Toyota Done?

With the latest news on MWR, does this mean bad news for Toyota. Let's look at it this way. Toyota has had two "powerhouse" teams in cup, however with losing one of those teams, no matter how strong Gibbs has been, can Toyota afford to spend the money to be a manufacturer with only one team? Toyota is scrambling as of now to find another team. The rumors have been that Front Row is looking to move to Toyota. However, would that be a step down for Front Row? That is a decision for everyone that is associated with Front Row. There is one thing that is for sure, if nobody jumps on the Toyota train, they could be in trouble fielding a NASCAR team.
The next question is what is happening with Clint Bowyer in 2016. There are several rumors that he will be going to Chip Ganassi with Rob Kaufman. However, other rumors have him looking for a one year ride to replace Stewart if he retires at the end of the 2016 season. That however doesn't look like a very good possibility at this point with Stewart running stronger each week. It could be a tough spot for Bowyer to find a ride in 2016. Not because of his abilities, but simply because there is a lack of quality rides.

Daytona 500

Photo Credited to draftingthecircuits.whoobazoo.com

Wow the headlines that have came out of Daytona this week. It is hard to imagine that we even had a race with everything that was happening off of the track. None the less, there was in fact a race that was run, and it was a good one in fact. When it comes to straight up racing, it does not get much better than what it did on Sunday. They were racing three wide for about ten rows with twenty laps to go. How great is that? To me, racing is so much more than tearing up cars, in fact I'm not a big fan of wrecks (although they do tend to turn my head). I would much rather see guys racing clean three wide like toward the end of Sunday's race.

DAYTONA 500

Joey Logano won the Daytona 500, a race that will go
down as one of the best in the race's history
Photo Credited to bleacherreport.com

This Daytona 500 will go down as one of the best in the history of the race. NASCAR is doing nothing but smiling over what happened during that race. It was great racing throughout the whole race, all 200 laps. The fans were on the side of their seats for the entire race, in fact some welcomed caution laps simply so they could catch their breath. There was non stop racing that happened throughout the whole race where in previous Daytona 500's we often see the drivers go into a situation where they tend to just ride for awhile. That was not seen on Sunday. A great performance by all 43 drivers. At the end of the day it was Joey Logano coming away as the Daytona 500 champion. Love him or hate him, there is one thing that everyone can admit, he drove a great race. Looking at the race there were a lot of guys that probably drove a race capable of winning it including Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson, and also Jeff Gordon. Those six guys ran up front all day long and were there at the end of the day even though Jeff finished 33 after an accident on the last lap. Another story line coming out of Daytona is Tony Stewart and how he is now 0-17 in the big race. The questions are starting to get more and more wondering if he will ever be able to win the Daytona 500. He is a capable driver to win the 500, but has not been able to have the luck necessary to win the big race. When the sun set over Daytona International Speedway Sunday night, we all knew what we saw on that day. A great race, one for the ages, and a new champion to one of the greatest races to ever be ran.

THE BUSCHS'

Photo Credited to foxsports.com

A huge story line within Daytona would be the fact that this was the first time that a Busch brother has not been in a Daytona 500 since the 2000 race. Both were qualified for the race and as of Friday morning, both were going to be racing. However, after the report with the commissioner's decision to grant Kurt's ex girlfriend a protective order from him. With that report coming out, NASCAR suspended Kurt indefinitely and that left him unable to race in the Daytona 500. Kyle does not have any legal issues, but during the Xfinity race on Saturday had a crash leaving him with a compound fracture in his right leg and a broken left foot. With these two things happening to the Busch brothers, it will be a long time before we see a Busch in a race car. Regan Smith drove the #41 Haas Automation Chevy to a 16th place finish and Matt Crafton drove the #18 M&M's Toyota to an 18th place finish, both very respectable finishes considering the circumstances.

