2009 NASCAR Season

[DelayedPenalty]

What'd Ambrose do? I only caugth the last 30 laps?

A guy from his pit crew chased a wayward tire out into the grass area by the track causing a caution flag. It was a complete head up his ass move on the part of the crew guy.

They still would have thrown a debris caution if he hadn't chased the tire. Not a bright move on his part, but it would have been a caution anyways.

4 races into the FOX season and I already want to behead that stupid gopher graphic!

[BrySmalls]

What'd Ambrose do? I only caugth the last 30 laps?

A guy from his pit crew chased a wayward tire out into the grass area by the track causing a caution flag. It was a complete head up his ass move on the part of the crew guy.

They still would have thrown a debris caution if he hadn't chased the tire. Not a bright move on his part, but it would have been a caution anyways.

4 races into the FOX season and I already want to behead that stupid gopher graphic!

I wished Digger was roadkill since last year and its gotten even worse with the short pre-race segment it warrants. Talk about dumbing it down for the kids.

[NEW.ERA]

exciting finish but dayum only 13/14 cars finished on the lead lap?

Yeah Marcos Ambrose's tire screwed everyone up.

Yup. Once that weird thing with the yellow happened it was going to be pretty much impossible to get everyone back into the race.

How about Kurt Busch so far this season? I think he may be a legitimate title contender. That 2 car is running great.

Reminding me of Rusty's 2000 season hopefully the consistency is there for Kurt I really hope he does well.

[oddball]

I'm going to lay off Digger, but I also request that y'all lay off of poor Marcus Ambrose's tire. The tire did nothing wrong! Now the tire changer who didn't set the tire down properly and the catch can guy who like a friggin' moron thought it was a good idea to run out and get the tire, they did wrong. The caution was going to fly, you already had a penalty, just let it go. What was he thinking? "Hey, if I go out and get the tire, no one will see me!" Um, no. You're the only guy in the middle of the track with a tire, oh and the fact that you have a silver apron on, doesn't help your top-secret mission to retrieve the tire.

On other notes. Reed Sorenson is falling like a rock. When does Petty Motorsports fire him? This is the BEST of Reed Sorenson, it only gets worse from here. I can safely say that Mark Martin will not win a championship, let alone be part of the chase this year. Me gut says that he's probably going to miss a few races this year. Sentiment only goes so far. The driver I've been impressed with this year? Tony Stewart. It seems week in and week out he just finds a way to finish top 10. Over time I expected him to be good, but not this good this fast. I understand that he has Hendrick help, but he still needs to own and drive the team. If he can finish top 5 in points this year, that will be the performance of the year hands down.

[BrySmalls]

Q: How long of a suspension does a pit crew member receive for chasing a tire out of pit road?

A: 4 races plus the pit crew chief fined $2,500

[Beast Mode]

I'm going to lay off Digger, but I also request that y'all lay off of poor Marcus Ambrose's tire. The tire did nothing wrong! Now the tire changer who didn't set the tire down properly and the catch can guy who like a friggin' moron thought it was a good idea to run out and get the tire, they did wrong. The caution was going to fly, you already had a penalty, just let it go. What was he thinking? "Hey, if I go out and get the tire, no one will see me!" Um, no. You're the only guy in the middle of the track with a tire, oh and the fact that you have a silver apron on, doesn't help your top-secret mission to retrieve the tire.

On other notes. Reed Sorenson is falling like a rock. When does Petty Motorsports fire him? This is the BEST of Reed Sorenson, it only gets worse from here. I can safely say that Mark Martin will not win a championship, let alone be part of the chase this year. Me gut says that he's probably going to miss a few races this year. Sentiment only goes so far. The driver I've been impressed with this year? Tony Stewart. It seems week in and week out he just finds a way to finish top 10. Over time I expected him to be good, but not this good this fast. I understand that he has Hendrick help, but he still needs to own and drive the team. If he can finish top 5 in points this year, that will be the performance of the year hands down.

Not Vickers? At all?

[dfwabel]

I'm going to lay off Digger, but I also request that y'all lay off of poor Marcus Ambrose's tire. The tire did nothing wrong! Now the tire changer who didn't set the tire down properly and the catch can guy who like a friggin' moron thought it was a good idea to run out and get the tire, they did wrong. The caution was going to fly, you already had a penalty, just let it go. What was he thinking? "Hey, if I go out and get the tire, no one will see me!" Um, no. You're the only guy in the middle of the track with a tire, oh and the fact that you have a silver apron on, doesn't help your top-secret mission to retrieve the tire.

