Happy hump day folks. Been waiting for this one since the calendar turned to October. Ain't nothin' gets more more excited that a Sr. run to victory lane and subsequent interview. Unfortunately, this happened to be his 76th and final victory.But damn, this last one was one hell of a way to go out.
THE DALE GUYS
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
A Raceday in the Life: 2011 5-Hour Energy 500
A lot of you may have been wondering where the Dale guys began. Or perhaps, none of you actually give a fuck. Even further, am I just talking to myself?! Regardless, I'd love to tell a quick story of how the Dale guys were born one June morning in Eastern Pennsylvania. Since the born on date on the twitter was Richmond, Fall 2012, I only have pictures to keep the story going, so bear with me.
2011 was the season it all began. The year the 'A's plan of NASCAR Sundays finally took off as a junior in college. You see, the fundamentals of NASCAR Sunday is simple. Marlboro reds, a 12 of Budweiser, a couch, and a couple of rabid members of Junior nation. As the year got on, my excitement over the sport truly blossomed. I'm hooked, and I'm taking a couple of my closest buddies along with me.
Only problem is, I could only get two damn friends to head out to Pocono on June 12th of that year. Anyone know how many letters are in DALE?? Cause it ain't 3, it's 4. So, we called an audible race morning and the original '88!' guys were born.
Of course back then, the 'A' was the only one man enough to rock the jorts (still the same ones to this day).
Our day at Pocono pre-race was one of shock and awe. We spent half the time gawking at some of the amazing graphic tees and the other half explaining why we had painted our chests. You see, when this idea first came to mind, we'd be one of SEVERAL guys with their chests promoting their driver. Boy, was I wrong. This was the closest we saw to us.
Dale would go on to finish sixth that day, but with our driver needing a few hours to sober up, our fun was just beginning. We followed a couple of rednecks into the tunnel (one of them gave me a full tin of Wintergreen long cut, I'll never forget that), and the excitement had peaked. You know what they say about the grass being greener on the other side? Well, it was way greener in the infield.
I'll skip over us waiting for winner Jeff Gordbug to come out of the media room for two hours, We took a stroll to the tunnel turn, and then back. It must've taken four hours, because when we got back to the garage, we were the only ones left. AND I MEAN ONLY.
You guys know whats right on the other side of the garage area from the infield? That'd be the track! and victory lane, and pit road! I'll let some photos do some talking for a little.
PS: For those of you wondering, even though we had a couple of budding young fans that day, we knew exactly what to do when we saw the 18 machine in the midway area.
2011 was the season it all began. The year the 'A's plan of NASCAR Sundays finally took off as a junior in college. You see, the fundamentals of NASCAR Sunday is simple. Marlboro reds, a 12 of Budweiser, a couch, and a couple of rabid members of Junior nation. As the year got on, my excitement over the sport truly blossomed. I'm hooked, and I'm taking a couple of my closest buddies along with me.
Only problem is, I could only get two damn friends to head out to Pocono on June 12th of that year. Anyone know how many letters are in DALE?? Cause it ain't 3, it's 4. So, we called an audible race morning and the original '88!' guys were born.
Of course back then, the 'A' was the only one man enough to rock the jorts (still the same ones to this day).
Our day at Pocono pre-race was one of shock and awe. We spent half the time gawking at some of the amazing graphic tees and the other half explaining why we had painted our chests. You see, when this idea first came to mind, we'd be one of SEVERAL guys with their chests promoting their driver. Boy, was I wrong. This was the closest we saw to us.
Dale would go on to finish sixth that day, but with our driver needing a few hours to sober up, our fun was just beginning. We followed a couple of rednecks into the tunnel (one of them gave me a full tin of Wintergreen long cut, I'll never forget that), and the excitement had peaked. You know what they say about the grass being greener on the other side? Well, it was way greener in the infield.
I'll skip over us waiting for winner Jeff Gordbug to come out of the media room for two hours, We took a stroll to the tunnel turn, and then back. It must've taken four hours, because when we got back to the garage, we were the only ones left. AND I MEAN ONLY.
You guys know whats right on the other side of the garage area from the infield? That'd be the track! and victory lane, and pit road! I'll let some photos do some talking for a little.
We found the pace car (photo credit: some Pocono janitor)
Made it into the flag stand (photo credit: Some guy cleaning up TV gear)
It might not be Indy, but who wouldn't kiss the stripe.
