Pit Stop Report

As promised, I’m going to bare all here at the Pit Stop Report and lay out the predictions from my ill-fated magazine article, and then compare them to reality. Some are funny, some actually on target. Either way, get your fill here!

Prediction
Speaking of drivers that fans either love to love or love to hate, Jeff Gordon has failed to live up to predictions that he would soon overtake the milestones set by racing champion Dale Earnhardt, Sr., and has not won a championship since 2001. Gordon needs a major infusion of both consistency and luck to revitalize his career so that he can truly chase after the seven championship mark set by both Earnhardt, Sr. and Richard Petty – a mark he’s still shy of by three. Since he’s tamed down his whiny/bad boy image, his career has slacked…perhaps Stewart and Gordon can exchange attitudes and both can find success.

Reality
Gordon found an extreme amount of success in 2007 with (count ‘em) 6 wins, 30 top tens and 21 top fives. In addition, Jeff was on the pole SEVEN times this year. For consistency, he definitely had teammate Jimmie beat, but he just didn’t have enough wins when it counted: during the chase. Man, Jimmie just seemed untouchable near the end, didn’t he? Gordon drove his absolute heart out and it really looked like he might get his next championship in 2007, but it just didn’t come true, as he ended the season 77 points back. In what is now a recurring mantra…maybe next year, Jeff.

One last PvR coming up: come back in just a few to check on Kevin Harvick!

Until then, drive fast and turn left!

Jeff Gordon, NASCAR

As promised, I’m going to bare all here at the Pit Stop Report and lay out the predictions from my ill-fated magazine article, and then compare them to reality. Some are funny, some actually on target. Either way, get your fill here!

Prediction
A driver who had high highs and low lows in 2006 was Tony Stewart. The bad boy many fans love to hate and others religiously cheer will surely redeem himself in 2007, pulling together a more consistent season with fewer breakdowns and more top-ten finishes. Stewart has never lacked for wins; now he just needs to place higher than a DNF on races where he doesn’t capture the checkered flag. Perhaps his finish in 2006, without even making an appearance in the Championship, will bring the humility he needs to become a more likeable driver in the future.

Reality
Apparently, my crystal ball likes Tony better than Toyotas, because was I right on, or right on? He made the Chase, he finished 6th over all, he had 3 wins and TWENTY FOUR top tens. Tony, oh Tony. I still am not a big fan, but drive, baby, drive. Apparently, 2006 was truly a fluke season for Tony, because Bad Boy got his groove back a la 2005 in ‘07. What will ‘08 bring???

Stay tuned to see if my crystal ball stayed clear for my ‘07 Jeff Gordon predictions…

Until then, drive fast and turn left!

Tony Stewart, NASCAR

As promised, I’m going to bare all here at the Pit Stop Report and lay out the predictions from my ill-fated magazine article, and then compare them to reality. Some are funny, some actually on target. Either way, get your fill here!

Prediction
Friendly Lowe’s driver Jimmie Johnson is coming off the highest of highs, having just won the Chase for the Championship in 2006. Perhaps one of the most consistently successful drivers since the inception of the Chase, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Jimmie roll into the 2007 season with a win at Daytona, which he also won in 2006. Even without a win at Daytona, it would be hard to imagine a Championship without Jimmie this coming year.

Reality
Ok…I was wrong on Daytona, obviously, but dang what a season! Back to back Championships - go, Jimmie, go! I was expecting Jimmie to be successful this season, but this level of success just blew me away. Despite some issues early on, Jimmie just continued on. Win upon win upon win. Whew! What more can I say?

Next PvR - Bad Boy Tony Stewart…what did I guess for him?? Check back to find out!

Until then, drive fast and turn left!

Jimmie Johnson, NASCAR

As promised, I’m going to bare all here at the Pit Stop Report and lay out the predictions from my ill-fated magazine article, and then compare them to reality. Some are funny, some actually on target. Either way, get your fill here!

Prediction
Watch the Dale Earnhardt, Inc. camp carefully in 2007, as affairs heat up between star driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and the team owner, who is also his step-mother, Teresa Earnhardt. Given the ultimatum of choosing between a career in racing and a career as a public personality, Jr. may find the impetus to finally achieve his first championship season. Although qualifying for the Chase in two of the three seasons since its inception, each finish has been lackluster at best. As he struggles over deciding the best route for his future, which may well include eventually driving the Black #3 made famous by his father, this could turn out to be a breakthrough year.

