The 2010 Nascar Chase has begun after last night’s Air Guard 400 at Richmond International Raceway. The race itself was less than exciting, in general. But the last 10 laps did get interesting as our native Richmonder Denny Hamlin took the checkered flag over team mate Kyle Busch. Coach Joe Gibbs had a great night in that his entries finished 1st, 2nd and 4th as Joey Logano came in just behind Jimmie Johnson.

Our boys didn’t fare real well however. Tony Stewart had improved his position to the top 5, but began dropping back like a rock after the 1st caution adjustment. Seems the team just couldn’t get those changes corrected and he finished the race in 16th.

Ryan Newman’s chance to get into the chase were dashed as Bowyer had a great race and finished in the top 10. But it was great seeing Ryan fight for all they had and finish the overall race in 11th.

And what happened to Dale Jr? He qualified well, starting in the top 10. But that was all he wrote. He dropped back during the entire race like a rock and finished 34th. All in all it was dismal year for Jr. But Sir Evil remain a true fan.

So our boys end the season like this:

The Chase for the Cup begins Sept. 19th in New Hampshire. The points have been reset and the standings going into the race are:

At last years Chase race in Richmond, the Little Prince decided he liked Carl Edwards. Perhaps because he was able to sit in Carl’s Nationwide Scotts car, which might have been a good luck charm for Carl. He won the Nationwide race that night. Or because the Prince really likes “The Duck” from Aflac. What ever his reasons, we’ll be following Carl from now on as his #2 guy.

So here’s hoping Tony and Carl smoke ’em all in the Chase! Good Luck Guys! And if not one of our guys, ANYONE BUT JIMMIE!!!!!!

This weekend Nascar held the Rock-n-Roll 400 at Richmond. And of course we were there. We had several memorable events over the 2 days.

Starting with Friday and the NNS Virginia 529 250.
We began our tailgating and promptly went shopping. On the way into the Fanway, we found the Scotts Bird Seed display. Complete with one of Carl Edwards back up cars. As we were taking pictures of the Prince in front of the car he asked if he could sit in it. The very kind gentleman monitoring the car snuck the kid into the seat and I quickly snapped a picture. It was very nice of the guy to let the Prince sit in the car, especially since he could have gotten in trouble for doing so. The kid of course was very excited and now wanted Carl to win the race.

True to his “voodoo child” form, Carl did win the race that night. In the same paint scheme as the one the Prince was allowed to sit in. His magical streak continues.

We also took a visit of the Sprint Corner, which came with a 3-D Nascar Driving Simulator Experience. Of course we had to try our hand at racing around Daytona. As the race started SirEvil in his #88 National Guard Chevy was winning. I was some where back in the pack in my #14 Office Depot Chevy. But I had a secret weapon. The Princely “voodoo child” who didn’t want to drive his own car, was standing behind ME. On lap 4 (5 laps total) someone bumped the #88 from behind and SirEvil lost control of the car. He hit the wall and spun out through the grass.

Although he got his car under control and finished the last lap, I came in 3rd, behind a phenomenal competitor in 1st and the computer in 2nd. SirEvil finished in 8th. Much like Jr.’s night on Saturday. Sadly.

The race was great, and though it would have been nice seeing Denny win the night; it wasn’t to be. Carl made a pass in the pits over Kevin Harvick and came out first after a late race caution. He held that lead and won the Nationwide Race at Richmond!  Woohoo.

We made it home in record time, getting in the door around 11:30pm. But we were back up at 7am and headed back to the track. We still got a great spot for Saturday’s tailgating. After Friday’s events we were content to put our feet up, grill and chill. We met some of our tailgating neighbors, laughed and shared stories and food. Later in the day we watched some of our neighbors play Ladder Ball.

But off in the distance, up the hill in the parking lot a group of 20somethings were also partying. Now these kids stand out because the guys, who were standing in the bed of the truck that was jacked up about 6ft off the ground were ..um.. HOT. One in particular very well built shirtless lad caught the attention of one of our neighbors playing Ladder Ball. And she was continually distracted when it was her turn.

At some point I made a comment she should get her camera. To which she responded “Yeah, go get my camera” to one of her friends. Oh now I just couldn’t let this opportunity go. I walked up the hill and petitioned the young man.

