Shootout, Duels and everything else

Sorry I've taken so long to update about what has gone on at Daytona so far, I've been really busy, and getting help from Mac Productions isn't as helpful as i had hoped it was.



Anyway, The Budweiser shootout was great. Its to bad that Dale Earnhardt Jr, couldn't have won from the pole. I don't think that is done to much. But a job well done to Kurt Busch and his team at Penske Racing for winning the thing.



The Duels, where in my opinion just two Budweiser Shootouts because all three events had a field of 24 cars.



Now i didn't watch the first duel race, only because i forgot they were on, so i really can't comment on that other then that Kurt Busch won that as well. Now who said that Penske Racing didn't have a good Superspeedway program. Though they have something to prove at the 500 don't they.



The Second duel race was ok, i didn't really get into like i would had it been the 500, but oh well. Jeff Burton won the second one, which i was happy about. Burton happen to be one of my many favorite drivers.

Joey Logano spun and hit the inside retaining wall heading towards turn one, and damaged the left front side of his car. Then Denny Hamlin, spun on the back stretch, with according to Mike Joy, Larry McRenyolds, and Darrel Waltrip, help from his other teammate Kyle Busch.

Apperently Casey Mears in the No. 13 GEICO Toyota blew his engine near the start of the race.

Michael Waltrip and Brian Keselowski raced their way into the 500. Mikey will start 8th, and Brain will start 12th, three spots ahead of his brother Brad. I'm not sure who raced their way from the first race.

Dale Jr won the pole during qulifiying but lost the chance to start there because he wrecked his car in practice and has to go to a back up car.

Daytona 500 Lineup

NextEra Energy Resources 250 Lineup (Camping World Trucks)

Danica or Junior, whose the one that is going to breathe new life into Nascar?

Back in December when it was announced that Danica Patrick was going to be running in a select number of Nascar Nationwide events, people where saying that she was going breathe new life into the sport and save it from the downturn of falling attendance and falling TV ratings. In other words the savior of the sport.

Well you can bet i was surprised when i saw This Article on Nascar.com by David Caraviello which states that some people are wondering how many victories Junior will need to breathe new life into Nascar.

But wait, isn't Danica suppose be, according to some Nascar's "Wonder Woman"?

Now i know that article is Mr. Caraviello opinion, but could have sworn back in December he said that Danica was going to save Nascar.

How can two people both be the person to breathe new life into Nascar?

Oh Come On Now!

No i know that Jimmie Johnson doesn't need any help selling himself to fans, the media, and sponsors; But after reading Ryan McGee's recent article in "ESPN the magazine", and how Nascar and Hendrick Motorsports doesn't help promote him, made me laugh.

Sure they don't Actually go paying writers to write about him, or for reporters to do stories on him, but they do help help him sell himself.

If Nascar didn't have the races for Jimmie to win, and if they didn't work so hard to make itself the biggest racing series in the country, so they could get those big television network's to televise the races; do you think Jimmie Johnson would be a big name star like Tom Brady?

Rick Hendrick helps to sell Jimmie by signing him to million dollar contracts, signing big name sponsors that show Jimmie in their commercials, and giving him a car to drive every week so he can win races and championships.

So for Mr.McGee to give sole credit to Jimmie for his success, to me at least, is a hoot and a half. I mean sure Jimmie has talent and you do need that, even though there are some teams that have hired drivers squarely because they have sponsorship and not talent, but Nascar and Rick Hendrick do have done plenty to get Jimmie Johnson recognized.

And to hear Mr.McGee also say that Mr. Hendrick tempers done his praise of Jimmie, so not to offend his three other Cup drivers, had me laughing as well. Hendrick Motorsports three other drivers are Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. All three drivers are veterans of the sport and have their share of success and failure.

None of those three have ever shown anger to Johnson's success, now i know that i have no idea what goes on behind the scenes of Hendrick Motorsports, but if any of those three had a problem with Jimmies success wouldn't you think there would be a rumor about it by now. I mean if Danica Patrick is thinking about coming to Nascar and a rumor starts within, lets say, 24 hours of her thinking about such a move; don't you think if any of Hendricks other three drivers have a problem with Jimmies success a rumor would start in the same amount of time.

Now, i have to say that i'm not a big fan of Ryan McGee's.

Mr. McGee also interviewed Jeff Gluck who is Associate Editor for Nascar Scene.

"You Just Run Out Of Idea's , He's won so many races, you feel like you're hitting readers over the head with the guy."

-- Jeff Gluck

What Mr. Gluck was referring to was how difficult it is to write stories or articles about Jimmie Johnson because of all the races and championships he's won. Yet they do it any way. Why?

