Happy New Year to everyone and welcome to NASCAR Fan’s View. I do hope you all had a great Christmas and over-all great holiday time, but it is time to get back to NASCAR racing. Sure, I know the regular season stuff doesn’t start for another month, but, the NASCAR Cup teams have already started their new year with Preseason Thunder (as if they weren’t working on it before now) and all of them are working on the information they gathered from the test sessions in Daytona this last week. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for the season to start.

Over the next few weeks, you will probably notice some changes around this site (and our other site, “justafansview.com”.) I thought I would take just a moment to remind our regular visitors (and explain to our new ones) what you will find here.

Just so you know if you’re new and as a reminder to some, you won’t find any interviews with drivers and you won’t find any with crew chiefs, either. There are many others that do those and have better access to all of them. We believe most of the time, they are great and at other times not-so-great, but we try to leave that to them. What we try to give here is from the perspective of “just a NASCAR fan” that has had the opportunity to sit in the driver’s seat at local tracks, win some races and some championships, even though not in the NASCAR Truck, Nationwide or Cup series.

(Yes, that perspective I just mentioned happens to be mine.) Hey look, it’s not that I don’t appreciate or seek out others views, but once again, you can find them even more often than you can find the pictures and videos at those other sites. Probably the only place I know you can get my opinion and viewpoint about NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing is right here.

I have often been asked why we don’t have more pictures and videos of the NASCAR scene on this site. We just don’t do that here simply because the internet is full of them. The easy answer is because I know (and I know that you know) you can find all of that on just about every NASCAR related site. (Hey look, we’re just like you and we check those sites out, too.) But please remember this about us… this is a site that is about looking at NASCAR racing from a just a NASCAR fan’s view but we are not afraid to express our opinion about what goes on in and around the sport. Believe me when I tell you, we’ve been around racing and NASCAR a long time and do have our own opinion about what goes on, in and around this great sport.

Of course, we do our level best to express that opinion all the while remembering that it doesn’t have to be done in a course way. We intend to never use course language, because we know our kids and grandkids will be reading and listening to us. Anyone can use foul language, but we don’t and we don’t intend to allow it here, even in the comments section. We don’t apologize for that but we do understand not everyone agrees with us. We just hope it doesn’t deter you from reading or listening to our viewpoint on a week to week basis because we do think you will like what you find here…

Listen, I’ve been a stock car racing fan since I was about four or five years old. I’ve been a NASCAR fan for just about as long as I can remember, too and I have seen it grow and become what it has become over those years. I love NASCAR racing and this is “Just A Fan’s View of NASCAR Racing…”

See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© January 15, 2012 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman and Nascarfansview.com
All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and PodCastNorm Productions

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all you great NASCAR fan’s out there from NASCAR Fan’s View. I appreciate every one of you and hope you enjoy the video Christmas Card too… Merry Christmas! Have a great New Year! Looking forward to the 2012 NASCAR season…

I’m wishing you the Merriest Christmas and the Happiest New Year
Hope you enjoy the video Christmas card!!!

See ya next time… Rusty
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© December 24, 2011 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman and NascarFansView.com
(All audio and video productions by www.podcastnorm.com and PCNProductions.com)

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Chase race six at Talladega turned out to be exactly what many of the twelve Chasers feared it would be… unpredictable and a race they would have rather not had to run. It was also a race that separated the ones that can win the championship from the ones that can forget about it this year and, at least from this fan’s view, the real players are coming into focus. A quick glance at the finishing order show only three of the twelve Chasers in the top ten, so, even though some of the top guns had bad days, those behind them had worse days and Carl Edwards still sits first place in points.

One good thing came out of it for Denny Hamlin, he finished eighth and that was good enough to move him up in the field. Now he is no longer twelfth in points and happily turned that spot over to Ryan Newman, at least for now. He is separated from Jeff Gordon in tenth spot by only two points and just ten points from Dale Jr in ninth. As I said before, those three are falling back faster than Denny when it comes to the points and, unless his luck changes soon, Jeff Gordon could be battling Ryan Newman for the Twelfth spot. They’re only separated by six points at the moment and neither one of them can seem to catch a break since the Chase began.

