HAPPY SUNDAY, HOWDY AND GOOD DAY!!!!! Welcome Gabbers and others to another of my NASCAR updates and other fast stuff. It's now on to the 5th race of the season. Some teams flew out of the box and sped away. Others jumped out but didn't make too big of a run but they're making ground and others just need more time to work on the adjustments. And some never will get it just right. It's a new car to figure out and Denny Hamlin told us all that a couple weeks ago just before he got fined for doing so. Danica has slid back into the quiet of the lap down field. There's a new feud on the track. Apologies not accepted yet. Dale Jr is quietly finishing in the top 10's like last year before his concussion put an end to that dream. Looks like he be sneaking up on that trophy again? So we're off to another day at the races and lots of fast stuff to talk about.

STEWART'S FEET IN CONCRETE

We're back at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana , CA for race #5 and last years winner Tony Stewart was given a plaque by the VP of the track Dave Allen. Stewart then put his feet in the concrete and signed his name and number. Just one more name on the Walk of Fame at the track. This is Stewarts 2nd W here. Other notables with W's and sections on the Walk of Fame are Johnson with 5 W's here. Gordon has the very first win and a total of 3 W's. Kyle B, Kurt B, Biffle and Kahne each have one. So Stewart is in good company. Congratulations.

MARK MARTIN TO OVERSEE BUILDING OF NEW TRAINING FACILITY

Martin has been working to get the new Training facility green lighted for 10 months now. Working out is his 2nd passion. He works out 5 times a week, lifting weights for 1 hour. 

The new facility will be at MWR head quarters and construction is to begin in the next week and could be done in 90 days. It will have a car silhouette so crew members can practice their agility training around the car. Of course all kinds of free weights, machines and cardio equipment will be included as well as locker rooms and offices. 

Martin says that teams are investing in equipment for human performance now and he's excited to be a part of it. 

BOWYER OPENS TOYOTA DEALERSHIP IN HOMETOWN

This week Clint Bowyer went home to Emporia, Kansas to open Clint Bowyer's Autoplex. He partnered with Davis-Moore Auto Group to by the Emporia Motors dealership. Bowyer once worked there as a paintless dent repair specialist and dealer. Davis-Moore Auto Group will take over the day to day operations while Bowyer goes about his job of racing the #15 Five Hour Energy Toyota for MWR.

ISC TO LOBBY FOR TAX BREAKS

The owner of Daytona International Speedway, International Speedway, Corp is lobbying for tax breaks that could save them $100 million in the next 30 years so they can do a huge renovation project on the Daytona race track. The tax breaks would help in moving forward with the renovation project. 

Plans are to add escalators, concourses, and wider seats in the grandstands. A mixed use commercial development would be added across the street. All of this and the scale of it depends on how much if any tax breaks they get.

Sen Dorothy Hukill of Port Orange and Rep. David Santiago of Deltone are sponsoring this bill. So they'd be the ones (if you live in Florida and you're not happy about this) to contact.

I guess if Football and Baseball teams lobby for the tax breaks and get them than race tracks can too.

BRISTOL RECAP : HAMLIN VS LOGANO 

Bristol and Martinsville seem to bring out the monster in drivers. No patience. Logano was fighting over the lead with Gordon minding his own business. He'd get up to Gordon's door and fall back. This went on for several laps till Hamlin in 3rd caught up and drove into Logano's bumper sending him spinning and a caution comes out. Logano goes to the pits for repairs and manages to not lose too much track position.

With 46 to go another caution gets him a starting position right behind Hamlin. Nothing happens but after the race Logano went to Hamlin's car to talk to him and a crew member shoved him away. A Twitter word battle started after the race.

On Friday Hamlin apologized for damaging Logamo's car. He only meant to give him a nudge to let him know he wasn't happy about Logano pinching him down on the race track. He also said it's not up to me to be judging someone's driving to be bad or good and he shouldn't have degraded him as a driver.

Logano says they haven't talked about it. So I'm guessing it's not over. Hamlin made all this fuss last week about the respect of his peers and of NASCAR. Then he pulls this stunt. Seems to me he needs to apologize to Logano in person and not through the media.

So I called Kasey Kahne a squirrel last week. His performance is manic. It goes from awesome to wrecking. At Bristol it was awesome. He won and led 109 laps. Not the most but he was in the top 5 ALL day. Hamlin led the most laps with 117. Kyle led 56 and Keselowski led 62. 

On lap 9 Stewart cut down a tire and spun out. His brakes were broken so back behind the wall he went for about 15 laps. That's one fast brake job. Give those crew guys a cookie.

