POST KENTUCKY RACE POSITIVE

There was so much media coverage/hype of this race due to it's first time for the Cup series being at Kentucky. Cincinnati radio had reported traffic jams as long as 20 miles for this race. Must of been many un-happy race fans with that mess! My sister had tickets but couldn't make it with such short notice.

After this race got started. I was thinking, here we go again! I'm sure you had to be thinking the very same?

I had invited my best friend Dave over to watch the race who is a very obnoxious Jimmie Johnson fan.(Get's worse after a few beers) He has a wife and two kids so I rarely see him. Hearing the "five times" theme over and over reminds me of all those super obnoxious Pittsburgh Steeler fans who give me the very same grief with all their Super Bowl/Division wins over my hopeless Cincinnati Bengal's. What can I say. Been a Bengal's fan since the early 70's. Back when football was much more raw!

As always, Busch's car was "on a rail" and "checking out" putting everybody and their brother a lap down including our beloved driver. My friend Dave was enjoying his favorite drivers gift rapped track position by having a much better starting position and better balanced race car thanks to the rain and the new Nascar ruling. How many times have we seen this!

Anyway, as the race ensued, Ryan got his lap back and was starting to look much more competitive so I started paying a little more attention to the race.

Well, next thing you know. There's not many laps left and Newman made this pass to the extreme left and got around some slackers and was going for it. All eyes on the TV as Dave pounded his 6TH Summer Ale Samuel Adams and did not want Newman passing his precious Jimmie Johnson. He got real quiet till Newman crossed the checkered flag in 4TH or better known as P4. Dave quickly reminded me that Newman finished BEHIND his favorite driver.

It was a great race finish that has Newman now 9TH in the points!

Your comments if any?

solid run through and through, it was a fun race to watch, but i cant let a comment go, the 48 earned their starting spot for bein prepared, that is what chad does best, the 39 had the same opportunity, just as all the teams did, they just dont have the personnel,

this is my rant and its directed at no one, just my thoughts and we all have them in our bellies.

I like both ryan and JJ, they both started around the same time, I do take exception to things when people say " things are handed to the 48 team." to me that is a cop-out because their driver and team does not have the same success. chad works very hard during the week, he will study up to 4 races a week to see what the team did right or wrong and see how they can improve, and JJ does the same, even spends 2-3 hrs daily working out, because he said it helps him to focus better on the task at hand, they earn what they get, i never flaunt JJ's success (unless someone wants to say, he is not a good driver.) I dont flaunt it, because im not the one doing it, im not big on fans that do that, takes the fun out of talking bout sports,

I personally feel ryan is not around good people and is in a organization that seems, "just making the chase." is ok, his cc is sub par and his crew is avg at best.

Didn't realize you and MJ were such close friends...jke

And, Yes it was a good race..

More on the traffic problem...

Traffic, track mar inaugural race at Kentucky

Jay Hart YAHOO! Sports
July 10, 2011

The only thing good about 20,000 fans missing Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 due to traffic was that they missed the Quaker State 400.

As expected here, the inaugural event at Kentucky Speedway was a dog, with Kyle Busch leading a single-file parade around the 1.5-mile oval for much of the night. At one point, Busch’s advantage over second place was more than eight seconds. He did have to hold off Jimmie Johnson – a rally that emerged only because of a late caution that made for a two-lap sprint to the finish – to collect his third win of the season, but other than that the race was entirely unmemorable.

That still likely won’t be enough to placate the estimated 15,000-20,000 fans who never made it to Kentucky Speedway, but were instead stuck in a traffic jam on I-71 where, according to reports, traffic was so snarled it took one group four hours to travel 13 miles. Nearly 90 minutes into the race, traffic remained backed up for miles, with some race goers finally giving up, turning around and going home.

Those who did make it the track were reportedly given instructions with a “leave time.” More than an hour after the race, many remained stuck in the parking lots, unable to move.

“There’s 15 to 20,000 people that won’t get in here today,” track owner Bruton Smith told Cincinnati.com. “Traffic is horrendous. Interstate 71 is a disaster.

“It may have been OK in 1955,” continued Smith, talking about I-71. “But somebody should have rebuilt that thing 20 years ago.”

Politicking publically is nothing new for Smith, who got out in front of this story early, predicting Friday that traffic was “going to be a problem,” jokingly saying that “we expect everyone to be home by Tuesday.”

Smith will likely make good to those fans that didn’t make it, but he clearly doesn’t want to take the blame. What he should be blamed for is adding yet another 1.5-mile track to the Cup schedule.

For as pristine and fan friendly (save the traffic issues) as his eight tracks are, they don’t produce the most entertaining races. Saturday night’s was no different.

Outside of pit stops cycling through and on restarts, there wasn’t a single pass for the lead – not one – in 267 laps. With less than 12 laps to go, there were seven cars on the lead lap. A late caution was the only reason it didn’t end that way.

The race did produce a new points leader in Busch, who moved ahead of Kevin Harvick, and further muddled the weekly who’s-the-driver-to-beat conversation. Just two weeks ago it was Carl Edwards (who remained second in the standings), last week it was Harvick, and now it’s Busch, who tied Harvick for the Series lead with three wins on the season.

“It was really good to figure this place out,” Busch said, emphasizing the need to be good in the 1.5-mile tracks, of which there are five in the Chase. “But, you know, the next steps are, of course, going to be the Chase races that are the mile and a halfs, like Chicago and Texas, Charlotte is in there, Homestead is in there. Those places we’ve run well at in the past, but maybe not on a consistent basis. It would certainly be nice to know that we’re figuring things out.”

