Support Kenny Wallace

By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Published on Thunder Lounge.

If you’re new around here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Go Herman Go!

You may have read recent speculation, and then heard confirmation that Robert Yates contacted the Herminator and asked for a chance to sit down and discuss some business. What business? Well, Ricky Rudd has said he’s one and done. Meaning one more full season was enough. Can’t say I blame him. Heck, he has 900 career starts, second only to Richard Petty, and the pace and demand of the current schedule can be grueling. Especially when you don’t have to do it.

Ricky stepped into the #88 more or less as a favor for a friend, and to help them start to right a listing ship.

Mission complete.

While RYR is far from championship contention at the moment, can anyone say that Ricky Rudd hasn’t given the program a fair shake and assessment, and hasn’t been able to help get it pointed in the right direction?

Rudd had an advantage, he knew what the cars were like earlier this decade when RYR was a constant threat. He could feel and assess the difference. Just throw the COT out the window for a moment. That’s a whole nother ballgame, folks.

Another facet to our Herman story here, is Ricky took a pretty solid lick during the race last Sunday out in California. Such a lick, in fact, that he separated his shoulder. he doesn’t think he’ll be in the mood to push through it and run at Richmond.

Hello, Kenny, want to fill in at one of your favorite tracks? Sheesh, like you’d have to ask.

So let’s get back to this meeting that took place last Sunday at California, between Kenny and Robert.

Nobody, other than those two, know what the outcome was.

What is known, and Kenny said it himself, is that it was about taking the wheel of the #88 next season.

Wow. No ERR or FRR stunts here folks. Finally a serious offer/discussion about driving for a solid team.

Kenny hasn’t forgotten how to drive a race car, and just all of a sudden couldn’t manage to finish in the top 25 consistently. Hell, you could put Rusty, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, or Stewart in one of the rides that Kenny’s been in, and their results wouldn’t have been much better.

You do the best with what you’ve got, and Kenny certainly did that. The move by FRR should tell you that. There has been no change in results, and I’d venture to say they’ve declined a bit.

Let’s add some more fuel to the fire, shall we?

JJ Yeley has been associated with the possibility of driving the #88 over the past week or so, since it was made official that he would be replaced by Kyle Busch. Kyle Busch of course losing his ride to Dale Earnhardt Jr.

JJ Yeley will not be headed to Robert Yates.

As a matter of fact, he’ll be headed to Hall of Fame Racing’s #96 entry. Uh oh, Spaghetti O’s.

So who could fit the ticket over at Robert Yates, and become a solid mentor for the “just barely not a rookie” David Gilliand? I’d say younger, but he isn’t 18 or 21, or close. While he’s more mature in age, he needs some solid mentoring in the experience department.

Kenny Wallace fits the bill here perfectly, and Robert Yates knows it. That’s why he initiated the discussion with Kenny.

It’s as logical a choice as asking Ricky Rudd to give it a spin. Kenny has the talent, the experience, and the total package to lead that race team.

Support Robert Yates’ decision, support Kenny Wallace. He’s paid his dues, it’s about time someone finally had the guts to give him the opportunity to cash in on it, and earn a solid ride in NASCAR’s top series.

Kenny is a natural with the camera as well. Something that will definitely be an asset to any company who would like to put their name on that car. Add to that the fact that Kenny would (presumably) be able to retain his current schedule on Speed while doing NASCAR Race Day and Victory Lane, among other endeavors, and you have something that just darn well will work for a sponsor. Even if RYR isn’t quite up to par next season, and their drivers are back in the mid-20’s in points, they’re going to get an awful lot of bang for their buck.

So here’s to possibilities, making the right decision, and to a man that has earned every inch of what he has.

3 comments. Add your 2 cents!.

Filed Under: Drivers, Kenny Wallace, Nascar, Nextel Cup, Ricky Rudd, Robert Yates Racing #88, Teams





Trackback URL for: Support Kenny Wallace

By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Tuesday September 4, 2007
2:41pm CDT
Published on Thunder Lounge.

As a quick follow up to the Support Kenny piece, it’s now official that Tony Raines is looking for a job, and that indeed J.J. Yeley will move to Hall of Fame Racing starting in 2008, and continue through the 2010 season.

Speaking of 2010, do you think NASCAR will dub the 2010 season as “The year we make contact”?

Nah, by then they’ll probably be penalizing drivers for that, too.

Share your thoughts!.

