Sofa Sideline – Thoughts about Tony and Dale Jr.

Okay, so with all the commotion this past
week, I decided to add my two cents worth. I’ll start with Tony Stewart. As most
anyone who knows me is aware, I am a huge fan of Bobby Labonte and a proponent
of the Joe Gibbs racing team. Given that, when controversy arises in that camp
(well really with Tony) I tend to be on his side, if one had to choose.

I’ve always been a good judge of character
– able to "size" people up in a very short period of time, and, more
often than not, pretty accurate. I’ve never met Tony in person, and have opted
to refrain from forming an opinion, trying not to believe all the negative
things I’ve heard. I do know he’s one heck of a driver, with a fierce
competitive spirit, and has what surely seems to be one enormous ego. Maybe they
go hand in hand? Who knows?

So was Stewart right to be ticked off
about the black flag – probably so. In my opinion (and that of many others) he
was forced down below the yellow line. If he had backed off, there was a good
chance that there would have been another "big one" as a result. But,
NASCAR was ready to jump on the reigning "bad boy." After all, the
same thing happened to Bobby (sorry Bobby) about a lap later, and nothing
happened there?? And if you really want to look at it closely, I’m pretty sure I
saw an incident where someone went below the line early in the race and not a
word was said. Which leaves one with the thought that they were really watching
Tony very closely, knowing how aggressive he is, and not going to let him get
away with anything. And there was no way NASCAR was going to reverse the
decision – not with "Tony the Tiger" comin after ’em. If one had to
speculate, the fine and probation extension, without suspension, was the
compromise on the call. I’ll continue to defend Tony, cuz I think that being a
little feisty is a good thing. (I mean, look at Harvick and Biffle.) But some
words of wisdom Tony; as you grow older and wiser, you’ll come to believe the
old adage – "you kill more flies with honey than vinegar."

So now I’d like to talk about the stuff
with Dale Jr. – where have all you people been? The DEI cars, umm let’s see,
where were they in February, oh yeah first and second. Dale Sr. (Jr.’s teacher),
umm let’s see, arguably the best restrictor plate racer ever. So Jr. had the
car, the skill and (in case you all have not been listening), the desire, and
the fact that he was running on sheer adrenalin the whole race. When Dale Jr.
talked about being out on the track by himself earlier during the week, you
could see it in his eyes, just how much he wanted it, and I still say there were
a couple of times this year when he might have had a shot at the win, but just
not ready to be in the limelight. But he wanted this one. So knock it off about
the so-called "fix" and let Dale Jr. enjoy his victory. He earned it!

Just a couple of notes about Saturday’s
Busch race at Chicagoland Speedway:

Jimmy Johnson – nice job! You ran a good,
smart race, and congratulations on your first win.

Ryan Newman, dang it. You were great all
day, and I can’t believe what happened. Better luck next time.

Kevin Harvick – nobody cheered louder for
you at Sears Point when you were racing Robby Gordon. I was sitting at the
start/finish line, and saw you get the speeding penalty, and knew you’d come out
fighting, and that it was only a matter of time that you and Gordon would get
into it, and someone else would get the lead. But, at Sears Point it made a
difference and you finished on the lead lap. In Chicago, different story. You
were down 8 laps down and racing Ryan on the restart, hanging him out in the
loose groove. Where did that come from?

Best comment of the day – everybody knows
– came from Hank Parker Jr. First thing he’s going to do is look for a new
(blank) belt. Cute, very cute!

That’s it.