Real Talk Turn 4

Hope everyone is excited for the race tonight! This blog will get you even more pumped. Each week, the 'E' will answer each of ESPN's 'Turn 4' questions, except with total bias. We have no experience in the garage or behind a wheel, but we sure do love Junebug and hate JGR, if that counts for somethin'

Turn 1: Chad Johnston is leaving Michael Waltrip Racing, and Martin Truex Jr.'s future is up in the air. What does the future look like for MWR?

It's definitely a rough spot for MWR right now, but they still have one of the best drivers in the cup in Clint driving behind the wheel of the 5 hour energy machine. Also, it is so hard to find a full time ride these days that even if Truex leaves MWR could find another solid driver to replace him with. Signing one of the young up and comers from the nationwide series would be interesting. The biggest concern at this point would have to be finding a sponsor to replace NAPA. I sure am gonna miss those Mark Martin and Mikey Waltrip NAPA commercials.

Turn 2: Joe Gibbs Racing and Penske Racing have won 12 of the 29 Nationwide Series races this season, with no other organization winning more than twice. Which is the pre-eminent organization in the series?

Deep down in places I don't talk about at parties I'd admit that I think JGR is the pre-eminent organization. When Kyle wins nationwide he dominates. Can't believe I just opened up like that. It's like the people reading this know me more than my closest friends and fellow Dale Guys. We won't get into whether I think the JGR and Penske cup drivers domination nationwide is a good thing. That's a battle for another day.

Turn 3: Jimmie Johnson has won a record-tying six times at Charlotte, but just once in the past 15 races there. Is he the favorite heading to Charlotte? If not, who should be?

Even though Jimmie has only won once in the past 15 races at Charlotte he has won the past 2 all star races so it's not like he isn't fast there. He isn't a bad pick to come in 2nd this weekend (cause Dale's winning), but I wouldn't call him the favorite. That goes to Kevin Harvick (other than Dale) who has won at Charlotte twice since 2011, won last weekend, and barely missed winning his second pole in a row this weekend. Speaking of Harvick winning the pole- the #LastTimeHarvickWonaPole hashtag last weekend had some clever tweets. I'd recommend checking them out. Here is our contribution to the hashtag.

#LastTimeHarvickWonAPole the COT was different and cool
— The Dale Guys (@Thedaleguys) October 5, 2013

Turn 4: Trying a new tire compound -- as happened at Kansas -- is a pretty major curveball at any point of the season. How do you feel about NASCAR and Goodyear throwing such a curveball at teams in the middle of the Chase?

I love NASCAR trying out new things to keep the drivers on their toes and to try to improve the races, especially at the cookie cutter 1.5 mile tracks that can sometimes use a little bit more excitement, to put it nicely. Not so sure about NASCAR trying this out during the Chase though. When one race can completely destroy your championship hopes racing on something you're unfamiliar with doesn't necessarily seem fair. And I know the drivers had extra time to practice with these tires, but we talkin bout practice man...not the race...practice. They're two completely different situations. Now in this case specifically, I love NASCAR throwing in a curveball because it fucked up Kyle Busch's championship hopes so ignore the last 5 sentences.