I’m not sure I get it.  Sure, I kind of shoot straight from the hip and I don’t need to alter my existence too often…  yet when I do, I go for one of the NASCAR sponsor adult beverages.  How hard is that?  Yet we keep hearing about crew members getting suspended after random drug tests.  What’s the deal people?  You know you work in an environment that tests for drug use and yet you need to partake?  Is this one of those examples where people have that hair-brained idea that “it won’t happen to me”?  Well, guess what?  It happened to you.

William David Keith, David Gilliland’s spotter in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, was suspended.  SPOTTER!!!???  He was spotting as a swirl of colored metal went round and round in front of him?

Matthew Huffstetler, from the Camping World Truck series Daisy Ramirez Motorsports team was the other person put in the penalty box.

Oddly, Keith had given a deposition in the Jeremy Mayfield case stating he had witnessed Jeremy using drugs on several occasions.  I’m not saying anything else on that one!

NB&P Disclaimer of sorts:  My opening paragraph or not humor is not pointed at the two guys noted here, it’s just a general statement that it seems like each week we’re hearing about crew members getting snagged on the NASCAR Substance Abuse Policy.

[USA Today]

This is just a 3 week probation deed.  What else can we get away with?

NASCAR president Mike Helton had the uncomfortable position of announcing expected penalties for Carl Edwards premeditated act last weekend at Atlanta when he intentionally caused Brad Keselowski’s crash for no apparent reason.  In the end, Carl Edwards is on 3 weeks probation for his on-track deed that put many people in jeopardy.

FIRST:  No matter what NASCAR did, people would have found fault with it.  So there really was no right answer to this.  If you think about it, yes, it was wrong for Carl to dump Brad on-track.  Yes, it was wrong for Carl to dump Brad at 170 mph.  Yes, it was VERY wrong that the deed was premeditated for hours by Edwards, showing total intent as opposed to being caught up in the moment.  But do I think the new standard of letting the drivers police themselves as wrong?  No.  I don’t.  But there should be limits.

Now, let’s get to the meat of this.

When Carl came down on Brad in the early part of the race, Carl was hell-bent to blame Brad for the ensuing wreck.  Even when he saw it was his own fault, he then changed the tune a bit, but kept up with blaming Brad by indicating that Brad doesn’t give him any racing room.  Brad in subsequent interviews has said he let up on the gas, but apparently it wasn’t enough.

Give room, huh Carl?  Is my recall faulty or do I recall a few times where you didn’t give room to different people and you were all apologetic for that?  I’m wanting to say Richmond 2 years ago?  If anyone can help me remember, that would be awesome.

But obviously Carl had a build-up of seething blame all day at Atlanta for him to want to get out there and exact on-track revenge.  Why on-track?  Why go to the trouble  when you could wait 6 laps for that top-10 finish that Brad was going to have, and “talk” to him in the garage.  Heck Carl, you’ve threatened Matt Kenseth on camera. (See Below)  You’ve put Kevin Harvick in choke-holds in the garage.  It’s bad video, but at the 2 minute, 30 minute mark is where Carl comes charging out of the pits and slams into Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car while under caution.  Thank god Jr. wasn’t waving out the window or anything.

So why not wait Carl?  Were you upset that Brad was getting a top-10 finish?

Carl is a loose cannon.  About once a year he seems to slip, then he puts the smile back on and give us that good-old-boy charm of his.  If I remember correctly, a few years back another driver was saying don’t be fooled by his charm, he’s a real competitor at heart.  ( I seriously paraphrased that to mean whatever you want it to mean, but the original statement was a lot nastier.)  He’s done for the year, so he’s good until next year, but this is nuts.

We’ve seen drivers get into it on-track in previous years and we’ve also seen them get 1-year probation for their acts.  We’ve seen them do much less than what Carl did, and get stiffer penalties.  That Carl sat for a few hours and stewed on this is what hits me the hardest.  That alone should be what he gets penalized for.  A premeditated act.  If this were the heat of moment, fine.  But dang.  He plotted.  I wonder if his team was part of that?

