A few month’s back Amp Energy had a contest where you could sign up to get your name on Dale Jr’s Amp Energy car for the Talladega race. Granted, you could barely tell from looking on TV, but I guess there were names on there.

The first 70,000 fans that signed up got their names on it. Since I am a stinkin’ sucker, I signed up for it. If you did the same, you can go to AmpEnergy.com and login with your email address to see where your name placed on the car.

Electronically (probably not for real!)…I’m on the left center, somewhere in the #88 symbol. But I’m a dumb-fud, and put my real name on the form, so I cannot point out where my name is on this electronic simulation of the car photo below, just trust me, it’s there, because I don’t trust the internet and am not going to tell you my name! Bleh!

I think it’s safe to say that it was a good weekend for Tony Stewart and a bad weekend for Regan Smith and Carl Edwards.

Stewart won his first race at Talladega, so there’s lots to drink to because he has come in 2nd place 9 times at that race track. What a way to pop your Talladega cherry!

With all the cars that were taken out of the race, I almost thought that the last lap of the race was going to be a scene out of “Talladega Nights” and Tony Stewart and Regan Smith would jump out of their wrecked cars and run towards the finish line and…well if you’ve seen the movie, I don’t need to go into detail.

I must admit, I totally forgot the rules for passing because I was too busy cheering and throwing things for Stewart to win, so I really thought Regan Smith had it there in the end.

Sports Illustrated explained that if you pass below the yellow line to improve your position it is a pass through penalty, since it was the last lap of the race, they sent Regan Smith’s ending position to the end, which was 18th.

However TheStar.com explains that “NASCAR also says that if a driver is forced – repeat: forced – below the yellow line, and makes a pass, the pass shall stand.”

So…confused. So what are the REAL rules?

Maybe it’s the woman in me, but a big part of me feels bad for Regan Smith, it’s not like he really had anywhere else to go but below the line, he was forced down there, at the same time Stewart was blocking and protecting his position, but that’s racing!

I just didn’t want to sound partial towards Stewart, but seeing that he is my driver, I’m going to sound like it no matter how much I justify it to myself.

On another note, did someone tell Carl Edwards that if you bump draft someone too hard that it’s not like the video games, they will get turned around? Someone needs to take away his game console and stuff it up his bum. (Call me Carl, I’m just the girl for the job!)

I tried to shoot my boyfriend in the head thinking we was going to be like a zombie and rise right back up again because that’s what they do in the video games.

Out of all the people to screw up the bum hole, it had to be his own Roush teammates, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth and half of the points contenders for the Sprint Cup and then some including Dale Earnhardt Jr., Travis Kvapil, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Michael Waltrip, Dave Blaney, Juan Pablo Montoya and Reed Sorenson.

Carl Edwards definitely gets the “Here’s Your Sign” award this week along with this quote from him:

“I was worried about the idiots when you come here and I was the guy that caused that one,” he said.

DDDDUUUUUUUHHH!

The top 12 NASCAR “Race for the Chase” contenders presenting David Letterman’s “Top 12″:

Lordy, lordy, lordy. Kyle Busch said “ass” Haha anyways, I found these fun little videos and photos from The Fast and the Fabulous (a wonderful NASCAR blog by Valli) and just had to share for all you ladies out there.

The video above and the photo below was from “Chase Media Day” which shows the top 12 NASCAR Race for the Chase contenders.

I love seeing the NASCAR guys out of their element…and in suits none the less. One, it’s extremely attractive and two, it’s humanizes them, it shows the public that they really are normal human beings. Probably for the same reasons that I love seeing my favorite singers dressed in normal street clothes. It humanizes them and even for a moment, takes away from the “celebrity” factor.

Which is probably why I’m so into this photo:

Although, speaking from a degrading woman’s standpoint, I think Tony Stewart could clean up a lot better. I’d love to see him wearing something like what Denny Hamlin is wearing. Just a personal reflection.

Looks like Tony Stewart had a point when he publicly degraded Goodyear about their tires back in April.

The word of the week for the Indianapolis race was…TIRES!

The durability of the Goodyear tires did not last long against the abrasiveness of the track and the new Car of Today (aka Car of Tomorrow) which called for a very interesting and circus-like event.

In 2005, AP explains that F1 and Michelin learned this lesson, “when three-fourths of the field refused to compete in the United States Grand Prix because of tire concerns. Indy took a hit, the race never recovered and F1 isn’t currently racing in this country.”

“The difference between NASCAR and Formula One is Formula One thinks of it as a business — they don’t think about the fans, they don’t think about the show, here they do. NASCAR will do whatever is possible to put the show on in the best way possible.” said Juan Pablo Montoya, former F1 driver turned NASCAR driver.

