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California Speedway, where stock car dreams go to die.

One thing I forgot to mention: I found out a couple of weeks ago that I'm going to be going to see the cup race at Infineon this June. So I'm excited.

The dumbest post I have ever read, courtesy the iRacing forums.

[spoiler]Kasey Kahne, now entering his 9th year in Sprint Cup racing, has 12 Sprint Cup victories. Most of which came on tracks that are "cookie cutters", like Texas and Atlanta, Cali and Michigan, which he excels in. However, 5 of those victories were from the pole, and he has never won a race from starting outside of the top 10. The one problem with Kahne is that he can never fight the field. He has to be put in situations that are to his advantage, and win from there. Take the Vegas race from this year. He was doing fine, but once he had the tight issue, and the adjustments were made, he was never to be heard of again, and finished 19th. 19th is bad, but it could have been better. Much better.

I always used to think it was the crew. He'd qualify up front, have a good run, come in to pit under the first yellow, and he'd drop back 5 spots, and never been seen again at the front. Then Gillett-Evernham Motorsports merged with Petty Enterprises forming what is known today as "Richard Petty Motorsports". The issues continued. "Well, it may be a different team, but I'm sure the crews are the same." I told myself. "It's still the crew."

Then at the end of 2010, he left RPM to go to Red Bull Racing. The very same issues happened all through 2011 as well. Start well, run the first run well, then fall back. "Well, Kahne brought Francis over with him, so maybe some of the crew members came over, too. It's possible I guess."

2012 looked much brighter for Kahne. Kasey getting A+ equipment, Francis re-rejoining him, and there can't be a single person that has followed Kahne from the pit crew from day one to now. It'd have to be impossible. But it's still off to the same start. I can no longer sit watching the races blaming the crew, for issues that have been going on for 8 years. There has to be something else. The only non-variables left would be Kasey Kahne, and Kenny Francis, and I'm not ready to throw Kahne under the bus.

2012 has also been a rocky start for the #48 camp. Knaus sitting out the first 6 races, going -25 in the hole before the green flag even waved on the start of the Daytona 500 basically, and then getting involved in a lap 2 wreck at Daytona. Being the strongest horse in the HMS stable, Hendrick had to worry. The only way to go from there was up, but could Johnson really be able to dig out of it without Knaus?

Yes.

2 top-5s, 3 top-10s, and a 2nd place finish. He has led 90 laps so far this season, and is heading to his home track, Auto Club Speedway. In fact, in his last 9 races at Fontana, his average finish is 2.6 with the worst finish of 9th. No, none of that was a typo. So that begs the question, does Jimmie Johnson really need Chad to survive on Sundays and get wins? And besides, Knaus should start laying low. He is labeled a cheater, and no one knows just how long NASCAR will allow him to continue, if he keeps this up, and it's ruining Johnson's rep as well.

And while on the topic of Fontana, Kahne is heading in 32nd in points, with no real threat on anyone's radar. Can you blame anyone for that? JPM, Harvick, Johnson, any JGR/Penske/Roush car are all favourites (some more than others, however). Kahne however? In the same span that gives Johnson his 2.6 average finish, Kahne is averaging a... well... average 17.6.

So as I said, not ready to throw Kahne under the bus, so the only non-variable left to change would be the crew chief. Rick is obviously sitting on two good crew chiefs in the #48 camp right now, and he can't use both of them as the same time, so what are the chances of Kahne getting Knaus on his box? I know, I know, it's still early in the season to be making changes, but let us remember, this is the same owner that swapped the 24 and 48 crews mid-race at Texas. He has also been no stranger to crew chief swaps, replacing the 88's with the 24's, and vice versa.

Johnson doesn't need to be put in a position to win. He can do that himself. Kahne needs to be put in a position to win. Who is good enough to do that? Chad Knaus. Kahne needs a leader on the box. Kenny has crew chiefed for Mayfield, Kahne, and Almirola to a total of 0 championships and 12 wins. Knaus on the other hand, has led Stacy Compton (who?) and Jimmie Johnson to 5 championships and 53 wins. Well, more like led Johnson to those stats, but none-the-less.

I can't be the only one thinking that Knaus would be better for Kahne, and letting Johnson have McGrew, or going out and picking up the still-free-agent Mike Ford, who fought Johnson for the title in 2010.[/spoiler]

For those saying TLDR, basically that Kenny Francis is the source of Kahne's problems early in the season. Which it isn't, it's the fact Kasey has either been wrecked or wrecked himself in every race this season.

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The Hendrick penalties were overturned except for the fine.

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If you screw up while skydiving, you have the rest of your life to figure out how to fix it.

Going back to the Bigfoot subject. This is how I remember Bigfoot. :-p

Fitting time to post "Hendrick is NASCAR's favorite"?

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Gael

Queue the bitching, of course.

Still, the 48 bunch had a valid case. The car was run at all four plate races last year, wasn't touched before the 500, and all of a sudden it fails inspection in a catastrophic way *without even having the templates put on the car*??

Anyway, it's all fishy.

Hah, I loved that game.

I had that game but it rarely ever worked in my console

The only thing that really annoys me about this is that the the penalties were upheld right until they met with the the chief appellate officer... who happens to be a friend and old business partner (he was a former GM exec) of Rick Hendrick. Wonder if that had anything to do with almost everything being overturned.

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Design Consultant at C2C Racing Designs
http://c2cracingdesigns.t83.net/#

If it's the same guy running the appeal process as in '06 and '07, I'm pretty sure he's fully aware of how far Knaus can go. He certainly didn't get off light those two occurrences, and it didn't even affect the team as a whole.

*edit*

Just looked the guy up - John Middlebrook is his name. I see where he worked for GM for 49 years, and not at all for Hendrick. I guess you can connect the dots from there if you wanted to think there was some kind of "Middlebrook is in Hendrick's back pocket" mentality, but I wouldn't really buy that.

Yeah, I remember playing one time and on one of those hill climb events, a glitch occurred forcing me to flip all the way back down the mountain to the start line. One of the most amusing things to ever happen to me on a video game.

Rusty Wallace will compete in an ASA race at Milwaukee in june.

Michael Waltrip posted this picture on his twitter today. He, along with a number of other Toyota drivers, visited Toyota's racing headquarters in California. It wasn't only Nascar drivers visiting. NHRA Top Fuel driver Antron Brown and desert racing legend Ivan "The Ironman" Stewart were also there. One of Ivan Stewart's trucks is visiable in this picture.

I feel so happy looking at that picture.

Yeah, that's goddamn beautiful.

Townley placed on probation: NASCAR announced today that it has placed John Wes Townley, driver in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, on probation until Dec. 31, 2012. Townley violated Section 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing) of the 2012 NASCAR Rule Book. The violation occurred Feb. 7. In addition to the steps already underway by his team RAB Racing, Townley will be evaluated by a certified substance abuse professional at NASCAR's discretion and will be subject to random alcohol and drug testing.(NASCAR)(3-22-2012)

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Ducks Angels Sounders Spurs

Must...resist...liking...

Can't....

Sooo...much....awesome....


Ahhh!!!

hmm, the camry to the far right has different decals/grilles to when it was first shown...

That picture is so beautiful.

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-Joe.
Atlanta United FC | Cincinnati Reds | Atlanta Falcons | Tennessee Titans