Hello everyone. I’m still not feeling 100%, but I’m plowing on through it anyhow.
Since I am sick, I was able to see most of the Martinsville race from my horizontal position on the couch and here is my take;
1) Kurt spinning out Kyle was pretty neat to see - I wonder if that spin out helped to weaken Kyle’s rear end gear? No giving between those two, just taking.
2) Nice to see Jamie McMurray have a decent run.
3) No full pick-up problems for Denny this time round.
4) Too bad Jr didn’t win - it would have been nice to see.
5) Matt Kenseth goes for vigilante justice out on the track. He must have been watching some of Carl’s past race videos. You know, I don’t have a problem with what Kenseth did, because he did it on the track and not on pit road and he did it on a track where they aren’t going 200 mph either. He could have been more subtle though, he was way too obvious, I probably would have slowed up a bit, then closed the gap and waited until the next corner to unload on him. NASCAR probably wouldn’t have done anything then because it would have look way less obvious.
6) What was Michael McDowell in the #00 thinking? Once the race leader gets by you, you are a lap down so why is he racing the rest of the leaders just as hard? As long as he stays the first car a lap down he is fine for the “lucky dog”.
OK with all this being said I can’t help but to wonder if the reason why Burton didn’t punt the little insignificant rookie McDowell out of the way was because of what happened to Kenseth? Burton doesn’t have the luxury of instant replay built into his dashboard so he didn’t know how obvious Kenseth’s ‘incidental’ contact was and maybe he was afraid of getting parked for two laps like Kenseth did if he tried to move McDowell out of the way.
Here is what each of them had to say after the race;
Burton - “I thought we were going to be in pretty good shape, but that kid in the double zero car [McDowell], he needs to learn some manners or he is going to get taught,” Burton said. “He can choose to do it the way he wants to — the hard way or the easy way. But one way or another, he’ll get taught.”
McDowell - “I was just focusing on trying to get around the 28 [Travis Kvapil] and trying to stay on the lead lap,” said McDowell, who finished three laps down. “The 11 [Hamlin] got by, and we were able to run with him and the 31. When he [Burton] got to us, when he finally got underneath us, I tried to give him as much [room] as I can, but at the same time the 11 is racing the 28 — and you don’t hear the 11 complaining about the 28 right now.”
Based on what is said here, I think some of the more seasoned drivers are going to have to ‘teach’ McDowell the hard way.
The Toyota… interesting because they’ve never really been serious muscle car builders, but they sit on top of the charts in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The TRD started in the off-road circuit with huge success, entered into the NCTS with even more success and now they are in the big leagues and there is no stopping them.
A great race yesterday at Martinsville. Amazing how the race went on with a continuous light rain. This probably due to the slower speeds.
It was pleasing to see Hamlin take the win in his home state. Several drivers had a good day including Dale Jr. He is showing consistency with the Hendrick team, but it’s the Childress guys that are leading the pack. Jeff Burton is doing very well, but his “Tude” towards Michael McDowell was out of character. It’ll be interesting how Burton does at Texas … being last years winner there.
Gordon and Johnson have finally broken into the top ten. Momentum??
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I still can’t shake what I’ve got. My wife has convinced me to seek medical attention, so I’ll be seeing the Dr. today - I hope the waiting room isn’t full of sick people.
I’ll catch up with the world of NASCAR later - maybe once the Dr. has given me the miracle cure I’m looking for.
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Nice guy! But can he give MWR the boost they need. He takes over the #00 Domino Toyota. He is one to watch with this week being his debut race and of all places…..Martinsville.
Good Luck Michael!!
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One of Robby Gordon’s sponsors, Vanguard, wants to to pull its sponsorship off of Robby’s NASCAR uniforms and its multi-year, multi-million dollar sponsorship off of Robby’s Drakar Rally vehicles.
