All Purpose NASCAR Thread

Gilliland is doing the right thing. Get in while you can. It appears that most of the top teams have their own drivers in development, and they won't be looking for Gilliland or anyone else of his ilk, even if armed with a title in Busch or trucks.

Also curious to see how this Evernham extra-curricular thing turns out. For him to accuse Mayfield of intentionally throwing races and trying to wreck himself is insane.

 

Cool Dale Jr. story by Wright Thompson

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=earnhardtjunior

 

Yeah, and he's off to a flying sliding, screeching, wallbanging start.

 

He's 30. Not a youngster in today's Cup.

 

His pockets were too loaded down with cash

 

I see ol' Carl got taken out again. At least he took punitive action on the track, not on pit road.

 

Just wait until Bristol. Edwards will have a hard time deciding who to wreck first, Stewart or Junior.

 

In a perfect world, he'll wreck them both.

 

Edwards apparently went into victory lane and grabbed Junior and had to be restrained by officials. Anyone know any more about this?

 

Judging by the race story on www.scenedaily.com -- aka NASCAR Scene -- Edwards did go to victory lane. Earnhardt Jr.'s quoted and unhappy, but it doesn't sound like things turned physical.

SCENE Daily: August 19, 2006
http://www.scenedaily.com/stories/2006/08/14/scene_daily66.html

Earnhardt Jr. wins Michigan Busch Series thriller

SCENEDAILY - 6:19PM ET SATURDAY AUGUST 19, 2006 - BY BOB POCKRASS - ASSOCIATE EDITOR

BROOKLYN, Mich. - Dale Earnhardt Jr. spun Carl Edwards - whether intentionally or unintentionally is debatable depending on the driver - on the first lap of a green-white-checkered finish on his way to a victory Saturday in the Carfax 250 at Michigan International Speedway.

Edwards was not happy with Earnhardt Jr. after the race, and bumped into the side of Earnhardt Jr.'s car after the race. Edwards also went to victory lane to tell Earnhardt Jr. how angry he was.

Earnhardt Jr. denied intentionally trying to wreck Edwards, whom Earnhardt Jr. said was out of control and not up to full speed.

"I was just trying to push him a little bit," Earnhardt Jr. said. "When I got into him, he just climbed up on the nose and it just spun him right out. I didn't mean to spin him out. I don't go around wrecking people on purpose. I don't have a track record of doing that."

Edwards was upset, and the fans were split in booing and cheering Earnhardt Jr. after the race.

"Dale just kind of spun me out and ended up winning the race," Edwards said. "That's racing. NASCAR had a nice meeting with me a while back and told me they'd take care of that stuff.

"I don't know. I guess they're letting him keep the win. I know it's exciting for the fans but frustrating for me."

Earnhardt Jr. said he understood Edwards' frustration but was upset with his reaction.

"To run into the side of my car after the race is over with my hand out of the window [and] to come into a man's victory lane - no matter what the circumstances are on the race track, you don't go into somebody else's victory lane - that's just rude. That's just uncouth."

Following Earnhardt Jr. across the finish line were Casey Mears, Robby Gordon (driving for Earnhardt Jr.), Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin.

Kevin Harvick finished eighth and increased his series point lead to 484 over Denny Hamlin and 486 over Edwards.

All results are unofficial pending post-race inspection.

 

Not a Jr. guy. Don't mind seeing him take out Edwards.