There was a lot of chatter about how some of the teams chose to ride around in the back while others chose to race out front. (Notice I purposely chose the words ‘ride’ and ‘race’…) The complaint seems to come from the journalists section in particular and they suggest the fans are being cheated by those that choose not to race until the end of the race. I do understand where they’re coming from, but I do not necessarily agree with them.

Restrictor plate racing with the COT and especially at Talladega has become a strategy race. The teams absolutely have to do what they think they have to do to be around at the end of the race or they have no chance at winning it. Yes, it has changed the way the race looks now, but until NASCAR and the teams find something that works differently, this fan thinks we need to accept what we have knowing that NASCAR will do what it thinks is necessary to improve the situation. I am confident, they will eventually find a happy medium to remedy the situation. As it is, the racing isn’t that bad anyway, at least from my view.

One noticeable thing about the racing and the choices being made along the way as strategies and partners had to change. It didn’t matter much whether teams or partners chose to run in the front or the back. Apparently it wasn’t safe anywhere and accidents that gathered more than one Chaser happened in both places and in the middle, too. From this fan’s view, it just goes to show they’re not 100% safe no matter where they choose to run in this type of racing. It didn’t happen to those running out front, but either their partner or the ones that tried to pass or run with them could have caused the front runners difficulty as well.

Another problem with the two car tandem drafting reared it’s ugly head again at the Talladega track and that was what happens to one driver’s chances when his planned running partner runs into problems or they get separated for some reason. This last weekend showed a lot of people being left without their running partner at one time or another during the race. Plans had to change on the fly and sometimes people were left out in the cold causing some disappointments for more than one.

From my view, it appeared there was a lot of tension, resulting in impatience and the usual split second mistakes in judgement that caused accidents or some other sort of problem for several. It was clear the strategy chosen by some worked out well and for others, not at all.

One thing was definitely apparent at the end of the day. With all of it’s problems and drawbacks, restrictor plated racing is still unique and this fan finds it quite entertaining and exciting. I don’t think anyone can argue with the way this Talladega Super Speedway race finished between Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton. It was another close one and was decided on the final part of the final lap and from this fan’s view, generally, you just can’t hardly get better than that. Well… that is unless you wanted someone else to win… )

See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© October 28, 2011 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman and Nascarfansview.com
All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and PodCastNorm Productions

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There’s something different about Road Racing and it wasn’t always like it is today. It is a big difference and if you haven’t been around NASCAR all that long, you probably don’t recognize it, but trust me… it is much different than it used to be.

So what is this big difference? Well, once again that is a good question and I am glad you asked it. The difference these days is that there are so many good road course racers in NASCAR that it is getting harder and harder to tell which one of them could win the Cup race this Sunday afternoon. Sure, there are some that are still better at it than the others, but the competition is so tight these days that it could be anyone of most of the field; (Yeah, I know there are some that still just don’t like road courses and simply suffer through them looking forward to next few weeks when they get back to their comfort zones of ovals (both large and small.)

Many of the teams used to bring in drivers with road racing backgrounds called “road course ringers” in the hopes of getting a better finish with the “ringer” than with their normal drivers. Some times they would do better, but there was always the problem of the driver not being able to spend enough time with the crew chief and team for them to be able to communicate well which usually translated into a less than lackluster performance for both.

These days, most of the drivers enjoy the challenge of the different types of tracks they visit during a season and that means road courses as well as ovals. Like I mentioned before, some are still much better at the road courses than others and they generally finish at, or closer to, the front by the end of the race. The others still “suffer through” these races but even they perform better than some of the substitute “ringers” used to.

I’ve heard some ask what the difference is between the track at Sonoma and the one at the Glen. Well, if you ask the driver’s, many of them will tell you that the track in Sonoma is a finesse track and Watkins Glen is much more of an “attack” track. The one is a track that leaves very little room for error and the other is one you have to press the envelope but not overstep the limits to have fast lap times and hopefully end up in Victory Lane.

It is this fan’s opinion, The Glen has a couple of areas that separates the great from the good and one of those is the “S’s” and the other is the “Bus Stop.” If you don’t carry enough speed through the S’s, you will lose ground to your competitors and missing the Bus Stop hurts lap times the rest of the way to the start finish line.

