Budweiser, Momentum, and a Ford Guy

Sponsor Tent

 

I have some mixed feelings about Budweiser's sponsorship of Kevin Harvick's #29 car starting next year.  The big red logo is a blue chip sponsor in the world of stock car racing, having adorned the hoods of cars owned by Junior Johnson, Rick Hendrick, Dale Earnhardt, and Richard Petty over the past quarter century.  The drivers' seats of those cars have been filled with the likes of Darrell Waltrip, Neil Bonnett, Terry Labonte, Bill Elliott, Ricky Craven, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Kasey Kahne.  Richard Childress and Kevin Harvick fit in well with that esteemed group. 

But I'm annoyed. 

Every time a beer brand sponsors a driver, the collectibles market fills up with fake-logo crap with the drivers' name in place of the beer brand name.  It was just a few years ago that I happily saw Bud leave Dale Jr. and in return the fans got inexpensive die cast in the toy aisle at Walmart.  Now Kevin has the dubious distinction of having a fake Budweiser logo made out of his name, and it's going to cost substantially more to add new cars to my collection of Kevin Harvick die cast. 

From top to bottom:  2008 Dale Jr. National Guard, 2008 Kasey Kahne fake, 2007 Dale Jr. fake  

Points Standings

 

Well, Jimmie Johnson's not looking good lately, and Bud's new star is on a hot streak.  Is this Kevin's year (I hope)?  Is Jimmie done collecting championships at four (for the time being)? 

Don't bet on it. 

This isn't the old days of consistency-wins-championships.  It still does, but only within the final 10 races of the year.  Otherwise, NASCAR's "playoff" system works just like a playoff system in other sports:  sometimes the 8th seed beats the team that won the most games during the regular season.  I'm a Detroit Red Wings fan, so I remember how the 2nd-seed Wings lost to the 7th seed Anaheim Ducks in 2003, scoring just one goal in four games.  I remember it quite bitterly, so I know that unless Jimmie drops out of the top 12, and not accounting for the winner's bonus points for the next 3 races, the lead at the start of the Chase goes to...Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson. 

Momentum might count sometimes, but as long as you're struggling because you're saving your best stuff for when it really counts, and you know how to turn it on when it matters, the last few weeks before the playoffs can really mislead the fans and commentators.  When the green flag drops on the first race of the Chase, it will still be Jimmie Johnson vs. the NASCAR world, the Sprint Cup his to lose.  Three or four races in, he may well have already lost it, but until then, he's still the safe money bet to win the Championship. 

Driver Introductions

 

I'm happy that Marcos Ambrose is back in a Ford.  I'm not a Ford man, but I am an Ambrose fan, and I have high hopes that Marcos can find Victory Lane in a Cup car and keep Richard Petty from closing up shop for good.  Based on Kasey's performance of the past few weeks, it's a step up from his current ride.  Hopefully, if the team comes together properly and works well together, that Marcos won't be looking for his first Cup win when the show pulls into Sonoma. 

I've heard that the Ford vs. Holden battle in Australia is just that...a battle.  Literally, with bats and fistfights.  Maybe Jeremy Clarkson isn't the most credible source of information in the world, but even if its greatly exaggerated there must be some kernel of truth to it to make the jokes funny. 

Marcos started his career in Fords, won two major championships driving Fords, and Ford brought him to NASCAR, so unless he's hiding a love of Holdens that goes back to childhood, I'm betting he's a Ford man.  You'd have as much likelihood of seeing him willingly drive a Chevrolet as you would see Dale Jr. buy Fords for his racing team.  But he's driving a Toyota now, you say?  Don't forget, JTG/Daugherty Racing was a Ford team when Marcos started driving for them.  They're a Toyota team now, and he's on his way out the door. 

I admire his loyalty, even if it's to "the other guys."

Keselowskis, Johnsons, and the Schedule

Scheduled Events

 

There's some hubbub around Jay Hart on Yahoo! saying that NASCAR needed to "get out of the NFL's way."  What he specifically said is that, "...there is no answer as long as the Chase kicks off about the same time as the NFL season.  What NASCAR really needs to do is get out of the NFL's way. Start the Chase in August, end it in early October." 