Vanguard didn’t like what Robby had to say about the cancellation of the Drakar Rally due to terrorist-like acts in the race area, and they want to pull their sponsorship immediately.
If you want to read more then go to scenedaily.com, as I am still too sick to sit here long enough to go into great detail about it - I’m just here long enough to offer my 2 cents, for what its worth anyway.
You know, I think it is more than just what Robby said. Robby has said and done a lot worse in the past than what Vanguard is protesting about. I think they are sour about the cancellation of Drakar this year and they just want to give it up - cut their losses as it were - and are looking for any excuse to get out of it.
Either that or they need to use that money elsewhere, or they have found a more noticeable sporting figure to invest their advertising dollars with - who knows? But I still feel that this has to do with something else other than what Robby said.
Photo Credit: (AP File)
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It’s almost time for the weekend kickoff. A full race schedule… NCTS, Nationwide and Cup.
Hoopla…. Jimmy Johnson winning!! NOT!! It’s going to be a Toyota. A calculated guess or perhaps it’s that clairvoyance, but I don’t see a Hendrick car in Victory Lane.
Martinsville is one of those very active and exciting races. I’ve a passion for short tracks, although the restictor plate races are awesome. The biggest challenges for drivers at Martinsville is over driving the corners…like D.W. says..”slow down to go faster”.. and then there is the tightest pit road on the circuit to contend with. All in all… Martinsville is never boring.
I’d love to see a Ford win…specifically The Biff.
Back at the Cottage… The winter from hell is finally showing signs of spring. The mercury will actually reach 45 today. Woooo…..whooooo!!!! My heating bill for this winter, which is not over yet, exceeded $3,000.00. We burned a lot of candles for extra warmth!
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I cruised on over to Marc’s place and he had an interesting quote that he got from Dave’s place, who got it from ESPN Magazine;
“We had a proprietary Roush-Fenway part go missing from one of my race teams, and we recovered it from a Toyota team. I’m not going to say which team it is, but we are considering legal action, or getting NASCAR involved.”
Oh, boy! The gooey brown stuff is hitting the NASCAR fan.
Dave went on to say that this could be about as explosive as the F1 spy scandal last year.
I agree, this could be as ‘explosive’ - not as big mind you, but certainly as explosive.
Remember how Jack was so venomous towards Toyota after the Atlanta race when one of the Toyota execs and former Roush racing employee spoke out against Carl Edwards’ loose oil tank cover?
Jack’s venom has just now become even more lethal.
Photo Credit: Ford Racing
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OK, I know this doesn’t look quite like a NASCAR thing, but bear with me and you’ll see.
This last weekend Kiss was on hand at the Australian Grand Prix and met Lewis Hamilton, but to get the NASCAR connection here you have to watch the video.
The video is pretty funny, especially if you listen to the people in the background. The comment talks about that there are “a lot of older guys in NASCAR” in reference to Hamilton’s youth. Wait a minute … haven’t they heard of Kyle Busch? Maybe if F1 had a 43 car field they would have some older drivers in the series.
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Things have gotten a little out of hand around here - both at home and at work in fact! It has been so busy that I haven’t had the time to put up a post in the last few days. Sorry.
But just because I haven’t really posted anything new as of late does not mean I haven’t been ‘working’ on my blog though.
Yesterday I did a guest spot on ‘On Pit Row’ with Steve and Charlie - those guys are great! They did a show mostly dedicated to the world of NASCAR blogging, and they had about 6 of us on there at some point in the evening. They even had to move Jeff Hammond to next week’s show in order to get us all on - cool.
Speaking of my blog, I did something really cool today that you will see the results of next week. I interviewed the current NASCAR Canadian Tire Series Champion; Andrew Ranger. Let me tell you, he is a super nice guy with a great sense of humour. I hope you enjoy reading the interview as much as I enjoyed doing it, it was a great experience. I just have to transcribe it from my recording and interject my own commentary before I post it. I’ll try and have it up by the end of next week.