And finally, a look from victory lane.
What an epic experience. I feel like we're still riding the momentum of this day almost two and a half years later. I just went to my first race since the 1999 Pontiac Excitement 400 (Tony's first win) and I practically own the joint. I'll leave y'all with the ultimate roll credits picture, from what must have been the next day after all the shit we got to do post race.
PS: For those of you wondering, even though we had a couple of budding young fans that day, we knew exactly what to do when we saw the 18 machine in the midway area.
Monday, October 14, 2013
1-Bar of the Week: BoA 500
As we all know, this Saturday nights race wasn't exactly filled with excitement. Dale took a big swing and missed, JJ dominated, and Kenseth was rock solid. All surprises, right? I'll tell you what was a surprise. Danica AND the two BK cars all kept it forward this weekend (well, on the track at least, Danica did turn it around on pit road). There were a couple of moments on pit road that made us happy to have the dew crew though, so I decided to award the 1-bar of the week to a couple of guys who make their living coming over the wall.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Fantasy Recap: Bank of America 500
This week was all about exceptions. Usually non-chase drivers don't win Chase races...except Keselowski did. None of us picked the Blue Deuce... except for the 'L's old man. All of the drivers that WE picked, finished in the top 10...except Dale.
As a reminder, here were our picks this week (in the order that they were picked):
E: Jeff Gordon
D: Dale Jr.
A: Harvick
!: Ryan "Bloomin'" Newman
L: Jimmie Johnson
This week's fantasy winner was again the 'L'. With Jimmie able to hang on for 4th after threatening for the win, the 'L' extends his lead in the fantasy standings following his winning Harvick pick the previous week. The order of the standings remain the unchanged this week with the exception of the 'E' moving into a tie with me, the 'D', for last place.
- The 'D'
As a reminder, here were our picks this week (in the order that they were picked):
E: Jeff Gordon
D: Dale Jr.
A: Harvick
!: Ryan "Bloomin'" Newman
L: Jimmie Johnson
This week's fantasy winner was again the 'L'. With Jimmie able to hang on for 4th after threatening for the win, the 'L' extends his lead in the fantasy standings following his winning Harvick pick the previous week. The order of the standings remain the unchanged this week with the exception of the 'E' moving into a tie with me, the 'D', for last place.
- The 'D'
Read more for the full, updated stats after the second week...
Saturday, October 12, 2013
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.
Friday, October 11, 2013
DALE! Guys Fantasy Picks: BoA 500
Week 2 of thedaleguys fantasy season is underway. Here are this weeks picks
D: Tell ya what, boys. I'm hungry. Hungry for a win. And nothin' sounds better right now than a JR. BACON DALEBURGER. Stevie's been cookin' up the speed and the 88 is 'bout due to come off the grill and into the winner's circle.
A: Well, I wanted to take Junebug, but since the D snatched him up, I'm gonna tell you who's coming In second this week. Sorry to do this to the L, but after his showing last week and performance in May, I gotta take the closer. Happy is looking good right now, plus he's a guy I can definitely drink for come Saturday night. HARVICK BITCH. Grab some buds.
L: The pick thievery by the D is starting to get out of hand, so much so that he's got the A thinking it's OK. I was gonna let it ride on the 29 this weekend and let him lead me to victory again but no. Luckily the stupid ! was Diet Dew drunk last night and picked Newman leaving JJ on the table. Jimmie's got the car and crew to win and if I remember correctly he's been here before. This is the race for the 48 to drive back into Victory Lane and take the top spot in the Chase.
E: Kasey Kahne's blue eyes, high average finish at Charlotte and top 10 starting position almost reeled me back in to pick him again after the disappointment last week. But when I heard the CMS announcer refer to "Big Daddy" Jeff Gordon after the 24 won the pole I knew he was the guy I had to pick to get me back up in the fantasy ranks
!- After a strong showing by my pick Joey Logano last week, I decided to stick with a lowly chase driver. The "Fat Ogre Man," as he was called by Kyle Busch, has a shot to do something this weekend. I'm going to keep this short and sweet. Look for Ryan Bloomin' Newman to bring home the onions at the BoA 500 this week.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Race Preview: Bank of America 500
(This picture comes from queers4gears.com...I guess that's cool?)
