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.

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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.

It was reported Friday that Casey Mears who took over the #5 machine after Kyle Busch was let go, will be repeating Kyle Busch’s same fate at the end of this season and is being let go from Hendrick Motorsports.

“We’ve put a ton of emphasis on the No. 5 program,” Rick Hendrick said. “It’s been a total team effort, and Casey has worked as hard as anyone to help us improve. We’ve tested more than we ever have, but the results just haven’t come. “

“None of us, Casey included, have been satisfied with the situation this season. But he’s confident there are other options out there for him in 2009, and we feel like Hendrick Motorsports will have some opportunities, too.”

It’s not like it was a walk in the park for Casey to keep up with his HMS teammates. Entering the race this Sunday at New Hampshire, Mears has a meager three top-10 finishes and is 24th in point’s standings. Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are all within the Top 7.

“I know the effort has been there, but we haven’t had the finishes to show for it, I’ve never tested this much or put more energy into racing. But, for whatever reason, we just haven’t been able to make it click. It’s certainly not for lack of dedication on anyone’s part.” Mears said.

“I’ll talk to people about opportunities and get my 2009 plans wrapped up soon, but I’m also focused on the next 20 races and finishing 2008 on a positive note. We ran well the second half last year, and I know we can do it again. I want to close this season the right way.”

The rumor’s running rapid is that Casey will be replaced by Mark Martin who is currently racing part-time with DEI. Mark Martin will race the #5 car part-time with Brad Keselowski. It can’t be Greg Biffle because he has just resigned with Roush. Some other possible available drivers are Ryan Newman and Martin Truex Jr. Could there also be a possibility that they are making a spot for Tony Stewart who is exploring other opportunities beyond JGR after his contract is up? Hendrick has not confirmed any reports as to who is replacing Mears at this time.

I would keep a lookout for Mears, he could end up being another Kyle Busch success story for next year.