I'm going on vacation. I'm flying out tomorrow morning to visit my best friend in North Carolina. The weather is forecasted to be in the 60's, not to rub it in or anything. But better than that, NO SNOW. I can't leave soon enough!

The Junior Nation blog brought in some feedback. Thanks for all the great comments, Nation. They were very entertaining and I like my new nickname... "Jenniepoo." Keep checking back because the comments are still trickling in and they are entertaining. You know me, I'm in it for the hits. (That's how I keep my job, according to one commenter.)

We're off to Vegas. Ahhh....sin city. Here's the NASCAR Newscast: Shelby 427 Preview:

Nothing but clouds being shown for the weather forecast over the next few days. Let's hope they can get in qualifying and the race without resistance from Mother Nature. Here's the broadcast schedule for the weekend.

I'm going with Carl Edwards for the win here. He won here last year and I'm feeling a three-peat for Jack Roush.

Who's your pick?

All for now.

Yours truly,
Jenniepoo

Yesterday I was doing some reading as I always do. I read one of my friend's blogs: Hopelessly Devoted: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Changes His Tune And Gets The Love Treatment From Fox. I was surprised by the number of comments over there, or should I say the lack of comments. He did write about Junior, right? I would have thought there would have been many more comments. Where in the heck is Junior Nation?

There's been scores of blog entries and columns around Junior causing the wreck at Daytona but I'm not seeing many comments anywhere, or at least the number I am used to seeing around him as the topic. It used to be that if someone mentioned the name Junior, there would be droves and droves of comments.

Is it possible that even Junior Nation knows what a brain-dead move he pulled in the Daytona 500 race? Are you guys hiding under some rock? Where are you? Come out, come out wherever you are.... Tell us what you think. Make up some excuse for him like you always do when he does something wrong. I enjoy reading some of your comments more than I enjoy reading the articles themselves. They're sometimes hilarious.

The economy may hinder some from attending a race but seriously, you must still be reading about NASCAR and NASCAR's most popular driver, right? Cat got your tongue?

I do like Dale Junior. I consider myself a fan and always want him to do well in every race. The same is true for me with Clint Bowyer, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jamie McMurray. But if one of them should do something wrong on the track, I have no qualms about admitting it. I think that's the difference between me and the Nation.

Bring that passion back, Nation. I want that fire back. NASCAR needs it.

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Dealing with rain two weeks in a row. How frustrating. I really wanted some cautions here and there because the race was a sleeper, but not rain cautions. Quite obviously, Mother Nature is NOT a NASCAR fan.

In the end, it was the same winner two weeks in a row, Matt Kenseth. Only this time, it was a much more deserving victory than it was in Daytona. He held off Jeff Gordon in those last laps making this his third California win. He led the final 38 laps of the race. Great job, Matt.

I'll be honest. As most of you that have been following this blog know, I'm not much of a Kyle Busch fan. But I will say that I was kind of hoping that he could pull off a threepeat this weekend. And I'm not just saying that. He won the Nationwide race and the Truck race on Saturday, becoming the first driver in NASCAR history to win two national series races in one day. It would have been even better if he could have pulled off a win last night at Fontana. Simply incredible.

Hendrick Motorsports had their round of bad luck. Poor Mark Martin blew up and Dale Earnhardt Jr. also had engine woes and had to go to the garage because he couldn't maintain a decent speed.

Happy Harvick wasn't so happy at the end of the night when he blew a tire and smacked the wall ending his night early. He finished 38th.

ROOKIE WATCH: Scott Speed ended the race in 41st position many laps down. What happened to him? Joey Logano did better than last week at Daytona. He finished the race in 26th position only two laps down.

Big CHEERS to Tony Stewart for another eighth-place finish. Not bad for a new team owner/driver. I think there was a lot of question on how he would do this year and nabbing his second top-ten finish in two weeks is really respectable. He's off to a great start.

