The Speeding Bullets: 2010 Subway Fresh Fit 600

This week's edition of The Speeding Bullets started out in the Valley of the Sun and ended in the Valley of the Moon. Hope you enjoy the read...

• Congratulations to Ryan Newman on getting his first win of the season and breaking a drought that lasted over two years. His gutsy move was taking two tires on the final pit stop when that strategy hasn't worked out so far. What won him the race, though, was Jeff Gordon choosing the wrong lane on the final restart. It's hard to imagine he would consider this victory more memorable than his Daytona 500 one, but this one came at a time when his team was in need of a morale boost after coming up short for so many races...
  
  
• Jeff Gordon lost the race once again after thinking he had it in the bag in the closing laps. Who would have known that choosing the outside lane would be the wrong move on the final restart after it had gotten off to the fastest start on all of the other ones??? Newman or any other driver probably would have done the same thing. These finishes are just so unpredictable, and that keeps drivers and crew chiefs guessing each week on the right race-winning formula...
  
  
• Juan Pablo Montoya finally closed the deal with his fifth place finish. Lately, he has been a driver with a dominant car at the beginning of a race but ends up crashing midway through. Since he made his first Chase last year, what he wants the most now is another win. Montoya's only victory came at Sonoma in 2007, and he has yet to take the checkered flag on an oval...
  
  
• An eighth place finish for Kyle Busch looks great when comparing it with his other results from the first seven races, but it doesn't feel too great when he had the car to end up in victory lane. He and his crew chief thought they were making the right move by taking four tires on the all important pit stop when thinking back to Bristol and Martinsville.  Both of them should have used logical reasoning, though, and realized that what works on half-mile track might not always do the same on more of an intermediate one...
  
  
• I must say that I really liked the 63 extra laps added on to Saturday night's race. They gave the fans more for their money and made the event more exciting for us viewers at home. We would not have had all of the drama in the closing laps if the race had been its normal length. Also, it would have otherwise ended before the sun set all the way with the start time being one hour earlier...
  

That's all from Phoenix. Next week, we move on to Texas where the real test for the new spoiler awaits. The Atlanta race was a pretty good indicator of who will have a strong run there as well...

The Speeding Bullets: 2010 Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500

This rain delayed edition of The Speeding Bullets comes to you from good ole' Martinsville. Hope you enjoy the read...

• Congratulations to Denny Hamlin on getting his first victory of the season and the third one in five races at Martinsville. He had a dominant car most of the day and made one of the boldest moves I've seen when he came to pit road with just a few laps left. Everyone (including me) thought Denny threw away the win with that decision, but aggressive driving and a couple daring maneuvers still got him the victory. Many people are comparing Hamlin's run to the checkers this week with what Johnson pulled off last week at Bristol. The difference between them, though, is that Jimmie had the odds in his favor whereas Hamlin had the odds stacked against him...
  
  
• Joey Logano is getting more consistent by the race. A second place finish on a track like this is really respectable for being only a sophomore in the big leagues. He made the right move there at the end by holding back and realizing he doesn't have the experience to overtake Hamlin, Gordon, and Kenseth. Logano currently sits in 13th place in the standings only six points out of the Top 12. He has a good chance of making his first Chase if he can keep up the great work...
  
  
• No one was more frustrated to see the final yellow flag than Jeff Gordon, who had pulled away from the rest of the field with only two laps left. On the final restart, he was quickly pushed aside by Matt Kenseth. Gordon then decided to pay him back by knocking him up into the turn four wall and making it where he couldn't get back in line. Jeff really can't blame Kenseth for trying to come out of nowhere and win the race; he probably would have done the same thing. These two go back a long way. They're never scared to cut the other one's throat when it comes down to who's going to win the race...
  
  
• What a disappointing day for RCR other than Clint Bowyer's 8th place finish. Kevin Harvick was taken out early with brake issues when I thought he might have a car capable of going to victory lane. Harvick surrendered the point lead to Jimmie Johnson as a result. Jeff Burton cut a tire while racing Hamlin in the closing laps and ended up coming home in 20th. I did think he was a little too patient with Hamlin when he really needed to be the leader instead of the follower. Phoenix is a place where both of these guys need to get back on track...
  