On other notes. Reed Sorenson is falling like a rock. When does Petty Motorsports fire him? This is the BEST of Reed Sorenson, it only gets worse from here. I can safely say that Mark Martin will not win a championship, let alone be part of the chase this year. Me gut says that he's probably going to miss a few races this year. Sentiment only goes so far. The driver I've been impressed with this year? Tony Stewart. It seems week in and week out he just finds a way to finish top 10. Over time I expected him to be good, but not this good this fast. I understand that he has Hendrick help, but he still needs to own and drive the team. If he can finish top 5 in points this year, that will be the performance of the year hands down.

Reed did has a top 10 Daytona finish, but after week 5 he will have to be better than what we see. That top finish makes his points much better. Now, he is only 23, but I do agree that his life in all series should have him be a bit better. He had poor teams before and both he and JPM look to have nice speed, but the shorter tracks will tell for both. And Digger is annoying.

[epper]

I don't think Reed makes it to the end of the year in the 43. If they can't find full-time sponsorship for the 44, AJ will be in that car by July.

[infrared41]

Prediction: By the time we get to The Coca-Cola 600 Brad Keselowski will be sharing the #5 car with Mark Martin. Once it's clear that Martin has no shot at the title (as if it isn't clear already) he'll scale back his schedule.

[NEW.ERA]

Prediction: By the time we get to The Coca-Cola 600 Brad Keselowski will be sharing the #5 car with Mark Martin. Once it's clear that Martin has no shot at the title (as if it isn't clear already) he'll scale back his schedule.

I think he'll finish out this year and then retire and stay on at Hendrick or go over to Roush and do a job in management or whatever then ushering in Keselowski for next season.

[oddball]

I'm going to lay off Digger, but I also request that y'all lay off of poor Marcus Ambrose's tire. The tire did nothing wrong! Now the tire changer who didn't set the tire down properly and the catch can guy who like a friggin' moron thought it was a good idea to run out and get the tire, they did wrong. The caution was going to fly, you already had a penalty, just let it go. What was he thinking? "Hey, if I go out and get the tire, no one will see me!" Um, no. You're the only guy in the middle of the track with a tire, oh and the fact that you have a silver apron on, doesn't help your top-secret mission to retrieve the tire.

On other notes. Reed Sorenson is falling like a rock. When does Petty Motorsports fire him? This is the BEST of Reed Sorenson, it only gets worse from here. I can safely say that Mark Martin will not win a championship, let alone be part of the chase this year. Me gut says that he's probably going to miss a few races this year. Sentiment only goes so far. The driver I've been impressed with this year? Tony Stewart. It seems week in and week out he just finds a way to finish top 10. Over time I expected him to be good, but not this good this fast. I understand that he has Hendrick help, but he still needs to own and drive the team. If he can finish top 5 in points this year, that will be the performance of the year hands down.

Not Vickers? At all?

Nope on Vickers. Why? Because he's just continuing what he did last year and even towards the end of his Hendrick career. Honestly, Vickers is a better driver than Jr. is.

[NEW.ERA]

I'm going to lay off Digger, but I also request that y'all lay off of poor Marcus Ambrose's tire. The tire did nothing wrong! Now the tire changer who didn't set the tire down properly and the catch can guy who like a friggin' moron thought it was a good idea to run out and get the tire, they did wrong. The caution was going to fly, you already had a penalty, just let it go. What was he thinking? "Hey, if I go out and get the tire, no one will see me!" Um, no. You're the only guy in the middle of the track with a tire, oh and the fact that you have a silver apron on, doesn't help your top-secret mission to retrieve the tire.

On other notes. Reed Sorenson is falling like a rock. When does Petty Motorsports fire him? This is the BEST of Reed Sorenson, it only gets worse from here. I can safely say that Mark Martin will not win a championship, let alone be part of the chase this year. Me gut says that he's probably going to miss a few races this year. Sentiment only goes so far. The driver I've been impressed with this year? Tony Stewart. It seems week in and week out he just finds a way to finish top 10. Over time I expected him to be good, but not this good this fast. I understand that he has Hendrick help, but he still needs to own and drive the team. If he can finish top 5 in points this year, that will be the performance of the year hands down.

