Nascar 2007

[BMCS Ian McVicker]

Anybody got any predictions?

I think it will be interesting to see how the new Chase format works.

I think Toyota is going to get off to a rough start.

Can't wait to see that COT race.

I wonder if this will be Jr.'s last year at DEI?

[MSTC Michael Schmidtke]

OK, my bold prediction is it will come down to Tony, Jimmie and Matt Kenseth. All 3 have the strongest teams over all. The COT races will balance out and the best DRIVER will win those races. And yes MWR will do really bad this year. Jr will stay with DEI, only if he can get some sort of ownership....otherwise, he'll end up with RCR!

[BMCM Wray Gillette (Ret)]

Went and saw the new movie "DALE" last night.. Good flick if you are an Earnhardt fan.. Anyone here go to the Daytona races???

Wray... :cool:

[MSTC SJ Natale]

I am pulling for Carl Edwards this year. I have a ticket for Daytona, dont know if Ill be able to make it though...with the price of an airline ticket from Ketchikan, it does not look good.

[HSC Chris Fly]

Went and saw the new movie "DALE" last night.. Good flick if you are an Earnhardt fan.. Anyone here go to the Daytona races???

Wray... :cool:

How did I know Wray would chime in on the Nascar thread? :D
Welcome to the site Master Chief!
Chris
(threeflys on that other site)

[BMCM Wray Gillette (Ret)]

Chris,
I guess it has something to do with living in Daytona Beach.... :D Good prediction ;)

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b317/Stingwray/BeerTime.jpg

Wray... :cool:
P.S. THat's my wife "Liza" with Dale....at his NC house

[BMCM Wray Gillette (Ret)]

I am pulling for Carl Edwards this year. I have a ticket for Daytona, dont know if Ill be able to make it though...with the price of an airline ticket from Ketchikan, it does not look good.

Let me know if you want me to try and sell it for you..

Where is your seat?

Wray... :cool:

[BMCS Ian McVicker]

Great picture Wray!

As far as the season goes, I'm a Vickers fan and have no problem with his switch to Toyota. That move will probably be really good for him in the long run, but it will be a little frustrating for a year or two while they get started. Best we can probably expect this year will be top 25, but in a couple years he will be in the Chase.

I think the big story this year will be the number of teams vs race slots. Yahoo sports said this morning that there will be 52 full time teams and half a dozen part time teams competing for spots every week.

If you thought being in that top 35 was important before, wait to see what happens now. I think we might see some big names miss some races.

[SKC Raymond Kurtz]

As always I will be pulling for Petty Enterprises to do better this year than in years past. I look for Bobby Labonte to win at least one race and maybe finish in the top 20 in points. Kyle will not drive in all of the races, he has already said that he will sit out a few to sit in the TNT booth. It would be interesting to see who Kyle puts in the #45.


This is a picture of me and Richard Petty the first time I met him at the Level Cross race shops on October 12th of 2002.

[MSTC SJ Natale]

Let me know if you want me to try and sell it for you..

Where is your seat?

Wray... :cool:

Well its one section past the start/finsish line four rows up.

The reason I bought it was my father-in-law has been going since they raced on the beach. He has bought the same 8 tickets (seats) for as long as they have been for sale. This year he decided it may be time to let them go since he moved from Cocoa Beach to TN and the price is, in his words, RIDICULOUS. So the rest of the family ponied up the cash and bought them so the seats wouldnt be lost.

Long story short, Ill probably just leave the ticket with them. Plus its only one seat, right in the middle of my in-laws. Thanks for the offer.

I sure do miss going though, hope to be stationed back in Florida for AY08!

[BMCM Wray Gillette (Ret)]

If he has been buying tickets for a long time he should be higher than 4 rows up... at that level you may see the tops of the cars as they go by.... every year, when they sed out the notice to re-new they ask if you want to go higher... Personally, I wouldn't sit in anything less than row 25. As they say, been there, done that.

An extra seat is always nice to put your coolers & stuff on... I'm sure they will appreciate it...

Wray... :cool:

[BMCM Wray Gillette (Ret)]

A day at the track.... (last years pole qualifying)

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b317/Stingwray/StarterWray.jpg

Wray... :cool:

[BMCS Burt Ford]

Jr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[FSC Jayare Parker (Ret)]

You called?????
Ohhhh yeah right Go JUNIOR :D

Jayare

[BMCM Wray Gillette (Ret)]

Went to the Gatorade Duel today... Jr did pretty well considering Michael took him out... Lots of action here this week.... Tomorrow night is the Chevy Silverado 250 (Craftsman Truck series)...

Wray... :cool:

[BMCM Wray Gillette (Ret)]

Doesn't look like there are many NASCAR fans here....

Great race last night...

Wray....

[MSTC Michael Schmidtke]

Wray,

There are more than you think. I just purchased tickets to the spring Martinsville for my son, wife and I. We took the kids last year to the Busch Race there, but since Busch and the Coast Guard isn't racing at Martinsville this year, we'll go for a spring race.

