Random Thoughts from the Desert!

Another Nascar weekend in the books. This was was long for me too, but not for duration! On Thursday, I was feeling a little under the weather and was sent home from the shop at about 11 AM. Well after a visit to the Dr. I was advised that I had a viral strep infection, that was also affecting my upper chest and ears. Needless to say, my fantasy and trifecta pics where not made, due to spending the whole of Friday, curled up in bed. You know us men, such big babies when we are sick.
Anyway, I am feeling much better now, and I did atleast get to watch the Cup race Sunday.

So now on to my Random Thoughts from the desert.

I heard some guy named Busch won the truck race! Wish I could have seen it. I was so out of it, I forgot to set the DVR. Duuhhhh! Whats the point in all this technology if my big dumb a$$ forgets to turn it on! LOL.

I also heard some guy named Busch won the NNS race! This one I actually DVR'd, I watched the first 50 or so laps late Sat. night. Caught the rest in the AM on Sun.
What a dominating performance by the 18. From the driver to the crew and everyone in between. In this day of back markers and wanna-be championship contenders sometimes staying out to lead a lap, either for points or TV time, to go wire to wire is a tremendous feat!
It looked to be close in the final laps. Carl gave a gallant and clean effort to catch and pass Kyle, but to no avail. Kudos to both!

Now, everyone who has ever read one of my blogs, knows I don't like the Hendricks guys! In fact, 2 of my favorite guys, are ex-HMS. That being said, my stance on Jeff Gordon has mellowed some. When he was battling Rusty Wallace, and winning all those titles, I really hated the guy. In the last couple of years I had given Jeff some slack. Having a daughter myself, and seeing him in pre-race with his kids. Plus, hearing some of his stories in interviews, really made him more of a likeable guy to me.
All that went out the window Sunday! :) As a 18 fan, I was really looking forward to the sweep. But to top it off, I had Kyle in the one fantasy league I am in that can win me actual cash. As the 4th place starter, a Busch win would have given me a 100 bucks. So now Gordon, is back on my S^%t list!
Is this the awakening of the Kyle Busch personality that will compete for a Championship! A new "kinder, gentler" KB that we haven't seen before? I thought for sure we would see some fireworks after the little bump and run move Jeff put on Kyle. Yet lo and behold in his post-race interview, he was the 3 C's of second place. Calm, Contrite and Congratulatory! No mention of the little bump,no problem from me either, but you know if was the other way around a huge deal would have been made of it. He simply said Jeff had a faster car at the end and that was it. Plus he really owned up and was apologetic to Carl for the early incident that ruined the 99's day. I think they will be ok, it really was a racing deal, and not something Kyle did on purpose to wreck Carl.
On the other hand, if I was the 17 I might be a little nervous around the 83 for a few races. It seemed to me that Matt ran Brian up the track, and then cut his left rear sending him around in front of the field. Not saying Matt did it on purpose, I just thought he could have left him a little room that early in the race. Look for payback for this one down the line.
All in all, it was a decent race. I am so glad the season is underway. One question though, you think Jr will be the Pizza Hut fan favorite for every race on FOX? We are going to Vegas, and odds are good on that one!

That's Just my opinion, I could be wrong. But probably not!

Random Thoughts from Michigan!!

Another weekend in Michigan has come and gone. Before we all get to pumped up and excited for Bristol, I thought I would take a few moments to look back at what happened the last two days.

* Jimmie Johnson and I finally have something in common. We both want to be weatherman. What other job can you get, where you can be wrong 50% of the time and still not be fired. o% percent chance of rain, yet still two delays. Atleast they ran it on Sunday eventually.

* Kyle Busch and Brian Vickers- Man I hate when two of my guys have a problem. You would think they would get along, both being HMS leftovers, but I digress. Although I freely admit Kyle acted rashly by running the 32 down on pit lane. But,I do see his point. Had Vickers run the line that he had been using all day, it would have come down to those 2 cars. By pulling down and running Kyle along the bottom, he did slow both cars down. Don't ask me how, its one of those aero deals. If Vickers spotter had kept him aware that the 88 was coming on the high side, he would have ran high, and he and Busch would have dueled for the win. The fastest two cars were Vickers and Busch, those two battling for a win would have been classic. Instead we got Bucky in the 88 playing the opportunist for a second time this season. I won't say Brad was lucky, he had his car in the right position to take advantage and when the time came he pounced.

* The pre-race both days included stories about Keselowski, being from Michigan, and donating tickets to 40-50 area workers, that have been laid off. It was a nice story.
What doesn't get reported, Kyle Busch donated 60 tickets to MIS for them to distribute. Maybe the public wouldn't think he was such an a-hole, if the media would report some things like this about the guy.

* Jimmy Johnson's driving ability called into question once again. Two HMS cars pitted on the same lap. Both had pressure from other cars. One managed to finish and the other didn't. Saving fuel is directly related to a drivers ability to maximize performance while not mashing the gas. Floating the car in, and pedaling off allow a driver to maintain some speed, while saving fuel. Some masters of this include Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Brian Vickers.

*While we are on the subject of JJ. He should have never been out front to begin with. He clearly jumped that last restart and should have recieved a penalty from Nascar. I think jumping the start is a pass through. I only heard Jarrett mention it once on the broadcast and have yet to see anyone talk about it anywhere else. I guess rules don't apply when JJ is gunning for a win.

* Kudos to the Red Bull team and Brian Vickers. I hope this allows them to finalize Brian's contract and get him a teammate that can provide some feedback and help. I like Speed, but he is not helping provide any info that would enable Red Bull to contend seriously for the title.

*Once again we are foiled by too much pre-race and not enough post-race. I raised the same issue during Fox's coverage. Please TV people, less pre, more post.

Well enough whining and crying. (HMMM maybe thats why I like Kyle, we both like to complain)

Hope everyone has a good week, I can't wait till Fri and Sat. I love me some Bristol night racing.

Thats just my opinion, I could be wrong. But probably not!