THIS WEEEK’S STORY LINES:

1.   AIR FORCE LEAVES WOOD BROS. FOR GEM #10: (jayski.com)

2.   DEI-GANASSI MERGE OPERATIONS:(espn.com) (gannassiracing)(AP)

3.   BB&T SPONSOR #33 RCR CHEVY IN ’09: ( RCR pr)

4.   RED BULL TEAMS SWAP DRIVERS FOR LAST RACE: (redbullracing pr)

5.   BRIAN FRANCE’S TAKE ON SWITCH TO ESPN2 FOR FINAL MINS. OF PHX RACE: (jayski)

6.   KESELOWSKI TO RACE @ HOMESTEAD

7.   AAA SPONSORS HORNISH IN ’09: (penske racing pr)

8.   FURNITURE ROW RACING RUNS A LIMITED SCHEDULE IN ’09:(furniturerowracing)

No I haven’t completely gone off the deep end!  There really is a corelation between the NYC Naked Cowboy and NASCAR.  How can that be, you say??  Well folks, take a closer look at that picture.  He is standing all alone on the island in the middle of Times Square in New York City for everyone to see!!  He is unique and has no peers!  He is vunerable yet he journeys on with total disregard to personal security!!!  That, my friends, is just exactly what the new NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion is!!  He is unique, has no peers, extremely vunerable, yet he sojourns on with total disregard for his own personal safety!  And in December, he will in fact be on a stage for all to see at the NASCAR Banquet at the Waldorf-Astoria!!!

It is very obvious that the last man standing for this year’s Chase will be Jimmie Johnson.  He has but one race left before he marches into NASCAR history. All the #48 Lowes Chevy has to do is finish 35th or better and he has the 2008 Championship lock, stock, and barrell!!  In the 60 years of NASCAR racing there has been only one individual to win three consecutive championships in a row, that being “the Timmonsville, S.C. Tornado”, William Caleb (Cale) Yarborough.  That feat was accompolished in the period of 1976-1978 with the car owner and crew chief, Junior Johnson!

COMMENTARY

This reporter has been following many forms of racing, Indy Car, NHRA, local short tracks dirt and paved, as well as NASCAR for more than 45 years.  What the entire #48 Lowes HMS Chevy team is about to accompolish is of historic proportions!  It is a dynasty pure and simple, similar to the NY Yankees in baseball.  You might remember those days with “the Mick” Mickey Mantle (my boyhood hero), Yogi Bera, Whitey Ford, Elston Howard,”Moose” Skowron, Roger Maris, and Bobby Richardson.  The Boston Celtics with “Big” Bill Russell, Bob Cousey, K.C. Jones, and Sam Jones were equally a huge dynasty in the NBA.  These two sports franchises stand head and shoulders above all the rest in “stick and ball” sports!!  They are what legends are made from!  So observe this weekends event, soak this up, because it may not come our way again for another 30 years!!!

The one thing that we, as fans, learned this season was a reinteration of the old story of “The Hare and The Tortise”  Just because somebody starts off the season fast and dominates for 2/3′s of the season, doesn’t necessarily mean that they are going be there in the end!!!  Ol Kyle Busch started off “smokin”hot”, but completely fell apart in the Chase!  It was bound to happen, a team just absolutely cannot dominate all 36 races in the season, PERIOD!!!  Somewhere, someplace, somehow, mistakes and bad luck will come to haunt you!!  It happened just as the Chase started for the #18 M&M’s JGR Toyota this year.  Will ol Kylie, aka TLVW, be a factor next season, you better bet on it!  That team will be better next year than they were this year, if for no other reason than “SPERIENCE”(a DWism for experience)!!!

This off season will be a time of great turmoil and upheaval in the garage.  It started this week with the announcement of the DEI-Ganassi “merger”.  The sponsorhip dollars are tight and the teams are feeling the pinch.  There are still rumblings in the garage of Petty and GEM looking to merge.  There are even Penske merger rumors!!!   The possibilites are truely endless!!!!

GOD SPEED, JIMMIE JOHNSON!

Stay tuned, ’cause God knows it is going to get interesting!!!!

STORY LINES:

1.  BIFLE WINS TWO IN A ROW:

2.  ALMINDINGER OUT OF #84 ON 2009: (ESPN Sports)

3.  MAYFIELD TEST #42 @ LOWES: (scenedaily)

4.  BUSCH IS “DEAD” LAST- 210 POINTS OUT OF LEAD:

5.  KESELOWSKI MAKES CUP DEBUT @ LOWES IN #25 GODADY.COM: (hendrick motorsports)

6.  ROBBY GORDON AND DEI MERGER??? (winston-journal)

7.  WALTRIP COULD ADD A 4TH TEAM:

Could we be seeing another repeat of last year’s Chase??  Remember last year when Jimmie Johnson won 4 of the 10 Chase races.  Well, Greg Bifle has won the first two  back-to-back!!!!  Bifle is starting to show the same kind of dominance that Jimmie Johnson’s team showed last year!!  He has come from the back of the pack to now be considered a favorite!!  The Rousch-Fenway 3M #16 Ford Fusion has really stepped up their game when it counts!  The first two races have been on one mile tracks, however vastly different in their configuration.  Louden is a FLAT one mile track, unlike Dover which is a highly banked, extremely fast, and a self-cleaning, racing facility!!!  It would appear to this reporter that the #16 3M teams has their one mile program where it needs to be.  However, do they have the rest of their program fine tuned to the caliber needed to take the championship home!!!!  Stay tuned for eight more weekends!!!!

The race for the Chase is slowly “thining out the herd”!  It is this reporter’s view that the race has narrowed to nine teams now that have a reasonable chance to capture the championship this year.  It appears that the #18 M&M’s JGR team is facing “extinction”!    It is also this reporter’s opinion that the #11 FedEx JGR team is on the “endangered species” list!  Likewise, the #17 Dewalt Rousch-Fenway team is closely following the previously mentioned teams! All three teams NEED  to run exceptionally strong in the final 8 races to have a remote chance to win the championship.  In fact, it is time for the “true contenders” to separate themselves from the “pretenders”!! 

If you got something for ‘em, NOW is the time you got to let the “BIG DOG EAT”!!!!!

THE CHASE STANDINGS:

1.  EDWARDS

2.  JOHNSON-10

     BIFLE-10

4.  BURTON-82

5.  HARVICK-101

6.  BOWYER-106

7.  STEWART-113

8.  GORDON-118

9.  EARNHARDT-129

10. KENSETH-167

11. HAMLIN-193

12. BUSCH-210

This week is Kansas and more will face elimination!!!!  Who will prevail???  Who will fail???? 

What do you think?

GETCHA FOUR FRESH GOODYEARS, A FULL TANK OF SUNOCO FUEL, A LITTLE WEDGE, AND MAYBE A SPRING RUBBER.  BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY…….PULL THOSE BELTS TIGHT ONE MORE TIME, AND LET’S GO RACIN’ BOYS!!!!!