Kyle Busch missed his sweep this weekend. What a bummer that was.
I think the worst thing that could have happened in this case did happen.
I mean,what's worse than winning two races in one weekend and not winning the third race due to an incident that was in no way your fault?
Well, actually, there are a few things I could think of but they're irrelevant to the point.
I'm glad Bowyer spotter took responsibility for what happened. It's always nice when situations like this go down and someone steps up and says, "Man, you guys, I really messed up. My bad". Instead of everyone pointing the finger at someone else or at each other and nothing ever really gets accomplished.We've seen the latter happen a few too many times.
This wasn't Kyle's first attempt at a sweep nor would it have been his first sweep and I'm sure he'll try again.
Side note: Am I the only one who doesn't care for the rule change that if you compete in one series in a given season, you can't earn points in another?
It's kind of a letdown that I'll never see Kyle - or anyone for that matter - win two championships in a given year. Personally, I think an accomplishment like that would speak volumes about the driver. But no, NASCAR had to take that away too.
Moving on. Pocono is up next weekend. Hamlin has always been particularly good here. I'll be keeping a keen eye on this next race.
- Jay
Monday, June 2, 2014
FedEx 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Aaron's 499 at Talladega
Oh man! Denny Hamlin won his first points race of the season!
My family and I were at our usual weekend spot, Red Robin. We were waiting to be seated, all of our stomachs growling at the smell of such deliciousness everywhere, when I noticed the race was on on one of the TVs in the bar.
Much to my surprise, Hamlin was leading with ten laps to go. My eyes probably widen even more when I realized the race was at Talladega! Denny's never been good here. Something bad always happens to him. I was completely shocked to see him not only still in the race but leading it!
It was difficult to try to contain myself as the laps continued to wind down without incident. There was a couple eating at the booth behind us and I must have seriously been pissing off the woman by my little spasms of excitement because she kept giving me dirty looks the whole time. Sorry lady, it's not every weekend my favorite driver is about to win one of the most grueling races of the entire race season.
I threw my hands up in the air when he crossed the start/finish line to take the win and then I quickly dropped them so I wouldn't draw too much attention to myself. We were seated shortly after he won, but I lingered in the bar for just a few minutes until he climbed out of his car. There was no sound on the TV but just from Denny's face, I could tell that he was beyond stoked to finally get a win here.
I went to go sit down after they were done interviewing him, instantly regretting not wearing my Hamlin shirt like I was going to. Still, I was excited nonetheless.
Thanks for the early birthday present, Denny!
- Jay
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Auto Club 400
My dad ended up surprising me with pit passes (that he got for free!) and I was totally stoked to wander among the seemingly endless pit boxes for the first time. Of course, I took a ridiculous amount of pictures (and then I wonder why my laptop is running out of memory). I even signed Denny's pit wall!
Unfortunately, my favorite driver out of all my favorite drivers missed the race due to a piece of medal in his eye, so he never saw my handiwork on his wall but he's okay and that's all that matters.
Dad and I stayed in the infield for driver introductions because I wanted to get pictures with my 21x zoom camera, which was the best idea I had all day since I picked the best spot. Kyle pulled a prank on the fans and came out during intros when they announced Dale Earnhardt, Jr. It was hilarious. Due to my laughing, I wasn't able to get a good picture of him.
I was all set and ready to go by the time Denny's name rolled around and there was no Denny. They didn't hesitate and moved right on to the next person. Everyone, including myself, was confused. It's very uncommon for a driver to miss driver introductions. We didn't find out that he would miss the race due to - at that time - an illness. I was not happy.
I had brought my new race scanner with me, hoping to listen to Hamlin's radio the whole time but alas, that plan went out the window. On top of that, I thought it was going to be a real bummer of a race because Johnson and Gordon had led most of it.
I was listening to Kyle Busch's radio the whole day and it did not sound like he had a good car at all. His crew chief would have his team fix something and Kyle would tell them it did nothing for him. Kyle even suggested something at one point but even he turned around and changed his mind. Though for having a bad car, he wasn't ever to far behind.
Then a miracle happened. Johnson blew a tire and that put Gordon in the lead, leaving Kyle in third. They all pitted for tires, though some guys like Tony Stewart, took only two. Somehow, I knew that four tires, like Kyle took was going to be the key to winning the race.
Sure enough, the race went green and Kyle blew through the cars in front of him in no time. I was practically pulling my dad's arm out of its socket from my excitement. Kyle won the race and I screamed like a maniac. Dad just looked at me like I wasn't his daughter and that I was, in fact, some crazy person sitting next to him.
I was surprised to hear so many cheers when Kyle came to the start/finish line to get the checkered flag from the official. Not as many boos as I would have thought. Maybe people are actually starting to like him more? Not that it matters to KB. He once said that he doesn't care about the boos, all he cares about is that people are making noise for him.