This hate Brad band wagon is stupid.  He drives like everyone else does, and doesn’t take crap from anyone when they try to force him out of the way.  Carl should already know that, but then, maybe that’s what upsets Carl so much.  That he can’t control Brad.  Sure, Brad has had his issues, but Carl has a track record.

If I had to hand out a 1-race suspension, I would have deferred it to Richmond and said good luck Carl!  As it is, well, he’s lost all respect from me and NASCAR really surprised me with this message saying go for it boys, it’s OK to spin cars out at 170 mph and threaten the lives of the fans.  Yes, this, they should have come down on hard saying “Look, we want you to police yourselves, but do it where multitude of people aren’t put at risk by your actions.”  Instead, they stuck by their new standard as stubbornly as they usually do, and literally, let it slide.  That’s the part where I say “Bad move boys.  Bad move.”  Otherwise, I’m fine with drivers policing drivers.  Just do it in the garage!

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[NASCAR]

ps:  All hail YOUTUBE!!!

In Sunday’s NASCAR Kobalt 500, Carl Edwards showed his severe lack of impatience of Brad Keselowski on 2 distinct occasions in NASCAR, both of which, to me were pretty blatant and not surprising.  Will Carl Edwards get suspended by NASCAR?  Many hope so.

What is surprising me is some of the the John Q. Public responses, saying this is NASCAR’s fault for their new policy of “have at it.”  Are you kidding me?  Do you really think that after all the public complaining you, John Q. Public, have done in the past about NASCAR interfering, that now you’re spearing NASCAR for trying to back off?

Blaming NASCAR for Carl’s lack of control is akin to blaming the government for the gun-related killings.  It’s not the tool, it’s the mentality of various people that make the tool a dangerous.

Right now, Carl Edwards isn’t much different from the standard criminal because he took the intent of the “have at” oversight, and used it to an excessive extreme.

From the get-go on Sunday in the NASCAR race, I could see that Carl had issues.  In the first altercation where Carl came down on Brad Keselowski and got himself spun-out and ended up taking out another car, his immediate radio chatter was that Brad took him out.

Then when he was shown the replay, he stuttered when he saw that he came down on Brad causing the incident, but instead of saying oops, my bad, you could see him muster up a different angle, and then rail about how Brad never gives him any racing room.  LOL.

Hey Carl, just as one example, maybe we should ask Greg Biffle how he likes being in front of you at Talladega?  You took out a lot of cars there with that bone-head move some time back.  But was it Greg not giving you any racing room?

But now, here comes Carl, 156 laps down, back on the track.  And by looking at the replays, Carl obviously (to me) tried to smack Brad the lap before but missed and almost hit the wall.  The next lap was when he was inside him and turned right on the left-turning dog-leg front stretch to wreck Brad.

Carl’s comment later was [paraphrased] “I didn’t think Brad’s car would flip.”  I would like to cut that off with “I didn’t think…”

Wrecking a car in front of the grandstands, putting fans and other drivers at risk at 160+ mph, definitely qualifies for “didn’t think.”

Ya know, when NASCAR said have at it, I am fully of the belief that they meant fender rubbing and maybe even a little shouting here and there.  They did not mean for any driver to make a 156 lap, pre-meditated spat of anger, and take it out on another car like it’s a video game.

Carl has lost any respect I might have had for him and if he’s parked for a race, I would not be adverse to that.  Except, if I were NASCAR, I would reserve the parking / suspension until the Richmond race.  Yea… I’m that evil.  Yea, Carl was that stupid.

Will Carl Edwards get suspended?  This was pre-meditated and stupid enough to warrant it.

The Kobalt 500 as a tale of attrition as tires eliminated one after another competitor at Atlanta Motor Speedway.  I was surprised because we’ve not heard or seen much about tires this season, but now we have Atlanta.  At least it’s not track surface chunks or stray running caution lights.  It’s something that someone had some control over, when you dwell on it.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. led the pack to the first green flag start, but Kyle Busch just took the lead from him and spanked Jr.  Dale should have taken the outside line to start the race maybe.  Or maybe it wouldn’t have mattered actually.

