Analytical Afterthoughts

The Speeding Bullets: Jeff Byrd 500 '11

2011-03-23T16:37:00.002-04:00

Congratulations to Kyle Busch on getting his second weekend sweep in a row at Bristol. Bristol has become Kyle's House like Charlotte for a while was Jimmie's House. He dominates there any opportunity he gets and has too many impressive statistics at the track to be named. The most impressive one of all though in my opinion is that he has won four out of the past five Cup races in Thunder Valley; that is something extremely difficult to accomplish. Busch seems to have more maturity and a different way about him than he has had in the past couple of years. If he wants to win a championship, he needs to get to the point where he can have a consistent top ten finish each week instead of every race being hit or miss as it is now. Kyle should just try to learn from his brother Kurt; the guy is leading the points with four top tens so far in the first four races of the season...

Carl Edwards got a solid second place finish and gave Kyle a run for his money. He just didn't have the car to beat Busch, so the only way he could have overtaken was to use the bump n' run. Carl didn't want to knock him out of the way with ten laps still to race in fear of possible retaliation, and that was probably a smart strategy considering the fact that Kyle did have a faster car. At first I questioned Edwards' decision but then decided he made the right choice after seeing that in the 2002 night race Jeff Gordon waited to make his memorable maneuver on Rusty Wallace in the final four laps. Rowdy better watch his back though because Carl made it clear after the race that he intends to give him a little trouble in the next couple of weeks...

Jimmie Johnson came home in third which was kind of disappointing for him after leading the most laps, but Kyle hinted at the fact in victory lane that he let him lead most of those laps. The three-man battle between Busch, Edwards, and Johnson reminded me a lot of the three-man battle a couple of years ago at Dover between Biffle, Edwards, and Kenseth. This observation brings up the point I want to make that I think when Bristol was reconfigured it was basically turned into Dover. Just ask yourself why Jimmie used to suck at Bristol for most of his career but suddenly he started winning and getting top five finishes there like the flip of a switch. The answer: because Johnson is dominant at Dover and Bristol has now become a half-sized version of the Monster Mile...

Maybe the fact that Bristol has become Dover can explain why the place seemed half-empty during Sunday's race. I have never seen Bristol that empty before and was shocked in the prior weeks when I saw ads on t.v. trying to sell tickets for the race. At first I would have blamed the problem on the economy, but then I thought about how full the first three races of the season were. So the problem must be the racing. People want the old Bristol back, and the track will continue to have a problem selling out unless something is done to fix the issue...

RCR's three anchor teams continued to struggle on Sunday while Paul Menard continued to rise to the occasion. Menard has tentatively become the guy keeping RCR in contention, and if he keeps up the good work he just may have an opportunity to make the Chase. On the other hand, Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton looked as pitiful as ever, two guys who usually are good at Bristol. Kevin Harvick is the monkey in the middle as he managed to rebound and finish sixth after an incident earlier in the race but doesn't have the same touch he did last year. As a whole though, RCR needs to take a good long hard look at what has been going wrong while it is still early in the season and they still have some room for error...

That's all from Bristol. Next week, NASCAR goes back out west for their lone Cup race at Fontana. It will be interesting to see if attendance is any better now that the track only has one event. Jimmie Johnson came close to victory this week at Bristol, and I think that out in California is where he will get the cigar...

The Speeding Bullets: Kobalt Tools 400 '11

2011-03-08T16:31:00.001-05:00

Congratulations to Carl Edwards on breaking his two-race losing streak. He may not have had the best car out there, but his team got the job done when the money was on the line. Taking notes from what Tony Stewart did earlier in the race and putting them to use at the right time is what got him to victory lane. Watching him do his signature back flip at the start finish time is always exciting and never gets redundant. Now, Carl can officially say that he won a race at Las Vegas fair and square unlike the scandal from a couple of years ago...

Tony Stewart put his emotions into words when he said that second place sucks, but still he had a great day nonetheless. The two-tire strategy was brilliant; where his team screwed up was getting four tires on the last pit stop. Tony did his experimenting earlier in the race and found what worked, and once he discovered his race-winning formula he just needed to stick with it. His car was stellar enough that I don't think Carl could have caught him even if he had been running on some of the same tires for over 100 laps...