Well, with new tracks in "new markets" competing with traditional tracks in traditional NASCAR strongholds, it's damn near impossible to shorten a season without seriously pissing off a LOT of fans.  However, as someone who has faced Sunday afternoon having to pick between watching Jimmie Johnson march towards another Cup championship and a winning Chicago Bears team, I can tell you I've chosen the Bears a few times.  The same thing happens in early summer when the Stanley Cup Playoffs get rolling.  To me, a Detroit Red Wings playoff game takes precedence over another 1.5-mile tri-oval race.

That doesn't mean I'm not a NASCAR fan.  I just have other things in my life, in particular other sports.  I know I'm not the only one. 

Today, it's not just about getting new fans to tune in to NASCAR.  Growth was easy when people were discovering the sport for the first time, or fleeing the implosion of American open wheel racing and looking for somewhere else to get their oval track speed fix.  Now it's about getting people to tune in by being better than everything else on television at the time the races are run.  Unfortunately for NASCAR, the NFL puts on a good show. 

The people that run NASCAR have to consider the gains that could be made in the ratings by avoiding direct competition with the NFL.  Network television dramas and comedies are scheduled with a thought towards what other shows are in their time slot.  The sport doesn't need something as dramatic as cutting off a huge chunk of its schedule, what it needs is a schedule that allows fans to catch the Cup race and their favorite NFL team's game in the same weekend. 

And if you don't think fans can change from the Saturday night/Sunday afternoon routine, just look at the competition itself.  I'm sure lots of people questioned Monday Night Football in the beginning.  Who's going to watch NASCAR on a Friday evening?  Maybe the same fans that watch football on a Monday night. 

Caution Flag

 

There's a certain bravado to racing "balls out" all the time like Brad Keselowski.  A lot of fans respect that, and there's a long tradition of drivers from Oldfield to Earnhardt who collected a lot of trophies and fans racing like that.  However, that style of racing also leads to a lot of bent sheetmetal and bent tempers.  If successful, you can get in other drivers' heads, like "The Intimidator" did.  If unsuccessful, a driver risks getting payback (and then some).  To be successful, a driver needs to know who he can push, how hard he can push, and when to push, and it can't be "on everybody all the time as hard as you can." 

Brad, apparently, missed that message in his driving lessons, but then from all I've heard if his father's been giving the lessons then I don't think restraint is in the curriculum.  Now we've seen that there's at least one driver who's not afraid of his schtick, as Brad's already gotten dumped on his head and spun around for pushing Carl Edwards just a little too hard.  Carl overreacted both times, but he did react...an action for an action, he didn't just drive out onto the track both days looking for trouble and finding Brad Keselowski.  Trouble, in the form of Brad, found him, and Carl pushed back. 

I could say more, but what I wanted to say here has already been said better by Valerie Wood at http://valerie-femmefan.blogspot.com/2010/07/where-are-all-these-keselowski.html

 

Except that I don't think Bob Keselowski should have his hard card pulled.  I'd personally like to see him suit up and take a shot at Carl.  Then we can all see just what driving like a Keselowski means.  But that's just not safe. 

And I'll just add that maybe Carl should read up on the Law of Unintended Consequences, particulary this part:  "a perverse effect, that may be contrary to what was originally intended (i.e. when an intended solution to a problem only makes the problem worse)."  Every time Carl intervenes in Brad's driving line to express his dislike of Brad's driving style, he tends to have the unintended consequence of making Brad look like the victim in this scenario. 

Congratulations Jimmie Johnson!

 

Congratulations to Jimmie and Chandra Johnson for the recent birth of Genevieve Marie Johnson.  A well chosen name, as well, especially considering how difficult it must be to name a baby when your last name is Johnson.  Pick a common name, and your child is destined for anonymity (there are 13 Jimmy/Jim/Jimmie Johnsons in just the sports category in Wikipedia).  Reach too far for the unusual, and you risk looking like Frank Zappa. 

I recently asked, "hasn't anybody in stock car racing had a daughter?"  I now have my answer, and perhaps someday nearly two decades from now Genevieve will join the Sprint Cup series.  Hopefully, by then she won't be racing for the first female win in the series.  Hopefully by then someone will have broken Jimmie's championship win streak, too.