February 26, 2006
Matt Kenseth Wins at California
(Filed under: Race Recap)So sorry Greg Biffle. Today was Kenseth's day. I can't help but wonder if it was a nice little extra that Tony Stewart blew up and finished dead last. A little irony for aggressive Tony.
Another strong Roush day, and though Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Jeff Gordon finished decently, they weren't up front at all. More of their 2005 woes, which means fresh faces up front including Kasey Kahne and Casey Mears.
Posted by kevin at 6:48 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
NASCAR's Top Drivers for 2006
(Filed under: Speculating)With two races down it's a good chance to take stock of this year's drivers and see who might be in contention for the 2006 championship. Is it way too early for this? Of course, but why not? What good is being a couch potato without wild speculation?
Tony Stewart
He went down multiple times at Daytona and rallied back and he did the same thing at California--until his engine gave out. He's running as good as he was last year and once again you can always expect that bright orange car to be good. What is interesting is how aggressive Stewart has been. There was all the action at Daytona with Jeff Gordon and especially Matt Kenseth and at California he had a close call with Greg Biffle. Every time he saved himself from big trouble and was able to battle back, but I wonder how often Stewart can get away with it.
Kurt Busch
A former champion with a new team and a lot to prove after last year's mess. He had a strong run at Daytona until late trouble and ran strong early at California. He's definitely in the mix, but I'm not so confident in Penske Racing.
Matt Kenseth
Another former champion, Kenseth learned to battle back last year. He did the same at Daytona, salvaging a 15th place finish after a run-in with the wall. He ran strong and took the win at California and definitely has momentum. I'd keep an eye on Kenseth this year.
Jimmie Johnson
He started as strong as you can with the Daytona win, and while he wasn't running incredibly strong at California, he was there at the end for second place. That's typical Johnson. He always seems to be there and I can't imagine this year will be different. Yet he keeps coming up close but not enough at the end of the year. Will this be the year he overcomes the haters and is finally close enough?
Continue reading "NASCAR's Top Drivers for 2006"
Posted by kevin at 5:48 PM | TrackBack
If the Glove Fits
(Filed under: Speculating)Greg Biffle won the Busch race yesterday on pit strategy after a yellow flag came out with ten laps to go. During the Cup race today the announcers mentioned that the late race caution in the Busch race came out for debris--a driver's glove on the track. NASCAR thought it might have been a piece of metal and couldn't verify what it was, so they threw the caution. Turns out they weren't able to determine whose glove it was.
The announcers acted like that was a pretty minor deal and I haven't seen anyone else talk about it, but doesn't that sound loaded with conspiracy? How would a driver's glove end up on the track? Perhaps a driver who wanted a caution to shake up the ending? Hmmm.
Apparently I'm just reading into things.
Posted by kevin at 3:44 PM | TrackBack
February 24, 2006
Martin Wins Again in Trucks
(Filed under: Race Recap)Maybe Mark Martin should have retired from Nextel Cup last year. Tonight he won his second straight Truck series race, making his career total 3 for 5. If it wasn't for my lousy less-than-basic cable package I could actually watch these Martin-dominated truck races. Doh.
Posted by kevin at 11:22 PM | TrackBack
February 19, 2006
Live Blogging the 2006 Daytona 500
(Filed under: Race Recap)Ah, NASCAR is back. At least the commercials are mostly NASCAR-themed so even though they take more than enough commercials, we still get to see NASCAR.
Early action included Martin Truex, Jr., tagging the wall and bringing out the caution and then Mike Wallace, Jeremy Mayfield and Greg Biffle got together and didn't bring out the caution. Not sure how that works.
And then the big news: Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart both tagged the wall. Two of the top guys got each other into the wall and now have a lot of ground to make up. Being a Roush-man and an anti-Chevy man (let's just wear the bias on our sleeve, shall we?), I can't help but be happy about that.
Continue reading "Live Blogging the 2006 Daytona 500"
Posted by kevin at 2:34 PM | TrackBack
February 18, 2006
NASCAR Ads Come to Town
(Filed under: Business)The Daytona 500 and 2006 NASCAR season starts tomorrow. And thus come the NASCAR ads. And there are loads of new ads for the 2006 season, including Dale Jarret finally racing the truck (supposedly UPS tricked out an actual truck that can do 150 mph) and Mark Martin getting a stunt double to do some Carl Edwards-style backflips.
Now I'm not a huge sports watching guy, but it seems like NASCAR is one of the few sports, or TV shows period, where practically every commercial is completely related to what they're advertising. NASCAR drivers show up in every other ad, generic cars driving around if the advertiser isn't actually a real sponsor, and we can count to see who shows up in more ads, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., or the Waltrip brothers.
Posted by kevin at 9:36 PM | TrackBack
Miller vs. Bud, Busch vs. Earnhardt
(Filed under: Business)OK, this is hilarious. Beer rivalry gone too far. I guess that's what happens when you have all that free access to beer.
Miller has challenged Budweiser, making a gentlemanly wager. The drivers: Kurt Busch (alcohol-sponsored boy who made headlines last year with, hey, alcohol!) vs. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. The terms:
The losing sponsor [based on 2006 standings] must change the paint scheme on its car to match the winning brand's car for one Nextel Cup Series points-paying race next year.
Budweiser hasn't taken up the challenge yet, though I can't imagine they'd have the guts to do it. Especially after the year Earnhardt had last year.
Posted by kevin at 9:24 PM | TrackBack
Martin Wins at Daytona
(Filed under: Race Recap)Mark Martin won yesterday's Craftsman truck series race, only his fourth victory at Daytona International Speedway in 111 races. His other Daytona wins come in two IROC races (2003 and 2005) and a Shootout race (1999). That also makes Martin two for four in truck series starts. Nice.
Posted by kevin at 9:10 PM | TrackBack
February 13, 2006
Rookie Denny Hamlin Wins Bud Shootout
(Filed under: Race Recap)Ah, it's good to be back.
Yesterday rookie Denny Hamlin won the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona. The shootout is one of those non-points races that's just plain fun. I wish we had more of those. It's also a precursor to the new season, which means it all gets going next week. Woo!
As a side note, thank goodness NBC is covering the Daytona 500. No boogety, boogety, boogety. I guess after Daytona we'll have to endure Darrell Waltrip's local color until July, but at least we get a reprieve.
Back to yesterday's action: wow. I'm not sure I should be so excited about the craziness of restrictor plate racing, but wow. My favorite moment of the day was Mark Martin's save when Kyle Bush got into him and Martin skated up the track and almost took out Jamie McMurray. What a save. You can almost hear Martin in the driver's seat cursing under his breath about restrictor plate racing as he does some amazing driving. I just hope Martin can have better luck with restrcitor plate tracks this year.
And what was up with Carl Edwards' penalties? Not sure I understood that one. His odd dive to the inside to get around the cars pitting was certainly unorthadox, but it looked like he just got pinched and did what he could to avoid a wreck. Which he did. He certainly wasn't trying to gain positions. I guess not everything goes Carl's way. Let's just hope he can learn to be as happy-go-lucky about defeats as well as victories.
Oh, and the winner, Denny Hamlin. What is there to say? That kid did quite a job staying in front of some legends. And it looks like Gibbs might finally have a team to rival Hendrick and Roush when it comes to working together.
Posted by kevin at 11:47 AM | TrackBack
