Post Wreck Report (Daytona)

Another frustrating week, once again we had a great car but no finish to show it. Starting the race from 29th was bad enough, I thought maybe that would be all the bad luck. Sterling missed a few wrecks and things were looking good. He was in the top ten and staying there. Sterling said that his car felt good wide open, but in traffic it was tight. Still he managed to get to the front. The pit stops were good, everything was going great. He was even getting on TV. But then he got the TV exposure for the wrong reason. The Marlin nation saw exactly what we had been dreading, but an oh too firmiliar site. Sterling was sideways after hitting the wall. The tire went down and ended our day. He would've been fine too, had he not hit Rudd, which caused him to go back into the wall. Slugger was going to try to get the car back out, but they eventually decided that it would be too dangerous, and so Sterling finished a very, very dissapointing 40th. This week it wasn't like, "well, maybe he would've gotten a top ten if he hadn't wrecked (or whatever)," No, this week he was going to get a top ten. And it sucks, and like Sterling said it's hard to swallow.

We didn't drop any in points though, thanks to Reed crashing. We actually passed Reed, but Gillilands good run left us in 28th.

I guess 07/07/07 isn't lucky for everyone :(

Some things I failed to mention

So it seems that even with my detailed notes (yea, I take notes during the race) I missed a few things. It happens when you have to run downstairs to watch the race on TV but then back up stairs to watch Sterling.

One of the reasons he finished 20th was the pit cycle. He had to make a late pit stop and not everyone else did. I missed that not everyone else did because at that point I wasn't listening to the radio or watching TV. Also, when they tightened the car at the end it got super tight, instead of just kind of tight like they wanted.

Some bad news...

Really, it's not that bad. But I have to apologize, because next week I will not be able to write a post-race report. If I have any Sterling fan that reads this, then really that's probably why. So I urge you, my single reader that may or may not exist, to not abandon me! I'm going to be gone from the 23rd to the 30th without internet or TV access, so I won't be able to see what goes on with Sterling, or even see the race at all.

I DO NOT like to miss races, in fact this is the first race I've missed completley since I've started seriously following the sport. I won't even be able to watch the replay on Thursday! I'm trying to get it taped, but by the time I watch it everything will be old news.

I will be able to post my random NASCAR thoughts though via my cell phone, so you can still get your NASCAR fix, just no Sterling post race report.

But www.ginnracing.com provides one, not a great indepth LaMancha report...but it's something ;) Also, you can go to www.sterlingmarlinfans.com and look at the race post, where fellow Marlinites with TrackPass tell the rest what's going on.

So, I think you can manage. ;) But I apologize again, and if I do have someone who reads this every week (for the past 2 weeks I've done this) then I promise this isn't a normal happening. I HATE missing races, but I had no choice.

The Monday Report

You know, really all I can say about MIS is dissapointing. We had a good car, but the handling wasn't there, and you can't finish well with a car that's sideways. I think Slugger did the right thing by trying to tighten it up, even though it ended up to be the wrong thing. Maybe he could've tried something different after Sterling said it was worse after that, but what was he going to do, loosen it when it was sideways? Sterling drove his butt off I think trying to keep it from going sideways too much. He did the best with what he had, and was giving Slugger information.

So, dissapointing, but maybe next time the handling will be there and they'll be able to get a great finish :)

MIS post race

If only it had been this race that ended at lap 101, and not last week. Sterling got some TV time by being in the top 10 for a while. However, an ill-handling race car gave him a 20th place finish, putting him tied for 24th in points. Here's a rundown of what happend:

So he starts out pretty good, moving up to around 20th. The car was a little tight at that point. On lap 34 they pit and take four tires and adjust the car. They picked up a couple of spots and Sterling says the care is pretty free, and the car wasn't tightening up. What seemed at first to be no big deal ended up to only be the beggining of what would eventually give Sterling a 20th place finish. Under caution they tighten up the car and it's a good stop, he restarts 17th but falls back alittle before taking back the spots he lost. Lap 68ish there's a caution and Slugger elects to take 2 right tires. Everyone else takes four and that puts Sterling in 2nd for the restart.

This call probably is what saved Sterling from the wreck caused by Newman. I also think that it was a pretty good call, or at least it turned out pretty good. It got him much needed track position. After this restart though Sterling falls back to 6th. Not suprised because the car has been better on the long runs anyway. The car starts coming to him and he is able to maintain 6th until Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards pass him on lap 107. (so you see, if it had been THIS race that was rain delayed, we would've finished 6th ;)) Sterling says that the car is balanced in 3&4 but 1&2 are acting weird.

Green flag pit stop on lap 108. This is the stop where everything changes, and things go from good to bad to worse. Slugger tightens the car, because Sterling says it's loose. They take 4 tires and a wedge adjustment. During the caution on lap 114 Sterling's complaining that the car is free, but they elect to stay out. Sterling though was really complaining about how free the car was, but Slugger said that they really have to stay out, and tells him to "Believe in it,"

On the restart he quickly falls back to 9th...then 10th...then 11th...14th...15th...yea, NOT a good restart. Slugger tells Sterling that he needs to suck it up. But Sterling's saying that it's almost sideways. But TJ reassures Sterling that the car will come to him. It seems like TJ is right for a while, Sterling picked up a couple of spots to 14th. But on lap 134 Slugger asks Sterling if it's coming to him and Sterling replies with, "No, no no!"

