Nascar Racing Online

Hey, dig this! Dale Earnhardt Jr. is going to be a cartoon on the Handy Manny Show! First announced at the Daytona 500, "Handy Manny Big Race" is now officially on the Disney Channel slate for March 20. 

Now, I don’t know much about Handy Manny — I’m a Spongebob Man myself — but according to the plot summary, Manny and his tools will serve as a pit crew at the Wood Valley 500 race. (Must have been a tough year in Wood Valley; no sponsorship deal.) Okay, so here’s the deal: "Manny and the tools have to help Elliot fix up his used race car in
order to enter the race, and luckily the car turns out better than
expected, but not Elliot! Elliot is too nervous to drive!" (Hey, you would be too, if Carl Edwards was on the track.)

So anyway, enter Junior. "Dale’s character, Chase Davis, must step in to help out and Manny gets
behind the wheel to try to win the race for the entire team." (Hey, why isn’t Dale driving? He’s a NASCAR driver, and … oh. Never mind.)

Anyway, check the show out on March 20th on the Disney Channel. And send us clips. Please.

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So … quiet days in NASCAR these days, huh?

We’ve had the Edwards/Keselowski Atlanta spin, we’ve had Dale Earnhardt Jr. failing to live up to his pole position, we’ve had Jimmie Johnson not winning! And we’ve had plenty of new visitors to our site this week. If you’re one of them, welcome. This is where we hang to talk about anything and everything, NASCAR or not.

Oh, and after reading through the first hundred or so of the thousands of driveby comments, well, I kinda lost it. Not so much "lost it" as decided to offer up a few responses, via Twitter, on the most common quickie comments. Yes, it got fun on Monday night.  (Yes, this is a shameless bid to get you to sign up for Twitter and follow me at @jaybusbee. Trust me, if you like The Marbles, the Twitter feed is like the must-see DVD extras.) Anyway, here’s what I had to say on Twitter Monday night:

Notes for
commenters: 1. Calling it "CRAPCAR" or "NA$CAR" isn’t nearly as funny
as you think it is. 2. Racing was NOT better in… (cont’d)….the "old
days." It wasn’t. Deal with it. 3. If you say you’re giving up on
NASCAR, beat it. Nobody wants to hear your whine. (cont’d) 4.NASCAR IS a
sport. And even if it wasn’t, who cares? Does any other sport have this
many whiners? (Well, Duke hoops, but it’s the team.)

I feel so much better now … though it’s looking like I may need to offer up a sequel after Tuesday’s NASCAR statement on Edwards. Feel free to leave your own rants in the comments below, and we’ll see you back here soon!

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I will never understand NASCAR’s policing of its drivers.  Carl Edwards gets a three race probation (only in the Cup series too) for deliberately wrecking Brad Keselowski in last Sunday’s race at about 190 mph causing Keselowski to get airborne and fly into the outside retaining wall and catch fence upside down landing hard on the driver’s side A – pillar.

Officially Edwards was found to be in violation of Section 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing – aggressive driving) of the 2010 NASCAR rule book. 

Now granted having Keselowski flying through the air with the greatest of ease was not what Edwards intended to happen, all he wanted to do was just spin Keselowski out and into the grass but unfortunately things at 190 mph don’t always go as planned.

Mike Helton explained NASCAR’s position regarding this incident;  “We made it very clear to [Edwards] that these actions were not acceptable and did go beyond what we said back in January, about putting the driving back in the hands of the drivers.  I believe [Edwards] understands our position at this point.”

Helton went on to explain;  “I think first of all, I’ll go back to the fact that we parked Carl as soon as the [Atlanta] incident occurred, for the balance of the event,” Helton said. “You can look back at the incidents at Homestead [Denny Hamlin wrecking Keselowski, Tony Stewart wrecking Juan Montoya] where it was a one-lap penalty.

“So the immediate reaction [to Edwards' move] from NASCAR was parking the car for the balance of the event. That in its own can be a serious reaction from us, I think. The balance of it, I think, will still have to be sorted out among the drivers as to what their opinion or their interpretation of all of this is.  - Dave Rodman nascar.com.

My initial response to the three race Sprint Cup only probation and NASCAR’s explanation of it was;

“Oh come on Mike (Helton) there were like what, five laps left?  And Carl only lost one position due to his ‘parking’ because he was so many laps down anyway.  Yep that’s a harsh penalty.  I can see how that makes a significant impact on Carl in the standings, man he is going to suffer because of that (said with much sarcasm).”

