Daytona 500: 10 Days and Counting

By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Published on Thunder Lounge.

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Kevin Harvick

• 2007 Stats

  • Organization: Richard Childress Racing
  • Car Number: 29
  • Crew Chief: Todd Berrier
  • Sponsor: Shell/Penzoil
  • Points: 10th :: 6199 :: -524
  • Starts: 36
  • Poles: 0
  • Wins: 1
  • Top 5’s: 4
  • Top 10’s: 15
  • Winnings: $7,494,590

• 2008 Preview

  • Organization: Richard Childress Racing
  • Car Number: 29
  • Crew Chief: Todd Berrier
  • Sponsor: Shell/Penzoil

Hello RCR! After making a media frenzy out of how much they had improved in 2006, 2007 smoked it. Putting all three drivers into the Chase, RCR once again showed it can be a major player on the circuit. Not that anyone didn’t believe it before, but this solidified their comeback and their standing as an organization that’s a threat for the Championship.

Kevin Harvick had a good 2007 season. Not spectacular, but it was pretty darn good. Coming out of the gates to take the checkers in the Daytona 500, amid a flaming ending and a battle with Mark Martin, it was a finish for the ages, record books, and conspiracy theorists everywhere. What more can you ask than that?

Continuing on, Kevin had some nice remarks about Kurt Busch, and last August had some choice words for Mr. Montoya as well. That those words were exchanged in the middle of the track, under caution is another story. It also marked a change in NASCAR, one which was played up during the media tour in January. Jeff Gordon was fined for less at Bristol two years ago, and there was quite the buzz wondering what would become of the incident. NASCAR did nothing, which was the right call.

Kevin didn’t perform as well when it came time to Chase the title, however to at least have made the Chase says something. Many drivers out there would love to have had that problem. Ending up in 10th wasn’t exactly on their minds, but it’s still quite an accomplishment nonetheless.

Looking ahead to 2008, RCR is poised to continue to make strides towards the Championship as they build upon the success of 2007. With the engine partnership with DEI solidly in place, the motors should be solid. Especially on the plate tracks, where DEI has a few tricks left in the bag. While RCR was no slouch, there is always room to improve no matter who you are.

Note: information is accurate as of date published. Check Thunder Lounge for additional updates and information.

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Filed Under: Drivers, Kevin Harvick, Nascar, Nextel Cup, Richard Childress Racing #29, Sprint Cup, Teams





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By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Monday February 26, 2007
8:24am CST
Published on Thunder Lounge.

Or perhaps more fittingly it should be Kensethville, CA after Matt Kenseth cleaned house on Saturday and then again on Sunday. And weren’t there some fans worried about Roush?

With a year under their belt with the Fusion, Roush Racing (OK, Roush Fenway Racing) is pulling their act back together. Granted that’s what a few media folks tauted about Yates during Speedweeks, but we refrained from such comments stating that we’re going to give it until later this spring. Of course, that was a good move on our part as RYR didn’t look too good this week.

While Roush is far from the position RYR is in, they were noticeably off their dominant position of 2005 in 2006. Again, we attributed this to the switch to the Fusion. With California being on of the “specialty” tracks, of Roush, their strong runs on Sunday were an indication they were getting things at least rolling in the right direction. We’re still not going to call them “back to 2005″ stature yet, as they also ran well in this even a year ago, but it was a sign and a piece of the puzzle. Had they run poorly, their stability would have most assuredly come into question.

In what was perhaps “Revenge of the NASCAR gods”, Kevin Harvick was the only car late in the going that had a shot and was better than Kenseth. However when Greg Biffle and David Reutimann got together with just under 10 to go, with Harvick beating down the door of the path to Kenseth and a possible close finish, NASCAR put out the red (as is usual procedure in that instance). Coming down the back stretch to take the green for what would be the final time, Harvick’s front left tire went down. Be it from hitting debris or his loan from the 1^st National Bank Of Luck running out, Kevin hit pit road from the second spot as the field came to the green. Leaving his teammate in 2nd followed by Jeff Gordon. Jeff got around Burton, but didn’t have anything for Kenseth.

Call it irony, or the “NASCAR gods” making things right (in some fans eyes), but Kenseth cruised unchallenged to the checkers to make for his 15th Cup win. With the drama of Speedweeks, it was an emotional victory for Matt. One that had water backing up in his eyes. Oh, that’s right, it was “debris” that was choking him up in his post race interview.

