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Midweek observations
By Bob Margolis, Yahoo! Sports
November 2, 2005
Looking back to the race at Atlanta and looking ahead to this weekend's inaugural Dickies 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway, it's time for some midweek observations, thoughts and a few questions:
NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow, which tested this week at Atlanta Motor Speedway, is a winner, hands down. After thousands of hours in development, NASCAR's R & D department has delivered the goods. I watched the new car being put through its paces by the drivers who will be racing it for at least the next decade: Brian Vickers, Carl Edwards and Martin Truex Jr. Their feedback was very positive.
Forget all the early talk about the new car never seeing a green flag. From what the drivers are saying, the new car will end up driving better than their current race car.
The front air splitter, which is standard on just about every other fendered race car on the planet, makes the new car look like a real race car, too.
Nearly everyone noticed that there were a lot of empty seats last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Nextel Cup race. I'll be anxious to see if there will be any empty seats for this weekend's race in Texas. Despite the high ticket prices, astronomical hotel prices and traffic jams, I doubt it.
Robby Gordon convinced the folks at GM's Hummer division to back him as he makes another attempt at the Dakar Rally in January 2006. Gordon will run the 16-stage Dakar race, which covers more than 6,000 miles in just over two weeks, in a specially built H3 Hummer. It's an ideal choice for Hummer since the race is run on all types of terrain, from mountains to sea level farmland to desert.
I guess the level of competition in Nextel Cup isn't tough enough for Gordon – he has to take on Mother Nature and gun-toting bandits, who have disrupted the Rally in the past.
Speaking of Gordon, now that the sale has been made official, I wonder why he flat-out denied any knowledge of his partner John Menard selling his engine shop in England when asked about it just last week. Was he being kept in the dark himself?
Will we see a new tire war in NASCAR? No, not really a war, but it is looking more like there could be a change. With Formula One going to just one tire manufacturer (most likely Bridgestone) in '08, you can expect the loser to court NASCAR for its business.
Still, NASCAR officials remember the terrible tire war in the early '90s. Despite all the issues with the new tire – the one NASCAR asked for – this year, don't look for Goodyear to walk away without a fight.
For the last time, Toyota is coming to Nextel Cup in 2007. Bet the farm on it.
I think I understand the logic behind Dodge's withdrawal of support from the Craftsman Truck Series, but the reallocated funds being pumped into the manufacturer's Nextel Cup programs really won't help the Charger teams. Ironically, should Toyota win the manufacturer's title in the Craftsman Truck Series next year, most people will say it's only because Dodge pulled out.
This one has been floating around the Cup garage: Starting in 2007, look for most if not all Nextel Cup races after the late summer Bristol race to be run on Saturday nights, except for the season finale in Homestead.
Another one of those bogus Honda/NASCAR rumors surfaced this week. The Japanese manufacturer is committed to running only one major racing series in North America – the Indy Racing League. End of story. Roger Penske switched to Honda because the Toyota engines in the IRL are junk. The Toyota engines in NASCAR? That's a different story. What's next, Kia in NASCAR in 2010?
After watching a "Happy Days" reunion show on television the other night, am I the only one who thinks that Carl Edwards looks a lot like Richie Cunningham?
You've got to think that this weekend in Texas there will be just three Cup teams still seriously thinking about 2005 – the rest will be thinking '06.
Just when Truex thought he was home free, Clint Bowyer wins at Memphis, putting him just 100 points behind the defending Busch Series champion. This championship battle definitely will go down to the final race in Homestead.
It looks as though the Craftsman Truck title will come down to which driver – Ted Musgrave or Dennis Setzer – actually can have two good races in a row.
Is NASCAR's television audience older than most people think? Detailed Nielsen television ratings seem to be pointing in that direction.
When ISC builds the new race track on Staten Island, where will race teams stay? There aren't very many hotels close by and the ones that are close to the proposed site aren't the kind of accommodations that team marketing reps would want their sponsors to stay at. Does that mean they'll end up staying in $400-a-night rooms in Manhattan?
For your consideration: In the spring race at TMS, Greg Biffle won, Jimmie Johnson was third and Tony Stewart was 31st. Of course, that was before Stewart and crew chief Greg Zipadelli found the Holy Grail.
Veteran motorsports writer Bob Margolis is a Yahoo! Sports NASCAR analyst. Send Bob a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.