I’ll be back in earnest Thursday night.
Take Care.
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I always look forward to the Nashville Nationwide race. I was hoping to see fewer Cup Big Guns on the entry list, because it’s so cool to see a minor leaguer win. The last one of these I recall was David Gilliland winning, which broke a streak and placed him on the charts.
Of course the entry list includes the likes of Ky. Busch, C. Edwards, C. Bowyer and D. Hamlin… so chances are slim to none that one of the little guys will take the checker.
Kenny Herman Wallace…. he’s a funny guy right? And seems to be very fan friendly right? Yeah…well he’s in love with the camera. I believe he’s hoping to get noticed by some Hollywood Producer. Any time I’ve been in close proximity of him he has been a royal prick and his whole demeanor changes the minute they say “Rolling!”.
He’s been given a full time car in the Nationwide Series by Jay Robinson Racing. The #28 Border Patrol. Kenny boasts..”I’m going to put the Border Patrol Chevy up front and compete in the top ten every week”… yeah OK Kenny!! Ya might better take a seat at the audition tent for the Talladega Nights sequel.
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Well I’m finally getting to it. I just got too side-tracked last night by the whole Dale Earnhardt/Kevin Harvick/Richard Childress coincidence to get this post done.
So here it is 24hrs late.
I’m just going to do this in point form:
1. Even though Dale Jr is doing well so far this year, these pit mistakes are going to catch up to him sooner or later. A couple of races ago Tony Eury couldn’t tell Dale to pit because of too much radio chatter by everyone else, and Sunday Dale wanted to pit while Eury wanted him to stay out and by the time Eury listened to his driver it was too late to pit and he was stuck out there with old tires while everyone behind him were on new ones. If this team wants to compete for the Championship these mistakes have got to stop. Kudos for Dale Jr sticking up for his crew chief after the race though. I’m am slowly becoming more and more of a fan of his this year, and with classy moves like that I’m sure more people will too.
2. JGR needs to seriously look at those fuel pick-up issues. I honestly felt for Denny Hamlin after his race. The expression on his face and exasperation in his voice in his post-race interview said it all.
3. OK, time to voice my opinion about the Harvick/Stewart incident - that’s racing folks. There.
Stewart was trying hard to keep Harvick pinned and Harvick was trying hard to keep his position on Stewart in order to complete the pass coming off of the corner and bammo, Kevin gets a little low and his left tires drop on the apron which sends him into Stewart, who most likely didn’t realize just how far Kevin was up the side of his car.
Should Stewart have given Kevin a little more room on the bottom? Kevin did have 4 new tires after all. Sure Tony should have given him more room, but there were only a few laps left and if he could keep Kevin pinned low he could have possibly held onto his spot until the finish, or at least allowed Denny to get so far away that Kevin would not have caught him getting another win for JGR.
If I were Tony I would have done it just the way he did it.
4. Speaking of Tony, I’ve got to give him credit for his post-race interview - he handled it well. By the same token, I’ve got to give it to Harvick for ‘manning’ up for his mistake accepting full blame for what happened. What Harvick did is something that has become less frequent in NASCAR these last few years - drivers accepting responsibility for their actions. What has been happening in NASCAR though is nothing more than a symptom of what is happening in society in general as far as I’m concerned, but I digress.
5. Didn’t you find the Bristol race similar to a race at Dover? It just had that kind of feel to it for me at least. I still found it better than what some other think out there. You know, if a car just stays in the middle of the track at the new Bristol the cars behind have just as hard of a time passing as they did at the old Bristol. There were still a lot of bumpers being used out there on Sunday, but the CoT allows the drivers to keep better control over them so they don’t wreck as much.
6. With that being said, did anyone catch the pre-race show where they were talking about the bumpstops on the shocks? What Spencer, Sadler, Wallace, and Roberts were saying made sense. Based on what they had to say I agree, get rid of them, but I’m going to get a little more informed about the subject before I make a knee-jerk decision like that.