From this fan’s view (and judging from the practice and qualifying sessions) the race this weekend at The Glen could be one of the more interesting road course races. It is awfully hard to argue with the top five or six qualifiers being contenders at the end of the day. Three of those, in particular, should do well and that would be Marcos Ambrose, A J Allmendinger and Jimmie Johnson all starting out front and I guess I shouldn’t rule out Juan Montoya either. This fan’s problem with Montoya running well is that he just hasn’t had the greatest of luck this year and I’m not sure how he is going to do, even though he did practice and qualify with a fast car.
Once again, the Hendrick teams didn’t qualify that well and all of them but Jimmie Johnson will be starting outside the top ten. From my view, that could mean one of two things when the race starts. Either they will adjust to the track conditions and move up toward the front or they will be mired in the middle to back of the field for most of the day. My gut tells me they will finish much better than they qualified but I do see they’re all up against some pretty stiff competition this weekend and it depends on whether those other guys have problems how stiff that competition will be.

The same holds true for the Childress teams too. Their best qualifier was Clint Bowyer and he is starting nineteenth. As for the rest of them, it only gets worse from there. That inspires the thought that they, too, will perform better than they qualified but they do have a long way to go to get to the front, not exactly what any of them were hoping for, I’m sure.

I don’t have to tell you, running one qualifying lap is a lot different than running the whole race and the key to winning is consistency. There are a lot of good road racers in the field for tomorrow and there are a number of them that can win, but they are going to have to consistently maintain track position and fast lap times. Kyle Bush has looked the fastest for the weekend so far and, from my view, he has a great chance of taking home the trophy. I am not at all saying he has a lock on it, but he is starting from the pole and the rest are starting from behind him.

There are two, in particular, that have a very good chance at winning their first NASCAR Cup race this weekend and those are Marcos Ambrose and A J Allmendinger. Both are great road racers and of the two of them, Marcos has the better chance in my opinion.

I am looking forward to a very interesting race and a lot of competition amongst many. The only thing I’m not sure of is whether or not he weather is going to cooperate. If it doesn’t, it could be a a long weekend for everyone…

See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© August 13, 2011 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman and Nascarfansview.com
All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and PodCastNorm Productions

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This is the first visit for the NASCAR Cup teams to visit the Kentucky track, but really, it’s not. Many of the drivers and teams have gone there to test and they could do that up to about two years ago because it wasn’t a track that had Cup racing on it. So, it is the first time the Cup teams do go to Kentucky for a race on their schedule, but many of them are familiar with the track even though it sounds like it is brand new to them.

Even if it was the first time for some of them to be on the Kentucky track, NASCAR allowed a test session over several hours on Thursday, before they actually took to the track for practice or qualifying for the weekend on Friday and the race Saturday night. Of course, the rain out of the first test session did throw a little wrench into to works and then rain causing qualifying to not be completed has given us the starting lineup for tonight based on the second practice session, (Wow! That sure sounded confusing, didn’t it?)

So, tonight’s race becomes even more of an uncertainty (as to who might win) with the way they are lining up. Some of the faster cars didn’t even get to qualify, so lining up according to the practice session times doesn’t tell us the whole story. I do like this new way of qualifying NASCAR has been tweaking here and there this year, but it is unfortunate for those who might have actually qualified on time before the rain came. That means drivers like, Michael Waltrip don’t get to race tonight (and he would have made it in according to his qualifying time before qualifying was called). In particular, he would have really liked to have run in this inaugural Cup race at what he and his brother Darrell would call their home track. Unfortunately, because of the that last rain shower, that won’t happen this time.

There was a lot of talk during the week about how the drivers that had raced in the Nationwide series might have an advantage, but from this fan’s view, I just don’t think that will be the case. It is my opinion any advantage those drivers may have had is pretty much eliminated by that six hours of testing the teams had on Thursday. I could be wrong but there is a reason why they often call the NASCAR Cup drivers the best in the business and I think they and their teams learn very quickly. Being able to spend that much time on the track on the same weekend they race on it has to be an advantage for all concerned.

Now that I’ve said that, it is this fan’s opinion tonight’s race should be a very interesting one. Kentucky Speedway is a track that is rough and that makes it a little bit harder for these Cup cars to be set up and keep their splitters from rubbing the ground. I’m not saying that’s the only thing that will make it interesting but I am saying it will contribute to what will make it interesting.