IN MY OPINION

Kyle Busch signaling to emergency crews that something
is wrong with his leg. Kyle had a compound fracture
of the right leg and a broken left foot
Photo Credited to fansided.com

It is such a shame that there was not a Busch brother in this year's Daytona 500. In all reality, both of them should have been driving in this race. First with Kurt. NASCAR is afraid of what could happen if they do not suspend Kurt immediately. The last thing that NASCAR wants is to have a Ray Rice situation on their hands. The fact that he is placed on suspension based upon a family court and has not even been tried in criminal court (the place where it matters) is the reason that he should still be in the 41. Family Court is by no means a sign of being guilty. In a situation like this where so many stories are being thrown around, it is best to give a protective order and move on. It is not like Kurt will be calling her anytime soon anyway, and the commissioner knows that. If Kurt is found guilty in criminal court, then there is no doubt that he should be suspended. If he did place his hands violently on her, then no doubt he should be locked up. However, there is this innocent until proven guilty, and Kurt has not been proven guilty and therefore should be in the 41. Now to Kyle. It is an absolute shame that Kyle got hurt on Saturday and I wish nothing but the best for him in his recovery and hope he has a very speedy recovery. However, why in the world do we have a concrete wall without a SAFER Barrier at a track where they run 200 mph? We have said it for years, if their is an exposed wall, those race cars will find it. This is a situation where Kyle may be lucky to only have a compound fracture and a broken leg, in fact he may be lucky that he is still alive. That was a nasty hit, one of the hardest I personally have seen in awhile. So now we know that Daytona is going to be 100% SAFER Barrier. Now we all need to ask the question, is Talladega? We also need to look to the mile and a half tracks as well because they too run close to 200 mph. Tracks like Michigan, Atlanta (who announced they would have SAFER Barriers by Sunday), Texas, and others. If these tracks and others are not 100% SAFER Barrier, then NASCAR needs to tell them we are not coming. Two Busch brothers out of the biggest race of the year, when in fact they both should have been apart of this race, and now, they will be out for a long time.

3

We lost a legend way too soon. Today marks the fourteenth
anniversary of the death of Dale Earnhardt
Photo Credited to s8.photobucket.com

Fourteen years ago today was the darkest day in NASCAR. We lost so much in turn four at Daytona on this day, and it was a moment that some of us thought that would destroy NASCAR. The ambassador of the sport was gone. However, with the unfortunate death of Dale Earnhardt, we see a legacy that he brought to us and how he is still impacting the sport today even though he was gone way too soon. You see, I believe that God had a plan for NASCAR on February 18th 2001. It was a plan that we simply could not see at that time. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. We may not always see that plan in place, but there is a plan that God has in store. For Dale, it gave way to changes to dramatically improve the sport that he loved more than anything in this world. Unfortunately it took the loss of someone that meant the world to us for these changes to take place. However, because of Dale Earnhardt, we see drivers today go through an accident that would have seriously injure a driver in Dale's day walk away just fine. NASCAR is still Dale Earnhardt, even though we may not talk about him at the race tracks anymore, he is still why the sport is successful, and also why the drivers are safer today. After the death of Dale, we saw the additions of mandatory full faced helmets, something Dale did not believe in, and also the use of a head and neck restraint, or the HANS device. From there we saw the safer barriers at all race tracks and the development of that to even interior walls. Today, when a driver in NASCAR hits a wall there is a little cushion to soften the blow a little bit. We then had the COT or Car of Tomorrow that came into NASCAR. Some would say that those boxy cars were bad for NASCAR, but I believe that they were necessary because they made the drivers safer within the car. Today we have the Gen 6 car that has the basic safety components of a COT car, but have the body looks of what gave NASCAR its start, the cars that you can buy at the dealerships. I am reminded of a quote that Dale Earnhardt once said, "You can't let one bad moment spoil a bunch of good ones". We cannot look at this day simply as the darkest day in NASCAR. We need to look back upon the life of Dale Earnhardt and remember those moments such as The Pass in the Grass, when he wrecked Terry Labonte to win at Bristol, the 1998 Daytona 500, or even his last win at Talladega where he flew to the front of the field in only a few laps. These are the moments that we need to remember about Dale Earnhardt, as well as the great things that he has done for the sport since he left us here. NASCAR is Dale Earnhardt, and it will always be Dale Earnhardt for the rest of its time. Dale we will always remember you, and we thank you for making our favorite sport what it is today.

