The Homestead thread - final race...

**gomick** · 17 Nov 2007, 20:42 (Ref:2069768)

Ron Hornaday just snatched the Truck title from Mike Skinner....

1. Ron Hornaday - 3982
2. Mike Skinner - 3928
3. Johnny Benson - 3557
4. Todd Bodine - 3525
5. Rick Crawford - 3523
6. Travis Kvapil - 3511
7. Ted Musgrave - 3183
8. Matt Crafton - 3060
9. Jack Sprague - 3001
10. David Starr - 2921

Jimmie Johnson has pole for the cup race from Ryan Newman - Jeff Gordon will start from p11...

Busch series is about to start - go Marcos

Speed-King · 17 Nov 2007, 21:22 (Ref:2069786)

Anyone else trying to watch the Busch race?
Is the stream on nascar.com working for you, or just showing a standby image?

ThePenguin · 18 Nov 2007, 00:26 (Ref:2069873)

Quote:

Originally Posted by gomick

Ron Hornaday just snatched the Truck title from Mike Skinner....

muggle not · 18 Nov 2007, 01:30 (Ref:2069902)

The Championship race for the trucks was pretty exciting. Wonder what would have happened if the whells hadn't come off.

Watching the Busch race tonight I was thinking.......darn, that Mark Martin can still drive a car.

Fish_Flake · 18 Nov 2007, 08:52 (Ref:2069985)

Kimi Raikkonen went from third in the Formula 1 drivers' standings to first in the final round to clinch the World Championship. The season-long battle between Dario Franchitti was not settled until the final turn of the IndyCar season. Ron Hornaday leapfrogged past Mike Skinner for the Craftsman Truck Series title on Friday night. Something tells me that the Nextel Cup championship will provide its own share of great drama.

Last2LiftOff · 18 Nov 2007, 10:29 (Ref:2070039)

Quote:

Originally Posted by muggle not

Watching the Busch race tonight I was thinking.......darn, that Mark Martin can still drive a car.

And Hornish was running very well in that race I thought, until he got taken out. Pretty big turnaround in that car between races. But that Richard Childress Chevrolet of Burton's was all alone out front. One interview after the race was, "yeah, we had a little bit more but wanted to play it conservatively." That was impressive and as dialed-in as I've seen one of those cars yet, having only seen a few races mind you. Still, pretty cool.

muggle not · 18 Nov 2007, 15:15 (Ref:2070212)

No question, Burton and team had it all together in the Busch race. It was sad to see that it was the last race that will be in the "Busch Series". Somehow Nationwide doesn't sound right. Time cures many ills though and we will probably get used to Nationwide.

Knowlesy · 18 Nov 2007, 17:14 (Ref:2070275)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish_Flake

Kimi Raikkonen went from third in the Formula 1 drivers' standings to first in the final round to clinch the World Championship. The season-long battle between Dario Franchitti was not settled until the final turn of the IndyCar season. Ron Hornaday leapfrogged past Mike Skinner for the Craftsman Truck Series title on Friday night. Something tells me that the Nextel Cup championship will provide its own share of great drama.

For the love of god I hope so! Go Jeff!

muggle not · 18 Nov 2007, 17:42 (Ref:2070285)

Four times in the first 35 races (11.1 percent of the time) Gordon has outscored Johnson by at least 86 points in a race.

It ain't over till it's over.

**FIRE** · 18 Nov 2007, 18:06 (Ref:2070300)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Speed-King

Anyone else trying to watch the Busch race?
Is the stream on nascar.com working for you, or just showing a standby image?

I had moving images but also a lot of buffering problems.

VilleneuveTracy · 18 Nov 2007, 21:38 (Ref:2070427)

JPM having good luck? Could it be?

A timely caution puts about half the lead lap cars a lap down. JPM, who moved from 32nd to the mid-teens on merit, is now running 5th.

Notably, both JG and JJ got caught a lap down, although they stayed out when the leaders pitted and are now on the tail end of the lead lap. Had JG stayed out it could have been a huge break for him.