Since they didn’t make it but about half way through the field before qualifying was rained out, (and so they would have time to get the track ready for the Nationwide race), this fan thinks this is a race that is going to be hard to pick a winner. Like any other weekend, you can’t tell a whole lot from the way they qualified, (and particularly from this weekend’s lineup being set up from the afternoon qualifying session), but there are some people that have run well here in the Nationwide series. Whether or not that will transfer over to the Cup race tonight is anybody’s guess, but from my view, it is a definite possibility and could affect the results of the race.

I expect tonight’s race could be a fuel mileage race and, as always seems to be the case these days, it will be a strategy race. The ones that can make the most of a tank of fuel and get out front and maintain track position will likely be the ones we see cross the finish line first. Pit stops will be critical and anyone that has problems in the pits will likely have a hard time keeping up with the front runners.

Kyle Bush is sure to be a threat to take the trip to Victory Lane tonight. His pole starting position and having the #1 pit stall just might mean trouble for the rest of the field. Kyle is often a threat to win and I don’t expect tonight to be that much different. Does that mean I’m ruling out all the others and declaring him as the victor? Nope, not at all. I don’t think he just going to walk away and dominate tonight, although it is possible. Personally, I think he’s going to have to work for it if he is going to win, but, he could be be first to take home the checkers from this inaugural NASCAR Cup race at Kentucky Speedway tonight.

See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© July 8, 2011 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman and Nascarfansview.com
All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and PodCastNorm Productions

Well… Richmond lived up to my expectations Saturday night except for the fact that the JGR Toyotas of Kyle Bush and Denny Hamlin finished 1-2 with the RedBull Toyota of Kasey Kahne right behind in third on the night. Was I surprised? Well, yeah… but no, not really… I just expected the Chevys to do better than they did and I expected the Hendrick teams to make a bigger statement than they did.

When the Checkered flag finally dropped, Kyle Bush in his Toyota appeared like he dominated the night, (even though he didn’t) and the first Chevy was Clint Bowyer in sixth even after being involved in an accident. I have to tell you, I expected a good race but didn’t think it was going to end anything like it did. It does appear to this fan, the JGR Toyotas have definitely found something they like, and that works, at RIR very well for them.

Too be honest, (and of course from this fan’s view), much like Phoenix earlier this year, if there hadn’t been a big wreck back in the middle of the pack, the end of the race may have been a little different. The person I’m thinking of that would have probably been in there fighting for the win at the end that wasn’t is, Jeff Gordon.

In similar fashion to Carl Edwards being taken out of contention by that wreck in Phoenix earlier this year, Gordon was put on the truck following the incident involving several cars with around one hundred laps to go. He ended up sliding driver’s side first, hard into the inside wall in the incident he had nothing to do with other than being in the wrong place at the right time. Both of them suffered setbacks in the points because of the separate incidents several races apart, but Carl Edwards has rebounded from his incident quite nicely and it still isn’t too late for Gordon to get back into the hunt, IF, he is able stay out of trouble for a while. It has been an up and down year for him, so far, though.

Even though Jimmie Johnson had a very poor start to the weekend, he did manage to salvage an eighth place finish on the night. Of all the Hendrick teams I thought would come away from Richmond with a top ten finish, he was the one I least expected. In reality, I expected Dale Jr to finish well ahead of him, but, as it turned out, Jr finished a disappointing nineteenth, barely in the top twenty and wasn’t involved in any major accidents that I remember. (He just didn’t have a good night… despite the expectations of many.)

The Roush Fords didn’t do too bad, with David Ragan and Carl Edwards finishing fourth and fifth. Greg Biffle still hasn’t shown his usual strength yet and finished a somewhat disappointing fifteenth on the night. From my view, his struggle still seems to be carrying over from last season.