Qualifying

Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon on the Front Row of the Daytona 500
for Sunday
Photo Credited to jacksonville.com

WHAT HAPPENED
I will not normally be posting about qualifying this season. However, with the controversy that we saw on Sunday I feel like something needs to be said about the incident. There certainly is a 50/50 mix of fans that loved the qualifying set up and the others hated it. The drivers however, they all hated it, well except Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. However, to be honest there were only going to be two drivers that thought the system was pretty good at the end of the day. It all really started when Clint Bowyer and Reed Sorenson collided and crashed into the outside wall together. Bowyer then proceeded to get out of the car and yell at Sorenson but later stated that it was not his fault. However, the damage was done and it ended up with several different cars on the rollback. When Bowyer came out of the care center he talked to the media with anger and expressed that NASCAR had a bad system in his eyes and expressed on radio how they should go back to what worked in the past. None the less, there is two guys for Hendrick Motorsports that are happy guys and are happy with the system that is in place.

IN MY OPINION

The accident that happened in qualifying on Sunday created a lot of
controversy about how qualifying should be run
Photo Credited to latimes.com

It has to be hard to go out there and make a lap only to end up in the wall with a torn up car your guys have worked with for so long. Clint was very fired up about that and has a right to be since he is put into a horrible spot with a torn up race car. Let's all be honest, there is something wrong with the system. However, I do believe that group qualifying is the future of NASCAR plate track or not. There needs to be some rule changes such as, if you leave your pit box you must go strait onto the track. If you stop on pit road it is a drive through penalty and times are disallowed until you come in to serve that penalty. However, that does not fix the problem with Sorenson and Bowyer. That is a tough call and I think that it was just a racing thing. It was a situation where one guy needed to get into the biggest race of the year and another situation where a guy was trying to set himself up into a great position to win on Sunday. Reed was trying to stay in front of Clint to keep his speed up so that he has a better chance to get into the show There is a way to fix this, well somewhat. Put those who are racing to get into the show into a separate group. Sure you may have to run three groups instead of two, but that may be a price to pay to make sure something like this does not happen in the future. It will created an opportunity for those guys to race themselves hard and if something happens between them, well it does not hurt those guys who are trying to go out and win the race. The system is broken, however, there is an opportunity to be able try and fix what is broken instead of just scrapping everything that they have now.

Sprint Unlimited

The drivers come out onto the stage in preparation of the 2015 Sprint
Unlimited
Photo Credited to MRN

THE RACE
What a night it was in Daytona on Saturday evening. There was a lot going on all evening long and ended up being a race of survival. There was everything that every race fan could ever want and more. The big story of the night was Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano getting into it on pit road after the end of the race. For those that did not watch the race, late in the race on a restart Logano was behind Harvick trying to bump draft him and continued to do so through the corner which caused Harvick to lose control and smack the wall. Harvick did not appreciate the bump at the end of the race, and let Logano know about it with a nice little door slam. Logan responded with door slam right back. That caused Harvick and Logano to jump out of their cars and exchange some words before Team Penske crew members pulled Logano away. So the question of the night was this...who was in the wrong? To be honest, was there really anyone that was in the wrong? Both guys were going after the win and that is what you want if you are an owner. A lot would argue that Logano was a little aggressive when trying to win the race, others would say that it was the end of the race and he was just trying to help Harvick get to the front.

