This started the whole mess, how close it that?
There were quite a few dangerous blocks going on throughout the race including shrub many times, but the big one was caused by vickers first bumping and pushing Jr into the grass.
Posted on 02/14/2009 3:02:16 PM PST by WestCoastGal
Nice one (1200)!
This started the whole mess, how close it that?
There were quite a few dangerous blocks going on throughout the race including shrub many times, but the big one was caused by vickers first bumping and pushing Jr into the grass.
I don't think Jr. is literate enough to read the rule book. He should get one of his teammates to read it for him. After they're done laughing, they can also teach him how to enter a pit box. LOL.
Spoiled brat Dale Earnhardt Jr. ruins a great race
The most deserving driver did not win the Daytona 500 Sunday. Sadly and immaturely, Dale Earnhardt Jr. made sure of it. The most popular athlete in the sport turned into the most irresponsible driver on the track Sunday when a frazzled and frustrated Earnhardt caused a wreck that inexcusably knocked leader Kyle Busch out of the rain-shortened 500 and eventually allowed Matt Kenseth to win. In your wildest imagination, did you ever think Junior, the sport's most beloved personality, could single-handedly turn the Great American Race into the Great American Disgrace? Remember when the NBA used to have the Jordan Rules? It looks like NASCAR now has its version of the Junior Rules. Former driver and Fox broadcaster Darrell Waltrip probably spoke for the NASCAR establishment when he said, "I give Junior the benefit of the doubt." Of course. Doesn't Junior always get the benefit of the doubt?
WestCoastGal88
Ranked: 192 out of 26186
Pepsi Challenge - see not that hard.
Oh well. Promises, promises.
Lucky Dog: NASCAR Coddles Junior Again
DAYTONA BEACH - Once there was Ironhead.
Sunday there was his boy: Bonehead.
It was The Not So Great American Race, soggy and sullen. Mr. Excitement, Matt Kenseth, won the first Daytona 380 as rain hit the high banks. Yellow flag, red flag, checkered flag. It was all wet. But another name was wetter.
Earnhardt.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the talk of the 500 again, but for all the wrong reasons. You see, the all-popular Junior was all wrong Sunday. He made the wreck that wrecked the field and went on his merry way.
And NASCAR?
It didn't do a thing.
It's good to be Junior.
Earnhardt didn't know where his pit box was most of the day, but like a spoiled brat he managed to find Brian Vickers' rear on the 124th lap.
Earnhardt was a lap down and trying to get back on the lead lap when he came up on Vickers, also a lap down and, like Earnhardt, trying to be moved to the front at the next caution. It's a NASCAR deal called the "Lucky Dog."
Vickers blocked Earnhardt. That's racing.
So Junior, driven down below the yellow, roared up and into Vickers, who spun out and into Kyle Busch, who only had the best car of the day, all part of a 10-car wreck. Junior says he did it by accident.
Lucky Dog? Try Low-Down Dog.
I'm not saying Dale Jr. isn't a decent guy most days. I'm not saying Vickers is a sympathetic figure. Three years ago at Talladega, Vickers wrecked Jimmie Johnson on the way to his only NASCAR victory.
But Junior is coddled.
Sunday showed just how much.
He should have been penalized. NASCAR should have taken action, like the five-lap penalty it gave Jason Leffler on Saturday in a Nationwide race for doing the exact kind of thing Earnhardt did.
Only his name was Leffler, not Earnhardt.
"I guess they're not going to penalize him for it," Vickers said. "It's kind of sad. To wreck someone intentionally like that in front of the entire field is really kind of dangerous."
"Penalize me?" Earnhardt said. "For what? I got ran into and sent below the line. What the hell am I supposed to do? Stay down there? No, I got to get back up on the racetrack. It was unfortunate, man. If he wasn't so damn reckless, we would have never had that problem, that would never happen. As far as I'm concerned, it's all his responsibility."
Fox TV star Darrell Waltrip initially said Junior was in the wrong, but later, realizing he'd told the truth, Waltrip began Boogity Boogity Backpedaling and soon everyone in the booth was in their normal position as Junior apologists.
Earnhardt had been Bonehead all day, with some help from his crew. He missed his pit box on one stop. He later parked an inch or so outside it on another and was penalized a lap. A cheap one, but it was no justification for a steamed Earnhardt going out and messing with Vickers. I guess that's Junior's idea of a makeup call.
Maybe it's something his daddy would have done, though maybe Daddy wouldn't have done it from the front of the field. Oh, and another thing: Junior isn't his daddy.
He has won a Daytona 500 and 17 other Sprint Cup races and finished as high as third in points. But he didn't make the big splash last season when he moved to Hendrick Motorsports, winning only once and fading to 12th after making The Chase. When is this guy going to be a points champion? Probably never. Why bother? He's already the most popular everything in his sport. That fact came in quite handy in this race.
Busch was knocked out of the race in the wreck. Junior wasn't.
In the pits, Busch tore into Earnhardt as Junior's legions standing nearby booed him, even though Busch was in the right.
Imagine if Busch had wrecked Junior. Earnhardt fans would have set torches.
A little later, Junior was the first car a lap down when another caution came out.
Finally, he was the Lucky Dog.
I say hold the Lucky, at least on Sunday.
Good news all the way around last night.
Yes, it sure was. I think I’ll watch it again tonight. :)
The pic tells it all and I cannot believe a NASCAR official actually called a lap penalty for that one inch transgression. unreal.
