I give Danica props

[Schmoopy1000]

Watched her whole race (thanks to race buddy)
She was smooth, didnt make mistakes, & I believe would have had a top 5-7 finish if not for the guy that was acting like a reckless screwball. I am talking about Austin Dillon. That guy was making mistakes all over the place, even to the point Danica was talking about how he was all over the place. LOL.
The sad part was I was agreeing with her.
Then when he made his bonehead move trying to pass three wide way to late going into the corner & he slid up with no speed in front of Danica (who was 6th at the time) causing her to go all the way back to 15th or 16th, where she drove back up to 13th before a caution. Causing the team to pit for tires knocking her back to 19th.
All day she was passed by the faster cars without her being a hindrance & she was passing cars all day like she knew what she was doing. I bring this up because earlier in the season she was only consistent when by herself. She would make mistakes in traffic. Today she was near perfect.
Then as a bonus she made a Ryan Newman style restart on the GWC, stealing a couple more positions for a top 10. & was side by side with Brad almost snaking 9th from him.

I know a 10th isnt the greatest finish to be excited about, but I think this has been the best race she has had to date. She wasnt just riding around to not make mistakes. She was racing & she raced all day with no bonehead moves.
I will go as far as to say of all the Championship contenders, she outdrove all of them today except for Stenhouse. Dillon was a dumba$$ all day long today & Sadler wrecked himself today.

I really thought she would struggle on the flat track, but she proved me wrong.

HeII she only had one cussing tirade & that was during the red flag. She was cussing up a storm about the 99 driver. her spotter said what do you expect? Just look at his last name (I dont knoww who the spotter thought was in the car) Danica started with some more 4 letter words, when I think it was the CC said hey it is just a 19 yr old kid. the spotter then said oh I thought it was someone else. the 99 spotter told them he was pulling up to her at the red to apologize. he got loose under her & didnt mean to get into her. In the end I guess all was forgiven.

Before people dare to say I have rose colored glasses on. I am not close to being a danica fan LOL, but it was nice to see her acting like a race car driver, & not a hollywood diva driver. I always hope some of these female drivers have a good showing. I just dont make excuses when they dont. She worked traffic well today & I think would have had a chance for a top 5 if not for bonehead.

So kudos for the girl!

[wolfgang]

Close to being a Danica fan,close you say? That's ok Moopy,we'll still love yah anyways.

[Schmoopy1000]

Close to being a Danica fan,close you say? That's ok Moopy,we'll still love yah anyways.

"NOT" close

dont worry Wolfgang, when she does something not so well & I point that out I will be considered a "hater" & all will be well & balanced in the world again

[wolfgang]

Close to being a Danica fan,close you say? That's ok Moopy,we'll still love yah anyways.

"NOT" close

dont worry Wolfgang, when she does something not so well & I point that out I will be considered a "hater" & all will be well & balanced in the world again

Personally,i've never been balanced as you know. Ganassi is dropping RCR next year and going with HMS equiptment so claims Harvicks site,have you heard anything on that otherwise?

[Schmoopy1000]

Close to being a Danica fan,close you say? That's ok Moopy,we'll still love yah anyways.

"NOT" close

dont worry Wolfgang, when she does something not so well & I point that out I will be considered a "hater" & all will be well & balanced in the world again

Personally,i've never been balanced as you know. Ganassi is dropping RCR next year and going with HMS equiptment so claims Harvicks site,have you heard anything on that otherwise?

its true.
EGR isnt going to use ECR engines & they will use HMS engines.

[smoke14rulez]

"NOT" close

dont worry Wolfgang, when she does something not so well & I point that out I will be considered a "hater" & all will be well & balanced in the world again

...on the contrary, as I've said before...you're the ONLY one here who make sense about "all things Danica"...

[Rochelle]

Close to being a Danica fan,close you say? That's ok Moopy,we'll still love yah anyways.

"NOT" close

dont worry Wolfgang, when she does something not so well & I point that out I will be considered a "hater" & all will be well & balanced in the world again

Personally,i've never been balanced as you know. Ganassi is dropping RCR next year and going with HMS equiptment so claims Harvicks site,have you heard anything on that otherwise?

Here's the article on the switch, long overdue in my opinion...