It was a good day, even though it wasn't day I had planned for. I hadn't been to the track in six years and both times, something happened to Denny before the end of the race (in 2008, he blew a tire). Perhaps next year I can go again and finally see Hamlin do some real racing.
- Jay
Friday, February 21, 2014
Sprint Unlimited/Budweiser Duels
First off, I've never been a fan of change when it comes to NASCAR and this year is no different. Sadly, change has hardly ever been good in this sport (new Chase rules anyone?). I miss the old format of the Bud Shootout and I don't particularly care for this Sprint Unlimited thing they've got going on now.
The Bud Shootout took pole winners from the previous year and pitted them against each other. Now, we've got some kind of bologna going on with there being "representation" of all the manufacturers in the sport. To me, it just sounds like a joke. Heaven forbid we upset our sponsors because their drivers don't know how to win poles. Ugh.
But anyway, Denny Hamlin won both the Sprint Unlimited and the Budweiser Duel he was in, so it's fine - I'm not entirely disappointed (though I may be a bit biased).
It gives me good vibes that Hamlin just might make a good showing at the Daytona 500 - if not win the darn thing. Neither Daytona or Talladega have been particularly good to him in the past, unfortunately. But that could all change this year (fingers crossed!).
I'm hoping that Hamlin can come back from a such a disastrous year last season and bring some real heat to this competition. I don't really want to get into the details about the reasons Hamlin missed his first Chase of his career last year but I am glad to see this rivalry between Denny and Joey Logano is over.
Honestly, it was all in good fun when it started. I confess it even made me giggle a time or two. However, when it gets taken out onto the track and people get hurt and seriously hurt at that, it loses all the fun.
I'm still a fan of Logano and the past is the past. End of story.
- Jay
Sunday, February 2, 2014
New Season, New Start!
Though I don't watch races as much anymore, I am always on top of what's going on in the world of NASCAR.
I want to start writing in this blog again, but it probably won't be every weekend. I'm thinking I'll post when something interesting happens that I particularly feel the need to express my opinion on (which could be every weekend, who knows!).
I am probably going to the Sprint Cup race out here in California this year, so I will most definitely be posting about that.
I will see you when I see you but let us hope we have a very exciting year!
- Jay
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Sprint Cup: AAA Texas 500 at Texas
It's been way too long since I've written anything on here and I apologize. I'm pretty sure (though not quite one hundred percent) I will keep up this blog next season. But I won't make any promises.
Anyway, moving along to this past weekend's race.
It was kind of an exciting show this past weekend. Between Gordon and Burton fighting on the track and Kyle Busch giving his opinion to an official about the speeding penalty he was handed, I'm not exactly sure which one I found more amusing.
I do have to admit I feel somewhat bad for Martin Truex and all the problems he went through on Sunday. It seemed that he could not just catch a break.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
See you in 2010!
Okay, so I didn't start posting on this thing like I said I might but I just don't have the time. I haven't even got to sit down and watch an entire race in months. I usually end up recording the races and fast-forwarding through them, only stopping to see what went on during the cautions. School is just so ridiculous these days.
However, I plan on starting this thing again once the new season starts. I'll have a different set of classes by then and hopefully, not as much work to do; this has been, by far, my busiest semester. I might post about a race more or two before the season is over but I doubt it. We shall see though.
In case I don't, I'll see you in 2010! :)
- Jay
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Updates
Thinking about picking this up once again and seeing where it goes. I might update about this weekend's races either on late Sunday or sometime Monday. No promises though.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Nationwide: Scotts Turf Builder 300 at Bristol
The Nationwide Series race at Bristol this past weekend was quite entertaining. Though there were less wrecks than what seems to be normal at this track, it still had an interesting result.I thought Kyle Busch pretty much had the thing won until his crew made that mistake of not catching the tire. It's kind of sad too; two of Kyle's crew behind the wall plus an official were trying to get Crew Chief, Steve Addington's attention that a tire had been missed, but alas, it just didn't get noticed in time, sending Kyle to the end of the longest line. (Video)
I've heard many people complain that Kyle acted like a baby after the race, throwing his HANS device when he stepped out of his car, but I disagree. I think he showed maturity by walking away at the end of the race and not giving an interview while he was pissed off. Yes, I know that he told his pit crew that "you all suck" over the radio, but you have to understand just how frustrated Kyle must have been and that by now, he has probably apologized to his crew.
But answer me this: If you had the fastest car on the track and you lost a race you should have won, due to a lousy mistake by your pit crew, would you not be upset by it? My guess is that you probably would be.
Joey Logano showed me a lot this weekend. Finishing 9th at a track where you only raced once before is pretty impressive. He jumped eleven spots in the point standings, placing him at thirteenth. If he keeps up this pace, he could very well be on his way to a championship (well, I can dream, can't I?).
Congrats to Kevin Harvick for getting his first win in Nationwide in his own equipment. It was well deserved and made for a fascinating race.
There's no Nationwide racing this coming weekend. Nationwide will be back full throttle on April 4th.
Official Results:
Current Standings:
