Today's race is a sellout. As a matter of fact, it has been 27 Cup race sellouts here at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. There's standing room only on the backstretch. Despite the overcast and uncertainty of the weather, fans are rolling in and enjoying some of the pre-race festivities.
A young girl gets to sign her name to the start/finish line.
The band Kansas will be jamming here in a little while to entertain the fans while we wait for the start of the race.
Here are a few more views from this morning...
Teams wait for the gates to open so they can get to the garage.
Robby Gordon's car is getting decaled.
All for now. I'm going to grab some lunch and get ready for the start of the race.
I'm going with Kevin Harvick for the win today. He was quick in the practice sessions. He has also been to victory lane here in 2006. He's only 2 points out of Chase so I'm sure he will be working to get back in that top 12. Plus, I just have a good feeling about him today.
Here are the point standings heading in to the race today:
Congrats to Tony Stewart on his win yesterday in the Nationwide Series.
I was listening to some of the folks from the media who were joking around about who was going to ask the questions to Stewart. It seemed that no one really wanted to stick their neck out there. Jeez, I wonder why...
On another note, I have officially decided that I'm just not going to be a Kyle Busch fan. He is such a punk. He came to the media center after the Nationwide race yesterday and had major attitude written all over his face.
Just look at him. He was so completely checked out. He didn't want to give anyone the time of day. When he did open his mouth, he was rude. Uugh.
It's overcast here. I'm looking out the window from the media center and there are already a few folks sitting in their seats in the grandstands. I can't imagine having to sit there 5 more hours waiting for the race to start. That's dedication.
I took a stroll through the garage area today. Here are some of the close ups that I got of some familiar faces...
Robby Gordon
Terry Labonte
Joe Nemechek
The king, Richard Petty. Darn good picture if I do say so myself... He was so pleasant to anyone who wanted his autograph or picture taken with him.
I didn't realize it but it was lunchtime when I was walking around.
The men are running the grill. Nice. Actually, wherever I walked, that was the case. I walked by one grill and this guy was cooking up half a pig or something. It looked absolutely yummy. I almost thought about asking if I could take a picture of what he was cooking but I thought he would think I was a freak so I didn't.
I'll be back again later today. I'll be watching the Nationwide race from the press box if the rain stays away. I can't wait! It is overcast right now. It has been all day but no rain... Let's keep our fingers crossed.
I watched the Camping World East race from up in the press box last night. It started late because of a rain delay during the Sprint Cup qualifying. I really wasn't sure if they were going to be able to get the entire race in because the skies looked as though they could dump rain at any given time, but they were able to do so.
Eddie MacDonald won the event. Ricky Carmichael was awesome to watch last night. He raced his way from the back of the pack right up to his fifth-place finish. Steve Park had issues under the hood. Austin Dillon finished fourth. Here are the race results from last night's race.
Robby Gordon congratulates Ricky Carmichael on a good finish
Ricky Carmichael and Austin Dillon in the media center after the race
Here are a few more shots from yesterday.
Tony Stewart
I dove to the right like I was getting out of the way of a Mac Truck after I snapped this picture. A little too close for comfort.
Jack Roush
Carl Edwards talks to the media.
They had to pull Michael Waltrip’s engine.
I was out and about this morning around the garage area. I will be back in a while to share those images as well. I'm trying to get caught up from missing a day with all the website issues we had.
Sorry folks. We had some major issues with the website all day yesterday. I couldn’t do anything with the blog but it really didn’t matter because the entire website was down anyway.
I spent a lot of time taking pictures throughout the day yesterday to share. We managed to get practice sessions in for all Cup, Nationwide and Camping World East.
Here are some views from the day. By the way, it felt like it was 100 degrees yesterday. It was muggy, humid weather. I'm not complaining though because today doesn't look all that good. It's overcast and looks like it could start raining any minute.
Here's what I captured yesterday:
(click any image to enlarge)
When I got in this morning someone made an announcement that Clint Bowyer would be standing in front of his hauler to take questions, so of course I had to run out.
Ricky Carmichael
Jeffrey Earnhardt
Juan Pablo Montoya’s car gets some fine tuning.
