I have been thinking a lot lately about why I am a NASCAR fan. People who don’t follow NASCAR just don’t understand what all the hubbub is about. Why would someone want to watch cars go around and around for hours? There are times I wonder that myself (i.e. Dover this past weekend). But let me tell you something about NASCAR fans.
We are some of the most passionate people around. We will endure heat and humidity, you know the kind, the kind that just wears on as the day goes on, just to watch a race. We will endure a several hour rain and/or snow delay just to see the race. We will even endure a 3 day rain delay to watch a race. We tailgate for days not just hours. We drive hundreds of miles to see a race despite the increase in ticket prices, food & beverage, and yes even gasoline. This NASCAR fan has been known to reschedule family events around a NASCAR race. And I am sure there are those out there who have had weddings, births, and I would hate to say it funerals rescheduled due to a NASCAR race. We proudly wear the colors of our favorite driver even though orange really isn’t a good color on you. We endure long lines with other NASCAR fanatics just to get a glimpse of your favorite driver and/or have your picture taken with him. This NASCAR fan has stood on her feet for hourson a several race weekends just hanging around in the pits just to watch the cars come in and off the track. All the time standing in solidarity with other NASCAR fans. We scream at the top of your lungs cheering on our favorite driver from the stands as he drives by even though he probably can’t hear us over the sound of the engines roaring by. And we even boo at times for that driver we love to hate. We defend ourselves to those who stereotype us as a fan group and we even cry when we lose our heroes because we feel we have lost a part of our family. We are love our country, love our family, and our fellow NASCAR fans. We may cheer for different drivers, but we are all part of the NASCAR family. And I am proud to stand up and say…
That’s right folks! You don’t want to go to the concession stand because you might miss something. That is what could be said of today’s race.
The race wasn’t even in it’s 20 lap and BAM…it was a gigantic meet and greet coming out of Turn 2. From what I could tell of the numerous replays Fox showed over and over, Sadler came down while passing the #40 and was clipped by the #38. Next thing we all know, Elliott decided to make his own demolition derby. Tony had no where to go but into the side of the #19 car along with several other cars. I know it looked like Denny didn’t slow down, but to be honest going at those speeds that car probably couldn’t get whoaed up in time. Of course, I saw other cars running around Denny able to whoa up, but I wasn’t driving his car. For me the race was pretty much a wash. Tony did come back into the race about a 100 or so laps down, but none the less back on the track. Tony finished 41st and fell three spots in the standings to 11th. Oh in case we are keeping score this year, this is the 2nd time Sadler has been involved in a crash that has taken out Stewart. On a lighter note the hood on Sadler’s car was pretty much intact for him. He was planning to auction off the hood to his car from today’s race to raise money for autism.
The race for me was pretty much a snoozefest and it wasn’t because Tony was just driving around the track, I really thought it was a snoozefest. In fact I did take a nap some time during the race. The race was pretty much dominated by three different drivers–Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, and Kyle Busch not necessarily in that order with several green flag runs. Congratulations to Kyle Busch for his 4th win of the season. Carl finished 2nd with Carl’s teammate finishing 3rd after having voltage issues.
In case anyone wasn’t aware Dale Jr. has gone 74 races without a win. Of course this statistic didn’t escape the Fox broadcast. This little tidbit was flashed on the screen at 1:41 pm Central Daylight Savings Time.
One last thing..
Little Smoke was busy playing in the house today because it was way too hot for him to be outside (it reached over the century mark today). He decided to build a race car using some interesting items sitting around the house. Please notice the “paint scheme”. He is such a wonderful little boy who is very creative and will tell you that Tony Stewart is his favorite driver…just ask. Apologies to my dad who just happends to be a Junior, but there will be no Junior fan in this household. He was so excited when Fox was interviewing Tony before the race. He stopped what he was doing to watch. Looks like this #20 faired better today.
NASCAR has handed down penalties for the #70 (Johnny Sauter) and the #66 (Scott Riggs) teams for unapproved parts on their cars.
1. Both Riggs and Sauter were penalized 150 driver points.
2. Both car owners Joe Custer for the #66 and Margaret Haas for the #70 150 owner points.
3 Both crew chiefs, Bootie Baker (#66) and Dave Skog (#70) were suspended for the next 6 Cup races and put on probation until December 31.
4. Both car chiefs, Derick Jennings (#66) and Thomas Harris (#70) were also suspended for the next 6 Cup races and put on probation until December 31. Both were also fined $100,000.
