My NASCAR Race Blog

Who would have thought Denny Hamlin had a chance at winning the rain-postponed-until-Monday Martinsville race, considering he was scheduled to undergo knee surgery for a torn ACL the next day.  Martinsville requires a lot of braking, which should be pretty painful for someone with left knee issues.  But a caution sent the field into a green-white-checker situation, giving Denny a chance to steal the win from Jeff Gordon.

As a Jeff Gordon fan, it was disheartening, to the say the least, to see that caution thrown just yards before he passed the finish line for the white flag.  I was all set for a grand celebration, but once again, it wasn’t meant to be.  It is exciting to see Jeff begin the season so well, but he needs a win!

Tags: Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, Martinsville by Colleen
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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
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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
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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
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For once a night race that kept the viewers awake! No falling asleep for this one or you missed one hell of a finish!

I loved TNT’s Wide Open coverage: fewer commercial breaks and many commercials at the bottom of the screen while you could still watch the race in the top 2/3 of the screen. Nice job, TNT.

I hated to see Jeff Gordon get spun on that last restart. I was really hoping he’d find a way to pass Kyle Busch and win his first one this season. I mean, it’s great that he’s sixth in points, but no wins is going to put him way behind Busch and Edwards when they line up for the start of the Chase. At least he had a good car this week; haven’t seen him this excited about his car all season.

What can you say about Kyle? You may not like his attitude, you may not like his racing style, but the kid can drive and the kid can win races! His green car really stands out on the track, making it easy to spot him working his way up through the pack.

Now it’s on to Chicagoland for another night race!

Tags: Carl Edwards Jr., Chicagoland, Daytona, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch by admin
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