Not Vickers? At all?

Nope on Vickers. Why? Because he's just continuing what he did last year and even towards the end of his Hendrick career. Honestly, Vickers is a better driver than Jr. is.

11th in points and 3 straight top 10's it's only a matter of time before Vickers wins another race.

[oddball]

Watching Mark Martin, watching Casey Mears, watching Jerry Nadeau, I've come to the conclusion that Rick Hendrick needs to ditch that 4th team. Why? It just seems like for whatever reason that fourth car is stuck in neutral no matter who drives it. If you notice that the 5 car was good until they added the 48. I'm not saying that the 5 car gets worse equipment, what I'm saying is the talent at Hendrick is stretched too thin. If you look at most four car teams or Roush, you'll notice that there is always one car that is not up to par with the rest. At RCR it's the 07 car, and Roush it use to be the 26 car, I haven't looked at the standings currently but it might be the 6 car this year, and at Hendrick it's the 5 car. I wonder if they ditched that car and concentrated on the other three, if Jr might not do better. I don't know how you could improve Jimmie.

[infrared41]

Watching Mark Martin, watching Casey Mears, watching Jerry Nadeau, I've come to the conclusion that Rick Hendrick needs to ditch that 4th team. Why? It just seems like for whatever reason that fourth car is stuck in neutral no matter who drives it. If you notice that the 5 car was good until they added the 48. I'm not saying that the 5 car gets worse equipment, what I'm saying is the talent at Hendrick is stretched too thin. If you look at most four car teams or Roush, you'll notice that there is always one car that is not up to par with the rest. At RCR it's the 07 car, and Roush it use to be the 26 car, I haven't looked at the standings currently but it might be the 6 car this year, and at Hendrick it's the 5 car. I wonder if they ditched that car and concentrated on the other three, if Jr might not do better. I don't know how you could improve Jimmie.

I think you're pretty much right on the money with this. It doesn't seem to matter who is driving that 4th Hendrick car, it just never performs as well as the 24 & 48. I've noticed that the 5 car always seems to improve towards the end of the season. That would indicate to me that it's taking that crew longer to get a firm grip on everything because they don't have the same resources. Clearly the most resources are going to go to the most successful cars. The 5 is never going to get anything at the expense of the other three.

[beansdooma]

that was absolutely incredible.

[raysox]

Wow.

That finish was insane.

Edwards goes to block Keslowski, gets clipped, spins, flips, into the fence, and is torn apart.

Keslowski wins at 'Dega.

[LC]

That's probably the only time we'll see the 09 car, or any car from whatever team that is, win a race. It was pretty cool to see that.

IMO, Brad Keselowski will wind up with one of the big teams next year.

[NEW.ERA]

I got chills when Carl went into the Fence, but it was clean by Keselowski it was just racing great race today and I believe that is the first time a COT car got airborne 2 years since it's inception.

[sc49erfan15]

That's probably the only time we'll see the 09 car, or any car from whatever team that is, win a race. It was pretty cool to see that.

IMO, Brad Keselowski will wind up with one of the big teams next year.

The team that fielded #09 is actually Phoenix Racing, this was the team\'s first win, but they've been involved in the Cup and Busch/Nationwide series since 1989 - never a full schedule and featuring relatively obscure 1990s drivers such as "Never Nervous" Jeff Purvis. Neil Bonnett actually drove a Phoenix car (the #51 sponsored by Country Time lemonade) when he died during practice for the 1994 Daytona 500. I remember this well because my dad was a big Neil Bonnett fan.

Some pictures of mid-90s Phoenix Racing cars that some older NASCAR fans might recognize:

Jeff Purvis' early 90s ride:

You may recognize that #51 number font from...

Neil Bonnett's #51 in 1994, taken over by Jeff Purvis after Bonnett died. I vividly remember that day-glo pink car, Country Time lemonade came with a 1:64 scale replica.

Jeff Purvis' #44 from about 1995:

I saw this car in the Sprint Cup Showdown at the All-Star Race at Charlotte last year. I\'m pretty sure Johnny Sauter drove it, and it always ran last - a good 5 seconds behind the second-to-last car. FUBAR is right - that car is hideous.

And, of course, the car Keselowski piloted to victory today:

[NEW.ERA]

Amazing pictures.