Even Tony Stewart ended up with a fairly good night by finishing ninth even though his Stewart/Haas driver/teammate Ryan Newman and Juan Montoya had some on-track disagreements and both of them ended the night twentieth and twenty-ninth respectfully. I don’t know what’s going on with them, but from this fans view, they do have a negative history between them and we all know Juan’s reaction to a little bumping is generally a bump returned with a vengeance on whoever bumps him before the race is over, even if it is incidental contact, like it appeared it was with Newman earlier in the race. (In fact, from my view, it looked a whole lot more like Montoya got into him more than Newman got into Montoya… but, then, the drivers usually do see things differently from their perspective…)

As I said earlier, I really didn’t expect the Toyotas to do as well as they did and to be honest, I didn’t expect Denny Hamlin to be near the front either. Yeah, I know he won two races to start off the weekend in Richmond, but his Cup ride hasn’t been going all that well.

Two of the three Toyotas in the JGR camp have been struggling for most of this first part of the year. Although we all know one race doesn’t make a season, I can’t help but think about how the Bush brothers did last year during the month of May and, if Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano have a similar month this year, it could very well be the Joe Gibbs teams will come out of May in a lot better shape than even they hope. Then again, it just may have been a good weekend at Richmond for them and nothing else may change. I reckon we’ll just have to wait and see on that one…

See ya next time…

All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer

© May 3, 2011 – all rights reserved

Rusty Norman and Nascarfansview.com

All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and PodCastNorm Productions

If you only looked at the qualifying times and the way the cars will line up on Sunday afternoon at Fontana, you would see some different names at the top of the order and a lot of well known big names in the middle to the back of the field. Now as surprising as this will sound, this is one of the times the qualifying will be totally useless except for having a better pit stall than someone else. The reason, as this fan sees it, is because of the rains that fell in California on Friday, before the practice and qualifying sessions.

You can tell by the looks of the lineup some teams hit it and some didn’t. That’s not to say the ones that qualified faster than the better known names don’t deserve to be where they are, I just raise the question of whether or not it will make a great deal of difference on Sunday.

Just look at where two of the top three finishers from last week’s race qualified. Carl Edwards finished second last weekend and qualified eighteenth this weekend. Jimmie Johnson finished third last weekend and qualified sixteenth for Fontana. Of course last week’s winner, Kyle Bush, qualified eighth but he would say qualifying is just something they have to do and not to pay much attention to it, (and you already know what I think of qualifying.)

Looking at the speeds after the final practice session on Saturday it should be a little easier to tell a little more about how the competition will fair on Sunday, but the way the season has been going, I’m not so sure that will be the case.

While we’re talking about qualifying, I guess now is a good time to mention how NASCAR’s change to how qualifying order is established. From this fan’s view, the new way of setting that order and it does make the teams try to get better established times during practice. Usually qualifying later in the session is the best time to try and get a faster time. Although that isn’t always the case, it has proven to be one of the better rule or procedural changes and makes qualifying much more interesting. I wasn’t sure about it when they first mentioned it but now, I like it. Say what you will, but NASCAR has been making a lot of good decisions over the last couple of years and it has been a definite plus for the competitive side.

Since this is the fifth week of racing for 2011, that means that next week the field will be set a bit differently than it is during these first five weeks. For those that end up no longer in the top 35 after this weekend, they will have to qualify on time for the most part. For some, that will something they haven’t had to do in a while. There is no one in jeopardy of having to do that right at the moment, but all it takes is one more bad race and some of those on the edge will be in that predicament. Some that are close to the edge are, Jeff Burton and Joey Logano who are 29^th and 30^th in the points.

As I have observed the different drivers and teams this weekend, it does appear several are struggling with their setups and although it doesn’t appear they will do well, they will very likely find a way to get up towards the front. Although I don’t know who might win, it is definitely another one of those weekends where one or more of the teams may hit on the right combination and just have to tweak on the car slightly to keep up with the changing track condition. From this fan’s view, I really think the winner will come from the top fifteen from the final practice; (Wow, I’m really sticking my neck out there, huh?) If you want me to be a bit more specific, this could actually be the week we see someone in Victory Lane that has never actually been there before in Cup.

Even though I don’t really want to outright pick a possible winner, I do have a few choices as to who might win. I wouldn’t count out Dale Jr although he was only about 18^th in the late practice. Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Kyle Bush were all fast in that practice also, but, there was a lot of slippin’ and slidin’ goin’ on and a lot of drivers unhappy with their cars after practice was over.

