My NASCAR Race Blog

Man, what a boring track Fontana is. After all the excitement of Daytona, it’s like we have to come down off our sugar high and sit through the world’s most boring race. Well, it wasn’t quite that bad, but it was close! And there was the ever present worry of another rain-shortened race. Luckily that didn’t happen, but we did have many laps of yellow racing due to rain in certain portions of the track (isn’t that an oxymoron, yellow racing, since there’s no actual racing done under yellow flag?).

Matt Kenseth proved that last week’s Daytona win (where he led about ½ of a lap) wasn’t a fluke. He was definitely the car to beat, although Jeff Gordon was determined to give him a run for his money. Do we Gordon fans dare hope for a championship this year?

Tags: Fontana, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth by Colleen
1 Comment »

No one likes a rain shortened race, except perhaps the race winner. But when it’s the Daytona 500, it is especially aggravating. Somewhere I read the suggestion that the race should be run earlier in the day and taped if the networks want to show it later, during prime time. At least that way there would be a better chance for the whole race to be run. All in all, though, it was a pretty good week of racing leading up to the 500.

I was pleased to see Jeff Gordon running up in the front, and of course, winning one of the Duals. Hopefully that is a portend of things to come this season.

I should mention that Matt Kenseth won the 500. So I just did. And Junior? Sometimes he is his own worst enemy, although one of the pit issues was not necessarily all his fault. Why on earth the pit crew kept servicing his car when the official was telling them his car was over the white line? Where was the crew chief? Surely it is someone’s job in the pit box to be watching the line official!

Tags: Dale Earnhardt Jr, Daytona, Daytona 500, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth by Colleen
No Comments »

That is the title of the book I started reading this past weekend. One Helluva Ride: How NASCAR Swept the Nation, by Liz Clarke. For a NASCAR lover, it is a must-read. For those that want to know more about the history of NASCAR and the people of NASCAR, it is a must-read. I know I am going to find it difficult to remain on-task this week and not just sit and read!

One Helluva Ride also sounds like what the NASCAR drivers are experiencing at Daytona this year as they prepare for the Daytona 500. The Budweiser Shootout was an exciting race to watch even though the drivers said their cars were ill-handling, erratic, and wild. Wild is certainly how they appeared.

I had high hopes that Jeff Gordon would break is winless run and win the Budweiser Shootout. His car really seemed to be fast and was up in the front several times, leading for some laps. In the end, he managed a fourth, which given last year’s performances on the big tracks had to make him happy.

I missed watching the qualifying sessions on Sunday, but have already set up my dvr for Thursday! No way will I miss the Duals!

Tags: Budweiser Shootout, Daytona, Jeff Gordon by Colleen
1 Comment »

Have you been able to keep track of all the driver/team/car changes that have occurred during the off-season? I sure haven’t been able to! I hope NASCAR.com has some sort of chart available or I am going to be totally lost Daytona week. Which reminds me, it is only 14 days until the Daytona 500! And Speed will begin to have live coverage of Shootout practices on February 6^th! That’s this coming Friday!!!! Get this Super Bowl Sunday out of the way and we can watch actual racing! Whoooeeee!

Tags: Daytona by Colleen
No Comments »