[Bob Tanner]

Once more the CTS proved that you don't have to have a field full of over-hyped, private jet-owning, youthful male model-appearing, tee shirt-selling prima donas and a phony-baloney points format, in order to have exciting racing and races for a championship.

The race itself was kind of lack-luster, with everyone obviously doing a lot of giving and taking, while not wanting to be the one who had "affected the championship." Apparently Kyle Busch never got the memo. His forcing a three-wide situation early in the race was, undoubtedly, the best on-track racing move we'll see all weekend.

Unfortunately, lost in the post race debates will be the fact that The Onion drove a smart, conservative race and won the thing. Good show, Todd.

I wonder if Hornaday will remember Atlanta when he's making out his Christmas cards and manage to "lose" Ryan Newman's address? He sure could have used that ten points.

The turning point was clearly Tripp Bruce's decision to (a) go with two right-side tires late in the race and then (b) stay on the track and keep good track position.

I had no favourite and would have been happy with either Benson or Hornaday winning. I did have one problem with the race, but it is a personal preference with me. It was the "Team Racing" which went on from the drop of the green flag.

I really dislike "Team racing." In a perfect race there would have been 36 trucks out there last night fighting for the absolute best finish they could muster. T'wasn't to be.

From the drop of the flag, it was apparent that Harvick was out there running interference for Hornaday, having a faster car but remaining at his six o'clock until Ron had to slow and Kevin had no choice but to pass. Kyle Busch definitely had the best truck over the long haul but spent the last thirty laps doing everything he could to ensure that Benson finished ahead of Hornaday. As Duck pointed out, he pushed, pulled, blocked and did everything except drive the #23 himself. (The late-race charge on two tires that Johnny made late in the race mimicked the driving Shrub did earlier.)

How about that last green flag start by Scott Speed? That wasn't too obvious, was it? His slowing ("rookie bad start" - yeah Right!) cost Hornaday a shot at passing Benson, but if the roles were reversed and Harvick were starting with Benson directly behind there's no doubt in my mind the same tactic would have been seen.

I don't approve of "Team racing," or "Buddy racing," but it's a fact of life so I'll deal with it. It wasn't as irritating as having Mikey AND his cretin brother both in the booth was a bit much. My bet is both Rick Allen and Phil Parsons spent the rest of the evening drinking and watching nubile chicks on South Beach, trying to blot the memory of the experience from their collective minds.

Good finish to a great (as usual) season for the CTS. I hate to see Craftsman go. Now I have to make up my mind as to whether to hold to tradition and continue to call it the CTS (as I do the BGN Series) or go with "progress" and change to CWS, or whatever they'll call it? Decisions, decisions, decisions...

But, for 2008, congratulations, CTS. You done good and made race fans proud.

[jks812]

I was happy for Benson winning it and would have been just as happy if Hornaday had won. I also didn't like the team/buddy racing. Didn't care for Harvick almost stopping on pit road to let Ron out in front of him and didn't care for Speed holding up Ron on the last restart either. But have to say Johnny and Ron did give us one hell of a championship race this year.
I must say Kyle did make some moves last night that I had me hollering "what the hell". But he was fun to watch. I kept thinking maybe he, Kevin and Speed would take each other out and then let Johnny and Ron race for themselves by themselves.
And when Todd won, I was wondering just where did he come from.
Dang I can't wait for next year.

[NascarRacer56]

My favorite Nascar series, and it almost always has the best racing.

And, on the plus side, our 2008 Champ is from my home state.

Grand Rapids, MI is only about 50 miles from where I live.

I wonder if Johnny is going to retire, or just race part time next year?

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by NascarRacer56

My favorite Nascar series, and it almost always has the best racing.

And, on the plus side, our 2008 Champ is from my home state.

Grand Rapids, MI is only about 50 miles from where I live.

I wonder if Johnny is going to retire, or just race part time next year?

My bet is that, even though he's saying part time, he'll run a full schedule with Red Horse and David Starr as a partner. He's taking Tripp Bruce, almost his entire crew and Toyota sponsorship with him. No way can he turn all that into a PT gig.

Whatever Johnny B. does, he's gone a lot farther than his dad did when he tried to break into the NASCAR circle.

I hate it for Bill and Gail Davis. They've put a lot of themselves into their race program, been stabbed in the back deeply, a couple of times and now it looks as though its all going south. I think the poor showing in Cup has placed a stigma on all the BDR operations.

I figure the BDR Cup effort is all but gone and 2009 will be the last year for their truck program. It's just the way things go.