At the end of the night, Matt Kenneth
took the first win of 2015
Photo Credited to Bleacher Report

IN MY OPINION
Here is the deal, when it comes to drafting at Daytona and Talladega, there is one thing that every driver knows about bump drafting, and that thing would be that you cannot bump draft through the corners because it upsets the car. Although I applaud Logano for going after the win like he should, there is a limit as to how you should drive. The point of the matter is Logano was in a bad spot no matter if he got into Harvick or not. Did Logano go into the corner with the intent of wrecking Harvick? Absolutely not. It was a racing thing and Logano thought that he was doing the right thing for Harvick and himself. However, like Harvick said in the post race, "everyone is racing aggressive, but you can't take your head off and put it on the floorboard". Another thing, how would you think that Tony Stewart would react if this was him instead of Harvick? Logano would be lucky to have his head still attached.

Although Tony Stewart's day did not end the way he would
have wanted, he still looked impressive throughout the night
Photo Credited to Fox News

TAKE AWAYS
The one take away that I received from the other night is how Tony Stewart looked. He looked like the Tony Stewart of old getting very racy up front. In fact he was heard saying something to the effect of do you think that they know we came to play today? Smoke is back to his normal self and that cannot be anything but good for NASCAR in the end. Although he ended his day on the hook, there was a lot that can be said for his run Saturday night.

LOOKING FORWARD
As of now qualifying is over, (look for future post) so there is a lot to look forward to with this season. 2015 is off to a bang and it certainly feels like it is the middle of the season with the controversies and racing we have seen throughout this short time. Be ready for some great racing on Thursday in the qualifying races and also on Sunday in the Daytona 500.

NASCAR 2015

I simply cannot wait for the 2015 NASCAR season to begin. There was a lot of excitement that happened at the end of the season last year and that, along with the no testing policy, has everyone, including drivers, excited for what is to come. With the rule changes, what is going to happen and who will be the drivers to beat? The less horsepower rule is going to help those guys who have ran well in the Nationwide (now Xfinity) series. With less horsepower that means they will have to keep the RPM's up to go fast. Being a Jimmie Johnson fan myself it pains me to say this but you have to look at guys like him to struggle a little bit because they have not ran a lot of Nationwide races. Early on you would have to say that the advantage would in fact go to Kyle Busch and guys who run a lot of Nationwide races in the past couple of seasons. With that being said here are some drivers to watch in 2015

TONY STEWART

Tony Stewart simply cannot catch a break. Although he says that this is the best that he has felt since before he broke his leg, can he make the m
ost of this season? Will we ever get the old Tony Stewart back? I know that I sure hope that we can, but with being 43 years old we may have seen the best of Tony Stewart by now. However, if he is going to show that he still has it, this is the year to do it. With no worries about running any sprint cars he will be 100% focused on his cup car. I think that we will see Tony Stewart get to victory lane sometime in 2015, but I'm not sure how well he will run past that. Besides, he is still the car owner of the 2014 champion so you know he has the equipment to get it done.

KYLE LARSON

I have a confession to make. I was someone that was wondering why Chip Ganassi would put someone that has been in a stock car for one season into a cup car for the full season. Boy was I way wrong on that one. Larson really took NASCAR by storm last season with his incredible performances as a rookie. Although he somehow d
id not go to victory lane, he proved that someday he will be a champion in this sport. With a new baby here, and a Rolex watch on his wrist, Kyle Larson looks like he could be a championship contender in 2015.

JAMIE MCMURRAY

My sleeper for 2015 is Jamie McMurray. I know that a lot of people may not agree, but we have seen that this guy can get it done in the biggest of races. At 38 years old, he could only have a year or two left in is prime before he starts that downfall, but we did see Dale Earnhardt Jr. have the best season of his career at 40. With Kyle Larson as a teammate, Chip Ganassi Racing could put up numbers that Team Penske was doing a year ago.


ARIC ALMIROLA

A great 2014 for Aric and everyone at Richard Petty Motorsports certainly because of their win at Daytona in July. What will they do in 2015? Well that is a mystery to be honest. They had their moments of greatness, but they had their moments of weakness as well. This is a team where if they could have been running at the end of every race in the chase could have went to the second or third round of the chase. This is a team that is underrated, but there is also a reason that they were not running at the end. Don't be shocked if you see this team running up front, and possibly win a race or two and make some noise in the chase.