“There’s an elementary teacher down here who can’t take her eyes off of you. I was wondering if you would be so kind as to come on down and embarrass the hell out of her by having your picture taken with her?”

“Yes Ma’am” he replied and off the back of the truck he jumped. I discovered his name was Matt and he was from Virginia. As we walked back down the short distance to our tailgating homestead, sure enough our new little friend blushed every shade of red known to mankind. I introduced Matt to (today I can’t remember her name, we’ll call her Amy), and he promptly put his arm around her and posed for a picture. He was extremely gracious and a wonderfully good sport about the whole thing. Plus our little adventure boasted his “standing” with his friends, no doubt! After a few minutes his friends began calling him back. He gave me a hug, I said thanks and he wandered off up the hill.

We discovered later that Amy is going through a bad breakup/divorce and she has been under a lot of stress and depression as a result. Her friends came up to thank us, letting us know she needed that. I’ve learned now that I’m pushing 50, life is short and opportunities to have fun don’t always come around every day. Seize the day and have some fun!

So off we went to the race. After a bright sunny day, the race is delayed by a short shower. But thankfully it was short and we still had the race. Mark Martin had the pole, but he didn’t keep the lead for long. The night belonged to Virginia’s own Denny Hamlin. We’re so glad he won. He deserved it!  It would have been nice had Tony not gotten overly aggressive at the beginning of the race and gone 3 wide around turn 3. He ended up spinning and going a lap down from the get go, causing the 1st caution. Thankfully he came back and had a decent finish, ending the race in 17th.

The next big thing for us to watch was where Ryan Newman finished. He had to finish 16th or better to ensure a spot in the Chase. He constantly went down and up in the standings as his position changed on the track. I was worried for the little Prince, he would be so disappointed if his guy didn’t make it into the Chase. Thankfully, Ryan and crew pulled out a great finish, ending the race in 10th. Woohoo!

The last thing for us to watch was Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch. A few years ago we were bashing Vickers for being such a poor racer. He was continually hitting the wall or other cars, causing cautions and taking out our guys because he a wreck waiting to happen. Now here we are, years later, pulling for Vickers to make the Chase ahead of whiney Kyle. The points changed as quickly as their positions on the track changed. Kyle was in on one lap, and Brian was in on the next lap. They went back and forth the entire night. Until the last caution when Brian’s crew got him out in front of Kyle. Brian is in the Chase, Kyle is not. Karma will get you every time; I hope Kyle has learned that lesson now.

So our boys over all are split; 2 in and 2 out. Their standings from the “regular season”

And now we move into the Chase with the point reset.

I’m pulling for my Tony to be the next Owner/Driver to win a Championship. He can do it, he has the skills, talent and great team behind him to do it. So let’s go Tony!

Being NASCAR fans we watch a lot of races on TV. And along with those races are a lot of commercials. And in a lot of those commercials are Nascar drivers who promote the sponsors of their teams. Now we’ve seen way too many of these commercials and in our irritation we occasionally come up with our own ideas for the drivers. Here’s a just a few.

NASCAR goes to Charlotte NC in May for two of their biggest races. The first is the All-Star Race. This year that occurred on May 16th, which was a very special night for me personally. My guy, Tony Stewart #14 (OfficeDepot/OldSpice/Chevy) crossed the line for his first win as an Owner/Driver. Only the 2nd guy to do this since the All-Star Race began.

I don’t want to make it sound like we didn’t see and talk to some nice people. We did. But they were few and far between. The most disappointing part of the entire experience was what wasn’t there! Never again will we go back. What a waste of time.

Sunday night Nascar held one of it’s premier races, known today as the All-Star Race. While the race has gone through many names (4 to be exact), it has a great deal of history from its venue to its winners. Here’s a few facts about the race that might interest Nascar fans.

