My Full Report on Bristol

[RaceFanStan]

Friday, a very windy cool day around 40, (Brrrrrrr, that wind was Strong and Cold !!!)
We got to Bristol in time for Winston Cup qualifying, it was gordon front row, yawn.
Steve Park and Hermie Sadler both brushed the wall coming out of turn 4 on their second qualifying lap, we stayed for Busch Happy Hour, a riding lawnmower race was to follow (speeds up to 70 mph !!!), about ½ through Busch Happy Hour one of my buddys ask, “Are you ready to go ?”, I ask “Are you ?”, all 4 of us were freezing, my denim Coor’s Light jacket and my cotton t-shirt weren’t enough to fend off that cold wind, we left the track and headed for the ski lodge at Banner Elk, I was the “designated driver”. We got in the anemic Mercury Sable that we had rented, loaded up and I put my foot in it to get to the lodge, we made good time. I did learn that the Sable liked to lean in the turns (even with 4 big guys and a trunk full of clothes, coolers, and beer). We checked in, unloaded the car, and went back off the mountain to a pizza place and we consumed a giant delicious pizza (the other 3 also had 2 pitchers of Budweiser, it made my mouth water but I was the driver, Diet Pepsi for me thank you). I am big believer in not drinking and driving and I wasn’t going to submit to temptation.

Saturday, a breezy day around 50, (My Coor’s Light jacket feels good) We got to the track early, browsed the souvenir trailers, then we went to our seats in turn 2 just before Winston Cup Happy Hour (actually it was only 45 minutes). We laughed a lot and talked stuff about the drivers that we don’t like, LOL. The Busch race became the Jeff Green show with 14 or 15 cautions. The most excitement was when Biffle spun out Harvick (but the best was yet to come, LOL). On the last lap, Jimmy Spencer made a crazy move down on the apron on the frontstretch, just before turn 1, Spencer ran up into Jack Sprague. We saw Sprague spin around and we wondered why he didn’t move his car, we would find why later, LOL. I was listening to MRN on my headphones, I heard the announcer say, “And here’s Greg Biffle who finished fifth ….. FIGHT ! FIGHT ! FIGHT !”, I looked down the frontstretch and I saw team members running from both ends of pitroad. I heard on the radio that Harvick had “attacked” Biffle, I got to see the film on it later that evening at the lodge. We left the track and went to Cheryl's camping area, I got to meet Cheryl (aka wallacefan), Joyce (aka walacefans2) and Cheryl's hubby. They grilled burgers and hot dogs, she had potato salad, baked beans, etc., it was yummy !!! Good Company and Good Food is always a winning combination. LOL

