Just a couple more days and the 600 will be here, The beginning of the Dog Days in NASCAR, where the heat and the trek up to the Northeast occurs. We have road a road course towards the end of June in California and trips to the Monster Mile and New Hampshire. But it all kicks off with the 600 and what does that mean for MWR. Well, IMO this is the start of the tell, tell signs if MWR is going to be a top 35 teams or are they going to fall within the clutches of the Go or Go homers. Right Now the 44 is looking strong. David has had strong runs all season and now that he has the 44 out of the Go or Go Homers he has been running in the top 20. The 00 with Michael McDowell is doing ok considering they have a rookie driver who hasn't been to any of these tracks before. I know at Darlington he fell down 3 laps early but then maintained that for the rest of the race. You get the feeling this kid may be the real deal and if he can keep his head above water, in the top 35, until the second half I believe you will see this kid have a strong 2nd half and believe it or not he has a real chance of winning Rookie of the year. Why do I say that? Because if you look at how the Rookie of the Year Standings are done and most of the Rookies this year have fallen within the Go or Go homers then Mike can score points where these drivers will miss races.
This brings me to Mikey, Mikey needs a good race, not a great race, at Lowes Motor Speedway this week. I'm asking for a solid top 20 for 2 reasons, 1. Mikey is within reach of falling into the go or go homers. and 2. I'm going to be at the race and it would be nice to see him run well. Also, a strong run will pull him further away from the go or go homers and could vault him into the top 30. I know the top 30 doesn't sound like much but its a stepping stone and after last season to have his car in the top 30 would mean a lot for a new team.
The question is can he have that strong run? I think he can, Bobby Kennedy seems to be able to handle Mikey and get the car to his liking. Mikey and crew chiefs usually don't last very long with each other and is evidence with Paul Andrews this year and he went through what 3 or 4 crew chiefs last season. He also went through a lot of crew chiefs at DEI so the problem appears to lie with Michael not so much the crew chiefs. Why does he have problems with crew chiefs? I believe its that Michael wants to play crew chief too. He tries to tell the crew chief to make these adjustments and if the crew chief doesn't then Mikey quits driving or if his changes don't work then he trys to place the blame elsewhere. So the crew chiefs get aggrevated with his antics and end up quitting. However, Bobby is different. Bobby has worked with Michael a long time in the Bush series and he has lead Michael to wins. Bobby also, doesn't mind telling Michael to shut up and drive the car or no I'm not doing this and going about his business of fixing the car. Bobby knows how he likes the car to driver and can set it up for Michael.
So with a 1/3 of the season being done after the 600 it is going to be interesting to see how Michael and all of MWR fairs not only this week but for the next 1/3 of the season.