So now we head into an off weekend for Cup, while the Busch Series travels down south of the border for the third time, and we get ready around the Lounge for a “big” weekend of our own.

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Filed Under: California, Drivers, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Nascar, Nextel Cup, Richard Childress Racing #29, Roush Racing #17, Teams, Tracks





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By Tim Spencer, Thunder Lounge
Tuesday February 20, 2007
1:27am CST
Published on Thunder Lounge.

Who is disappointed the most as the Daytona 500 winds down could very well be a slue of people, car owners and drivers as well. From bad finishes to just being taking out or being nipped at the finish line it what was the closest finish in NASCAR history at Daytona since the introduction of electronic scoring. Daytona had it all.

Probably the two most noted was the deal with Mike’s Toyota and Harvick pushing a fender in front of Martin for the win. We all know those two events have been put all over the press.

Toyota found out that Daytona was for the big boys. The highest finishing
Toyota was that of Dale Jarrett who finished 22^nd. His team owner managed to take a car that had not seen the track until the Duel and finish in the 30^th spot.

Dave Blaney finished the day in 34^th after flying down pit road to miss the being of one accident and cause another as he exited pit road and slammed into Schrader who was another innocent by stander taking out do to someone else’s carelessness. The final Toyota of Reutimann ended the day in 40^th. Add to that Waltrip is starting the season in the hole in points! Not to good of a day for the first race with the Toy’s.

How about Tony Stewart?? Think he had what he would call a disappointing day? He finished dead last after being taken out by Kurt Busch. Busch managed to return with his way ward Dodge run enough laps to move in front of Stewart and Kyle Petty. The sad part is that Busch and Stewart had by far the top cars of the day. Busch still led the most laps while Stewart led the second most laps.

How about all the cars that were trashed while trying to race back to the finish because NASCAR didn’t put out the caution on the final lap?? I’m sure there is a bunch of upset drivers and owners with that. Take for example, David Gilliland who spent part of the day a lap down and then got the luck dog to work his way back to the top five. Only to be knocked out in the last lap to finish eight. While eight is nothing to complain about for a rookie who was running in the top five to be caught up in someone else crash makes it a little disappointing. Matt Kennseth would also be another who was running well into the top ten when it broke loss and finished 27^th.

How about the fans?? I bet there are several fans that are disappointed and that would even be without the big wreck at the end. A true fan of racing would agree that the race was disappointing just from the standpoint that the race was only about 40 laps long rather than 200. It was definitely one of the most boring races that I’ve ever seen at Daytona. Let’s hope that July brings a better race, for the fans and for the drivers.

And That’s The Way I See It!!!

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Filed Under: Damn Good Points, Daytona, Guest Authors, Kevin Harvick, Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, Michael Waltrip, Michael Waltrip Racing #55, Nascar, Richard Childress Racing #29, The Way I See It, Tim Spencer, Tony Stewart





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By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Monday February 19, 2007
9:36am CST
Published on Thunder Lounge.

Kevin Harvick again has his name inked in the NASCAR history books as he became only the 4th driver in history to win both the Daytona Busch race, and the Cup race in the same weekend. AKA: The weekend sweep. Kevin also gets his name inked as tying for the fewest laps lead by a Daytona 500 winner. The other is the late Benny Parsons in 1975.

Other notable finishes were Jeff Burton in 3rd, Mike Wallace right behind him, Sadler and Kahne did 6th/7th, with Gilliland in 8th. Then Jeff Gordon in 10th, Boris Said in 14th, Montoya in 19th, Rudd in 26th, Waltrip in 30th, Junior in 32nd, Johnson in 39th (ending a 105 week streak of being in the top 10 in points), and Stewart in 43rd. The highest finishing rookie was David Ragan in the #6, who finished 5th, and the highest finishing Toyota was Dale Jarrett in 22nd.

In what was rather tame racing Sunday, the heat and full moon effect took hold with about 40 laps to go. Prior to that, you could hear the sounds of “Chugga Chugga Chugga Chugga, Choo Choo” in the background. Call it the tires, overly cautious drivers wanting to finish the dance, whatever makes you feel better.

