Racin' With Russ
By Russell Schmidt

Earnhardt Jr Takes Bud Shootout
Monday, February 11, 2008

2008 NASCAR Season Openers

What better way to kick off a new relationship than with a win. Dale Earnhardt Jr has been testing well, but the real answers would come after the first round of wheel-to-wheel action. Fans would not be disappointed. NASCAR's fan favorite not only won the first 20-lap segment of the Bud Shootout on Saturday night, but went on to win the very exciting final 50-lap segment over a hard charging Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Reed Sorenson.

The overall race was just OK, certainly not the most memorable over the past decade. The cars were extremely 'bouncy' and 'nervous', something to surely affect the outcome of Sunday's 500. The Hendrick boys, those now being Dale Jr, Jimmie, Jeff and Casey Mears all ran towards the front of the second half working together when they could.

On the final lap, Johnson was the one giving Dale Jr a good shot to propel him into the lead ahead of Stewart. Jr was more than thrilled to knock this first race out of the park with a checkers. After 62 race weekends without a win, it was as if to say, "see…with some decent equipment, I can win."

The first segment saw Johnson and Gordon hang out in the back with ill-handling back-up cars, the results of a multi-car wreck in practice. After the 10-minute break, the two ex-champions returned with much better cars charging to the front seemingly at will.

The Toyotas of Michael Waltrip and Dave Blaney ran strong for a while but faded by races end. I do however look for the Toyotas to be quite strong in this year's big race….and more.

Speaking of the 500, the first part of the 500's complicated qualifying took place on Sunday with Jimmie Johnson topping the charts (picking up where they left off last season?) and Waltrip poised to start alongside him.

From the surprise-look-who's-here department were the next two cars of Joe Nemechek and David Reutimann who are guaranteed a starting spot in the 50th edition of the Great American Race.

The rest of the field will be determined on Thursday in what is now called the Duels. These are two 150-mile races to figure out who will start where on Sunday. If you can't catch the live action during the day, set your VCR's or catch the taped replay on Thursday night.

This year's competitive points racing starts on Friday night with the Craftsman truck opener followed by the Saturday afternoon Nationwide race.

There are way too many storylines to discuss in either series in this size space….suffice it to say the whole weekend is a don't miss event. We'll have a lot to talk about next week. Take note of the driver, sponsor and paint scheme changes in all three premiere divisions.

Winner of this year's Daytona 500? All I'll say at this point is a Hendrick Chevy will more than likely pull into victory lane. Fill in your own choice here.

From Rumorville
Just when I was ready to discuss the poor decision by Champ Car officials in regards to not joining up with the Indy Racing League does a late word change the whole idea. It now appears that the Champ Cars and IRL will come together this year with only one little stumbling block remaining.

Besides offering cars, engines and money to entice the racers over to the 'other side', the IRL will add several key Champ Car dates to the IRL schedule. One very conflicting date has the Long Beach GP and the race in Japan on the same weekend. The last word on this has IRL officials traveling to the 'land of the rising sun' to see what compromise can be made.

In the world of open wheel racing, this is the best news we could hear. No longer are we to endure small car counts with an even shallower talent pool in two different series. Now we should look forward to at least 25 car fields and an upcoming Indy 500 to beat the band.

All I can say is, "What took so long?!"

Did you know?
Who has the most all-time starts in NASCAR Cup competition? If you said Richard Petty, you are absolutely correct. Behind the 1,185 starts for the 'King' is Ricky Rudd with 906 and Dave Marcis with 883. Terry Labonte has notched 851 while the highest start stat for an active driver is Kyle Petty with 814.

That's it for this week. Next week's RWR will be jam-packed with results from NASCAR's big opening weekend from Daytona and more racing news from around the globe.

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