NASCAR Fans - Silly Season Rumors and Facts (1/18 today's practice speeds page3)

[ToriLammy]

Oh my gosh - Jr is getting a new crew chief....I kind of expected it but then again Jr has said so often that he wanted to keep his uncle and cousin in the jobs.

Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Announces Motorsports Division Promotions
by Staff Writer, Dale Earnhardt, Inc. - December 1, 2004
MOORESVILLE, NC – Dale Earnhardt, Inc. has announced various internal motorsports promotions effective for the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season.
Tony Eury, Sr. has been promoted from Crew Chief of the No. 8 Chevrolet to Director of Competition. Steve Hmiel, previous Director of Competition, will now be the Technical Director for Dale Earnhardt, Inc.

During his tenure as Crew Chief, Eury Sr. led Earnhardt, Jr. to two NASCAR Busch Series Championships and 15 NASCAR Nextel Cup victories including the 2004 Daytona 500 and 2000 All-Star Race. He also led Dale Earnhardt to 21 Busch Series victories.

Pete Rondeau has been moved to the Crew Chief position of the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet. He took over as Crew Chief on the No. 15 NAPA Chevrolet during the latter portion of the 2004 Nextel Cup Series season. Rondeau led Earnhardt, Jr. to a Busch Series win at Bristol Motor Speedway this year and Ron Fellows to a second-place finish at Watkins Glen International.

Tony Eury, Jr. will Crew Chief the No. 15 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet of Michael Waltrip. Eury, Jr. was the Car Chief on the No. 8 Chevrolet for the past five seasons and was also instrumental in Earnhardt, Jr’s two Busch Series championships.

The No. 8 and No. 15 core members of the teams will collectively transfer intact with the promotions of Eury Jr. and Rondeau, as well.

Richie Gilmore, Vice-President of Motorsports for DEI, said the moves come on the heels of a successful season and the teams wanted to improve and achieve even greater success.

“We all sat down and talked because we want all of our teams to produce even better results,” Gilmore said. “Everyone is excited about this and we’re already getting ready for Daytona testing. We think the results will show up immediately.”

PS - Slugger Labbe has left DEI and has been hired by Ray Evernham.

 

[OhMari]

Since the thread has Silly Season Rumor's-Is Jr. still with his girlfriend he met at the Texas Race Track?

 

[ToriLammy]

You mean "Kortnie" - no, they broke up a long time ago He said something about her making demands according the Jr board I read.

 

[DukeStreetKing]

I'm not sure I like the idea of messing with Jr.'s team.

And Kortnie got the boot when she started trying to rein in Jr. He was being interviewed by Mike Wallace and mentioned that he was single again because he's the man and he makes the decisions. LOL.

 

[Jet888]

I was surprised about Jr.s crew change. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.
Tori, have you thought much about the NASCAR exchange? I'm just trying to make sure I don't miss it.

 

[ToriLammy]

I am torn about the exchange...want to have it but don't want to add to folks' anxiety about the holidays so I was thinking of waiting until after Christmas, like the first week in January.

 

[Jet888]

Maybe we could have sign-ups and names go out in Dec. but have the mail by date mid-Jan. The only reason I say that is because I can't really find as much NASCAR stuff in my area as I can this time of the year, but whatever seems easier.

 

[Jet888]

Also, what do you guys think of Pit Bull getting cancelled?
DH and I really liked that show.

 

[WendyZ]

Hmmmm...not sure I like this. But we'll see. Seems like they would of left one of the Eury's with Jr. Hope this goes well for both teams.