Carl and Tony weren't the only guys who had noteworthy results. Juan Pablo Montoya came home in third and Aussie Marcos Ambrose followed up in fourth. Dale Earnhardt Jr. managed to cross the finish line in eighth which is unusual for NASCAR's Most Popular Driver; typically it's more like 28th. After all of his struggles last season, Brian Vickers rose to the occasion with his first top ten finish in a very long time. It's nice to see he's making a steady recovery...

Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch were the dominant drivers at Phoenix, but this week their experiences were just the opposite... they were the ones doing all of the burnin' and crashin' and smashin'. And coincidentally, race winner Carl Edwards was in their same shoes last week when he was turned around and sent back to the garage. So far this season, most of the top drivers have been extremely inconsistent. It will be interesting to see if their results level out as the year progresses...

Trevor Bayne finally got a top 20 finish after his remarkable Daytona 500 victory. He ran a clean race and stayed out of trouble just as he did a couple of weeks ago. He started to prove on Sunday that the win in the Great American Race was not some kind of fluke. I'm pretty sure he got more airtime than the leader of the race did, as FOX was trying really hard to promote its Daytona 500: An American Dream show that airs next week...

I don't know if it is just me, but the FOX crew seemed to be extra off their game during the telecast. Larry McReynolds spent the whole race talking about how their was going to be a caution in the final ten laps, and guess what??? there was no caution. Darrell Waltrip said that this victory was Carl's first one in over 70 races when the guy won the last two races of the 2010 season. If DW is going to run his mouth, he at least needs to know what he is talking about. And all of the commentators were going on and on about how great of a move it was for Tony Stewart to take four tires on the final pit stop, and that decision was what lost him the race...

That's all from Sin City. NASCAR will head back to the east coast for an early off-week and then will journey into the Bristol Coliseum for a gladiator clash. The Speeding Bullets will be back in two weeks to discuss all of the drama that unfolds in Thunder Valley...

The Speeding Bullets: Subway Fresh Fit 500 '11

2011-03-02T16:31:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Jeff Gordon on breaking his 66-race winless drought and visiting victory lane for the first time in almost two years. For a while I was questioning whether he still had winning in him or whether his career was just starting to go downhill. He got caught up in an accident with Carl Edwards early in the race, but his car came out of it undamaged and dominated the rest of the afternoon. Phoenix has been one of Gordon's tougher tracks over the years as shown in previously only having one victory there; no one would have guessed that on Sunday though. It's a rare treat to see Jeff in victory lane these days, and it's also a nice reminder of older times. He's on a Drive To End Hunger; now he has finally ended his own hunger...

Kyle Busch almost pulled off his second trifecta this weekend. He totally destroyed the truck and Nationwide races and looked as if he was going to be unbeatable in Cup as well, but he couldn't hold off Jeff Gordon in the closing laps. You think he would eventually feel fatigued from doing so much. So far his extremely high energy level has prevented that from happening. He was very apologetic to Carl Edwards for somewhat causing the accident that ruined his chances for the day; we'll just have to see how Carl responds though...

Jimmie Johnson started 28th and wasn't too great for most of the race but still managed to come home in third. He has had remarkable success at Phoenix and amazingly hasn't finished outside of the top ten there since 2005. That's why I am kicking myself for switching Carl Edwards out for him at the last minute on my fantasy team. The faulty decision taught me something; never doubt Jimmie Johnson at Phoenix no matter what...

Sunday's race was the wildest show I have ever seen at Phoenix. There was a Big One on a one-mile track and just crash after crash. Matt Kenseth seems to be the guy being blamed for starting the whole thing, but he's been known as somewhat of a troublemaker in the past. Brian Vickers was totally outraged at Kenseth for turning him around and has already made it clear that he intends to pay him back...

Trevor Bayne had a lot of pressure on him this weekend after his extraordinary achievement at Daytona and all of the sides that came with it, and he seemed to crumble under all of it. It is always a bad sign when a drive crashes his car in practice on Friday. Trevor probably felt like a loser crashing a second time during the actual race, but he needs to keep his head held high and remember that no one is perfect...

It was cool to see Winter Olympian Apolo Ohno give the command. Lately, the grand marshals have been quite dull when saying the most famous words and some haven't even said anything at all (yes, I am talking about Kim Kardashian at Las Vegas last year). Subway sure got their money's worth out of that race with Ohno and Edwards. FOX even went as far as drinking out of Subway cups in the Hollywood Hotel and playing that special promotional clip before the race started...