Adding to all of the uneasiness, there is an interesting side note to overnight weather possibly dumping a half inch of rain or more and washing away all of the rubber from the track for the start of the race tomorrow. One thing is for certain; this has been a very interesting weekend for the teams and it looks as though the challenges aren’t going to let up until the end of the race.

See ya next time…

All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer

© March 26, 2011 – all rights reserved

Rusty Norman and Nascarfansview.com

All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and PodCastNorm Productions

I’m not sure how you saw it but it looked like it was going to be another one of those days where the least likely make would end up taking the checkered flag, (and show us all just how little we know about how races are going to end.) I mean, if you look at the way the practices went before the actual race on Sunday, you would have never thought a Chevy would have lead the most laps. In fact, I would venture to say, you would have never thought they would lead any laps after the way they performed during the practice and qualifying sessions.

Instead… it looks like the Fords finally made it to the end of a race and ended up in Victory Lane on the same day (at least since Trevor Bayne and the Daytona 500). It really wasn’t a surprise to anyone as all the commentators, pundits and just about everyone, (including me), analyzed how the race would go judging from the practice and qualifying sessions before Sunday. I know I was swayed by how strong the Fords appeared and how the other teams seemed to be struggling, but Sunday proved to be different and Tony Stewart threw a wrench in the works until a late race mistake on pit road and a pit strategy to make up for that mistake that turned against him afterwards.

Even though Tony Stewart led the most laps, that hooked air hose and the decision to take two tires on the next to last last pit stop, cost him the victory and left him with a disappointing second place, even though he appeared to have the car to beat much of the afternoon. Needless to say, he was not at all happy after the race but did manage a pained interview immediately after the race and in the press center also.

Matt Kenseth on the other hand was fast in all the practice sessions and qualified on pole, (but as we mentioned in our article on Saturday before the race, Sunday doesn’t always go like the rest of the weekend), and he had a tire go down early in the race and ended up spending the most of the afternoon trying to get back onto the lead lap. He did manage to get back on the lead lap when Jeff Gordon’s right front went down and ended up with an eleventh place finish on the day.

Jeff smacked the wall hard, ending his day and leaving him on the trailer with a thirty-sixth place finish and very few points to go with it, kind of canceling out what he accomplished in Phoenix.

A quick look at the finishing order shows the times the teams spent on the track leading up to the race were just a bit deceptive. Just look at the difference between the way teams qualified and the way they finished; (to simplify things, I’ll just look at the top twelve qualifiers. I’m sure you know where to find them and the rest.) And remember, Fords filled up the first two rows…

Yes, it’s true… Fords did fill up the front two rows and Toyotas filled up the third row. In the next three rows there was one more Ford, one Toyota and four Chevys. Adding them all up tells us there were five Fords starting up front, four Chevys and three Toyotas. It makes it pretty obvious why many thought the Fords were going to do well on Sunday. As we found out, a Ford did actually win but the Chevys and Toyotas did much better than expected.

Honestly, I don’t feel bad about being wrong abut the strength of the Fords at Vegas and I hate to say it, but, it did look like a Chevy was going to take the win, possibly even finish one-two and have several more in the top twelve. It just goes to show what this fan has said many times; you can’t tell a whole lot from practice and qualifying, especially these days when NASCAR doesn’t have testing at the tracks they race at. That could mean some teams are spending some of their time at the tracks testing for the race and for the future.

NASCAR’s decision to change the points system has made the first three races of the 2011 season very interesting. If things continue to go as they have, we could see a whole new drama emerging from the way qualifying figures into future races. We just have two more races until the top thirty-five are no longer locked in from last year. Now, I know many of the teams are saying they’re not in panic mode yet, but some of the better known names from the past couple of years may have to actually qualify on time unless their luck gets better soon.

It appears to this fan, it is harder to make up the points lost in those bad finishes than it was in the past, even though early in the season points do shuffle around much faster than they do later in the season. I’m not really trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill, but, it should really prove to be interesting in the coming weeks for all of those that have been having some really bad races. Hey… I’m just sayin’, if some of them don’t start finishing more consistently toward the front, it could prove to be a very tense time for them.