The wife and I went to the fall Martinsville race back in '05. We're looking forward to going back. The Wife's cousins are there in Daytona, loving every bit of it. Maybe next year, we'll make the trek down there? :D

[CWO Chris Sparkman (BMC)]

Ok, Ok, I know this is nothing like actually attending at race, something that I hope someday I'll be able to do, but until they put a track in the Pacific Northwest..... Anyhow, for you Direct TV users, a free preview of the new NASCAR Hotpass on the 18th of Feb, channel 794-799. Might be fun to watch.

cs

[CWO Chris Sparkman (BMC)]

This is about as close as I get to the race track. I break it out every X-mas for my kids and I too play. We have a lot of fun and I usually end up getting whooped by my boys. The still pics are action shots, taking the corner and hanging on!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v256/Csparkman/100_1614.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v256/Csparkman/100_1602.jpg



RACE DAY VIDEO (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v256/Csparkman/?action=view&current=100_1607.flv)

You gotta love the old TYCO!

CS

[BMCM Deane Smith]

Chris...I see your a Jeff Gordon fan.

[MSTC Michael Schmidtke]

Chris...I see your a Jeff Gordon fan.
GAG...... :mad: How can anyone be a fan of him?

[BMCM Deane Smith]

GAG...... :mad: How can anyone be a fan of him?

And who's your driver?

[BMCM Wray Gillette (Ret)]

Tomorrow's the big day :D :D :D

Wray... :cool:

[MSTC Jerome Lockwood]

Tomorrow's the big day

Lets Go Tony....
He will be the first to win the Budweiser Shootout, Gatorade Duel 150, and Daytona 500.

Go #20

[CWO Chris Sparkman (BMC)]

Nah, that's my son's car. I'm more of a Labonte fan. Mostly because we camped next to one of his pit crews years back at a KOA and we ended up talking NASCAR all night long next to the fire.

Otherwise, I'm the type that sits around and waits for the crash and then TIVO's it over and over, "oh....that's gotta hurt" :D

CS

[MSTC Michael Schmidtke]

And who's your driver?

Been a fan of Kenseth since he started with Rousch. But I also like Mark Martin. And for the record, I can't stand "Whinny Stewart".

A couple of years ago, when SPEED channel had that show called NASCAR 360, I became a fan of Jermy Mayfield. I wish they still had that show.

My wife is a fan of Elliot Sadler.

[BMCS Ian McVicker]

Still a little bummed that Vickers didn't make the race, but still can't wait for the race to start. Tony's probably got to be today's favorite, but have to keep an eye on those Yates cars. It would be pretty awesome to see old Ricky pull it off.

And as far as all those crew chiefs going home, it accomplished nothing. They will never stop that junk until they start sending the whole team and car home. Big sponsors miss races because of cheating, it would never happen again. Just think of some of the teams that would have made the show today if those spots had been freed up.

Have a great time at the race Wray.

[BMCM Wray Gillette (Ret)]

Be heading out soon.. little windy & chilly here today.... should prove interesting... Although I am a Junior fan, I think Tony is gonna try real hard at todays race... if I make any bets, my money would probably be on Smoke. He wants it bad..

And Please Please don't let those Busch boys be in the top 10.. :p :p I suspect #5 will do something stupid and cause a nice wreck...

Wray... :cool:

[CWO Chris Sparkman (BMC)]

WOW, what a finish! I think I did see the 5 car get a little sideways there towards the end :D

CS

[OSC William Allen]

That was a good finish. I would have never picked Mark Martin to be up front. I would have liked to have seen Tony win but as long as neither Kurt (2) or Kyle (5) won Iam ok with it.

[BMCM Wray Gillette (Ret)]

That was a good finish. I would have never picked Mark Martin to be up front. I would have liked to have seen Tony win but as long as neither Kurt (2) or Kyle (5) won Iam ok with it.

I agree on the #2 & #5 cars... I think had they put the caution out as soon as the last wreck started & "frozen the field", Mark would have won. I guess they left it green since they were so close to the finish....

Personally, I would have like to have seen Mark win, even if he was driving a "ARMY" sponsored car...

Wray....

[MKCM Keith Livingstone (Ret.)]

[QUOTE=Personally, I would have like to have seen Mark win, even if he was driving a "ARMY" sponsored car...

Wray....[/QUOTE]

Yup ..!!

[AMTCM John Long]

I agree on the #2 & #5 cars... I think had they put the caution out as soon as the last wreck started & "frozen the field", Mark would have won. I guess they left it green since they were so close to the finish..

Wray....

Wray,

One of the announcers (Waltrip??) on TV said the yellow flag would come out for any wrecks. He said this with 3 laps to go while the track was being cleaned up from the previous wreck. He did a great job calling the last wreck though.

I thought the yellow should have come out at the last wreck and froze the field. I guess they wanted a spectacular finish and froze the rules instead. :confused:

John

[BMCM Wray Gillette (Ret)]

John,
Yep, I agree.. here, read this....

http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/opinion/02/18/mmartin.daytona/index.html

Wray.. :cool:

[AMTCM John Long]

Wray,

I wasn't pulling for anyone to win....don't care. Just wanted to see a good race.

