Tony Stewart and Morgan Shepherd

I'm not quite sure I understand why Stewart's contract with Joe Gibbs Racing is being addressed this early in the game. His contract isn't up until the END of 2009. I'm already getting sick of hearing about it every single time the camera is on him and it's only just begun. You can almost bet that from here on out, every single race that you watch will have some mention of his contract.

I feel bad for all you Stewies out there. I think it was wrong of them to get you all in a tizzie this soon about his possible departure from JGR and where or what he will be doing.

Maybe it is the norm for announcements to come out this early. Or maybe I have just not been paying attention but I don't recall Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s announcement that he was considering leaving Dale Earnhardt Inc. being made almost two years early. Either way, if I am mistaken, I am sure you will let me know.

First lets talk about the Nationwide race. Dumb is the only word that comes to mind when thinking of Kevin Lepage. He is responsible for causing the "Big One" in the race. Period. Did you see it? In his interview he really doesn't take any responsibility, which is absolutely ridiculous. You be the judge.

Here it is:

-- Congrats to Tony Stewart for his first Talledega win.

Now on to Sprint Cup.

-- Surprise, surprise, I did not pick the winner. I've got to start picking Kyle Busch I guess. He was the victor yesterday and is just on fire. Here are a few of the thoughts that ran through my head:

-- Good call for Joe Nemechek to qualify without the alternator to give him an advantage. He was a go or go home car anyway. It worked out in the end, he made it into the race, finished 25th and gained two spots in the point standings.

-- Where in the world did Clint Bowyer come from? I didn't see him during the entire race but he pulled off a ninth place finish.

-- Poor Tony Stewart going from hero (winning the Nationwide race) to zero (coming in 38th in the Sprint Cup race). Talk about an up and down weekend.

All for now.

-- I am going with none other than Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the win at Talledega Superspeedway this weekend. It's time for him to visit victory lane. Period. I am, however, 0-for-8 for 2008. Let's see if I can break my bad-pick streak. Who will you be picking for the win?

-- There's a new competition being held before the NASCAR All-Star Sprint Cup event on May 17. It's a burnout competition. There will be a total of five drivers participating in the event. My man, Clint Bowyer, was the first to agree to this competion. The other drivers will be named at a later date.

On Tuesday, Bowyer went to practice his burnouts at Lowe's Motor Speedway and hit the wall, damaging the Richard Petty Driving Experience car that he used to practice his burnout. Obviously, he was and probably still is the brunt of all jokes. Hilarious stuff right there. I am sure he will get more practice when he wins another race this year...

-- Heluva Good! will be sponsoring the NASCAR Sprint Cut Series Pole Days and the NASCAR Camping World East Series race on both Fridays of the racing weekends in June and September.

Okay, now I have to share something really corky with you. When I read the press release, just reading the word Heluva took me back to when I was a little girl. At Christmastime we used to go visit with my Nana and she always had sliced Heluva Good cheese with crackers. I used to walk around the house, with a devilish grin saying really slow, "This Heluva Good cheese is really yummy," always thinking that I was really pushing the envelope of saying a bad word. Ahhh...the memories.

All for now.

NASCAR took a victory away from Peyton Sellers, who was found to have an illegal shock during post-race inspection Saturday at Greenville Pickens Speedway for the season-opening Camping World East Series race in Easely, S.C..

This is the first time NASCAR has taken away a win in the series after a points race because of a rules violation. Austin Dillon was declared the winner.

"Needless to say we are shocked and disappointed," said ASM owner Andy Santerre, whose car was driven by Sellers. "We are being made an example. We admit there was a rules infraction, it was a shock to us as much as it was unintentional and unknown prior to post-race inspection. We conceded that and worked with NASCAR to make sure it was not found in any of the other shocks or on the second ASM car. It was not. We understood there would be ramifications, but to go against past precedent and take the win is disappointing."

