Thursday, April 26, 2007

Statboy's Rant for April 26th

I think NASCAR fans are mad at Jeff Gordon. I think the fans are mad because he won the race Saturday night at Phoenix. I think they are mad because he is now tied for 5th on the all-time wins list with Dale Earnhardt at 76 career victories. They are mad at Jeff for waving the 3 flag. I think NASCAR fans are mad at Tony Stewart. I think they are mad at him for not staying for the post-race interview on Saturday. I think they are mad at him for going on his own radio show on Tuesday night and blasting NASCAR for over-controlling the sport and throwing cautions for debris, half the time which we cannot even see. Get over it. People are going to be mad when what they want to have happen doesn’t happen.

We all knew that Jeff was eventually going to tie and break Earnhardt’s win mark. I thought it would happen sooner than it did. The man won 33 races in a 3 year period between 1996 and 1998. Surprised he didn’t do this 3 years ago. Jeff will go on and break other records. Darrell Waltrip’s 84 win record is in jeopardy within in the next couple of years. Gordon’s dominance has dropped off over the last 5 years. But I definitely think Jeff will surpass Waltrip. He might get up to 90 or 95 wins in his career. Will he pass David Pearson’s 105 wins? I don’t think so.

As far as Tony goes, well people are gonna be mad he didn’t talk. Nothing says Tony has to give an interview for finishing 2nd. If I was running 2nd in a Nextel Cup race with 12 laps to go, and I had made the winning pass and was leading, then yeah, I’d be mad I didn’t win too. Earnhardt would have done the same thing. That’s the deal. Tony is now what Dale Earnhardt was. Whether fans choose to accept that or not. He is today’s equivalency of Earnhardt. That is all.