Reality
Well, I was right about one thing: DEI needed close watching in 2007, and now it’ll need even closer watching to see what’ll become of Teresa’s baby in 2008. She may have given Jr. an ultimatum to race instead of be a celebrity, but he gave her the ultimate ultimatum when he asked for a share of the company and was denied…and so decided to depart for Hendrick. What a lousy season…didn’t qualify…again. How many blown engines? I can’t barely stand to think about it. I’ll admit to you, dear audience, that I’m way disappointed that Jr. went to Hendrick instead of RCR, but I am anxious to see how he’ll perform in the #88 in 2008. All those 8s…bound to be good luck, right?

Next up…Jr’s new Hendrick teammate, Jimmy Johnson.

Until then, drive fast and turn left!

Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR

As promised, I’m going to bare all here at the Pit Stop Report and lay out the predictions from my ill-fated magazine article, and then compare them to reality. Some are funny, some actually on target. Either way, get your fill here!

Prediction
A large change will be coming to NASCAR in 2007 – the introduction of a new vehicle to a field that has been held down for years by Chevrolet, Ford and Dodge. The long-awaited debut of Toyota vehicles will occur at this year’s Daytona 500, with drivers Michael Waltrip, Jeremy Mayfield and Dale Jarrett. All three drivers have had triumphs and heartbreaks in previous seasons and all are at different places in their respective careers. Perhaps this willingness to become poster children for Toyota’s first year will pay off in gold, allowing careers that haven’t been spectacular in recent years to rebound with style. The Toyota team is rounded off by Dave Blaney, Brian Vickers, rookie David Reutimann, and former open-wheel racer AJ Allmendinger, but any potential victories will likely not come from their camps. Toyota’s best bet for victory in 2007 will appear in Jeremy Mayfield, whose career should become totally revitalized with the move to a new team and a new car, redeeming him from the misery he endured in 2006. Don’t count out Dale Jarrett, either, as he looks to show that his career is still moving forward and he continues his strategic partnership with UPS. Michael Waltrip may have an early victory in ’07, but seems to be more involved in the business end of bringing Toyota to Nextel Cup racing than in actually racing a Toyota.

Reality
Jeremy Mayfield as the brightest hope for Toyota? What the heck was I smoking? Jeremy Mayfield finished the season in 45th place, 1 place behind Michael Waltrip, who raced in 3 less events! ACK! Mayfield didn’t even spend the whole season in his Toyota, jumping to a Chevy ride in October.

And speaking of Michael, it seems that I was right about him being more concerned about business than driving. Not sure where the talent went that was present when he won the Daytona 500 in 2001, but I can’t even see it with binoculars these days. Mikey, Mikey, where have you gone?! His season started out miserably with penalties, and didn’t get any better from there.

Dale Jarrett, despite his continuing popularity due to his partnership with UPS, disappointed me this year as well, finishing 41st with only 24 starts. Seems I didn’t count him out enough!

So who was the brightest start in a Toyota this year? Dave Blaney, who finished the season in 31st. That’s miserable at best.

So…now that you know that my crystal ball was obviously broken in 2007, you’ll definitely want to hurry on to my next post, look at predictions versus reality for Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Until then, drive fast and turn left!

Dave Blaney, Michael Waltrip, Jeremy Mayfield, Toyota Racing, NASCAR, Dale Jarrett, David Reutimann, AJ Allmendinger, Brian Vickers

Good morning, NASCAR fans!

My name is Tiffany Aller, and I am the brand-new host for the Pit Stop Report - and I can’t wait to get started!

With the 2007 racing season just barely behind us and the 50th running of the Daytona 500 only 3 months in the future, we’ll have a lot of ground to cover in this off-season!

A little about me: I am a full-time HR professional employed by a major airline who enjoys blogging and writing web content in her free time. I’ve been a lifelong fan of NASCAR and grew up a stone’s throw from Pocono Raceway in beautiful Long Pond, Pennsylvania. I now live in Texas, quite close to the Texas Motor Speedway…a venue that fills a lot of my time while taking a lot of my money!

My vision for this blog is to not only cover the latest news from the world of Cup racing, but also take a look at what’s happening all over the world of racing - trucks, ARCA, IRL - you name it, and I’ll hit it every so often. My main focus will remain on Cup…but I’ll tackle any topic at least once!

I’m very open to suggestions and thrive on feedback, so feel free to throw your ideas my way…you may just see them develop into articles for the future!