Filed Under: Drivers, Hall of Fame Racing #96, J.J. Yeley, Nascar, Nextel Cup, Teams, Tony Raines





Trackback URL for: Yeley and Hall Of Fame Racing is Official

By Marc, Thunder Lounge
Thursday September 6, 2007
2:48pm CDT
Published on Thunder Lounge.

To borrow, and butcher someone else’s phrase; You can satisfy some of the people some of the time, but you can’t satisfy all of the people all of the time.

What brought me to this not so startling conclusion is a couple days looking at NASCAR headlines and stories as we head into NASCAR final “regular season” event at Richmond.

Here is one example that is fairly accurate and representative of various sources that all play on the same theme, the new Chase with 12 teams admitted to the party has “ruined” Richmond.

“Chase playoff rules strip drama from race.” The gist of this article is based on a hypothetical:

“Had the series headed to race No. 26 at Richmond under the original Chase rules, four drivers separated by 38 points would go into this weekend’s Chevy Rock and Roll 400 battling for the last two spots.”

This is where I insert, “yeah but,” the Beloved One would be 161 points behind and not hanging by the thread of 128 points as he is now.

Put another way, a virtual certainty vice as least a thread of hope. And here’s another “but,” that offers a bit of drama, Junior has won three times at Richmond, including his last Cup win in May 2006.

It’s also appropriate to highlight the words of Tony Stewart at this point:

“It’s nice coming here [Richmond] and knowing that if it comes down to a fuel-mileage race this weekend that we can take a chance like we did at Kansas City and go for those 10 points versus not being locked in like we were last year and fighting at this time, so it’s definitely taken a lot of the stress and the pressure off, for sure,”

So, Tony is in a position to lay caution to the wind and go for broke in order to gain the 10 bonus points that go with it.

That sounds like drama and potential excitement to me. In addition Johnson and Gordon will not only try gain another 10 bonus points for themselves but have a wary eye on Stewart as well. If they can’t get the points they may try to block, by whatever means, Smoke from getting them.

Then there’s Tony’s teammate Denny Hamlin. He’s locked up a Chase spot but Richmond is his home track. He has two top-five finishes and three top 10s in three previous Richmond races. He finished second in May ‘06 and third last May.

If anyone thinks Hamlin will be stroking at his home tack, with nothing to lose, I’ve got a nuclear powered Vegamatic to sell you.

To reiterate my lede, “you can satisfy some of the people some of the time, but you can’t satisfy all of the people all of the time.” (But you can satisfy people for 16 straight years.)

And some people have so little ambition or imagination they have to gin up some phony tripe about how Richmond isn’t Richmond anymore.

Say, I have an idea… let’s just shut down Richmond. Then Fontana could be the end of the regular season. By most accounts the place already sucks, might as well add to its misery right?

But then the whiners would manufacture another reason wouldn’t they?

“It’s always something — if it isn’t one thing, it’s another.” - Roseanne Rosanna Dana

UPDATE: As noted the other day ISC had widdled down potential buyers for its now useless (to them) Staten Island site.

The decision is made, ISC confirmed it had reached a preliminary agreement to sell its land to ProLogis, the world’s largest developer of distribution warehouses. As Staten Island Advance notes distribution warehouses are “places that are also magnets for trucks” and “the entertainment value is nil.”

The feared flood of fans on race weekends will be replaced by a steady stream of trucks to the site, minus the fun and brand-name sponsorships. Former Borough President Guy Molinari who once worked as a lobbyist for the racetrack proposal, stopped short yesterday of saying, “I told you so.”

To which I’ll add, Buwawawahahaha, SOME PEOPLE, get exactly what they deserve. (read the rest of the Advance article, ISC warned these idiots what would happen and now it has)

Join the discussion.

Filed Under: Dale Earnhardt Junior, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Marc Boland, Nascar, Nextel Cup, Richmond, The Water Cooler





Trackback URL for: Some People!

By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Thursday September 13, 2007
4:11pm CDT
Published on Thunder Lounge.

Yeah, we’re going to talk about Dale Earnhardt Jr. In response to this ESPN article by David Newton.

Mr. Newton pushes the “I believe” button on the matter of DEI and its engine program. Yes, they are now working with RCR in partnership on motors, but last I read those particular packages would not be in use until sometime in October.

This particular piece concludes that its DEI’s shop overall that is having issues with their motors, and that is why Dale Junior has subsequently blow up a whopping 5 times this summer.

Now, I’m not an engine expert. If I were, I wouldn’t be sitting here discussing it, I’d be building motors for one of the fine teams in this sport. However, I can read between the lines and see what’s in front of my face.