5. Both cars were confiscated by NASCAR as well.
These teams were not only the ones hit by the NASCAR police. Penalties and fines were also handed down to members of JR Motorsports (JRM)
1. Tony Eury Sr for the #88 which is driven by Brad Keselowski has been fined and put on probation along with two other team members.
2. Tony was fined $1,000 and placed on probation until June 25.
3. Michael Sandlin, JRM team member, will serve a one-race suspension from the Nationwide Series and suspended from NASCAR until June 4. He has also been placed on probation until October 15 and fined $1,500 for failure to follow a directive from a NASCAR official and had inappropriate contact with a NASCAR official during the post-race altercation.
4. Jordan Allen, JRM team member, has been placed on probation and $1,500 for failure to follow a directive from a NASCAR official and had inappropriate contact with a NASCAR official during the post-race altercation.
With regards to the #70 and #66 teams, this is similar to what happened to Tony Eury Sr and the #8 car last year. I had a feeling NASCAR was going to hand down stiffer penalties than for the #8 car last year. The teams have been told not to mess with the cars and well…here we are.
Ever wonder how the term “NASCAR” was born? Here it is…and let me tell you I was surprised as you.
I found this birthday card at Target over the weekend and couldn’t pass it up. I just thought it was too funny not to share with everyone. However, if you would like to find out the true origins of the name and other NASCAR History, you might want to pick up this book also found at Target.
The day started out with the Indy 500. It was nice to see Jim Nabors back this year singing the traditional “Back Home in Indiana”. He was sick last year and was unable to make the festivities.
Congratulations to Scott Dixon for winning his first Indy 500 and doing it from the pole. Say what you want about Danica Patrick, but she isn’t afraid to let you know how it is going to be. After getting crashed into along pit road by Scott Briscoe with 29 laps to go. She got out of the car and headed towards Briscoe’s pit. Luckily for Briscoe, Danica was directed away before she got to his pit stall. It would have been interesting to see what she would have done and said once she got there. In the words of Danica…“Probably best I didn’t get down there anyway.”
After the Indy 500 was over, I didn’t have to wait much longer for the festivities to begin for the Coke 600. I always get chills during the prerace festivities on Memorial Day weekend. I loved the bagpipes playing amazing grace and the ultimate salute to our members of the military, the 21-gun salute and the playing of Taps. I wish the people on pit lane would put their hands over the hears when the Pledge of Allegiance and the Star Spangled Banner is played. It just bothers me a little bit.
Now onto the race…
The race started out with Kyle Busch leading the field to the green just as he did last Saturday night. Early on Kyle Busch began having alternator issues, but as we all know this is a long race and anything can happen. First part of the race was pretty much uneventful. I have to give driving props to Juan Pablo. He spun out without hitting anyone and right across the Circle K logo “I Love This Place”. I just had to chuckle when I saw this. I felt bad for Brian Vickers. He had a great running car, but you just can’t run a race car on three tires. His tire bouncing all over the place reminded me of that McDonalds commercial with Larry Bird and Michael Jordan shooting hoops…Vickers tire when off the track, off #38’s hood, off the catch fence, over the infield wall, onto the camper roof…nothing but net! I thought someone was going to have a great souvenir, but the NASCAR people came to take it away. Party poopers!
The next part of the race begin to fall into place. Nothing really exciting happened. Kyle was still having voltage problems but still making his way around the track and staying somewhat competitive. Sorry for all you Dale Jr. fans (well sort of). I can’t say that I was upset by this chain of events. Dale Jr. cut a tire and ended up scraping the wall. I don’t know if JJ Yeley’s spotter let him know about Dale Jr…but dude…you had to have seen Jr. up against the wall. Oh yea…it was mentioned that this was probably going to ruin Junior’s chance to get a win. During this caution, Kyle came in to get his battery switched out.
Once again…Jimmie was making his way through the field and he eventually got to the front of the pack. This didn’t surprise me one bit, because Jimmie has a way of rising to the top, but just like his teammate it wouldn’t be Jimmie’s night. Jimmie’s engine decided it had had enough racing for the evening. With about 50 to go Jimmie’s night was over. Once again the face of the race changed again.
Well…guess who was in position to lead the race? That’s right Tony Stewart. I held my breathe though. With the way things were working out, I was hoping Tony could pull it through to the end. He came into the pits around lap 13 to top off with gas so he could make it to the end of the race. And just like Junior and Jimmie, it wasn’t going to be Smoke’s night. Damn tires! I guess that bitch Karma came back to bite Tony is butt. I think I said every kind of “not so lady-like” words at the television set. With this set back, this gave the lead to none other than last week’s winner Kasey Kahne. With his victory, Kasey became only the 6th driver to win both the All-Star Race and the Coke 600 in the same year. Oh by the way…Kasey broke his 52 race winless streak tonight as well! And Junior STILL hasn’t won.
