Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Office Depot Chevrolet, sits in his car during practice for TUMS Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo credit: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images North America)

But then David Gilliland spun his #34 car and saved Tony from eventually succumbing to Denny Hamlin and going a lap down he was able to come in and get some major work done on his car that helped the handling.  Some pit strategy soon had Stewart battling Kevin Harvick for the lead, battling a little too hard because on the next caution Tony soon had to come in unscheduled because Stewart thought he felt a tire going down. This put Stewart back in the field again.

Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, celebrates with his crew members after winning the TUMS Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway . (Photo Credit: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images North America)

However, with four fresh tires and a fire in his belly (and some well timed cautions) Tony worked his way back up the field. Racing with Jeff Gordon, Tony discovered there was more grip on the outside then he though which gave him the confidence to pass Jimmie Johnson on the outside after the last caution.  Tony moved up to second in the points and is only 8 points behind the points leader Carl Edwards.  He is 13 points ahead of third place Kevin Harvick.

Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, celebrates with a burnout after winning the TUMS Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo Credit: by John Harrelson/Getty Images North America)

Notes on Martinsville:

1. While I absolutely LOVE Tony’s “We’re not giving up” radio battle cry while battling Denny Hamlin, I was also pretty fond of some chatter I found out about on twitter.  After Jr. turned Joey Logano and Logano said “He just turned me.” His crew chief Greg Zipadelli reportedly replied back with “I’m sick of this shit. You better grow some balls and take care of it.” LOVE it.
2. I am still of the mind that speeding at any point of pit road should not be tolerated.   Pit road at Martinsville is tight enough to begin with with the drivers speeding between the “speed traps” it is only putting the crew members at greater risk. I think NASCAR really needs to add more of the “traps” to each pit road and randomize which ones will be used during any point during a particular round of pit stops.
3. Speaking of tight pit quarters, Sean Irvan, the jackman from the #38 car was treated and released from a Martinsville area hospital for injuries suffered when struck on pit road by Mark Martin during pit stops. He suffered a concussion (and loss of consciousness) neck and knee injuries.
4. I loved Marty Smith’s pre-race interview with Brad Keselowski. Marty really does some of the best interviews around in my opinion both on camera and written.
5. I love the Toyota commercial with Kyle Busch where he pulls into the puts and the crew changes his car from his NASCAR to a street car. It’s a cool commercial all-around, but my favorite part is at the end when Kyle’s singing along to Loverboy’s Working For The Weekend and he gets out of synch with the lyrics and while the lyric he should be singing is “everybody wants a little romance” he actually sings the lyric from a little further in the song so he actually sings “everybody needs a second chance.”  I LOVE that on so many levels. I mean honestly who doesn’t get the lyrics wrong some time. And there is just something apropos about needing a second chance. LOVE IT.
6. Speaking of loving it…I love this picture of Tony signing autographs in the garage:

Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Office Depot/El Monterey Chevrolet, signs autographs in the garage prior to practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series TUMS Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo Credit: Geoff Burke/Getty Images North America)

Next weekend is TEXAS.  #KeepDiggingTony and Stewart Haas Racing!

I love the look on Tony Stewart’s face when he is asked the question is priceless- I think he was nearly speechless and it was obvious that the question caught him kinda off guard.  His answer is pretty darn funny too.   Also? Dale Earnhardt Jr’s answer cracks me the heck up.  Just what I needed on a Friday afternoon. Enjoy:

I had heard the rumblings after the race about Paul Menard purposely holding back during the start to give his teammates more of a chance to pull away into the lead.  Initially I dismissed it as Tony Stewart fans being unhappy because it just didn’t work out as well as they would have liked. That was until I read this article on SBNation in which Tony Stewart says that someone in Tony’s trailer heard Paul Menard’s conversation on an alternate channel. Of course Richard Childress Racing vehemently denies these allegations- much like they did when confronted about radio communication showing that Paul Menard’s spin at Richmond to bring out a caution sounded intentional.

Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 El Monterey/Office Depot Chevrolet, speaks to members of the media at Talladega Superspeedway. (Photo Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images North America)

To quote Tony Stewart at his Q&A session at the NASCAR Hall of fame (in the above mentioned SBNATION article) on Tuesday afternoon- ”I hate team orders.” At it’s best, it can only be called unsportsmanlike. It looks bad when teams are resorting to what can only be described as lying and trickery. I sat here for ten minutes and tried to think of a nice, less inflammatory word to use but I am currently at a loss. It makes the drivers, teams, their sponsors and manufacturers all look bad. For instance- when David Gilliland told Tony that he was told not work with him by his manufacturer, while I don’t like that- I understand it.  At least he told him well in advance and didn’t pretend in the last two laps that he would work with him and them dump him. I can only say it’s bad karma and we all know what they say about karma. Have they not watched those tween tv shows and movies I mentioned above? Usually the girl left behind get’s revenge somehow. Unfortunately the racing at Talladega and Daytona breeds this behavior amongst certain teams. I don’t have the answer on how to fix it unfortunately.  But something needs to be done because it is making the sport that I love look bad.

