You know, when it rains - it pours! This is about how Michael Waltrip is feeling right now since qualifying for this weekend's race in Texas has been rained out and that the 43 car field is going to be set by owner points. Since there were 51 cars scheduled to qualify Michael's #55 NAPA Toyota will not make the show because the other 50 drivers are ahead of him the standings.
With all the things that have been going on with MWR these last few months I would be surprised if Toyota and NAPA weren't concerned with Michael's inability to get his "Toyota flag-ship" Team in a race let alone the issue of cheating at Daytona and now his 'suspicious' car accident last weekend.
I think Michael needs to step back from his driving duties and get himself and his racing organization back on track. Give Bill Elliott a call, or get Toyota Truck Wiz Mike Skinner in his car. Skinner ,you will recall, has some unfinished Cup business of his own - like an official Cup points race win and he is just as hungry as ever for it.
This does not have to be permanent, once his team and organization are back on track he can resume the driving duties.
With the way things are going for Michael lately he needs to re-establish some of his credibility with Toyota, his sponsors (NAPA, Dominos, Burger King), and the fans. We are two months past the Daytona incident and he still has not finished his internal investigation as to how the jet fuel got into his intake manifold and fired those responsible. This lack of follow through is not a good reflection upon himself and his organization as well as his sponsors - especially Toyota.
Also, this latest incident of leaving the scene of an accident, and reckless driving is not helping his image too much - especially since he didn't contact the police until nearly 18hrs later. Based on these actions one can only assume that he is hiding something, like drinking and driving for example. With the time it took Michael to finally contact the police he had more than an enough time to Lawyer-up and have his PR department prepare a speech to address to the public. Again these actions hurt Michael's credibility and since actions speak louder than words, Michael needs to put-up or shut-up right about now.
Kurt Busch
Kurt's Crew Chief left the Penske organization this week for an indefinite period of time due to his wife developing Leukemia and now Kurt has wrecked his 'primary' car in practice on Friday. It was a pretty hard hit, and he'll probably use his back-up car. Man!
I've Been Outed - Darn That Dude!
I have to confess to you, I've been writing under two names for the past little while. I knew someone would 'catch' me sooner or later and The Diecast Dude was the one who did. I have left a few clues every now and then in certain posts, and made no effort to hide the fact that I'm writing for another blog except that I didn't come out and announce it like I'm doing now.
A few months ago I was approached by a large sport blog site called MVN - The Most Valuable Network and was asked to become one of their bloggers for The Pit Stop their new NASCAR blog. I took the opportunity to write for them, and I have been doing so for the last month or so - you'll find the link to it in my blogroll.
To be honest, I haven't really had the time to do it right for them, and I have only been posting about once or twice a week (if that). I will be writing more often over at MVN in the near future, and on the days that I write there I will provide a link to my post on this site.
Don't worry, I have every intention of keeping this site up and running and have no plans of shutting it down. I have been dedicated to this blog and intend to continue to be dedicated to it. I like it here, and I like the people who visit me here - even the 'grumpy' ones - and this is where I'll be for a while yet. I just want to spread my wings a bit and see what happens - I just hope I don't do an Icarus!