The Speeding Bullets: Daytona 500 '11

• Congratulations to Trevor Bayne on getting his first Sprint Cup victory.  The fact that it came in the Daytona 500 makes it even more remarkable.  To top it all off, at only 20 years of age, he is now the youngest winner ever of the Great American Race.  History was made on Sunday in more ways than one, and it will be a day that this young man will remember for the rest of his life.  The Daytona 500 may be the only race he ever wins, but it is the one race that every driver wants to win more than any other.  FOX said during the broadcast that Bayne doesn’t even have a sponsor for the whole season; I don’t think he’ll have that problem anymore though…

• Carl Edwards is the guy that everyone is asking “Where did he come from”???   He ran mid-pack all race long but had a power surge in the final Green-White-Checker and got pushed by David Gilliland to a second place finish.  At the finish line, he was right on the bumper of Bayne and was almost able to overtake him.  If the line were down in turn one like it is at Talladega, then we might have had a different winner of the Great American Race...

• Trevor Bayne wasn't the only no-name driver who had a terrific day.  Just look at the results, and you will see that five of the top ten finishers are guys you normally don't see up there.  David Gilliland finished third, and he was a start and parker for most of last season.  Bobby Labonte came home in fourth, and he is a former champion who has just lost his spark over the past decade.  Regan Smith and Paul Menard crossed the line in seventh and ninth, respectively, and they were frontrunners throughout the day who haven't had a huge amount of success in the past.  Old timers Bill Elliott and Terry Labonte even managed to finish in the top fifteen...

• In addition to seeing some new faces toward the top of the field, it was also nice to see Jimmie Johnson falter.  His hopes of a second Daytona 500 came to an end in the early Big One.  Don't get excited though after only one race that this may be the year his championship streak comes to an end.  You will probably be having completely different thoughts after next week's race at Phoenix...

• After the past two Daytona 500's being effected by rain and holes in the track, we finally got to watch one on a bright sunny day with no problems in sight.  There was a record setting number of 16 cautions, but that was partly due to all of the great racing which made this 500 one that will stand out in peoples' memories...

• I noticed that FOX has decided to start using their NFL music in their NASCAR broadcasts.  I guess they finally realized the stuff they have used the past couple of seasons has gotten too cheesy.  I think the best solution though is for them to go back to the theme music they were using in their early years when the ratings were much higher...

That's all for the Daytona 500 edition.  Next week, NASCAR goes out west to Phoenix for a duel in the desert.  This will be Jimmie's chance to redeem himself after his Daytona performance.  Of course, we all hope that he will just get into even deeper of a hole...

The Speeding Bullets: Preseason Edition '11

Hello, my fellow bloggers.  I know I haven't been around the blogosphere in quite a long time.  You've probably been wondering what happened to me.  To answer your question, it's been a combination of loads of school work, Cross Country, and just taking a break from racing.  I'm to the age now where I have to figure out where I want to go to college and what I want to do with my future.  But I'm back.

As part of my return, I've decided it's time to let the people who read my posts know who I really am.  So I'm going to give you a choice: you can either call me Gonger as you always have, or you can call me my real name, Brent.  If the decision is too difficult and you need to flip a coin, I'm down with that too.

Now, I'm going to write my first edition of The Speeding Bullets in ten months, since the Phoenix race last April that Ryan Newman won.  So, shall I pick back up where I left off with last April's Texas race???  If I did that, you might miss the green flag of the Daytona 500 because you would still be reading this post.  It'd probably be a better idea to do a 2011 preseason edition instead, so that is what this blog is going to be.

First let's talk about the changes that were made during the offseason:

• The 43-1 points system.  NASCAR changed to this format to supposedly "reward winning", but in my opinion the only thing it accomplishes is making the points system easier to understand.  The best way to reward winning in my books is to give the race winner 100 points and the second place finisher only 50 points.  You've got to make it a big enough difference where the runner-up finisher is crushed about being the first loser and not talking about how he had a good points day...

• NASCAR also decided to add a wild card element to the Chase by giving the 11th and 12th spots to the drivers in the top 20 who have the most wins at the Richmond cutoff.  Now, I like this idea a lot.  It actually rewards winning contrary to the new points system.  I'm pretty sure this change was sparked by Jamie McMurray winning the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 and still not making the Chase...

• The most bogus idea of all was deciding to use practice speeds to decide the qualifying order and the starting grid when there is a qualifying rainout.  Are they really going as far as trying to hype up practice and boost its ticket sales???  Practice is just supposed to be practice.  Instead for a qualifying rainout, NASCAR should take the top 43 drivers in points and arrange the starting grid by giving the 43rd driver in points the pole position and makes the points leader start last.  It would be interesting and humorous at the same time...

Now it's time to transition and talk about what's happened so far during Speedweeks...

• I tuned into the Bud Shootout with 22 laps left, and it took me half of those laps to figure out that it was Kurt Busch who was driving the Pennzoil car and not Kevin Harvick.  Even with a new driver, the Pennzoil car still took the checkered flag for the third year in a row.  Maybe instead of the Budweiser Shootout, the Pennzoil Shootout would be more appropriate...

•  Denny Hamlin's wild maneuver at the end of the race proved once again why I strongly dislike the double yellow line that is used at restrictor plate tracks.  First, it sent Carl Edwards flying into the Talladega fence and then there was the whole controversy when Regan Smith attempted the same type of maneuver on Tony Stewart that fall.  I know Denny lost the race anyway, but there is just something wrong with listing him as finishing 12th...

• I don't know why but the grass on the frontstretch seemed extra green.  Maybe it was because of the contrast with the dark black pavement, or the bright Saturday night lights, or simply because they put new sod down over the offseason...

• Dale Earnhardt, Jr. won the pole for the 2011 Daytona 500.  The race also happens to be the ten year anniversary of his father's death.  Is it some special sign???  No Junior Nation, not this time.  Guess what, the pole sitter of the Great American Race never ends up winning and usually doesn't even come out of there with a top ten.  There are some tracks where starting up front means everything, but at Daytona it means absolutely nothing...

That's all for the preseason edition.  I'm going up to Michigan for Winter Break, but I'll be back with bullets for the Daytona 500.  Hope it's a great season of racing, and we'll all just try to forget that Jimmie won the past five championships...