Kasey Kahne

[The Voice]

Last week, DW said something to the effect of, "He was so good last year, and now he's the total opposite. That doesn't happen unless there a change. Maybe something happened to the team, or maybe NASCAR did something to them..."

..and everyone just let it drop right there.

What do you think he was trying to suggest?

[Chris]

I'm not sure...
But one things for sure... ANYTHING he says DOES have a meaning or a point... or refers to something that is going on or has gone on.
He talks a lot,.. but for long time fans, if you will just listen or 'think' much of it ties in to something either past or present.

Not sure about this particular comment.  I do know the Dodge got a new nose,.. but it was suppose to help balance the car and Dadge teams were saying it was making them better.  Of course Kahne won 6 times with the OLD car...
As for the reference to NASCAR... wonder of something is up.

Here is a example of something he said yesterday during qualifying:
Larry Mac asked the question "Who had the most consecutive poles at Richmond.  Answer was Bobby Allison.  DW 'joked' "Hoped they didn't let Allison add any"
For those of us old timers this goes back to a feud (disagreement) DW / Allison / NASCAR had over the all time win totals between DW and Allison.  For YEARS the totals listed DW as 84 wins, and Allison as 83.  Back a few years ago Allison wanted NASCAR to give him credit for a win he got in some race YEARS ago.  He won driving an 'unapproved' car make.  Allison was only allowed to race because the field was short and they needed to help fill the field,.. it was the only car he had, and he was just a 'field filler'
He was told in advance the car chassis (make) was illegal.
Long story short some how he managed to win the race,.. and all this time he knew the win was not legitimate.
Now all of a sudden he comes up and wants credit for the win...
After some debate, begging, pleading, etc NASCAR gives in and gives Allison credit for the win...

IMO,.. if illegal was illegal then,.. it's illeagl NOW.  I can't see whne they should now just 'hand out' a win to some old guy who can't race any more because they feel sorry for him.  If that's the case.  Why don't we give a win to JD McDuffie, and drivers like that who raced for YEARS and never got a win.
I think that was DW's point also.... and he didn't like it something was just given away him and everyone else "earned" legally,.. and I suppose he didn't like it that it moved Allison into a tie with him.

Anyway,.. if you know NASCAR and it's history and keep up with what is going on,... what DW says has some tie-in somewhere

[smyler]

Chris, it's always a pleasure learning from your vast storehouse of knowledge of things NASCAR.  Thanks for that tidbit.  By the way, I like DW, even though that isn't popular to say here.  I like Kasey Kahne too.  He seems like a good kid.  I do believe KK will finish first in at least one or two races this year.  They didn't suddenly forget how to make good cars.  Circumstances happen.  As the King says, it's just one of those racing deals.

[falcon325]

Back a few years ago Allison wanted NASCAR to give him credit for a win he got in some race YEARS ago.  He won driving an 'unapproved' car make.  Allison was only allowed to race because the field was short and they needed to help fill the field,.. it was the only car he had, and he was just a 'field filler'
He was told in advance the car chassis (make) was illegal.
Long story short some how he managed to win the race,.. and all this time he knew the win was not legitimate.
Now all of a sudden he comes up and wants credit for the win...
After some debate, begging, pleading, etc NASCAR gives in and gives Allison credit for the win...

My sympathies are with DW on this one, but it occurs to me....  The guy who won is the guy NA$CAR said won.  They make the rules and define the winners. 

Ricky Rudd crossed the finish line first in a certain road course race years ago and was shown a black flag for rough driving.  Davey Allison was deemed the winner. 

But Earnhardt punted Terry LaBonte into the wall at Bristol (again) and Fat Bastard swallows his whistle and calls Ironhead the winner.

And, Jeff Gordon has five Winston Cups.  It's just that, the year he won his last won, they started passing out the Bogus Brian Bowl instead of the Winston Cup.  Still, if you check the books, NA$CAR says Gordon only has Four.

[Chris]

I agree to a point Falcon...
The different is in all the cases you point out... the winner was called "at the time it happen"

WHat is different about Allisons case is Allison just got credit for his win in the last couple years,.. and the race was won 25+ years ago.... SO they are rewriting the record book.

