Dual Duel’s, And Misused Tools

By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Published on Thunder Lounge.

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In what was an inspirational day at Daytona for some, it was a heart breaker for others as they loaded their trucks to head for the house. Also, not a day without it’s controversies, and the underdogs coming from the back to live a dream.

First up in the day was Tony Stewart who lead the field to the checkers in the first heat. Strong in the field were several cars, but in the end nothing was in the way of that orange machine and finding victory lane at Daytona for the second time in less than a week.

Kyle Bush had a pretty good run, as did Jeff Burton although his finishing position doesn’t really show what the car could (or was) doing. Ah, the comfort of knowing you’re in the show. Unfortunately, we can’t say the same for brother Ward.

This guy here, who’s had probably the worst 5 days in his life recently, maneuvered his way into one of the two available transfer spots in the 500, for a start just ahead of mid-pack. Granted the Red Army is going to be a little hot, when Waltrip spun Junior into the infield. Junior recovered for a top 5 in the heat. It wasn’t deliberate, and all was well between the two at the end of the event. A mistake was made, but all forgiven. Of course, had the outcome been different, who knows.

So now were on to the second heat. Duel #2, if you will.

With a winning dodge of Kurt Bush’s Dodge, who tried to block, Jeff Gordon again lead the field to the checkers at a Daytona event. In a less caution filled event than the first, the “controversies” were less, and although the racing wasn’t exactly boring, the drama was less than in the first. Up until the final few seconds, which saw Mike Wallace come out of almost nowhere to end up sliding into the 500 yet again.

With the factor between zero and hero being less than 3/10ths of a second in both heats, it was a nail biter.

Now we come back to Mr. Gordon, who will be starting the 500 from the 42nd position Sunday.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, you ask? Well if you’ve been under a rock this evening since shortly after the conclusion of the second heat, or perhaps trying to figure out why there’s two characters on your screen when you know darn well you only pushed the button once, you missed the #24 failing post race inspection.

Ah, but it goes further. Before some of you get up on your high horses, let the neutral opinion of Thunder Lounge interject. It wasn’t due to an intentional circumvention of the rules, meaning it wasn’t intentional, says NASCAR Director of Competition Robin Pemberton.

During post race inspection, the 24 came through the height sticks about an inch too low. This obviously called for further analysis, and Robin was even under the car a few times.

Here’s what happened. NASCAR, as we all know, mandates rear shocks and hands them out for installation. Well, the bolt that secures it to the shock mount failed. It wasn’t an illegal bolt, it either got cross threaded or whatever, and started failing. Read that as coming apart.

So the reason, as deemed by NASCAR, for the 24 being too low was part failure. However Robin said that since it was a failure which could have lead to serious safety incidences, that the 24 would be starting from the 42nd spot (tail end of that line) instead of the 4th position behind Ricky Rudd. No further penalties will be handed down, and the matter is closed.

What I don’t get, personally, is why a penalty for a part failure? When someone gets their front end, or rear end for that matter, knocked around and the templates don’t fit in post race, isn’t that a part failure in a sense? I mean, deification occurs, so a penalty for a part failure which wasn’t intentional (which is what they said) makes no sense to me. But, OK. Whatever.

So what this comes down to is that now a team can be penalized for a part failure? This could have an impact somewhere down the road. We’ll just have to wait and see.

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Filed Under: Atlanta, Daytona, Drivers, Evernham Motorsports #19, Frank Morrison, Guest Authors, Hendrick Motorsports #24, Jeff Gordon, Joe Gibbs Racing #20, Matt Kenseth, Michael Waltrip, Michael Waltrip Racing #55, Nascar, Nextel Cup, Press Releases, Scott Riggs, Teams, The Chase, Tony Stewart, Tracks





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By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Sunday December 31, 2006
1:39pm CST
Published on Thunder Lounge.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thunder Lounge Uniting Fans With Free Blogs

Contact: Luke Poland
Email: http://thunderlounge.com/contact/
URL: http://thunderlounge.com/blogs/

Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX (December 31st, 2006) – Local racing attraction at Texas Motor Speedway expands online efforts to improve fan experience.

Thunder Lounge has been a staple of entertainment in the Texas Motor Speedway infield for years. Having been featured in many articles, including from the Star Telegram, fans of Thunder Lounge have been left with waiting between events to continue their experience.

Thunder Lounge revamped their website last May, http://thunderlounge.com, to begin to bring a continuation of that experience once fans depart from the track. Since the relaunch in May of 2006, their website is fast becoming a staple for fans to get an alternative opinion on today’s NASCAR topics.

“One of the neatest things about Thunder Lounge at the track is that it is purely one giant Mardi Gras style party”, says Luke Poland, the online content manager and one of the network administrators for Thunder Lounge. “The experience is something that can not be provided elsewhere, and sticks in the minds of fans once leaving the track.”

With that in mind Thunder Lounge will continue to expand in 2007 by forging an online peer to peer interactive sports community through the offering of free blogs which will run the infamous WordPress blogging software (http://wordpress.org).

“In an effort to keep the spirit of Thunder Lounge alive and well, we have devoted a lot of resources and time to bring that same spirit to our online activities as well. Offering NASCAR fans, racing fans, and sports fans in general the opportunity to tell their stories and voice their opinion will further enable us to give our fans the opportunity to interact away from the track, and give them the ability to keep the party going,” continued Luke.

The Thunder Lounge Network is a new online service founded by a group of passionate NASCAR fans. Members of the Thunder Lounge team have created and managed some other large communities on the Internet over the last eight years, with some of their team having been involved in writing and producing open-source software for the better part of the decade. With the collective experience and knowledge acquired running these sites, they set out to develop a next-generation Internet community and social networking service for racing and sports fans all over the world.

While Thunder Lounge is NASCAR at its roots and in its heart, that doesn’t mean only NASCAR fans should register and use the site. With users getting their own domain name ( UserName.thunderlounge.com ), almost anyone can theme their site to fit their agenda. Thunder Lounge is open to anyone wishing to blog, provided they are blogging responsibly. With the use of currently available technology, Thunder Lounge also provides their bloggers advanced protection from spammers. In addition, the Thunder Lounge Network is monitored for any bad neighbors who may be using the service with malicious intent (sploggers, etc).

Thunder Lounge can be reached on the World Wide Web at http://thunderlounge.com to learn more, or at http://thunderlounge.com/blogs/ for direct blog information.

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Filed Under: Busch Series, Craftsman Truck Series, Features, Nascar, Nascar History, Nextel Cup, Press Releases, Teams, The Chase, The People Of Nascar, Thunder Lounge, Tracks





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