Whose Shake Is This!!?

It’s Talladega, Baby!!!

It’s the race we’ve been waiting for!! The Aarons 499 from Talladega Superspeedway tees off tomorrow at Noon. Qualifying and all Satruday activities at Talladega have just been canceled as I write this up. The field is set by owner points and Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth start on the front row. But it really doesn’t matter much at ‘Dega who wins the pole. It more a matter of who survives the inevitable mayhem at the end. The spoiler seems to improve the racing at Texas, but ‘Dega will be it’s first real test. Can it keeps the cars out front taking off like goddamn fight-bombers? Can it break up the drafting parades a bit and allow for more passing?

Practice speeds at ‘Dega are not always a strong indicator either of success, since some of the back markers practice in qualifying trim in the hope of garnering some the start and park money. Mike Bliss, for example, notched 197.268 mph in the 2nd practice…the 3rd highest speed. Junior and Jeff Burton and Bad Brad Kesolowski had great practice runs. Burton topped the charts in the 2nd practice at a sizzling 199.467 mph and I’m still (sorta) hanging on to the Jeff Burton Bandwagon by the skin of my teeth. But truth be told, I’d rather see Junior win this one instead of Burton. And, as always, Kenseth for the win over anyone else.

But enough of these feeble words.

It’s Talladega, Baby!!

It’s Talladega, Baby!! And it my first semi-annual fan-service extravaganza. Jimmie Johnson comes into to Talladega with a 108 point lead on Matt Kenseth, but I’m not going to let that rain on our parade here. It’s Talladega, Baby!! And that means, TITS!!

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Last Sunday, at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana CA, the real 2010 NASCAR season began. The Daytona 500, after all, is a spectacle, an aberration, a crap-shoot, and where one finishes there is a no indication of future performance. ((Yes, I’m talking to YOU Derrike Cope)). The Auto Club 500 last Sunday was a more accurate race for soothsayers and pundits to begin with in the their various divinations of how the season will unfold.

Jamie McMary continued his Daytona momentum by grabbing the pole, but the air rushed out of that balloon as he finished a more expected 17th. Now don’t get me wrong, the move back to Gannasi is a good thing for McMary, and he will have some good finishes as the season rolls on. But now the real season will begin to sort itself out. LasVegas will be the next puzzle piece to be fit into place.

At Califormia, the Roushketeers, with the exception of Dave Ragan ((23rd)), did well. Matt, with new crew chief Todd Parrott, finished 7th. Biff was 10th. The Carl ((who just had his first kid this week, a little 8 lb 4 oz canned ham named Anne—congrats to Carl and his wife)) finished 13th. My new favourite lout Kevin Harvick is getting himself in stride and finished 2nd (more on that after the bump). And the Jeff Burton (3rd) bandwagon is starting to get fired up. Monsieur Bowyer finished 8th. Nice to see all the Childress boys in the top 10, at least for one descending series of moments. Kurt Bsch had a solid car….Tony Stewart finished strong, as did Joey Logano ((who rebounded nicely from Saturday’s little spin through the weed)),  and Mark Martin, and all were top 10.

But as is well known, there are machinations, and the there are evil machinations. There is ability, and then there is damned ability. But none of those count for much more than what they would ordinarily count for when you also have luck.

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One of my ongoing frustrations I’ve had over the years has been the general dearth of coverage by the  NASCAR press both mainstream and otherwise, of the inner workings of Roush Fenway racing in general and of Matt Kenseth in particular. A lot of times, it’s more a matter of trying to read tea-leaves, or read between the lines, or extrapolate from what is NOT said rather than what IS said to gain some insight and understanding worthy of analysis.

So it is somewhat refreshing and surprising to read in the wake of the Daytona 500, not one, but TWO  articles on Matt Kenseth and Roush Racing on NASCAR.com.  The first one announced the replacement Matt’s crew chief, Drew Blickensderfer with Todd Parrot. The second article went into the reasoning behind the switch taking us behind the scenes at Rousch Racing.  As I watched Sunday’s race I could tell that Matt was struggling with the #17 Crown Royal Ford. He really couldn’t get any traction in the race. Something was clearly off with the setup and nothing much seemed to be done during the race to change or adjust it. And how he snuck into the top 10 at the end to finish 8th, I honestly don’t know. And neither does Matt, to be honest.  He made the top 10 in spite of everything.

I think the crew-chief change was long over due. Since Robbie Reiser left the war wagon, Matt has struggled with 2 crew-chiefs who technically were very competent and bright, but didn’t and don’t have the forceful personality and leadership skills that Robbie Reiser had. Chip Bolen was over his skis as a leader. Blick got Matt off to a great start last year but couldn’t sustain it.

Todd Parrott will be a great asset to Matt and his team. His forceful personality will galvanize a team that has under-performed.  Today’s Auto Club 500 at Fontana will have BOTH Parrott and Reiser atop the #17 war wagon. All hands on deck, indeed.

Meanwhile, speaking of last Sunday’s Daytona 500…

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