400 Chances to Get Loose in Turn 3

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Memorial Day weekend is a race fan’s dream.  The culmination is the Coca Cola 600 from the House that Humpy Built - Lowes Motor Speedway.  But getting there the race geek can watch the F1 cars twist through The Principality - Monaco (in the predicted rain, I hope) and then the - ahem - Greatest Spectacle in Racing, the Indianapolis 500.  That’s actually more like 650 chances to get Loose in Turn 3.

Bruce Simmons, Tim Zaegel and I will get a little loose with three different NASCAR topics again today - the first of which is right here at Bench Racing with me and the Dummy.  Proceed.

What was the more significant result from Saturday’s racing - Kasey Kahne’s selection by the fan vote, A J Allmendinger’s win in the Sprint Showdown or Sam Hornish Jr’s second place finish in the same race?

Charlie:  Even though Kahne and Allmendinger were race winners, Hornish was the most consistent runner on Saturday and probably would have won the Showdown if he had wanted to risk his second place, guaranteed transfer spot, in the qualifier.  Sam was my pickfor Rookie of the Year.  He has struggled since spinning out of a top ten early at California Speedway.  But he never makes excuses, he just works at this stock car racing thing.  The work is starting to pay off.  If Penske can get their act together, Hornish might just get a win in the second half.

TZ:  I think Hornish’s run was tremendous for the rook, and Kahne’s huge weekend could be enough to help get him back on track, but to me, the real winner of the weekend has to be Allmendinger.  I mean, here you’ve got a guy that has struggled to qualify ever since coming up to the Cup level with Toyota, and he even lost his ride for a few races earlier in the year.  For this cat to come out of there and win that race is going to be a huge boost to his confidence, and should give team Red Bull a nice warm and fuzzy to let them know that they’re finally getting the kid headed down the right path.

Bruce:  I think ‘Dinger winning a race was a great event for him, his team and his fans.  He’s gone from struggling, to sitting out of the car while his team consulted someone else on insights to setting up his car, and then gets back in the seat and though his points performance isn’t top notch, winning is winning.  Ala Jamie McMurray here at Lowes.

Well that’s what we think on that topic.  What do you think?  And while you’re at it, what do you think about TZ’s post….

Is 2009 the right time for Dale Earnhardt Jr to bring J R Motorsports to the Sprint Cup Series level?

And what about Bruce’s question….

With Kasey Kahne winning the All Star race, does that vindicate the process of the fan vote for the event?   

Follow the links and let us know how you feel.