Because hes what sells, no matter how they spin the headline, the story that will capture readers and sell their paper or magazine will always be Jimmie Johnson so long as he is winning races and championships.

So does it matter who you give the credit to for promoting Jimmie Johnson, no, because people will always buy the merchandise, or read an article written about a person who a champion.

Is It Time For NASCAR Get Involved?

If you've seen todays Nationwide Series race, then you should know what i'm talking about.

Now i know some of you are going to say that Denny Hamlin may have started it by hitting Brad Keselowski first, but i'm not trying to say who started it, i'm just saying that Brad did a unjustified move by spinning Denny out.

Now i'm just wondering why Nascar hasn't gotten involved with this yet, i mean they have the drivers tell them if they are taking aspirin for a headache because they believe it may interfere with a drivers ability to race. (now i know you really shouldn't drive if you are taking aspirin, but i'm trying to make a point and thats the best i could come up with)

Yet they don't interfere when two drivers are seemingly intentionally wrecking each other, where is the logic in that because if there are drivers intentionally wrecking each other isn't that unsafe?

I mean didn't Dale Earnhardt Jr get yelled at by Nascar when he intentionally spun his car at Rockingham years ago when his car wasn't handling well. They also warned all the drivers that they shouldn't spin their cars out either just to get cautions.

Now sure Denny may or may not (i say it either way because i know there are many that blame the other depending which driver you like) have hit Brad first, but Brad was the one who hit Denny which lead him to spin out.

When i first saw the replay of the wreck it looked like Brad had driven into the back of Denny, but when i saw a later replay of the wreck it looked like Denny had slowed up and Brad didn't. (although whose to say that it was still intentional)

I just think that Nascar should get involved and tell Denny and Brad to cool off are face suspension from the Nationwide Series, Or if not Nascar then maybe their team owners should. Otherwise those two will be going at it again next week and if they do that will overshadow the driver who wins the Nationwide Series Championship.

Nascar Fantasy racing is just like the sport.......unpredictable

I have to say that i like playing fantasy sports, especially on Yahoo!, though I'm not really good at it.

So over this Nascar Sprint Cup Series season, i noticed one thing, every driver i picked either didn't do well or they would get involved in a wreck. Out of the 33 Cup weekends so far i have only picked a driver who would go on to win only once, and when you are playing against almost a million other people, who are most likely fans of the same driver as you and doing a lot better then you that isn't something i would be bragging about. And trust me I'm not.

Well while i was making my picks for last weeks 'Dega race, and using most of the drivers that i could for the last time, i was having trouble deciding if i should use some of them, i noticed that the fantasy racing was just like real racing.

You can never know how a driver will fair on a certain weekend, unless the guy is Jimmie Johnson who almost never happens to have a bad weekend anymore, even if you are like me and pick a driver based on how they did on years past.

Yahoo! breaks their Fantasy racing picks into three groups, group A, group B, and group C.
In group A you can only pick two drivers but can only start one, in group B you can pick four drivers but can only start two, and group C you can again pick two drivers bus start only one.
I think how Yahoo! set up their fantasy racing is pretty cool, but the big draw back for me is that you are only allowed to pick a driver nine times for the whole season.

This is how i picked for last weeks race.

In Group A i picked Jeff Gordon and Greg Biffle, but i started Jeff Gordon because of how well he did at Talladega in past season. Now Gordon's 20th place finish netted me 62 points, but that ten of those points was because he led 12 laps. had i started Biffle, who had finished 4th, i would have gotten more points but i wouldn't have gotten any extra points since he didn't lead any laps.

In Group B i picked Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Martin Truex Jr, and Micheal Waltrip, however i only started Stewart and Jr. Stewart got me 32 points with 35th place finish and his one lap led, Jr got me 80 points with his 11th place finish and nine laps led. if i had replaced either one with Treux it wouldn't have done any good since he had lead only one lap and finished 31st. If i switching Waltrip with Stwart would have been good since Waltrip lead two laps and finished 7th.

In Group C i picked Marcos Ambrose and Bobby Labonte, but only started Ambrose. Ambrose got me 34 points with his 34th place finish and three laps led. but Labonte would have gotten me more in the end with his 10th place finish, even though he didn't lead any laps.

All my picks got me a race total of 208 points, the highest out of the two Talladega races this season, (and i started almost the same drivers both times), and the second highest points for all four Superspeedway races this season.


Now its easy to sit here and say what i should have done, but if i did chance my picks before race day who is to say that the drivers i decided to change and start wouldn't have done good and the drivers i changed and didn't start would have done better, which has happen to me a few times this season.

All and all Fantasy racing is just like real racing unpredictable.