The Chase picture isn’t any clearer further down the standings. Clint Bowyer completely missed the setup Saturday night, wrecked, finished 35th and dropped to 12th in the standings. David Ragan, fresh off his win in Daytona, came home eighth to further solidify himself as a legit contender. And Brad Keselowski, another driver with a win, finished seventh to move within one point of the top 20, a necessity if he’s going to claim one of the two wildcard spots.

An even tighter race to the Chase is the only good that came out of Sparta, Kent., Saturday night. For many, they’ll just be glad when the nightmare is over, which hopefully will come before Tuesday.

“I think the only thing that made this a great race today was the green-white-checkered and the excitement and energy of the fans,” Jeff Gordon said. “I think when Bruton is looking at how to get the traffic in here, he’s going to have to look at the race track as well. It’s rough.”

That about sums it up.

I personally feel ryan is not around good people and is in a organization that seems, "just making the chase." is ok, his cc is sub par and his crew is avg at best.

This to me sums up the situation perfectly with the 39 team. Last night at the end of the race showed just how "hungry" Ryan really is. He is better than his tean and way better than his CC.

I personally feel ryan is not around good people and is in a organization that seems, "just making the chase." is ok, his cc is sub par and his crew is avg at best.

This to me sums up the situation perfectly with the 39 team. Last night at the end of the race showed just how "hungry" Ryan really is. He is better than his tean and way better than his CC.

this is why i am confused about ryan, maybe it is his laid back personality, its obvious he is a good driver to be in the top 10 with all the crappy runs he has, just like tony, keepin close with all the bad calls his team has had, somethin needs to change at SHR, tony gave the correct answer while bein interviewed and said he was happy with things, but is he really??? im not a fan of a driver ripping apart his team on the radio, that should be done behind doors, i guess if there are changes, wont be until nov..........

I think the only possitives from last night were the 4th place finish and the fact that Ryan drove his #### off yet again. Ryan got the 39 team this finish. Yet again they were bogged down in the mid to upper 20's throughout the entire race. It was pure luck that got them the track position there when the 1 blew a motor. After taking the wave around, and then pitting when the yellow came out for debris they ended up on a diff pit schedule. The leaders were forced to pit long before the guys who had taken the wave around, they had all pitted by the time Macmurray's engine blew. Giving the 39 team his track position. Yes sometimes it is better to be lucky than it is to be good, and the 39 team got lucky last night. H

However the way Ryan drove on the final two restarts is what got them their 4th place finish. I watched him dive to the apron the first of the final two restarts and gain a handfull of spots (I think he jumped from 10th to 7th), I'm guessin the tv people did not notice it because nothing was said. Then on the final restart he did it again jumping from 7th to 4th and this time had the tv people (and Carl Edwards) impressed.

I was not at all inpressed w/ the performance of the team last night and still believe changes must be made.

The team was typical for most the night actually. Ryan actually started showing a bit more frustration over the radio than he normally does. To the point TG was asking him to calm down. After Ryan was lapped by Kyle, he was running lap times that ranged from 3rd fastest to 5th fastest for several laps in a row. So once he was getting his lap back I was excited, but then TG adjusted the car to the tight side & Ryan fell to the back of the lead lap cars. He was lucky to get a caution when they did, because they were gonna pit the next lap. Ryan had to save fuel so he didnt run out before pit lane was opened. After that Ryan stayed in the top ten the rest of the night. Which is the one thing Ryan was saying all beginning of the race. He thought he had a balance he could work with just track position sucked. Dirty air was playing #### with his car. What a lot of people didnt realize where Ryan was lucky again is anytime he was restarting on the inside, he made that move you all saw at the end of the race. He always moved forward when starting on the inside. late in the race he was 9th, made that move to 7th, & another yellow came out. Then you all saw the move from 7th to 4th. I think the last restart (or maybe two) Tony was on the outside. I know he was #### about traffic after the race.
After the race TG said something all Giddy to Ryan then told Ryan he is the best Son of a Bit (Beeeeeep) at GWC's. Ryan responded that Thanks, but we got Lucky tonight & we will talk about that later. (dont think Ryan likes talking their business on the radio)
Ryan finished 4th & I dont think even that made him Happy. Relieved maybe, but I am seeing Ryan get a bit more, not sure how to explain it, but he is less likely to allow all the little crap without accountability. He jumped TG over the radio this weekend, He jumped his spotter as well. This usually takes a lot of wrong things happening before he gets that upset. he is usally really calm on the radio.

The Positive. Ryan held onto a Chase spot & even advanced to 9th in points. Collected another top 5 & actually got a little bit more room from those he is in a tight points battle with. (Bowyer, Gordon, Denny, Tony & now add Jr.) Early on he was behind all of them. Ended the night scoring more points than them all.
Great Job Ryan! Way to drive it like you stole it!

In my opinion Newman needs to be more aggressive. Over his radio and on the track.

Nascar waits for no one. You either @#$% or get off the pot!

Being the passive intellectual race car diver to me is major nerdy and doesn't equal race wins. It's just not Nascar like if you know what I mean. People want to see their favorite driver giving it #### and winning races........period! Newman has that closet personality in him if he chooses to bring that side of him out to play on race day. He should be much more demanding as all drivers with about 11 years have developed. Did Dale Earnhardt get 7 Championships being nice and laid back?

They call Ryan the "Rocket" but how does that translate to his car going backwards at most tracks? You know he's got to be getting short tempered about all those horrible car balances!