All Jacked Up

The historic debut

Posted by: Jason Randall

Saturday, March 8, 2008 2:47 AM

I must say, I'm pretty excited to be given the opportunity to write a motorsports blog for The News-Gazette. I can't even explain how many times I have had something racing related to rant about with no outlet to do just that.

Well, now I do. I'm probably going to focus mostly on NASCAR (Sprint Cup, Nationwide and even some Craftsman Truck Series), but I'm sure I'll have some thoughts on IRL, Formula One, perhaps some motorcycle racing (Valentino Rossi is ridiculous) and anything in between.

I guess the Issue of the Week has been Carl Edwards' penalty for a missing lid on the oil reservoir at Las Vegas. This probably wouldn't be as big a story if Edwards hadn't won the race, but the fact is he did, his second in a row. That's important, and I'll explain my reasoning in a second.

First, there were several NASCAR heavyweights ganging up on Jack Roush (Edwards' team owner) on Friday. Guys like Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Burton weren't buying Roush's side of the story. Roush said a bolt that kept the cover in place broke, causing the lid to fall off.

Burton said things don't just fall off cars and hurt the cars ... but to me, that's up for debate.

Junior went so far as to say Roush's story was "comical." Isn't this the same guy who recently had an illegally modified rear spoiler and deck lid taken away from his Nationwide car by NASCAR? I'm not calling out Earnhardt Jr., but I will say it seems like he has a short memory. Maybe if he finished 35th at Vegas instead of second, he wouldn't have offered such strong an opinion.

Regardless of who you believe, I think it's important to know that Edwards was using the same car he won with at Fontana, Calif., six days earlier. That car was pretty darn fast all day in Cali, and it was absolutely dominant in Nevada.

My point is, the car was fast to begin with ... fast enough to win a race the week before. Why would Edwards' team try to pull a fast one when they knew they had a hot rod that already had a win under its belt this season?

Don't get me wrong, a rule's a rule. I don't have a problem with the penalties doled out by NASCAR. I don't think it's going to amount to all that much anyway. Edwards will continue to run well.

Sure, crew chief Bob Osborne is suspended, but Roush is bringing in former Matt Kenseth crew chief Robby Reiser to help out with the 99 team. Reiser won a Cup with Kenseth, so he knows what he's doing. I don't expect the Office Depot group to miss a beat.

I'm going to call it a night, but I'd like to encourage any and everyone to send comments and questions my way. I'll post fairly frequently and let people know when I'll be on WDWS 1400-AM with Eric Loy. Generally it has been every other Thursday at 6:05 p.m. We could use all the callers we can get.

Also, our college basketball beat writer Paul Klee wanted me to mention this: His "dawg" Kyle Busch was in fact in Victory Lane Friday night after winning the truck race. The way Busch has been running in all of the circuits, I'm sure there's plenty more of those where that came from.

Until next time, keep hittin' your marks!

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