That's all from the Valley of the Sun. The next couple of races will be very interesting as tempers have started to flare. Next week, we head on a five-hour car ride north to Sin City to see who will roll the dice on Sunday. I know it's a five-hour car ride because one time my family had to make the miserable drive when it was impossible to fly into Phoenix...

The Speeding Bullets: Daytona 500 '11

2011-02-23T14:07:00.003-05:00

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

2011-02-14T18:21:00.001-05:00

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...

The Speeding Bullets: 2010 Subway Fresh Fit 600

2010-04-12T18:09:00.007-04:00

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

2010-04-01T17:53:00.013-04:00

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

2010-03-22T16:21:00.010-04:00

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

2010-03-15T18:32:00.016-04:00

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

2010-03-01T19:17:00.025-05:00

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

2010-02-23T19:01:00.011-05:00

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

2010-02-16T11:34:00.010-05:00

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

2010-02-07T16:56:00.019-05:00

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

2010-02-05T16:37:00.008-05:00

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...

You Decide Poll 2009

2009-12-08T16:37:00.006-05:00

The 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season is in the books, which means it is time for the annual You Decide Poll. Last year I helped you out by narrowing it down to only ten choices, but this year all 36 are up for voting...

Which leads me to my poll question:

What was your favorite NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points race of 2009?

I'll go ahead and vote for the July Coke Zero 400 at Daytona. That was one of the most action-packed and exciting races I have ever seen. And it was all under the lights...

One vote per applicant only. Standard messaging fees may apply. Poll not open to residents of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Speeding Bullets: Ford 400

2009-11-24T18:09:00.028-05:00

Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson on winning his fourth straight championship and achieving what no man has before. If Jimmie continues at his current pace, I wouldn't be surprised to see him win a fifth one or maybe even a tenth one. It's just a matter of whether any other driver can ever be good enough to stop him. Whether we like it or not, on Sunday we witnessed history; history that we can tell our kids and grandkids about years down the road. For all of you Johnson haters, I have come up with a solution to make all of this a little more bearable: instead of saying Jimmie is the first driver to win four straight championships, you can say he is the first driver to win four straight championships under the Chase format...

Also, congratulations to Denny Hamlin on becoming the first Toyota driver to ever win at Homestead. An honor a little less remarkable, but it will still go a long way in the foreign record books. Hamlin is a driver who has the potential to dethrone Johnson, but first he needs to figure out how to not throw his whole season away in the first couple races of the Chase. Ten weeks ago at Richmond, I considered him a driver to watch for. A few weeks later he was pretty much out of contention...

The history doesn't stop after the first two bullets. Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, and Jeff Gordon became the first threesome from the same team to finish one-two-three in the year end standings. Hendrick Motorsports is just dominant; that's all there is to say about them. This whole season they have been a couple of steps ahead of everyone else...

Mark Martin may have come up short of what he was after, but he still has a lot to be proud of. At the beginning of the year, a lot of us kind of considered 2009 his farewell tour. Five wins and 36 races later, I don't know of anyone who doesn't immediately categorize him as a threat for next year's championship. He may be a legitimate contender next year, but I still think that this season was the closest Mark is ever going to get to achieving his long sought goal...

The most interesting storyline in this year's Chase was the feud between Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya this week down in the Florida Everglades. Two hot headed drivers were ready to take all of their pent up anger out on each other after a long season. It started with a little nudge, escalated into a cut right front tire, and from then on was a matter of who could crash the other one first. Probably the best fight we have had all year...

One team dominating always means that there are many others who are left at the end of the season groaning over nothing to brag about. It amazes me that a team like Richard Childress Racing with four drivers didn't visit victory lane once all year. Their drivers may have had some good performances like Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick did this week, but the organization as a whole has been out of sync for some reason. Was their four team expansion some kind of curse???

Roush-Fenway Racing was another team left in the dust by HMS. Other than Matt Kenseth winning the first two races of the season and a Jamie McMurray victory at Talladega, this organization also has hardly anything to show. I guess you could argue that three of their five drivers made the Chase. The one thing that strikes me more than anything else is Carl Edwards being winless this season after a career-high nine victories in 2008. This one could possibly be the curse of the Aflac duck...

That's all I have for the final edition of 2009. Not counting the last ten races, it's been a great season with a lot of drama on and off the track. Look for me to unveil my brand-new championship format in the next couple of weeks; this one needs a makeover...