Sunday, a warm day around 60, I’m sitting on my Coor’s Light jacket, I have my headphones tuned into MRN, my earplugs are in, let them lose, I’m ready !
Green flag, jeff gordon did a little brake check and rubby gordon was black flagged for jumping the start, rubby has to go into the pits for a stop and go penalty and loses a lap. Polesitter jeff gordon has the lead.
==CAUTION 1, Lap 4, Steve Park bumped Buckshot Jones in the rear, Buckshot hit the wall and spun out, Buckshot’s day was ruined.
Later, Tony Stewart got into Michael Waltrip, Mikey brushed the wall, no caution.
Later, Jimmy Spencer took the lead away from jeff gordon in lapped traffic.
==CAUTION 2, Lap 42, Stacy Compton spun out and hit the Inside retaining wall.
==CAUTION 3, Lap 52, Kevin Harvick ran into John Andretti, Andretti hit the wall.
Lap 62 jeff gordon regained the lead, c’mon magnet do your stuff.
==CAUTION 4, Lap 81 - Steve Park spun out.
Lap #88 on the restart, Joe Nemechek did not pit and had the lead briefly, Dale Jr passed him in 2 laps
Lap 95, Jeff Burton took the lead from Dale Jr.
==CAUTION 5, Lap 117, Hermie Sadler wrecked in turn 3 after contact from Bobby Hamilton. Dale Jarrett was caught up in it slightly damaging the 88 car.
==CAUTION 6, Lap 132, Sterling Marlin got into Johnny Benson, Benson spun out and hit the wall hard in turn 2, Benson’s 10 car was really tore up and went to the garage.
jeff gordon had the lead again on the restart
Lap 140, Jimmy Spencer retook the lead.
Lap 148, Dale Jr. "tapped" rubby gordon out of his way. LOL
==CAUTION 7, Lap 158, jeff gordon lost it and backed into the turn 2 wall hard, tearing up the rear of the 24 car. The magnet WORKED !!! HOORAY !!! LMAO
==CAUTION 8, Lap 165, - Hut Stricklin ran into Joe Nemechek, Joe hit the wall, both cars were damaged. Dale Jr had the lead on the restart.
Lap 384, John Andretti cut a tire and brushed the wall, no caution
==CAUTION 9, Lap 210, Tony Stewart bumped Ryan Newman, Newman hit the wall and had serious damage to the 12 car. Rick Mast and Jeff Green also got caught up in this one too, damaging their cars. jeff gordon went to the “garage”, the 24 car couldn’t maintain the minimum speed and was a rolling obstacle, Nascar threatened a black flag, LMAO.Tony Stewart led on the restart.
Lap 224, jeff gordon was back out on the track with a much modified rear end on the 24 car, he was 18 laps down in 36th.
Lap 250, Tony Stewart led at half way.
Long green flag run, I knew it wouldn’t last.
==CAUTION 10, Lap 282, Jeff Burton got into Ryan Newman, Newman spun, Dale Jarrett ran into a stalled Newman in turn 3. Dale Jr led on the restart.
Lap 308, Sterling Marlin had a flat right rear tire after contact with Mark Martin.
Sterling went almost 2 laps down on the green flag stop.
Darn It !!! He had a great car too !!! ( He managed to finish 19th and kept the points lead)
==CAUTION 11, Lap 342, Ellliott Sadler hit the wall after contact with Kyle Petty.
In the smoke Steve Park got into rubby gordon spinning gordon around.
Dale Jr had the lead on the restart.
==CAUTION 12 Lap #365 - Tony Stewart spun around on the backstretch.
Tony pits, Todd Bodine took over to drive the 20 car.
Stewart was really sore from last weekend’s wreck at Darlington.
Dale Jr leads on the restart.
==CAUTION 13 Lap #409 - Steve Park and Stacy Compton spun out together.
Kurt Busch stayed out and had the lead on the restart.
Lap 442, Jimmy Spencer retook the lead, Kurt Busch bumped Jimmy out of his way and regained the lead, Spencer almost lost it on the backstretch. Great save Jimmy !
==CAUTION 14, Lap 479, Hermie Sadler cut a tire and hits the wall.
Kurt Busch had the lead with Jimmy Spencer in second on the restart, Sterling Marlin was one lap down on the inside of Busch, I thought “Jimmy Spencer never forgets”, this is going to be interesting. Sterling led the two lead cars go but Jimmy must have flat spotted his tires when he almost wrecked on the backstretch, Jimmy couldn’t catch Busch, Darn It !!! LOL
Kurt Busch took his victory lap with the checkered flag.

We walked to the car, loaded up and waited until we could get into traffic, it was around 3 1/2 hours down (with 2 "pitstops") but it was 6 hours back (with one "pitstop" for dinner). We were tired but we had enjoyed another great race weekend. I had Monday off so I could rest before getting back to the same old grind. I don't mind work as much now and I'm really forward to the next race weekend that we can setup.

[Lars]

Guess you took Rosie's 2000 word requirement to heart...*G*

[Lars]

BTW..that's cool you got to meet Cheryl...can't remember, is she the one that sent around picks of Daytona too with her & her hubby by the DE statue?

[Roselady3]

Awesome Stan!
Great job!
I'll count the words later

[RaceFanStan]

Cheryl wasn't at Daytona, I think that was Pam (RW2002).
Cheryl was in the TR chatroom for a long time, she's also 2nd in our Fantasy Group.

[Ax Slinger]

I copied and pasted your report into my word processor, and this is what it says when I hit "Word Count":

Total Words: 1331

My comments: There's nothing like a biased report. Yawn, indeed. You should be so successful...

[Lars]

Why wouldn't it be biased? He's not getting payed for it. My Atlanta report (from last fall) was pretty biased to.*G*

[Ax Slinger]

That was a joke... See the ? Did you really think he was gonna say something like "Gordon crashed! Oh, Noooooooooo!"? But please notice how he played down Sterling Marlin's almost as bad luck as Gordon's.

So here is how I see it. Gordon started on the poll, was doing great, lead quite a few laps, his car got away from him, crashed, and he finished 31st. Understandable, even a good finish, when you consider he crashed went down 20 laps.

Marlin started 16th, ran ok even though he never made it to the front to lead a lap, but had several problems throughout the race, and finished 19th. Not all that great of a finish for someone who didn't crash and go 20 laps down.

Gordon may have dropped to 10th in the points (and he's only been outside the top 10 once, by one point, all season), but if my figures are right, Marlin only gained 28 points on him, and at 192 down Gordon is still within reasonable striking distance of Marlin's lead. I certainly wouldn't count him out of it just yet. Specially when you campare their records.

One of the announcers said during the race that this was Marlin's 27th season. And we know he has 10 wins and no Championships. On the other hand, this is Gordon's 10th season, and he has 58 wins, and 4 Championships.