For whatever reason, I really got a kick out of the UPS driver trying to deliver packages. He was up and down pit road during a practice session, trying to to deliver and not get hit by cars.
Tony Stewart’s #20 Old Spice car
David Reutimann
Mike Helton was checking things out. Notice he signed that woman’s shirt. “Mike H” is on her shoulder. A lot of people do this actually. They wear white shirts and carry sharpies with them and have the drivers sign their shirts.
See? That same woman was trying to get Jason Leffler to sign her shirt in this photo.
It seems they let anyone in the garage area. This woman was a bit out of hand. Seriously, how in the world did she get a HOT pass?
Alright, I'll be back with more images in a while. I promise. Well, that is if the system is still up when I return. The Cup guys just came in off the track from their practice session. They are usually out and about in the garage area right now. I'm going for a walk to see.
I just arrived to the media center at New Hampshire Motor Speedway a little while ago . The weather is certainly not the type of weather that I left back home. (the sun was shining bright) It is down to a sprinkle here though. At the moment they are out drying the track so that they can get some practice in for the Modifieds and then the Camping World East.
They have canceled the Camping World East qualifying because of the weather.
Some folks trying to stay dry and passing the time playing hockey in the Nationwide garage:
I am once again heading down to New Hampshire Motor Speedway. I will be pulling into the track for the weekend festivities on Thursday, camera in hand.
If you have drivers you would like to see, please let me know. It does not matter which division, Cup, Nationwide, Camping World East. I will make it my mission to capture them for you and upload images to the blog.
If you have a question that you've been wanting to know the answer to, ask it - I will do my best to get it answered for you. You can either send me an email with the question or post it here on the blog.
I'll be blogging a few times each day from NHMS. With each entry will be pictures of the sights I find interesting or the things you want to see. The best way to know when I've updated? Sign up for email notifications. As soon as I post a new blog, the link will be sent to your email. Just input your email address in the yellow box under the bold red "Updates" to the right of this blog entry, under my bio.
I am at your disposal for the weekend. Just let me know what you want...
I'll admit, it was refreshing to hear the cheering for Kyle Busch for a change. As most of you know, I am not a huge Busch fan but even still, I liked the cheering. He dominated the race and deserved the win. Congrats.
Other thoughts:
Overall, I thought it was a boring race until the last 20 laps or so.
First, let me just say that I absolutely hate it when they show how a driver's feet work the pedals in the car on television. If they must show that, they should consider doing a split screen at the very start of the lesson so those of us who don't want to see it can watch the race.
Rough day for Kevin Harvick who took a big hit in the point standings. He got loose and spun, hit Jamie McMurray who then hit Tony Stewart. They were all in the top-ten. Harvick ended the day with a 30th place finish.
Tony Stewart, my pick for the race, finished 10th. What a performance by him though. He was involved in the wreck, mentioned above and was sent way back in the field and still had a solid finish. Did anyone see his interview after the race with Marty Snider? It was pretty comical.
What did you think of the race?
The Nationwide race was at The Milwaukee Mile this past weekend. I caught most of the race. I don't know what to think of Joey Logano. There's been so much hype about him. I realize he is only 18 years old and a rookie but seriously, he comes across so arrogant on television. Did any of you watch that race? He bumped and banged so many drivers that night, including Brad Keselowski. It looked as though Keselowsi had the car to beat until that run-in.
When interviewed at the end of the night, he didn't so much as apologize for all the cars he banged into. He was more disappointed with his second-place finish. He just seems so unappreciative. I don't know. What do you think?
I thought about not even bothering to pick a winner for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 on Sunday. I seem to jinx the driver that I pick each week. Last weekend I thought Carl Edwards was a no-brainer pick at Michigan. I mean, seriously, wasn't he a good pick? Am I that far out there? And how about this juicy comment regarding my pick last week:
"My first pick was Edwards, but Jen cursed him. Jen, my fiancee is going to be ticked that you picked Edwards on Friday the 13th, hence doubling your bad luck, and now he will probably wind up in a coma."
On top of that, I actually had someone thank me for not picking Dale Earnhardt Jr. last weekend – no lie. Oh well.