Day Trip to Talladega

2009-10-30T20:09:00.007-04:00

Talladega. It is the biggest track on the NASCAR circuit. It is the most dangerous track on the NASCAR circuit. And since it is the venue of Sunday's Sprint Cup race, I thought it would be a good time to share some pictures from my day trip there a few weeks back.

The drive from Fayetteville, GA to Talladega, AL is just under three hours. My parents decided it would be a nice place to take a little family day trip since I happened to be out of school that Friday and had a Cross Country race the next day. We traveled there along interstate I-20 and came home through the backwoods of Alabama.

When we arrived at the track, we went in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame which is kind of like the visitor's center. It was late in the afternoon, but the tour guide was nice enough to take us and another group on a tour even though the last one of the day had already left... especially when he heard that all of us came from out of state.

Here are a few snapshots and captions from all we saw. The guide was an eighty-year old man who knew everything there was to know about Talladega and plate racing. South Carolina happened to be playing Alabama in Tuscaloosa that weekend, so he mentioned several times how they all were planning to have "Gamecock stew" for dinner.

In all of these pictures, you'll notice how dark the sky looks. That's because we hit the track just before the afternoon rain storm...

Those tire marks are remnants from Carl Edwards' airborne car back in April. I think it is kind of cool that they still left them there. Of course, we'll see a lot more of those by the time the checkered flag waves after 500 miles...

Here I am standing in victory lane. It looks so much smaller in person than when it is shown on the tube. I don't see how there's room for the winning team in addition to all of the media...

This is about the most picturesque scene I have for you at Talladega. There are even the Turn Four grandstands in the background...

Our 'Bama tour guide described this building as the place where the track owners discuss how to pocket our money on race weekend. All the dough that's spent on six dollar bottles of Coke goes toward that funky-looking space ship entrance...

That wraps up the picture show from my trip to Talladega. I'll try to write an edition of The Speeding Bullets for Sunday's race. Hope the racing will be better than it has been the last couple of weeks...

The Speeding Bullets: Pepsi 500

2009-10-13T18:45:00.016-04:00

Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson on winning two of the first four races of this year's Chase. Once he took the lead not long after the drop of the green flag, there was no looking back. The final restart showed just how much better he was than the rest of the field. Can you believe he has won three consecutive fall races at this track??? Jimmie is unbeatable, and unless something seriously goes wrong I don't see how he can not win a fourth straight championship...

At this point in the 2009 postseason, it doesn't matter how consistent all of the other Chasers are if they cannot win races. Juan Pablo Montoya may be running the best he ever has in the Cup series, but top fives every single week still aren't enough to run down a guy who is capable of winning all of the races remaining in this season's Chase. Mark Martin and Tony Stewart are the only drivers I believe have any shot at catching Johnson, and with them, it's only a matter of how long they can keep up...

Kasey Kahne really gave NASCAR a strike at the heart with what he said after his crash on Sunday. He blamed them for causing the big wreck in the closing laps of the race by throwing one of their bogus debris cautions. This was exactly what Tony Stewart did a couple of years back, but you know what NASCAR does when unwanted truths are uncovered. The funniest part of the whole incident was how the ESPN announcers were defending NASCAR for their actions by saying there were a couple of water bottles thrown on the track. Water bottles??? Those were probably from some hard-core fans who didn't want to have to watch Jimmie win another race...

Overall, I must say this was one of the better Fontana races I have seen. I think that moving the race from night to day really improved the racing on the track. The only problem with this race being late in the season is that it favors JJ even more. It is a step in the wrong direction if NASCAR wants to "Johnson proof" the Chase...

That's all I have for this week. Saturday night is the last time we truly go under the lights in 2009, unless you count Texas and Homestead. I remember from last year that Charlotte was one of the most exciting Chase races...

The Speeding Bullets: AAA 400

2009-09-29T17:56:00.033-04:00

Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson for getting his fourth win of the season. He also managed to sweep both of the year's Dover races for the second time in his career. As expected, he dominated from the time the green flag dropped until the checkered flag waved. The only other driver who could have possibly been a threat for the victory was Kurt Busch. The reality is starting to sink in to all of us fans that Jimmie is more than likely going to win a fourth straight championship. His expression in the picture above isn't one of utter excitement like most drivers; he just has a look of plain satisfaction knowing that everything is working out according to plan...