So while I would say that his Dodge is definately doing well for him now, with 4 of his 10 wins coming after he started driving the Dodge, statisticly speaking he has a loooooong way to go to catch Gordon, as does nearly everyone else.

[Lars]

Knew it was a joke..didn't ya see my *G*?

[RaceFanStan]

I did my report because Roselady requested it.
Of course it will have my bias, I am a fan, not a reporter.

I was disappointed about qualifying, yawn was a mild statement considering how I really felt at the time, (to say the least I was disappointed). Sterling lost a lap due to a flat tire and if you noticed he stayed with the leaders even though he was a lap down, Sterling had a good car (in my opinion).

I like Sterling Marlin and I have pulled for him since 1994, even through all those years that he didn't win, I took a lot of b.s. while he wasn't winning, I stood behind him, and now Sterling is winning and leading the points.

I will enjoy Sterling's success and hope that he has a good year.

Sterling sure doesn't have the points locked, I'm enjoying seeing him lead the points while he can. It is way too early to forecast a champion, anything can happen.

My buddys and I are looking into Charlotte, there will be no report if we go.

[Ax Slinger]

Stan, why do I get the feeling you're mad again?

[caseyfan19]

lars it caseyfan19 did you get my email.email me back please

[caseyfan19]

buckshot doesn't suck all that much...does he?

from the desk of 'Lars'

[Roselady3]

Stan- I fully enjoyed your report- You did an excellant job & I don't give a a rats *** if it's biased or not!

We all have drivers that we root for- Weh can't help but take that into consideration as we post or go to races. Ain't nothing wrong with it. So you can go on about the drivers you like- & rant about the drivers you don't. It's all just opinion---isn't that what we gather to talk about?

[RaceFanStan]

I have 2 favorite sayings, “What have you done for me lately ?” and “Just the facts !”.
Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda don’t get it ! Past glory is just that, PAST.
Let’s see how Sterling Marlin stacks up against jeff gordon so far in 2002

Race 1 @ Daytona
Sterling Marlin = 8th, jeff gordon = 9th
gordon caused the damage that prevented Sterling from winning.

Race 2 @ Rockingham
Sterling Marlin = 2nd, jeff gordon = 7th
Sterling took over the points lead by 18 points over the Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton.

Race 3 @ Las Vegas
Sterling Marlin = 1st, jeff gordon = 17th
Sterling’s first win of 2002.

Race 4 @ Atlanta
Sterling Marlin = 9th, jeff gordon = 16th

Race 5 @ Darlington
Sterling Marlin = 1st, jeff gordon = 9th
Sterling’s second win of 2002.

Race 6 @ Bristol
Sterling Marlin = 19th, jeff gordon = 31st
Sterling had a great car and would have contended but a pitstop for a flat tire under green cost him.
And gordon led the race but lost it and backed into the wall.

Hmmmmmmm, it looks like Sterling has finished ahead of jeff in every race so far.

Sterling now has the points lead by 99 points over 2nd place Matt Kenseth.
Now jeff gordon is 10th in points, 192 points behind the points leader (Sterling).

Can gordon turn it around, perhaps he can, but now he has to hope that several of the cars ahead of him have problems, it is definitely a different battle than what jeff is used to.

It’s early in the season and anything can happen, but for now I will enjoy seeing Sterling up front.

GO SILVER BULLET, GO !!!

[Lars]

I'm peachy about the fact that Matt's in 2nd with one win under his belt!!! This means more to me than if it was DJ.

[Ax Slinger]

Oh... Ya wanna quote stats, eh? You sure you wanna do that?

Jeff Gordon and Sterling Marlin Career Statistics

There are the statistics. Draw your own conclusions.

[RaceFanStan]

Hey Lars, maybe you should see how Matt stacks up against jeff in 2002. (so far)
Matt has a win, 2nd in points, not shabby at all.
If Sterling falters, Matt could take over the points lead in just one race.

[RaceFanStan]

Tim my friend, I'm talking 2002 here.
Past glory is indeed PAST.
I know the jeff gordon fans are frustrated this year, even jeff's team-mate Jimmie Johnson is 4th in points and ahead of jeff, oh the indignity !!! LMAO

[Ax Slinger]

Yeah, you said that before. Past glory is past. Anything from yesterday on back is in the past as well, so this years Daytona could be considered "past glory" too... So while we're repeating ourselves, I'll say again that at 6 races completed, the season is barely even started, and it ain't over 'til somebody carries off the trophy. When (and if) Marlin wins a Championship, then he'll be a Champion. But even if he did, he still won't be able to match Jeff Gordon's record. He is 15 years older, and it took him 3 times as long to do 1\10th as much as Gordon. Face it, my friend. That is an unbiased statistical fact, and the stats don't lie.