As for the road race ... I like watching Boris Said and Ron Fellows on road courses, mostly Boris though. They both are truly amazing to watch run through the field. I would love, love, love to see Boris win one. The road-course ringers never win, though. So I'm not going to pick any of them this weekend.
Three drivers come to mind for me to pick this weekend: Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick. I've looked at the stats for all three and the one that stands out the most in my opinion is Tony Stewart. Over the last three years, he holds some of the top statistics at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., including a win in 2005.
It got me thinking ... just like me, Stewart is 0-for-15 this year. He is surely hungry for a win and he's excellent at road courses. So if Stewart's not giving up, then neither am I. Go Stewart go! By you getting a victory, I will too.
I was tooling around on the net, as I always do looking for topics to discuss. I found this little gem, "Be Careful Who You Snub." It was an easy read. I found myself smiling through a lot of it because I can so relate to it. We all know someone like the person she is talking about.
She was spot on as far as how the conversation typically goes, at least for me. The first time someone figures out that I am a NASCAR fan, the question is "You're a NASCAR fan?" Almost as if I don't fit some sort of mold that they've condured up in their head of a NASCAR fan. I'm not sure if it's because I'm a woman or what.
Then, just like the woman who wrote the article said, the next topic is usually around who I like to watch for a driver. Only, I have always thought that question was some sort of test to see just how much I know about the sport. After I open my mouth though to answer the question, it becomes quite clear that I know the drivers and the lingo associated with racing.
The article also got me wondering why people are so quiet about the sport that they love. Is it because they fear people will have the perception that you're some sort of beer drinking, hat and t-shirt wearing fool that if someone disagrees with your driver, there will be a major argument or debate? Ahem, Junior Nation...
Is this what you think people will envision when they find out you're a NASCAR fan, that you're some sort of redneck:
Hhhmm....There are a lot of us die-hard racing fans out there. Some of us chose to be a bit quiet about our passion for the sport. Some wear it right on their sleeve. But not all of us are like what you saw in the video. I just threw that in as a funny.
If you do get a chance to read the article linked above, let me know what you thought of it. Have a good day.
I am still gleaming over Dale Earnhardt Junior's victory Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.
I've been reading a lot about the controversy over Junior's victory. Some even think that there are "Dale Earnhardt Jr. Rules." There have been so many times that NASCAR has "massaged the rules" but not always for an Earnhardt.
Let's take a walk down memory lane here... total opposite of Sunday's situation.
Remember Greg Biffle's victory at Kansas in September last year? He won the race, only he crossed the finish line fourth. He clearly ran out of gas. He did not maintain pace-car speed. It was absolutely clear that he couldn't. NASCAR gave him the victory anyway.
See below:
I don't think in this instance there were any articles called "The Greg Biffle Rules." Until NASCAR can be consistent, people just have to buck up and accept the outcome of the race.
And honestly, do you really think they would suddenly start being consistent and "follow the rule book" during a race where NASCAR's most popular driver was heading toward his first victory in 76 races? Come on! All hell would have broken loose at the track. Fans would have been uncontrollable.
Maybe NASCAR hasn't been consistent. But the fact is that this year Junior has. Of the 15 completed races, he has finished 11 times in the top 10. Of those 11, four of them were top fives. And now a win...finally. You knew it would happen sooner or later.
It’s about time. This is the moment that all of Junior Nation has been waiting for. Congratulations to Dale Earnhardt Jr. for finally breaking his 76-race winless streak.
It came down to a gas-mileage race, which I normally do not like. It was a nail biter finish that's for sure. Junior had to keep shutting off his engine to make it to the end. He was that close to running out of gas and in fact he did run out while driving his car to victory lane and needed his team to push the car to victory lane.
This win was like pouring gas on a camp fire on a damp day. It's what was needed to get the fire burning hot for the 88 team. I don’t think we have seen the last of him in victory lane this year.
Other thoughts of the race:
Because it was Father's Day, there was a lot more family present during the pre-race festivities. Or at least they televised family members a lot more.
Click any image to enlarge:
Jeff Gordon and daughter Ella Sophia
Juan Pablo Montoya with family. Connie his wife, and kids Sebastian and Paulina
Jamie McMurray gives his dad Jim a hug
-- Brian Vickers?! Where in the heck did he come from? He went from 18th to second by lap 25. Wow.