Joey Logano's wild ride through the air was like the only exciting part of Sunday's race. His crash looked scarily similar to the one Michael McDowell had in Texas qualifying last season. Tony Stewart appears to be the villain in this incident, but there was absolutely nothing he could do to prevent it because the cause of the wreck was a chain reaction. If anyone takes blame, it should be Bobby Labonte based on my analysis from the replays. This isn't the first time there has been a disastrous multi-car incident at The Monster Mile. I have decided that Dover is Talladega's little brother...

Denny Hamlin's 22nd place finish on Sunday made me change my mind about saying that he is a true threat to win this year's championship. Dover has always been a track that trips him up; however, with the top four drivers in points being so consistent each race, perfection is the only way for Hamlin or any other Chaser to stay in the hunt. I know it seems early for me to say this, but I think this year's title has already become a battle between Mark Martin and Jimmie Johnson and possibly Juan Pablo Montoya...

While scrolling through this week's results, I found it interesting to look at the different excuses the Start and Parkers used when making their dash for the garage. They tell NASCAR that their machines have everything from electrical to brake to transmission to even overheating problems. Joe Nemecheck went as far as using wheel bearing as his reason a few weeks back at Bristol. Interesting, interesting, interesting...

That's all I have for the Dover edition. The next two races on the schedule are Kansas and Fontana. Expect both of those races to be even more boring than this one. Also, expect pretty much the same finishing order with a tweak here and there...

The Speeding Bullets: Sylvania 300

2009-09-21T21:16:00.001-04:00

Congratulations to Mark Martin on getting his first ever victory at New Hampshire. His fifth win of the season was a hard earned one as he had a side by side duel with Juan Pablo Montoya in the closing laps. I don't know how Mark managed to beat him on the outside groove, but only a driver with his level of skill and experience would be able to do something like that. Sunday's victory made us all realize that Jimmie Johnson isn't the sole Chaser to outdrive when it comes to winning this year's championship. This is the best chance Martin has and will ever have at achieving the thing he has most sought throughout his entire racing career. The problem I have with Mark is he tends to take being humble a little too far. I will make a bet that if he wins this year's championship, the first thing he will say in his interview is "Allen Gustafson is the one who won it..."

Even though Juan Pablo Montoya got a solid third-place finish, he wasn't too happy with the outcome of the race when it was all said and done. Montoya felt that Mark Martin raced him dirty for the win, but all it came down to was Mark having the fire in him to be extra aggressive in order to secure the victory. I felt there was nothing dirty about it and liked seeing a flame ignite in Martin that has been latent for most of the season. Juan in addition to Mark seems to be a driver who is peaking at just the right time and has a legitimate shot to win this championship. He was the closest this weekend he has ever been to his first victory on an oval, and I have a feeling it is coming in these final nine weeks of the season...

Kasey Kahne without a doubt gets my sympathy vote for this week. A blown engine is a helpless feeling to a driver because there is absolutely nothing he can do about it. The blame in a situation like that goes all the way back to the Dodge shop. Even though Kahne's chances in the Chase seem to be gone with the wind, I wouldn't count him out just yet. Every driver seems to have a bad week some time during the ten race stretch, including Jimmie Johnson (usually at Talladega). Perfection is the only option for Kasey from this point forward since his mulligan has already been used up, but his dreams are still within reach...

After race one of this year's Chase being in the books, I am starting to have my doubts about Tony Stewart. His poor streak of performances over the past couple of weeks seems to be carrying into the postseason. That is a reason why momentum plays such an important role over the course of the 36-race season. Stewart's rear axle trouble on Sunday led to a 14th place finish and a drop to sixth position in the points standings. He still has plenty of time to get back on track, but it is already starting to look like "Smoke" is going to be the Kyle Busch of 2009...

It's time to criticize ESPN this week after raving about them at Richmond. Their post-race show was one of the poorest I have ever seen because they only interviewed the first and second place drivers. Obviously the network was pressed for time, but they left too many things hanging; it is like a research paper when someone forgets to write the concluding paragraph. Even though FOX's coverage seems kind of cheesy, I really like it that they always make sure to wrap everything up...

That's all I have for the New Hampshire edition. In my opinion, next week's trip to the Monster Mile is one of the most critical races for the drivers in the Chase. If you have noticed from past years, the guys who survive Dover are the ones still alive at Homestead...