See ya next time… Rusty

All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer

© March 11, 2011 – all rights reserved

Rusty Norman and Nascarfansview.com

All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and PodCastNorm Productions

One thing is certain for the last Chase race for 2010, no matter what happens in the race this weekend, one of the top three will walk away as the Sprint Cup Champion for the  2010 NASCAR season. It doesn’t really matter if any of the three wins the race, because they’re racing each other and not the rest of the field. All any of the three have to do is finish better than two of the others by a certain amount and the one that does, wins the championship. It is a fitting end to a racing season that many consider to be the best ever in NASCAR history and I can’t say I disagree.

From this fan’s view, I really do think the 2010 season has been one of the best I can remember and I’ve been a NASCAR fan since the 60’s. Sure, there were moments during the year the racing seemed a bit humdrum and boring, but overall, every race had some kind of excitement and drama that capped off every week with a desire to see what would happen the next week. Whether it was the result of previous rule changes like the double file restart, up to three green-white-checker finishes or the statement from NASCAR at the beginning of the year that said, “Boys, have at it…” I’m not sure. All I know is this has been a different year for NASCAR and its fans than many previous ones.

We have all been inundated over the last week with the closeness of the points between the top three, but contrary to popular opinion there is a pretty darn close race going on in the rest of the pack of twelve, too.

A quick look at the 9^th to 12^th positions shows a couple of things. Probably one of the most surprising things I notice is Clint Bowyer isn’t in 12^th; Jeff Burton is and that is despite the penalties Bowyer was assessed after the first race in the Chase along with a poor performance in the second race. I have to say that is one thing I didn’t expect to see.

Next is the points spread between Kurt Bush and Clint Bowyer. Kurt is only 5 points ahead of Clint and depending on what happens Sunday, one of the two could move up or down a spot. I really don’t think Tony Stewart will move backwards from 9^th with the separation of 41 and 46 points between him and the other two, (although, stranger things have happened), but he is only 39 points behind Greg Biffle.

Now that is where is does start to get interesting, (if we ignore the top three for just a few more moments.) There is only 2 points separating Greg Biffle and Kyle Bush for the 7^th spot, just 11 separating him and Jeff Gordon (in 6^th) and a mere 38 separating him and his teammate, Matt Kenseth who is in 5^th. (Aw heck, let’s go ahead and include Carl Edwards in the conversation for a moment, too.) Although he leads Biffle by only 85 points, I think he is most likely going to finish just where he is in 4^th spot.

Aside from the major story of the top three competing for the Championship, from this fan’s view, the order of the top twelve (including those top three) could be shaken up in a major way Sunday afternoon in the Ford 400 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Still avoiding the major story of the top three for at least one more minute, (which is all we’ve heard all week long from every possible angle and source), one of the things I find most interesting for this weekend is what will happen IF, (and that’s a mighty big if), AJ Allmendinger wins the race. AJ has been qualifying fairly well over the last several weeks, but has been unable to back it up with performance in the race. If he does actually pull off the win, 43 fans will win a new Ford. (Now I know there will be quite a few fans that will be watching where he is running a lot more than those other guys running for the Championship.)

Well, as I said to start this off with, it doesn’t really matter who wins the race this weekend. This Sunday’s race could be won by someone in the top twelve or it could be won by one of the other thirty-one drivers. It could even be pole-sitter, Kasey Kahne, pulling into Victory Lane to claim the trophy for the Ford 400, (who has had his share of adversity in the last month), and it wouldn’t be that big of a surprise to me.

There are those that threaten to stop following NASCAR if Jimmie Johnson wins his fifth straight Cup Championship. To them I say a very quiet and hardly noticeable, “goodbye.” No matter how much you think you will be missed, believe me, you won’t be missed near as much as you think you will. As fans, we all hope you reconsider, but you have to do what you have to do. I will say this… if Jimmie Johnson and the #48 Hendrick team do win the championship on Sunday, they deserve it and no one, absolutely no one, can deny they worked for it. It wasn’t handed to them on a silver platter and no one moved out of the way so they could make history again.

When all is said and done at the end of the race on Sunday afternoon, either Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson or Kevin Harvick will leave the track as the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion. To those ends I say, “Have at it boys!”