  
• Martinsville gave us the best racing I have seen so far in 2010. The drivers seemed racier than ever and were going at it all afternoon long. I don't know if it was because of the new spoiler or if the whole thing was just a coincidence. Anyway, NASCAR has done a good job listening to the fans this season and the benefits are showing on and off the track...

That's all from the Old Dominion. After another off-week, we get to watch our first night race of the year under the lights in the Valley of the Sun. Have a great Easter everyone!!!

The Speeding Bullets: 2010 Food City 500

 
• Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson on getting his first ever victory at Bristol. Just as he did a few weeks ago in Vegas, he cruised around in second position for most of the race. Jimmie made his power move on the final restart when he blasted into turn one like a rocket. It was interesting how taking four tires with only a few laps left proved to be so effective at a short track. Johnson currently sits third in the standings only 14 points out of the lead, and I won't be surprised if he overtakes the two guys above him next week at Martinsville...

 
• Tony Stewart gave Jimmie a run for his money but couldn't hold off those four fresh Goodyears. The second place finish anyway was his first top five of year and a step in the right direction when it comes to momentum building. Remember, Tony has never been known to be outstanding too early in the season. The wins start adding up for him when the summer rolls around... 

 
• Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Jamie McMurray finally got back on track with their seventh and eighth place finishes, respectively. Both of them have struggled the past several weeks after being the Daytona 500 winner and runner-up. I don't expect to see McMurray in victory lane anymore this season, but I think Junior will surprise us in one of these races. He's long due for a win, and statistics even say it's time (What comes after May 2006 and June 2008 ???)...

 
• The mid-race pileup that involved 13 cars looked like something we would see on a restrictor plate track. Greg Biffle and Mark Martin made contact, Mark slammed on the brakes to hit pit road that lap, and from then on it was a big chain reaction. Marcos Ambrose was the innocent victim of the whole collision which gave him a 33rd place finish instead of a possible top ten...  

 
• The weather was a factor once again this week just as it was at Fontana. Thankfully, there were only a few mild showers that weren't severe enough to affect the finish. I have to give NASCAR credit this season for doing a great job making sure races are run the full distance. It seems like in the past there have been some they have called too early...

That's all from Thunder Valley. Next week, the track gets even shorter and the turns become even narrower as we head to the paper clip in Martinsville, VA. A lot of the racers who ran up front here will run up front there as well...

The Speeding Bullets: 2010 Kobalt Tools 500

You've probably already figured out that I am a week late on this edition of The Speeding Bullets. That's because I have had a load of school work and couldn't find time to get around to it until the past couple of days...

• Congratulations to Kurt Busch on getting his first victory of the season and the first one with Steve Addington sitting on top of the pit box. Kurt had the best short run car of any driver out there, and that's what won him the race with the unusually high number of cautions for Atlanta. It's just nice to see someone other than Jimmie Johnson taking the checkered flag... 

• Matt Kenseth is another one of those drivers who has been excelling so far in 2010 after a not so great 2009, even though he did win two races. He adjusted his car throughout the race, and it was where he needed it to be when the sun finally came out later in the afternoon. Matt's second place finish on Sunday marked his third top ten in a row. He is the strongest Roush-Fenway car after four races, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him in victory lane sometime in the next month or two...

• Kasey Kahne took the lead early on and led 144 laps but came up short in the end. He struggled with all of the cautions at the end of the race because he had a long run car, just the opposite from the winner Kurt Busch. Kahne's pit box also happened to be in a highly congested area, and as a result he lost several positions every time he came down to get tires and gas. Though, after really bad performances at Daytona and Fontana, a fourth place finish feels like quite an accomplishment...
  

• Kudos to Paul Menard and AJ Allmendinger for both finishing in fifth and sixth, respectively. This is the best run Menard has ever had in his career. He even had a shot at winning the race, but two tires wasn't enough to hold off Kurt Busch in the closing laps. Nice to see some different guys up front having success...
  

• The 500 miles this week really took a toll on tires. Denny Hamlin, Mark Martin, and many others were either taken out of the race or put several laps down as a result. I thought Goodyear fixed the problem after Tony Stewart totally dogged them two years back, but it looks like they need to take another look at what's going on...
  