7. Congratulations to Jeff Burton on his win, he deserved it. He put his car in contention at the end and then let the chips lay where they lay. As a driver, that is all you can do.
Finally, Steve and Charlie at On Pit Row are having me on as a guest on their radio show on Tuesday. Catch their program at their site, as it is streamed live. I should be on at about 5:45 PM. See you then.
It is kind of interesting that the #29 car of Kevin Harvick would play a key role in the outcome of today’s race.
Stay with me on this one, OK?
You see, 29 years ago a rookie driver won his first ever race on April 1st, 1979 at Bristol. That driver was Dale Earnhardt, who later would team up with Richard Childress and win 6 Championships together while driving the famed #3 car.
So, 29 years later the 29 car makes things happen on the track that enables Richard Childress to have his cars finish 1,2,3 (remember, Dale’s car # was 3), which is the first time that has ever happened for car owner Childress. Also, the driver of the 29 car, Kevin Harvick, is the driver that took Dale’s spot in the #3 car after Dale died, although they changed the car number to #29.
Another interesting thing is that, as far as I can piece together, any evidence of that original #3 team is now the #31 team, which won the race today with driver Jeff Burton. RCR changed their teams around a few years after Dale died trying find better chemistry amongst personnel and drivers in order to stop the slide of bad finishes and poor performance. So what was originally the 3 team became the 29 team after Dale died, which eventually became the 31 team after the switch at RCR.
Coincidence? Yes, but it is kind of eerie though - isn’t it?
But, it doesn’t stop there, read on; When Dale won his first race he was driving car #2, and where should the car #2 finish today? In 12th. Big Deal right? Yes it is because; a) if you take the digits of the number 12 and add them together you get 3, which is the car number that Dale drove to fame for RCR, and b) after Dale won his first race that day 29 years ago his crew chief, Jake Elder, was quoted as saying, “If he don’t get hurt, he’s got at least 12 good years ahead.” There is that 12 again.
I’ll have my usual post-race observations tomorrow instead of tonight. I just got all wrapped up in this ‘coincidence’ stuff.
Take Care.
Photo Credit: Dale getting into car - Earl Carter Photography; Dale in Victory Lane with Jake Elder - Dozier Mobley at Rowdy; Dale with trophey (B&W) - I don’t know, help me out if you can.
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Smoke’s dominate run surely kept the records straight… the most laps led driver has never won at Bristol and it’s always a surprise ending and always anyone’s race.
Very impressive run by the “Cuban Missile” Aric Almirola with a top ten finish in the #8 DEI Army car.
Many kudos to RCR and the 1, 2, 3 finish. Finally a Chevy to Victory Lane and it wasn’t a Hendrick mobile.
Toyota continues to show it’s muscle with the only mechanical failure I know of being Kyle Busch’s power steering… perhaps after their awful debut last season, they’ve got the bugs out.
A week off and on to more short track racing at Martinsville.
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As we approach the 5th race of the NASCAR season, I feel it is time to review the 5 most important stories to come out so far (in my humble opinion of course):
5. Kyle Busch: His 3 wide driving style so far this year has garnished him a win, shut up his critics, and has shown Rick Hendrick he should have not been the one released for Dale Jr (in Kyle’s mind anyway).
4. The use and abuse of Owner Points: Not only has Penske used the owner points gained from the 2 car last year to help the 77 car stay in top 35 for the beginning of the year while using Kurt’s Past Champion Provisionals, but it now looks like Petty Enterprises will be moving the points they currently have on the 43 car driven by Bobby Labonte to the 45 car driven by Kyle Petty, so that they can keep the 45 car in the top 35 to make the races and rely on Bobby’s Past Champion Provisionals to get him into the show.