Kyle got caught in 3 sections of pit road for speeding. He went to the back on the restart and within 84 laps he was in 2nd. 

Gordon was leading and running away when the bead in his tire melted, his tire popped and he went up the race track and took Kenseth out with him. He only took 2 tires on the stop just 29 laps before to get that lead. Was it worth it?

Johnson had a tire go down due to the bead melting. Finished 2 laps down in 22nd.

Top 10 finishers.....Kahne - Kyle B - Keselowski - Kurt B - Bowyer - Dale Jr - Newman - Martin - Menard - McMurray

AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY - FONTANA, CA

So that leads us to this week. Rain shortened last year and our winner was Stewart. Stewart loves this track and is happy to be here. He has 2 wins. Hope his bad luck in the last 2 races is just a blur from now on.

Johnson has 5 wins and a 4.8 average finish here. A threat as always.

Keselowski finished 18th and 1 lap down last year. He didn't do so hot in Saturdays Nationwide race. He starts in the rear due to an engine change. Hope he has some good notes. He's still a threat. He and his CC Paul have a connection.

Gordon has 3 wins here but his season is starting to look like last season. De Ja VooDoo with a HooDoo. Last year he dragged the gas man out of his pit stall. A stop & go penalty put him a lap down in 24th at the end. Really need a good luck charm or a Wanga Doll. Wonder if they make racing ones. Skip him.

Kahne is starting 16th today. He finished 15th last year. Don't know if he has another good run in him so soon but he does have a hot hand. 

Kyle won the Nationwide race this week....AND LAST WEEK. He's hot. Came in 2nd last week at Bristol and starts 4th today. Looking good.

Dale Jr came in 3rd last year at this race. He's quietly making his case to be on your fantasy roster.

Hamlin won the pole. He came in 11th last year. He's mad and thinks he's entitled. If he and Logano don't tangle on track he's a good bet.

Harvick came in 4th last year. He's a good bet.

Biffle starts 2nd and last year came in 6th. He's 5th in the points right now so he's a possible.

Truex, Bowyer and Martin are MWR's finest. Any of those are pickable.

Newman came in 7th last year. He's a fighter and pickable.

Dark horse picks...Logano. He's been showing some life in his new ride in the #22 with Penske Racing. 

McMurray seems to be coming to life also. EGR turned to Hendrick for their motors this year. I'll be watching him.

Kurt B could post another top 10 here in his Furniture Row Racing #78.

C list options for those of you who pick a top tier driver, 2 B's and a C.

Casey Mears, David Reutimann or AJ Allmendinger. Allmendinger is in the #51 this week. He's part of that revolving list along with Austin Dillon, Regan Smith, Ryan Truex and who knows who else. Ricky Stenhouse Jr is certainly an option too but I don't know his record on this track and with Cup drivers. He's a total unknown. Those 2 Nationwide Championships don't equate to Cup success. But he is in Kenseth's old ride. Good equipment is a bonus. 

Last years top 10 finishers...Stewart - Kyle - Dale Jr - Harvick - Edwards - Biffle - Newman - Truex - Kurt B - Johnson

So there you have it folks. Hope it helps those in the fantasy leagues. Sounds like there's a lot of happy campers enjoying the March Madness Brackets as well as the games. So this being Sunday, I wish you all the most fun there is doing what you love with whom you love. I'm off to breakfast as usual and....

I'm outta here.......

HAPPY ST SHAMROCK SHAKE DAY!!!!!! Any day that I can celebrate with a shake or chocolate or donuts is a great day. Happy Sunday. Welcome Gabbers and others to my NASCAR update and other fast stuff. Got my marshmallow peeps this week. The cellophane is slit and they'll be sitting on top of the fridge for a month till they get stiff or I run a stick through them and hold them over a fire. Also ordered some home made peanut butter eggs dipped in dark chocolate. A local church makes them every year. WAY way way better than store bought. So I have my celebration in order. What about you?

                                   HAMLIN UPDATE

Denny Hamlin has decided to drop his appeal with NASCAR. He cites the things like the court of public opinion is on his side. He feels he's won in the eyes of the fans and his peers. Well at least the peers that in his opinion had a back bone and were able to speak up for what they know is right. He feels NASCAR will get it's credibility back and in the mean time he has bigger fish to fry and plans to move on to working on winning that championship. 

