The boys went for a little night racing last night out in Phoenix, AZ.  I wasn’t able to watch the first part of the race however.  I made the sacrifice to have dinner with some great friends of mine I hadn’t visited with in several weeks.

If you are a regular ready to The Park, you know I am not a fan of Jimmie Johnson.  There are times I don’t even like to metion his name.  With that being said, I have to give kudos to the #48 team in last night’s race.  Chad has always been willing to take the chance to get a victory and last night was no different.  With the laps and fueling dwindling, Chad told Jimmie to stay out and go for it.  While the leader Mark Martin chose to come in for a splash of gas, Jimmie drove away to HMS’s first victory of the season.

I really wanted Mark Martin to win.  If I could have willed him to victory last night he would have won.  I don’t know if Mark was as low on gas as we all thought, but sometimes you have to roll the dice and take that chance.  I know Mark was disappointed by last night’s results, he didn’t say anything negative in his post race interview with Fox.  He did say he saved quite a bit of fuel and who knows what might have happened if they took that chance, but in the end what I saw of the race it was good.

The boys are off before they head to Talladega for some restrictor-plate, superspeedway racing.  I have to admit I really do like watching races at Talladega.  Those around me who are non-NASCAR fans think I watch the race for the crashes.  I don’t like crashes.  It takes away from the racing.  I think a lot of NASCAR fans are rethinking their views on crashes after Michael McDowell’s crash at Texas.

I talked to my father last night and he was puzzled by the fact I wasn’t home watching the race, but I told him we had to get some things for Little Smoke.  He is a big, I mean A BIG, Dale Jr. fan.  He doesn’t even consider cheering for other racers.  He despises Gordon and Johnson.  He even told me he doesn’t think Gordon and Johnson are good drivers.  I love my father, but come on Dad!  You have to give those two drivers credit.  They have 6 championships between the two of them and I have to make this little point dad…Dale Jr. has zero championships.  I am not saying my Junior is not capable of winning one, I am just saying you have to give credit where credit is due.  My dad and I had a disagreement during the Daytona 500 back in 2005.  My step-mom had to threaten us with throwing us out of the house unless we calmed down.  I guess when you have two-hard headed NASCAR fans get together these things will happen.