But cautions and their source was an interesting note.

Cautions:

• Robby Gordon slammed the outside wall, LR tire.  Lap 4.
• David Ragan RF Tire on lap 34.
• Edwards / Logano got into each other on lap 40.
• Debris on lap 78.
• Mark Martin had a LR tire (?) go out on lap 114.
• Joey Logano lost a tire on lap 158.
• Debris on lap 224.
• Denny Hamlin blown tire on lap 288.
• Elliott Sadler gets put into Max Pappis on lap 293.

Early on Kyle Busch had the car to beat, then he faded and it looked like Kasey Kahne was the man to beat as he had some serious spark in his plugs.  Then as the race wore on Kurt Busch said, wait, I’m good here!  And he was one of the handful of contenders that gave everyone a run for their money.

By the end of the day, everyone’s money was where their mouth was ad the top-10.

Kurt Busch, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kasey Kahne and Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowksi led the pack on lap 310 of 325 laps.

Where’s Jimmie?  Mid-pack all day long.  Where’d our pole sitter go?  Backwards from the moment the race started.

And then Keselowksi gets upside down and ya know what, even though back on lap 78 Carl came down on Keselowski, he really seemed fixated on it being Brad’s fault, even after seeing the replay showing him being the one coming down on Brad.

At first, Carl was saying Brad was being aggressive, then when he saw the replay, started saying how Brad didn’t give him race room and seemed to not be letting go of the idea it was Brad’s fault.

In this late-race incident, being 156 laps down, Carl was back on-track and the replays seemed to show that you could see Carl’s hands turn right while he was in the frontstretch, into Brad Keselowksi.

Like I said in my Twitter feed, Dear Carl, when you’re down by 150+ laps, and you’re looking for some form of misguided retribution, DON’T WEAR WHITE DRIVING GLOVES.  It’s just not cool.

Carl was parked and called to the hauler.

When he was interviewed, the question posed to Carl Edwards was “Did you intentionally wreck him…”  Carl’s reply was “I’m glad he wasn’t hurt.”  He never said no, and felt it was better if they don’t get into it again.

Carl may seem like the nice-guy, but he sure does have a seething anger-monster the lurks beneath.  Ask Matt Kenseth when Carl rushed him with cocked fist a few years back.

And the restart created quite the crunch and munch, taking out more cars.  Like the drivers said, extra green – white – checkers will just create more damaged sheet metal.

The final restart showed Kurt Busch lead the pack, and as he put it, to win the race for the umteenth time today.

The top finishers were

1. Kurt Busch,
2. Kenseth,
3. Montoya
4. Kahne
5. Menard
6. Allmendinger
7. Vickers
8. Biffle,
9. Harvick &
10. Scott Speed.

Good job Kurt!  Check out ‘Dinger!

Other finishers:

• Jimmie Johnson finished 12th,
• Dale Earnhardt Jr., 15th,
• Ryan Newman 17th,
• Jeff Gordon 18th,
• Bobby Labonte 22nd,
• Kyle Busch 25th,
• Carl Edwards (parked) 39th.

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Atlanta: Unofficial Results | Unofficial Standings

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Dale Earnhardt Jr set a blistering pole speed by almost 1/2 a mph faster than the next driver as he snagged the No. 1 starting spot for the Kobalt 500 on Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Junior Nation goes crazy wild, that’s for sure.

One qualifying story the world was watching was to see if Ryan Newman was going to break his tie with Buddy Baker of 7 poles here at Atlanta, but alas, it is not to be so this time by as Ryan oddly, qualified 7th.  [Atlanta Stat Facts]

Of note, Mark Martin qualified 4th, Tony Stewart 15th, Jimmie Johnson 16th. Bobby Labonte snagged his best starting position of the year so far,  with 21st.  A.J. Allmendinger 25th, Bill Elliott 34th, Kevin Harvick 35th.

Aric Almirola, Casey Mears & Terry Cook did not make the field.

Here’s the field, as they would look on the grid on Sunday at Atlanta:

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Ever wonder what some of the drivers Twitter accounts are?  Wonder no more!  Or at least there’s no more wondering about these guys.

