Spade Racing: July 2024

Spade Racing Opens a Box of 2023 Panini PRIZM Cards, Pack 11 of 12

PACK 11: A Dinger, a winger, and a zinger

FIRST LOOK: I wonder if anyone’s done a study on how many more markers drivers with longer names go through than, say, PJ Jones.

TO THE BACK: Dale Jr. always seemed like he was flying by the seat of his pants, but that belied an innate ability to get the most out of his equipment. Well, barring that four year winless streak.

SAY WHAT?: “No soap—radio!”

RATING: 8 DNFs out of 10

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NASCAR ROTY RANKINGS 2001: Ranking the Rookie of the Year Classes Through the Years

Join me as we take a look at every NASCAR Cup Rookie of the Year class from 1972 (the start of the modern era) through 2021, going from the worst to the first in terms of overall careers of each year’s rookie class.

2001

Kevin Harvick

Winner: Kevin Harvick (RCR) Runners Up: Kurt Busch (Roush), Casey Atwood (Evernham), Jason Leffler (Ganassi), Ron Hornaday Jr. (Foyt), Andy Houston (PPI)

How their careers turned out: One of the biggest classes in ROTY history delivered on both quantity AND quality. The recently-retired Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch were both Cup champions, succeeding for multiple teams and winning plenty of big-time races. Casey Atwood and Jason Leffler succeeded in lower series and had some brief sparks of talent in the Cup Series, but neither could break through with a win. Ron Hornaday Jr. never saw much of any results in Cup but is still one of the greatest drivers the Truck Series has ever seen. And Andy Houston somehow managed to snag the McDonalds sponsorship.

“Fun” “Fact” about the winner: “Happy” Harvick managed to total an amazing SIXTY Cup Series wins in his recently-concluded career—a number even more impressive when you realize that 60 is also the number of on-track enemies he made.

Ranking: #4 out of 50

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A MOXOC Media production

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Spade Racing Opens a Box of 2023 Panini PRIZM Cards, Pack 10 of 12

PACK 10: A little fun, number one, and a battle won

FIRST LOOK: “To win is human. To smell great, divine. PRIZMATIC, the new masculine fragrance from Martin Truex Jr., available in cologne and eau de toilette. Smell like New Jersey.”

TO THE BACK: Always neat to see the first card of a series, even if this conversation is pretty mundane.

SAY WHAT?: “I made it to the top—now I just need to make sure some weirdo from Delaware doesn’t make me look like I’m in a cologne ad.”

RATING: 5 green flag commercials out of 10

www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly

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Visit the store https://www.cafepress.com/spaderacing

Buy the book 100 Stock Car Racing What Ifs Unauthorized

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A MOXOC Media production

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NASCAR ROTY RANKINGS 2000: Ranking the Rookie of the Year Classes Through the Years

2000

Matt Kenseth

Winner: Matt Kenseth (Roush). Runners Up: Dale Earnhardt Jr. (DEI), Dave Blaney (Bill Davis), Scott Pruett (PPI), Stacy Compton (Melling), Ed Berrier (Donlavey), Mike Bliss (Eel River/Foyt). Aborted Attempts: Jeff Fuller

How their careers turned out: “In the yearrrr 2000…” we saw a crowded class with two stand-outs in Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Both acquitted themselves quite well, with Kenseth a champion and model of consistency, while Dale Jr. made us wonder if he could’ve won it all if DEI had been better-run. The rest mostly “witnesses to history”, such as Dave Blaney finishing third at Darlington to Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch, and Scott Pruett not being THAT Scott Pruitt, and Ed Berrier and Mike Bliss simply having funny-sounding names.

“Fun” “Fact” about the winner: Matt Kenseth’s early crew chief, Robbie Reiser, once complimented me on my Cal Ripken Jr. jersey.

Ranking: #9 out of 50

www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly

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Visit the store https://www.cafepress.com/spaderacing

Buy the book 100 Stock Car Racing What Ifs Unauthorized

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A MOXOC Media production

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Track “Facts”: Chicago

EDITOR'S NOTE: This was the only Track "Facts" entry that wasn't posted last year. So here it is!

