I did it! I won, I won! I feel as though I just won the lottery. I have a bit of a spring in my step and the smile on my face is a little bigger today. I finally picked the winner of a race. After going 0-for-22 to start the 2008 season, my losing streak is history!
In my head, I envisioned doing a backflip off the coffee table at the same time that Carl Edwards did after his victory... I'm so proud.
Congrats to Edwards for his win yesterday. I may have a new hero...kidding, just kidding. No worries Clint, your #1 stalker, oops I mean fan, isn't going anywhere...
I'll be honest. I slept through some of the race. I was recovering from my girl's getaway. But here are a few thoughts of the race:
-- It really rubs me wrong that they would call Kyle Busch the Michael Phelps of motor sports. Ridiculous right there. Not to mention Joe Gibbs Racing just got caught for cheating! I don't care that the cheating was only found in the Nationwide series. In my opinion, it's just a matter of time before they find out that something is illegal in the Sprint Cup series cars also.
Side story--
Speaking of Michael Phelps, I was at a bar on Saturday night. A band called The Hangovers were playing, actually a pretty good band. But when Phelps was getting ready to do the swim for his 8th gold medal, more and more people stopped paying attention to the band and started watching the television. When the race started, most everyone in the bar was focused on the television set and chanting, "USA, USA, USA...!" The chants were louder than the band. It was just awesome to see how everyone was really rooting for him.
Back to racing--
-- Marcus Ambrose and Denny Hamlin both had the same bad luck, their cars blew up.
-- Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne and Denny Hamlin all took a major hits in the point standings after yesterday's race.
-- I'm not sure what happened to Jeff Gordon though. Anyone care to share?
-- Do you stand up, in your living room or wherever you are watching a race, when the National Anthem is being played on television? Odd question, I know, but it dawned on me yesterday at the start of the race.
I think I'll go with the birthday boy, Carl Edwards who turns 29 tomorrow. He's seen victory lane here before in June 2007 so he knows his way around this track. He is also 50 points behind Kyle Busch in the Chase bonus points. He needs to close that gap. He'll be racing hard for sure.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. might be looking for a Michigan sweep for 2008. He won the June race here. He might be another to watch. I doubt he will win though.
Jimmie Johnson will be another one to watch. He's never won here and I bet he would like to add a victory here to his resume.
And of course there's Kyle Busch. Maybe he will get victory number nine?
As always, here's the NASCAR Newscast: Michigan Preview:
I'm taking the day off tomorrow. I've got my annual "girls weekend" this weekend. Fun, fun. I'll be back in time to watch the race on Sunday though. Here's the broadcast schedule for the weekend.
Who do you think will win at Michigan International Speedway?
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:
The 3M Performance 400 at Michigan is history! Kurt Busch won, distancing himself further from Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the point standings.
Junior ended up finishing 12th. I watched bits and pieces of the race here at work. From what I saw it looked like a fairly good race. As I've said before, I'm not much of a fan of Michigan. I have always found it to be a bit of a snoozer.
But from the little bit that I did watch, it looked like one of the more exciting races at Michigan.
The 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway has been scheduled to start this morning at 10am. At the moment, the weather appears to be foggy.
If NASCAR cannot get the race in today they have said they will try to get it in tomorrow but there is more rain and thunder showers scheduled for tomorrow.
If they cannot get the race in this week, NASCAR would possibly bump the Michigan race to the weekend after Thanksgiving making the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway the final race to qualify into the chase.
I think that would be good and bad.
Good (and I'm being pretty selfish here) because I'm going to Loudon for the race and it could be a really exciting race to watch if the points remain as close as they have been around that cut-off position of 12th in the point standings.
Bad for the poor fans that will actually go and sit in the grandstands at Michigan on November 25. It should be brutally cold that time of year.
Today is not looking much better for 3M Perfomance 400. They postponed the race at Michigan yesterday until today at noon. But the weather doesn't look all that much better.
The forecast calls for more rain today and tonight. It is looking more and more like they are going to have to hold the race tomorrow. According to NASCAR, the last time they had to postpone a race until Tuesday was Talladega in 1997.
I did not watch any part of the Busch race on Saturday. All I know is Denny Hamlin won and that's just about it. Did I miss anything exciting?
Because Sal and others mention Lorne Wallace in some of the comments and some of you may be new to the racing scene and cannot figure out who Lorne Wallace is, this is for you...
For whatever reason, I am having a real difficult time throwing together an entry for you today. I'm just not feeling it. Maybe it's because I find Michigan to be such a sleeper race.
In any event, I think I'm going to go with Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the win this weekend. He has finished in the top 10 in the last three races here, June 07,August 06, and June 06. After his bad luck last week, I think he is going to be a man on a mission. He is 100 points behind 12th place driver, Kurt Busch.
Martin Truex Jr., who is 11th in the point standings, may be another contender on Sunday. He finished 2nd here in June.
Qualifying is today at 3pm on the SPEED channel. It doesn't appear that weather is going to be a factor today but the extended forecast doesn't look all that good for Sunday.
His last victory was at Texas Motor Speedway, Nov. 6, 2005. Even after he was penalized for speeding on pit road and had to start from the back of the pack, he still managed to win. It had been 52 races since his last victory. At last, we finally see that back flip that he is famous for…
Ryan Newman’s lucky streak ended. He blew a left rear tire, went 3 laps down and then got tangled up with Jeff Greene. Newman was trying to race the leader to get one of his laps back and Greene drifted up the track and tapped his rear bumper.
The drivers involved in that wreck were: Kevin Harvick, Brian Vickers, Matt Kenseth, Martin Truex Jr., Greene and Newman.
Do you think a driver that is 3 laps down should race the lead-lap cars that hard?
How about Mikey Waltrip? He seemed to have his act together during this race. I wasn't even watching for him and at the end of the race, I was wondering where on earth he came from...
A quick search and I found that his last top-10 finish was May 1, 2005 at Talladega when he was driving the #15 for Dale Earnhardt Inc.
John Andretti will be racing the #45 car for Petty Enterprises in this weekend's race at Michigan International Speedway. He hasn't raced for PE since 2003.
I was never a big fan of Andretti, but I will be watching him on Sunday to see how he does.
Nextel Cup qualifying is on at 3 p.m. today on SPEED channel.
The race is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. on Sunday.
AND -- Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there!
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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