There were caution flags every 10-12 laps for the safety of the drivers. 52 of the 160 laps were run under caution. The longest green flag run was 13 laps. Even Goodyear had an emergency shipment of tires that were reserved for Pocono sent to Indianapolis Motor Speedway in case teams ran out of tires.

After all the tire dust was cleared…literally, Jimmie Johnson was victorious against close heat from Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin.

And there’s nothing more delicious than kissing rubber covered bricks and then kissing your significant other, but if my man just won me a hefty paycheck, I’d kiss the butt of a horse!

“Every lap. Every lap I was concerned about it,” Johnson said. “Every corner, for that matter. You could almost feel the tire life being taken out of it, if you leaned too hard.”

Other drivers were also not happy with the tire debacle:

“It’s embarrassing and it’s disappointing. I’ve never seen anything like this,” four-time Indianapolis winner Jeff Gordon said.

“Didn’t see much of a race,” Matt Kenseth said. Yeah you didn’t Matt because your tire blew up the entire back half of your car. If Sunday’s race was supposedly no one’s fault, someone better tattoo this statement to the back of his non-existent back window.

“It’s just unacceptable at this level,” Brian Vickers said.

“Ridiculous” was the word out of Ryan Newman’s mouth.

Don’t worry boys…we still love you!

I’m sure worse could be said from the drivers about the race, but if they want their cars to pass inspection their lips are probably glued. Even Tony Stewart was surprisingly calm about his comments on the whole situation, what kind of peyote was he smoking? And why doesn’t he share?

So is it NASCAR’s fault or Goodyears fault? After all, Goodyear is the only provider of tires for NASCAR (through 2012 none the less) and NASCAR should have possibly taken a more pro-active role in the situation.

If Goodyear made parachutes and I jumped out of a plane with one of their parachutes, I’d be dead. So to completely blow off the fiasco and pen it as water under the bridge would be complete anarchy.

In April, Goodyear tested tires with three drivers: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Brian Vickers and Kurt Busch but the Car of Tomorrow had never raced at Indy and the weight stability shifted more toward the right side of the car with less down force.

“It’s just the package. Something’s different about the package, and we kind of need to understand that.” Greg Stucker, director of race tire sales for Goodyear said.

Um so why wasn’t this understood back in oh, I don’t know…APRIL!

When it really comes down to it though, I say sh*t happens and Sunday’s race was no exception. If I had to choose between watching a boring 400 mile race or watching monkeys scramble around like chickens with their heads cut off, then I’d vote for the monkeys and chickens….they were probably luckier than that bird that ended up flying under and out of Jeff Burton’s car on one of the re-starts.

NASCAR did end up apologizing for the circus that was the Indianapolis race and are working on a solution to the problem to avoid history from repeating itself.

If anything good came out of this race, I didn’t have to take a shot of liquor every time they mentioned Kyle Busch…and I stayed sober.

ESPN2 will feature a few race car driver fan favorites on featured shows,

Tony Stewart On “Driven To Hunt”

Two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart will be featured on an episode of the ESPN2 series “Driven to Hunt”¹ on Sunday, July 6, at 7 a.m. ET. With a repeat on at 9:30 a.m.

Stewart opens his ranch to the Hunt of a Lifetime Foundation, a nonprofit organization with a mission to grant hunting & fishing experiences and dreams for children age 21 and under, who have been diagnosed with life threatening illnesses. A member of the foundation, Zach Lorenz gets a once in a lifetime opportunity to hunt big whitetail. The audience gets an exclusive view of where Stewart grew up.

Future “Driven To Hunt” episodes will feature additional drivers, team owners, and over-the-wall crew including drivers Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Terry and Bobby Labonte and team owner Richard Childress.

Future Episodes Schedule:

7/6/08 - Tony Stewart (reairs 9/21/08)

7/13/08 - Jeff Hammond, former crewchief and FOX announcer goes on a Rocky Mountain Elk hunt in the mountains of New Mexico. (reairs 9/28/08)

7/20/08 - Clint Bowyer goes on his first deer hunt with Bill Jordan, Richard Childress, and Terry and Bobby Labonte.

7/27/08 - Kevin Harvick goes on his first Utah Elk Hunt.

8/3/08 - Austin Dillon, grandson of Richard Childress hunts for whitetail in South Texas. (reairs 9/21/08)

8/10/08 - Bobby & Terry Labonte go on a Kansas Whitetail hunt.