– The All-Star raced stared in 1985 when it was known simply as “The Winston”, after Nascar’s sponsor Winston cigarettes.
– It has always been held at Charlotte/Lowes Motor Speedway, with the exception of the 2nd race which was held at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
– The driver to win the first race in the series was Darrell Waltrip for Junior Johnson Racing.
– One of our household favorites, Dale Jr. won in 2000 his rookie year,
– Another favorite Ryan Newman won in 2002
– And my most favorite Tony Stewart won in 2009

Now for the Most, Fastest, Slowest and Winning-est
– Most wins go to Dale Sr  and Jeff Gordon with 3 wins each
– Mark Martin, Jimmy Johnson and Davey Allison have each won 2 times
– Davey Allison is the only driver to hold back to back wins

– In 1985 Darrell’s prize was $20k, the 2nd race won by Bill Elliott gave him a purse of $240k
– The purse prize has floated back and forth between $200 and $300k for most of it’s history.
– It hit 500k in 2000 when Dale Jr. won the prize
– It slowly increased over the next 2 years and hit $1 million in 2003. Jimmy Johnson took that home. Officially he won $1,017,604, Tony’s purse in 2009 was $1,033,656.
– The highest purse to date was $1,101,325 taken home by Mark Martin on his 2nd time winning the all star race

– The highest average speed for an All-Star race was 185mph, in 2001. Jeff Gordon won that race.
– The slowest race was in 2007, 89mph (geez..was the whole thing under caution?) Kevin Harvick took that trophy.

– Chevy has 14 wins, Ford 9, Dodge and Pontiac 1 a piece
– The winning-est team, no surprise here, Hendrick with 6 wins. Roush and Childress have 3 each.
– Geoff Bodine Racing (1994) and Stewart-Hass Racing (2009) are the only owner/driver teams to have won the All-Star race.

– Conspicuously missing from the list, Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota.

5:30am and we’re up after getting home at midnight and making it to bed at 1am.  Why the rise and shine at the crack of dawn? Well it’s race weekend, what else are you going to do? We made it the track by 7:30am. We were directed to our tailgating space, about 4 rows from the main gate of the track. A great spot! By 10am we had the grill fired up and breakfast was on the skillet.

It was touch and go through out the day in dealing with the weather. But we kept busy by shopping, keeping up on the Caps win over the Penguins and of course grilling bbq chicken. Finally by 5pm it was time to pack it up and head to our seats with fingers crossed that the rain would stop long enough to get the race in. Thank the rain Gods who covered the track with a giant umbrella and allowed the jet dryers clear the surface and keep it clear for the race. It pour down rain north and south of the track. But some how missed us, just long enough to get the 400 laps on the books.

And what a race it was! Watching Tony and Ryan constantly moving up into the top 10 after each pit stop was exciting. Along with everyone else in our section, we were thrilled watching Jimmy Johnson spin out in turn 2. The last 20 laps kept us on the edge of our seat as Tony moved up into 2nd and Ryan moved into 4th.  Not sure a few additional would have helped Tony catch up to the leader, but Jeff Burton sure was making a run at trying to take 2nd away from him. So I’m glad it finished the way it did.

I’m so proud of Stewart-Haas Racing. It’s great to see Tony and Ryan in the top 12 in points. For a long time we thought Ryan was a much better driver than what his stats were showing. He just needed a good crew, good engines and a chance to put his talent on the track. It also says a lot about Tony and his ability to turn a company around and make it competitive. Wow. The Munchkin and I couldn’t be happier with our boys.

I’ve been watching racing since I was 12/13 years old. I’ve been to Bristol and Richmond. EW and I hold season tickets to the Richmond races. I’d love to go to Darlington and Charlotte. And of course I’d love to go to Daytona. My family is from Tennessee and I had an uncle who worked for Goodyear. Because of him, I was able to get into the track before race day and see the place. My guy at the time was Darrell Waltrip. He was a Tennessee boy and I was up for that. On one of those Bristol visits, my uncle took me to the in field. Standing 15 feet away from us was DW. He was talking to a bunch of reporters, but he caught sight of my uncle and waved. Then he yelled, “You need something?” My uncle said, I just wanted one of your biggest fans to see you. DW waved his hands at the reporters as if he was dismissing them from his royal court and said “Heck I can talk to these guys anytime.” and walked away to meet me. Now that doesn’t sound like much, but when you’re 12 years old; that was a big deal. I’m sure he doesn’t remember doing it. But I sure remember it.

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