coverage is 90% Digger (now they even have a cartoon series for him?) 9% Boggety and 1% information. Still the TV crew with the best chemistry and personalities, but the marketing is getting annoying.
What was up with Gavin DeGraw’s rendition of the national anthem? Did it sound as terrible at the track as it was on TV? Several drivers and crew members looked like they were trying not to giggle in closeups.
The race was okay, but any Daytona 500 that ends in a red flag rain delay is anti-climactic. Felt like a fitting ending to the rest of the day. As has been said many a time, Fontana next week is going to show what we can really expect of NASCAR this year. The race today wasn’t a *bad* start to the season, but it felt a bit tired and “been there, done that”.
i have come to accept cup drivers in nationwide as a necessary evil. if they were devoid in the nationwide series, then no one would be in the stands and i think the ratings would drop as well. i really enjoy watching the cup guys battle some of the younger nationwide/cup guys and enjoy the different cars. i really hope whatever nascar does with this series, they keep the cars different (visibly) than the cup cars, and find a happy medium with the cup drivers. i wouldn’t mind LESS cup guys, like… what if they limited the # of cup guys in the nationwide races by locking out so many drivers per race. say for the start of 2009, all drivers in the top 35 in 2008 cup points are locked out of starting positions 1-30 in nationwide races. every race, the top 30 drivers/owners in nationwide are guaranteed starting spots (similar to the top 35 rule in cup), and cup guys can qualify and try to make the race (but forced to start in spots 31-43). this way, they don’t dominate the races, are handicapped to starting in the rear, and don’t take up all of the top 10 positions for nationwide-exclusive drivers/teams.
it would allow more smaller-budget teams to enter the series and get sponsorships they might not otherwise. it allows cup guys to stay in the series, albeit to a lesser degree. it’s likely they would still win a handful of races every year, if not a good portion of them, simply because they’ll usually have good rides and be the best drivers in the field.
i am concerned with how fast they called the race today. seemed very strange. i also never understand why don’t races get finished the next day? i hate seeing races called early. to me, it’s 100% the same as just picking up a football game in the 3rd quarter and calling it “because it’s past halfway and there’s too much rain.” i realize it’s NOT the best analogy, as football can (partially) be played in the rain and oval races aren’t conducive to good competition in the rain. but they can come back the next day to finish football games, and it’s the right way to announce a true winner. i don’t feel like matt kenseth (or michael waltrip in ’03 for that matter) really won the daytona 500, i feel like they were just declared winners based on technicality.
I am an avid NASCAR fan and waited impatiently all winter for the Daytona 500. My driver, Jimmie Johnson, could not get it together. The television coverage of Digger and the commentators protection of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. after he eliminated one-fourth of the field nauseated me. (Thank you Jimmy Spencer for being the only Fox/Speed guy to have the guts to say Junior was totally at fault and should have been held for several laps). I truly dislike rainshortened races but am willing to congratulate Matt Kenseth for being the one in front when the race was halted. I did not enjoy this Daytona 500.
Just think. If the race had started at the ‘traditional’ time (before television dictated that most races end under the lights, thus shorting allowed time for the broadcast), we might have seen a green flag finish.
I really don’t blame Nascar for calling the race. It was debatable as to whether they would have been able to finish at a reasonable hour and I understand the Television considerations (prime time programming). TV should give strong consideration to starting that race at 2pm EST, instead of the 3:40 nonsense that began a few years ago.
There is absolutely no evidence that West Coast viewers will not tune in at 11am. I don’t see the NFL having problems with West Coast viewers tuning into the early games every sunday. Why should Nascar be any different.
As for the Nationwide series, the only way to see some legitimate independent teams return is to get some handle on the cost of racing for an entire season.
You can restrict the Cup drivers all you want and the only thing you will do is lower the already pathetic purses that exist in this series.
The current financial model favors the mega teams because it gives them somewhere to place their lower level sponsors who won’t pay for Cup exposure.
A couple of things that bug me about NASCAR!