Just seems kind of lame the way it ended. After reading the below story, it seems NASCAR was confused about the when the green and yellow did come out. We almost have to see the finish again to see who was were and when.

It will make a great storyline for next year though. :rolleyes:

John



http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/columns/story?seriesId=2&columnist=blount_terry&id=2770638

Harvick barely takes checkered at drama-filled DaytonaBy Terry Blount
ESPN.com
Archive

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Kevin Harvick survived 48 laps of a demolition derby at the end of the Daytona 500. He also ruined the fairy tale ending.


"This had to be the wildest Daytona 500 I've ever watched. I kept my eyes shut for a while there."
-- Richard Childress

Harvick stopped it by a blink -- two one-hundredths of a second to be exact.


It was the closest finish since electronic scoring started. Nothing against the first-time Daytona 500 winner, but almost everyone watching this race wanted to see one of NASCAR's favorite sons finally get the dream moment he deserved.


Mark Martin, a four-time runner-up to the Nextel Cup crown, was moments away from the biggest victory of his life, hoping to finally win NASCAR's premiere event in his 23rd try.


Harvick had other plans. He made a dramatic drive to the front in one of the wildest, most destructive finishes in the 49-year history of the event.


"I knew I was going to be the bad guy at the end with Mark leading," Harvick said. "But we kept the pedal down and hoped for the best."


In a green-white-checkered overtime finish, Harvick went outside in Turn 3 on the final lap and got side-by-side with Martin as they headed for the start-finish line.


Behind them, the wreck-fest was on. Several cars crashed behind them as they zoomed to the line together.


It was an explosion of bashing metal as a three-wide pack of cars got together. Clint Bowyer's car turned over on its roof, flipped back on its tires and burst into flames in the infield grass.


Had it not been the last lap, NASCAR surely would have thrown a caution flag immediately, which would have frozen the field at that moment. Martin felt he would have won had NASCAR turned on the yellow light.



John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR
Kevin Harvick was 0-for-Daytona coming into 2007. He left 2-for-2 this season after winning the Daytona 500 on Sunday on the heels of winning Saturday night's Busch race.

So a week of penalty controversy at Daytona ended with a controversial ruling. NASCAR didn't throw the yellow flag, allowing the two leaders to stay on the gas until the finish line.


NASCAR officials obviously wanted the leaders to decide it at the line. The wreck was behind them, so they let them race back to the green.


Or did they? NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston gave this official statement 90 minutes after the race ended:


"When the 07 [Bowyer's car] got sideways on track, the yellow came out at that time," Poston said. "The 29 [Harvick] was ahead of the 01 [Martin] at that time and declared the winner taking the checkered flag."


Huh? Officials later clarified that the race finished under green, but the caution light came out at almost the same time. Harvick insisted he didn't see the yellow light until after he crossed the line.

The final-lap car crunch was the last of four major accidents in the final 48 laps.


"The demons came out when it got dark," Harvick said. "The entire complexion of the race changed because everyone's car handled better. We were three-wide, beating and banging. It was survival of the fittest."


Harvick becomes the second Richard Childress Racing driver to win the Daytona 500. The man he replaced was the first. Dale Earnhardt won it in his 20th try in 1998.


Three years later, Earnhardt was killed in a crash on the final lap at Daytona. Harvick moved up from the Busch Series to replace Earnhardt in the next event. Sunday was the six-year anniversary of Earnhardt's death.


Childress has seen it all at Daytona, but Sunday was a new experience for him.


"This had to be the wildest Daytona 500 I've ever watched," Childress said. "I kept my eyes shut for a while there."



AP Photo/David Graham
Kevin Harvick, left, outraces Mark Martin to the finish of the 2007 Daytona 500.

The first 150 laps Sunday won't be remembered for dripping drama. Most of the race was run single file with Tony Stewart or Kurt Busch in front.


Stewart made a masterful charge to the front. He fell to 40th on Lap 84 after pit road problems, but worked his way back to lead two laps before the accident.


Stewart and Busch were the two best cars in the field until they took each other out with 48 laps to go. Stewart was leading and Busch was second when they touched in Turn 4 and slammed into the wall.


The Stewart-Busch crash was an omen of things to come for some of the biggest names in Cup. Jimmie Johnson crashed on the backstretch with 27 laps to go. Dale Earnhardt Jr. couldn't avoid a backstretch mess of banging sheet metal with five laps left.


That brought a red flag and led to the overtime finish. Harvick was sixth on the restart, but zoomed forward with help from teammate Jeff Burton and Roush Fenway Racing driver Matt Kenseth.


"We had such a run back there that I was coming like a freight train," Harvick said. "We were up against the wall and it was take what we could take. There was no holding back at that point."


That meant joy for Harvick, disaster for those who couldn't avoid the carnage, and disappointment for the sentimental favorite.


Terry Blount covers motorsports for ESPN.com. He can be reached at terry@blountspeak.com.