 

[ToriLammy]

Some interesting info from Jayski:

UPDATE 2: Effective immediately, Richard "Slugger" Labbe, who joined Evernham Motorsports to lead Speedway Development, adds responsibilities as Crew Chief for the #19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge race team with driver Jeremy Mayfield. Kenny Francis remains Team Director for the #19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, focusing on engineering and technological innovation for the team. In a related move, Josh Browne, Race Engineer for the #19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, was promoted to Director of Vehicle Dynamics for Evernham Motorsports.(Evernham Motorsports/ClearBlue PR)(12-14-2004)

Labbe turned down #8 crew chief gig: Richard "Slugger" Labbe told Sirius Speedway - Sirius Satellite Radio/MRN Radio host Dave Moody (Sirius Satellite Radio/MRN) that he was offered the crew chief position with Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s Budweiser Chevrolet Team, but turned it down. "They offered me five or six different things, including the crewchief job on the 8 car," he said. "But I didn't like some of the things that were happening there. I've been in this business for 18 years, and I'm in it because I love it. I want to go to work, have fun and be challenged. I didn't see myself being happy in any of the jobs they offered me."(Sirius Speedway - Sirius Satellite Radio/MRN Radio)(12-15-2004

Get the impression that Slugger didn't want the pressure of being crew chief for Jr and I can't say I blame him one bit for that.... Jr has the potential to be a champion but something is holding him back and it's the crew chief that is almost always going to get the blame with Jr's fans (and geez there are a lot of them )

 

[Big Dude]

Hey Tori I think Slugger feels he learned enough about the DEI restrictor plate program and will try to impliment it for the 9 and 19. What he doesn't realize is that Jr's daddy taught Jr how to "see the air" when driving plate races. That's the difference.

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas.

Adam aka Big Dude

 

[ToriLammy]

Gordon Fans - On Monday (Dec 27th) at 8PM Eastern Time Travel Channel is airing a show on Million dollar homes and is going to show Gordon's 1.6 Million dollar motorhome. May be the only chance we ever get to see the inside

 

[ToriLammy]

They lied, Jeff's RV was not on last Monday night - they had Bill Elliott and Kurt Busch but...was just watching the travel channel and Jeff's RV was on Dream RVs. It's very, very nice. His driver gave a tour and said Jeff does all his own cooking.

Not much other news going on in the NASCAR world except Jayski.com has moved to it's new home on ESPN.com so links from the past won't work (it takes you to That'sRacin's site). I used Google and find the site just fine. Oh and Speed channel will be showing practice at Daytona all during the month of January Something to keep us going until the season starts! Will post more details about Speed Channel as soon as I learn them.

 

[Jet888]

Speed channel will be showing practice at Daytona all during the month of January Something to keep us going until the season starts! Will post more details about Speed Channel as soon as I learn them.

Hi Tori

 

[ToriLammy]

SPEED Channel will be providing nightly 30-minute shows from NASCAR's Preseason Thunder test sessions in Daytona.

The air dates and times are:

NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series (all shows begin at 7 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT)
Jan. 11-13
Jan. 18-20

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Jan. 16 (7 p.m. ET)

NASCAR Busch Series
Jan. 24 (7 p.m. ET

 

[ToriLammy]

Now most of you probably think I'm excited by the fact that Jeff Gordon led both practices as the quickest but you'd be wrong ...it's Boris, check him out 2nd and 3rd fastest in practice Love Jeff but have a special place in my heart for Boris Said. I really hope he does well this year.

Morning:

1. Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Chevrolet, 48.579 seconds, 185.265 mph
2. Boris Said, No. 36 Chevrolet, 48.601, 185.181
3. Jeremy Mayfield, No. 19 Dodge, 48.779, 184.506
4. Greg Biffle, No. 16 Ford, 48.799, 184.430
5. Kurt Busch, No. 97 Ford, 48.802, 184.419
6. Michael Waltrip, No. 15 Chevrolet, 48.871, 184.158
7. Dale Jarrett, No. 88 Ford, 48.915, 183.993
8. Elliott Sadler, No. 38 Ford, 48.960, 183.824
9. Ricky Rudd, No. 21 Ford, 49.002, 183.666
10. Ryan Newman, No. 12 Dodge, 49.070, 183.411
11. Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 8 Chevrolet, 49.092, 183.329
12. Jason Leffler, No. 11 Chevrolet, 49.097, 183.311
13. Mike McLaughlin, No. 20 Chevrolet, 49.125, 183.206
14. Travis Kvapil, No. 77 Dodge, 49.154, 183.098
15. Kyle Busch, No. 5 Chevrolet, 49.191, 182.960
16. Kyle Petty, No. 45 Dodge, 49.211, 182.886
17. Kenny Wallace, No. 00 Chevrolet, 49.236, 182.793
18. Mike Bliss, No. 0 Chevrolet, 49.254, 182.726
19. Carl Edwards, No. 99 Ford, 49.265, 182.685
20. Jamie McMurray, No. 42 Dodge, 49.388, 182.231
21. Mike Skinner, No. 23 Dodge, 49.532, 181.701
22. Kerry Earnhardt, No. 33 Chevrolet, 49.533, 181.697
23. Casey Mears, No. 41 Dodge, 49.598, 181.459
24. Morgan Shepherd, No. 89 Dodge, 49.609, 181.419
25. Randy LaJoie, No. 98 Chevrolet, 49.623, 181.368
26. Jeff Fuller, No. 92 Chevrolet, 50.967, 176.585

Afternoon:

1. Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Chevrolet, 48.531 seconds, 185.448 mph
2. Randy LaJoie, No. 98 Chevrolet, 48.588, 185.231
3. Boris Said, No. 36 Chevrolet, 48.743, 184.642
4. Elliott Sadler, No. 38 Ford, 48.753, 184.604
5. Greg Biffle, No. 16 Ford, 48.792, 184.456
6. Michael Waltrip, No. 15 Chevrolet, 48.868, 184.170
7. Jeremy Mayfield, No. 19 Dodge, 48.884, 184.109
8. Kurt Busch, No. 97 Ford, 48.902, 184.042
9. Dale Jarrett, No. 88 Ford, 48.913, 184.000
10. Mike Bliss, No. 0 Chevrolet, 48.947, 183.872
11. Morgan Shepherd, No. 89 Dodge, 49.039, 183.527
12. Ricky Rudd, No. 21 Ford, 49.042, 183.516
13. Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 8 Chevrolet, 49.113, 183.251
14. Travis Kvapil, No. 77 Dodge, 49.117, 183.236
15. Carl Edwards, No. 99 Ford, 49.119, 183.228
16. Mike McLaughlin, No. 20 Chevrolet, 49.123, 183.214
17. Kenny Wallace, No. 00 Chevrolet, 49.137, 183.161
18. Kyle Busch, No. 5 Chevrolet, 49.182, 182.994
19. Ryan Newman, No. 12 Dodge, 49.218, 182.860
20. Jason Leffler, No. 11 Chevrolet, 49.224, 182.838
21. Kyle Petty, No. 45 Dodge, 49.249, 182.745
22. Kerry Earnhardt, No. 33 Chevrolet, 49.281, 182.626
23. Jamie McMurray, No. 42 Dodge, 49.332, 182.437
24. Mike Skinner, No. 23 Dodge, 49.460, 181.965
25. Casey Mears, No. 41 Dodge, 49.463, 181.954
26. Jeff Fuller, No. 92 Chevrolet, 50.361, 178.710

 

[DukeStreetKing]

Nice to see Kerry Earnhardt up in the standings. I hope he does well this year, he's been in the shadows for a long time.

 

[ilovedale3]

Oh no... I see Mike Skinner's name on the list for practice times. Does that mean we have to listen to his whining and poor sportsmanship again? I was hoping he would just stay in the truck series!

 

[ToriLammy]

Mike Skinner is driving for Bill Davis racing who is looking to hire Shane Hmiel but does not have a full time sponsor yet. So in the meantime Hmiel is sticking with his Busch ride. Skinner is just filling in.

Some teams used stand-in drivers (McLaughlin drove for Stewart who is still on vacation) so you can't really go by just the names.

 

[Jet888]

I was happy to see Sadler in 4th in afternoon practice, 8th in morning. I would also love to see Kerry do good and I'm also hoping to see Mikey Waltrip have a good season.