To compare what you are say and be apples to apples... IMO what would happen would be now They'd take away that win from Ironhead and give it to Labonte,... or take away the win from D Allison and now give it to Rudd.
I think you see my point and the differences.
IMO you just don't go back and change history.... If the call had been made that way at the time of the race,.. I'd agree.  But it wasn't

[falcon325]

I agree to a point Falcon...
The different is in all the cases you point out... the winner was called "at the time it happen"

That's true.  One good thing Big Bill did was to resolve that when the fans leave the track, they would know who the winner was.  It is a bit cheesy to change the outcome years after the fact.

[Apache Racing]

Let me start by saying Kasey is my second favorite driver, I love this kid..

But I think alot the the reporters are concentrating on what is he doing different cause he's not winning, maybe the story is what have others teams done to be better?
Also luck always play a role, his luck this year may but be up the the level it was last year as of yet.

But in the end the good win come through and Kasey will shine

DUck

[Kalani]

IMO, I don't think it has anything at all to do with Kasey.  EMS is just having some major problems getting their cars to handle and turn in the corners.  I highly doubt that a guy can have 6 wins, the most out of any driver last season, and then have a terrible year the following year.  Especially considering all the EMS drivers can't seem to get good cars this year.  Maybe they should go back to the old nose?

[falcon325]

There's a lot of rotten luck hitting that team.  It's starting to look like Kasey needs to get Morton Salt as a sponsor.  You know, "When it rains, it pours."

[Checkeredflag]

Didn't all of Kasey's wins come with one car, which got wrecked this year?  That could be part of the problem - that he doesn't have his favorite car.    

I would love to see Kasey just once try and run the low line.  Just once - to see if he can do it.  It's kind of nerve-wracking watching him, because you just know he's going to brush the wall eventually. 

Today, his problem was mostly self-inflicted.  I know his spotter is his relative (his brother?), but that's the 2nd time I can remember that he drove up into David Stremme like Stremme wasn't even there.  There's no one to blame for that.  Although he had dropped back from 5th to the mid 20's and off the lead lap by that time.  I don't know what's up there.

Sadler is doing about what I expected, even in Ray's cars.  I never really thought of him as a top tier driver.  Good solid driver, yes.  Just not in the elite.  And, his points position is where he tends to run - water seeks its own level.  From that, I would guess the cars to be about the same as last year. 

Scott Riggs is doing worse than I thought, but despite the announcers trying to talk him up based on some good qualifying runs, he's never finished well in a regular basis in Cup.   He tends to get loose a LOT, and bump into other cars because of that, a lot.  He shouldn't be as far down the list as he is, especially when you look at some of the cars in front of him, but he is not what I would consider a top tier driver, in any case.  He should be a decent 3rd team driver, somewhere around 25 -30 in points, not where he is.

I don't know what's going on there, but I'm thinking Dodge can't be too thrilled with its marquis team right now.

[Kalani]

I agree with you, Sadler is not a top tier driver, but with a good car he can win a race.  He does have the talent to win races, we've seen that in the past.  I've been a diehard Sadler fan since the day he won at Texas.  Since then he's only won one race and it was the same year in California.  It's not easy being a Sadler fan, but I just hope that the day will come when he wins another race.  IMO he should have had a really good chance to win Bristol since he and Stewart had the fastest cars by far and the 20 car ended up with problems.  Of course Sadler's crew didn't tighten his lugnuts good enough so he went 3 laps down.  I feel that if his team gave him better cars he would be in the top 10 most of the time, but that's JMO.  Hopefully EMS can turn things around sometime this year.  They can't even do anything at the intermediate tracks which is where they have always shined?  Their COT program has really struggled this year except for Bristol.  They had better figure that out pretty soon especially if they go to the COT full time next year.  Oh well, I'll keep on hoping for Sadler's success LOL 

[flamehothead]

Maybe this will help.

Found it on JAYSKI.COM.

Evernham close to a partner: Montreal Canadiens owner George N. Gillett is close to a partnership arrangement with Evernham Motorsports [#9, #10, #19]. Gillett, who also is the owner of the Liverpool soccer team in the English Premier League, would be the second major sports team owner to join NASCAR this season, following Red Sox owner John Henry's buy-in to what is now Roush Fenway Racing.

[Kalani]

It couldn't hurt!!  LOL