RCR, then came the field as Jeff Burton blazes Bristol

Sunday, March 16th, 2008 7:04pm UTC

Latest Nascar News And Info! By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Published on Thunder Lounge.

It ain’t over, ’til it’s over.

With 5 to go, Burton was running 5th. A Top-5 at Bristol is an accomplishment, but the race was far from over as they came to the green from a caution with 11 to go.

Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, and Dale Earnhardt Jr stayed the course while the rest of the cars on the lead lap came in for tires. With the restart, Kevin Harvick started in 4th, followed by Burton and Clint Bowyer.

Stewart jumped out to a slight lead, which was quickly erased and removed entirely by Denny Hamlin. Along came Harvick to the inside of Stewart, Kevin lost it and slided up into Stewart who backed it into the fence bringing out the caution with 2 to go and setting up overtime. As this happened, Burton squeezed by Harvick who slid in behind Burton.

Hamlin lead the attack to the green, white, checker finish but had fuel pickup issues which let Burton, Harvick, and Bowyer slip by to the outside for an RCR 1, 2, 3 finish.

Wow.

Up until that point, it had been another episode of Joe Gibbs Show, with all three leads taking the credit. Kyle Busch was strong, and possibly the strongest car in the field. However, JGR had a power steering box failure for the second week in a row, but this time it bit Rowdy instead of Denny. He went into the corner, in the lead no less, and just lost it.

Denny and Tony were also very strong, with Stewart leading the most laps [again] yet failing to seal the deal. We know what happened to Hamlin, who ended up 6th. Stewart finished 14th.

For the 4th time in 5 races, Dale Earnhardt Jr. carried the banner for Hendrick Motorsports by finishing 5th. Next best from the stable was Jeff Gordon in 11th. Jimmie Johnson brought it home in 18th, while again Casey Mears found his luck payments still due and ended up in 42nd.

Roush wasn’t bad at Bristol either. Greg Biffle carried the flag with a 4th place run, Matt Kenseth was 10th, and Carl Edwards was 16th. David Ragan was the first car not in the Top-20, while Jamie McMurray brought up the rear of the field after an early accident where Dario Franchitti slipped and punted him to the fence.

It was Bristol, what else can you say?

I counted no less than 4 lines, and there were probably more. There were 3 lanes through the corner, although the middle and top were all but on top of each other. Naturally you had your bottom, and also the diamond approach.

It will be interesting watching this track surface age. After its debut last August, a little more wear on it should make it quite interesting. When you have a track where people leave their tickets in their will, you know it’s going to be good.

Bristol did not disappoint.

Next up is Martinsville in two weeks, as the Cup Series takes it’s first off-weekend for Easter. After that, it’s time to pound down them beers at the one and only, Thunder Lounge.

Daytona 500: 5 Days and Counting

By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Tuesday February 12, 2008
10:39pm UTC
Published on Thunder Lounge.

Kyle Busch

2007 Stats
- Organization: Hendrick Motorsports
- Car Number: 5
- Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
- Sponsor: Kellogg’s
- Points: 5th :: 6293 :: -430
- Starts: 36
- Poles: 0
- Wins: 1
- Top 5′s: 11
- Top 10′s: 20
- Winnings: $4,685,520
2008 Preview
- Organization: Joe Gibbs Racing
- Car Number: 18
- Crew Chief: Steve Addington
- Sponsor: M&M’s

Wow. Short end of the stick in 2007 or what? Hi, thanks for driving, but you’re getting the boot in favor of NASCAR’s most popular driver.

While many say it’s strictly attitude that cost Kyle Busch his ride at Hendrick, which I don’t deny had a factor in it, what still rolls though my mind with this young talent is whether or not he would still be in that seat this season had Dale Jr. not been on the market. In all honesty, and I may be wrong, I believe he would still be driving for Rick Hendrick.

That aside, when Kyle was good in 2007, he was damn good. What kicked him in the butt finally was that he is his own worst enemy and it starts right below his nose. It’s not really blatant mouth-butter, it stems more from still being young and in that “invinceable” mode. While some people his age are more mature/self aware, some are less. It’s just a part of being young and full of it. He still has some growing up to do, but he’ll get there, settle down, and learn along the way. Such is life when you finish growing up infront of the media.

Looking into 2008, Kyle Busch is rolling right along at his new home with the Gibbs Boys. Smoke leading the way, and an already good friend in Denny Hamlin, the youngest driver in JD’s camp also is the driver that fared best on the track overall in 2007. Kyle seems to be a better fit in that particular crowd than in past years, although the company his former teammates keep would be difficult for just about any driver out there to keep up and fit in with.

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

Thunder Lounge: On Pit Row

By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Tuesday February 5, 2008
5:07pm UTC
Published on Thunder Lounge.

On Pit Row

I’d like to thank the guys at On Pit Row for a great 15 minutes this evening.

In case you’ve missed out on things over the past several weeks, your truly got the nod (thanks guys!) to redo the entire family of sites that make up On Pit Row. For reference, there are currently 3 specific sites. On Pit Row, Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie, and The Fast Lap.

First, their main site was well outdated and in need of major plastic surgery. Next, they had a blog over on a particular “pad” type of service, and finally they had a great blog at Thunder Lounge ™.

Lots of places to visit, and nothing really tied together with their site. We’ve taken those sites, and combined them under one roof.

Particularly pleasing is that you only need one page to find what you’re looking for. All of their content is now aggregated on their home page, so you can quickly find recent content across all three of their sites.

Continuing on, their RSS feed now also feeds content from all three sites as well and without any modification needed for subscribers on their old blog. Thanks to feedburner, all that was needed was simply pointing it to their new feed, and that was it.

Finally, why manage multiple user accounts? If you already have a great Thunder Lounge account, you can sign in to comment, and it will be good for any of their three sites under the onpitrow.com domain. What, you aren’t blogging at Thunder Lounge, nor have an account? Don’t get left behind as 2008 is going to be a massive year for Thunder Lounge.

Overall, On Pit Row has been greatly improved, and will now begin to lead the way in usable, relevant NASCAR media websites.

Moving onto this evening, Thunder Lounge made an appearance live On Pit Row. We’d like to thank the guys for the time, and look forward to the next go around.

Thanks, and enjoy the new On Pit Row.

Oh yeah, Hamlin, don’t let us down.

RCR, then came the field as Jeff Burton blazes Bristol

Daytona 500: 5 Days and Counting

Kyle Busch

2007 Stats

2008 Preview

Thunder Lounge: On Pit Row

Recent NASCAR Articles