Hamlin said that Joe Gibbs didn't help to mediate the meeting between himself and Brian France (CEO das NASCAR). He feels that NASCAR over reacted and that they know it. He also feels that had it been Dale Jr, Stewart or Gordon that it would've been handled differently and that he has grinded it out for the last 8 years in the Cup Series and feels he's owed some respect by his peers and NASCAR.

I pretty much agree with Hamlin. Mr Keselowski was running his mouth just recently at USA Today during an interview which I felt he pushed the boundaries and he got a stern talking to by Brian but no fine. So I believe Hamlin has a point here.

But still, he will be paying his fine. Though he refuses to write that check, NASCAR will garnish his future winnings of that $25,000 fine and he won't be suspended. 

TWINKIES WILL RETURN

That's right folks. Twinkies have been saved and are set to be on a store shelf near you by this summer that is if the bankruptcy judge likes and excepts the offer. 

Metropoulos & Co. along with Apollo Global Management have teamed up to offer $410 million to possess the Twinkie making facility.

Metropoulos & Co are known for taking food brands in trouble and turning them around. They've dealt with Chef Boyardee, Bumble Bee Tuna, PAM, and Guldens Mustard which they sold to ConAgra Foods. They also hold Pabst Blue Ribbon.

I don't know about you but I really don't want the cake. I just want to stick my hand in a vat of the filling and eat it. Now if they dipped those Twinkies in chocolate.....

MWR GIRLS NEW AND COMING AT YOU

Michael Waltrip Racing has decided to add some pretty girls to their racing family. Michael noticed that most drivers and race teams use Twitter and Facebook to talk about their car set ups, pit strategy, qualifying, etc. So he got an idea. In order to reach more fans and get them pulled into the racing experience he is employing some pretty girls. These girls will have MWR uniforms to wear. They'll be going to track events and interacting with fans at the track and on Twitter. You can reach them ...@MWRGirls. 

In order to reach out to the Spanish fans one of the girls is Miss Florida Latina. Of course she speaks Spanish. 

So if you're in the garage area, hospitality tents, Sponsor Midway or the infield at a race this year you may just see them. 

LAS VEGAS RECAP

Our last weeks winner was Matt Kenseth. I guess that was an in your face win since I doubted him and his team mates because of JGR's equipment woes which started last year. So congrats to Kenseth and a happy birthday as well. I is only the 3rd driver to win a NASCAR race on his birthday. Job well done.

His team mates Kyle and Hamlin made a showing as well. Even Kahne who I think is a squirrel but a very talented squirrel was very strong. He led the most laps but Kenseth out did him. Don't get me wrong, I like Kahne he's just not consistent. He's either awesome or wrecking.

My most handsome Knight of the Mobile 1 fell back because of loose conditions. Every one was having issues but Stewart fought back from being a lap down riding in the 20's to a lead lap finish in 11th. The Danica finished 6 laps down but she finished in one piece this week.

Top 10 at Vegas Kenseth, Kahne, Keselowski, Kyle B, Edwards, Johnson, Dale Jr, Truex, Harvick, Menard

BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY

It's Bristol , BABY!!!! WOO HOOOOOOO!!!!! Short track racing. Beatin' and bangin'. Tempers flaring and crumpled bumpers. Actually the drivers don't need their bumpers. If they get into a fender bender, the pit crew can just saw off the offending sheet metal. Aero isn't a factor here. 

Some facts. Terry Labonte has participated in 57 Bristol races. The most of any driver. Mark Martin & Cale Yaraborough each have 9 poles. Gordon leads active drivers with a 6.775 average finish here. Kyle Busch has the record for youngest winner at 19 years. Darral Waltrip has the most W's with 12. 

There are 2 pit roads. One on the back stretch and one on the front stretch. Bristol is the only track like that. 

Last year saw a 3-4-5 finish for MWR. (Truex, Bowyer, Vickers) Gordon had a bad day when he and Dale Jr got side by side. They traded paint and Dale Jr's tail pipes took out Gordon's tire. 

Kasey Kahne the one I said is the talented squirrel brought out the first caution at lap 24. Went for a piece of track to call his own and lost. Took out Harvick, Edwards, Ambrose and Regan Smith. Harvick rebounded.

So my fantasy picks would be......

Kyle Busch - He won the Nationwide race Saturday night and the pole for Sundays race. Made a new track record too with a speed of 129.535 mph. I want to believe he will be there. He has 5 Cup wins besides his Nationwide and truck wins. I did pick him in my Yahoo league.

Brother Kurt Busch - Also 5 W's here. Lots of top 5's & 10's too.

