Monday, March 24, 2014

Fontana Weekend

Hey readers! Here's my take on Fontana race weekend. The Trucks were still off, but will race this weekend.


Saturday was the Nationwide race. Kyle Larson won with 17 laps led, followed by Kevin Harvick with 8 laps led, Kyle Busch with 25 laps led, Joey Logano with 96 laps led and pole-sitter Elliot Sadler. Rounding out the top-ten were, rookie Chase Elliot, Matt Kenseth, rookie Ty Dillon, Trevor Bayne and Regan Smith. Twelfth place Brian Scott led 2 laps. No one crashed out but some drivers were out early with car trouble and others were in the garage and came back to the track. Trevor Bayne and Regan Smith share the points lead but Smith is 1st on the tie breaker of a win to Trevor's best finish of third. If Trevor continues to race like this, he could be a championship contender. He has to be healthy enough to race every time and keep his finishes consistent as he has to date this year. May MS never win!


Sunday was the Cup race.  Kyle Busch won with 5 laps led, followed by rookie Kyle Larson, Kurt Busch, Kyle B's older brother with 2 laps led, Matt Kenseth with 19 laps led and Tony Stewart. Rounding out the top-ten were pole-sitter Jamie McMurray, Brian Vickers with 1 lap led,  AJ Allmendinger, Paul Menard and Carl Edwards. Jeff Gordon, who finished 13th place led 23 laps, which included when they had the last caution for Bowyer's spin with 2 laps to go. Clint Bowyer led 2 laps before he finished 16th. Ryan Newman, the 20th place finisher led 3 laps. Reed Sorenson finished 21st after he led a lap.  Jimmie Johnson led 104 laps but cut a tire and finished 24th. Landon Cassill led 4 laps and finished 25th.  Brad Keselowski led 38 laps and finished 26th. David Ragan led a lap and finished 27th.  David Reutimann led a lap before a 29th place finish.  Joe Nemechek led a lap before he finished 32nd.  David Gilliland led a lap before he finished 38th.


Though not a Hamlin fan, I know as I watched the race what happened.  He had a bad headache and vision problems.  They thought he had a bad sinus infection. I once saw in a magazine how a serious sinus infection call swell an eye shut.  Now they think it's something else. Maybe he had a migraine or something. They can cause vision problems.  I have an uncle with migraines and a woman we know talked about how she used to have a lot of them.  He was sent to a hospital, released and will be evaluated further at a home hospital. I know how his fans feel because of Trevor. I'm his fan and he had to go to the hospital nearly three years ago with vision problems.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Bristol Weekend

Hey everyone! It's Bristol baby and here's my take on what happened. Trucks were off again this time.


Saturday was the Nationwide race. Kyle Busch won with 120 laps led, followed by pole-sitter Kyle Larson with 2 laps led, Kevin Harvick, Truck regular Ryan Blaney and Matt Kenseth with 178 laps led. Rounding out the top-10 were rookie Ty Dillon, Brendan Gaughan, Trevor Bayne, rookie Chase Elliot and Regan Smith.  Bayne and Elliot came back from a lap down.  Bayne, the hometown boy as he's from Knoxville, the nearest metropolitan area which is about an hour and a half away got within one point of Smith's points lead.  He's been top-10 in all four races this year.  Rookie Ryan Reed whose sponsor also was the race's sponsor wrecked quite late in the race, on 258.






Sunday was the Cup race.  They got rain delayed. Carl Edwards was the winner with 78 laps led followed by Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Aric Almirola, Tony Stewart and Marcos Ambrose. Rounding out the top-10 were  pole-sitter Denny Hamlin with four laps led, Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne with 16 laps led, Brian Vickers and rookie Kyle Larson. Thirteenth place Matt Kenseth led 165 laps. Brad Keselowski led 40 laps and finished 14th. Clint Bowyer led five laps before a 15th place finish. Jimmie Johnson led 44 laps before a 19th place finish. Joey Logano led 12 laps before a power steering issue relegated him to 20th place.  Kyle Busch led 73 laps be finished 29th.  His older brother Kurt Busch led 28 laps but finished 35th because he was off the track a while.   Jamie McMurray led 10 laps but had an accident and was 38th. Kevin Harvick led 28 laps but was 39th due to an accident. Rookie Ryan Truex, as well as Timmy Hill had accidents as well.