In case you haven’t heard the exact details of said rumor, or didn’t click the link above, it is being said that next year Danica Patrick will be driving a full NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule for JR Motorsports and several (I have seen everything from 5 to 10) Sprint Cup races under the Stewart-Haas Racing banner.  There is also talk of Stewart-Haas Racing having an option to sign Danica as a full-time Sprint Cup driver in 2013.

Danica Patrick (Photo Credit: Donald Miralle/Getty Images North America)

IF this RUMOR is true, I have a couple of different thoughts about Danica coming to NASCAR full time and in specific to Stewart-Haas Racing. My first instincts, are of course, to look at Danica’s previous performance in other series.  As an IRL racer,  she has won ONE race.  Yes I do know that she is a woman and that is an accomplishment as a “female” driver.   I could wax on and on about gender equality in motorsports, which would lead to the whole gender vs. career discussion and honestly I just don’t want to go there.  In her Nationwide races, she has yet to win, however she is  not currently running a full Nationwide schedule. So taking gender out of the picture, her statistics are mediocre to me.

So that got me wondering, why on sweet earth would Stewart-Haas take on a third driver who is not only newish to the sport, but still on a learning curve and has had mediocre results from her IRL career?  Part of my brain screams…cuz they are CRAZY.  I am sure part of your brain screams that too. After all, one race?  Heck, I don’t follow IRL and I haven’t in many years but that seems a bit of a crazy investment to me. That is at first glance.

However, that got me thinking about what I like to call the Danica Effect, and that makes me think that perhaps, just perhaps SHR is crazy– crazy like a fox.

What is the Danica Effect you ask? Let me try to explain.  The Danica Effect combines novelty, sex appeal (hey she puts it out there in the Go Daddy commercials- so I am not inventing it people), PR spin, and something else I can’t quite put my finger on- possibly charisma.  Put that all in a pot and swirl it all together And you have The Danica Effect.

Well, what’s it do? The Danica Effect causes interest in Danica and anything she does to go WAY UP.  How do I know? I have seen the Danica Effect in effect couple of different ways:

I have seen it at the track.  When she started in Nationwide, the amount of people at her merchandise trailer at the tracks I went to were right up there with Cup established cup regulars like Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.  I don’t have any numbers to support this but I can always tell how popular a driver is by the number of people lined up at the merchandise trailer.  It’s been my experience that Jr is the most popular (biggest crowd around the trailer), with Jeff Gordon a definite second and Tony a solid third.  Danica was right up there with them at tracks where there was a Danica merchandise trailer at races I have personally attended. Hello merchandise sales.

I have seen it on social media- love her, hate her, could care less one way or the other about her- but people are talking about her.  That right there is exposure of the mostly free kind.  People are talking and when people are talking there is buzz.  And buzz equals interest and exposure to anything she is sponsored by…whether it be Go Daddy, COPD or Tissot. That is what sponsors want- visibility. Sponsors obviously like visibility because that is money in their pocket.

I have seen it right here on this blog in my stats. When I talk Danica- stats generally spike way up from the average for that week. Especially my most recent post where I talked about her being on THE DOCTORS on TV.  I am still getting hits for that post and it was four months ago.

This tells me that Danica Patrick as a brand drives an interest that more than likely has numbers behind it.  I don’t know if team as the owning entity get portions of merchandising. I am sure it is completely dependent on complicated things like contracts and includes math which I have told you in the past-I am not good at.  But even if they didn’t get any portion of merchandising (and I am assuming they do) the interest in her alone would be good for attracting other sponsors and attention to those associate sponsors.  The whole idea about sponsorship is they want exposure and exposure is what Danica will bring (get your mind out of the gutter- I am talking about exposure for sponsor products and services).

So see why I think SHR, if this deal comes to fruition, is crazy like a fox? While the fan in me waffles about Danica’s presence overall, I can’t help but think that the Danica Effect wouldn’t help the all three teams overall.

___

*NOTE: Tony Stewart has NOT called me ever – whether it be to say hello, danica’s my driver, mind your own beeswax, or ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING else.  I hold no delusions of grandeur. If he did call me, I would probably fall over dead immediately. Then I would wake up as a ghost and wonder how the hell he got my number.

Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, leads Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota, during Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen. (Photo Credit: John Harrelson/Getty Images North America)

That’s not to say I was completely clueless when it came to the race though. Between Sprint Cup Mobile, Twitter, NASCAR.COM‘s leaderboard and Misty’s occasional texts (she has a TV in her office). Now it’s nothing I recommend doing…I would much rather see the race with my own eyes (not to mention not having to not only do my work but to take customer calls during it- oy! Don’t they know there is a race on?) then have to rely on other methods- it still mostly satisfied my needs to know what was going down at the Glen while I was sitting here working.

Tony seemed to have a fairly strong car- because he was in the top 10 most of the day except after pit stops…which I can’t tell you why mind you (even though I was listening to Tony’s radio on my Sprint Cup Mobile) where he would get knocked way back.  Actually I don’t know if it was because it was the glen or because the building I work in has this industrial feel to it so it is clad in concrete but I didn’t get a lot out of Tony’s radio this race.

Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, walks on the grid during qualifying for the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen. (Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images North America)

I will say two things about the end of the race:

1. It really SUCKED not having a TV for that last lap crash because best I could tell from the information I was getting from twitter was that there was a heck of a crash that involved the Davids (Ragan and Ruetimann) and then Tony fell on the leaderboard from 7th to 27th.   I saw some of my tweeps (twitter peoples) mention Tony spun or crashed and that was the end of it. I had no idea how bad Tony was involved (in my mind it was all a single crash) or what the heck happened and most importantly if Tony was okay.  (I knew that the David’s were both out of their cars under their own power from twitter- but no one said anything about Tony beyond he too had spun/crashed).  Misty texted me that Tony’s wasn’t bad and he was fine when I texted her to ask if he was okay.

Tony Stewart limps his injured car to the finish line at the end of the race at the Glen, finishing a dismal 27th. (Photo Credit: Kevin M. Boots)

2.  I may have thrown a little fit when Tony dropped from 7th to 27th in the standings right there in my office. Fit included ripping off my rubber 14 bracelet and tossing it across my office. Fit also included a disgruntled text to Misty (after the one verifying Tony was okay) where I said “There goes our chase!” Misty reassured me by telling me that luckily Denny Hamlin was out of the race early, and I credit that with the only reason that Tony did NOT drop out of the top 10. We are still in it (tenth place)…but we are hanging on the edge of the building with just our fingernails.  I very well may develop an ulcer before the beginning of the chase at this race.

Race winner was Marcos Ambrose:

Marcos Ambrose celebrates his win at Watkin's Glen with a burnout. (Photo Credit: Kevin M. Boots)

Notes About Watkins Glen:

1. I couldn’t tell who bumped into Tony that caused him to mow the lawn in the interloop…was it Jeff Burton?  Best I could tell it was either Jeff Burton or Clint Bowyer.   Anyone know?  I have watched it several times now and I still can’t tell…not that it matters I guess but someone it sure looked like someone clipped him unlike what was said during the race broadcast….

2. Kevin Boots shared his Watkin’s Glen photos with me…he took two of the ones I have shared with you in this post. To see the rest of his Watkins Glen photos check out his album here.  You should check them out – he has some great pictures- I love the picture of the Drone! Thanks Kevin!

3. I don’t know that this was mentioned much during the race broadcasts but I loved what the TV panel said on Jeff Gordon’s car at the Glen- whoever thought that up should get a prize…very witty:

TV Panel of Jeff Gordon's car he ran at Watkins Glen (photo credit: Jeff Gordon Facebook Page)

If only we could get Tony to tweet…but I understand his reasons for not.

And…bonus picture begging for an LOL caption.  Don’t you just wish you knew what he was thinking here? If you think you have a funny caption leave it in the comments:

Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, walks on the grid prior to the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen. (Photo Credit: Jerry Markland/Getty Images North America)

Next Race: Michigan on Sunday

I got to thinking about this by perusing the many MANY items up for bid in the National Silent Auction being hosted by and benefiting the Tony Stewart Foundation.   One of the unique items on the long list of items to be bid on- is a race package for the 2012 running of the Brickyard that includes access to the Tony Stewart suite (and lots of other goodies like cold pit access). Awesome because for me anyway that would be TWO things off of the bucket list- swanky suite and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  Unfortunately its a wee bit too pricy for my blood…but that is okay because there is TONS of other stuff I could (and I have- so it’s easy to do) bid on. There are tons of autographed guitars (including a bitching Paul Reed Smith Custom Corvette guitar signed by Tony),  Cds (hey I have my eye on that Blake Shelton one- I am just saying), lots of Prelude stuff including two separate helmets signed by all the Prelude drivers (2009 and 2010), A helmet signed by the Indianapolis Colts (and a football in a separate auction), A ride in a two seater Indy car at Indianopolis Motor Speedway, 4 tickets and backstage passes to a Toby Keith concert,  lots of autographed WWE stuff,  some signed Tony Stewart Foundation shirts, there are even some cool things to bid on for those in the local Indianapolis area like golf, wine tasting, or behind-the-scenes tour at the Indianaoplis Zoo.  Of course there are NASCAR items- I already mentioned the Brickyard 2012 package, but there is also signed stuff from Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr- not to mention the Jeff Gordon Celebrity Bowl before the 2012 Brickyard.  It really is an EXTENSIVE list of stuff with bids starting at $14 for some stuff.

