Jimmie Johnson had the car to beat today for sure, but on the last green flag start it didn't look like he was going to make back to the lead. Starting in 8th on lap 374many of the cars ahead of Johnson only took on two tires including race leader Tony Stewart which caused Jimmie to be better in the long run. Tony held off Johnson until two laps to go and then Jimmie made his move.
"Fortunately, I had such a good car that I could run around the top," said Johnson, who climbed one position to third in the series standings. "My hat's off to Tony Stewart. That was one heck of a race. I had to drive so far over my head to get by him. I'm just very proud of what we did out there on the racetrack [Sunday].
"I wasn't going to give up. I had no idea what was going to happen, but I knew I had a great race car. I knew there were some laps left, and it was just time to go -- and I got it done. To have to run that hard to pass that many good cars to get the lead, that's a challenge. I really had to suck it up and get going. I thought I was going to pound the wall a couple of times on the top. I cooked it off in there too fast and slid right up to the crumbs, and I'm like, 'Please stay, please.' And it stuck, and I made it back around."
Tony finished second but not all was lost, he took over the current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point lead, moving ahead of Jeff Gordon. Tony also became the first since Alan Kulwicki to lead the points as a driver/owner in 1992.
"We had an opportunity," said Stewart, "We got to the lead there and got by Biffle and just couldn't hold off Jimmie. He was like a freight train coming. I mean, I was surprised I could hold him off as long as I did, but I was pretty happy that we were able to do it for that long.
"I mean, when you're the fastest car and you're coming as fast as he was, it was just a matter of getting the opening that he needed, and we did everything we could to take his line away from him as often as we could, but just couldn't do it long enough."
After Kyle made his comments about Jr. I was thinking what if this was Brewster from "Six Pack", Swifty would have said, "Brewster don't take that shit off that yellowbelly sap sucker!!" and a fight would have surely ensued later. That would bring back the NASCAR Spirit. Now in the "Politically Correct" NASCAR world Jr. has to bite his tongue and keep quiet. I would love to see some BREAKING NEWS on SPEED and they would break in on RaceDay to report that Jr. has beat the living hell out of Kyle and he might not make the race, but it won't happen. Kyle will keep popping off at the mouth cause he knows no one can do anything to him physically. So if anyone else feels this way please weigh in and let me know how you feel!!
David Reutimann has carried his momentum into Dover and won the pole position for the Autism Speaks 400 race on Sunday at 1pm. Off the heels of his first win Reutimann and Michael Waltrip racing are on a recent high and enjoying the win and doing what some thought was impossible. David had to play another waiting game during qualifying similar to his recent victory at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
Reutimann went out 11th and had to wait for most of the field to complete their laps. His comments about the Coca Cola 600 were similar to what he experienced during qualifying. "I'm kind of a nervous person anyway, so waiting around to see if we won the race and then waiting around to see everybody have a shot at us became nerve-racking over time," he said.
Well it sounded as if NASCAR hotshot Kyle Busch was just waiting to take a shot at Dale Earnhardt Jr. In the media center yesterday at Dover "It's never Junior; it's always the crew chief," said Busch, who fired the opening shots when asked about team owner Rick Hendrick's dismissal of Tony Eury Jr. as Earnhardt's crew chief a day earlier.
Jr. handled the comments in stride and handled as professionally as he could "He's always had a chip on his shoulder for me," Earnhardt said of Busch, "so I expect any time he gets an opportunity to throw a jab in there he's going to do it. That's just his personality."
It is now time for Jr. to get to work and put his head down and focus on getting his team together and producing some positive results.
There has been much rumor about Danica Patrick coming over to try her hand at what I consider to be the toughest league of racing, NASCAR, and many people say she should and many that say she shouldn't. I think the transition would be a difficult one that has been proven by many of the open wheel drivers that have moved over in recent years. There is no doubt that she would be popular if not more than she already is, and NASCAR is a marketing machine that would be right up her alley.
Her main sponsor GoDaddy.com is already involved in NASCAR in the Nationwide Series and I am sure would jump all over the Sprint Series involvement. She would definitely create a new category for "Hottest Driver". All kidding aside it is hard to tell what would happen as far as driving, but the track record by some of her fellow Indy mates has proven futile. I am all for seeing her give it a try, just hopes she remembers "Rubbin in Racin"
Looks like it finally happened Tony Eury Jr. is out of the long time crew chief position for his cousin, Dale Earnhardt Jr. The announcement today Rick Hendrick said "Our performance hasn't been where it should be, It's impossible to pin that on any one factor, but a change is the right decision at this point. We have a plan in place, and we're going to move forward with it."
Taking over the reigns for Jr. will be team manager Brian Whitesell this weekend. Lance McGrew will take over next week on an interim basis as team owner Rick Hendrick figures out a long-term plan for NASCAR's most popular driver. Hopefully this will get Jr. back on track to the success he has known in the past.