 

 

Dale Jr. On “Shifting Gears”

“Shifting Gears”² will air Friday, July 4, at 10:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2 following the Nationwide Series race from Daytona this weekend. Three of the five episodes have already aired on ESPN prior to the Daytona 500. The final two air on ESPN2 in prime time the week leading up to the July 27 Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The show features an exclusive look at Dale Earnhardt Jr’s³ personal and corporate life involved with leaving Dale Earnhardt, Inc., founded by his late father. Hours and hours of camera footage was collected, starting from May 10, 2007 up until his transition to HMS.

The show is produced by Earnhardt Jr.’s Hammerhead Entertainment, a division of JR Motorsports, in cooperation with Hendrick Motorsports and is presented by the National Guard.

1. Show Information from Auto Spectator [↩]
2. Show Information from Auto Spectator [↩]
3. Photo from Zap2It [↩]

Let’s try to sift through the mess that is contract extensions, driver swaps and musical cars….

 

Confirmed Driver Status’

 

Greg Biffle¹ has confirmed he has re-signed a 3 year contract extension with Roush Fenway Racing. “Certainly I’m very excited to announce that we’ve done a multiyear extension with Roush Fenway,” said Biffle. “3M has stepped up, they had a multiyear deal to start with, but they came and re-upped, so to speak, recommitted to being on the car for those races. It was a long process, I weighed, certainly, all of my options out and it felt like the 16 car is where I really wanted to spend my next three years driving. A lot of things went into making a decision on where I was going to be. One was Ford’s commitment to the racing program and supporting us technologically … ” his teammate, Carl Edwards has re-signed until 2011.

Elliot Sadler has signed with Gillette-Evernham Motorsports until 2010.

 

Petty Enterprises has signed Bobby Labonte through 2012.

 

Casey Mears announced and confirmed he will leave Hendrick Motorsports at the end of the 2008 season.

 

Aric Almirola will drive the No. 8 Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Inc. full-time next season.

 

“I’ve signed up with R.C.R. [Richard Childress Racing] for three more years,” Clint Bowyer said Friday at New Hampshire International Speedway. “You’ve got to live up to what you did last time, and there is a little bit more pressure,” he said. “But it is what it is.”

 

On that same note, Richard Childress Racing has added a fourth Sprint Cup car to the team, but it is yet unconfirmed who will drive the machine.

 

 

Unconfirmed Driver Status’

 

Reed Sorenson driver for Chip Ganassi Racing which will leave the #41 car open for a driver. Sorenson is mulling a contract extension, but nothing is currently set in stone, “I expect everything will be worked out in the next week or two,” he says. Sorenson is not the only suffering team as Juan Pablo Montoya and Sorenson have already changed crew chiefs this season, the third driver Dario Franchitti has also had his share of trials and tribulations. “I’m not happy running where we’ve been at and, hopefully, everybody else here isn’t either. As a driver I don’t feel like I’ve accomplished a lot of what I want to do. I want to win races and contend for championships.” Sorensen says. “I still love racing. I feel honored to be here and lucky to do this as a living. Most of the people in this garage are huge competitors and when you’re not challenging for a good finish, it definitely wears on you. I feel like I’ve accomplished a lot, but I feel now it’s time we accomplished some things at this level.”

 

Martin Truex Jr. could possibly leave DEI to replace Ryan Newman at Penske racing. Ryan Newman could go to the Haas CNC team that Tony Stewart will possibly run in which Newman could be a co-owner and driver.

 

It is rumored that Mark Martin is leaving DEI driving for HMS for Casey Mears’ former #5 car so Aric Armoriola can race the #8 car full-time. The Mark Martin move makes sense to some fans due to his experience with driving some NNS races for the team.

 

In the same turn, there was also the rumored route that Mark Martin will leave DEI and drive for HMS (Casey Mears former #5 car) part-time with Brad Keselowski so they can slowly wean Keselowski in the Sprint Cup. Some find it hard to grasp Martin driving full-time because he enjoys doing part time.

 

Another rumored possibility is that Casey Mears is going to Richard Childress Racing to fill in the fourth car that was reported to be made for Sprint Cup racing. Some find it hard to see Mears fitting in with Burton and Harvick though. Other opening for Mears could include DEI where Truex Jr. left off or Ganassi where Sorenson left off. His competition for any of these possibilities could come from Scott Wimmer, David Stremme or Reed Sorenson. Confused yet?

 

 

Most of the rumored speculations are revolved around Tony Stewart² ending his contract with JGR early, (Chevrolet wants to help buy Tony out of his contract with JGR) to join Haas CNC racing with 50% ownership. Mind you, he is looking for ownership somewhere so the possibility is not out of the realm. The other unconfirmed possibility is Tony Stewart ending his contract one year early to go to Hendrick Motorsports. The big question is though, would NASCAR really allow the powerhouse that is Gordon, Johnson and Earnhardt Jr. becomes an even bigger powerhouse with Stewart in the mix? It would become a monopoly, like Microsoft is to the technical world.