Bidding is easy – after you register all you need to do is text in (or call in) your bids.  It’s all helps the Tony Stewart Foundation help kids and animals and animals that help kids.  Bidding is open now through July 31st so check out the auction items, sign up and bid today!

Like I said I have already bid on something and I have my eye on the Blake Shelton CD, there really is something for nearly everybody and every price range on this Auction. So take part today!

By the way…if I had unlimited funding and could bid on anything- it would be hard for me to choose. I would love the Brickyard package…but the Stewart-Haas racing tour would be damn fun too. Luckily I don’t have to make that choice.

Tony started the race 9th because rain washed out qualifying about a third of the way into the qualifying session. On track during the race Tony could be seen anywhere from 26th to 2nd but seemed to spend a majority of the racing hanging out about 14th spot (funny since that is his number).  I seemed to notice that he seemed to do best towards the latter part of the runs and that is typically when he would work his way up further into the field.

Tony Stewart drives the #14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet during testing for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Kentucky Speedway on July 7, 2011 in Sparta, Kentucky. (Photo Credit: John Harrelson/Getty Images North America)

I will say this…I loved the Office Depot Foundation Back-To-School paint scheme. I loved the rulers lining the bottom and the pencils around the windows on the greenhouse.  Tony’s 12th place finish did move him up to 11th in the points standings and is now only 3 points out of the 10th position but is still winless (COME ON WIN NUMBER 40) this season.

Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, stands in the garage during a rain delay prior to practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway on July 8, 2011 in Sparta, Kentucky. (Photo Credit: Andy Lyons/Getty Images North America)

Race winner was Kyle Busch- who actually deserved to win- as he had a pretty awesome run.

Notes on Kentucky:

1. The big news from Kentucky, aside from their flippant attitude about driver safety, is that there were fans who had paid tickets that were turned away because of lack of parking at the facility.  This would PISS me off.  Horrendous to hear about the horrid traffic…but you sit me in traffic for 3-5 hours and when I finally get there turn me away because there is no room to park? I would be freaking LIVID.  I really think Kentucky is not ready for a cup race…this date should go back to a track that can handle this kind of traffic. (you can read some fan comments about Kentucky in THIS sbnation article). Misty thinks a second date at Las Vegas- maybe for a night race would be better. I say that sounds good to me.  Or bring back an Auto club date or an Atlanta date…but I am all for night racing in Vegas.
2. I actually watched Tony Stewart’s  DirecTV Hot Pass channel for parts of the race- because I could and I forgot how sleepy Bob Jeffery’s, his spotter, voice makes me.  I guess that is a good thing that he is calm and collected. Because I could never be a spotter- even if I weren’t afraid of heights….I am way too excite-able during a race. You should have heard the string of profanities I let go when Tony ended up in the tires at Infineon.  Heck during this race, I may have proclaimed SHIT!  NOW WE ARE A LAP DOWN…while sitting across the room from my 16 month old nephew. Oh well- at least the older one was in the other room because he is a little sponge right now and if he hears it? He says it.  But at least Aunty knows she didn’t teach him his first curse word.
3. One thing I LOVED about the race coverage for Kentucky?  The incar shot from behind Tony so that you could see him sitting in the car, and his dashboard- kind of from his perspective but up a bit higher? I assume the camera was mounted on the roll bar somewhere? Well where ever it was mounted- that is an AWESOME shot.  LOVE IT. Thank you for that view.
4. I wish I could find a better picture of Tony’s helmet that he wore for the Office Depot foundation paint scheme. It looks awesome. This was the best picture I could find:

Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, sits in his car during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway on July 8, 2011 in Sparta, Kentucky. (Photo Credit: John Harrelson/Getty Images North America)

Next week: Sunday at Louden New Hampshire.

Bonus Tony Picture:

I think his expression is priceless.

Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, stands in the garage during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway on July 8, 2011 in Sparta, Kentucky. (Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images North America)