Through 26 events this season, here’s the scoop:

1. Both Dale Jr and Martin Truex blew up at Fontana in February.
2. Truex again had engine issues at Chicago. Exit Truex from this discussion.
3. Junior blew up at Texas (note, as things were definitely on their way out at DEI
4. Junior again blows up at Indy, Watkins Glen, and Richmond.

So since things started to really head south, you know they were in April and in May it was made public, Mr. Junior has consequently blown up 4 times as compared to a single failure for Truex.

Is there something wrong with this picture? I don’t think it’s exactly intentional, but hey, if you had 2 drivers and one of them wasn’t going to be around next season, would it be possible that just maybe you might push a little bit of the R&D envelope on their particular motors? Especially as the Chase tightens in, and you know that it’s pretty certain that the driver that’s sticking around is 9 times out of 10 going to make the Chase?

It leads one to wonder, no doubt.

Is it not also ironic that the troubles that have plagued the #8 team this season, comes back yet again to bite them in the butt with 3 laps to go at Richmond?

Could it be that maybe, just maybe, there was indeed some engine R&D rolling along, and knowing there was a chance of failure that the engines were passed to the #8 team to roll out with? More of a vindictive move to possible ensure that Dale Jr. didn’t make the Chase, and would lose some of the publicity that comes along with it?

I’m not going to tell you its true, as much as the Red Nation wants to hear it, but I will say that from the outside looking in on this situation that it’s leaving me scratching my head wondering what (if anything) could be going on here.

One can’t help but wonder if there might be a little bit of favoritism going on. If I were wearing a red t-shirt, I’d probably be more opinionated, but even keeping a neutral position on (most) drivers, this still has me scratching my head.

Share your thoughts!.

Filed Under: Dale Earnhardt Inc #8, Dale Earnhardt Junior, Drivers, Nascar, Nextel Cup, Teams, The Chase





Trackback URL for: David Newton Is Off His Rocker

By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Friday September 14, 2007
3:43pm CDT
Published on Thunder Lounge.

We’ll be conducting some routine maintenance on the Thunder Lounge tonight (9/14/07) between 10pm and 12am CDT.

We do not anticipate any problems with these updates, as they are all routine and have checked out fine during test runs.

The scope of this maintenance window includes a few minor bug fixes, and aesthetic changes in a few minor areas.

We appreciate your patience and support while we complete these tasks.

Share your thoughts!.

Filed Under: Nascar, Network News, Thunder Lounge





Trackback URL for: Scheduled Maintenance Window

By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Saturday September 15, 2007
12:48am CDT
Published on Thunder Lounge.

As an update, our maintenance window was completed successfully and all functionality of the Thunder Lounge has been brought back online.

I’d like to thank myself, for being the idiot dedicated individual staying up half the night to transfer and run files, etc, etc.

OK, at least I thought that part was funny. But hey, it’s late at night. What can I say?

Join the discussion.

Filed Under: Nascar, Network News, Thunder Lounge





Trackback URL for: Maintenance Completed Successfully

By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Thursday September 20, 2007
10:52am CDT
Published on Thunder Lounge.

Levi Strauss has put Jimmie Johnson on notice that it will cease its personal endorsement deal with him and cease being the Official Jeans of the team, according to the Sports Business Journal (as reported by Scene Daily).

The report get to a conclusion that supposedly none of this had a thing to do with the fact that Dale Earnhardt Junior has come to the hen house, guns blazzing, and wearing Wrangler’s. Wrangler being Levi Strauss’ biggest competitor.

I’m sorry, but I’ll have to beg to differ on that one regardless of what we’re told to think.

Let’s get some facts out there.

Last fall Levi Strauss, who has been a personal sponsor of Johnson since 2004, re-upped their deal for another 3 years.

Dale Earnhardt Junior recently renewed his contract with Wrangler, citing their acknowledgment of history and relationships.

Let me see here. Something just doesn’t add up folks.

Here’s how I see it. While I’m not Tim (where’s he ran off to, anyway?), this should still make some sense.

This situation is plain and simple.

Even being a sponsor of the reigning Nextel Cup Champion, how can they compete and effectively market their brand when the most popular driver in NASCAR walks in the door wearing the competition? There just isn’t enough room in the hen house on this one folks. Levi Strauss either had an out, or asked for one. Either way, they’re able to walk out of a 3 year deal after completing just a single year of it.

“… Johnson’s business manager told the SBJ that the Levi’s contract had nothing to do with the Wrangler contract.”

Um, right.

“A corporate official told the SportsBusiness Journal that it would be going in a different direction than being the official jeans of the team.”

Really? Is that so?

