It seems like Denny Hamlin is trying not to end up a “Tony Stewart Statistic”.

As in, he’s not going to risk injuring himself if he wrecks in the Nationwide Series race so much to the point that it effects him racing in the Sprint Cup. Tony Stewart did it last season when he injured his shoulder. Hence why I personally call it the “Tony Stewart Statistic”

NASCAR.com reports that Denny Hamlin will sit out the Nationwide Series race this week. Denny mentioned that since he is only 12th in points, he basically felt he didn’t have anything to lose.

He considered sitting out the Sprint Cup race as well, but he is currently reported to be definitly racing this week and feeling better from last week’s hard wreck.

No diaper baby whining this week for Hamlin! I feel so lost!

Denny Hamlin was released from a hospital yesterday after this hard hit from this past weekend’s race at Talladega:

The single car wreck was caused by a tire failure. After leaving his car, they took him to a local hospital for further observation where he was kept overnight. He was reported to have been complaining of a headache and there were reports he had a possible concussion, but I have not found any confirmation of this.

I know I like making fun of the guy for being a whiny diaper baby at times, (which believe me, is all in good fun, I’m not that cruel!) but I really am glad he is OK!

5. Tony Stewart/Joey Logano “Home Depot” Commercial

If you haven’t noticed yet, I’m a Stewart fan and I’m slowly becoming a Loano fan so this commercial is kind of bittersweet (because Tony’s leaving) and exciting because I know Logano will do all my #20 merchandise justice.

(more…

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.

Your news snippets from the NASCAR world from yours truly, the Race Kitten.

With only eight races to go before the chase is officially underway, Kyle Busch is in the lead points standings with 6 wins this season. If there were twelve Kyle Busch’s, he’d probably be in all top twelve spots.

 At last weekend’s race, Martin Truex Jr. got dicked…I mean docked 150 driver and 150 owner points for bringing an illegal car to Daytona. Truex’s car failed an initial inspection at Daytona when its roof did not conform to the approved template. This most likely ruined any chances for him to make the chase, putting him 18th in the standings.

In other Dale Earnhardt Inc. happenings, Aric Armorola signed with DEI to drive the #8 car full-time while Mark Martin will drive for Hendrick Motorsports. Didn’t Mark Martin say he was going to retire in 1995? “It’s hard to step away from it,” he says.

Tony Stewart will end his contract with Joe Gibbs racing a year early. He will announce at the end of this week what his future plans entail. Maybe world domination?

 This weekend’s Nationwide and Sprint Cup Races at Chicago Land Speedway will be the first nighttime race of the season with their new lights installed. This is the 10th track on the NASCAR schedule with the ability to host night races. Get your nighttime JLo sunglasses on!

 At this weekends Chicago Land race, Carl Edwards will showcase a special paint scheme of at least 8,000 Office Depot associates signatures from around the world.  “I’m excited to have so many Office Depot associates represented on the race car in such a creative and personal way,” said Edwards. I’m sure those signatures will be just as readable as the 70,000 fan signatures that Dale Jr. will try and squeeze on his car for the Talladega race.

Former NASCAR driver, Hermie Sadler signed a contract to commentate for TNA (Total Non-stop Action) Wrestling. “I am a longtime pro wrestling fan and a true supporter of TNA Wrestling; I really believe in the product. It has been a lot of fun, truly an enjoyable experience working with the superstars of TNA Wrestling,” he says. How about he just commentates the “Kyle Busch vs. Whomever Kyle Busch Pisses Off That Week” matches every week?

 Denny Hamlin says he and is team is just not performing up to potential. “It’s kind of the place where I thought we would be or maybe a little bit worse than where we’d be. We’re in the Top 10 in points, which is important for us. Right now we’ve just got to try to get a little bit more secure.” “I think we have a C-plus,” he said. “A lot of guys would love to be where we’re at right now, but I feel as a team I expect a little bit more from myself and from the team. They’re doing everything they can. If you throw luck and everything in it we get a C-plus. Based on performance I feel like we’re a B-plus or so.”

Way to boost the confidence of your team Denny! Maybe you should ask Dario Franchitti how he feels about it?

“Not to take anything away from (Joe Gibbs Racing), but a monkey could win in that car.” - Clint Bowyer, reacting to Denny Hamlin’s win in the Nationwide race.

Bitter much Clint?

 Chip Ganassi wants a “Chase or Bust” from driver Juan Pablo Montoya.

Maybe that monkey that Clint Bowyer was talking about could drive for Montoya?

Jimmie Johnson is leaning towards McCain for President. “I have to think McCain. I think our core fan base being strong Republicans like they are, that’s going to be the first choice. I also think his credits in history and what he’s done for our country, certainly for our country, a lot of those things will be fully noticed by our fan base,” said Johnson at a reception before addressing the National Press Club. “My wife and I have an apartment in New York City, and there are plenty of Democrats running around the city who are junkies for NASCAR. It’s a big sport, it really is.”

Ironically enough, Barack Obama is suddenly interested in NASCAR and will supposedly be campaigning at a future event because that’s where the “white working-class votes are.”

In the words of Austin Powers…”Riiiiiiiiiiiiight“

If one of the 13 NASCAR Sprint Cup Drivers wins the Coke Zero 400 race at Daytona International Speedway on July 5, then everyone will get a FREE Coke Zero.

13 NASCAR Sprint Cup Drivers are sponsored by Coca Cola Inc: Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, Denny Hamlin, Mark Martin, Greg Biffle, Elliott Sadler, Jamie McMurray, Bobby Labonte, Michael Waltrip, Clint Bowyer and David Ragan.

Terry Labonte, is also considered part of Coca-Cola racing. He is the driver for the #45 Petty Enterprises Dodge who is a substitute for Coca-Cola Racing Family member Kyle Petty, who broadcasts for TNT.

Thanks to the “Taste of Victory” program, if one of the 13 drivers wins the race go to CokeZero.com between July 5 through July 13 and follow the instructions to receive a coupon for a free 20-ounce bottle of Coke Zero.

“It’s pretty common for the winning driver to spring for a round of drinks after the race, but we’re taking things to a whole new level for the inaugural Coke Zero 400,” said Tony Stewart. “It would be pretty cool to come through for race fans with free Coke Zero. I hope to be in Victory Lane Saturday night telling millions of people that drinks are on me.”

How about a beer too Tony?