Any of the MWR cars. Bowyer, Truex or this week in the #55 is Vickers. Mad that he's not on the C list but he is a good pick for this week. I say C list because some fantasy leagues have you pick from A, B & C lists. 

Kenseth - 2nd here last year. He's a good bet.

Johnson - What can I say? Always a threat.

Gordon - Average finish of 6. whatever says he's a threat.

Keselowski - Last years winner. He's proven he can get it done even in any car. He led 231 of the 266.5 laps last year.

The B list category has a few gems. Menard, Burton, McMurray and Montoya.

The C list category my picks would be Allm​endinger, Ruetimann, Ragan, and Mears. Yes, Allmendinger is driving the Phoenix Racing #51 this week.  The Danica? Mmmmmm don't look for her. She starts 41st. She'll be down a lap almost immediately. Lets see if she finishes . Bets?

Top 10 last year was Keselowski, Kenseth, Truex, Bowyer, Vickers, Burton, McMurray, Montoya, Johnson, Menard

So there you have it race fans and Gabbers. I hope this helps in your fantasy league picking. You know it's Sunday. A green shamrock type Sunday. I'll pass on the green beer. The green eggs and ham too.

Hope you're all enjoying your Sunday doing what you love with whom you love. I'm doing breakfast, watching my race and then heading in for some OT. Weird hours but you got to get it where it's at. Take care, see you next week and....

I'm outta here..... 

I was talking to a Florida fan the other day, and shortly after we talked about Spurrier, he mentioned that Miles wasn’t doing a very good job at LSU.

I’m as frustrated as a lot of LSU fans with some issues. Clock management at the end of certain games against Ole Miss and Tennessee, refusing to give Jarrett Lee a chance in the BCS championship game in January, sticking with former OC Gary Crowton as long as he did, and so on.

But the man wins games and somehow finds a way to take teams that don’t seem particularly strong and have them win 7 of 8 or 6 of 7 and so forth. There was sort of a 2-year rebuilding process after the national championship, but take away Lee’s interception affliction in 2008 and a couple two-point losses in 2009, and those teams have similar records to the teams in Miles’ other 5 full seasons before this one.

The gold standard in recent coaching stints is Pete Carroll at USC, who went 110-20. I think Miles would have to have a few 1- or 0- loss teams in a row to even come close to 85% (Carroll won 84.6%), but he’s competitive with or ahead of other recent luminaries, particularly if you limit it to tenures in the last 10 years or those that (have) lasted longer than his. I’m not looking at career winning percentage but only at a particular school.

Saban (Ala.) 62-12 (83.8%)*
Spurrier (Fla.) 122-27-1 (81.7%)
Meyer (Fla.) 65-15 (81.3%)
Tressel (Ohio St.) 94-22 (81.0%)
Miles (LSU) 71-17 (80.7%)*
Stoops (Okla.) 144-35 (80.4%)*
Brown (Texas) 146-41 (78.1%)*
Richt (Ga.) 122-39 (75.8%)*
Carr (Mich.) 122-40 (75.3%)
Saban (LSU) 48-16 (75.0%)

*=active; record and percentage as of Week 8

Before I continue, I wanted to mention that of course I realize winning 70 games is nothing like winning 150 or 400. Being able to keep ahead of the other great programs over a decade or more is no easy task. Urban Meyer seemed to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown after 6 seasons at Florida.

But nonetheless, this is pretty good company to be in as far as how often your team wins games, and any fan of these teams will tell you that.

These are some historically great coaching tenures that had lower winning percentages (ties counted as half a win) than Miles has had so far:

Full post

Oooo , Hey howdy and good day. Welcome Gabbers, gawkers, lurkers and others to another NASCAR update and other fast stuff. There is so much buzzing around in my head right now I don't know where to start. Lets see here. There's a driver that stepped out of a car, 2 drivers that swapped rides but then one of them crawled into the first drivers car and then a driver who lost his license and got it back has stepped into the ride of the one that crawled into the first car. Are you with me so far? Not sure who's on first but I can tell you who went where. Let me see if I can get it right.

 This guy here is Dale Jr and he has had a press conference to tell everyone he's out of the car for 2 races. Why? He says he suffered a concussion in the big wreck at Talladega. As he tells it, it started back 5 weeks ago while he was testing at the Kansas track. His right front tire blew and he hit the wall hard. He says he remembered everything before and after the crash but began experiencing head aches. By the time the Chase started he felt better and by Talladega he felt 100%. The wreck at Talladega wasn't even half of what he experienced at Kansas but the head aches returned and by Tuesday he had to see someone about it.