So on lap 149 they make a green flag pit stop and tighten it up. But Sterling complains that "It's still sideways," Slugger says that it seems the more they tighten it the worse it gets. :\

They went a lap down and were in conention for the lucky dog for a while, but no caution ever came out. On their last pit stop they took two tires and fuel, which is what put them down to 20th.

After the race Slugger said that he was mad at himself for tightening it. Apparently there was no indication that it was loose other than what Sterling was saying. The more they tightened it the worse it got. He was also mad that they didn't get that top ten that they should have gotten, "It just sucks," Yes Slugger, yes it does.

Sterling's 1st practice and Qualifying

Not starting out as a great week so far. In 1st practice he ended up 39th out of 49 cars. He was 20th out to qualify, not a great draw but it could have been worse. It wasn't good enough to help us out any though, because he ended up 27th. I don't know what was up with the car, I can't even guess, because I missed his lap on TV, if they even showed it all. They also didn't talk about it on the radio, because they took a commercial break during his lap. BUT it's an improvement from last week, where he didn't even get a shot to qualify, so at least everything worked this week. That's a step in the right direction. ;)

A story for the Tuesday Blues

I saw this story somewhere and thought it was kind of funny. Unfortunately, I don't remember where I got it from, but I think it's from a Tennessee newspaper :

(Kyle Petty talking about a bad wreck at Indy)

“I was praying that I was alive, but I couldn’t move or open my eyes, and after what seemed like an eternity of this I realized that I wasn’t alive. So my prayer instantly changed and I started praying ’please God when I open my eyes make sure St Peter is standing there’. I was praying and I could hear people talking, and all of a sudden out of nowhere I hear Sterling (Marlin) talking.”

“And y’all might be from Tennessee, and y’all might like Sterling a lot, but if I’m dead and Sterling is dead, we ain’t in heaven. So then my prayers go back to ’please God let me be alive"

Keep in mind Kyle and Sterling are friends ;)

Pocono post race

Here's a little summary of what happend with Sterling during the race. I know we all watch all the post race shows hoping to hear them talk about Sterling, but they never do (even after Talladega where he was dominant), so this'll give those who aren't blessed with Track Pass a basic idea of what was going on with Sterling:

Well, that just sucked. The race only went 107 laps, and our boy finished 31st, dropping him to 27th (well, really a tie for 26th) in points. He started out pretty strong, going from 41st to in the 20s. As the laps went on, the car got better. But then the caution came, and after they pitted the car was terrible, WAY too tight, quote Marlin, "Tight tight tight tight," the tires were terrible. They lost a few spots, but it seemed like a blessing when the next caution came out, because they could fix the car, but instead this is what happend:

Slugger is talking to Sterling, and they're wondering if they should take 2 or four tires. Sterling says whatever Slugger wants is fine. Slugger syas they should probably take 2 for track position, and Sterling says after thinking says, "Yea, that'll be good," then, however, on pit road Slugger makes the last minuet decision to take 4 tires when almost everyone else took 2, and it was a long stop because I guess the crew didn't hear him when he said 4 tires. This cuases Sterling to start towards to back.

After the restart the car sucks. Probably because the fender got screwed up, which I'll explain later, but basically between that caution and the next round of pit stops, the car is doing bad.

But then another round of green flag pit stops and Slugger calls for 4 tires. This is a BAD call, because they KNEW it was going to rain, not even like a possibility, they knew it was going to rain. And they take 4 tires. Even if the car wasn't great, it was all right, and at this point when the race is going to probably be cut short, they need TRACK POSITION!!!! TJ was saying the rain was really, really close, so even if they did lose some spots, they've got a better chance of finishing well that way then trying to make thier way through the field with only a few laps left. So then the race is over and Sterling ends up a weak 31st.

It can't all be blamed on pit strategy though. Sometime between the the last caution and the green flag stop, the fender got real screwed up. They figgure it's when Sterling hit the curb once when Juan Pablo Montoya and Scott Riggs were battling hard for position. They got it fixed during their last stop and the car was a lot better then, so if it had gone green a little longer or they had started it again, Sterling would've defenetly picked up more positions.

So I think the theme to this race was strategy. Jeff Gordon won, he wasn't dominant throughout the race, but he had a good pit strategy. He took a risk for track position and stayed out under the last caution, Denny Hamlin, one of the most dominant cars, took 4 tires under the last caution, and consequently wasn't in the right place to win.

If you ask me Slugger needs to take more risks, but this whole week was lousy if you ask me. First qualifying problems, then a shortened race with poor strategy and aerodynamics. He was doing so good at the beggining, moving up so far, you wouldn't expect him to end up 31st, but I think that it all came down to strategy, although the fender didn't help at all. Or maybe the Pep Boys are just cursed!?!?