NASCAR`s best mic`d

NASCARRundown
BACK WHEN
SAY
WHAT?
NASCAR's
best mic'd-up
moments
BY CHRISTOPHER LEONE | BLEACHERREPORT.COM
s we approach the Chase for the Sprint Cup, some of
the most tense weekends of the NASCAR season, it's a
safe bet that tempers will run high in some of the
sport's top camps.
After all, it's unbearably frustrating to have a strong car,
to come so close to a race or championship win, only to fall short because of an error — whether it's your own or somebody else's.
Sometimes, drivers can graciously control that frustration. Other
times, to put things nicely, they can't. This is a celebration of some of
those moments — when drivers' mouths ran at full speed when they
should have been under caution, so to speak.
A
• EARNHARDT'S MOST FOREBODING QUOTE
"That's the worst racing at Daytona that I've seen in a long, long
time. They took Cup racing and made it some of the sorriest racing
... they took the racing out of the hands of the drivers and the crews'
hands."
Makes you wonder how Dale Earnhardt would feel about the Car
of Tomorrow.
• STEWART WILL WRECK YOUR MOM’S CAR
In a career full of notable quotes, both in anger and out of acerbic
wit, here's the one that best explains Tony Stewart's passion for winning: There's nobody in the world, not even somebody's mom, that
he won't wreck to win a championship.
For his part, Stewart didn't have to wreck anybody's mom at
Homestead last year to take the title. He did, however, have to "pass
half the state of Florida," driving through the
entire field twice to win his fifth race of the
Chase and his third Cup championship.
“I had to pass
half the state of
Florida” to win
at Homestead.
— Tony Stewart
GETTY IMAGES
FOR NASCAR
• TROUBLE FOR BIFFLE AT WATKINS GLEN
To put it nicely, Watkins Glen isn't a happy place for Greg Biffle.
While 2004 saw him wreck Sterling Marlin, 2011's race ended with
a near-fight between Biffle and Boris Said, who didn't have many
nice things to say about him after the event.
According to Said, Biffle was flipping him off and shouting at him
but "wouldn't even fight me like a man."
"He needs a whooping," Said stated.
ABOUT BRISTOL
TRACK .533-mile oval
RACE LENGTH 500 laps
FIRST RACE 1961
SERIES NASCAR Sprint Cup
WHERE TO WATCH Coverage starts
at 7 p.m. EDT Saturday on ABC.
UP TO SPEED
Reviews of and opinions on last
week’s races from Bleacher Report
NASCAR writers.
Rumor roundup
• STEWART, COCA-COLA CRUSADER
Tony Stewart tells Fox in no uncertain terms that he's a Coca-Cola
man and is proud to conquer the 2006 Pepsi 400 in favor of the
enemy. He may drink it "whether I'm sponsored by them or not," but
it's no shock that their partnership is still going.
• KURT BUSCH'S ENTIRE 2011 SEASON
Kurt Busch will always be the inaugural Chase winner and one of
NASCAR's most passionate drivers, but his temper frequently got
the best of him last year.
From ripping an interview transcript from Jenna Fryer's hands, to
berating Jerry Punch in the garage, Busch had more anger issues in
2011 than a Chase contender should. Those issues got him fired
from Penske Racing and landed him in the free-agent doghouse last
off season.
As reported by ESPN.com's David
Newton, an unnamed source recently commented on A.J. Allmendinger’s claim to have ingested
just one Adderall pill (which resulted
in a failed NASCAR drug test) is
more than likely false. In addition,
Allmendinger’s claim that he will
complete NASCAR’s Road to Recovery plan in just one month is more
than likely not going to happen. —
Russell Schmidt
Martin's scary crash
shows need for change
Mark Martin's frightening crash on
lap 64 of Sunday's Pure Michigan
400 uncovered another weak spot in
NASCAR's quest to make its events
as safe as possible, one that must be
amended as soon as possible.
Contact from Kasey Kahne sent
MARLIN RUN OVER BY ‘BUG-EYED DUMMY’
Martin's car spinning down the entrance of the pit road, where it evenA few years ago, Greg Biffle got braces to fix his teeth. But Sterling
tually made contact — driver's side
Marlin felt like it was Biffle's eyes that needed to be checked after an
first — with the end of the pit wall at
accident at Watkins Glen in 2004.
one of the points where the wall
"I got run over by a bug-eyed dummy," Marlin said of the thenopens into the garage area.
rookie, who drifted up on the track after hitting the curb on the first
Martin and the pit crew of Kahne,
turn and spun the two-time Daytona 500 winner.
who was ironically pitted in the stall
closest to Martin's point of impact,
were all luckily unscathed.
But that doesn't change the fact
that, give or take another foot, MarHARVICK NOT HAPPY AT NEW HAMPSHIRE
tin's accident could have been catastrophic for himself and others in the
Longtime NASCAR fans will probably chuckle that a Cope got in
area.
the way of another driver, but for Kevin Harvick, Amber Cope's drivHaving those openings in the pit
ing in July's Nationwide race at Loudon was no laughing matter.
wall is dangerous, and Sunday's inciCope cut off Harvick's line through the backstretch, enabling Brad
dent shows that it is time to close
Keselowski to slingshot past and take the victory. That move
them up while the cars are at full
sparked a media war in which Cope, daughter of 1990 Daytona 500
speed on the track.
winner Derrike Cope, refused to concede fault and
Now, the thought process of most
Harvick suggested that she “pick some boots and
readers will likely start with one no(her) favorite song and find a new job.”
tion: The fact that Martin's car hit
that precise spot was sheer luck
“Pick some boots and
or chance, unlikely to ever hap(her) favorite song
pen again.
and find a new job.”
This is a valid point. Cars sliding that far onto pit road is rare,
—
Kevin
Harvick
“I got run over by a
but that doesn't change the fact
bug-eyed dummy,”
that what happened Sunday highlighted a portion of pit road that is
— Sterling Marlin
remarkably unsafe. And if it happened once, there's nothing to say
that it can't happen again, with lessdesirable results.
Honestly, it's a wonder that a car
hasn't already taken a nasty lick on
one of those openings before.
NASCAR has a history of acting
swiftly in response to complaints
about similarly unsafe areas.
In 2008, after Jeff Gordon endured a frightening hit on an opening
in the inside wall at Las Vegas, promoter Bruton Smith and NASCAR
responded swiftly, closing the opening and installing safer barriers along
the inside wall to prevent a similar
impact.
Now is another one of those times
for NASCAR to act, not just at Michigan, but at all racetracks. Having
these openings in the pit walls poses
a grievous threat to the safety of not
only the drivers, but the crew members working in the stalls adjacent to
the openings. — Jordan Anders
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