While Kevin took the Busch guys to school again on Saturday, and made the competition glad he isn’t running the full season this year, then placed himself in position to make a charge to the line during the final lap (under a GWC) of the 500, unfortunately this win will be shrouded in yet another controversial moment and NASCAR Debacle™ once again.

This is shaping up to be interesting, and the explanation from NASCAR just isn’t cutting it this time.

As they came out of the tri-oval, Mark Martin and Kevin Harvick were battling for the win. Mark was ahead. No, it’s Kevin. No, it’s Mark. It was shaping up to be a close finish, who would it be? Kyle Bush gets loose, it’s a wreck-a-thon, and the tri-oval towards the start/finish line is becoming a junkyard. It’s Harvick, taking the checkers at the line by 2/100ths of a second in front of Mark Martin.

Whoa, wait a second here Bub. Takes the checkers? Where’s the Yellow Laundry at if cars are wrecking faster than Kirstie Alley’s career. There wasn’t one. OK, NASCAR said there was, they said it was issued when Clint Bowyer went upside down and was sliding on his roof while on fire, but there wasn’t. How can you tell there wasn’t one? Well, the Roanoke Times made the explanation clear. There was an official margin of victory. If the race ends under caution, which according to the NASCAR explanation it should have, there wouldn’t be an official margin of victory.

Now it gets trickier, and it depends on if you wanted Mark Martin of Kevin Harvick to put on the post-race donut show. If NASCAR had thrown the caution at the “usual” time, what would the scoring loop have shown? Harvick, or Martin? We’ll most likely never know. They were back and forth, and right when Kyle got loose, Kevin had it by a scant few inches. But, it wouldn’t matter what the tape looked like, it would matter what the scoring loop said. Data which we’ll never see.

So the heated controversy coming out of this is are the cries that NASCAR is protecting the Dale Earnhardt -> Richard Childress -> Kevin Harvick connection, so there wasn’t a caution thrown. Cry all you want. I’d have loved to have seen Mark Martin win his first Daytona 500, so don’t get me wrong. But hasn’t NASCAR always said they would throw the caution if there was an imminent threat on the race track? Debris that could cause a wreck, a wreck on the track, a deer crossing, aliens landing because they’re running late for the start, whatever. So was there imminent danger on the track? Yes. However, in the heat of that moment, would the caution have stopped the junkyard already in progress? Nope. It would have actually created a bigger one. Why? Some would lift immediately, some wouldn’t. An even bigger junkyard emerges from the smoke.

So what they did was keep it in the stand and let the leaders, who were already ahead of the mess, fight it out to the line. Once the checkers were out, the leaders across, the speedway went under caution.

Was it the right call? In this instance, I think it was. Mainly because throwing the caution would have caused an even bigger mess. The problem with this though is that had Clint Bowyer not flipped back over, after he crossed the finish line upside down, on his roof, on fire, then it could have been an inherently more dangerous situation. That’s part of the risk of racing, and throwing the caution earlier would have made it worse. I know that sounds crazy, but a bigger wreck would have even further delayed the assistance of the emergency crews. Racing is dangerous, and this isn’t an afternoon of tennis.

Now, what’s really jacked up is NASCAR and their explanation. Why not just sack up and say why you made the call? Why try to pull the damn smoke and mirror trick? Why? Why? Why? You made a call, there was plenty of room ahead to get slowed down before coming back around, it avoided creating an even larger wreck, so say so. That’s what’s hurting the credibility of the tower.

Had it been at Bristol, or had the wreck happened in say turn 3 or on the back stretch, the caution would have come out. Why? Less room to avoid the mess, for one. Second, the start/finish wouldn’t yet be in sight so the pressure of a finish position wouldn’t be right there tempting the guys behind the wheel. With that in mind, there wouldn’t be a hesitation to lift. A hesitation that when running to the finish, a scant couple of seconds from it, would cause people to get spun out from behind and create an even more serious accident situation.

So when you beat up NASCAR this week, don’t beat them up for making the call. Beat them up for their explanation of it. It deserves it.

It isn’t an easy call, one I wouldn’t want to make. Anyone who challenges the call, and not the reason NASCAR gave for it, I’d like to see you do better. It’s a whole lot harder than it looks.

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Filed Under: Busch Series, Daytona, Drivers, Kevin Harvick, Nascar, Nextel Cup, Richard Childress Racing #29, Teams, Tracks





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