Earnhardt Ganassi Racing switching to Hendrick engines for 2013
Published Friday, Nov 2, 2012 at 2:05 pm EDT
Bob Pockrass Sporting News

FORT WORTH, Texas — Earnhardt Ganassi Racing will switch to Hendrick Motorsports engines in 2013 after using Earnhardt Childress Racing engines the past four years, a team spokesman confirmed Friday.

Earnhardt Ganassi struggled the past two years while using Earnhardt Childress engines. Team owner Chip Ganassi called his team's performance in 2011 "pathetic" after Juan Pablo Montoya finished 21st in the standings and Jamie McMurray was 27th.
Chip Ganassi decides it's time for his teams to switch engines. (AP Photo)

Ganassi vowed that his teams would be greatly improved in 2012, but it hasn't happened. McMurray is 20th in the standings and Montoya is 22nd, and neither driver has won a race since 2010.

Richard Childress Racing, which also uses ECR engines and houses the engine shop, also struggled this year. Of the three RCR drivers, only Kevin Harvick made the Chase. None of the three has won a race. Harvick is 11th in the Chase standings; Paul Menard is 16th and Jeff Burton 19th.

Both EGR and ECR will keep their affiliations with Dale Earnhardt Inc., which no longer has race teams but is a racing technology company owned by Teresa Earnhardt, widow of seven-time Cup champion Dale Earnhardt Sr.

When DEI and Chip Ganassi Racing merged following the 2008 season, Ganassi closed his engine shop and began using Earnhardt Childress Racing engines. ECR was formed in May 2007 as part of a merger of the DEI and RCR engine shops.

Ganassi, who controls the day-to-day operations of EGR, said last July he wished he had more horsepower, so the move to Hendrick engines wasn't a total surprise.

"They had been dealing with Hendrick for a while so it wasn't a surprise," Richard Childress, owner of RCR and co-owner of ECR, said Friday at Texas Motor Speedway. "(Our engine program) is as good as it ever was. We just hired two new (fuel-injection) people and (we're) still growing it."

Childress said Teresa Earnhardt's involvement with his engine shop and Ganassi's race team (headquartered at Ganassi's North Carolina location) are separate deals.

ECR has leased engines to Furniture Row Racing and Tommy Baldwin Racing and will lease engines to more teams next year, Childress said. It also provides engines to teams in other series and will not be significantly impacted by the Ganassi decision.

"We've still got a very strong company," Childress said. "We've still got a lot of good customers and some new customers. We'll be fine."

[HTower]

For the Sprint Cup race, I will absolve Danica of causing the wreck at the end, It looks like Burton got into her and put her in the wall. The Huge wreck at the finish line was NASCAR's fault for not throwing a caution flag. She was parked in the freakin middle of the track, and everyone saw the results of racing to the Checkered Flag through a sea of oil and smoke.

[wolfgang]

The oil they had plenty of time to clean up during the red flag condition before,wtf Nascar?

[wolfgang]

For the Sprint Cup race, I will absolve Danica of causing the wreck at the end, It looks like Burton got into her and put her in the wall. The Huge wreck at the finish line was NASCAR's fault for not throwing a caution flag. She was parked in the freakin middle of the track, and everyone saw the results of racing to the Checkered Flag through a sea of oil and smoke.

Come on HT,you're no fun,it was Danicas fault all the way!

[HTower]

For the Sprint Cup race, I will absolve Danica of causing the wreck at the end, It looks like Burton got into her and put her in the wall. The Huge wreck at the finish line was NASCAR's fault for not throwing a caution flag. She was parked in the freakin middle of the track, and everyone saw the results of racing to the Checkered Flag through a sea of oil and smoke.

Come on HT,you're no fun,it was Danicas fault all the way!

I guess I've turned into one of those Danica does no evil, her sh!t don't stank posters!

[Schmoopy1000]

Well HT I guess it was Sam's fault he was taken out by her then

[HTower]

Well HT I guess it was Sam's fault he was taken out by her then

yeah, what the #### was wrong with him today? Doesn't he know how to drive?

[racer1]

Thanks for the moreso postiive attitudes and comments about Danicas race weekend--nice to see for a change as she did have a good weekend in both races. It was nice to see that from her as she is starting to get this I think but too soon to rave about anything. Had to laugh at one comment on another forum though saying she beat both her bosses in the cup race, Tony S and Dale Jr but bet they werent that happy. Ryan had a good top 5 finish though.

Its all good--on to Homestead..