2007 Kobalt Tools 500 @ Atlanta NEXTEL Cup Event Thread *SPOILERS*

[kingfloopy]

Mark Martin still the points leader unofficially. Good run by Montoya, I easily see him being rookie of the year. Although I'm pulling for Menard since his sponsor/dad's stores are awesome, I was just at one of the local one's today.

Another poor showing by Toyota with their best finisher in 27th, the other 3 starters out of the top-35, and 3 cars going home. Dominating the trucks with mediocre manufacturer support is one thing, but it really doesn't look like they were prepared for Cup does it? Dodge was fast out of the gate in 2001 and pulled off some pretty good finishes and qualifying efforts. A lot of it probably is due to the teams they are affiliated with. Bill Davis has been back of the pack for the last few years and only had minor success before that. Red Bull racing has two relatively inexperienced drivers and had not made a race before this season. Waltrip racing ran poorly last year and Michael is distracted by being an owner and a driver. That's at least partially to blame for his teams performance. You can't really do the owner-driver thing anymore unless you have good management for the team, Kyle Petty learned that the hard way.

I was half expecting Toyota to come in and start being competitive right from the start. But I really don't see them winning races even next season at this rate. The only possible saving grace may be the CoT which will even things out somewhat. But I imagine they are still going to be hurting. There is no chance Allmendinger, Waltrip, and Mayfield will ever make the top-35 this season. There are enough cars ahead of them and they have missed enough races it will just not happen. Jarrett will be missing races shortly as he has burned up 4 of his 6 champions provisionals in the first 4 races. I am 95% sure he will use the last two in the next two races and won't be top-35 by then. After that he will start missing races. Reutimann has been a surprise and a proficient qualifier, but the results aren't there.

I can see several things happening. I expect Mayfield will be looking for a new ride before the Coke 600. Allmendinger will also probably be released from the #84, but I think Red Bull will keep him in a Busch or Truck entry. I also expect Waltrip to have a tough time bringing NAPA back as a sponsor, he can only use his advertising skills to keep them happy for so long. I also believe Caterpillar has their contract with the #22 expiring at seasons end and I can easily see them leaving at year's end as that team has been poor for 5 seasons now.

Sorry for getting a little off topic, I find this whole Toyota deal fascinating for some reason (kind of like a train wreck maybe).

J.D.