I have always in enjoyed listening to the Driver’s Seat on Sirius Nascar Radio. I was completely shocked to find out John Kernan was gone from the show. I did a little checking and John actually left a post a siriusbackstage.com explaining what happened.
I am moving to the Chicago area to be with my fiance, who got a big job promotion at Starbucks. I had requested that I be able to continue doing the show from my new home as the other hosts have the option of doing from their homes, but was told PRN didn’t want to go that route.
I really enjoyed hosting the Drivers Seat and will miss talking to all of you!
john
This is crap. Snyder and Poole do their show from home all the time. John was the best host on the channel. We’ll miss you John.
Abingdon, Va., (November 12, 2007) - Tim Morgan, President of Morgan-McClure Motorsports, Inc. (MMM), and Larry McClure, Team Manager announced today that Todd Bodine will drive the #4 State Water Heaters/Lucas Oil Chevrolet for Morgan McClure Motorsports in the final race of the season this weekend at Miami-Homestead Speedway.
Morgan stated, “Ward has worked hard for us this year, he is a good driver and a friend. Todd has been helpful to us in the past and has agreed to step in and help us benchmark our efforts as we get ready for the 2008 season.”
Both Ward Burton and the MMM team have agreed that his change is the best way to fully evaluate the performance of the team.
Morgan continued, “We are proud to have State Water Heaters back as a sponsor for our team next year. We are currently in the process of negotiating additional sponsorship and selecting a driver for the upcoming 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Season.”
“Carl came from a few rows back, bombed down into turns one and two, and door-slammed Matt up the racetrack. Then, to make matters worse, as they were on the corner exit ran him (Kenseth) off into the back stretch wall,” said Biffle.
“If you drive like that, you have got to be able to take it,” he continued. “You would expect that Carl would figure if he drives like that, somebody is going to race him the same way, especially a team mate. So, in the next corner…Matt just bumped the back of him and he lost two or three spots back to where he was,” he stated.
But, Biffle and the panel were not done yet with Carl Edwards. Not by a longshot. Things were about to go from plain talk to harsh words. Greg Biffle ended with his parting shot at Edwards by saying of his actions after the race “I think the true colors (of Edwards) are coming out there.” Then, in another moment that reminded viewer of the “old days,” Michael Waltrip spoke-up.
“When I think about it, its disrespectful to Jack Roush,” said Waltrip. “When Carl came up to Matt after the race with the TV cameras rolling and started pushing on Matt it really made me sick to my stomach. I’m a car owner now and I see it through Jack’s eyes and I don’t like what I saw,” exclaimed Waltrip.
Kenny Schrader was to the point, as always. “They need to sit down and get over it, Carl didn’t handle that right at all.” His face told the story of someone who had been through a lot worse in racing, and thought Edwards antics to be ridiculous.
Well, that says alot. I believe I even heard on Siriur radio this week that Edwards was ticked because he didn’t get to be Biffle’s best man last week. Sounds like he is lucky he was even in the wedding.
Back to Bristol, a new and improved Bristol track from what I saw on Wednesday night during the truck race.
Weekend Schedule
FRIDAY, August 24 9 - 9:50 a.m. NBS Food City 250 Practice
10:15 - 11:15 a.m. NBS Food City 250 Final Practice
11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. NNCS Sharpie 500 Practice
3:20 p.m. NNCS Sharpie 500 Qualifying (2 Laps - All positions)
4:35 p.m. NBS Food City 250 Qualifying (2 Laps - All positions)
6:15 - 7:20 p.m. NNCS Sharpie 500 Final Practice
7:30 p.m. NBS Food City 250 Driver Introductions
8:00 p.m. NBS Start of Food City 250
Saturday, August 25, 2007
1:00 p.m. Spectator Gates Open
7:30 p.m. NNCS Sharpie 500 Driver Introductions
8:00 p.m. NNCS Start of Sharpie 500
Notes
48 cars are on the entry list, so five go home. Weather looks great for qualifying, 20% chance of rain on Saturday and hot.
Ward will have Food City on the car again this weekend. I hope to have a picture at some point today.
Marlin to Morgan-McClure? Sterling Marlin may not be without a Nextel Cup ride for long. Late Tuesday a team source at Morgan-McClure Racing, which currently fields the #4 Chevy with veteran Ward Burton, said that officials there are in discussions with Marlin for a possible second team.(Cup Scene Daily)(7-18-2007)(Jayski.com)
Not sure what this means for Ward, but how can a team already struggling to make ends meet add another car?
I will be heading out for Chicago a little later today. Hopefully Ward and MMM #4 Team can make the race this weekend.