• This post wouldn't be complete if I didn't mention the Carl Edwards-Brad Keselowski feud that went down at 195 mph. Brad ticked Carl off early in the race, and Carl decided to pay him back in the end even though he acted in the garage like the whole thing wasn't too big of a deal. Edwards got all excited when he realized he could ruin Keselowski's day by preventing him from getting a possible top five finish. The dangers involved didn't even cross his mind or even the idea of waiting to settle things at Bristol. NASCAR couldn't give him a serious punishment anyway after only a month ago encouraging the drivers to express their emotions. That's why they gave him a little slap on the back instead by putting him on probation for a couple of races...

That's all from Atlanta. Next week, we move on to Bristol for the first short track race of the season. I was disappointed with last year's spring race, but I am willing to bet that this one will go above and beyond what people normally expect from Thunder Valley. Hope you are having a great off-week...

The Speeding Bullets: 2010 Shelby American

For the first time in who knows when the Fontana race was more exciting than the Vegas one. But that doesn't mean anything about The Speeding Bullets; hope you enjoy the read!

• Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson on getting his second consecutive victory only three races into the season. It also makes him the all-time most winning driver on 1.5 mile tracks. As usual, Chad Knaus adjusted the car throughout the afternoon each time he got a status report from Jimmie. I could just tell the tandem was sizing up Jeff Gordon all race long until the moment came to make the race winning pass. All of Johnson's fellow racers are already struggling to keep up with this early, so there's no telling how big of a points lead he will have five or six months from now... 
• Kevin Harvick impressed me more this week than he has in any of the other races so far. He still managed to gradually work his way to a second place finish even after starting a backup car in 34th position. A gas and go pit stop midway through the race was the call that really pushed him toward the front. Harvick looks like the man Johnson is going to have to beat for this year's championship, but I think it's only a matter of how long Happy can keep up...

• A pothole one week, phantom rainfall another, and now the caution lights not working; what is up with all of this??? What happened this week at Vegas was probably the last thing anyone expected. Now that I think about it though, the track did have a power outage during qualifying, and that very well could have had something to do with it. Race fans, you'd better be on a tornado alert or maybe even a tsunami this weekend in Atlanta... lol.
• A third place finish feels like failure for Jeff Gordon after setting a new Las Vegas record by leading 219 of 267 laps. Many people say his downfall was taking right sides only on the final pit stop, but Letarte's frame of mind was track position which would have been brilliant strategy if it hadn't been for all of the other guys deciding to take four tires. As a result, Johnson had the better car on the final restart, and Gordon wasn't able to hold him off. I was rooting for Jeff just as plenty of other fans were there at the end. It's a rare thing these days when we see him in victory lane..

• Kim Kardashian standing next to Carroll Shelby as co-grand marshals was definitely the laugh of the day. The funniest part... Kim didn't even say "Gentlemen Start Your Engines" and afterward Carroll looked over at her like she was a total idiot. I know she is known more for her looks than her brains (if she has any at all), but she went as far there as taking the "common" out of "common sense"...
  

That's all from the Diamond in the Desert. Next week, NASCAR returns to the good ole' south and races at the fastest track on the circuit, Atlanta Motor Speedway. Gordon and Harvick are two drivers who came up short in Sin City but both have had noticeable success at AMS; look for them to be big factors on Sunday...

The Speeding Bullets: 2010 Auto Club 500

This weekend has marked the one-year anniversary of The Speeding Bullets. It was all of you who encouraged me to transform a simple idea when I was pressed for time into my weekly racing blog...

• Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson on getting his 48th career victory only two races into the 2010 season. Usually, it is a couple more months before we see him in the winner's circle, but this year he got back in his old racing groove earlier than he ever has before. Kevin Harvick reeled him in and was in the position to make the race winning pass, so Johnson was really fortunate when Happy scraped the wall with a couple of laps left. This team's luck just never runs out, and that is a big reason why he is right where he wants to be on the quest for Sprint Cup number five...

