March 11, 2009
By Larry Van Zandt
Hello again, gang.
I’m writing this a day after quite possibly the most interesting race of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season so far, the Kobalt Tools/Shameless advertising 500 from Atlanta Motor Spinway. And even though it was a complete blowout by Kurt Busch and Penske Racing, who also officially notified the world that Roger Penske is going to drag Dodge kicking and screaming to victory lane, whether or not Dodge actually wants to go along with him.
Yes, the party is over for Dodge. This was not a party of celebration. No, Dodge’s involvement in NASCAR was one of those parties where guys show up simply to be noticed, and eat all of the chips and dip. With Kurt’s win on Sunday, Penske Racing pulled Dodge out from in front of the Playstation 3, and pointed them out to everyone watching, so now Dodge cannot simply sit on the couch and play ‘DC vs. Mortal Kombat’ with the other geeks and nerds. Nope, now that Penske Racing blew everyone into the weeds, Dodge now has to actually work on getting the rest of the Dodge entries up to snuff, because I can tell you right now that Roger Penske was behind the win on Sunday, while ‘Dodge’ was merely a sticker on the car.
That being said, I will now move on to race notes….
First of all….In my opinion, Mark Martin had the only car out there that could have challenged Kurt Busch for the lead. It’s a pity that a tire let go and ended his day….but at least he didn’t drop below 35th in points, so he’s guaranteed a starting spot at least for another week….
Other than seeing two favorites being knocked out of the race (Mark Martin and Bill Elliott), I was pretty darn impressed with the race at Atlanta on Sunday. I’d almost say it’s been the best race so far this season. However, it was hard not to turn the TV off when Martin had the blowout….and had the crewman for the #47 Marcus Ambrose-driven entry not sent a tire almost out into the stands, causing darn-near the entire field to go down a lap….it might have been an even better event. However, there simply weren’t enough yellow flags to allow everyone affected a ‘lucky dog’ pass back to the lead lap.
Is Greg Biffle…..cursed?
By the way, concerning the new Camaro, which also just happened to be the pace car at Atlanta? I don’t like it. It looks like a blocky, cartoon version of an older Camaro….but considering Digger’s newfound prominence during the race….maybe the Camaro indeed belongs out on the track….now, if we could only get a shot of the new Cartoon Camaro running over the Cartoon Gopher….
Oh yeah, next time we see a Kobalt-sponsored race, is it entirely possible that we see a somewhat-smaller Kobalt impact gun ‘tightening up the screen’ when going into a commercial break? Jiminy Christmas, but that impact gun looked like something you’d see in a diesel truck tire repair shop, or on the deck of an Iowa-class World-War II battleship….”Kobalt Tools: We Break Things!”
Some announcing notes:
Since when did Chip Ganassi begin running Roush/Yates engines? Unless I heard incorrectly, I could have sworn to Bob Almighty that I heard ol’ DW say, during a Juan Pablo Montoya pit stop, that RYR supplied the engines to the #42….which is a Chevy/Shoveitorleaveit….
When commenting on the upcoming Bristol race, Mike Joy first states that you, the ticket-buying public, should go to the Food City 500 because it’s soo good, it’s sold out every time. And in the same breath, he then states that ‘tickets are still available’….I think that particular ship has sailed, as nobody wants a repeat of the last Bristol event, where sub-par machinery and boring racing ruled supreme….
See you next week.
You can contact Larry Van Zandt at Insider Racing News.
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The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