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by jks812

I was happy for Benson winning it and would have been just as happy if Hornaday had won. I also didn't like the team/buddy racing. Didn't care for Harvick almost stopping on pit road to let Ron out in front of him and didn't care for Speed holding up Ron on the last restart either. But have to say Johnny and Ron did give us one hell of a championship race this year.
I must say Kyle did make some moves last night that I had me hollering "what the hell". But he was fun to watch. I kept thinking maybe he, Kevin and Speed would take each other out and then let Johnny and Ron race for themselves by themselves.
And when Todd won, I was wondering just where did he come from.
Dang I can't wait for next year.

I'm still astounded by this Brian Scott kid. Four top 10's and a top 5 in the last seven races??!! Plus his driving a family owned truck? I'll go out on a limb and say this kid is possibly the absolute most UNDER rated driver in NA__AR's three major series.

I'm waiting for 2009 to see if he can keep it up.

[jks812]

Originally Posted by NascarRacer56

My favorite Nascar series, and it almost always has the best racing.

And, on the plus side, our 2008 Champ is from my home state.

Grand Rapids, MI is only about 50 miles from where I live.

I wonder if Johnny is going to retire, or just race part time next year?

Almost? What other series do you watch?
And another good thing, a actual truck driver won the championship and not a cup driver. Like what happened in the busch series.
I hope he don't retire. I think he still has a few good years left in him.

[LSC9901]

Originally Posted by jks812

Almost? What other series do you watch?
And another good thing, a actual truck driver won the championship and not a cup driver. Like what happened in the busch series.
I hope he don't retire. I think he still has a few good years left in him.

At this point he is most certainly at the pinnacle of his career. He is 5 years younger than his closet competitor, Ron Hornaday, so the end shouldn't be here for him unless he chooses so.

Sad part is I wouldn't be surprised if next year we see more of the cup drivers in the series. Here's hoping I'm dead wrong !!!

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by LSC9901

At this point he is most certainly at the pinnacle of his career. He is 5 years younger than his closet competitor, Ron Hornaday, so the end shouldn't be here for him unless he chooses so.

Sad part is I wouldn't be surprised if next year we see more of the cup drivers in the series. Here's hoping I'm dead wrong !!!

I'm going on record now as saying what you (and I plus a lot of real race fans) fear will come to pass. TV ratings for the Prima dona and prima dona-Lite series' are going down, the truck series is actually going up. I don't think that fact is lost on anyone, especially sponsors. Starting with Daytona I look for sponsors to buy a few more prima donas to fill truck seats which could be filled by unknown drivers on the way "up?" ("Up" being a pejorative term if fame and money is all that's important to you)

It seems to me that the Truck series went too quickly and easily from Shrub running occasionally to Shrub, Kvapil and whatever Cup prima dona Harvick bought for his #2 truck, every week.

I like shrub but the Truck Series doesn't need him! It doesn't need a single Cup prima dona. It's capable of standing on its own (as the BGN Series once was but, thanks to gross mismanagement by NA__AR, no longer is).

[Racer Duck]

in order for the truck series to be a viable "non-raided" series, it needs race dates that are far enough away from the other series to make "raiding" difficult to non-existent.

for instance, when available it ought to run Saturday night, with a "late" start time, in order to make dual duty a challenge, or the venue needs sufficient distance to ensure difficulty in traveling back and forth. in other words, do something to affect the driver's stamina/concentration (fatigue is a good "affecter") so the likelihood of success in the "big" event is compromised by participation in the "smaller" event.

also, a Saturday night TV slot will only drive up popularity .. much more than a Friday time slot. NWS will have to "suffer" along with raiders until the series goes to a completely different platform (pony cars), becomes "merged" with cup (Cup East & Cup West or some such) or just vanishes from lack of sponsor interest (sponsors will follow the fans.)

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by Racer Duck

in order for the truck series to be a viable "non-raided" series, it needs race dates that are far enough away from the other series to make "raiding" difficult to non-existent.

for instance, when available it ought to run Saturday night, with a "late" start time, in order to make dual duty a challenge, or the venue needs sufficient distance to ensure difficulty in traveling back and forth. in other words, do something to affect the driver's stamina/concentration (fatigue is a good "affecter") so the likelihood of success in the "big" event is compromised by participation in the "smaller" event.

also, a Saturday night TV slot will only drive up popularity .. much more than a Friday time slot. NWS will have to "suffer" along with raiders until the series goes to a completely different platform (pony cars), becomes "merged" with cup (Cup East & Cup West or some such) or just vanishes from lack of sponsor interest (sponsors will follow the fans.)