• It is evident by being the points leader that Kevin Harvick has had the best car in both of the races run so far, but something always gets in the way between him and the checkered flag. Last week, it was choosing the wrong drafting partner late in the race and this week he struggled on pit road. He spun his tires various times when he exited his pit box, but what really came back to bite Harvick was having to start at the tail end of the longest line as a result of a speeding penalty. Hopefully, he will learn from these early season mistakes because they can be deadly later in the year when a lot more is on the line...

• After being latent for most of 2009, it looks as if Jeff Burton is finally coming back around. He was a contender week in and week out throughout the 2008 season and looks to be the same this year. Burton definitely had a car to win Sunday's race but just ran out of time to catch the leader as a result of being held up by Harvick in the closing laps. I always like seeing the veteran drivers having success and giving the young guns a run for their money...

• Joey Logano seems to have started getting the hang of things in his sophomore year. So far, the 19-year old hasn't finished out of the top 20 in either race and earned himself a top five this weekend. Logano is beginning to evolve into the great racer everyone expects him to be. Some fans assumed he would grasp Cup racing right from the get go, but even the most talented of racers still have a steep learning curve to work their way through. Joey's next goal should be to make the Chase which will require him to overcome the struggles he has had with consistency...
  

• How long is it going to take NASCAR to realize that February is not a good time to go to California??? Every year, rain affects the race one way or another whether it is merely just a five minute shower or a torrential downpour that makes water seep through cracks on the track. My advice is to switch the spring races here and at Phoenix which would be a win-win situation for both venues. I did find it pretty entertaining, though, to watch Darrell Waltrip try to play weather god by telling the rain where to go. He just seems to act dumber by the week...
  

That's all from Fontana. I thought that the racing was pretty good despite all of the hard criticism about it. Now we're on to Las Vegas for a weekend of rolling the dice in Sin City...

The Speeding Bullets: 2010 Daytona 500

A race that was supposed to be run in complete daylight turns into a marathon event ending under the lights. Hope you enjoy the read...

• Congratulations to Jamie McMurray on winning his first ever Daytona 500. He aligned himself with the right person in the right place and made his move at the right time when the race came down to its final laps. Greg Biffle gave McMurray the push he needed to propel himself to the checkered flag, a perfect example of the benefit of being on good terms with your old teammates. Jamie's tears in victory lane show just how much winning the Great American Race means to a driver and how blessed he feels to achieve his lifelong dream. It's amazing how changing teams from one year to the next can totally turn around a man's racing career... 

• Dale Earnhardt, Jr. coming from tenth to second in the final lap almost pulled off what Kevin Harvick did three years back. I really didn't expect him to be there at the end because he hasn't had too much success at Daytona in the past couple of years. The runner-up finish will help get his team and all of Junior Nation reenergized for the 2010 season, along with his optimistic attitude in the pre-race segment with Jeff Hammond. We can't get too excited about it, but hopefully it will lead to a victory somewhere not too far down the road. An Earnhardt win is the medicine the sport needs to boost ratings, ticket sales, and excitement among fans...
  

• Kevin Harvick had the best car during the race and throughout all of Speedweeks, but a strategic error probably ended up costing him the victory. He made the right move by lining up on the inside where his car was the best. Where he went wrong, though, was on the backstretch, choosing to stay close to the yellow line instead of pulling up in front of McMurray. I am not saying doing that would have guaranteed him the win, but it would have put him in a much better position than the one he was in at the time because the other lane was moving much faster. In spite of this mistake, Harvick proved on Sunday that he truly has a racer's heart. Only a true racer would want to go ahead and finish the Daytona 500 while in the lead at the second red flag...
  

• Even though Scott Speed ended up finishing 19th, I have to tip my hat to him for making such a bold move. He knew that it was virtually impossible for him to win the race unless he stayed out on the final pit stop when everyone else either topped off on fuel or got a new set of tires. Speed actually did hold his ground for a lot longer than anyone expected him to, and for a moment I thought he might possibly pull it off. But as had been the case all day, four tires was the way to go on every pit stop with the condition the track was in throughout the entire race...
  