OK, so when could a company just up and decide to move in a different direction and break an endorsement contract with only reaching the 1/3 mark?

Conclusion:

In summary, Levi Strauss is definitely moving in a different direction, as they stated. They had, or asked for, an out, and have effectively received their break from the contract.

The direction they are moving in is whichever one is farthest from Dale Earnhardt Junior and his Wrangler deal. They just can’t, or don’t want to, compete against their rival apparel maker combined with the most popular driver in NASCAR.

Can’t really say I blame them, but hey, why not pony up the truth instead of all the smoke and mirrors?

4 comments. Add your 2 cents!.

Filed Under: Dale Earnhardt Junior, Drivers, Hendrick Motorsports #48, Hendrick Motorsports #88, Jimmie Johnson, Nascar, Nextel Cup, Teams





Trackback URL for: Did Levi Strauss Get Ticked Off?

By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Sunday September 23, 2007
3:43am CDT
Published on Thunder Lounge.

Have you ever wanted to win free stuff? Here’s your chance to win a genuine, silicone wristband from the Thunder Lounge before anyone else has a chance to get their hands on one!

The bracelets are 100% silicone, of high quality, and exclusive to the Thunder Lounge. They are a tiger stripe print, with “Thunder Lounge” screen printed in a nice blue.

We’ll be heading to Texas Motor Speedway with over 8 dozen of these bad boys, but two lucky readers will have the opportunity to sport the latest in Thunder Lounge gear before the Lounge Lizards can get their hands on ‘em at the track.

So, the rules are simple.

We’re going to ask a question, and the first correct answer sent in to the Lounge will have one of the fine bracelets mentioned above delivered by that nice postman that makes his rounds 6 days a week.

Multiple entries will be discarded, and in turn will negate your original entry as well. In other words, only one entry per person/household will be allowed for this one.

Please add the subject of “Trivia Question 1 Response” to the form, and also include a valid email and postal address.

We’re willing to ship overseas, provided it isn’t horrific. If you are overseas, and have a US address it can be sent to, please use that.

Your information will be kept in the strictest of confidence, and only used internally (I’m the only one who will see it ;)) for the purposes of this contest.

Now, onto the show.

The image above is one of hundreds we snapped at Richmond a couple of weeks ago. In the image, which of those 3 “yahoo’s” on the Raceday set was “jacked up on Mountain Dew”?

Good luck!

4 comments. Add your 2 cents!.

Filed Under: Busch Series, Craftsman Truck Series, Nascar, Nextel Cup, Richmond, Tracks





Trackback URL for: Thunder Lounge Triva: Round 1 of 2

By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Friday September 28, 2007
1:26am CDT
Published on Thunder Lounge.

Yeah, the image says it all. I guess Marc might be rubbing off a bit, but this has been wreaking havoc on my brain since it was made public.

I’m not normally one for Nascar conspiracy/tin foil hat slinging/propeller twirling thoughts. But let’s see what you think, as this is killing me.

Let’s start the progression of events. I’m not convinced that everything is all peachy over at the Yates’ place. Not saying it isn’t, and that I’m not off my rocker. But 2+2 != 4 in this case. The publicly known facts just don’t add up. Let’s follow them in the order we found out about them.

Ricky Rudd says he is leaving Robert Yates Racing at the end of the season. Something about retiring is mentioned. (Note, year before last it was taking a break.)

Robert Yates personally calls Kenny Wallace to set up a meeting about driving the #88 in 2008. This took place over Labor Day weekend, that Sunday to be specific.

Ricky Rudd gets hurt that same day, Kenny’s driven the car since. Doesn’t sound like a bad conversation took place, does it?

A few days later, over the Richmond weekend, we get this big announcement: Robert Yates to retire, Doug Yates to the helm and will re-brand RYR as Yates Racing.

Yates Racing will get cars, technical information, etc from Roush Racing. Roush Racing’s development driver, Travis Kvapil, will be headed to the #88.

Woah paint! A week earlier, Robert was talking to Kenny, and yet here’s a done deal with Kvapil? Hmmm, something isn’t right, and Kenny gets the shaft again. Not that it was exactly Hendrick or Gibbs, but it wasn’t ERR or FRR.

Then the silence falls. It was the quiet before the storm.

Last week, Mr. Junior makes his big announcement. The #88 Mountain Dew Amp Energy Drink National Guard Wrangler Trojan Foot Creme Chevy. Or, whatever it was.

Huh? What was that? Um, 88? Didn’t Doug Yates just say a bit ago that Yates Racing would be fielding the #38 with David Gilliland and the #88 with Travis Kvapil? Are we down by the docks? Something smell fishy here folks.