For the past two months I have waited for the Daytona 500, I watched the Bud Shootout and left work early to watch Duels. The Pre race has gotten far too long for normal races much less about 3 hours of pre race for the 500. It used to be that you would turn on the race, they would have a couple of interviews and then the cars would hit the track. I know not everyone has Speed but now FOX needs to fill time with a Digger cartoon, give me a break! If the Race would have started as it was posted on nascar.com we would not have had to deal with the rain shortened race.
The Nationwide series.
Ok, to be honest I am more likely to watch a truck race before I watch a Nationwide race. The reason NASCAR wants the Cup drivers in the series to put butts in the seats and ESPN needs the ratings. The Nationwide series is supposed to be for driver development not a cheap title. The only solution is to limit the number of races that a Cup regular can run in the series. A 10 or 15 race limit will give the seat to a younger driver for at least a portion of the season. It would also allow a younger driver who is trying to get to Cup to have a shot at winning not only races but also a title.
There are other things that bother me about NASCAR but right now these are my top two. It is time to get to work!
I’m rather neutral about Jr–but I must say this is the first time I thought he looked bad, really bad. On the track, in the pits, and in front of the camera.
Memo to NASCAR: If the “yellow line” rule was supposed to prevent The Big Ones – It’s not working!
“Just think. If the race had started at the ‘traditional’ time (before television dictated that most races end under the lights, thus shorting allowed time for the broadcast), we might have seen a green flag finish.”
Right on SB. Between the freakin’ time they spent discussing/promoting/selling that stupid groundhog (another fine gimmick created by DW) & a freakin’ Kieth Urban concert, this race probably could have ended under green.
Regarding the trucks, I still do not see how it is possible for a start & park truck team not to lose money by doing that. Those start & parkers will win around $13K. Is it possible to bring a truck to Daytona for under $13K even on a shoe string budget????
JT, I’m agreeing with that. So what I gathered from NASCAR’s enforcement of the yellow line rule is that if you go below the yellow line whether because of handling issues or whether you’re forced below, you must blend in, which will probably lose you significant track position at these plate tracks. I think Jimmy Spencer put it this way, NASCAR MAY black flag a driver that forces someone below the yellow line but 99% of the time, if ever they don’t. Does this give drivers free reign to just force someone down knowing they won’t be penalized.
I’m not a Jr. fan by any means & I think he did look horrible on Sunday, but from what I saw, Vickers flat out came down on him in an attempt to block Jr. forcing him below the line & Jr. didn’t “fade in” properly & clipped Vickers taking out the field. Bad decision on Jr.’s part, definitely. Bad move on Vickers, for sure. But what we aren’t hearing about is Vickers’ aggressive driving that instigated this whole mess. Regardless it doesn’t mean squat to the lead lap cars the two of them being lapped cars, took out. Park ‘em both.
David Hill (Fox producer) wants all races to start as late as possible so they slide into primetime; it has nothing to do with prerace shows. He doesn’t *care* what the viewers/spectators want and has argued with NASCAR about it. And he doesn’t care that if they run overtime, the viewers get shortchanged of post-race activities. All he cares about is ratings (which is, I guess, his job.) But the Digger crap is juvenile and ridiculous–are they trying to court 5 year old viewers? They’ve lost their minds with that one. Absolutely embarrassing. Another gripe was that it took way too long to get damage reports on the cars in the wreck–they were too busy trying to lay blame and interview drivers who had no idea what happened to them.
As for the rain, Roush said Helton told him that with the dampness & track drying, they couldn’t have restarted until very late–I think he said midnight–just too late to make the fans wait. Just one of the things no one can control–even if you start earlier, on a different day rain could still happen.
Of all the post race interviews, whether it be FOX, Speed, ESPN, Etc. I have yet to see a single interview with the driver that “gave away” the Daytona 500!!! Did Elliott Sadler quarantine himself in his motor coach after the race? How can a driver leading the field, rain looming, a stout car under him, a nice car and a half lead just pull over in the tri-oval and “hand” the lead to Kennseth and drop back to fifth? Not even a half a lap later the yellow waves, the skies open up and that is it. Elliott’s move to open the bottom lane without a fight was puzzling to say the least. Did Elliott’s spotter fall asleep or did Elliot just want Matt to win???
The interviewers drop the ball on not wrangling some words from poor Elliott.
Does anyone else see this as oddly strange???