Nascar races on all sorts of tracks, from short to long, oval to road course, concrete to asphalt. Here’s a weekly look at all the tracks of Nascar’s National Touring Series.

CHICAGO STREET COURSE

2.2 mile asphalt temporary street course

Debuted 2023

Lights? No

Series: Cup

Nicknames: n/a

THREE FUN FACTS:

1. The Chicago street course was first attempted in the virtual world of iRacing. I’m disappointed that more sports don’t adopt video game innovations, like basketball players shooting flaming shots after making three in a row, or Bo Jackson being untacklible.

2. The Chicago street course is only 2.2 miles long, which could be due to the fact that it replaced Road America, a 4 mile-plus road course in the middle of nowhere (sorry, cheeseheads).

3. This circuit returned Nascar to the greater Chicago area, thankfully no longer at the now shuttered Chicagoland Speedway, aka That Place With The Muppet Boycott.

www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly

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Visit the store https://www.cafepress.com/spaderacing

Buy the book 100 Stock Car Racing What Ifs Unauthorized

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A MOXOC Media production

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Indianapolis Race Picks: Uncle Max vs. 13th Place

EDITOR’S NOTE: Spade Racing will continue to update through the “Olympic Break”, even if Uncle Max says he’s too busy cleaning up from a flood in his townhouse to write about his picks this weekend

Friday Evening TRUCK SERIES (4 wins) TSport 200: SAMMY SMITH—reminder that this race is being held at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, and that “LOIRP” is a great name for a video game character.

Saturday Afternoon XFINITY SERIES (4 wins) Pennzoil 250: COLE CUSTER—two in a row for the Cole-powered engine. Sorry if that sounds weird.

Sunday CUP SERIES Brickyard 400: 13th Place Picks KYLE LARSON. FAVORITE (1 win): RYAN BLANEY—two in a row…again. NEXT FAVORITE: BRAD KESELOWSKI—kinda like when Ricky Rudd won in his own car but not. DARK HORSE: JOSH BERRY—too bad the Wood Brothers can’t count this as a win.

www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly

www.facebook.com/spaderacing

www.twitter.com/spaderacing

Visit the store https://www.cafepress.com/spaderacing

Buy the book 100 Stock Car Racing What Ifs Unauthorized

Does this track have lights?

A MOXOC Media production

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Spade Racing Opens a Box of 2023 Panini PRIZM Cards, Pack 9 of 12

PACK 9: Yellow Ryan, Kevin’s flyin’, and Zane’s tryin’

FIRST LOOK: Bit of an odd choice for a Ryan Newman photo, don’t you think? They should’ve picked something that really highlighted his hair plugs and/or conspiracy theories.

TO THE BACK: Always nice to get a reminder of just how fantastic Kevin Harvick was in his prime, even if he did have to put up with multiple years as Danica’s teammate.

SAY WHAT?: “Check it out, my Ken Schrader impression”.

RATING: 7 lug nuts out of 10

www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly

www.facebook.com/spaderacing

www.twitter.com/spaderacing

Visit the store https://www.cafepress.com/spaderacing

Buy the book 100 Stock Car Racing What Ifs Unauthorized

Does this track have lights?

A MOXOC Media production

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NASCAR ROTY RANKINGS 1999: Ranking the Rookie of the Year Classes Through the Years

Tony Stewart

1999

Winner: Tony Stewart (JGR). Runners Up: Elliott Sadler (Wood Bros), Buckshot Jones (Buckshot). Aborted Attempts: Stanton Barrett, Dan Pardus, Mike Harmon

How their careers turned out: Debuting in-between Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, I feel that Tony Stewart’s career is strangely underrated. He won tons of races to go along with three championships DESPITE starting his career in the IRL. Meanwhile, while Elliott Sadler certainly wasn’t a slouch, Buckshot Jones, well, was.