Santerre continues, "The one thing we know in the NCWES is if we finish in the top-5, which for ASM, is about every week, the tranny, the rear gear and the shocks are coming apart. It would be stupid to do something that blatant intentionally when we know it will be checked. Santerre explains, "We built shocks for a team last year and bought them back at the end of last year. We dynoed them and they seemed the same as when we built them. We tested all four shocks on the car at Greenville, but to make the car better, we changed three of them, but one of the shocks stayed on the car. It was this shock that was illegal."

I never truly know what to believe when a team is found to be in violation of something after the race. Did they intentionally cheat? I just don't know. I may be a bit naive in that area ...

So if you watch that delayed "comprehensive coverage" of the race at Greenville Pickens Speedway on May 7, keep in mind the winner of the race isn't really the winner.

Here's a few random thoughts that rattled around in my noggin over the weekend:

-- Way to go Danica Patrick for getting her first victory. For those of you who minimize the win ... I don't care how she got it. Whether it was on gas mileage or if she was dead last with two laps to go and the entire field crashed making her the winner, a win is a win. Period. Congratulations.

-- The press release states "NASCAR Announces Comprehensive 2008 Television Coverage For Camping World Series." Nice. Only if you want to watch the Camping World East Series race that was held on Saturday night, keep waiting. It won't be airing until May 7th at 1:30 p.m. on SPEED. How's that for comprehensive coverage?

Seriously, that is just ridiculous. Who wants to watch a stale race? We already know what happened and what the end result is. Give me a break. It's very discouraging for folks that want to follow and learn that division... LIKE ME!

I am pleased however that the drivers that I am "watching" all finished in the top ten. Austin Dillon - 2nd, Ricky Carmichael - 6th, and Steve Park - 9th.

Some quotes from Carmichael and Dillon:

"I'm ecstatic," said Carmichael, who started 11th. "I would have liked to have that top-five, but sixth is great. Ken Schrader Racing gave me an awesome car. It was the best one I've ever driven. I'm still just getting a feel for these cars, but we were competitive out there. I found my line and filled holes when I saw them. It was definitely a shot in the arm to come out of the box with a sixth place finish."

Said Dillon, "We just took our time and people started pushing up the center, and our car was good enough to cut under. We knew we had to be loose for the race. I saved my brakes and my tires and worked our way up through there and got the lead," Dillon said. ". . . I think we're going to have a great year. I've got one thing down. I think we're going to lead some laps and compete in the front. Now we've just got to go out there and win one."

-- I'm really, really quite sick of Kyle Busch.

-- Boris Said had bad luck this past week in Mexico. I'm not surprised. It seems the only luck he has is bad luck. Quite upsetting.

-- Even in Nationwide, Clint Bowyer is consistent. He finished sixth.

And finally, here's a link that someone wanted to share this week.

What I should do when there's no Cup racing on a particular weekend is get some work done around the house instead of sitting around for hours on end watching racing. But I think what I will do is watch another division of racing...

So even though there is no Cup race, this weekend is the start of the season for the Camping World East Series and I plan on watching. The race is being aired Saturday night on SPEED at 8 p.m. Here's the full schedule. I have my eyes on a few drivers in this division:

-- Austin Dillon, driving the number 3 Garage Equipment Supply car for Andy Santerre Motorsports.
-- Ricky Carmichael, driving the number 4 Monster Energy Drink car for Ken Schrader Racing.
-- Steve Park, driving the number 35 Waste Managment/Recycle America car.

I am sure as the season goes on I will be watching a few others. I'm really unfamiliar with this series but am looking forward to watching and learning this division of racing this year.

And then if I need more of a fix, I can always watch the Corona Mexico 200 on Sunday. The Nationwide race is being held in Mexico and will air on ESPN at 1:30 p.m. My man, Clint Bowyer is on the entry list, so I'll likely try to watch some of it.

Excellent racing this weekend. Great side by side action. Even the Nationwide race was pretty good.

