She gets the pole at Daytona and people say that she got it because she had the fastest car. She has a poor qualifying lap at Texas and its because she can't drive. People need to make up their mind She didn't make any mistakes on her Q lap, they just didn't have the car setup where she could get the most out of it. The TEAM missed on their Q setup and once again she will have to start from the rear. Last week she went from last to finish 12th. The #10 team will have to come up with some good strategy to help her make up some positions on the track. The NNS race tonight shows there are several different ways to gain an advantage IF the cards fall in your favor which means they have to gamble. It should be fun to watch.
let me be clear...her car is still rocketship fast. as good a race package as can be found on the grid. there is a difference in a flat-foot supers peedway like daytona or dega and the mile and mile and a half tracks. there is a bit more driver involved in the shorter speedway tracks. big engine and big aero program makes a fast car at daytona. big stones and mastery of car control get's a driver around texas, charlotte and atlanta fast. attrition and keeping steady will get danica up in the finishing order. she will not finish high in the order because she is NOT out racing anyone.
by the way, what do think of the fox news article by lee spencer featuring her new belt buckle? news worthy?
If they used ONE car for qualifying and every driver took a turn driving it with a new set of tires you could then point the finger at the driver's ability but that is not the case. The drivers get in their own cars which are prepared by their own team so it is safe to say that all the cars are not identical. That difference plays a major factor in Q times. The driver's ability is secondary because at that level they all know what they are doing. They just need to execute with minimal to no mistakes. I didn't click the link because I'm not interested in her personal life
texas was uneventful. i think the gen 6 car side by side action that they predicted lasted for the first 5 laps and the cars settled in. the race did not live up to the hype and the only real exciting moment was joey still being held up in tech while the mail man call for the drivers to start their engines. did anyone else see the race and the quality any differently? kb was stout !! pcb
I haven't watched a cup race yet this year, I meant to watch Phoenix. I think I got spoiled by race buddy. Its nice not having announcers throwing title sponsors around on everything. Crew chiefs talk about putting fuel in the car, not "Two cans of sunoco race fuel". Schedule really hasn't permitted me to watch any either. I keep having projects with cars to work on over the weekend, or races. The new website doesn't help, my ancient computer can barely run it. The highlight clips are short and pretty much 100% wrecks, no racing. I like the look of the new cars, hopefully I'll get to watch a race here soon, but so far, hasn't worked out. I think the *crickets* chirping after your post would answer your own question about Texas.
I was digging through my files and found these pics from a different time ( sigh ) so I thought I'd post them to help pass the time until race weekend. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
It seems like Joey, Kyle, and Denny, all have magnets in their cars that just draw them into each other... Nothing changed when Joey went to Penske.
agreed. joey with another strong run. kurt raced hard and is fighting for a chase spot despite having a tier 2 car. i know there are people complaining how he raced everyone in the end but i'm not so sure he raced anyone but hard. how exciting that must be for furniture row! tony will have it in for every guy on the grid that races him hard before the year is out. he is beginning to look like a punk.
For those that missed the after party at Richmond... [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nfza7Ptfk5s[/ame]
Kurt Busch is a very good race car driver. I have no problem with how he raced a short track in the closing laps...5 laps to go is going to get hectic. Fat boy tony got out raced period. Tough looking in the mirror when your overweight and slow.
Travis Pastrana got the pole for tomorrow's nationwide race at Talladega. If he sticks with NASCAR for awhile he may become a winner.
Travis on pole at dega is about as impressive as Danica's at Daytona. I'm not impressed with either driver's racecraft, anywhere. sorry marketing guys
Looks like Roush is starting to get their plate cars together finally. With their new aerodynamic designed engine they came out with a few years ago they were the team to beat. Travis is more fun to listen to on the team radio. He's willing to try and fail, and doesn't worry what people think if he goes to a sport and flops. Pole at a plate track, I agree, doesn't really count for much. Its mostly about car. Car chiefs may be more willing to push tolerances when its the car of one of the "marketing" drivers, as NASCAR would be more likely to just tell them to knock it off in private, rather than fines/penalties.
In other racing news today, Milka Duno only took two tries to cause the BIG one in the ARCA race at Talladega today.
Good grief, put race buddy onto Danica to see if she's still chatty....she's quiet, moving forwards, doing a good job. Lights up the radio, isn't as controlled, I can see watching the yellow line from the in car that she's not as good, she goes off the radio, then goes back on the radio, and BAM, into the wall while holding the radio button... I wonder if they took the radio button out of her car on a plate track, if she might win a race? I know for a fact, even with voice activated radio, that in 24hr racing, if I ask a question, even on a straightaway, that I'm due to for a slower lap.
She's headed to the garage. Soo frustrating, I've had a teenage male teammate just like her in a 24hr race. I feel bad for her team.
I'm seeing people in the scrolling sat saying Larson hooked Danica. I have no idea what it looks like from some other viewpoint, but what I saw was Danica wander up fast, the bumper contact area is pretty small, you wander with a car pushing you, and you're going 'round. I'll check a replay later.
