[NASCAR Gnome]

Juan Pablo Montoya would have never ended in second place were it not for David Stremme!

Kyle would not have won were it not for Juan Pablo and Jeff Gordon! It's one insane "Symbiotic" relationship between drivers when it comes to plate races!

Kyle went a LAP DOWN at one point and came back to WIN the race! How's that for talent? How often does a driver go a lap down in a plate race and comes back to win it all???

David Stremme is my hero! Thank you David for living up to your word! I was listening to the JPM in-car and his spotter said that the #40 would go if the he went and sure enough, when JPM made the move in the dying stages of the race to challenge for the lead, the #40 went with him, as promised! Unfortunately, the #40 would get caught up in the wash and end up involved in the late wreck but for this, David Stremme has won himself a lifelong devotee!

Shout out to Dale Junior! Again, he was the highest-finishing Hendrick car in the race finishing at #10 after getting into the late melee with Tony Stewart and others. To show you the QUALITY of driver this guy is, he restarted in 29th and managed to finish 10th! ...Don't care how he got there at the end, but yet again, he made the top-10! Those of you who want Tony Eury's head because Dale Jr. hasn't won a race, just pipe down! Dale Jr. is a GREAT driver and enjoy what you see because you don't see that quality every day! (NOTE... Late Edit: I won't change my words above because it would seem "plastic" but Dale Junior was the SECOND-HIGHEST finishing Hendrick driver at Talladega... Casey Mears finished in 7th! Sorry about that Casey... I was temporarily blinded by the Dale Junior "supernova" event!)

[WestCoast]

Great race, and Jr was entertaining throughout.
Let's give Tony Eury some credit here...
_______________________________________

You may have heard of jalopies,
You heard the noise they make,
Let me introduce you to my Rocket '88.
Yes it's great, just won't wait,
Everybody likes my Rocket '88.
Gals will ride in style,
Movin' all along.

V-8 motor and this modern design,
My convertible top and the gals don't mind
Sportin' with me, ridin' all around town for joy.
Blow your horn, Rocket, blow your horn

Step in my Rocket and-don't be late,
We're pullin' out about a half-past-eight.
Goin' on the corner and havin' some fun,
Takin' my Rocket on a long, hot run.
Ooh, goin' out,
Oozin' and cruisin' and havin' fun

Now that you've ridden in my Rocket '88,
I'll be around every night about eight.
You know it's great, don't be late,
Everybody likes my Rocket '88.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by WestCoast

Great race, and Jr was entertaining throughout.
Let's give Tony Eury some credit here...
_______________________________________

You may have heard of jalopies,
You heard the noise they make,
Let me introduce you to my Rocket '88.
Yes it's great, just won't wait,
Everybody likes my Rocket '88.
Gals will ride in style,
Movin' all along.

V-8 motor and this modern design,
My convertible top and the gals don't mind
Sportin' with me, ridin' all around town for joy.
Blow your horn, Rocket, blow your horn

Step in my Rocket and-don't be late,
We're pullin' out about a half-past-eight.
Goin' on the corner and havin' some fun,
Takin' my Rocket on a long, hot run.
Ooh, goin' out,
Oozin' and cruisin' and havin' fun

Now that you've ridden in my Rocket '88,
I'll be around every night about eight.
You know it's great, don't be late,
Everybody likes my Rocket '88.

for what? fathering the guy who carries his name and sidelines as Dale Jr.'s crew-chief?

on the other hand, "The Juniors" did well today, but then that was expected .. as it is for next week also. however, one of the announcers nailed it when he said "Jr seems to fade as the race goes on." his average start this year is 9.8 and average finish is 10.4 .. consistency is good, but the numbers need to be turned around .. that's something they need to work on.

"wishful thinking" "Everybody likes my Rocket '88."

[WestCoast]

Originally Posted by Racer Duck

for what? fathering the guy who carries his name and sidelines as Dale Jr.'s crew-chief?
"wishful thinking" "Everybody likes my Rocket '88."

I was "plugging" one of my favorite Blues Tunes by James Cotton...
YouTube - James Cotton - Rocket 88

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by WestCoast

I was "plugging" one of my favorite Blues Tunes by James Cotton...
YouTube - James Cotton - Rocket 88

I almost bought a Rocket 88 .. a whole bunch of years ago .. but saw something I liked better: a yellow '67 Firebird 326 HO 4 spd w/black interior .. shoulda kept it - my gosh they are rare today!!!

re: Rocket 88 - both the tune and the car are tops in my book!

[SteelPhoenyx]

Poor Casey, once again overshadowed by all the other Hendrick drivers even when he finished the best out of all of them. Finally gets a decent finish, and its all 'Casey who?' Casey Mears, the red headed stepchild of Hendrick Motorsports.

