The Frontstretch: Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud: 2008 Gatorade Duel 150s by Matt McLaughlin -- Thursday February 14, 2008

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Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud: 2008 Gatorade Duel 150s

Matt McLaughlin · Thursday February 14, 2008

 

Race One

The Key Moment Reed Sorenson teamed up with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. on the final restart and the duo drove away from the field. Truthfully, as strong at the No. 88 car looked, Earnhardt probably didn't need help.

In a Nutshell The cars might be OK, and the tires might be OK, but those tires on those cars just don’t seem to be working.

Dramatic Moment When Vickers spun out early in the race while near the head of the pack, it could have set off a field decimating wreck. There was some good heads up driving in the field to avert disaster as Vickers headed for the infield.

What They'll Be Talking About Around the Water Cooler This Week

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. parks his Chevrolet in Daytona’s Victory Lane for the second time during 2008 Speedweeks.

Remember back when the qualifying races used to be the most exciting events of Speedweeks ….you know back when more than two people from each race transferred to the 500?

Is Earnhardt ever going to lose a race driving for HMS? If he does it will probably be because of a blown engine. What's going on with those HMS Chevy engines? This team never loses engines. Did Junior bring along key members of the DEI engine shop when he switched teams?

So Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch are back on probation. But NASCAR says that now probation is a lot more serious than it used to be, though they won't say how. My guess is, in the old days, if a driver on probation did something wrong NASCAR officials were somewhat annoyed, but starting this year, if the same driver screws up they will instead be pissed off to a major degree. But they still won't do a damn thing about it.

Boy things sure have changed since Saturday night, though the announcers remained the same. On Saturday night during the Bud Shootout there was no side draft with the new cars. By Thursday, everyone was using the side draft to make passes. On Saturday it no longer took the car two laps to get up to speed with the new larger restrictor plates, but it took two laps for the cars to get up to speed again on Thursday. And for the record, how can a one car team have two cars in the Daytona 500?

Maybe Jeff Hammond needs to take a cold shower before working with Krista Voda next time?

Maybe he'll get the message now. When DW asked the crowd to join him in his annoying "Boogity, boogity, boogity” shtick, the silence was deafening.

Wow, things are getting desperate for the California track at Fontana. San Bernadino County is running ads promoting the poorly attended race. I've never seen taxpayer dollars used to promote a race on national TV before.

Does that white cross painted on the track indicate the spot where Dale Earnhardt died in 2001?

The Hindenburg Award For Foul Fortune

Elliott Sadler blistered two tires. The second time he threw the carcass of the tire and slapped the wall hard, bending up the car his team planned to race on Sunday.

Bill Elliott and the Wood Brothers are legends at Daytona, but they won't be racing this year at Daytona.

The "Seven Come Fore Eleven" Award For Fine Fortune

Brian Vickers got spun on the second lap, but rallied his way back to a ninth place finish which was good enough to make the Daytona 500.

Kurt Busch had wiring problems (when the wiring ignites, that's a problem) and finished dead last but he had a previous champions provisional in hand to make the race.

Worth Noting

  • The win was Junior's third victory in a Daytona qualifying race.
  • No driver has ever won the Bud Shootout (under any of its names), a qualifying race, and the Daytona 500 in the same year. Bill Elliott was close winning the Busch Clash and the Daytona 500 in 1987, but finished second to Ken Schrader by a foot.

Overall Rating (On a scale of one to six beer cans with one being a stinker and a six pack an instant classic)
We'll give this one four cans of the best kind of beer, an early afternoon-off of work special. There were no big incidents and some heated battling for the lead.

Race Two

The Key Moment Jeff Gordon pushed Denny Hamlin past Tony Stewart on the final restart to seal the win for the No. 11.

In a Nutshell By the recent standards of Daytona, this was a sedate Thursday afternoon.

Dramatic Moment When Jacques Villenueve had his car get out from under him, he triggered the biggest wreck of the afternoon.

What They'll Be Talking About Around the Water Cooler This Week

Denny Hamlin takes the checkered flag in the second Gatorade Duel, marking the first win for Toyota in the Sprint Cup Series.

Well, apparently it's not going to take Joe Gibbs Racing too long to figure out these Toyotas. But will their success in a foreign brand further diminish interest in the sport for long time fans?

I don't know what the deal is with this new oil-dry, but I liked the old stuff better. Clean up was quicker with the old stuff and it didn't cause a virtual dust-storm during the process. And, come on, Daytona can't afford their own oil-dry truck? They apparently had to borrow one from Kansas.

Will the tires hold up in Sunday's race? To date, we haven't seen 43 cars driven in anger on the track at any one time. The consequences of a tire failure grow more dire the larger the pack.

Looks like the Pace Car is a current edition Corvette. It seems like the restricted Cup cars couldn't keep up with the soon to be introduced ZR1 model.

Team strategy—Is it the way the game gets played now or another step down the slippery slope of the conversion of Cup racing to Formula One?

I don't feel that this short track trick of the leader brake-checking the field coming to a restart has any place at Daytona.

Sure sounds like somebody started giving Tony Stewart his meds again after last weekend.