Here’s where we’re going to get started together:

Back in early 2007, I wrote an article for a new sports magazine that unfortunately folded before my work could be published. Within that article, I made a number of predictions for the upcoming Cup season…and so with the Pit Stop Report, I’m going to go ahead and expose my predictions to the world, and then compare them to what actually transpired. Let’s just say that I’m EXTREMELY disappointed in Michael Waltrip! I do agree with former PSR writer Scott that Michael is hilarious in his ads, but I wish to heck he could drive! (Waltrip and Napa)

We’ll hit a comparison of my predictions versus reality for the first couple posts. That should lead us up to the awards ceremony on Friday, and then we’ll take a nice long look at how the ceremony progresses. We all know who the top 12 are - but after the ceremony, we’ll take a recap look at speeches by driver as well as anything noteworthy. Since the recap will start on December 1st, I foresee calling it “The Twelve Days of NASCAR”.

Going forward to the end of the year, we’ll look at current happenings with Cup teams, and then also start look at off-season happenings within other racing leagues. After the first of the year, we’ll begin a series of predictions for the 2008 season, and then take a nice long look at the legacy and legend that is the Daytona.

I’m so happy to cyber-meet all of you, and I look forward to your continued readership in the future! I’m busily setting up a MySpace page to go along with the Pit Stop Report and I hope that you’ll wander over to see it and become a part of my friends list! If you’re on my friends list, you’ll be able to see a list of all posts on the Pit Stop Report, delivered live through your bulletin board listing! You’ll find this to be a great reminder of when to come visit new posts as they go live. WARNING: the MySpace page is still in development - I only found out that I was selected to host the Pit Stop Report a few days ago, so there is a lot still in development!

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope to see you again soon!

Tiffany

NASCAR, Michael Waltrip, Daytona International Raceway, Champions Week, Awards Ceremony

With the Daytona 500 coming up in less than 2 weeks now, I want to lay down my predictions for who will make the 2007 Nextel Cup Chase. As you all know, NASCAR is expanding the Chase to 12 participants. Will your favorite driver make it? Will my predictions be even remotely close? Well, here they are. Let me know what you think. These are in no particular order.

1. Tony Stewart - Being absent from the Chase in 2006 has Tony biting at the chomps for the 2007 season to start so he will not miss it again.

2. Jimmie Johnson - Jimmie hasn’t missed a Chase yet and with last year’s championship, he is not about to this year.

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Dale will make the Chase again this year, either to prove to nasty ol’ stepmom that he belongs at DEI Inc. or to prove to Richard Childress that it won’t be a mistake to hire him.

4. Jeff Gordon - This 4-time champion will not miss the Chase unless he gets sidetracked with his wife who is due with their first child in June. Either way, congratulations to the Gordon’s.

5. Kasey Kahne - With six wins last year, his victorius efforts will be doubley rewarded this year. Less DNF’s will help too.

6. Matt Kenseth - Kenseth stumbled a little in the Chase last year, but his consistancy will prove to be his golden ticket.

7. Denny Hamlin - The 2006 Nextel Cup Rookie of the Year proved that he is NASCAR tough, and with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, they won’t let Denny slack off his sophmore year.

8. Carl Edwards - After a tough 2006 season, Carl will rebound and make the Chase in 2007. He ran the Busch series very well last year finishing in 2nd behind Kevin Harvick. With Rouch Racing making a huge push to be competitive with Toyota, that should only play in his favor.

9. Greg Biffle - In 2005, Biffle just missed winning the championship and followed with a disappointing 2006, this will edge him on this season to make the Chase.

10. Kevin Harvick - Kevin almost added a Nextel Cup championship to go with his Busch series championship last year. This consistantcy in both series will land him in the Chase again this year.

11. Elliott Sadler - Give Elliott a full year with Evernham Racing and that will equal a Chase qualification.

12. Kurt Busch - A rough start last year doomed Kurt from the beginning. Look forward to him redeeming himself this year.

On The Bubble - Ryan Newman - If “Mr Polewinner” got bonus points for winning poles then he would no doubt make the Chase. If he can win a couple more races this year, watch for Ryan to be in the Chase!

So, that is my prediction for the 2007 Nextel Cup Chase qualifiers. Stop back in November to see how I did.

Till the next Pit Stop…..

NASCAR, The Chase, 2007 Nextel Cup, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Daytona 500

It was Jimmie Johnson Day in San Diego Wednesday. Johnson, 31, is the first driver in any of the speed sports named athlete of the year in San Diego. The celebration was complete with proclamations from Mayor Jerry Sanders and the County Board of Supervisors and even a message from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Enshrined in the city’s Hall of Champions in Balboa Park, Johnson, who was born in nearby El Cajon, fielded questions from a handful of writers and made his feelings crystal clear. During the questioning, Johnson fielded questions about his personality, the Car of Tomorrow and the recent changes to the Chase format.