Good news is that a MRI revealed no damage but his neurosurgeon Dr Jerry Petty suggested 2 races out of the car and then Dale should be tested again before he's left to go back racing. A press conference was held where Rick Hendrick ( Dale's Boss), Dale Jr, Steve Letarte ( crew chief ) and Dr Jerry Petty were all in attendance to talk about the concussion. Hendrick said he was proud of Dale for not playing hurt and coming forward. It remains to be seen how this plays out. He may and most likely should just end his season now and rest till February. 

After Talladega Dale Jr was very vocal about the wreck. He felt it wasn't racing and that the wreck cost a lot of money. He felt if NASCAR wants us to race that way then NASCAR should build the cars and save the teams money.

So enter Regan Smith. He's Mia's man and he's been driving the #78 Furniture Row car till this week. He was forced out to put Kurt Busch in. Regan was going to finish out the season driving Kurt's old ride the #51 Phoenix Racing car but Hendrick gave him a call to drive the #88 that Dale wouldn't be driving this week and next.

 Here's Kurt saying good bye. So with Kurt in the #78 and Regan in the #88 that left the #51 open. Enter...yes...that would be one AJ Allmendinger. Freshly re - instated. 

So to recap, Dale Jr is out for 2 races and possibly the season.

                    Kurt Busch to the #78 Furniture Row car

                   Regan Smith to the #88 Mountain Dew car

                   AJ Allmendinger to the #51 Phoenix Racing car (interesting........ Allmendinger is a phoenix rising? )

THE DEMISE OF SPEEDTV

Don't know when but it's apparent that parent company FOX is about to pull the plug on SPEEDTV. They want to make an all sports network. I'm guessing they think they can out do ESPN. They have FOXSports.com. I'm not understanding why they need to wipe out SPEEDTV. Do we really need more stick and ball channels? My dad was freaking about all the college ball on tv before we watched the race tonight. There's lots of racing type coverage that will be lost if it goes away. 

BETTER HALF DASH UPDATE

Lyn-2 Adams Hawkins Pastrana won the Better Half dash. She is an 8 time X Games skate board medalist and wife of Travis Pastrana.....Nitro Circus....rally car driver...and now Nationwide Series rookie.

Motorsports analyst for SPEED Wendy Venturini came in second.

So this would be a wreck at Talladega. The big one as it were.  

This would be Jimmie Johnson hitching a ride back to the garage on Dale Jr's door.

                                      Matt Kenseth. Winner of Talladega. 

Talladega was the race I thought it would be. Well mostly. There should never be a Green-White Checker at Talladega or Daytona in my opinion. When you do it's a 4 wide parking lot moving along at 200 mph and coming around the last turn the drivers go nuts. They all start weaving back and forth changing lanes. It is a recipe for disaster. I propose tacking on 10 laps. This could get the cars spread out a tad bit. I wanted to see a race to the finish but not that. The smaller tracks you can get away with a Green-White Checker which is a 2 lap shoot out. 

We're so lucky Dale Jr was the only one to get a concussion. Or was he? Jeff Gordon said if he were in the Chase that he would never admit to a concussion. This makes me wonder how many race with concussions. Back around 1985-ish or so Ricky Rudd wrecked at the then Busch Series Daytona race so bad that his face swelled up and he had to tape his eyes open to race in the Daytona 500 the next day. Of course NASCAR never knew how bad he was because he refused treatment. After the Daytona 500 everyone saw him and NASCAR made it a rule going forward that from then on if you wrecked it was off to the infield care center you went for a mandatory check up. You can go to You Tube and look up Ricky Rudd's wreck. It was violent and he came really close to hitting the end of a wall in the grass. If you factor in the safety of the cars then compared to now the wreck is that much scarier to watch. He was one lucky guy.

NASCAR has work to do. That was one expensive race and we're so lucky not to have had anyone killed or carted off to the hospital. 

CUP POINTS 10-7-12

Keselowski - 2179...Johnson - 2165...Hamlin - 2156...Kahne - 2143...Bowyer - 2139...Gordon - 2137...Stewart - 2133...Truex - 2131...Biffle - 2130...Harvick - 2130...Dale Jr - 2128...Kenseth - 2117

So it's Charlotte on Saturday night. Biffle got the pole and set a track record. It's Mark Martin's 850th start. His career includes 40 victories, 55 poles and 270 top 5's. The track is a 1.5 mile. Pit speed is 45 mph. It was a good race and I'll have to wait to tell you about it next Sunday.

Until then, thank you for stopping by and you all have a fantastic football Sunday. I'm out of here.....