I still haven’t found the rule and won’t since the rulebook is written in pencil. I cannot figure out why it’s ok to have the rear over the white and not the front. I do understand that the jackman is the first one out when the car comes in but still the tire guys on the rear are out there when other cars behind are exiting. So, in my mind the rear end should be inside the line too or just fuggedaboutit.
Someone posted this on another board and I thought it quite appropriate.
“Matt Kenseth won the Daytona 500.
For crying out loud,Matt goes winless last year,competes in his first points paying Cup race with his new crew chief,and he wins the biggest race of the year.
On a side note,he also showed real emotion in doing so.Tears in his eyes in case they missed it to.I don’t care if it was the Daytona 380 or whatever.He’s not the first guy to win a rain shortened race and he won’t be the last.
But somewhere along the way,poor Matt’s biggest win is a side note to the fact that Kyles chance of winning was “ruined” and the fact that Jr. caused the wreck.
If anyone else had caused the wreck,they wouldn’t be talking about it.If Kyle hadn’t been caught up in it,they wouldn’t be up in arms.SHUT UP ABOUT IT ALREADY!!!!
Maybe if Jr. goes out tomorrow and proposes his own stimulus plan and the economy turns around,they’ll be his biggest fans.No wait,they’ll be losing their minds because he didn’t do it sooner.
But I tell you what will happen.If this season turns out to be the greatest of his career and he goes on to have a year like he did in 2004 or like Carl,Kyle,and Jimmie had last year,they’ll point back to Daytona as the turning point.It’ll do wonders for NASCAR and they’ll run out of chapstick due to to all the kissing up they’ll do.They’ll be jumping on the bandwagon like never before.
But to them I say...well I can’t say it here.But to be polite,you’re either with us or against us.We’ve stuck with him throught the good and the bad and will continue to do so.
And by the way,loved what I saw yesterday.I believe the Earnhardt in him is about to come out!
So in a nutshell for the media goons,leave Jr. alone.Kyle will race another day(same words he used when he wrecked Jr. in Richmond)and for crying out loud,could you please write a piece or two congratulating Matt Kenseth and the killer bees for winning the freaking Daytona 500?! “
Daytona Proves Earnhardt Jr. is an Average Racer
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is NASCAR's most popular driver by far. In terms of performance on the track in recent years, and especially at this year's Daytona 500, he, clearly, is also the sport's most overrated driver.
The Earnhardt name is iconic in NASCAR circles. Face it, the late, great Dale Sr. is a god to auto racing fans. It is no wonder Junior is celebrity. But, how much of it is by name? Many of those cheering faces in the crowd might be making the mistake of believing the son is a chip off the old man's block.
Dale Junior has still yet to prove that he possess the Earnhardt racing gene. Amid high expectations, currently, he does not rank among Sprint Cup's best drivers.
So far, his best year was in 2004 where he won six races and finished fifth in the final point standings. Since then, NASCAR's most popular driver has won 3 times over a total of 145 races. This is his second year as a member of the best team in racing, Hendrick Motorsports, where three time defending champion Jimmie Johnson, four time champ Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin are his teammates. Junior certianly is not the best driver in the Hendrick stable. Would he rank four out four on his own team?
Absolutely! There are no excuses for his mistakes in Sunday's Daytona 500. Earnhardt made two critical errors on pit road that resulted in a 27th place finish. He completely missed his stall on an early pit stop, needing to circle around once more before pitting. Later, number 88 had to take a one lap penalty for stopping on the line outside his stall. There is a notion in Junior Nation is that Earnhardt owns Daytona. Experienced and capable drivers should not screw up like he did, should they?
Earnhardt's lap penalty would figure in the race's most controversial moment. Trying to get his lap back, Junior tried to pass Brian Vickers, who was also a lap down. Vickers wouldn't have it, so he blocked him. Earnhardt then tapped Vicker's car, sending it to the outside wall, creating a ten car accident. It appears that it might have been an aggressive Junior who caused the incident. Maybe it was just a racing incident. Given what I know about the under-performance of Junior over the years, I would tend to believe the former, not the ladder.
NASCAR did no help the conspiracy rumors of aiding their superstar by not penalizing Earnhardt five laps, as they did with Jason Leffler when Leffler essentially did the same thing in Saturday's Nationwide race. My initial reaction after Junior's accident was "where's his penalty?"
One thing that is in Earnhardt's favor is time. He still can prove to me and many sensible racing fans that he does indeed have what it takes to win races consistently. For now, he is only famous mostly by name.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Ticket deal for May races ‘til 9 p.m. today
It took Atlanta Motor Speedway just 15 minutes to sell 1,000 at $17 each Monday morning to mark Matt Kenseth’s Daytona 500 victory in the No. 17 Ford.
Now Lowe’s Motor Speedway is stepping up with a Kenseth-related offer. From 5 to 9 p.m. today, the Charlotte track will sell five tickets to the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600 at the special price of five for $50. That offer is good for the first 1,700 tickets sold in that four-hour period.
“Matt won his first Cup race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and now he’s notched another special win with the Daytona 500,” said Marcus Smith, president and general manager of Lowe’s Motor Speedway. “In honor of his season-opening win in the No. 17, we’re keeping our ticket office open late.”
The tickets are in the Jewel Box and Toyota Fourth Turn Terrace grandstands. Tickets are available at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway ticket office from 5 - 9 p.m. or by calling (800) 455-FANS or (800) 455-3267. The first 50 fans who purchase the “5 for $50” special at the ticket office will receive a Matt Kenseth die-cast collectible car.
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