Sofa Sideline – Just a Couple of Pre-Race Notes
Qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway on
Friday saw record-breaking speeds and a couple of hard accidents. This is more
than likely indicative of what we will see on Saturday and Sunday as the Busch
and Winston Cup teams vie for position on the newly repaved surface in Texas.
Speculation is that there will be one groove racing with little opportunity for
passing, and the cars are apt to get pretty spread out as a result.
Two hard crashes during qualifying will
also more than likely stick in the minds of the drivers, and make them somewhat
leery of taking chances for fear the car will just break loose and hit the wall.
Both Robby Gordon and Frank Kimmel had that happen during their qualifying
session, as they just lost it and smacked the wall hard as a result.
After the wreck, Robby Gordon said he
started to lose it, didn’t get out of the gas as he thought he could get it
back, but lost control and hit the wall hard causing damage to both the front
and rear; well basically it demolished the car. He will have to go to a back up
car and will be starting from the rear of the pack on Sunday.
RCR has to replace yet another car…
ARCA Series Champ, Frank Kimmel, also took
a hard hit, bursting into flames and almost pushing the gas tank up inside the
car. It was a little scary for a few minutes, but Kimmel was okay. He will also
be starting from the rear of the field. There are many drivers in the ARCA
Series with hopes of making the move to Winston Cup some day. Unfortunately,
many eyes are on Kimmel this weekend, and a bad start does not make it easier
for these guys to be looked at. Hopefully Frank will have a good run on Sunday
and show the fans what he is capable of.
Bill Elliott, with a record-breaking speed
of 194.24 claimed the pole for Sunday’s running of the Samsung/Radio Shack
500. Elliott Sadler will be on the outside pole. Rounding out the top ten; Ricky
Rudd 3rd, Michael Waltrip 4th, Dale Jarrett 5th,
Stacy Compton 6th, Jeremy Mayfield 7th, Mark Martin 8th,
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 9th, and Ricky Craven starting from the 10th
position.
There was talk of use of restrictor plates
to slow this race down. The Busch Series race will not run with plates, and so
far the Cup race is scheduled to do the same. However, as in the past, NASCAR
has been known to make last minute rule changes, so don’t be surprised if we
see a change if things get a little crazy during the race today.
Other notes:
I had the opportunity to attend a luncheon
this past Wednesday hosted by Nashville Superspeedway where the guest of honor
was Kerry Earnhardt. We found Earnhardt be a polite, down-to-earth guy. Both he
and his wife appeared to be, just simply put, nice people with no
"airs" about them, and with the fact that they are part of one of the
most famous family’s in racing history; it was truly nice to see. (And the
resemblance to his dad…was uncanny.)
Earnhardt had just returned from a hunting
trip in Texas, where he had been bow-hunting and shot this 512 pound monstrous
animal (which I can’t even pronounce the name of) with nothing more than a
bow. It was kind of cool for me, as I was able to talk the lingo (thanks to my
son, an avid bow-hunter since about the age of 5), so much of the conversation
was based around that trip and the fun he had. Earnhardt even broke out the
pictures! (Hey Chris – he pulls 55 pounds).
The word is that Earnhardt will be running
a full Busch Series schedule this year with plans to run five Winston Cup races
next season and moving into the series full time in 2004. We wish him the best
of luck and much success in the Busch Series this season.
That’s it for now.