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...