The Speeding Bullets: Chevy Rock & Roll 400

2009-09-16T21:14:00.004-04:00

Congratulations to Denny Hamlin on getting his second victory of the season. The Virginia native's dreams finally came true by getting that long sought after victory at Richmond. For the past couple of years, late race obstacles have constantly taken him out of contention just when he thinks he has the win in the bag. Hamlin's eyes in the picture above show how much this victory means to him. It didn't come easy either as he fought tooth and nail with Jeff Gordon for most of the night. A spark in this team has ignited over the past month that will definitely make them a force to be reckoned with throughout the next ten weeks. Remember, the driver who has won this race the past two years has gone on to win the championship...

Kyle Busch drove his heart out to a fifth place finish, but the strong run still wasn't enough to put him in the top 12 in points at race end. It just doesn't seem right that the guy with four wins missed the Chase, but all that does is once again prove the importance of consistency week in and week out. He showed the most maturity I have ever seen from him in his post-race interview. Busch realized that it was pointless to kick himself over the results of one race because he has had 25 other races where he could have done better. One day, I hope all of these misfortunes will be the medicine he needs to propel himself to a championship. He reminds me a lot of Tony Romo; they both seem to falter at the times when perfection is crucial. These next ten weeks will be very interesting for us fans. Kyle Busch is out to prove a point to NASCAR nation, and absolutely nothing will be on his agenda except getting ten consecutive victories to add to his racing resume...

Brian Vickers achieved something this year that never would have happened if he hadn't been dumped by Hendrick Motorsports. Many people thought that when he signed with Red Bull Racing he would just turn out to be another Jamie McMurray or Reed Sorenson, but this season he has reached a talent level higher than anyone ever expected. Don't be surprised if he is one of the guys still in the running when Homestead comes around; just remember what Clint Bowyer did two years ago under the radar...

Ever since Matt Kenseth kicked off the 2009 season by winning the first two races, the rest of his year has been nothing but downhill. It was no surprise by the way Kenseth has been running lately that he missed his first ever Chase after making the postseason for five consecutive years. These next ten races need to be time for him to regroup and get his act back together. I thought it was kind of funny how confident Rusty and Brad were in the pre-race show about Matt's chances from a 28th place starting position...

I have to say that I think this was one of the best short-track races I have ever seen. It was the most intense cut-off race since the Chase has been in existence; one position could make or break a guy's season. We got to watch side by side racing for the lead all night long; I thought that battle between Hamlin and Gordon would never end. ESPN also did a fantastic job with constantly keeping us up-to-date on the points situation and taking the time to interview all 12 Chasers in the post-race show. I can see why Richmond is almost every single driver's favorite race track; it might just become mine too...

That's all I have for this week. We are just days away from the start of the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup. This is the time of the season when drivers really step up their game. Who will be this year's Greg Biffle? Will Jimmie Johnson win a fourth straight championship? The answers to these questions plus many more are going to be revealed over the next ten races...

The Speeding Bullets: Pep Boys Auto 500

2009-09-09T18:05:00.030-04:00

This week's edition of The Speeding Bullets comes to you high up from Turn 3 of the Atlanta Motor Speedway with a panoramic view of all the racing action. Enjoy!

Congratulations to Kasey Kahne on getting his second win of the 2009 season. He started from the shotgun position and stayed near the front most of the night. Kasey was the beneficiary of the late race debris caution which was just what he needed to set up his race-winning pass on Kevin Harvick. This victory pretty much solidifies Kahne's spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup and will give him some extra breathing room during Saturday night's showdown in Richmond, Virginia...

Kevin Harvick got a hard-earned second place finish on Sunday night. This team needed a confidence boost in the midst of what his been an incredibly disappointing season. Since Kevin is out of Chase contention though, his stout performance just feels like another loss because all he seeks is a trip to victory lane. He definitely had the car to beat all race long but totally got screwed over by NASCAR when they decided to throw the debris caution in order to tighten up the field. The yellow flag proved to be so devastating to him because Harvick seemed to have more of a long-run car whereas Kahne's short-run car propelled him to victory in the 11-lap shootout. Even though I was really rooting for Happy to break his painfully long winless streak, the final restart made it extra exciting to be in the stands...

Juan Pablo Montoya came one step closer with a third-place finish to making his first ever Chase. He led quite a few laps throughout the evening and looked as if he might take the checkered flag. Montoya is racing top-notch every week and will sooner or later get that much-wanted victory on a NASCAR oval. With him being at eighth place in the standings, making the postseason is not a guarantee as anything can happen in a short track Saturday night. Juan just needs to not let the pressure get the best of him and make sure he continues to stay on top of his game...