Please Note:  Expletive content has been edited for publishing.

So let me see Carl was running about 38th when this happened and lost only one place as a result of being parked which cost him 8 driver points while Brad was running 5th when Carl hit him causing him to finish 36th and potentially losing Brad 105 points. 

I’m sorry, I feel that the punishment does not suit the crime here.  I understand that NASCAR wants the drivers to work these things out, but come on even parents who want their kids to solve their own issues between themselves need to discipline their children when they cross the line so they know right from wrong.

I’ll conceed to what Aarron had to say in that Edwards has lost more than points in the court of public opinion, especially with the fans, is a more than fair assessment of this mess but what kind of message does NASCAR’s ruling send to the other drivers?  Go ahead boys hit each other all you want as long as you don’t intend to send each other airborne, hurt each other, etc.?

Standards must be set and examples must be made, but in this case low standards were set and an ineffective example was made.

As I said the other day; “Which is it going to be?  Have at it boys or Have havoc boys?”

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NASCAR has made its ruling: the boys can keep on havin’ at it.

On Tuesday afternoon, NASCAR president Mike Helton announced his decision on punishment for Sunday’s spectacular Carl Edwards/Brad Keselowski wreck: three races probation. No fine, no suspension. 

In the immediate aftermath of the wreck, NASCAR summoned Edwards to the hauler, where they "made it very clear these actions were not acceptable," Helton said. "This did go beyond putting driving in the hands of the drivers." Helton indicated that Edwards understood the severity of his actions. NASCAR plans to hold a sit-down with Edwards, Keselowski and their respective owners, Jack Roush and Roger Penske, to "clear the air" and allow them to get back to "hard, competitive, side-by-side racing."

(On a related note, Helton also questioned why the 12 car took flight at a track like Atlanta, which traditionally doesn’t see the kinds of flying cars that occur at places like Talladega. NASCAR will be investigating how exactly that happened, with the intention of figuring how to prevent it in the future.)

Certainly, this decision won’t sit well with those who feel NASCAR already plays too fast and loose with driver safety. Many fans and media observers wanted Edwards parked for a race or the season, with some going to the absurd lengths like advocating criminal charges.

On the other hand, NASCAR had said that this would be a year in which the gloves would be off and drivers would be permitted to police themselves — "Boys, have at it, and have fun," as NASCAR VP of Competition Robin Pemberton famously put it back in January.

So NASCAR was thus in a bind — do they condone this kind of violent retaliation, or do they drop the hammer and negate the whole "have at it" philosophy? 

The fundamental question in the wreck was whether the punishment should address the intent of the wreck, or the outcome. The intent was obvious; Edwards meant to screw up Keselowski’s day by spinning him and denying him a top-10 finish. It’s the kind of payback that happens all the time. The outcome, of course, was far beyond that, the kind of scary aerial maneuver that can end very, very badly. 

The Edwards/Keselowski feud is now all square. But here’s betting that the next driver to send somebody airborne isn’t going to get off quite so easily.

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This is a severely cringeworthy story that, thankfully, ended up OK, so we can exhale and relax a little with it.

Don’t know about you, but falling down an elevator shaft is one of my phobias. How many times has a door opened and you’ve walked blindly onto an elevator … never knowing when you might be walking off a cliff!

Well, just that scenario happened to F1 legend Sir Stirling Moss this past weekend, though fortunately it wasn’t a cliff, it was an elevator in his three-story home. He broke both ankles and chipped four vertebrae, but is otherwise fine. According to a statement, Moss said his "body still has the same resilience to injury as it did in his racing days."

Speaking of which, let’s check out one of those times, the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix: 

Moss won 16 Grand Prix events and was runner-up for the World Championship four times. Glad he’s OK, and I’m betting he takes the stairs once he’s walking again.

Moss falls down elevator shaft at London home [AP via Yahoo! Sports]

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ATLANTA – MARCH 07: The wrecked #12 Penske Dodge, driven by Brad Keselowski, sits in the garage after an incident on tack during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 7, 2010 in Hampton, Georgia. (Photo by Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR)

There is no mistaken what Carl Edwards did today to Brad Keselowski was a big no no in the eyes of anyone watching the race including NASCAR but what kind of penalty is he going to face as a result?

Well Keselowski wants Edwards parked for at least one race, which seems possible but unlikely in my opinion.