Angie Harmon did a great job waving the green flag but may have overstayed her welcome just a bit. She was flailing her arms and jumping so much that I thought for sure the real flagman was going to get punted right off the stand and into traffic. Just sayin.

What did you think of the race?

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I started writing this blog entry last night. Only, the frosty mugs were going down a little too smoothly for a Thirsty Thursday evening and this morning when I reread what I had written, I couldn't figure out what I was trying to say. (I know, I know, what's new, right?) Anyway, I had to dump it and start fresh this morning.

Another late running race this weekend since it's at Fontana, California. Let's hope this race doesn't end short because of rain. Here's the broadcast schedule for the weekend events.

Based on how Jimmie Johnson annihilated the field here in September of last year, I am going with him for the win this weekend. In reading back through some of my old blog posts on the races at California, there's one common theme: I fall asleep during the race almost every time. It kind of made me laugh when I was reading through them. Who's your pick this weekend?

I don't have too much to say about the race, to be honest. Other than, the last time I checked, they have lights at Daytona International Speedway. What a major disappointment. I don't think they even waited a half an hour before calling the race. What gives?

Am I the only one to feel this way?

I guess high fives go to Matt Kenseth, who was in the right place at the right time to get the victory. So congrats to Kenseth.

I attended two 500 parties on Sunday. The first part of the race I went to son of racefan's house. Fun times. Thank you for the invitation. It was a pleasure to meet you and racefan at last. (They are big contributors to this blog.) I pretty much announced that I would stay until Joey Logano crashed. So when he did, I departed and went on my way to the second 500 party at a friend's house.

Rookie Watch: I mentioned it above but Logano did crash. He finished in last place. Scott Speed finished in 35th place. Both were involved in wrecks.

Here's hoping the race at Fontana this weekend doesn't get cut short due to rain.

Congratulations to both Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch for their victories yesterday in the Gatorade Duels. The field is now set for the Daytona 500 and here's the lineup.

Rookie Watch: I was impressed with Joey Logano yesterday. He raced in the first Duel and finished fourth. He ran in the back for most of the race but he got a bit racey towards the end of the race and kept his nose clean. Not so lucky was Scott Speed in the second Duel who got hit by Boris Said on lap 14. Said had a tire go down. He had hit the wall a lap or two earlier which likely was what caused the tire to go down. Speed ended the race in 25th position.

The transfer spots went to Scott Riggs and Tony Stewart in the first Duel. In the second Duel the transfer spots went to Jeremy Mayfield and AJ Allmendinger. Mayfield was stout all day. I was quite impressed. I wasn't expecting that from him.

The cars that made the Daytona 500 on speed were Bill Elliott, Travis Kvapil and Regan Smith. Terry Labonte takes the champion's provisional.

I can't wait until Sunday. I typically attend some sort of Daytona 500 party which is always fun. How about you?

My pick for Sunday is Mark Martin. Who do you think will win?

The Gatorade Duel 150 Qualifying Races are today at 2 pm on SPEED. I set the DVR to record these so I can watch them tonight. I really dislike that they are aired in the middle of the week in the middle of the day. Oh well, it is what it is.

Let's see if I can get this straight. I find it all very confusing to be honest. Martin Truex Jr., pole sitter, Mark Martin, outside pole winner plus 33 drivers are already locked in for finishing in the top 35 in owners points in 2008.

Four drivers that are also locked in but did not finish in the top 35 in owners points last year are: Bill Elliott, Travis Kvapil, Tony Stewart and Terry Labonte. If these four drivers race their way into a transfer spot in today's Duels, four drivers would get in on their qualifying speed. They are Regan Smith, Joe Nemechek, Boris Said and Scott Riggs. If they do not race their way in, then the fastest drivers not already in, would get the spot (certainly correct me if I'm wrong).