Congrats to Jimmie Johnson and Rick Hendrick on their first win this season. He's not the one I wanted to win though. I actually would have loved to see Mark Martin or Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the winner's circle instead. I missed the interview with Mark Martin after the race but you could definitely hear the disappointment in Junior's voice when they interviewed him.

Here are a few random thoughts that ran through my noggin:

-- I appreciate the network delaying the race so that we could watch the conclusion of the rain-delayed Red Sox vs. Yankees game. The key word in that sentence is conclusion. At first I was grumpy because of it and then I started really getting in to the baseball game.

I think it was the bottom of the ninth with 2 outs and a full count. Just as Papelbon was getting ready to throw a pitch they changed it over to the start of the race. There was absolutely no warning. I'm relaxed watching baseball and then my heart started racing because 43 cars were coming at me on the big screen television. I was all confused and highly anxious. I wanted to know if his pitch ended the game...uugh.

-- Matt Kenseth had some bad luck hitting the wall early in the race. He's really had an up and down year this year so far.

-- Bad luck for Ryan Newman who's car blew up, spewing oil all over the track bringing out a caution.

-- Elliott Sadler also had a bad night. He had a tire go down and hit the wall and had to go to the garage.

-- Give Mark Martin a good car and look what happens. He was so feisty. What a great race for him.

-- I'm not a big fan of races that end on gas mileage, including this one. But I really liked watching Chad Knaus talking with Jimmie Johnson those last 3 laps.

-- What happened to Kevin Harvick in the pits?! He was looking like he was going to have a great finish. That was disappointing.

-- Jeff Burton, my pick for the race, finished fifth.

-- Mr. Consistent (yeah, my man Clint Bowyer) was consistent again at Phoenix finishing second. He's the man. That's all I'm saying.

On a different note...

Ricky Carmichael was at the Moto X World Championships this weekend. He was in the Step Up competition. Step Up is where riders speed up a dirt incline to try to attempt to fly their motorcycles over a bar high up in the air, it's kind of similar to a high jump, only MUCH higher.

Yesterday during the competition, the bar was set at 35 feet in the air. On Carmichael's first attempt, he cleared it. And I mean he CLEARED it. He was actually the only one that was able to do it. He just couldn't stick the landing and he crashed. On impact, his chin hit the handle bars on his motorcycle before he was thrown off and put a gouge in his chin. He was taken to the hospital to get stitches and to make sure there were no other injuries. He was complaining of his jaw hurting (as you can imagine).

He did go back to the event afterwards to commentate the rest of the events. The entire time I was watching him compete I was wondering what Ken Schrader was thinking about this whole thing. Afterall, Carmichael is supposed to be jumping in a car and racing for Ken Schrader this weekend in the Camping World East Series at Greenville Pickens Speedway in Easley, S.C. What if he had broken his wrists in the crash?

All for now...

I'm going with a Richard Childress Racing car this week for the win at Phoenix. Although, I almost hate picking a driver now for a race because as you know, I have never picked a winner in the history of this blog. For yucks, let's start keeping track this year. I am 0-for-7 for 2008. I'm going on the record right here and now saying that I will NEVER pick Clint Bowyer this year. I would never want to jinx him.

Since about Wednesday, I had my mind made up that I was going to go with an RCR driver for Saturday night's race. Well actually two drivers but based on what I said above, I'm not mentioning the name of the second...

I get in to work this morning and look up the race lineup (because I didn't get a chance to watch qualifying) and the driver I am picking is sitting there in 39th position. I'm sticking to my guns though and going with Jeff Burton. He has two wins here and has historically run well at Phoenix. Besides the fact that RCR is HOT this season.

Who are you picking to win tomorrow night?

How about Ryan Newman earning his 43rd pole?! Incredible.

Did anyone watch qualifying last night? I didn't but got called in to the living room to watch the interview with Elliott Sadler. Did you see it? It was really funny. I guess Carl Edwards backed his truck or motor coach (I can't recall which) into Sadler's motor coach.