Why?  Sponsorship dollars.  Think of the lost revenue by not having the Afflac, Scotts, (name of other sponsors here) car in the race.  Certainly if I were a sponsor of Edwards I would not be pleased that my car was not in the race with my driver behind the wheel.  Of course the 99 car would be in the race, but not with Edwards behind the wheel.

In fact I might just be so upset that I would pull all of my television advertising from the race too which would mean a loss of revenue for NASCAR and FOX.

Get the picture?

So what would you do?

Looking at Edwards’ past history might help NASCAR’s decision, so let’s do that.

1)  In 2006 Carl was wrecked on the last lap while leading at MIS in an incident caused by eventual winner Dale Jr.  After getting fresh rubber Carl went back out on the track and crashed into the driver’s side of the Dale Jr’s car while he was on his cool down lap and while Jr had his hand out the window.  He was given a fine and put on probation.

2) In 2006 Carl retaliates on Tony Stewart for a bone head move Stewart did earlier in the race and Carl spins out Tony while entering pit road for caution period pit stops while pit crew members were over the wall on pit road.  I still have problems with this one even though Carl claimed that he spun Tony away from the pit crews, but Tony could have easily lost control of his car and went in a totally opposite direction.

3) Carl has an altercation in front of cameras with teammate Matt Kenseth after a race where Carl threatens physical aggression on a stunned Kenseth.

4) Carl and Kevin Harvick get into a shoving/wrestling match in the pits after practice – it is reported that punches were exchanged between the two.

These are just off the top of my head too, there might be more.  I do believe that Carl and Busch got into it in Bristol one time, but I’m also sure Busch started it.

So what to do now that we’ve established a bit of ‘history in payback’ as it were?

Look at similar cases;

1)  Kevin Harvick was parked for a Cup race for his actions in a Truck race at Martinsville involving the late Bobby Hamilton.

2)  Ted Musgrave was parked for a race because he went back out on the track and wrecked Kelly Bires after being more than 100 laps down because of an altercation with Bires that caused him to be down that many laps.

3)  Kevin Harvick and Jamie MacMurray are fined and put on probation for banging bumpers on each other.

and the list goes on.

So what now?

Well Dustin Long thinks NASCAR should just fine him a ton of points so its like he has been parked a race.  Not a bad idea really.

Nail him hard so that it is like he missed a race.  I’m OK with that, but I think I might just take it a bit further.

I’d nail him a minimum 200 points and park him a race too.  If they can fine Carl Long 200K for a large motor in an exhibition race then they can fine Carl 250K for overly aggressive driving with the potential to injure other drivers (look at the A-piller on Keselowski’s car – man he is lucky it didn’t collapse any more) as well as spectators.  Then I’d fine Roush/Fenway racing for not controlling their driver, make them take some ownership too.  Roush would get hit with the same amount of point and dollar fines.  Also, I’d make the 99 car ineligible for the next race regardless if they had a different driver in the car.  They can run a different number on the car if they want, just not the 99 so they can’t collect Owner Points either.

Harsh?  Yes.  Unfair?  Maybe.  Unrealistic?  In the world of NASCAR yes.  But if you don’t make an example now then what’s next?  I mean the precedent of a one race suspension was set with Musgrave when, under similar circumstances he deliberately drove into Kelly Bires at Martinsville which is a short track where the speeds are about 1/2 they are at Atlanta, and Bires’ truck didn’t get airborne.

Some of you may think that I’m just saying this because I’m not an Edwards fan, well you have your right to say that, but based on this history and the precedents already established by NASCAR I’d be saying that about any driver out there that would be in Carl’s shoes at this moment – even Dale Jr.

Now don’t get me wrong I’m sure Carl had no intention for Keselowski’s car to get airborne and I’m quite sure that he regrets doing what he did to Brad and if I had thought otherwise I would have said so and made the punishment even more harsh.  We all do stupid things everyday, and we all must face the consequences of our actions – intended or not – and a NASCAR driver is no different in my opinion.

There’s “Have at it boys” and then there’s “Have havoc boys” – which is it going to be and at what cost?

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Interesting piece from David Caraviello of NASCAR.com today on how Jimmie Johnson doesn’t have a nickname:

There’s a Rowdy and a Happy, an Ironman and an Iceman, a Smoke and a
Smokey. There’s a Junebug and a Jaws, a Mayor and a Herman, a Franchise
and a Four-Time and a Sliced Bread. There’s a Front Row Joe and a
Million Dollar Bill, a Gentleman Ned and a Handsome Harry, a Mr.
Excitement and a Cousin Carl. There’s a Cotton and a Buckshot, a
Rocketman and a Fireball. There’s a Big Bud and a Little Bud, a Tiny
and a Red, and of course an Intimidator and a Silver Fox and a King.