Updated on Wednesday, Nov 2, 2005 7:21 pm EST
By Bob Margolis, Yahoo! Sports
November 2, 2005
Looking back to the race at Atlanta and looking ahead to this weekend's inaugural Dickies 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway, it's time for some midweek observations, thoughts and a few questions:
NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow, which tested this week at Atlanta Motor Speedway, is a winner, hands down. After thousands of hours in development, NASCAR's R & D department has delivered the goods. I watched the new car being put through its paces by the drivers who will be racing it for at least the next decade: Brian Vickers, Carl Edwards and Martin Truex Jr. Their feedback was very positive.
Forget all the early talk about the new car never seeing a green flag. From what the drivers are saying, the new car will end up driving better than their current race car.
The front air splitter, which is standard on just about every other fendered race car on the planet, makes the new car look like a real race car, too.
Nearly everyone noticed that there were a lot of empty seats last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Nextel Cup race. I'll be anxious to see if there will be any empty seats for this weekend's race in Texas. Despite the high ticket prices, astronomical hotel prices and traffic jams, I doubt it.
Robby Gordon convinced the folks at GM's Hummer division to back him as he makes another attempt at the Dakar Rally in January 2006. Gordon will run the 16-stage Dakar race, which covers more than 6,000 miles in just over two weeks, in a specially built H3 Hummer. It's an ideal choice for Hummer since the race is run on all types of terrain, from mountains to sea level farmland to desert.
I guess the level of competition in Nextel Cup isn't tough enough for Gordon – he has to take on Mother Nature and gun-toting bandits, who have disrupted the Rally in the past.
Speaking of Gordon, now that the sale has been made official, I wonder why he flat-out denied any knowledge of his partner John Menard selling his engine shop in England when asked about it just last week. Was he being kept in the dark himself?
Will we see a new tire war in NASCAR? No, not really a war, but it is looking more like there could be a change. With Formula One going to just one tire manufacturer (most likely Bridgestone) in '08, you can expect the loser to court NASCAR for its business.
Still, NASCAR officials remember the terrible tire war in the early '90s. Despite all the issues with the new tire – the one NASCAR asked for – this year, don't look for Goodyear to walk away without a fight.
For the last time, Toyota is coming to Nextel Cup in 2007. Bet the farm on it.
I think I understand the logic behind Dodge's withdrawal of support from the Craftsman Truck Series, but the reallocated funds being pumped into the manufacturer's Nextel Cup programs really won't help the Charger teams. Ironically, should Toyota win the manufacturer's title in the Craftsman Truck Series next year, most people will say it's only because Dodge pulled out.
This one has been floating around the Cup garage: Starting in 2007, look for most if not all Nextel Cup races after the late summer Bristol race to be run on Saturday nights, except for the season finale in Homestead.
Another one of those bogus Honda/NASCAR rumors surfaced this week. The Japanese manufacturer is committed to running only one major racing series in North America – the Indy Racing League. End of story. Roger Penske switched to Honda because the Toyota engines in the IRL are junk. The Toyota engines in NASCAR? That's a different story. What's next, Kia in NASCAR in 2010?
After watching a "Happy Days" reunion show on television the other night, am I the only one who thinks that Carl Edwards looks a lot like Richie Cunningham?
You've got to think that this weekend in Texas there will be just three Cup teams still seriously thinking about 2005 – the rest will be thinking '06.
Just when Truex thought he was home free, Clint Bowyer wins at Memphis, putting him just 100 points behind the defending Busch Series champion. This championship battle definitely will go down to the final race in Homestead.
It looks as though the Craftsman Truck title will come down to which driver – Ted Musgrave or Dennis Setzer – actually can have two good races in a row.
Is NASCAR's television audience older than most people think? Detailed Nielsen television ratings seem to be pointing in that direction.
When ISC builds the new race track on Staten Island, where will race teams stay? There aren't very many hotels close by and the ones that are close to the proposed site aren't the kind of accommodations that team marketing reps would want their sponsors to stay at. Does that mean they'll end up staying in $400-a-night rooms in Manhattan?
For your consideration: In the spring race at TMS, Greg Biffle won, Jimmie Johnson was third and Tony Stewart was 31st. Of course, that was before Stewart and crew chief Greg Zipadelli found the Holy Grail.
Veteran motorsports writer Bob Margolis is a Yahoo! Sports NASCAR analyst. Send Bob a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.
Updated on Wednesday, Nov 2, 2005 7:21 pm EST