Sadler was saying something to the effect that Edwards is a great driver on the track and has won a few this year...but can't back the truck/motor coach up. It was funny.

All for now. Have a great weekend everyone!

I received a couple headlines yesterday from you. Here they are:

Truex Jr.'s deal with DEI becomes a focus

and

We love you, Dale! Even in cardboard form!

Thank you for sending them along. The Dale one is pretty funny. The comments are even funnier. If you see other articles of interest, send me the link.

I'll be back tomorrow with my picks for Phoenix.

Here's my prediction:

Martin Truex Jr.

I think Truex's contract expires at the end of this year. Based on how Dale Earnhardt Inc. is flopping around like a fish out of water, I can't really see him staying there. He would be a fool to re-sign.

Do you care to share your prediction this early on? Come on, throw it out there here and now for all to see...

Yesterday my brother-in-law sent me a link to an article on Toyota Speedway At Irwindale. I read it and it's really an inspirational story. If you get a chance, read it.

It got me thinking about all the various articles out there that most of us don't even see. Seriously, who has that kind of time? So I thought I would throw this out there for you.

If you come across something off the beaten path that you find interesting, email the link to me. It can be a local story that you want to share or virtually anything from any form of racing, whatever. I can share a good portion of them at the bottom of my entries.

All for now...

Johnny Sauter is replacing Jeremy Mayfield for Saturday night's race at Phoenix because Mayfield fell to 36th in owner points.

It urkes me to have these driver swaps. I think it gets confusing to the fans. Maybe I should speak for myself, it gets really confusing for me to keep up. It should be banned.

I read the press release and decided to stroll over to nascar.com and take a look at where everyone stood in the owner point standings, something I rarely do.

Teresa Earnhardt has cars in the 16th point position (car #1), 19th point position (car #8), 24th point position (car # 15) and 35th point postion (car #01). Not very good considering we are seven races into a 36-race season.

Regan Smith's car is sitting in the 35th spot. Forgive my ignorance here but I've never quite understood how the provisionals work. Does Smith get provisionals? Do you think Teresa Earnhardt will find another driver to fill in like so many seem to be doing? Can she shift points around like what Penske did between Kurt Busch and Sam Hornish Jr. at the beginning of the season? Or was that a one-time deal?

I'll just say this right now. I'm so glad that Dale Earnhardt Jr. jumped ship when he did.

First, what a horrendous crash Michael McDowell went through during qualifying. I think that’s one of the worst crashes I have seen. I was truly relieved to see him walk away.

Congratulations to Carl Edwards on his third victory this year. (big yawn)

Here are a few observations from the race yesterday:

-- I realized during the start of this race that I now have a driver that I focus on. Clint Bowyer, pictured above, is my focus. Ever since Dale Earhardt Sr. died, I’ve liked several drivers. But I have never watched any one driver since his death…until now. It feels good, too.

-- Jeff Gordon's bad luck continues at Texas Motor Speedway. He must absolutely hate this track by now. Why can’t that team get his car to go there? I don’t get it. Jimmie Johnson had a heck of a car as did Dale Earnhardt Jr. What is wrong with that picture?

-- Did anyone else notice that there weren't SAFER barriers on infield retaining walls? Do you think J.J. Yeley is going to refuse to race at that track again until they install them? Hhmmm....

I have been a bit out of sorts this week. Well, mostly because I was supposed to be in North Carolina. All week I kept looking at the clock thinking, I'd already have a few pops in me right about now.... Oh well, life happens.

I'll get back into a rhythm here and start posting a few more entries. I promise. My pick for this weekend's race at Texas Motor Speedway is Kevin Harvick. I have no particular reason why I'm picking him other than I thought he looked so darned cute wearing a cowboy hat last November when he won the Busch race:

I just want to see him wear a cowboy hat again. Simply fantastic. Who are you picking to win this weekend?