-- I typically hate it when NASCAR throws debris cautions but I was thankful for that first one they threw. I was drifting off to lala land when the caution flag waved and it woke me up a bit. So thank you NASCAR.
-- I don't know if I can bear to watch next weekends race at Sonoma, California. Clint Bowyer dropped to 12th in the point standings after yesterday's race. I know I will be a nervous nelly during next weekend's race. He is only ten points away from dropping to 13th. Uugh.
Congrats to Joey Logano on his first Nationwide victory. What an accomplishment given it's only his third start in that series. Wow.
Qualifying is supposed to be at 3 p.m. today. Hopefully the weather cooperates. Here's the broadcast schedule for the weekend.
Jack Roush and Carl Edwards (click to enlarge)
As for my pick... I'm not taking any chances by going out on a limb this weekend. I am going with a Roush car. Of the 105 wins that Roush teams have in the Sprint Cup Series, 10 have been here at Michigan. My pick this weekend is Carl Edwards. I am confident that he will get his fourth win of the season this weekend.
This is race number 15 of the season. I am trying really hard to break my losing streak. (0-for-14) Let's see if playing it safe works or if I've just completely jinxed Edwards...
Here's a look at the top-15 in the point standings heading into this weekend:
As much as I keep trying, I cannot get myself to sit down and watch Eldora. I tried last night but couldn't get through it. So the title of my blog entry was: "Will you pay $24.95 to watch tonight?"
Well my answer to my own blog is this: Yeah, I'll pay $24.95. It seems I just can't get myself to watch it. What a waste. Not to mention that that $24.95 is the equivalent of 6 gallons of gas! Uugh.
Speaking of gas prices... did you hear that New Hampshire Motor Speedway will be giving away gas cards? As part of the pre-race festivities for the LENOX Industrial Tools 301 on Sunday, June 29, NHMS will be selecting 20 lucky racefans to receive $500 worth of gas cards from Sunoco. To be eligible, all you have to do is purchase your ticket before the close of business on June 25.
Also, before the start of the race, 10 race fans will be selected to watch the race on Sunday, September 14th from the VIP Suite. Each of the 10 will be allowed to bring one guest.
In addition to all that, one lucky person could have their mortgage or rent paid through December 2008 (up to $2,500 per month).
In the press release, Jerry Gappens, executive vice president and general manager for the speedway says: "Our fans are our greatest asset. In these challenging economic times, we need to recognize those who support the speedway by giving them an opportunity to enhance their experience with some innovative rewards. Today, people have to make choices on how they invest their time and money on entertainment.
We want them to choose New Hampshire Motor Speedway and the LENOX Industrial Tools 301. This program is a thank you to our loyal ticket buyers and certainly is an incentive for those fans thinking about coming, but are still on the fence."
So do you feel lucky? Are you a ticket holder yet? If not, what are you waiting for? The race is only 17 days away... Splurge a little, you're worth it.
A weekend away and I felt too discombobulated yesterday to get a blog published. I got back from my camping weekend in time to watch the race on Sunday but was really tired. I managed to keep my lids open for the majority of the Cup race but missed the last 90 laps or so. So last night I watched what I had missed.
Here are my thoughts on the race at Pocono:
Congrats to Kasey Kahne once again. I'm still shaking my head in disbelief at his turnaround this year. I was glad to see that he did a much better job at opening that Budweiser in victory lane.
Kyle Busch finally had some bad luck. He tried to squeeze into a spot where there wasn’t any room and ran right into Jamie McMurray. While a driver is passing a car, there's only two things a spotter needs to know to say: "clear" and "not clear," that's it folks. A spotter does not need to say anything else. It's that simple. Busch's spotter really screwed up.
On lap 71 there was a red flag for rain. I like a man who can multitask. Under the red flag Jimmie Johnson got out of his car, took a bathroom break, grabbed a snack and a drink and then got back into his car to finish the race. I loved it.
I'm glad we got clarification on why the two safety workers who had fire extinguishers in hand did not assist in putting out the fire on Juan Pablo Montoya's car. It did look ridiculous with them just standing there.