KASEY KAHNE

Kasey made a huge move with a win in Atlanta to lock his spot in the 2014 chase. However it did have its ups and downs as well. I do not believe that Kasey was ever worried about losing his ride to Chase Elliott, but I do believe that there was some pressure to perform better in a contract year. With that pressure gone, can Kasey come out and perform with a new crew chief? I think so but we will see for sure. Kasey and the 5 car team should have a win or two, but wouldn't be surprised if they had three or four wins as well.

GREG BIFFLE

Roush Fenway Racing was to simply put it disappointing last season. Roush has vowed during the offseason that they have fixed the problems that they have. If there is any team that will improve with the new horsepower rule. Although I would not call Roush Fenway a power house in the Nationwide series, they performed more competitively than their cup cars have been. However, they do have a two-time Nationwide champion in the 17 car. There is hope at Roush Fenway and I do believe that they will improve from 2014 and have a better year in 2015. I do believe that Biffle will get into the win column, but I also would not be surprised if he went winless again. At 45, Biffle's NASCAR career is coming to a close, but there are still a couple years left in him.

AJ ALLMENDINGER

What can you say about AJ Allmendinger? The guy just flat out loves life and that was shown after his win this season at Watkins Glen, and what a performance he put on there. Although they will not compete in the Sprint Unlimited, I do believe that you will see a team that is more competitive this year than last. Also remember that he no longer has Marcos Ambros to compete against at the road courses so look for a strong outing for him in those two races. He certainly will be a threat in both of those races, but I do look for him to be competitive in other races at well, but the only races that I can see him winning are in fact road courses.

KURT BUSCH

You hear every driver say that they are ready to get back into the car for this season, but there is no driver that is more ready to get back into a race car than Kurt Busch. With all the drama that is happening off of the track, there is nothing that he would love more than to get back to his normal life (if he ever has a normal life again). I'm not here to get into the guilty/innocent conversation, but I do want to say that this will be a huge distraction is the judge keeps taking more and more time to make his decision. This is a situation that Kurt thought would be over by the time the season started, but here we are still waiting on a decision. I see this taking a toll on Kurt early, if anything because of the emotional toll, but I do think that this can be a team stronger than last season. Look for this team to possibly make some noise through the middle to late part of the season. With that being said, I could see his season either being one for redemption, or failure. Which will it be, well let's just give that some time.

JIMMIE JOHNSON

A 4 win season a failure? Well it was for Jimmie Johnson last year. There are a lot of guys in the garage area that would take 4 wins, and to be honest I bet that 48 team would as well. However, what made it such a failure of a season would be the finishes that were not first. There could be a lot of argument that 2014 was the worse season that Johnson has had since he entered cup. How does he respond in 2015? I believe that he could succeed, but there is a chance that he could struggle as well. If there is one thing that I do know it is that this 48 team will not give up and that the core of those six championships is still on that team.

KYLE BUSCH

A disappointing performance for Kyle Busch in 2014 when the season really did start out
on a high note winning at Auto Club Speedway. However, that was about it for Kyle. Although he did have some good finished, when you think of Kyle Busch you think of him winning races. There is probably nobody that is happier about the reduction in horsepower more than Kyle Busch. With his success in the Nationwide series in the past, he will certainly be a force to be reckoned with the whole season, especially early when guys have not had a chance to run this kind of set up very much. I look for Kyle to have a better 2015 than what he did 2014, but still do not see him as a serious contender for the championship just yet.

CARL EDWARDS

In the big move of the 2014-2015 offseason, Carl Edwards has left Roush Fenway Racing and has joined Joe Gibbs Racing. His reuniting of his teammate Matt Kenseth could be good or bad. I believe that it could be good. Carl has stated that he has grown up since the famous fake punch incident between him and Matt. I guess we will see for sure in 2015. However, with the big moves over the past two seasons it has produced a second place finish in the championship, and produced a champion last season. Can Carl match what Kevin Harvick did a year ago when he switched rides? I guess that will be the question for Cousin Carl in 2015.