The 17 drivers that are not locked in by a top 35 in owner's points standings are:

1. Joe Nemechek
2. Scott Riggs
3. Brad Keselowski
4. Kirk Shelmerdine
5. Tony Raines
6. Mike Skinner
7. Carl Long
8. Regan Smith
9. Boris Said
10. AJ Allmendinger
11. Jeremy Mayfield
12. Mike Wallace
13. Mike Garvey
14. Derrike Cope
15. Kelly Bires
16. Geoff Bodine
17. Norm Benning

Here's the lineup for Gatorade Duel 1 and here's the Gatorade Duel 2 lineup.

(Photo Credit: John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR)

What a great Bud Shootout. It was nice to sit down and watch some racing again. I was rooting for Jamie McMurray towards the end of that race but was A-OK with Kevin Harvick taking the checkers. Congrats to Harvick!

All the cars looked extremely loose all night. Once that first caution happened, they just kept coming. It was a wreckfest. Couldn't help but feel bad for both rookies, Joey Logano and Scott Speed, who were only able to stay in the race for about four laps. During the first caution, Logano went down on the apron to stay clear of hitting anyone when Scott Speed ran right into him, ruining both their nights.

NASCAR penalized Logano for not making the drivers' meeting for the Bud Shootout. The penalty was to start at the rear of the field. Logano was held up in the ARCA race that ran right before the Shootout. There were so many delays during that race from so many cautions, including a red flag condition at one point that lasted about a half an hour. Bad deal for Logano.

Here's the NASCAR Newscast: Budweiser Shootout and Daytona 500 Pole Day:

Congratulations to Martin Truex Jr. for winning the pole for the Daytona 500. Kudos also go out to Mark Martin for attaining the outside pole position. I really like seeing Martin do well. I think he's going to have a stellar year.

What did you think of the racing this weekend?

The media is picking Carl Edwards to take the championship this year in a preseason NASCAR media poll, putting a stop to a possible 4-in-a-row for Jimmie Johnson. The vote wasn't even close with Edwards getting 70 votes to Johnson's 37. The media's pick for the rest of the top-12 lineup looks like this:

1. Carl Edwards
2. Jimmie Johnson
3. Kyle Busch
4. Jeff Gordon
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
6. Greg Biffle
7. Kevin Harvick
8. Mark Martin
9. Jeff Burton
10. Matt Kenseth
11. Denny Hamlin
12. Tony Stewart

While I agree with most of the above, there's someone clearly left off the list. Clint Bowyer. My picks would look a whole lot like this list but instead of Stewart in the top-twelve, I would go with Bowyer.

In the rookie of the year vote, Joey Logano came in first with 52% of the votes with Scott Speed coming in second with 44%. I'm going with Speed for Rookie of the Year.

Do you agree with the media's assessment?

Only nine short days until the Daytona 500.

First practice for the Bud Shootout starts today at 4:15. Here's the rest of the broadcast schedule for the weekend. Happy racing folks!

It's hard to believe with the economy as bad as it is that there would be new racing teams popping up. With the unofficial layoff count that Jayski has posted on its website showing the number of layoffs since the end of 2008 season, it made me wonder who in their right mind would want to start up a new team.

Just announced yesterday was Jeremy Mayfield's return to Cup as team owner and driver for the #41 All Sport Toyota for Mayfield Motorsports.

Then we have Larry Gunselman who formed a new team for himself and the Bodine brothers, Geoff and Todd. Todd and Geoff will share driving the No. 64 Toyota. I can't figure out what the name of the team is though... Can anyone help me out?

We also have the new Cup team, Prism Motorsports, owned by Phil Parsons and Randy Humphrey. After the Daytona 500, the #66 Toyota will be driven by Dave Blaney full-time. (Terry Labonte is entering the 500 for the team)

One good thing about new teams forming...there are a lot of folks out there without a job. There's likely quite a bit of talent looking for work. Let's hope these new teams can truly make a go of it and stay for the long haul.

Only 11 days until the Daytona 500. I can't wait!