Pit Passes

No luck for Dale Jr.

I made a post a few weeks back about people believing people in DEI were out to ruin Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s season after his move to Hendrick Motorsports.

Well, after several blown motors and now a lost tire later in Atlanta (how does that happen?), I'm still not buying it.

But if it happens again ...

Steel cage match?

If you didn't catch the Carl Edwards-Matt Kenseth 'near altercation,' you missed something. It appeared Edwards was ready to take a swing at Kenseth. Turns out that Edwards and Kenseth have barely spoke in six months and the Roush drivers don't seem to get along at all.

Looking at the results, it figures.

Here's the story:

By David Poole 
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

Carl Edwards apologized Tuesday for his confrontation with teammate Matt Kenseth after Sunday's Subway 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, but he also said there's a lack of ``team spirit'' among drivers at Roush Fenway Racing.
``Hendrick Motorsports and those people that we compete against do a better job of having team spirit than we've done lately,'' Edwards said. ``I'm just as guilty of that as anyone. As a team, we need to do a better job working together.''
Edwards said he was wrong for ``showing my anger and putting on an aggressive display'' toward Kenseth, which was videotaped and shown on Speed.
Kenseth was about to be interviewed when Edwards came up and nudged him out of range of the microphone. They exchanged words. After Edwards climbed over the wall heading out of the track, he turned and feigned a punch at Kenseth.
``It was not a one-day deal,'' Edwards said of frustration between him and Kenseth, ``It wasn't just Sunday's on-track incident where I bumped into Matt and he bumped into me harder and I got madder all day.
''... Matt Kenseth and I have not spoken -- I don't think Matt's voluntarily said two sentences to me in the last six months, you know. ... We just don't talk a lot. We don't know one another well enough. And it's my opinion that that's what's precipitated this stuff is that lack of communication.``
Edwards said none of his teammates had called to congratulate him after any of his three Nextel Cup victories this year.
''When I win, people call and congratulate and people are happy for me, it's just the wrong people,`` Edwards said. ''I've got (Hendrick driver) Jimmie Johnson calling me every time I win to say good job. And my teammates aren't the ones doing that. And I'm just as guilty. I haven't been as happy for their successes as I could be.``
Roush Fenway Racing President Geoff Smith said that team's philosophy is to allow its drivers to work through issues with each other. But, he said, there is room for improvement.
''We don't think that the drivers have been as courteous and friendly to one another about their various successes as they might be,`` Smith said.
Edwards said he will try to do what he can to improve on that.
''We had a lot of success in 2005, and I didn't always race everyone the way they wanted to be raced,`` he said. ''I literally was driving for a job. If I didn't work that hard, I'd still be living at my mom's house. I think it kind of started there, and since then, we just haven't done a good job, all of us, of communicating how we want to be treated on the race track and it turns into all of these grudges and instances where nobody really knows how everyone feels about one another.``

A whole lot of nothing

Jimmie Johnson won. Jeff Gordon leads the points. And there were 21 cautions, none of which led to any fights or shoving matches after the race.

Yep, that was Martinsville in a nutshell. I was pretty disappointed considering it's a race that usually provides a lot of fireworks.

The only real news, if you want to call it that, is that Tony Stewart's chances at the Chase title are all but gone. Gordon still has a firm grip on the top spot with Johnson and Clint Bowyer hanging around.

And unless Gordon screws up in the final few races, he's got the title, no matter how many more races Johnson wins.

When your driver retires!

Next year will be the last for Dale Jarrett. He has always been my favorite driver, through thick and thin. I wish he would have made a few more races this year, but he knew what he was getting into.

So here's my question for Dale Jarrett fans ... or fans of drivers who have hung it up: What do you do with all of the merchandise you've collected. Most of mine is old diecast cars (scale 1:24). I don't know if there are Dale crazies who would consider them even more valuable, or if the value decreases since he quit.

I'm curious to hear what Rusty Wallace fans did with all of his No. 2 Miller Lite merchandise once he quit and Kurt Busch took the car over. I'm not talking about Dale Earnhardt Sr., obviously, but other drivers.

Where would Gordon rank?

Unless he wrecks or runs into engine problem in the last few races, Jeff Gordon is likely going to be the Nextel Cup champion. On Saturday night, he even had luck on his side when Ryan Newman blew a tire with two laps to go. Plus, Gordon's teammate (Jimmie Johnson) had troubles of his own.

I know we've discussed this before, but I know there are new bloggers and e-mailers with different opinions. But if Gordon wins the title, he would do it under the old and new systems.

Does this make him the best ever?

Talladega nightmare!

Sunday's race at Talladega had a little bit of everything:

* Chase contenders Jeff Burton, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch suffering problems. It's almost freaky how often if happens to Busch there. I can't blame him for hating that place.

* Dale Earnhardt Jr. blew another motor - 6 this season.

*Tony Stewart did everything he could to either win the race or wreck the field ... I'm still not sure which.

*There was the 'Big One' and even a few 'Little Ones.'

* And Jeff Gordon came from the back to win another race at the best track in NASCAR.

But here's the harsh reality of it all. Only four drivers, I think, can still win the Chase - Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer and Stewart. I'd give Stewart a better shot if he would have pitted last week.

With this week's race at Charlotte a near certain win for Johnson, who owns that place, I'm starting to think it's going to come down to a Johnson-Gordon battle for the title.

Alabama here we come

It's safe to say that Sunday's race in Kansas was a bit bizarre. Did Greg Biffle actually win the race? Why wasn't Tony Stewart penalized for swearing? Most of the Chase drivers had problems. The weather was nuts. And was Stewart nuts for not pitting (answer: yes)?

It's should be even more crazy at Talladega this week where the 'Big One' can knock out half of the field. It's also a Car of Tomorrow race, meaning bump-drafting could be tougher with those new splitters on the front of the car.

To me, two of the next three races will determine the champion - Talladega and Martinsville. If a driver isn't within 100 points with five races left, he doesn't have much of a shot. Drivers can be a little more conservative after the next two.