DALE EARNHARDT JR.

The resurgence of Dale Earnhardt Jr. in victory lane was nothing but good for NASCAR. There is nothing that NASCAR loves more than seeing their most popular driver heading to victory lane. However, losing his crew chief to the TV booth could stall what has been happening for the 88 crew. However, bringing in Greg Ives could not have been a better move for Jr. and the rest of Hendrick Motorsports. This is a guy who led an 18 year old to a Nationwide championship in 2014. There are some things that he will have to do to make 2015 great, but defending his Daytona 500 title would be a great way to start that.

JEFF GORDON

It is the end of an era. I simply cannot believe that this will be the last time that Jeff Gordon will run for a championship. Growing up as a kid I was a Dale Earnhardt fan, so rooting for Gordon was something that unacceptable. However, when I first started to become a Jimmie Johnson fan around 2002, I quickly found out that when y
ou are a fan of one Hendrick driver, you are a fan of all Hendrick drivers. It was a sad day for me to hear about Jeff retiring and I still cannot wrap my head around there being a race that Jeff Gordon is not in. Jeff had a coming out party in 2014, or should I say coming back party. There was a lot of success that he brought back to that 24 car and brought a lot of memories back to his fans that have followed him since the start of his career. So the big question is can he do it again, but do it better. I believe he can.

BRAD KESELOWSKI

Brad had his normal aggressive season a year ago in 2014. Although they did not come away with the championship, it could be argued that it was Team Penske's best season ever. With Brad being the main man at Penske, he has led this team to success. He did announce that he and his girlfriend have a baby on the wa
y so will that create a distraction. I don't think so, so look for Brad to have another big year and go for his second championship.

JOEY LOGONO

Last year was the best year for Logono since coming into cup. With only being 24 years old the scary thing for Logono haters is that he is only going to be getting better. Taking his team all the way to Homestead, it is fair to say that his team overall choked under pressure starting with Joey getting up into the wall and ended their chances on pit road when the jack slipped off of the car. Something of a positive f
or this team was that they were running up front with the other 3 contenders and had a chance if it was not for these mistakes.

DENNY HAMLIN

If you were to ask fans which driver has had the worse luck in the past couple of seasons it would no doubt be Tony Stewart. However, Denny Hamlin may be second to Stewart. Having a back injury in a crash in 2013 and finding a piece of metal of his eye in 2014 has caused him to sit out of his fair share of races. However, even with that being the case, he still finished third in the championship behind the two guys that finished 1-2 in the race. If Hamlin can stay healthy, and I think he can, He could be Toyota's lead guy to get them their first championship in NASCAR.

RYAN NEWMAN

Ryan Newman had a spectacular season in 2014. I know he didn't win a race, but sometimes that isn't the point. Although they said it would not have mattered to them, can you imagine how NASCAR would have reacted if Newman won the championship WITHOUT A WIN? A system built to emphasize wins has a champion with no wins. That would have sent NASCAR scratching their heads about what went wrong with their system. However, we are now talking about a 31 team that could be a force to be reckoned with. Besides, they don't call him Rocket-man for nothing. He has the talent, he has the ability, and he is the only driver in the garage with a college degree. This 31 team could be your champion in 2015.

KEVIN HARVICK

Your 2014 champion was simply the best car all year long. There really was no question which car was going to show up at the track the fastest. However, the quick building of a team did cause some failures and really mistakes that should never happen. Now with a year under their belt and a championship ring on their finger, they could come out even stronger in 2015. This is a team that can be scary good and 2014 could only be the start to what becomes the next 48 team.


2015 Top 10
10. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
9. Brad Keselowski
8. Joey Logono
7. Denny Hamlin
6. Jimmie Johnson
5. Kyle Larson
4. Ryan Newman
3. Jamie McMurray
2. Kevin Harvick
1. Jeff Gordon-Well why not???