Caz oughta be happy!

[EasyEd]

Hey All,

Denny won!

-Ed-

[Cazzie]

Miami, Southside Ver-Gennie in yo house! :icon29:

Congrats Ed on Jimmie's 4th, sad the boss had another family matter more important, well wishes there.

But the boss had three cars in the top three positions in the Championship.

Watch out though, if Dennie could nix those DNFs and the mechanical failures that bugged Toyota all year, he'd be there.

Caz

[Panther_99FS]

The one-two punch of Johnson/Knaus now firmly in the record books.

Can't leave without saying a note about the Hendrick Motorsports Juggernaut.....One-Two-Three....

Congrats to the entire #48 team! :applause::ernae:

[PRB]

I'm starting to like Denny Hamlin. Between doing what he said he was going to do in the Busch race (take out Keselowski) knowing he would take a penalty hit, to congratulating Mike Waltrip in his victory lane interview, I'm starting to take a liking to the kid. Mind you I like Keselowski, but he probably had it coming, and he knew it.

Congrate to JJ and the 48 Team. Amazing!

[EasyEd]

Hey All,

Couple comments...

1) Did Montoya pizz-off the wrong guy or what. Tony took him to the woodshed - aka the wall - Tony was in the wrong but Montoya needs to figure out that NASCAR drivers are only going to tolerate so much of his foolish over aggressiveness. Did he learn some manners or not? My guess is not since he came back and wrecked Stewart but we'll see next year cause Stewart will not back off.

2) My favorite owner - Richard Childress - has it turned around! There was discussion earlier on TV that the no testing rule really hurt Roush, RCR and Gibbs (to some extent). For whatever reason they just couldn't adapt. Ganassi/Earnhardt and especially Hendrick with their info sharing really benefitted. Next year these teams - with perhaps the exception of Roush who still hasn't figured it out - will be more competitive (especially RCR). Where will that put Ganassi/Earnhardt?

3) Jimmie for 5? Who knows but I'll be cheering for him. From my perspective it is just so good to have a driver/team I can truly root for instead of just drivers I like. Now if only Jimmie/Chad ran a dodge for RCR. But you can't have everything.

-Ed-

[Panther_99FS]

Hey All,
Stewart will not back off.

-Ed-

Maybe Montoya won't back off either...
And then both Stewart & Montoya will be in the doghouse again...(But Stewart already has a seat in it) :bump:

Back to to the Championship....
With Hendrick 1-2-3, the pressure will be on Earnhardt Jr. even more in 2010.....:kilroy:

[EasyEd]

Hey All,


Maybe Montoya won't back off either...
And then both Stewart & Montoya will be in the doghouse again...(But Stewart already has a seat in it)

lets put it this way... Two time champion and team owner with two teams contending for the championship Tony Stewart didn't get blackflagged for rough driving Montoya did. So you can decide who is in the doghouse.

Watching the incident Stewart was a whole lot more subtle teaching Montoya a lesson while Montoya just flat ran into Stewart...

The interesting question about Montoya is - with the return of RCR to competitive form and maybe Roush (maybe) for next year does Earnhardt/Ganassi simply return to mediocrity assuming their performance this year was due to RCR and Roush not being competitive giving them their one shot at the title. Same for the red bull boys.

-Ed-

[Panther_99FS]

So you can decide who is in the doghouse.

-Ed-


I said "will"..(meaning 2010)..:)
(But yes, Montoya's retaliation was stupid..)

[Panther_99FS]

The interesting question about Montoya is - with the return of RCR to competitive form and maybe Roush (maybe) for next year does Earnhardt/Ganassi simply return to mediocrity assuming their performance this year was due to RCR and Roush not being competitive giving them their one shot at the title. Same for the red bull boys.

-Ed-


Montoya answered his critics this season when no one gave him a snowball's chance in *&*# to make the chase :)

The favored driver was Truex Jr.....

But back to the championship again - Here's an interesting article....
--> http://www.nascar.com/2009/news/opinion/11/21/inside.line.dcaraviello.jgordon.jjohnson.homestead/index.html :)

[EasyEd]

Hey All,

Panther in the another thread I said a great driver is the maximizing of:


1) Intelligence
2) Desire to Win (Intensity)
3) Work Ethic
4) Talent

Of course you need a good car and you need a CC that also maximizes all 4. The combination of these breeds consistency and performance.

How do you see Montoya in terms of these criteria - where is he strong and where is he weak? Can Montoya continue to answer his critics?

The article on Jeff and Jimmie is good and I think Jeff knows what to look for in a driver and I think what he saw at Darlington was intelligence and talent when he saw Jimmie running a fast high line at a race track he'd never been to. That was enough to give him a shot - the rest is history.

Did you hear Chad in the post-race interview - the 48 team is already getting ready for Daytona!

-Ed-

[Panther_99FS]

EasyEd,
One thing I like about Chad is his pure dedication to the sport 24/7.....Especially how he watches all the races (tape) and watches all the other drivers/teams to see what he can learn.....:applause:

As far as Montoya is concerned,
He's still got a lot to learn......Perhaps most in work ethic....(He could stand to learn a lot from Jimmie here..)

However,
Montoya has lacked mentorship.....Jimmie had Jeff Gordon & the entire Hendrick organization for mentorship to learn & build on....The best mentorship for Montoya has come from Mark Martin (as Montoya has mentioned himself...)...Montoya has always been on a 2nd rate team with no superstars (drivers/crew chiefs) to learn from....This is a distinct advantage that Johnson has over Juan...