And then there’s Jimmie. Plain ol’ Jimmie.

See, I’d disagree. Around here, we’ve thrown out a few nicknames that are ever-so-slowly starting to make their way into the NASCAR mainstream — "Senator" Jeff Burton and "Rawhide" Clint Bowyer, for two. And the commenters at the Marbles have a way of creating their own little unique monikers for their drivers. And Jimmie isn’t exempt. Matter of fact, I discussed this very issue with Jimmie almost two years ago. Here’s what he had to say:

Around here, we try to give drivers new nicknames. What’s the best nickname you’ve ever had?

Jimmie: I’ve been very fortunate to dodge a nickname throughout my entire career. I’ve never had one.

Anybody ever called you Johnny?

Jimmie: No, I’ve not heard that one.

Caraviello suggests "The Foreman." Now, no disrespect to Mr. Caraviello intended, but that’s just a flat-out awful nickname. Here, offhand, are a few that we’ve come up with here in recent months and on Twitter:

• Jimbot (effective, but he ain’t gonna like it)
• Johnny Jimson (funny, but nobody’s gonna get it)
• The Hammer (Hank Aaron would say you can’t touch this)
• Horseshoe (best of the lot)

So here it is. I’m going to start calling him Horseshoe until somebody comes up with something better. Have at it in the comments, folks. 

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NASCAR has taken the reins off its drivers this year, and perhaps as a result we have the first spectacular wreck of the season. As with so many wrecks of the last few months, it involved Brad Keselowski — but the difference this time is, Keselowski was the victim, not the instigator.

Late in the race, Keselowski was powering to a top-10 finish when Carl Edwards, more than a hundred laps down thanks to a Keselowski-caused wreck from earlier in the afternoon, snapped his wheel upward into the No. 12 Dodge, and …

The wreck was ironic, a virtual photo-negative of last year at Talladega when Keselowski spun Edwards and sent the 99 careening into the fence:

This time, there were no fan injuries, and Keselowski himself was fortunately unhurt, if a bit dazed. ("Did I just fly?" he asked his crew chief over the radio. Yes, Brad, yes, you did.)

What this wreck will do is put NASCAR’s new "Boys, have at it" rule to the test. NASCAR immediately black-flagged Edwards and called him to the hauler; there’s been no word as of post time on any penalties. But should there be any? Should Edwards lose points or be fined?

After the race, Edwards came this close to admitting the wreck was intentional: "Brad knows the deal between him and I," he said. "The scary part is that his car went airborne, which was not at all what I [pause] expected." The pause was significant; this is speculation, but Edwards certainly seemed like he wanted to just spin Keselowski, not send him halfway into orbit.

"It could have killed somebody in the grandstands," Keselowski said. "I know that’s a little ironic that it’s got me saying that, but at least I didn’t do it intentionally when it happened. It will be interesting to see how NASCAR reacts to it. They have the ball. If they’re going to allow people to intentionally wreck each other at tracks this fast, we will hurt someone either in the cars or in the grandstands."

_______

For more daily NASCAR and automotive news throughout the 2010 season, click here to bookmark Yahoo! Sports’ From The Marbles blog and follow us on Twitter.

Related posts on The Marbles:

Tim Tebow’s posse stole Darrell Waltrip’s car! Sort of …
Be a shame if an accident were to befall Jimmie Johnson
Kyle Busch: Not such a bad guy after all, as it turns out

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ATLANTA, GA. — The Marbles is live from Atlanta, and that means we’re going to be bringing you along for all kinds of inside-the-infield action. (Not inside-the-garage. They don’t let us near that place after that incident with the arc welder.*) Anyway, you can follow me on Twitter at @jaybusbee as I give updates from throughout the garage and infield throughout the morning. During the race, I’ll be doing the live chat out on the mothership. But feel free to hang here and chat about whatever comes into your mind in greater detail. Race starts a little after 1 p.m. Eastern, and the pole is held by that fella there at right, Dale something-or-other. Enjoy the race!

*-To my bosses: I’m kidding. I’m not banned. I blamed the "incident" on some ESPN guys.

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Hey all.  Today’s open race thread is going to be a little different in that I’m going to provide you with the link to Jeff Gluck’s open race thread too.  Feel free in posting either at Jeff’s page or here, or even on both, which is what I’m going to be doing at times throughout the day.