Going back to the home of NASCAR this weekend for the Bank of America 500 and it's everyone's favorite...a night race. As much as I love NASCAR sundays, being able to watch the race Saturday nights leave Sundays open for NFL and endless reruns of Bar Rescue (it's a show on Spike, if you haven't seen it you're missing out). We also don't have any ranked college football teams planning eachother Saturday night so we don't have to worry about missing that. Charlotte is on TheDaleGuys' short list of tracks to visit as I'm sure the atmosphere down in the heart of racing country is unreal.
I'm apologizing to all you Jr./Hendrick fans reading this, but I don't have much good news for y'all in this preview. Since 2011, Jr, Gordon and Jimmie are all ranked between 19th and 24th in average finish among active drivers at Charlotte. Adding to that great news, Hamlin is 1st and Kenseth is 6th. At least Harvick is 2nd, with an average finish of 6.4, hopefully he can keep his momentum from Kansas going. He also won here back in May If Kevin (-25) and Jeff (-32) can somehow get themselves back in the running for the championship I think we would all be thrilled.
On the bright side, even though his average finish isn't good, Jr. has done pretty good here if you take out the race he didn't finish (this past spring). Since the 2011 Coke 600 (a race that will haunt the dreams of Jr. fans forever, more on that race in a second) Dale has finished 19, 7 (twice), 6 and 5. Not bad finishes at all and typical fashion of having a solid race, but not having the extra oomph to get the W. Let's hope that changes this weekend.
Ok, as much as it pains me to bring it up, I need to mention the 2011 Coca Cola 600, where Jr. ran out of gas in turn 3 of the last lap, giving Harvick the win. I'll never forget having the 'A' call me crying, after he refused to go out to the bar after and all of his friends had left him. The one positive from that race is the video below. TheDaleGuys will be giving you a full video breakdown of this in a future post. It is an absolute, 100% must watch.
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Opened: 1960
Size and Shape: 1.5 mile quad-oval
Banking: 24 degrees in the turns
First Winner: Joe Lee Johnson
Last Race: 5/26/13
Last Winner: Jeff Gordon
Defending Champ: Clint Bowyer
Qualifying Track Record: Denny Hamlin, May 2013, 195.624mph
Race
|
Finish
|
Start
|
Car
|
Team
|
Make
|
Laps Led
|
Rating
|
Winnings
|
May 26, 2013
|
39
|
11
|
88
|
Hendrick Motorsports
|
Chevy
|
0
|
69.2
|
$101,745
|
May 18, 2013
|
7
|
15
|
88
|
Hendrick Motorsports
|
Chevy
|
0
|
81.6
|
$96,975
|
May 27, 2012
|
6
|
12
|
88
|
Hendrick Motorsports
|
Chevy
|
0
|
94.5
|
$142,015
|
May 19, 2012
|
5
|
21
|
88
|
Hendrick Motorsports
|
Chevy
|
18
|
116.7
|
$141,315
|
Oct 15, 2011
|
19
|
15
|
88
|
Hendrick Motorsports
|
Chevy
|
0
|
75.3
|
$79,600
|
May 29, 2011
|
7
|
25
|
88
|
Hendrick Motorsports
|
Chevy
|
2
|
103.6
|
$131,575
|
May 21, 2011
|
14
|
21
|
88
|
Hendrick Motorsports
|
Chevy
|
0
|
38.1
|
$81,600
|
Oct 16, 2010
|
29
|
8
|
88
| Hendrick Motorsports |
Chevy
|
0
|
56.8
|
$110,248
|
May 30, 2010
|
22
|
24
|
88
|
Hendrick Motorsports
|
Chevy
|
10
|
65.8
|
$101,150
|
May 22, 2010
|
12
|
18
|
88
|
Hendrick Motorsports
|
Chevy
|
0
|
48.7
|
$83,099
|
Oct 17, 2009
|
38
|
39
|
88
|
Hendrick Motorsports
|
Chevy
|
0
| 44.3 |
$83,400
|
May 25, 2009
|
40
|
27
|
88
|
Hendrick Motorsports
|
Chevy
|
0
| 32.7 |
$105,065
|
May 16, 2009
|
10
|
4
|
88
|
Hendrick Motorsports
|
Chevy
|
0
| 73.1 |
$90,471
|
Oct 11, 2008
|
36
|
10
|
88
|
Hendrick Motorsports
|
Chevy
|
0
| 80.9 |
$71,800
|
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