As funny as Kyle Petty and Wally Dallenbach were when they were ragging on the safety workers, it was explained that they were there for driver safety only. And since Montoya got out of the car so quickly, they didn't need to do anything else. The other safety workers that showed up a bit later were there to put the fire out. I do think they needed quicker response time for the fire though.
I'm starting to get a bit frantic about my man Clint Bowyer being 11th in the point standings.
There were a lot of cautions for a race at Pocono.
What did you think of the race?
I missed the action in the Nationwide race (if there was any).
I've yet to watch the race at Eldora. Maybe tonight. I'll let you know what I think. All for now...
I am giving you my pick today because I am heading out this morning to go camping.
I’ve got to go with Jeff Gordon for the win here at Pocono. Last year, he won the June race and in August he came in 4th. He’s bound to get a win this year folks and I think this is the weekend.
There are a couple other drivers that I considered picking as the race winner. Ryan Newman. He’s had some solid finishes here. He’s sitting 14th in the point standings right now and I think anyone who’s a stone’s throw to that top-twelve will not be dilly dallying.
Denny Hamlin was the other driver I considered. He’s had great success here, including a Pocono victory sweep in 2006. He wasn’t too shabby last year either with two top tens.
I’m not sure I will be back in time to watch the entire race and to be honest, of all the races to miss, I think this one is the best one. This track is known to be a snoozer. Even still, I will have someone at home set the DVR to tape the race in case something major happens, like Kyle Busch falling asleep at the wheel… Just kidding, sort of.
As much as I am not a Busch fan, I will completely say that I am just amazed that he is trying to pull off racing in three different series at three different racetracks this weekend. Here’s his racing itinerary for this weekend:
Friday
Noon - Sprint Cup Series Practice
3:40 p.m. - NSCS Qualifying
6 p.m. - Fly to Texas
9 p.m. - Craftsman Truck Series race
Midnight - Fly to Pocono
Saturday
10 a.m. - NSCS Practice
11:20 a.m. - NSCS Final practice
12:30 p.m. - Fly to Nashville
7:30 p.m. - Nationwide race at Nashville Superspeedway
11 p.m. - Fly to Pocono
Sunday
2 p.m. - Sprint Cup race at Pocono
That’s a whole lot of traveling. I’m starting to think that there’s a big red S under his shirt.
Last year I didn’t bat an eye at paying the price to watch the racing at Ohio's Eldora Speedway. We are doing the same thing this year at the Lizotte residence. The fourth annual Old Spice Prelude to the Dream will be on the television set in the living room tonight at my house. It was fun watching it last year and I imagine it will be again this year.
The proceeds this year will go towards the construction of Victory Junction Gang Camp – Kansas City, as well as the Tony Stewart Foundation. They are hopeful to raise 1 million dollars this year. $800,000 was raised last year.
I've been receiving daily press releases regarding this race and thought I would share some of the quotes:
Tony Stewart on who he expects big things from this year:
“It’s hard not to think about Kyle (Busch), Denny (Hamlin) and Jeff Gordon. Guys are building their own cars. This is an event that has kind of taken on a life of its own. The first year we all showed up and we all drove cars and that was it. The next year, guys were finding guys that they knew who had cars and talking them into bringing the car to the Prelude."
Kevin Harvick on what it would be like to win this race:
“It would be a really big honor since two years ago they were all making fun of me out on the track.”
Harvick, they were making fun of you last year and they’ll probably do the same this year.
Ryan Newman on who surpised him the most last year:
“I thought (Jeff) Gordon did a good job for not being on dirt or not being in a non-stock car in a long time. To come back and do what he did, I thought that was pretty impressive.”
Jimmie Johnson on his mindset going into the race:
“I’m not sure what to expect. Clint Bowyer built me a brand new car, so I’m afraid I’m going to destroy his brand new car. I didn’t test, I haven’t sat in the car, so I’m just going to show up and have a damn good time.”
Clint Bowyer on his thought on the race:
“Hopefully, our chances of winning are very good. This is a biggie for me. Dirt racing is where I come from. Obviously, getting to race against some of the best drivers in the world on one of the best tracks in the world is a dream come true.”
There are 25 Sprint Cup guys entered to drive the race tonight. It should prove to be a laughable evening because the guys really cut loose and have fun.
