There are several storylines to discuss for last weekend’s Talladega race:
1. Tony Stewart entertaining offers to leave JGR.
2. Tony Stewart winning the Nationwide race on Saturday.
3. Tony Stewart leading the most Sunday;
4. Dale Jr. teaming up with Tony to stay out front.
5. Kyle Busch winning the race.
The biggest story to come out of Tallagega was breaking news that Tony Stewart is entertaining offers from other teams. His contract runs thru 2009 with Joe Gibbs Racing. Tony stated that he is listening to offers from other teams, especially the offers that allow him some percentage of ownership! This news, in the garage, rivals last years news that Dale Jr. was leaving DEI! In fact, this is going to be bigger because it was thought that Tony and JGR were forever. Whereas, it became obvious that Theresa, (aka The Evil Stepmother) had no intention of keeping Dale Jr. in the DEI fold.
It is no secret that Tony Stewart has an ego larger that Mt. Everest and must be fed! Now that Kyle Busch has come to Joe Gibbs Racing and winning, Tony is not feeling the love anymore!!!! Therefore, it comes as no surprise to this reporter, that he is looking for way to own his own team and be “The Lead Dog” once again !!! Additionally, the switch from Chevy to Toyota at JGR apparently has posed a problem with Tony’s relationship with GM and Chevy. Chevy is heavily involved in Tony Stewart Motorsports open wheel racing programs. So there is a big conflict!!!
There are strong rumblings that he might very well be given a part of Haas/CNC Racing if he wants to go there. I am sure that there are several good offers that are coming his way, who knows maybe Morgan Sheppard is looking for a good driver for his program!!! Time will tell what decision he makes. However, this reporter looks for Tony to try to get released before the year is up if the right opportunity arises!! This is not the last that will be written about the apparent separation of Tony Stewart and JGR!!! A divorce settlement is coming!
The Nationwide race on Saturday was a classic show of domination! The Old Spice #20 JGR Toyota was THE class of the field!!! Tony Stewart had never won a race at Talladega, he had been the “bride’s maid” six times, but never won. Well all that changed Saturday! Not only did he win, but he did it in a huge way. He had THE HORSE!!! Tony ran out front all day and was challenged very few times, and not very seriously.
The Sprint cup race on Sunday was extremely exciting to this reporter! The first third of the race saw a huge amont of lead changes. The typical early race happenings occurred. There were runs to the front followed by getting shuffled to the back happening over and over again. The middle third of the race was the “Tony Stewart/Dale Jr. Show”. Mostly Tony lead with Dale Jr. hooked onto his bumper, but there were times when the scene was reversed. Then Tony blew a right front tire and grazed the wall, which ended his domination of the race. That is when Dale Jr. took up the forefront for many of the final laps.
However late in the race, Kyle Busch charged up thru the pack in his traditional “take no prisoners” fashion. You know what I mean, diving his car like he stole it, going three wide all by himself, passing on the infiled grass, etc., to take over the lead!! All this happpened after going a lap down because he missed his pit stall early in the race. A late restart put all Kyle’s lead in jeopardy, but neither Juan Pablo Montoya nor Denny Hamlin had anything for Kyle. He held on to notch his second victory of the season for JGR!
PS Putting #20 car on this page really pains me!!!!!!!!!
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Your comments and/or discussion of the topics are highly encouraged!!