 

If Tony leaves JGR, the next rumored possibility is that young racing phenomenon, Joey Logano will take his place and will take his sponsor (Home Depot) to which Home Depot will be offered a cheaper deal with Logano then what they had with Stewart.

 

There’s no denying that Stewart is looking for a position where he is owning a race team/cars. Stewart has not confirmed any speculations. I do predict that an announcement in regards to Tony’s decision will come sooner than later with the situation of Casey Mears leaving HMS and the speculations and rumors flying rapid more than ever around what Tony will do.

 

It is a tossup as to what will really happen, It will unquestionably be fascinating to see how the soap opera part of NASCAR plays out. Hopefully the soap opera realm of this NASCAR story will not trickle over and effect the performance and driving statistics of these driver’s playing the “musical cars” game.

1. Photo from AP, Modified by Kitten [↩]
2. Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR, Modified by Kitten [↩]

Well I must say that this is the first Sprint Cup race that I have watched in a few weeks where I was genuinely interested throughout the entire race and expected not to be, and most importantly…I was able to watch the entire race uninterrupted and without any power failures.

 

I guess a power outage wouldn’t have disappointed me much since the LENOX Industrial Tools 301, turned into the LENOX Industrial Tools 284 due to rain.

 

Casey Mears dominated the first quarter of the race due to pit strategy. How convenient that the same weekend that it is announced that he is being released from Hendrick Motorsports he leads his first laps of the race all season. I guess firing race car driver lights a fire under their butt! If I was a driver for Hendrick Motorsports, I’d be farting fire out my butt all season long…so why is Casey now making something happen?

 

Once Tony Stewart took over the lead he dominated the rest of the race with the exception of when it counted most. “It’s just been the oddest year I’ve ever seen for this team,” said Stewart. ”It’s just frustrating.” 

 

Tony lead 132 laps of the entire race but it looks like pit road strategy could have helped him in today’s race. It worked for him yesterday in the Nationwide Series.

 

Stewart’s last victory was on 8/12/07 at Watkins Glen, so this win today would have most likely been very important for Stewart (and his fans.) I know I’m personally sitting on pins and needles waiting for my favorite man to bring home the bacon to mama! Haha!

 

Just for a hearty tidbit, Toyota has collectively lead 2081 laps this season. If we did the math, 90% of those laps are Kyle Busch’s. Alas, we go back to the “lighting a fire under your butt” analogy aforementioned above. Hendrick Motorsports is slowly becoming the butt lighting race team, releasing one race car driver at a time.

 

At Lap 220 Kasey Kahne spun out Aric Armirola. Kahne, in turn spins out at lap 224 and no caution came out which caused Kahne to loose a lot of track position, and would eventually put him more than a few laps down.

 

At Lap 228 a great competitive race ensued between teammates Gordon and Johnson which gave Stewart an even more significant lead.

 

With 27 laps to go, Dale Earnhardt Jr, was getting ready to pit.  He drove towards the pit lane, driving below the yellow line when out of nowhere BLAM! McMurray rams Earnhardt Jr. from the back and spins out, in turn Ragan comes barreling on through and hits McMurray. Post race, McMurray explained he did not see Earnhardt Jr because he was looking ahead of where he wanted his car to eventually be, and no indication was left from his spotter that Jr. was there.

 

During the pit stops following the Earnhardt Jr./McMurray/Ragan wreck, Tony lost four positions by taking right side tires only while most took fuel only.

 

A few more laps later, Hornish and Bowyer get together in a wreck. Once the caution was waved after getting through the wreck Montoya and Kyle Busch get into some rubbing shenanigans and Montoya intentionally spins out Kyle Busch.

 

Who do you think is at fault for the wreck, Busch or Montoya? Or both?

 

After 284 laps, it rains, it pours…and NASCAR calls the race. Kurt Busch wins, luck and strategy was on his side, even though Kurt seemed to have hinted during rain delay interviews that maybe a win wasn’t very deserved due to a rain technicality.

“Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good,” said Busch. ”We might not have been the fastest car, but we got the win.”

 

Do you think Kurt Busch deserve the win?

 

I say yes! If you are smart enough and have good enough timing to plan such strategery (Thanks for the word Kyle Petty!) then as Dale Earnhardt Jr. said after his win on fuel strategy a few weeks ago…”A WIN IS A WIN”.

 

Dale Earnhardt Jr’s fuel strategy should be no different than Kurt Busch’s pit strategy. Period. If you disagree, please…enlighten me.