NEXTEL CUP EVENT SCHEDULE for this race
FRIDAY, July 13
(Local to the race track which is CT, one hour behind of ET)
6:30 a.m. Nextel Cup Series and Busch Series Garage Opens
11:30 - 1:00 p.m. Nextel Cup Series Practice
1:10 - 2:10 p.m. Busch Series Practice
2:15 - 2:45 p.m. Busch Series Rookie Practice
3:10 p.m. Nextel Cup Series Qualifying (Two Laps, All Positions)
4:45 p.m.(Approx.) Busch Series Final Practice (One Hour, Time Permitting)
SATURDAY, July 14
9 - 9:50 a.m. Nextel Cup Series Practice
10:05 a.m. Busch Series Qualifying (Two Laps, All Positions)
12:20 - 1:20 a.m. Nextel Cup Series Final Practice
2:00 p.m. USG DUROCK 300 - Busch Series Race (200 Laps / 300 Miles)
SUNDAY, July 15
8 a.m. Nextel Cup Series Garage Opens
2:30 p.m. Nextel Cup Series Driver Introductions - Security - Clear Pit Road
3 p.m. USG SHEETROCK 400 - Nextel Cup Series Race (267 Laps / 400 Miles)
Layoffs at Morgan-McClure? UPDATE: been told by multiple sources that Morgan-McClure Motorsports, who fields the #4 State Water Heaters Chevy for Ward Burton, has temporarily laid off 14 employees this week, including a long time member of the engine shop.(7-5-2007) UPDATE: Morgan-McClure Motorsports in conjunction with primary sponsor State Water Heaters continue to search for additional sponsorship for their #4 Chevrolet currently running in the Nextel Cup Series. State Water Heaters (Ashland City, TN) signed up to be primary sponsor for 12 races in the 2007 season with the hope of bringing along a co-sponsor. When that didn’t happen, Morgan-McClure and State focused even harder on the continuing search for additional funding. “We’ve had to look at every aspect of our team and try to find places where we can cut back until additional sponsor money is secured,” said Morgan-McClure President Larry McClure at the Abingdon, Va. based race shop Tuesday. “We have temporarily released five employees and have every intention of bringing them back as soon as it is possible. Everyone remaining here is making sacrifices to keep this team going in 2007. We probably have the best team we have had in five years. The outlook for 2008 is much better, but first we have to get thru 2007. These guys are like family to me. Telling them they could no longer work here was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I feel responsible for them and taking their jobs away was tough,” McClure continued. I look at the money we have been operating on as compared to some of these other teams who are outside the top 35 in owner points and I can’t help but think if we had even half the budget they have, there’s no telling what we could do. This top 35 rule is hurting a lot of us. I think if you looked at qualifying as just the top 43 fastest cars, we would have only missed a couple races. But the rules are what they are and we are trying to make the best of it with what we have. We continue to search for primary and associate sponsors for the remainder of 2007 and I believe there are good partners out there somewhere for this team,” said McClure as he monitored preparations of the Chicago race cars.(Morgan-McClure Motorsports PR)(7-11-2007) (Jayski.com)
With this week’s big Dale Jr. announcement Silly Season 2007 has officially started. This what we know so far:
Dale Jr. takes over the #5 car. No word on sponsorship, but Bud may not be coming with him.
Kyle Busch gets to start wrecking someone else’s cars. Where does he fit? Ginn, Yates, Penske, DEI, Childress?
Greg Biffle supposedly will stay with Roush, so he is off the board
Childress is adding a team, maybe, possibly, who knows for sure
Ginn has Sterling possibly going part time
Penske may or may not add a team
Gibbs might add a team or have the #18 ride open
DEI has the #8 car open
Lots of unknowns make for a summer of excitement for Nascar fans. This is sure to help boost the ratings.
So where does Busch end up? I think probably Ginn or Childress, but I have heard Evernham might be in the mix. Evernham might be the best fit, but does he add a new team or drop a driver?
Who takes over the #8 car? Does Bud stay with DEI? As Ward Burton fan I would love to see him added to the DEI stable. Ward is a much better driver than anybody else they could possibly put in a car. He is a winner and a veteran racer that could help Menard and Truex. Budweiser just goes over to the #1 car and Bass Pro goes to the #8 with Ward driving. What a perfect fit!
Just one of these days I would love to see Ward get a chance to drive for a team with money and technology. Take a look at this simple driver comparison. Just makes you wonder how some of these guys got their current rides. Sure Ward isn’t a marketing dream, but he is good driver with a lot of fans.