Knowlesy · 18 Nov 2007, 23:36 (Ref:2070461)

Not that that lasted long, Burton and Jr. brought the caution out immediately!

Smooth running for Jimmie thus far. Only cruel luck can stop him now.

muggle not · 19 Nov 2007, 00:16 (Ref:2070480)

Good race for JPM even if he faded a bit towards the last 3rd of the race,

Congrats to Kenseth for the win.

Congrats to Gordon for an awesome season. If I understand correctly he had 30 top 10 finishes.

And lastly, Congrats to Johnson for winning the Championship under the Chase format and for coming in 2nd to Gordon under the Classic and true system.

I think it is going to be a long year for Hornish next year.

VilleneuveTracy · 19 Nov 2007, 01:00 (Ref:2070502)

The area where JPM's team needs to improve the most is in making their car better over the course of a race. In several races, including the last two (at Phoenix JPM quickly moved up to 8th on the first run) and Texas, JPM is fast on the first run or the first few runs but winds up being a 15th place car. Of course, much of this improvement will come naturally as he logs more time with his crew chief. Compare Jeff Gordon's second season with his current crew chief with his first season with him, for instance.

I agree. Hornish will have a year similar to Allmendinger imo. The problem is that Hornish is struggling mightily in chase-caliber equipment.

Knowlesy · 19 Nov 2007, 22:22 (Ref:2071234)

Hornish looks not too promising to me either. The thing is, JV is qualifying in a BDR car with no troubles, Carpentier has at least stayed out of trouble and JPM has looked promising in a CGR car. It took Hornish an age to qualify a Penske and he hasn't exactly looked great when he has raced. I bet Kurt Busch is delighted to be handing his guaranteed starting slot to Sam!

Congrats to Johnson and Knaus anyways. A great year by all accounts and especially in the chase section But how can a man who sets a record for top 10's lose out on the title? Madness.

ThePenguin · 20 Nov 2007, 01:54 (Ref:2071371)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Hornish looks not too promising to me either. The thing is, JV is qualifying in a BDR car with no troubles, Carpentier has at least stayed out of trouble and JPM has looked promising in a CGR car. It took Hornish an age to qualify a Penske and he hasn't exactly looked great when he has raced. I bet Kurt Busch is delighted to be handing his guaranteed starting slot to Sam!

Congrats to Johnson and Knaus anyways. A great year by all accounts and especially in the chase section But how can a man who sets a record for top 10's lose out on the title? Madness.

I think that it will take time for Hornish to get good in a cup car, but he can do it. Kurt Busch doesn't really care about handing his guaranteed starting spot to Sam, because in the unlikely event that he can't qualify, he can use his champions provisional. I think that we may see some changes in the chase, because of the huge lead that Gordon had going into the chase, and then losing the chase.

VilleneuveTracy · 20 Nov 2007, 03:35 (Ref:2071403)

I agree, knowlesy. If JV and Carpentier are having no problem making races in mediocre equipment (Evernham was not good this year) it is not a good sign that it took Hornish 6 races to qualify for a race in Chase-level equipment. Moreover, at Phoenix they were basically as fast as him in inferior machinery. I think we will not have a good idea as to how JV, Carpentier, and Hornish will do in NASCAR until May or June of next year but the early signs are not good for Hornish.

**Craig** · 22 Nov 2007, 02:02 (Ref:2073100)

Well it was looking good there for a bit, JPM wise. I was heckling the Jr fans around me who had booed Pablo at driver introductions. Thankfully, long before JPM started to fall back, Dale had hit EVERYTHING in sight and was about 23 laps down! What the hell was he doing? It reminded me of his day at the Daytona 500 in 02... has he learned nothing in 5 and a half years?!! Very funny to watch though.