Even though Carl Edwards sits at a solid fifth place when it comes to points, this season continues to go more and more downhill for him. His 37th place finish this weekend gives me the opportunity to dog him once again; Atlanta is supposed to be one of his best tracks! I don't know whether it is being married or having the Aflac duck on the hood of his car every week, but something is obviously affecting his performance week in and week out. At some point, I hope being winless after 25 races will finally hit him hard in the head, so his old fire will return to the Sprint Cup Series...

I want to wrap up this week's edition by talking about just how successful of an event this was for Atlanta Motor Speedway. I read an article in the newspaper saying that the track had the largest crowd it has seen in at least six years. Even with a tough economy, 116,000 fans hungry to get their racing fix filled the stands. The track owner said he took a huge risk by moving his second race from Halloween to Labor Day, a risk that paid off in a way that will be remembered for years to come. I found out an interesting fact the other day: my great-grandfather attended the first day race ever held at AMS, and my dad and I just attended the first ever night race there...

That's all I have for this week. The final race before the Chase cutoff is only three days away. Kyle Busch and Brian Vickers will be doing anything and everything to get inside the Top 12 in points and continue on in their quests for the 2009 Sprint Cup championship...

Pep Boys Auto 500 Race Pictures

2009-09-07T09:38:00.033-04:00

Hey everyone,

I arrived home in the wee hours this morning from an action-packed and awesome trip to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Sprint Cup race. I have taken quite a few pictures from the event to share with all of you. Enjoy!

This first shot is of A.J. Allmendinger at his pre-race autograph session. Since tickets were only sold in advance, I could only see him at a distance...

This next one is of the boys on the set of NASCAR RaceDay setting the stage for the night's 500-mile showdown...

In the next hour or so, my dad and I walked around and took advantage of all the free stuff. We were handed everything from Goody's headache powder to mini-sticks of Degree V12 deodorant. My dad even managed to win a Dale Earnhardt, Jr. mouse pad. Our favorite part though was getting free pork barbeque at the Prilosec booth. The tasty sauce just left us wanting more....

This next one is of the Sprint Cup trophy on display. They happened to be throwing out a bunch of ballcaps when we went in the Sprint zone. I didn't catch one, but it is amazing what some race fans will do for a free hat...

We wrapped up our pre-race musings by watching a motorbike show and saw the guys do some amazing flips. By then, it was time to make the walk to our seats on the third turn. They were nine rows from the top of the grandstands and gave us a bird's eye view of all of the action...

After watching the driver intros, it was finally time to get the race under way. This next picture is of the planes zooming right over our heads during the flyover...

These next pics are of the actual race. I tried to only post the ones that didn't turn out too blurry.

An interesting part of the event as a spectator was when this guy in our section threw a beer can down onto the track. I don't know if you saw it on t.v. or not since it was below the yellow line. I was surprised that the safety crews didn't notice it and come pick it up...

This is of Reed Sorenson when he blew a tire to bring out one of the yellow flags. It happened right by where we were sitting, so the blow sounded like a sonic boom!

Overall, I found the whole race to be pretty exciting. There were side-by-side battles for the lead all evening long, and each double-file restart got all of us fans on our feet. The last bogus debris caution added a bunch of drama to the finish. Too bad for Harvick; he was totally sabotaged. I was really rooting for him to get that victory...

On our way back to our car we got to watch a post-race fireworks show to top off our night. My dad and I had a great time and will want to go back again next year.

The Speeding Bullets are soon to come...

The Speeding Bullets: Sharpie 500

2009-08-24T20:07:00.012-04:00

Congratulations to Kyle Busch on getting his fourth victory of 2009. This win gave him a much-needed boost of confidence heading into the final two races before the Chase cutoff at Richmond. He went into Saturday night's race knowing the marks he had to meet and the statement he needed to make to NASCAR nation. Busch is now only 34 points out of 12th place in the standings. It isn't going to be easy for him to make the Chase, but it now looks possible for a driver with his level of talent . Bristol has always been one of his dominant tracks as he proved by sweeping both of the races there this season. He better just be happy that Mark Martin chose to race him the way he did in the closing laps; otherwise, the outcome of the race could have been quite different...