With all the problems and struggles tonight, Kyle finished 3rd, Jeff Gordon finished 4th, and Junior finished 5th. Where did Tony finish? 18th. Ugh! I have to give a high five to Elliott Sadler (8th), David Reutiman (10th), Bobby Labonte (11th), David Ragan (12th) and former Indy 500 winner Sam Hornish (13th). Way to go guys!
Thanks for the memories Humpy! You may be stepping down, but your impact on NASCAR will be felt for years to come.
One more thing…
There were couple of commercials that I have to say made me laugh. I love the Holiday Inn commercial where Jeff Burton is asked questions by random people. My favorite question, “How come you don’t have a mullet?” The look on his face when asked the question is hilarious. The latest Vitamin Water commercial with Carl Edwards was funny. Gotta love Ralph Macchio. I am going to assume this was paying homage to his most role as the Karate Kid. But of course these commercials don’t even come close to this one by Budweiser.
This commercial does remind me of the first race I went to at TMS. I don’t recall who was on stage at the time performing during the prerace show, but when soldiers were walking out to prepare for other prerace festivites, everyone in the stands stood up and cheered for them including myself. As we continue to move throughout the rest of the night and tomorrow, remember the real reason for Memorial Day. If you see a soldier or know a veteran, stop and say “Thank You”. I would like to say thank you to my Uncle Cecil, Uncle Junior, Uncle Bill, Uncle Chris, my cousin Joe, my father-in-law, and my father. Thank you for serving honorably for our country. I love you all.
When you are hot, you are on fire. Kyle Busch will lead the field to the green on Sunday. This is the second pole in a row at Lowe’s for Kyle. And look who he will be with him on the front row…Kasey Kahne, last week’s All-Star race winner.
This will be the first Coca Cola 600 for the COT. I am interested to see how the COT will perform under the conditions of the 600. This race is about being able to make adjustments througout the entire race. The race begins during the day and ends under the lights. This is the longest race of the year and the COT has yet to impress me on this size of a race track. I know teams have been struggling with the COT this year. It seems some teams try to adjust the cars just a little during the race, but it seems to make them worse. I am hoping some of the teams were able to get some valuable data from last week’s All-Star race. If the race is anything like the the All-Star race where the person who is a lead drives away from the field, I may have to change the channel.
As with every race, I want Tony to be up front and challenging for the win. Tony has one win at Lowe’s back in 2003 at the spring race. Last year he finished in the Top Ten in both races at Lowe’s. This is the time of the year where Tony turns up the intensity. Tony rolls off Sunday 31st. I am not worried about him though. Tony isn’t always the best qualifier. It will be fun to watch him work his way to the front. I mean it is 600 mile race, not a 6 mile race.
Will Jimmie return to victory lane at Lowe’s this year? Jimmie hasn’t seen victory lane since the fall 2005 race. Of course that’s probalby what we will hear about this weekend, how Lowe’s is Jimmie’s house, blah blah..and of course someone will mention the fact that Junior STILL hasn’t won a race in the last two years.
One more thing…as we enjoy all the fesitivities, parties, BBQs this weekend, take time and say “Thank You” to a veteran or an active serviceman or servicewoman, because without the sacrifice, we would not be able to enjoy this weekend.
I was working on another topic for my post today, but work kind of got in the way this afternoon. Damn that job! So I wasn’t able to get back to my post. I am hoping to get back to it tomorrow and have it posted in the next few days. But in the meantime…it was announced today that SMI (Speedway Motorsports Inc.) has purchased Kentucky Speedway for what I am sure was a nice chunk of change. This is the same race track that has been embroiled in a lawsuit with NASCAR for the past couple of years. Bruton Smtih is hoping to have a race date for the track in 2009. Whether or not Kentucky will receive a race date next year remains to be seen. I am sure quite a bit of infrastructure would need to be built as well as improvements to the track in order to have it ready for a Cup race. As we know Bruton also purchased New Hampshire earlier in the year. He mentioned he would like to see a second date at Vegas (another track he also owns). So what does the purchase of Kentucky mean for the schedule over the next few years? I guess we will just all have to wait and see.
Trixie's Trailer Park 