Sad to see JJ win again. I'm no JG fan but I do respect him and would have preferred to see him win. I left the venue feeling somewhat cheated... I came hoping to see a real battle for the title but it all just kinda petered out in four hours of nothingness. Still, it was a good year. Daytona soon...

VilleneuveTracy · 22 Nov 2007, 08:22 (Ref:2073206)

For some reason most of the time JPM has a strong car early in the race it gradually gets worse as the race progresses. Martinsville was an exception. Think Homestead, Texas, and Phoenix (he quickly marched to 8th at Phoenix before slipping back gradually to eventually finish 17th). On the plus side, when the car is lousy at the beginning of the race the team is at a point where they can get it at least to the top 20 by the end of the race. I think much of this will naturally correct itself as JPM enters his second season with his crew chief.

Junior had a lousy day. It was a fitting end, in many ways, to this season.

The Chase has become less competitive each year by Homestead, for whatever reason. Remember the first one? Three drivers with 21 points, Jr. was 4th entering Homestead 72 points back, and Martin was about 80 points out. In 05' the margin heading into the final race was 50+, in 06' it was 60+, and this year 86 points. I think the best thing NASCAR could do to close the gap would be to have the Chasers operate under their own points system. For instance, instead of being destroyed with a 40th place finish that would be considered a 12th place finish among the 12 drivers. This would place less emphasis on luck and allow drivers to remain in the battle despite some bad luck,

muggle not · 22 Nov 2007, 16:33 (Ref:2073612)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig

Well it was looking good there for a bit, JPM wise. I was heckling the Jr fans around me who had booed Pablo at driver introductions. Thankfully, long before JPM started to fall back, Dale had hit EVERYTHING in sight and was about 23 laps down! What the hell was he doing? It reminded me of his day at the Daytona 500 in 02... has he learned nothing in 5 and a half years?!! Very funny to watch though.

Sad to see JJ win again. I'm no JG fan but I do respect him and would have preferred to see him win. I left the venue feeling somewhat cheated... I came hoping to see a real battle for the title but it all just kinda petered out in four hours of nothingness. Still, it was a good year. Daytona soon...

Your dinner today will probably be much better than the race was at Homestead.

Don't forget to watch Green Bay vs Detroit.

Knowlesy · 23 Nov 2007, 19:58 (Ref:2074373)

Junior was a little unlucky. The pit road is very tricky at Homestead and he just got caught out on that. And then on the restart he got hit by Jeff Burton, which was kind of 50/50 really. A day that summed up his season in many ways.

It's gonna be a long off season. I thoroughly enjoyed this season and can't wait for the Bud Shootout in February.

J-C · 24 Nov 2007, 11:14 (Ref:2074603)

It's funny that despite there being a NASCAR race of some description every week for the last 40-odd weeks, now the season's over I really can't wait for Daytona to roll around. Hopefully next year though I will have TV coverage rather than using a timing screen and forums to follow the races!

**Craig** · 24 Nov 2007, 14:29 (Ref:2074688)

Unlucky? Nah. Just crap. Every time you saw him he was backing it into the wall, spinning, tipping someone else into the wall, coming down pitlane cos he'd brushed the wall and needed more new tyres or just getting bored and spinning again. It was quite something to see!

Knowlesy · 24 Nov 2007, 17:06 (Ref:2074748)

To be honest, if he was crap, I'm not surprised. There was an interview with him after the race and he did not appear in the state of mind to even be driving anyways. Saying he couldn't wait to leave DEI and not to have to deal with "jerks" anymore and all that.

Next year will be the making of Jr, it will be far better. 2007 has been a terrible nightmare.

muggle not · 24 Nov 2007, 20:30 (Ref:2074859)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

To be honest, if he was crap, I'm not surprised. There was an interview with him after the race and he did not appear in the state of mind to even be driving anyways. Saying he couldn't wait to leave DEI and not to have to deal with "jerks" anymore and all that.

Next year will be the making of Jr, it will be far better. 2007 has been a terrible nightmare.

IMO Jr wil finish in the top 5 next year.

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