It?s Your 2013 Exit Interview: No. 5 Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Welcome to From the Marbles' 2013 driver reviews. Here, we're going to critique, praise and bloviate about the top 30 drivers in the 2013 NASCAR season.

Junior, can we start off by saying that we love your selection of items on eBay? Really fits our tastes. We made sure to give you good feedback for your account.

Your Chase was over as soon as it began, so we never really had an opportunity to assess your championship credentials. Your third blown engine of the season came at the most inopportune time.

After that blown engine, it was a stellar Chase. You finished in the top 10 in eight of the final nine races and your lowest finish of that stretch was a 15th place finish. It was quite the run.

However, you can take consolation in the fact that you can't say that engine cost yourself the Chase. Over those nine races, you averaged just over 39 points a race. Extrapolate that to 10 races and you end up third behind Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth. In essence, it was a two-place penalty.

Wins before the Chase had started would have helped that, but even if you had won as many races as Kenseth did in the first 26 you wouldn't have caught Jimmie Johnson. And while you were ultimately winless in 2013, you have to be excited about the trendline of the season. Instead of fighting to make 12th and 10th place finishes higher in the top ten, you were taking those top 10s and pushing them up a couple places. Keep doing that and avoid an untimely mechanical failure, who knows what will happen.

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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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Previous Reviews: No. 6 Jeff Gordon, No. 7 Clint Bowyer, No. 8, Joey Logano, No. 9 Greg Biffle, No. 10 Kurt Busch, No. 11 Ryan Newman, No. 12 Kasey Kahne, No. 13 Carl Edwards, No. 14, Brad Keselowski, No. 15 Jamie McMurray, No. 16 Martin Truex Jr., No. 17 Paul Menard, No. 18 Aric Almirola, No. 19 Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 20, Jeff Burton, No. 21 Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 22 Marcos Ambrose, No. 23 Denny Hamlin, No. 24 Casey Mears, No. 25 Mark Martin, No. 26 David Gilliland, No. 27 Danica Patrick, No. 28 David Ragan, No. 29 Tony Stewart, No. 30 Dave Blaney

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/2013-exit-interview-no-5-dale-earnhardt-jr-143151571--nascar.html

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Cool, canny Alonso seems to have all the answers

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/07/cool_canny_alonso_looks_diffic.html

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Martini to join Williams?

The word is that Williams may soon announce a sponsorship deal with Martini, a brand that is owned by Bacardi Ltd, a privately-held spirits company which is headquartered in Bermuda. The company sells around 200 millions of drink each year with sales around $5 billion a year. The Martini & Rossi brand can be traced […]

Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2014/01/23/martini-to-join-williams/

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Vijay Mallya: ?The tiger has become a panther!?

Vijay Mallya says he’s excited ahead of a new season that sees Force India running a new driver line-up as well as a fresh livery. The VJM07 is the first 2014 car unveiled to the public thus far, albeit with … Continue reading →

Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2014/01/22/vijay-mallya-the-tiger-has-become-a-panther/

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Spy Shots: 2015 Audi A7 Begins Winter Testing

Looking Back At 2013 - Rating The Rest: Espargaro And Iannone

After rating the top ten finishers in the championship, it is time to turn our gaze to those outside the top ten worthy of note. Below is a look at the seasons of Aleix Espargaro and Andrea Iannone, in the news in 2013 for very different reasons.

Aleix Espargaro	Power Electronics Aspar
Championship position	11th
Score	8/10

Aleix Espargaro became the poster boy for the CRT class in 2012, beating out his teammate Randy De Puniet. The two Aspar riders showed that even with less than a year of development, a slightly modified Superbike could compete with the slower of the satellite prototypes. 2013 saw the Aprilia ART take another step forward, but it was a step only Espargaro could follow, De Puniet complaining of a lack of feeling all year, his performance plummeting.

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MotoGPMatters/~3/AbxxQ5XRIbM/looking_back_at_2013_rating_the_rest_esp.html

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Into the Crystal Ball? 500 Miles To Go Edition

A 500 mile race in indycar racing, and especially the Indy 500, is an endurance test packaged as a sprint race. There is literally no time to think during this race, only time to allow ones instincts to make the … Continue reading →

Source: http://anotherindycarblog.wordpress.com/2013/05/23/1408/

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