The track promoters/owners will never allow the Cup Lite Series to fade away unless they have a ready-made replacement. It's the hook they use to get butts in the seats the day before the Cup thing. That, and being a audition for a very select few kids who have been placed in DEP (Delayed Entry Program) by the megateams, is the ONLY thing the series is currently good for.

If the race fans want to see actually racing the day before the Cup thing, lobby for ARCA to be the accompanying race, utilizing ARCA rules, including Hoosier tires. Then the people who attend the Saturday practices could see some actual racing with over half the field being more or less equal, not just pseudo-Cup cars driven by a Cup Raider.

But it'll never happen because many of the fans don't care about racing; they care only about drivers they "know." That's one of the driving reasons why you see more people sitting in the stands for a Cup race, vice a truck race. It sure isn't because the racing is more compelling, is it?

[Shawn Mike]

Same here...both Benson and Hornaday were favorites...The best man won!

[SteelPhoenyx]

Originally Posted by Bob Tanner

The race itself was kind of lack-luster, with everyone obviously doing a lot of giving and taking, while not wanting to be the one who had "affected the championship." Apparently Kyle Busch never got the memo. His forcing a three-wide situation early in the race was, undoubtedly, the best on-track racing move we'll see all weekend.

It was kinda slow until the last 40 laps... then it got really exciting. To me, anyway.

Unfortunately, lost in the post race debates will be the fact that The Onion drove a smart, conservative race and won the thing. Good show, Todd.

I was glad to see The Onion win. Why is he called that, anyway?

I also thought it was pretty cool that he won Daytona, then won Homestead. We had Onion Bookends for the 2008 season.

I wonder if Hornaday will remember Atlanta when he's making out his Christmas cards and manage to "lose" Ryan Newman's address? He sure could have used that ten points.

I'm glad Ryan Newman went for the win and didn't stand aside for Ron. Even if it did ultimately cost him the championship. I would have lost respect for him if he didn't try to win it. Go Newman!

I had no favourite and would have been happy with either Benson or Hornaday winning. I did have one problem with the race, but it is a personal preference with me. It was the "Team Racing" which went on from the drop of the green flag.

I really dislike "Team racing." In a perfect race there would have been 36 trucks out there last night fighting for the absolute best finish they could muster. T'wasn't to be.

From the drop of the flag, it was apparent that Harvick was out there running interference for Hornaday, having a faster car but remaining at his six o'clock until Ron had to slow and Kevin had no choice but to pass. Kyle Busch definitely had the best truck over the long haul but spent the last thirty laps doing everything he could to ensure that Benson finished ahead of Hornaday. As Duck pointed out, he pushed, pulled, blocked and did everything except drive the #23 himself. (The late-race charge on two tires that Johnny made late in the race mimicked the driving Shrub did earlier.)

How about that last green flag start by Scott Speed? That wasn't too obvious, was it? His slowing ("rookie bad start" - yeah Right!) cost Hornaday a shot at passing Benson, but if the roles were reversed and Harvick were starting with Benson directly behind there's no doubt in my mind the same tactic would have been seen.

I don't approve of "Team racing," or "Buddy racing," but it's a fact of life so I'll deal with it. It wasn't as irritating as having Mikey AND his cretin brother both in the booth was a bit much. My bet is both Rick Allen and Phil Parsons spent the rest of the evening drinking and watching nubile chicks on South Beach, trying to blot the memory of the experience from their collective minds.

Good finish to a great (as usual) season for the CTS. I hate to see Craftsman go. Now I have to make up my mind as to whether to hold to tradition and continue to call it the CTS (as I do the BGN Series) or go with "progress" and change to CWS, or whatever they'll call it? Decisions, decisions, decisions...

But, for 2008, congratulations, CTS. You done good and made race fans proud.

I agree... the buddy racing thing kinda puts a damper on the race. And I didn't get upset with Scott Speed doing the very same thing Kevin Harvick would have done in the same situation. So Hornaday can't really complain too much about it (though I'm sure he did).

I don't have a favorite in the Truck series, and I hope I can keep it that way. I would have liked to see Hornaday get the championship, but I was happy to see Benson get it too.

Easily the most exciting series of the year, that's for sure. I hope 2009 will be just as fun to watch.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by SteelPhoenyx

I was glad to see The Onion win. Why is he called that, anyway?

when he takes his hat off .. onion smooth under the hat!

[SteelPhoenyx]

Originally Posted by Racer Duck

when he takes his hat off .. onion smooth under the hat!

Better than being called 'Baby's Butt' I guess.

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by SteelPhoenyx

Better than being called 'Baby's Butt' I guess.

Is that just another way of saying Logano shouldn't shave his head?