See ya next time… Rusty

All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer

© November 20, 2010 – all rights reserved

Rusty Norman and NascarFansView.com

(All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and PCNProductions.com)

Tony Stewart won the Pepsi Max 400 Sunday afternoon, but the Auto Club Speedway in California took its toll on many of the Chasers. For some, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but it was bad enough for some to think they just may be out of contention for winning the Sprint Cup Championship for 2010.

Those that suffered the biggest setbacks and expressed their disappointment immediately during the race were Greg Biffle and Kyle Bush both with blown engines. The “Biff” lost his engine early in the race and finished a disappointing 41^st. It was a crushing blow to the #16 Roush/Fenway Ford team that entered the weekend with such high hopes and riding the “Big Mo” from their victory the week before. For Kyle, it was just another disappointment experienced during the Chase.

It was a shock to this fan that the Roush/Fenway Fords, in particular, had the problems they did and a surprise the Hendrick teams did as well as they did. It looked to me going into the weekend it would be the opposite and I did expect the Earnhardt/Ganassi teams to show a little more strength than they did.

Of course, several of the teams that struggled beat themselves in the pits and/or had ill handling cars, at least to begin the day. For some, the day only got worse and for others it just never got any better. (What that means is, they started out bad and never made much headway.)

Only five of the Chasers finished in the top ten and the rest finished twenty-first or worse. No matter how you look at it, it was a bad weekend for the ones outside the top ten and the separation in points is beginning to show a bit more now, it just remains to be seen if the other five have a bad day or two in the near future to tighten things back up.

Looking at the carnage for the Roush/Fenway teams a little closer shows the devastation of Greg Biffle’s #16 team, David Ragan’s 24^th place finish after his late race run-in with Kurt Bush, Carl Edwards ignition problem causing him to finish 34th and Matt Kenseth’s “smoker” holding on for 30^th place (which is one of those situations that could have been even worse.)

Kurt Bush wasn’t running all that well on the day and wasn’t in a very good position when David Ragan’s error in judgment put both of them in the wall late in the race. Although it didn’t cost him any places in the Chase, it did cost him some precious points and that’s what really hurt. With six races remaining in the Chase, he can’t afford any more setbacks. Sitting 140 points behind Jimmie Johnson doesn’t look good for the “Blue Deuce” unless misfortune steps in and helps him make up some major points.

Even though he finished 8^th, Denny Hamlin struggled during most of the race. After the first pit stop, he fell back and, even though he moved back up to eighth by the end of the race, never looked comfortable. From this fan’s view, it’s not a good time for them to be “missing it” by as much as they’ve been missing it, if they want to overtake the #48 for the Championship. Although he is only 36 points behind Jimmie Johnson, he is only 18 points ahead of Kevin Harvick and just 49 points ahead of Jeff Gordon.

Speaking of Jeff Gordon, he ran better than he finished simply because he got caught entering pit road too fast. He was trying to press the envelope (not exceed it) and didn’t quite stay within the speed limit. That moved him back to 29^th spot with only 15 laps to go. With help from a couple of cautions and some good adjustments and calls by crew chief, Steve Letarte, he managed to move back up to that ninth spot. He was disappointed and probably had a third to a fifth place car, but as it turned out, he managed to move up one more spot in the points to fourth place. (That’s a lot better than I thought he was going to do especially after that error in judgment.)

Even though the points had another major shake up at Fontana, the Chase for the 2010 Sprint Cup Championship remains a close one. With six races to go, it is still pretty much anyone’s in the top eight or nine to claim, (although those last two are really pressing their luck.) With the night race coming this weekend at Charlotte, it is still up in the air who may advance and who will falter.

If the five that finished in the top ten this last week have problems in the night race at Charlotte, there’s a very good chance the points will be shuffled once again and put a couple of teams right back in the hunt. That’s a scenario I know Kurt Bush, Jeff Burton and Carl Edwards are hoping for and who knows… just because last weekend went the way it did doesn’t mean the other five in the top twelve couldn’t have the roles reversed this coming weekend.

Now, I’m not sayin’ things are going to tighten back up in the points… I’m just sayin’… it’s a possibility.

See ya next time… Rusty

All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer

© October 12, 2010 – all rights reserved

Rusty Norman and NascarFansView.com

(All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and PCNProductions.com