Sorry for the lateness of the post.  I have been dealing with some life stuff and just now getting back on track.

I wish I could post more about the race at AutoClub Speedway, but I can’t.  In fact, the rare occasion I take time away from NASCAR, I miss all the action.  I saw Denny’s crash and it was painful to watch.  As we know now, Denny injured his back (compression fracture) and will be out at least 6 weeks.  That’s minimum 5 races since the drivers are off this weekend due to Easter.  Mark Martin has been tagged to substitute for Denny. I can’t even begin to know the kind of pain Denny is in right now.  But once you injured your back, it dogs you the rest of your life.  I just watched the replay and that was some fun racing in last few laps.  Denny and Joey are racing for the win and then boom, there comes Kyle Busch on the outside lane and took the win from both of them.  You know Kyle was watching it all go down with Joey and Denny and he just wanted for the right moment.  Congratulations to Kyle!

As many of you might or might not know, I am a Tony Stewart fan.  l love his attitude and his approach to racing.  Sometimes it can be difficult to be a Tony fan.  Despite the highs and lows, I still am a fan.  Sunday was no different.  I didn’t get to see the race live, but thanks to Speed I was able to DVR the race.  I fast-forwarded it to the Joey Lagano and Tony incident.  On the With 12 laps to go and on the last restart, Tony started third with a chance to win the race.  He was behind Joey on the restart. Tony made a move and Joey went down to black Tony.  From the replay, I couldn’t tell Joey did anything wrong.  It looked like racing to me.  I am no blind to know Tony has been known to block to prevent other drivers from passing him.  The only thing that I can think of that made Tony upset with Joey was early on in the restart.  But from the recliner it was hard to tell.  Whatever it was Tony was angry with Joey and made no bones about after the race.  Tony is old school.  He went down to confront Joey and fisticuffs commenced.  All I could think of when I saw the replay was when AJ Foyt got into with on Arie Luyendyk at TMS after an Indy race.  All I know is Tony will not forget what happened at AutoClub.

Got plans for the summer?  If not, you might want to head to the Poconos for the Fan Driven 400 (name to be determined by the fans) at Pocono Raceway on June 9, 2013.  Most tracks have 4 turns, but not the track at Pocono.  There are only 3 turns.  Yep, 3 turns people!   Thanks to the folks at Walmart, you can get $25 tickets for this race!  That’s what I just said $25 DOLLARS!  But you’ve got to get your rear in gear and get tickets.  There are only a limited amount at this price!  Tickets can be purchased online at Walmart or at Pocono Raceway!

As I mentioned above the Fan Driven 400 is not the name of the race.  You, the fan, get to decide the name.  You have until April 8 to vote for your favorite for the Fan Driven 400.  So zoom on over to walmarturl.com/FanDriven and cast your vote.  Reminder, you can vote once a day, every day until April 8.  I like the three finalists.  They submitted some creative ideas but what about the names that almost made the finals?

• “Deer Please Don’t Run on the Track 400”!  If you live in Texas, this could happen to you quite a bit, especially during deer season.
• “Light Beer in Plastic Cups 400”  Hello…there could have been so many tie-ins with this name.  I mean there are already beer sponsors and all we would have need was those red Solo cups.  And of course, you would have to bring in Toby Keith. It’s all about marketing people!
• “I hope Brad wins! 400”  Ok…I guess.  How funny would that have been if Carl Edwards would have won?
• “What Turn 4? 400”  I wonder how close this name was to making the final 3?  No offense to one of the finalists, but this one should have made the finalists list.  I mean have you seen Pocono.  Where is Turn 4?  There isn’t one.  How fun would this have been?
• “The P-Town Funk Race”.  P-Town Funk sounds like some band from the 1970s.  I love me some funk music!  Bring me some of the P-Town Funk people!  Bring it!!

Can’t make it to Pocono?  You can take advantage of the Walmart Family Track Pack!  You can get a 4 tickets, 4 Cokes, and 4 hot dogs for ONLY $99!.  That’s quite a deal people!  This means I could take my family of four to select races throughout the year!  One of the races is the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race in Charlotte on May 18!  So how do you take advantage of this special deal?  Head on over to walmart.com/NASCAR to purchase your Family Track Pack!

I was trying to do some organizing and purging of stuff this past weekend and came across my favorite sports souvenir–a lugnut.  The last time I was at Texas Motor Speedway, I found it laying on the ground.  I can’t recall whose pit area I found it, but let me tell ya, I wasn’t going to let it just lie there for some other NASCAR fan to collect.  It was a nice pretty yellow at one point, but now not so much.  Either way, I love my souvenir.  In fact it is better than the Tony Stewart tire I have in my storage unit.

I hope everyone has a Happy Easter!  I don’t have much planned this weekend.  I usually just take time to think about the importance of this weekend.  One of thing I do every single year during Easter is watch the 1956 movie “The Ten Commandments” with Charlton Heston.  It was one of the movies my mom and I would watch every single year together.  I lost my mom in 2011 due to leukemia.  She fought the good fight, but this type of leukemia was brutal.  This will be the second year I will not be able to watch this movie with her.  But I know she will be with me on Saturday as I sit down to watch!  I love you and miss you everyday mom!