3. Dale Jr: Wins the Bud Shootout, and is Hendrick’s top points getter so far this year. Has come close to winning (and will soon I think) and if not for some bad luck, just might of. This story will continue to be in the Top 5 throughout the rest of the year I imagine.
2. Tony Stewart vs Goodyear: After a lack lustre race at Atlanta Tony attacks Goodyear for giving the teams a crummy tire to race on which really didn’t allow the drivers to race side by side and make competitive tires. Goodyear and NASCAR fire back that at least there was not a tire failure and every team had the same tire so each team had to deal with it - suck it up and race boy.
and finally, my number one story so far this short season;
1. Tracks need to be Safer For The Drivers: After Jeff Gordon’s wickedly hard crash at Vegas the need for safer barriers on every wall (inside, outside, back stretch, front stretch, pit road, you name it) has become more evident, but the question remains, “Will NASCAR do anything about it?” BTW was there any black box data released about Jeff’s crash? I haven’t seen or heard of any - do they even put the data recorders in these CoT cars?
Honourable mention goes to the ‘equipment malfunction’ of Carl Edwards Oil Cooler lid, and to the reversal of NASCAR’s decision in the Robby Gordon ‘illegal bumper caper’.
In an unprecedented move today NASCAR announced that, based on Toyota’s new found success, another foreign car maker will be joining the Sprint Cup Series in 2010.
The car maker you ask? VW’s Audi.
Fan reaction was fast and swift (see picture below).
OK, so this isn’t true, but based on the e(hate)mail and comments that I have received since Kyle won Toyota’s first Cup race, I’m sure this would be the reaction of some of the more North American auto manufacturer faithful out there if NASCAR would allow another foreign car maker into the foray.
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Man, that Atlanta race really helped me out. I’m now in 7th in my Fantasy NASCAR Pool. I went from 1st to 13th after the Vegas race, so I’m happy where I’m at - for now, that is. I want that big #1 back!
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I just took this shot on my dining room table with a navy blue sweatshirt of mine under it.
This is of course the RCCA Elite Autographed 2005 Herbie Fully Loaded paint scheme. This car was raced by DJ at the Richmond Chevy Rock and Roll 400, where if my memory serves me, he wrecked it.
The days of Dale’s thunder had been past by 2005, his peak career being through the 90’s and early 2000’s with RYR. He leaves behind a very prestigious record with 3 Daytona 500 wins, and 2 Brickyard 400 wins. He retires this year with what has been an incredible racing career.
Rain, Rain Go Away!! Johnson on the pole again!
Back at the Cottage… My posting here has been lax. This is mainly due to the amount of time I’m spending honing my photography skills. I turned 51 a couple of months ago and I made a decision last year that I need to find another way to make a living as I entered mid-life. The contracting business is okay at best. I’ve been doing it for over 25 years, but it truly does drive me nuts. I can boast and say that I am good at it, but it’s a rough business. I’ll most likely always be a contractor, but with less and less hands on. I will have others do the work while I supervise under my good name. I really wanted to do something I enjoy. I am a certified C.A.D. operator with emphasis on architectural design, but I really don’t want to spend my senior years behind a monitor for days on end….hence, photography. This will take the better part of 5 years to fully develop, but I am self driven. There will be a book out there one day full of images of the Adirondack Mountains and lakes with my name on it. That is my true enjoyment, but the real bread and butter is in photo journalistic weddings and I still have my sights set on NASCAR. All this said because I will not be as active posting here at NASCAR Eclectic as I was last season, but once or twice a week is for sure.
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What happens when you go away for a few days, bring the laptop with you, and forget the power source for said laptop? You run out of power and can’t do anything computer related. Duh.
We decided to steal away a few days this week to Erie, Pennsylvania and turn the kids loose on our unsuspecting neighbours to the south and I forgot to bring the power cord for the computer. I wasn’t going to bring the damn thing at all, and just put the ol’ blog in park for a few days, but I was expecting 2 very important e-mails that just couldn’t wait until I got back home. Fortunately I got them before I ran out of power, but I couldn’t post anything here. By the way, one of those emails is related to something that you will find out about in a few weeks, and trust me, you will like the interview I will be doing.