I went down to New Hampshire Motor Speedway over the weekend to watch some motorcycle racing. As we drove up to NHMS entrance, I noticed that the new sign at the road is now in place:
They've spruced up the entrance:
As I made my way through the tunnel:
I love the painting on the tunnel. If I remember correctly, it just used to be white so it’s a nice touch.
When we got to the infield, there were people walking around in tank tops and flip flops so I knew right away it was a very relaxed environment. There were tents, campers and motor homes all over the place.
We decided to sit in the stands at turn 3 and watch practice for an hour or so before having to sit through a corner worker class. At that time I still hadn't decided if I was going to attempt flagging.
All day people were zooming around on little bikes like this:
It took a couple hours, from start to finish, to go through the corner-worker class. I decided during the class that it wasn’t something that I should try. I just had a feeling that I would have made a mistake, waving the red or something under a caution and would have had half of the riders stopped on the track. I wanted to watch the racing anyway and have free reign of walking around and checking things out.
It's a pretty good gig though. If you decide you would like to try corner working, your track admission of $25 will be reimbursed and lunch will be provided. Plus you can camp in the infield for free for the weekend. I bet it's pretty fun at night... Here’s what you do:
-- Pay the admission fee at the gate, sign the waiver, get the bracelet
-- Report to the scales area down by the media center (if you don’t know where it is, just ask someone, likely they will know) find someone dressed in white and tell them you want to attend a class. They will show you where to go.
-- Attend the corner working class, it typically takes 2 hours. They do the class on Saturdays at 9 a.m. on race weekends
-- At lunch time, find the appropriate person (they tell you in the class who to find) You will get a voucher or something like that so on your way out you can get reimbursed. I believe you must flag at least half the day to get reimbursed.
That’s it. How can you beat it? Here’s the schedule for the rest of the summer.
Congrats to Kyle Busch for spanking the field and winning yesterday. I do however think that Carl Edwards would have given him a run had a caution come out.
On lap 17, the big wreck, pictured above, ruined the day for a handful of drivers that are in the top-twelve in the point standings. Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Clint Bowyer also got a little damage from it.
Stewart's interview after the crash was comical. He said: "I take 100 percent responsibility. It’s my fault for being even anywhere close to Elliott (Sadler)." He also said: "If I’m within a half a lap of him, I expect that to happen. When I hit him, it caused all the guys behind us to wreck. So it’s my fault."
I disagree with Stewart though, I don't blame Elliott Sadler for the wreck. I fully blame David Gilliland for the big crash. He could have easily slowed up in time to not hit Elliot Sadler.
I took a cat nap shortly after the wreck. I didn't think the race was all that exciting. I don't like races where the leader laps the entire field. There were only six drivers on the lead lap at the completion of the race.
-- Nationwide:
Did you watch the Nationwide race? I didn't because I was still making my way back from New Hampshire Motor Speedway watching motor cycle racing. But we did get back in time to see the last 50 laps. We were back in time to see Kyle Busch wreck. I loved, loved, loved his interview after the wreck. "Duh."
I will say this: He looked a little like Danica Patrick stomping through the pits though. Whenever he wrecks, he whines like a little girl when he's interviewed. Kyle, you don't have to win EVERY race. There's gonna be racing incidents here and there. If you missed it, here it is:
-- Craftsman Truck Series:
Congrats to Scott Speed winning his first Craftsman Truck Series win. This was the third straight first-time winner in the series.
-- Camping World East:
It looked to be a promising weekend for Ricky Carmichael who started from the pole but he was involved in a 16-car pileup on lap 128. He ended up finishing 26th. Others that I am watching: Austin Dillon finished second and Steve Park finished 8th. Here are the race results from that series.
All for now. What did you think of the racing weekend?
Jennifer is the newsroom
administrative assistant and
executive
assistant to the editor for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. She is married, lives in Pownal with her husband and son, and has been following NASCAR for many years.
About this blog:
I am hopeful that this will be a place where people can air their two cents' worth about a race, catch up on the gossip and share their opinions on the rules and regulations of NASCAR. I have always felt that there has been a need for such a place in Maine and that this blog helps to fill the void.
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