“Fun” “Fact” about the winner: “Smoke” is currently second in Spade Racing’s annual Slickest Hair Rankings, behind longtime dominator BJ McLeod.

Ranking: #6 out of 50

www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly

www.facebook.com/spaderacing

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Visit the store https://www.cafepress.com/spaderacing

Buy the book 100 Stock Car Racing What Ifs Unauthorized

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A MOXOC Media production

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Hulk Hogan’s “Real American Beer” Sponsors Xfinity Car, Seeks Creative Control

This is a parody

Yesterday saw SS Greenlight Racing’s 14 car co-sponsored by “Real American Beer”—a new beer developed and promoted by former pro wrestling star Hulk Hogan. After the race, Hogan seemed to be happy with the experience, although seeking assurances before going any further with the sponsorship.

“It was a great race, brother”, said Hogan (real name Terry Bollea) yesterday evening. “But you have to look at where your money is going, brother, and you have to have some sort of guarantee that things are going the way you need them to. I mean, what kind of assurance do I have, brother, than the Hulk Hogan name is being used the right way?”

Hogan continued, “that’s why I’m asking for creative control, brother, before I sign on for any more races. I need to make sure that if there’s a job that must be done, it isn’t me doing it, brother.”

Upon being informed that, despite what yahoos claim online, Nascar is not a predetermined exhibition, Hogan seemed unfazed.

“That doesn’t matter, brother—what matters is giving the fans what they want”, Hogan explained. “And what the fans want, brother, is more Hulk Hogan—maybe with some Brian Knobbs and Jimmy Hart thrown in. And if a fan comes to a race and doesn’t see the Hulk Hogan sponsored car at least in the top-ten, brother, whatchagonnado when they turn the channel on you—by which I mean me, brother.”

Hogan has not ruled out moving his sponsorship to another series if necessary.

“We’ve had some talks so far, brother, but that’s all they are—talks”, Hogan cautioned. “But I’m not against moving Real American Beer to IndyCar and forming a New World Organization of racing, brother.”

Driver Mason Massey was unavailable for comment, although former meat salesman Eric Bischoff was willing to spend the next two hours defending Hogan’s business acumen.

www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly

www.facebook.com/spaderacing

www.twitter.com/spaderacing

Visit the store https://www.cafepress.com/spaderacing

Buy the book 100 Stock Car Racing What Ifs Unauthorized

Does this track have lights?

A MOXOC Media production

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Pocono Race Picks: Uncle Max vs. 13th Place

The heat is on! And I don’t mean that figuratively—I mean it’s really hot outside here (and most of the country for that matter). Here’s some of my ways to keep cool at work:

—Find the air conditioning duct, then find an excuse to stand under it.

—A fresh can or bottle of soda from the vending machine applied to the forehead is an instant chill.

—Take early shifts or the night run. Can’t get hot if it’s dark out!

—Pack your own lunch—salami and cheese on rye is a lot more refreshing than hot fast food.

Friday Evening TRUCK SERIES (3 wins) CRC 175: COREY HEIM—more Heim Team in the old Dover “we don’t have lights but really want a Friday race” time slot.

Saturday Afternoon XFINITY SERIES (3 wins) Pocono Mountains 225: COLE CUSTER—his first win this year could be his last in th—ok, ok, he probably has this ride for life.

Sunday CUP SERIES Great American Getaway 400: 13th Place Picks BUBBA WALLACE. FAVORITE (1 win): TYLER REDDICK—its shaping up to be a Toyota type of weekend in Cup. NEXT FAVORITE: DENNY HAMLIN—and it’s always great to see a driver with that old school trophy. DARK HORSE: ERIK JONES—the darkest of horses, but hey—fuel mileage could be a thing.

www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly

www.facebook.com/spaderacing

www.twitter.com/spaderacing

Visit the store https://www.cafepress.com/spaderacing

Buy the book 100 Stock Car Racing What Ifs Unauthorized

Does this track have lights?

A MOXOC Media production

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