Did anyone check the gas in Michael Waltrip's car?

The Hindenburg Award For Foul Fortune

With David Reutimann seemingly able to make the 500 based on his finishing position, Boris Said was poised to make the big race until John Andretti passed the 00 car on the final lap.

I'm not sure if Carpentier is French for "carpenter", but that Canadian dude sure did seem to enjoy nailing the wall.

Jamie McMurray's team is going to be hauling a whole lot of junk back from Daytona.

The "Seven Come Fore Eleven" Award For Fine Fortune

After a rough start to Speedweeks, Denny Hamlin's fortunes are looking up.

Dale Jarrett is lucky he had both teammates in his 150 mile race because he clearly wasn't going anywhere fast before they both came to his aid.

Worth Noting

*Hamlin has now won a Bud Shootout and a qualifying race at Daytona. Only one more prize awaits him, the big one…uh, not a good term to use when discussing Daytona. He just needs to win the 500.

*The last time the pole sitter won a Daytona 500 was Dale Jarrett in 2000. The last winner of a Bud Shootout to win the Daytona 500 was Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in 2004.

Overall Rating (On a scale of one to six beer cans with one being a stinker and a six pack an instant classic)
We'll give this one three cans of Asahi, the best selling beer in Japan.

Next Up
If you need to ask you really haven't been paying attention. Tune in around 3:15 on Sunday for the 50th running of the Daytona 500, and the 20th one with those "temporary" restrictor plates that were introduced in 1988.

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©2000 - 2008 Matt McLaughlin and Frontstetch.com. Thanks for visiting the Frontstretch!

Douglas
02/15/2008 07:53 AM
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Same old Goodyear tires! They are junk, have been junk, and will continue to be junk!

If NA$CAR was really interested in safety they would get rid of Goodyear!!

Scott
02/15/2008 10:14 AM
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Matt,

I too have seen the ads for San Bernadino County. How could you miss them! It seems like you can’t turn any NASCAR-related show on without seeing the ad at least once. I was also thinking that the Speedway must be getting desparate if they are having to get the county to pay for advertising to support the speedway. Maybe this is a sign that we need to get the race from California and put it back at Rockingham where it really belongs.

Kevin
02/15/2008 11:48 AM
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Yeah Beavis, Too bad teams and drivers don’t figure into that tire wear equation. If ONLY there was a way for drivers to manage their tire wear or for crews to setup the cars so that the right front tire didn’t wear quite as much.

Oh wait… Dougl-A$$ the detractor needs to go look up “Tire Management” and
“Setup”. While you’re at it look up “tire wars”.

Chip
02/15/2008 05:37 PM
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Some comments here regarding a couple of things that are eating me about Daytona in particular and Ol’ D.W. in general. First off, we now have the Gatorade “Duels” at Daytona. Webster defines “duel” as: a formal, prearranged fight between two persons armed with deadly weapons. To me this implies a contest between only two individuals apparently trying to kill each other with race cars. What we actually have is the Gatorade “Duals” at Daytona. Webster defines “dual” as:1.of two 2.having or composed of two parts; double; twofold. This is just another example of the dumbing down of NA$CAR we’ve been subjectd to since FOX took over in 2001.

Secondly, Ol’ D.W. is the bane of the broadcasting booth. Anyone that was aware of his success back in the day has long ago been driven away from the sport, due to it’s sad state of affairs in recent years. The new fans of today’s NA$CAR don’t have a clue who or what D.W. is or was. Nobody cares Darrell. Get off the TV and put us out of your misery. Please.

So yes Matt, I agree, the Twin 125’s were more exciting when they mattered. And maybe D.W. will get the message soon and shut up once in a while, if not go away completely.

Marc
02/15/2008 06:32 PM
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Hey, Kevin, finally somebody on here that knows Racing and NASCAR are two totally separate things. The cars are great, the tires are great, but the truth is a little off the accelerator and a little more on the brake pedal go a long way in saving your tires. You can wear them out in 10 laps or you can make them last for one or two fuel runs, it is really up to the driver and the crew chief, working together.

Irritated by Fox
02/15/2008 07:11 PM
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There was racing Thursday? Guess I don’t care so much anymore that I missed them for the first time in about 20 years. Yawn. I can’t remember but I think something is going on Sunday as well, but I can’t remember what it is. Maybe I’ll think of it Sunday while I’m in the shop working on the HotRod. Seems like I used to get all excited about something at this time of year, but I’ll be damned if I can remember.

DoninAjax
02/16/2008 07:16 PM
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Riddle me this Mattman. How is it that Matt Kenseth qualifies 14th and starts tenth in race 2 and Junior qualifies 15th and starts fifth in race 1? Isn’t race 1 for odd numbered qualifiers and race 2 for even numbered qualifiers? Any theories?

Matt
02/16/2008 07:31 PM
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If I am recalling how it was explained to my correctly your qualifying position only determined if you were to run the odd (1st) or even (2nd) qualifying race. The pole and outside pole sitters (Johnson and Waltrip) got the poles for the 150s while the rest of the drivers lined up according to the owner points standings from 2007. Bizarre