Jeff and I are still working out this open race thread thing.  To be honest with you I haven’t returned Jeff’s email on the topic from Wednesday as I’ve been really busy this week so the ball is resting in my court on this as it were.  We’ll have it all sorted out by next week for sure. 

Anyway, look for the complete starting line-up after the jump.  See you on the other side (and at Jeff’s page too).

POS	CAR	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	SPEED	TIME	BEHIND
1	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	Amp Energy / National Guard	192.761	28.761	Leader
2	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	M&M’s	192.280	28.833	-0.072
3	42	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	Target	192.106	28.859	-0.098
4	5	Mark Martin	Chevrolet	HendrickCars.com / GoDaddy.com	191.814	28.903	-0.142
5	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	National Guard / DuPont	191.774	28.909	-0.148
6	9	Kasey Kahne	Ford	Budweiser	191.688	28.922	-0.161
7	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	Tornados	191.549	28.943	-0.182
8	19	Elliott Sadler	Ford	Hunt Brothers Pizza	191.436	28.960	-0.199
9	00	David Reutimann	Toyota	Aaron’s Dream Machine	191.186	28.998	-0.237
10	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Scotts	191.087	29.013	-0.252
11	2	Kurt Busch	Dodge	Miller Lite	191.054	29.018	-0.257
12	47	Marcos Ambrose	Toyota	Lance Snacks / Tom’s Snacks	190.935	29.036	-0.275
13	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	U.S. Census	190.850	29.049	-0.288
14	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	Valvoline	190.791	29.058	-0.297
15	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	Office Depot / Old Spice	190.692	29.073	-0.312
16	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools	190.640	29.081	-0.320
17	6	David Ragan	Ford	UPS	190.574	29.091	-0.330
18	33	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	BB&T	190.561	29.093	-0.332
19	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	NAPA Auto Parts	190.548	29.095	-0.334
20	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	FedEx Office	190.424	29.114	-0.353
21	71	Bobby Labonte	Chevrolet	TaxSlayer.com	190.267	29.138	-0.377
22	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	Caterpillar	190.221	29.145	-0.384
23	98	Paul Menard	Ford	CertainTeed / Menards	189.987	29.181	-0.420
24	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops / Tracker	189.915	29.192	-0.431
25	43	A.J. Allmendinger	Ford	Insignia / Best Buy	189.857	29.201	-0.440
26	83	Brian Vickers	Toyota	Red Bull	189.798	29.210	-0.449
27	66	Dave Blaney	Toyota	Prism Motorsports	189.590	29.242	-0.481
28	12	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	Mopar / FLO TV	189.571	29.245	-0.484
29	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	The Home Depot	189.189	29.304	-0.543
30	36	Mike Bliss	Chevrolet	Wave Energy Drink	189.144	29.311	-0.550
31	13	Max Papis	Toyota	GEICO	189.112	29.316	-0.555
32	82	Scott Speed	Toyota	Red Bull	189.079	29.321	-0.560
33	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	FrontRowJoe.com	189.060	29.324	-0.563
34	21	Bill Elliott	Ford	Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center	189.021	29.330	-0.569
35	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Shell / Pennzoil	189.015	29.331	-0.570
36	77	Sam Hornish Jr.	Dodge	Mobil 1	188.970	29.338	-0.577
37	38	David Gilliland	Ford	Charter Air Transport / Taco Bell	188.341	29.436	-0.675
38	78	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	Furniture Row Companies	187.958	29.496	-0.735
39	7	Robby Gordon	Toyota	Warner Music Nashville / Blake Shelton	186.403	29.742	-0.981
40	34	Travis Kvapil+	Ford	Long John Silver’s	185.430	29.898	-1.137
41	37	Kevin Conway+*	Ford	Extenze	184.812	29.998	-1.237
42	26	Boris Said+	Ford	Sacred Power / Southern Pride Trucking	182.916	30.309	-1.548
43	55	Michael McDowell	Toyota	Prism Motorsports	188.758	29.371	-0.610
Did Not Qualify
44	09	Aric Almirola	Chevrolet	Phoenix Racing	188.066	29.479	-0.718
45	190	Casey Mears	Chevrolet	Juice Air Fre sheners / SmellMyCar.com	187.678	29.540	-0.779
46	46	Terry Cook*	Dodge	Whitney Motorsports	186.122	29.787	-1.026

+ Set by Owner Points
* Denotes Rookie

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