Have mercy, put Digger down. It’s a disgrace to the racing.
Glenc1 – Speed interviewed Sadler, who was crushed and looked as if he’d been in tears. He said he screwed up.
I agree with you Neon. It was strange that Fox, Speed, etc. failed to interview E. Sadler after the race.
On the other hand, I have to give kudos Kevin Harvick. His car was a bit of a slug, but he managed to pick his way through the pack for a win in the Shootout and a 2nd in the 500. Not a bad Speedweeks at all!
I saw the interview with Sadler. He knows he let it get away, and he showed his tremendous dissappointment. I don’t blame him for not being too available. He had a great chance.
Now to Jr. I was very upset watching him cause the wreck and not take the blame. If he wants to sound like Mikey, he sure did a fine job of it. With all his other screw-ups in the race, if I were Rick H. I would give Jr. a good talking to. Absloutly no excuse for all that screwing up after all off season to get ready for the Super Bowl of racing. I remarked to the people I watched with what a travesty it would be to see Jr. get back on the lead lap & win the race.
Most of you have Fox people down pat. They are concerned with dumbing everyone down with cartoons and crap rather than doing a decent broadcast. Of course Waltrip is by far the worst, but I don’t need to bore everyone with the details. I will say that Fox is giving fans a good reason to attend races instead of watching their dog and pony show…
Those who saw Speed interview Sadler, thanks for reporting back. Elliott is a capable driver and I was very curious if he gave an explanation on why he stayed middle-high out of tri-oval. Probably just a momentary lack of attention.
Here’s a new pole idea.
Which dumbs down Fox NASCAR broadcasts the most?
A. Chris Myers & his kidding but caring personality.
B. Digger & his zany antics.
C. Clever, catchy phrases such as “Boogity. Boogity. Boogity.”
I’m sure Digger tested great with kids and that’s why NASCAR is running with it. It’s absolutely annoying, yes, but let’s throw out a hypothetical situation:
Mom and Dad want to watch the race but their pesky kid is demanding attention. Mom and Dad try to get him to sit still for 4 hours of watching cars run around a race track. Pesky kid screams and yells. Digger comes on and pesky kid is captivated — he watches with rapt attention until Digger comes on again.
I don’t have kids but I’m willing to guess one or two parents out there used Digger to their advantage.
I especially liked Jeff Hammond’s come back when host Chris Myers said he “wondered what impact the new Ford FR9 engine will have when it debuts later this year”. Hammond told Myers “he wouldn’t know an FR9 engine if it hit him in the head”. Good stuff! I love it when announces argue. Thanks Jeff!
T.C.,
It’s racecasts like this which make me miss John Daly even more.
NASCAR had access to the same weather radar that we had. Would it have been that great a tragedy to shorten the Fox pre-race and cut Keith Urban to one song? (I understand the financial commitment to bring him in, so they couldn’t just cut him completely.)
I wonder what all this means to the casual fans? Aren’t they getting a mixed message? Are they tuning in to see the Daytona 500 or a children’s cartoon series starring Digger or a Keith Urban concert? I agree with Tommy. Out here on the West Coast, an 11 AM green flag would have been just fine.
I was grateful to DirecTV for bringing back HotPass, even though they crippled a number of features. Now they run both the network audio and the scanner audio together, and I think the network audio needs to be potted down about 10%. I really miss Phil Parsons and Adam Alexander calling the race, but I understand the economics. I wish they’d advertise it though, because it’s still a very good amenity which would bring customers to DIrecTV.
As a loyal Junior fan, I am very upset with his driving last week. I hope his sister gets him to visit a performance specialist/sports psychologist. There’s no reason for him to overshoot his pit stall 3 times at Daytona (twice in the Duel) and once during the race, and clean miss it during the 500. I have to believe he was trying too hard to make up all that time which led him to clip Vickers when Vickers came down to protect the Lucky Dog.
I listened over and over again to the scanner on Hot Pass, and I wished that T.J. Majors had told him Vickers would protect the Lucky Dog. However, I wonder, since he’d made up 35 positions earlier in the race, if Junior wasn’t trying to race his way back onto the lead lap. I think he probably had enough car to do it.