Only Vegas was unaffected by rain. It's suggested the Daytona 500 should always be a night race and Bristol go back to April, as it was a few years ago, as March nights are cool at the track for it to be a night race as it falls in the schedule now.  The second races at these tracks are night races, so they do have lights.  Another NASCAR track, Richmond's always a night race track.  The trend of 4 different winners in as many races may fail as the track types are about to repeat. The track lengths so far have been 2.5, 1, 1.5 and .5 mile and the next track will be another mile and a half track. The winners will take more risks as well and this may pay off. 2011, was the most different winner in recent years with 15, which included 5 (I think it was 5) first time winners.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Las Vegas Weekend

Hey folks! Ready for my take on Vegas race weekend. Once more, the Trucks were off this time. Tyler Reddick's the highest rookie in points in that series.




Saturday was the Nationwide race. Though his battery was dying, Brad Keselowski still won with 144 laps led, followed by Kyle Busch with 33 laps led, Kyle Larson with 9 laps led, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and rookie Chase Elliot. Rounding out the top-10 were Matt Kenseth with 7 laps led, Brian Scott, Trevor Bayne, rookie Chris Buescher and Regan Smith.  Bayne and Buescher happen to be teammates. Polesitter and rookie Ty Dillon was 11th with 7 laps led.  No one wrecked out, though Joey Gase had an engine issue that ended his day. Regan Smith is now only three points ahead of Trevor Bayne. Chase Elliot leads the rookies in points.




Sunday was the Cup race. Brad Keselowski won with 53 laps led after Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran out of gas on the last lap but still finished second with  51 laps led, followed by Paul Menard with 6 laps led, pole-sitter Joey Logano with 44 laps led and Carl Edwards with 1 lap led.  Rounding out the top-ten were Jimmie Johnson with 34 laps led, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth with 2 laps led.  Kyle Busch was 11th with 52 laps led and Denny Hamlin was with 1 lap led. Kevin Harvick led 23 laps but was in the garage with hub issues a while so he was 41st. He was came back to the track, though.  Michael McDowell was the one to not finish and his DNF was engine related.  Ty Dillon's (third of the rookies in Nationwide) brother Austin Dillon's the highest rookie in points.


Brad Keselowski never swept a weekend before, they say. Stay tuned to see my views of Bristol.



Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Phoenix Weekend

Hey folks! Here's my take on Phoenix race weekend.  NASCAR used a different qualifying format called knockout qualifying. In the final round, the best 12 of the previous session compete for the pole.  The Trucks were off this weekend.




Saturday was rainy in Phoenix, but the Nationwide still was able to race. The field was one short of a full field.  Our ABC didn't show it live and when they showed the tape, the Cup race was on.  I got the Nationwide results off the Internet, though.  Kyle Busch was the winner of the rain shortened by 32 laps race with 155 laps led followed by Kevin Harvick with 4 laps led, pole-sitter Brad Keselowski with 9 laps led, Kyle Larson and Matt Kenseth. Rounding out the top-10 were Elliot Sadler, Trevor Bayne, Regan Smith and rookies Chase Elliot and Ty Dillon.  The top-3 Nationwide drivers of this race happen to be the top-3 in points as well.  Though this is early, if they stay on this track (I like puns), they could be in  a championship battle. Trevor Bayne, the biggest if's second in points now and I hope he can stay healthy and in contention all year. I believe he can and based on what he's said this year, championship contention's his goal.  This race was Cup driver dominated, which bothers some people.  The Nationwide drivers say the Cup drivers limit their wins, but think it makes them better to race the best.  Some can run in Cup races at times, but others can't "do a Bayne" as I call it. 


Sunday was the Cup race. No rain at race time for this one.  Kevin Harvick was the winner with 224 laps led, followed by Dale Earnhardt, Jr., pole sitter Brad Keselowski with 3 laps led, Joey Logano with 71 laps led and Jeff Gordon with 4 laps led. Rounding out the top-10 were Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman with 6 laps led, Carl Edwards with 1 lap led, Kyle Busch and Jamie McMurray. Danica Patrick hit the wall, but was able to continue after she made a pit stop and got her car patched up.  Some other drivers wrecked but were able to continue as well. Morgan Shepherd, an old guy racer, failed to qualify last week, but raced 28 laps of this race before he had brake issues. Jr. maintains his points lead, so my dad's happy.


Come back next week to see my take on Vegas.