Mark Martin made his 1,000th career Cup start on Saturday night and dominated most of the race from the pole position; it's too bad he didn't end up in victory lane. He said that the reason that he didn't do the bump-and-run on Kyle Busch was because he didn't feel that Kyle would do the same to him. I understand that Busch giving Martin the inside passing lane prevented the need for a bump, but I just feel that Mark didn't try hard enough to make the maneuver and could have been a little more on the aggressive side. Kyle is the type of guy who will do whatever it takes to win a race...

Marcos Ambrose is edging closer and closer to that first ever Cup victory. He is proving to be much more than just a road racer and a serious threat to win races week in and week out. I know that making the Chase is an unreachable goal for 2009, but he very well could have a shot at contending for the title down the road...

The Mistake of the Week award for the Bristol night race goes to Jimmie Johnson's jackman. The saying proves true once again that a race can be won or lost on pit road. Johnson pretty much had a win in the bag until his jackman somehow dropped the jack during a tire change. Jimmie made a great recovery and ended up with an eighth place finish; that right there is a mark of a true champion. I can still picture seeing the guy's face on t.v. trying to explain himself. Denial, denial, denial...

The first half of the race about put me to sleep after having to get up at 6 a.m. for a cross country meet, but the second half was pretty action-packed. It was crash after crash after crash as a result of 43 competitive drivers on a Saturday night at Bristol. Clint Bowyer's Chase hope was shattered along with all of the torn-up race cars thanks to Michael Waltrip's tire going down. There's just something about Mikee and Bristol that don't go too well together...

That's all I have for the Bristol edition. Next week, the drivers get one final off-week before the 2009 season hits the home stretch and the intensity reaches an all-time high. The guys who are on the bubble of making the Chase will get to sit in their La-Z-Boy recliners waiting in agony for their fates to be decided...

The Speeding Bullets: CARFAX 400

2009-08-17T18:49:00.043-04:00

Hey everyone! If you haven't already noticed, I decided to change my blog title from Sidekick Sports to Analytical Afterthoughts because I am going to start writing about some topics other than NASCAR. I know Thursday is kind of late to look back at Sunday's race, but I have been incredibly busy this week. Enjoy!

Congratulations to Brian Vickers on getting his second career win and breaking a painfully long winless drought. His fuel tank held up just long enough for him to take the checkered flag. Now, we can officially say that he has a legitimate victory in the Cup Series since his only other one at Talladega in the fall of 2006 caused a lot of controversy around the sport. Vickers has impressed me lately; he is the new Ryan Newman when it comes to winning poles. It's nice to see a different face in victory lane, and I wish him the best of luck on making the Chase. He is only 12 points out and has the momentum necessary to power him into the postseason...

Jimmie Johnson has made history in my record books by becoming the first ever driver to sweep the year's Mistake of the Week awards at a single track. He made the same error both times by trying to stretch his fuel tank a little too far. I guess I kind of expected Johnson to have learned from it back in June and not let it happen again. I know you are going to tell me that he had nothing to lose by going for the win because of his position in the standings, but I feel that this mistake was just plain stupid. You know Jimmie is rolling the dice too much when he is trying to save even more fuel than he tried to last time when his tank hit empty...

Finally, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. gets a third place finish under command of Lance McGrew. It's been a long time coming with many struggles along the way. Junior's last noticeably good finish was his second place run at Talladega in April. I really thought towards the end that he was going to make it to victory lane, but he didn't have enough time to overtake the stout Brian Vickers. After watching the race on Sunday, I have decided that Toyota's get better fuel mileage at Michigan than Chevy's do. Did you notice that NASCAR decided not to throw any of their bogus debris cautions when they realized Junior had a chance to win???

Rain, rain, go away. Even on a bright sunny day in the Irish Hills of Michigan, a light shower still manages to wet the track enough to have a 45-minute delay. I do have to give them credit though for efficiently getting the race resumed. This is the third week in a row though that rain has some how affected the race. Are you taking notes NASCAR??? It looks like you may have some rescheduling to do...

Kudos for this week go out to three drivers you may not expect to find finishing in the top ten: Sam Hornish, Jr., Casey Mears, and Joey Logano. All three of them got much needed boosts in confidence to help them down the road. It seems like this is the year that the Indy car drivers like Montoya and Hornish, Jr. are finally starting to get the hang of stock car racing...

That's all I have for the Michigan edition. Next week is the race we have waited all season long for, the night brawl at Bristol. Tempers always flare and crucial points are on the line. Let's just hope it doesn't turn into a day race...