Pit Stop Report

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

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

On January 12 and 13, Sound & Speed 2007 will take place in Nashville, TN. The event raises money for two great charities - the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum charities and the Victory Junction Gang Camp. Last years premiere event, which features country music stars and NASCAR drivers, raised over $300,000 for the two charities.

This years event includes such artists as Trace Adkins, Joe Nichols, Craig Morgan, Aaron Tippin, Trent Willmon, Ray Scott, Aaron Benward of Blue County, Ashley Monroe, John Anderson, Ray Stevens, Brenda Lee, Mel Tillis, Bill Anderson and model Niki Taylor.

The following drivers are scheduled to appear - Richard Petty, Kyle Petty, Michael Waltrip, Darrell Waltrip, Bobby Allison, Ryan Newman, Jamie McMurray, David Stremme, Bobby LaBonte, Kertus Davis, Bobby Hamilton, Jr., Aric Almirola, Ernie Irvan, Cale Yarborough, Richard Childress, Rex White and Junie Donlavey.

The following activities are planned and include a Friday night Honky Tonk Pit Stop club crawl among the bars on historic lower Broadway in downtown Nashville; a Gears and Guitars fan auction of music and racing memorabilia (as well as a brand new Triumph motorcycle); Legends Sessions Q & As; artist autograph and Q & A sessions; Sponsor City; and of course, great live music including the Goody’s Country Concert featuring Jo Dee Messina, Josh Turner and Rodney Atkins.

Visit the Sound & Speed 2007 website today for more information.

Till the next Pit Stop…..

Nascar, Victory Junction Gang, Country Music Hall of Fame, Sound & Speed 2007

It seems that comments made last month by the late Dale Earnhardt Sr’s wife, Teresa, could have detrimental effects on that race team. Teresa was quoted in the Dec. 14 edition of the Wall Street Journal as follows, “Right now the ball’s in his court to decide on whether he wants to be a NASCAR driver or whether he wants to be a public personality,”

Junior had held his comments up until Monday’s press conference at the opening of preseason testing at Daytona International Speedway were he said, “I was trying not to get involved in it, (but) I really didn’t appreciate it,” he said. “Whether she was taken out of context or not, I just didn’t really appreciate it.” Earnhardt Jr. also stated that he had not talked to his step-mother since she had made that comment.

With dialogue like that and with Junior’s contract with DEI ending at the end of the 2007 season, we may see Dale Jr. with a different team next year. It would be hard to imagine, but I do not blame him a bit. Negotiations for his last contract were stalemated by Junior’s want for less personal apperances and took months for them to agree on an acceptable number.

Now this contract may end up getting caught up in Junior’s want to be part owner of the company his father started and I do not see Teresa Earnhardt relenquishing any of DEI to anybody, anytime soon.

Well, if I was Dale Jr I would tell Teresa to cancel all of my personal apperances and I will be a NASCAR driver. Then she can she how many sponsors such as Budweiser and Wrangler stick around to pay her bills. We will have to see what the out come of this we be and only hope that somebody wakes up and smells the roses and keeps Dale Earnhardt Jr. at DEI, Inc.

Till the next Pit Stop…..

Dale Earnhardt Jr, Dale Earnhardt Sr, DEI Inc, NASCAR, Budweiser, Wrangler, Daytona International Speedway, Wall Street Journal

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