Still, I think Junior had to lift, and I think it was up to T.J. to tell him he was below the double yellow and to lift and blend back in. I don’t think Junior has a malicious bone in his body — I might be naive — so I don’t think it was a deliberate tap. Junior is too experienced to do that deliberately, because he has to know tapping the left rear quarterpanel would have caused the big one.
West Coast Kenny
Alameda, California
What I don’t get is why they didn’t finish the race today? Tons of people have the day off (not me) so viewership would be pretty decent. Would that make it too much of a crunch to get to California?
T.C.,
Did you see any problems with the right-sides? On one stop, the 14 reported both right-sides had two blisters each.
West Coast Kenny
Alameda, California
I want to congratulate Matt Kenseth and Jack Roush on the win. Good job! I think the race was O.K. but would have been better if Carl Edwards, Jamie Mac and Jimmie Johnson had not been taken out. The Nationwide race was by far the best of the three this weekend with a great finish. The truck race was terrible. Why does that “Onion” Todd Bodine get away with causing a huge wreck and nobody says a thing. He does it all the time!! I am sick of him and his Toyota. Again congrats to Matt!!
On Monday, catching up on websites – to windowlicker – watched Chris Meyers cover football and thought he did/does a great job – but absolutely can’t stand him on Nascar – he should be banished.
TC, Should JR crew have realized the the front tire was on the line and get him to move the car? I can actually understand the hold for a lap. Lets face it; if it was tail end no one would fix it because they would just be at the end of the pack anyway if they took the time to move the car. What was the consensus about the rain out, I heard that it was still raining at 10pm anyway, not to mention having to leave for California by Tuesday
windowlicker: If the S&P truck teams weren’t making money, they wouldn’t do it. I know 13K isn’t alot, but they are making it work.
Kenny: I know of a number of teams that had problems with the right sides. I believe Goodyear said for some tires it was a laminating issue.
Newracefan: Yes, Dale Jr.’s crew should have recognized he wasn’t legal in the box. The front carrier/changer and the jackman should have recognized it. And the officials will usually let you know fairly quickly. It’s better to get the car legal in the box, and lose the track position, then to service it out of the box and lose the lap. About the rain, there is no way NASCAR could have had the track dry in time to finish the race at a decent time. It takes 3 1/2 to 4 hours to dry a big track like that and the rain wasn’t going to end anytime soon.
Of the issues asked about in the post I would like to address the one that really gets to me, cup drivers in the Nationwide series. The argument that cup drivers are needed to fill the stands is a joke. The series was just fine for years and years without half the field being cup drivers. I have been up on my soapbox about this for years, it ticks me off. You don’t see Derek Jeter playing AAA ball on the off days. Shaq does not drop by Georgetown whenever the mood strikes him to play in a NCAA game. It should not be allowed at any time for any reason. When the nationwide regulars are racing for 10th is points due to cup involvement in the series it’s sad.
I understand driver development is a thing of the past. It seems the only requirement to be a cup driver these days is to be able to reach the pedals of a cup car. Joey Logano is a great ARCA driver, with time he will be a great Nationwide driver, but he is not ready for cup racing.
Kenn–it’s easy for TV viewers to just say, let’s change the schedule if rain’s coming…but it’s a lot more complicated at the track. You have advertised a start time, and it’s hard to push it up too much with fans still entering and thinking they’re going to be on time. There are also the timing of the flyovers, driver intros and all your scheduled activities. I don’t think NASCAR has ever been able to push it up more than a few minutes even when they’ve tried. Just too much going on to get everyone where they need to be.
Also–I like Junior a lot, but he just seemed uncharacteristically careless and then later, whiney. Maybe whatever illness he had was lingering; maybe he was just crabby or tired or frustrated, but he didn’t seem like himself. Hopefully we won’t see that Junior again for a while.
BTW, I just checked and there are 38 (I think) trucks entered for California. I was kinda surprised but it looks pretty good–yes, a number of them will probably S&P or be woefully slow…but at least they’re there.
Pushing up the start time spur-of-the-moment would be a nightmare for a television station. Everything is automated now; it’s not as easy as flipping a switch. Plus all of the ads that are sold and not shown would mean costly makegoods and no TV station can afford that right now.