• Sorry Carl Edwards, but after all of Sunday's mayhem, I think that Daytona is going to have to be repaved. At first, most of us thought that repairing one pothole would be no problem, but we were all proven wrong because of its location in a spot where every car happens to run over it at 190 mph. When the hole broke open a second time, I started to wonder if the race was a done deal. That's why I have to applaud NASCAR for sticking it out and ending the day with a green flag finish even after the two and a half hour delay. It would have been really easy for them to call the race and declare Harvick the winner, but they wanted to make things right after the big disappointment still lingering in fans' minds from last year's Great American Race...
  

That's all from Daytona and 2010 Speedweeks. Next week is when the regular part of the season really begins out west in Fontana, California. It will be interesting to see RCR and Roush-Fenway Racing go head to head, two organizations that have looked on the bright side so far after both having a rough 2009...

The Speeding Bullets: 2010 Budweiser Shootout

A new year calls for a new logo and a new look to The Speeding Bullets. Hope you enjoy the read...

• Congratulations to Kevin Harvick for winning the event a second straight year. It's not a points victory like he has been searching for since the 2007 Daytona 500, but it's a necessary momentum burst that will hopefully help them end the three year drought. Harvick is going to get the chance to rewrite his own record book from last year and additionally end the recent curse of the shootout winner going winless throughout the rest of the season. The question is whether he will be able to capitalize on it...
  

• I have to say after watching the race that so far I am pleased with the changes NASCAR has made. The drivers felt comfortable to make daring maneuvers that they wouldn't attempt otherwise because of being rained on with fines and penalties. The race-ending crash started by Jeff Gordon served as a perfect example of this. Now, if they could just allow multiple attempts at a Green-White-Checkered finish to ensure the fans get every penny out of their hard-earned money...

• Jimmie Johnson, feeling nervous prior to the race??? Not too sure if I'm buying that one. For all of you Johnson haters out there, I think your wish may be granted of him not winning number five since he will be a new father by season end. Just look at how much Jeff Gordon changed when he became one as well. There's a good chance that the distraction will affect Jimmie when it comes Chase time...

• Mark Martin sure sent Kurt Busch on a wild ride through the infield and up into the outside wall, but it was good to see he manned up about it in the end. I have a feeling that Martin realized over the offseason that his career is starting to tick away by the race, and as a result he has decided to become more aggressive about trying to win as many of them as he can. Sunday will be the best shot other than a few years ago he has ever had at winning the Great American Race. It will be interesting to see if he is able to achieve his lifelong dream...

• It looks as if FOX might have decided to cover up the gopher hole after all of the criticism received from last season. Maybe they thought that was one of the reasons their ratings have drastically started dropping. Now I did see Digger appear on the sponsor banner right after a commercial break, but for the first time since who knows when there was no mention of him at all...
  

Very good first race to start out the 2010 season and the new decade of stock car racing. Hopefully, the Daytona 500 will be even better, and NASCAR will start to climb out of the trench they have buried themselves in over the past few seasons...

Budweiser Shootout Preview

Congratulations, you have successfully made it through another NASCAR offseason (if we can even call it much of an offseason at all). It is the day before the Bud Shootout, the opening event of the 2010 season. It is the time of the year when race fans trash all of their bad memories from last season and start fresh again hoping that their driver has a better one.

The Bud Shootout is the event that sets the tone for the rest of the Speedweeks festivities. It separates the haves from the have-nots and gives you a pretty good idea of how various guys are going to fare in the Great American Race. And this time around, it will test how effective the car and bump-drafting changes are that NASCAR made during the break.

This event is the perfect opportunity for drivers to step up who haven't made a lot of noise lately. In the past couple of years, guys who haven't visited victory lane at all in the previous season are actually the ones who have the best odds to win. Just ask Kevin Harvick, last year's winner, or even Dale Earnhardt, Jr. who won it two years back. But if you do manage to win the Bud Shootout, don't expect to go on and win the Daytona 500. That has only happened five times, last in 1997 by Jeff Gordon.

The starting lineup ranges from four-time champion Jimmie Johnson to good ole Derrick Cope who will be lucky to even made ten circuits around the 2.5 mile track. But you can all relax because Robby Gordon didn't make the cut with the new rule changes. He won't be able to cause a big multi-car pileup like he did last year.

So who's going to win it??? I'm going to put my money on Denny Hamlin taking the checkers. He probably really wants to put shame to all those people who called him an idiot for injuring his knee while playing basketball...