I just want to say “Hi” to all my new friends in PA, and beyond, that I spoke to over the last few days. I hope that you come back here often and leave a comment or two.
I just want to let all you die-cast collectors out there know that while I was in Erie, PA I went shopping and found a little NASCAR store in the Millcreek Mall (near the Burlington Coat Factory) that currently has Dale Jr Amp and National Guard 1:24 die-casts for $24.99. Get them while they’ve got ‘em because I don’t think they’ll be there for very much longer, either that or I don’t know what I’m talking about, but I did see the exact ones the weekend of the Daytona 500 for sale near here for 3 times that. I should have bought a couple and sold them here for $50.00 - I would have made a profit and still given some people a better deal than buying it at our local hobby store. Hindsight is 20/20.
It’s late and I just wanted to touch base with you all before my head meets the pillow. I’ll be back at it tomorrow with some NASCAR thoughts (ie. Dale Jarrett’s last race, etc.)
Take Care all
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OK, a few posts ago some of my more outspoken readers got into it in the comment section over whether or not Kyle Busch is the next Dale Earnhardt.
For what it is worth, I don’t think so. Not yet anyway, it is still way too soon in his career to tell.
Certainly, this year Kyle is driving his car with a youthful confidence driven brashness of seemingly reckless abandon in a ‘take no prisoners’ style that a younger Dale Earnhardt had when he first started. One difference though, Earnhardt had to drive like that to pay the outstanding bills, while Kyle does not have that worry.
With Earnhardt it was literally ‘feast or famine’, if he didn’t win the largest portion of the purse he couldn’t pay the bills. Kyle on the other hand, has a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract with Joe Gibbs Racing topped with various endorsement deals. He isn’t racing to pay the bills, his bills are paid. How many 22 year olds can say that?
Don’t get me wrong here, I think Kyle certainly has the potential to be as good, if not better than Dale Earnhardt (in the record books at least) but I still think it is too early for such comparisons to be made.
In the end, Kyle may win more races than Dale, but will he leave a lasting impression on the sport as Dale did? Will he be as iconic as Dale was? Will he be as respected, and feared, as Dale was? And so on.
Once we know the answers to these questions then an accurate comparison can be made, but lets face it, no matter what you do, or who you are, you will always compare something to the established benchmark in that sport, area, business, etc. and until a new benchmark is achieved the comparisons will continue to be made and will continue to come and go.
As predicted, I have fallen from my ‘lofty’ first place position in my Fantasy Pool all the way to 13th. I’m not even in the Chase for crying out loud. That race at Vegas messed me up something fierce. I hope this past Atlanta race gets me back into the top 10 at least.
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After yesterday’s race you heard a lot of people complaining about the crummy tire, and how they couldn’t race side by side, and so on. One of the most outspoken of the group was Tony Stewart;
“That was the most pathetic racing tire that I’ve ever been on in my professional career,” Stewart said. “… Goodyear can’t build a tire that is worth a crap. If I were Goodyear, I would be really embarrassed about this weekend and what they brought here.”
Dale Jr later added;
“I don’t think, for one, the race was all that exciting. We couldn’t run side-by-side, or we’d wreck. We had to let each other go by. Every time you got beside a guy, you were just like, ‘Take it.’ I couldn’t go into the corner side-by-side but nobody else could, either.”
Jeff Gordon also threw in his two cents worth;
“I felt like I was going to crash every single lap,” Gordon said. “I’m exhausted right now. I feel like I’ve run a thousand miles here. That was the hardest day I have ever had at Atlanta, especially for a top-five finish. This car, this tire, at this track was just terrible.”