Is the madness over? Oh no. So let’s carry on to the next little tidbit before we fill in the dots.

Mars Inc. (read as Snickers, and M&M’s) announces that it will be heading to Joe Gibbs Racing and the #18 with Kyle Busch. What? Didn’t Interstate Batteries CEO say they were on the hood for 2008 at that press conference? Now they’re backing down? What the…

Are you following me on this? Let me back the truck up so that we have all readers on board with this. It’s time to fill in the dots on this.

Here’s what my mind says went down.

Ricky gets fed up (again), and remembers why he left for the Wood Brothers to begin with. What that is, I don’t know, but Ricky hasn’t looked happy for most of the season. If I was in a bottom end car, from a team that’s supposed to be top end, I’d be a little depressed after a while too. He decides to part ways. He may/may not have been talking to RCR about the fourth car, or potentially another opportunity. Something not at the back of the pack, else he’s headed for the front porch and a glass of tea.

Robert is talking to Kenny Wallace about a job, yet a couple days later it’s filled and all that hoopla. If the position was known to be filled, why would Robert talk to Kenny at all?

Behind the scenes here, Kelly is talking to Robert and asking about the #28 for Junior, and Robert ponies up the #88 instead.

Doug’s been talking to Roush on the side, and was made the offer of a lifetime. While mulling it over, he finds out about the 88 being released by its owner (Robert Yates), gets pissed, and announces the Roush deal. It’s been rumored that Ol’ Jack needs to move a team out of his shop in a bit (wink wink, nudge nudge), so why not make Roush #2 with the same folks he builds engines with. Of course he can’t profit from the teams winnings, but I bet the toilet seats aren’t going to be cheap. With this “partnership” or “leasing” in terms of well, everything, there’s his out when the time comes. But who shall it be? Hmmm…

Robert announces out of nowhere that he’s retiring, (Not wanting any part of that mess, and to spite Doug?)

Why the press release said 88, I have no idea.

Now, Mars/Snickers/M&M’s gets all pissed off because they were quite pleased with the opportunity to work with Kenny. That being sent to the gutters, they opt out on a performance clause, and walk. Can’t go to Evernham (because of Sadler), couldn’t follow Ricky (I’m sure because of a similar clause), so what’s left at the top? Here comes Gibbs, and hey, wanna throw a bone to the Shrub? They bite.

This is one big soap opera.

It may not be in that order, or exactly like that, but it could be close. Just think about it. The scenario of events doesn’t make sense whatsoever.

I can’t imagine Kenny wasn’t open to the idea of a full time ride. It would be higher in the points than FRR was and will continue to be. Not to mention, if it went bad, would he be subbing for Ricky at the moment? I doubt it, as bad as he wants to race.

So what we have here, is something some folks might refer to as a soup sandwich. Then again, maybe some phrase about a football bat comes to mind.

On top of all that crap, Newman/Haas/Lanigan are left out in the cold and wondering what happened? Um, hello, we’re a partnership now, right? Um, guys? Hey, guys? Hello? Buhler?

Something with this deal stinks to high heaven. Even the rats won’t touch it. So what in the world happened? OK, maybe kicking off the #88 wasn’t part of it. Then again, maybe it was and Doug didn’t find out until after California. Who knows? Not me, I’m just filling in the dots on this piece of swiss cheese.

That being said, something just isn’t right about this whole deal. Maybe it was planned all along? Then why the announcement about partnering with Newman/Haas/Lanigan? A decoy? Yeah, whatever. I don’t buy it. Something went wrong, and someone got hurt.

But who? Kenny had expectations, obviously sent awry. David Gilliland? Just a pawn in the game, happy to have a ride. Ricky Rudd? No pun intended. Robert Yates? Shouldn’t his legacy remain as RYR, even with Doug at the helm? That was what it sounded like anytime he mentioned “down the road”.

My thoughts on this are pretty scattered, I know. However, I can’t say that the overall theory is that far out there. There’s much not being told. It’s the kinda stuff that’ll show up on page 385 in a memoirs style book one day. Long after this mess has been forgotten. I can only hope to read it someday, and satisfy my curiosity.

6 comments. Add your 2 cents!.

Filed Under: Dale Earnhardt Junior, David Gilliland, Drivers, Joe Gibbs Racing #18, Kenny Wallace, Kyle Busch, Nascar, Ricky Rudd, Robert Yates Racing #38, Robert Yates Racing #88, Yates Racing #28





Trackback URL for: Does This Whole Yates Deal Make Sense?