Matt Kenseth is on Fire! It just goes to show how the Cup series can works in cycles. After a tough year in 2008, Matt Kenseth has started 2009 in style holding off Jeff Gordon for the win at Auto Club Speedway. The win made it two for two for rookie crew chief Drew Blickensderfer. According to the well-known George Costanza rule, he should retire (“I’m outta here”). While Blickensderfer has no actual plans to retire with a perfect win percentage in the Cup series, his early success shows how important good chemistry can be. Is Matt Kenseth driving any harder in 09? I doubt it. This success is the product of solid off season work at Roush racing; add a little good racing luck and you’ve got yourself two in row. With the win, Kenseth becomes one of five drivers to win the first two races of the season. Kenseth’s resume now boasts a championship, a Daytona 500 win, the 2000 Rookie of the Year and an obscure statistic placing him with NASCAR’s elite, plus, one Go-Karting loss to a South Florida media personality. Sorry, Matt, but I’m going to ride this wave, forever.
Rivalry? What Rivalry?
Dale Earnhardt Jr. had another tough day. This time it was due to a bad batch of valve train parts. It’s a wonder that this doesn’t happen more often. Regardless, Dale Jr. is now in a hole to start the most important season of his career. Currently 39th in points, one more bad finish and the top 35 talk will start. Dale Jr. did make some news with his brutally honest interview with Fox television’s Darrell Waltrip. Earnhardt acknowledged that he is misunderstood by many of the younger drivers out there. He even went on to say, “he couldn’t care less about 20% of the people that were caught in the big wreck at Daytona”. Who could he be talking about? Is this the resurfacing of the official Kyle Busch vs. Dale Jr. rivalry? Too bad the analysis we got following the interview was more about the fact that Dale Jr. “Is not afraid to be honest” and “Is not afraid to speak his mind” instead of talking about Earnhardt’s actual comments. In my opinion, Earnhardt’s comments should be taken as: “I don’t care that Kyle Busch was taken out in the wreck because he doesn’t know or respect me anyway.” Now that’s rivalry talk. Too bad the guys at Fox left it hanging in the wind.
It’s a sad day.
A racing icon is closing its doors. After 56 years Crane Cams is going out of business. http://www.competitionplus.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9278&Itemid=6
Crane made the first camshaft I ever installed. I can’t imagine motor sports without them.