But the most unique, and perhaps the most insightful quote came from Chad Knaus, crew chief for Jimmie Johnson;
“You know, I think that’s where everybody’s wrong. It’s not the tire, it’s the car,” Knaus said. “It’s just the car. The car asks too much out of the tire. There’s only five things that hold the car on the racetrack: That’s the four tires and the downforce.
“The car has no downforce and Goodyear has to build an extremely hard tire just to make the tire live because there’s no downforce on the car. That makes everybody bad-mouth Goodyear and it’s just not fair to them, because Goodyear actually does a very good job.”
Hmmm ….
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Kyle Busch…. We might as well get used to it. And I always hate to say this but…. I told you so! The kid has actually grown on me a wee-bit. Does he remind you of anyone?? Come on think real hard! Okay… so perhaps nobody wants to compare Rowdy to a late great Legend, but the young Busch drives like Dale and is just as intimidating. Point in clue… Busch nearly put Dale Jarrett in a tail spin on the final lap yesterday. This pissed me off at the time and I still feel it was an unnecessary evil, but Jarrett was holding Busch back from crossing the finish line with the Snickers car all by itself in the glory of the victory. He had it either way, so this just shows that he is still a selfish little you know what. But… what would Dale Sr. have done?? No driver got in his way and if they did they got pushed to the side and often into the wall and the fans loved this about Dale. I know I did. I don’t want to piss anyone off here, but it is what it is. Of course there is no comparison between the two off the track… Dale’s life and the way he lived it can never be compared. Kyle Busch is a turd but his skills behind the wheel are not short of amazing.
Goodyear. They’ve done a good job at pissing off many. Although the tires made for an interesting race. The drivers got plenty of practice driving loose cars.
Interesting. The point standings…not a Gordon or Johnson in the top 10. 3 Toyota’s, 3 Dodge’s, 3 Chevy’s and the lonely #16 Ford. Quite a balanced mix. With short track racing at Bristol this week it’s likely the Toyota’s will continue to dominate. It’s a nice change not seeing Gordon and Johnson dominating… we asked for it! But on the other hand it’s going to get old real quick with that #18 Candy Car up front every week.
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1) Toyota finally won a points race and it was JGR and Kyle Busch that did it for them. I’m not really surprised here, are you?
2) The “I’m Not Going To Roll Over and Die” award goes to Jimmie Johnson for keeping that car of his off the wall in on the lead lap. He should have wrecked out of the race today, but didn’t.
4) The most frustrated driver out there today had to have been Elliott Sadler. He brought out the caution flag 3 times in a row, and as it turns out, it was 3 strikes and you’re out on the third caution. You could just hear the frustration and disappointment in his voice.
5) Did you notice the Valvoline sponsorship on the 7 car?
6) The pace set early was fierce and put a lot of cars down fast, and kept them down - also made the race a little less exciting too.
7) Tony Stewart didn’t like the Goodyear Eagles and voiced his opinion. He finished 2nd didn’t he? So what is his beef? He sounds like Kyle Busch did after he won the first CoT race last year at Martinsville when he proclaimed that the CoT sucked.
Vickers is running pretty goo right now. Let’s hope he keeps it up.
9) Carl Edwards blew up. His oil tank probably wasn’t vented properly. Heh.
10) Gotta go, I very tired right now and it isn’t even my regular bed time yet - I hope I’m not coming down with any thing.
More tomorrow. Picture to follow.
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Clint Boywer’s show car will be there along with Dale Earnhardt’s (not necessarily the one pictured). There will also be a ton of other stuff there too, including racing seminars, and cars driven by Scott Goodyear, Ron Fellows, and Jacques Villeneuve.
Admission is just $12.00, and kids under 12 are free!
If I can get my schedule in shape, I just might be able to go for a couple of hours on Saturday, but we’ll see.
Thanks to one of my readers, Rick, for his help in getting the link and sending me the info.
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Vickers is running pretty goo right now. Let’s hope he keeps it up.