Its well known on here that I do not like Juan Pablo. However, I have to give him props for running a clean race today. Well run, and a well deserved 2nd place for him.

David Stremme really earned my respect this weekend. He did well in the Nationwide race and I thought it was great that he hopped right back in to the 40 even though he was kicked out of it to make way for an open wheeler.

And... wow! This is definitely Kyle Bush's year so far. Kid can drive, that's for sure.

[wingkey1]

Originally Posted by Racer Duck

for what? fathering the guy who carries his name and sidelines as Dale Jr.'s crew-chief?

on the other hand, "The Juniors" did well today, but then that was expected .. as it is for next week also. however, one of the announcers nailed it when he said "Jr seems to fade as the race goes on." his average start this year is 9.8 and average finish is 10.4 .. consistency is good, but the numbers need to be turned around .. that's something they need to work on.

"wishful thinking" "Everybody likes my Rocket '88."

"Jr seems to fade as the race goes on." his average start this year is 9.8 and average finish is 10.4 - and yesterday, saved only by a last lap multi-mess, was much worse than the averages noted. The "fade" yesterday was about to result in a finish in the 20+ range and would have left the 88 likely the HMS tail wagger, and this on what many believe has been one of their venues of favor. Doubt this (yesterdays fade) was not noticed at HMS. Can't recall whether there was time just prior to the fade when the 88 hit the pits for a final fatal adjustment or not. In any case, they gotta get to the root of this,

On another note: Firebird - Ours was 67 400 w/ 4 speed. Medium green with black vinyl top and black interior. Sure wish we had the smarts and $$ to have hung on to that one. Traded-in 66 GOAT with trips and 4/speed. Sure wish still had both.

[bears9]

I really thought this race was setting up for a drag race at the end, the Hendrick guys at the top, the Toyotas at the bottom, obviously the Hendrick guys part of that didn't happen, but congrats to Kyle.

[Smoke+GibbsFan]

Did anyone see what caused the wreck that collected Tony? It seemed to me that "the all great", Jr. Was about to get shuffled out of line and he came down on Tony. And someone said that JPM ran a clean race? I remember a car spinning through the grass off the front fender of JPM.

[3fanforever]

Originally Posted by wingkey1

"Can't recall whether there was time just prior to the fade when the 88 hit the pits for a final fatal adjustment or not. In any case, they gotta get to the root of this.

If memory serves me right, Junior stalled the 88 on the gas and go stop.

And listening to the scanner, when Junior's car got wrecked, he didn't want to come in at all to get it fixed. He got into a heated argument with TEJ about it. TEJ won the argument, because Jr couldn't see the damage like TEJ could. TEJ told him "what do you want Junior? Come in and fix the damage or get black flagged and finish a lap down?" After they got the car fixed, Junior settled down and told his spotter, it's time to get to work and get this ******* car back up front, or something to that effect. Well, too late for that, but at least he got back to 10th. So sometimes, I think Junior's problem is Junior.

[wingkey1]

3FAN: And listening to the scanner, when Junior's car got wrecked, he didn't want to come in at all to get it fixed. He got into a heated argument with TEJ about it.

And (unfortunately) this is exactly the type of exchange we've heard between these two year after year after year. While the "away from / off track" talk of and between the two is inclined towards expressing the family and friendship elements of the relationship, the exchanges between them during the race show something less than respect and trust. It's even (way) worse when an adjustment to handling is needed - during those conversations it is clear between them, they are totally lost as to what to do. It really gets hot, rude, and without respect then, and the results typically are not good, hence the repeated late race fades.

[wingkey1]

Originally Posted by Smoke+GibbsFan

Did anyone see what caused the wreck that collected Tony? It seemed to me that "the all great", Jr. Was about to get shuffled out of line and he came down on Tony. And someone said that JPM ran a clean race? I remember a car spinning through the grass off the front fender of JPM.

Kept hoping for a better look/replay at the Jr. / Smoke rub but did not see one. Seeing the replay that was available it sure looked as you suggest and as a result, he ended up taking out the 43.

Hints are that Jr. had hand in the last lap mess (one or both?) as well. Speculation is that perhaps this is why he was so obviously unavailable for post race talk.

[SteelPhoenyx]

Originally Posted by Smoke+GibbsFan

Did anyone see what caused the wreck that collected Tony? It seemed to me that "the all great", Jr. Was about to get shuffled out of line and he came down on Tony. And someone said that JPM ran a clean race? I remember a car spinning through the grass off the front fender of JPM.

If you are talking about when JPM and Menard had contact and it sent Menard spinning, from my observation that was really a mutual incident... for once I'm not blaming JPM for all of it. Menard kinda scares me too.

[jks812]

I don't think to many of the mishaps were much more than just racing at Talladega. I don't think I would really blame any one driver for any of them. It always happens there.