I have been working on changing the layout and have decided to go wth a all NASCAR blog eventhough some other things may pop up from time to time. Hope to keep everyone interested.
Rain delay gives the boogity, boogity, boogity boys some time to talk about the fines with Carl Long and the drug charges with Jeremy Mayfield. I was glad to hear that Mike Joy, Larry Mac, and DW were outspoken in their opinions about the crazy fines. The Carl Long fines were nonsense, they were to draw the attention off of Mayfield but I think more people were outraged than they expected. Does anyone else think that there is not another car out there that is not off by 1/1000th of an inch? Come on give it a break! They are not going to go after the superstars! NASCAR really needs to evaluate what they are doing. Over the last few years they have slowly slipped from the roots that made them so popular and I am afraid it could ruin the sport. What happened to the fights and arguing after a race and drinking beer in victory lane and kissing the girls! Where is the dirty face and the worn out driver? These guys get out of the cars like they just drove to the mall! Have a retro race and let these new drivers take a 78 monte carlo out for a spin, bet the end result would be way different!! You surely wouldn't see 16 year olds out driving like they do now. I saw NASCAR when the real superstars drove and the cars were real and the sponsors were local dumpster services and trucking companies. NASCAR don't ruin the best spectator sport ever!!
Microsoft’s supposedly “fake” Twitter link indicates a Zune phone in May
May. 18, 2009 (4:12 pm) By: Christian Zibreg
An accidental link to a Twitter account on the official Office 2010 mini-site has indicated a Zune phone in May. Although Microsoft removed the link following the incident, the Zune phone rumor just won’t go away.
If you have been avid follower of corporate accounts on Twitter, you may have noticed an interesting Twitter account linked on Microsoft’s Office 2010 mini-site last week. While at first sight there’s nothing out of ordinary about this account, a closer history inspection reveals this interesting status message that reads as follows:
“New product launch, that’s all I’m allowed to say. Hold off from buying an iPhone/Pre. :)”
On top of this suggestion that a Zune phone will become a reality sometime between Palm Pre and the next iPhone launches, other posts made by the account holder also claim that Office 2010 will be release for Mac as well. There is also post that claims that Word will be tightly integrated with Facebook and Twitter.
Shortly after the incident, Microsoft couldn’t deny or confirm the rumor to Gizmodo but Brian Seitz, group marketing manager of Zune, did tell the publication that the Office team “has no control or involvement with the Twitter account,” adding that it was a “rogue twitter.”
Microsoft has also removed the link in question on the Office 2010 mini-site, having it replaced with a link to a new Twitter account that looks legit. The account has three posts so far, one of them saying that the account “only stars Office at this point though, no Zune.”
We don’t know for a fact if Microsoft’s linking to an external Twitter account over which the company supposedly didn’t have “control or involvement” is plain sloppiness or part of a broader viral marketing strategy designed to hype a Zune phone.
One thing is certain: There are many people who would like to see Microsoft release both a Zune phone and Zune HD, an alleged touch-enabled music player designed to take on Apple’s “funnest iPod ever.”
Is this alleged Windows Mobile 7/Zune-branded handset a potential iPhone killer?
Christian’s opinion
With each passing day, Microsoft’s Zune phone seems more and more obvious, despite the software maker’s refusal to come clean on the matter. In fact, it’s Microsoft’s ambiguous stance on the rumor that adds fuel to tremendous speculations out there.
Taking a page from Apple’s book, Microsoft is, in my opinion, driving expectations wild by offering comments that don’t exclude the prospect of a Zune phone entirely. Alternatively, Microsoft could be cleverly using the power of the Zune rumor to draw attention to upcoming version of the Office suite.
Microsoft’s behavior in this matter is notably in contrast with other cases when the software maker would rebuff media speculations about products that weren’t in the pipeline. If you ask me, I find it rather unbelievable that Microsoft would link to a third-party Twitter account on the official Office 10 promo site. However, although problematic posts on aforementioned suspicious Twitter account looks real, it’s most likely someone’s practical joke.
That said, a Zune phone rumor still sounds convincing enough. We reported last week about possible leaked specs for the first Windows Mobile 7 phone that appears to run a modified version of the Zune software. Paired with jaw-dropping design, the handset looks like it could give Apple’s iPhone serious run for its money.
However, you shouldn’t definitely assume that a Zune-branded mobile phone will be necessarily built and sold by Microsoft as the company might be simply offering third-party vendors a reference hardware platform paired with Windows Mobile 7 and Zune software. To me, there is too much evidence pointing to a Zune phone to be ignored and Microsoft would be really shooting themselves in the foot if they don’t plan on releasing Zune-branded smartphone.
"I mean, when you're the fastest car and you're coming as fast as he was, it was just a matter of getting the opening that he needed, and we did everything we could to take his line away from him as often as we could, but just couldn't do it long enough."
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