[RaceFanStan]

Here is my opinion with bias :
I am enjoying Sterling's success this year and even though people try to rain on the Marlin parade, it looks sunny and bright from where I'm looking !!!

All the stats and opinions won't persuade me to like jeff gordon.
Enjoying jeff's struggles so far is just icing on the cake for me.

[Lars]

I'd be a happy camper if Matt's stats were half as good as Gordon's considering they are 7 months apart in age. Jeff was 30 in August and Matt just turned 30 a few weeks ago.

[Lars]

Originally posted by Stan_MarlinMan

I am enjoying Sterling's success this year and even though people try to rain on the Marlin parade, it looks sunny and bright from where I'm looking !!!:

I know the feeling...had to go though that when DJ was running away with the 99 championship & after he won it. Most of the crud was coming from Gordon fans too. But I had to deal with it from Earnhardt fans also. It isn't bad enough that their driver wins most of the races & championships...but when their driver is having a cruddy year & yours is doing great...they say its luck or if their boy wasn't having a bad year...

I know not all the fans are like that...but those are the ones that stuck out. Some of my good buds are Earnhardt fans and my daughter is a Gordon fan.


Funny story...we were at our hotel for the michigan august race in 99...I was wearing my dj stuff & a guy wearing a steve park shirt says to me...maybe he won't run out of gas tomorrow...ha, ha , ha. He was referring to the Brickyard earlier that month when Todd Parrott mis-calculated gas mileage. All I said to him is when your boy wins A RACE, then you can come back and talk to me about it. (of course it was before Steve won at Watkins glen)

[Ax Slinger]

Originally posted by Stan_MarlinMan
Here is my opinion with bias :
I am enjoying Sterling's success this year and even though people try to rain on the Marlin parade, it looks sunny and bright from where I'm looking !!!

All the stats and opinions won't persuade me to like jeff gordon.
Enjoying jeff's struggles so far is just icing on the cake for me.

You misunderstood my point, Stan. I ain't trying to rain on your parade. I'm trying to make you realize that when you bash someone else's favorite driver, they will bash yours. Why? Because if you do it, they'll do it too, because fair is fair. Of course, you don't have to like anybody, but if you stop the unnecessary bashing, maybe everyone else will too, and we'll all get along better. There's a line between jokes and petty insults, and unnecessary bashing. As I mentioned to you once before if you're going to dish it out, you better be able to take it. And getting mad when someone says something about Sterling Marlin isn't "taking it".

Originally posted by Lars
I know the feeling...had to go though that when DJ was running away with the 99 championship & after he won it. Most of the crud was coming from Gordon fans too. But I had to deal with it from Earnhardt fans also. It isn't bad enough that their driver wins most of the races & championships...but when their driver is having a cruddy year & yours is doing great...they say its luck or if their boy wasn't having a bad year...

What I fail to understand though is that why people think being in the lower end of the top 10 is bad. In 1999 when Jarrett won the Championship, his first and thus the most sweet in my opinion, I was quite happy for him. He kicked some butt that year. But at the same time, Gordon finished 6th, and as far as I'm concerned 6th is not bad. Everyone in the top 10 goes to New York and gets a nice fat bonus and tons of glory.

I mean sure, they all want to win the championship, but only one driver does. But the rest of the top 10 drivers are still there, and they are still the elite of NASCAR. How anyone can think that someone in that position is having a bad year is beyond me. Normally, I'd say the guy in 43rd place is doing bad. But right now, that's Todd Bodine, and it ain't his fault, because Kmart went bankrupt and he's only ran in half the races. So going up to the next person on the list that has ran all of the races we find Stacy Compton, in 39th place. With 27th, 43rd, 39th, 31st, 27th, and 38th place finishes, I'd say if anyone was doing really bad this year... It would have to be him.

[RaceFanStan]

I'm trying to make you realize that when you bash someone else's favorite driver, they will bash yours.
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I guess I need bashing explained, it seems any negative comment against jeff gordon is considered bashing but any other driver (like harvick, biffle, rubby gordon, etc.) is fair game.

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Of course, you don't have to like anybody, but if you stop the unnecessary bashing, maybe everyone else will too, and we'll all get along better.
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I won't like every driver. I thought this forum was a place to exchange opinions about Nascar races, drivers, etc. Very hostile posts (and threads) are on this board, only the negative jeff gordon comments are addressed, even the anti-gordon thread was perverted, (good move by the way, very smooth and intelligent).

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

And getting mad when someone says something about Sterling Marlin isn't "taking it".
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I don't feel I got angry, (irritated, yes), it was stimulating, I enjoyed it. I didn't start this to get an argument going, Roselady ask me to share my race week-end and I did, it wasn't meant as a bash on any driver, even though I did enjoy seeing jeff gordon hit the wall in front of me, it was one of the highlights of my trip.