“I’m still trying to get over the Chase in general, and now we’ve got a change in the Chase,” Johnson said. “I’m disappointed, because it takes away from the first 26 races. All you’ve got to do is be in the top 12, and you’ve got some crazy seeding based on wins, and I’m not sure that format’s going to inspire anybody to win. We’re always trying to win as it is.

“I don’t know how it’s going to make for a better show. That’s been a concern of mine all along. I think there needs to be more separation in the points, and in my opinion, they needed to have a bigger break when you got into the Chase. All that’s built on the fact that we have 26 races, and I think there should be more credit given to a team over those 26 races, and it’s kind of going the other way now. It’s less credit for what you accomplish during the season.

Despite what Jimmie feels about the changes to the Chase format, expect to see him battling in the Chase again this year as he tries to accomplish a repeat performance of last year.

Till the next Pit Stop…..

NASCAR, Jimmie Johnson, San Diego, The Chase, Car of Tomorrow

Well, I have seen it all now! Trac Vac has introduced a NASCAR themed vacuum.

I would think of it as more of a toy than anything else, but if you can clean up those spilled pretzels and still watch the race, then more power to you. This remote controlled robotic vacuum is officially licensed by NASCAR and priced at $279.95 at Hollywood Gadgets.

The radio frequency remote control provides accurate steering capability, but also cleans using 5 pre-programmed vacuuming patterns. I can see everyone programming it to run laps on a short track like Bristol, or a superspeedway like Talledega and of course their favorite road course like Watkins Glen.

It also has a pit stop designed charging station so it even looks cool while it is out and charging. So order yours today and enjoy!

Till the next Pit Stop…..

NASCAR, Trac Vac, Hollywood Gadgets

Last fall I was struggling between which satelite radio to get. I like new techy stuff and satelite radios had caught my fancy. When it was announced that NASCAR would be moving to Sirius Satelite Radio and that Tony Stewart would have his own show, that made my mind up, right then and there.

The beginning of 2007 marked the start of NASCAR broadcasts on Sirus Satelite Radio on CH. 128 and I was there with my radio listening in. I was really impressed with how indepth these shows went into on some subjects. It really broadens your base in NASCAR knowledge as every aspect of NASCAR is covered.

NASCAR coverage is on 24/7/365 with its full daily schedule. At night, most of the daily shows are reaired. This makes it very convienent if you have a non traditional schedule to keep up on your NASCAR news.

The shows are anchored by NASCAR insiders with the likes of John Kernan, David Poole, Marty Snider and Matt Yocum and are joined by NASCAR drivers like Buddy Baker, Johnny Benson, Randy LaJoie, Ron Hornaday, Ricky Craven, Phil Parsons and John Andretti.

Tony Stewarts’ show airs on Tuesday nights from 8 - 10 PM each week. Matt Youcum joins Tony as they give you the insiders edge in NASCAR news and views.

Sirius will also air each race this year and will include 10 ic car radio channels so you can listen to your favorite driver in action. I cannot wait till Daytona to listen to their live race coverage. So grab a Sirius radio and join in on the NASCAR fun on Channel 128.

Till the next Pit Stop…..

NASCAR, Tony Stewart, Sirius Satelite Radio

For weeks now, NASCAR has repeatedly denied that they were going to make changes to their Nextel Cup Points cunundrum know as “The Chase”.

Well, according to ESPN.com, NASCAR officials have now announced that they will make changes to their point system. As of now, to qualify for “The Chase”, you had to be in the top 10 in points or within 400 points of the leader after 26 races into the season. The new system will allow the top 12 to qualify and totally drops the 400 point inclusion.

This is all a little to late for 2005 Nextel Cup Champion Tony Stewart, who finished a handful of points out of the 2006 Nextel Cup Chase, then went on to win three of the last ten races and possibly missed winning his third championship.

But, this is definately a step in the right direction, as NASCAR has at least admitted the current system is not perfect. An official announcement is expected later this month from NASCAR.

I have been working on my own point system and will reveal it at a later date. Let me know what you think of NASCAR’s change to “The Chase” or let us know of your ideas to improve the point system.

Till the next Pit Stop…..

NASCAR, Tony Stewart, ESPN.com, Nextel Cup