Montoya is pretty busy Twitter guy, both on and off the track.  Kenny Wallace is a blast all the time. (”Ha Ha Ha.”…  you’ll see what the means.)

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Miss Sprint Cup girls Amanda and Paige will be at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Kobalt 500!  They’ll be splitting their time between the Sprint Experience (SE) and the Sprint Fanview Hauler (SFH).

Here’s their itinerary:

Saturday, March 6, 2010

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Sunday, March 7, 2010

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[Sprint Cup Girl Facebook Page]

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Check out some of the stats that NASCAR put out about Atlanta Motor Speedway:

.006 seconds: Margin of victory for Kevin Harvick over Jeff Gordon in the Spring 2001 race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the closest ever in the track’s history.

1: Total number of drivers to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series race on the same weekend, which Carl Edwards did in the Spring of 2005.

2: The fewest cautions during the running of the 1977 Atlanta 500.

3 hours, 3 minutes, 3 seconds in the No. 3 Chevrolet: Dale Earnhardt’s record time for a 500-mile Cup race at AMS on November 12, 1995.  (NB&P:  OK, so tell me how wacky that is with the 3’s?)

7: Most NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole wins by one driver, shared by Buddy Baker and Ryan Newman. Baker was Newman’s NASCAR racing mentor.  (NB&P asks:  Will Ryan make it 8 this weekend?)

9: Most individual wins at Atlanta Motor Speedway by Dale Earnhardt.

20: Total length in miles of wiring used in television production of a NASCAR race.

You have to love the following statistic:

30: The time in seconds it took race fans to purchase 1,000 $1 tickets online and by phone to the Kobalt Tools 500 after Jaime McMurray won the Daytona 500 in the No. 1 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet. AMS sold $1 tickets to commemorate McMurray’s win in the No. 1 car.

45: Record number of lead changes in the fall NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in 1982.

66: Number of AMS starts for Richard Petty, the record for all drivers at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

92: Number of 500-mile races staged at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the most of any NASCAR-sanctioned track. (Eight events in the 1960s were 250, 300 and 400-mile events.)

133.87 mph: Pole speed for the July 31, 1960 Dixie 300, the inaugural NASCAR race at AMS. Fireball Roberts sat on the pole and won the race.

197.478 mph: Track record for one-lap NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying set by Geoffrey Bodine in November 1997.

26,807: Total number of miles driven at Atlanta Motor Speedway by Richard Petty, the most of any NASCAR driver in Atlanta ’s history.

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If you were wondering when to tune into the festivities and events for the upcoming Kobalt 500 and other NASCAR related programming, here’s the info!

Kobalt Tools 500 from Atlanta Motor Speedway

• 1:00 PM ET  Friday 3/5 First Practice on Speed – TRUCKS
• 2:30 PM ET  Friday 3/5 First Practice on Speed – CUP
• 4:00 PM ET  Friday 3/5 Second Practice on Speed – TRUCKS
• 6:00 PM ET Friday 3/5 Qualifying on Speed – CUP
• 9:30 AM ET  Saturday 3/6 Qualifying on Speed – TRUCKS
• 11:00 AM ET Saturday 3/6 Practice on Speed – CUP
• 12:20 PM ET Saturday 3/6 Practice on Speed – CUP
• 2:00 PM ET  Saturday 3/6 E-Z-GO 200 Live on Speed – TRUCKS
• 1:00 PM ET Sunday 3/7 Kobalt Tools 500 Live on Fox

Have fun gang!

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NB&P :
Stuff on Brusimm:

Atlanta Motor Speedway’s NASCAR Kobalt 500 is coming at us this weekend.

If you’re wondering who the top dogs are as far as driver ratings are concerned, here’s your list of the top-10 dawgs for Atlanta:

Driver Rating at Atlanta

Note: The Driver Rating is compiled from 2005-2009 races (10 total) at Atlanta.

My fantasy line-up over on Yahoo has Jimmie, Jeff & Kenseth from this list.  Who do you have?

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