Garrett Duke

baseball:-P

Well we are two thirds through the regular baseball season and a lot of you know how big of a NASCAR fan I am, well I am just a big of a fan of baseball as I am with NASCAR. Anyone else a big baseball fan? If so, which teams and players do you like or follow? How's your season going? I am a big Chicago Cubs fan and has been since I was four or five years old and will be a Cubs fan til the day I die. My baseball season starts and ends when the Cubs season starts and ends...am interested in who wins the World Series, but don't get too excited about it unless by chance the Cubs would ever make it to the WS. As for their season, well, if I had to be honest, would say they are having a pretty bad season. They are now fifth out of six in the National League and 17.5 games behind first place. If that isn't bad enough, their ace pitcher, Carlos Zambrano was ejected from yesterday's game after almost hitting Braves third baseman Chipper Jones with a pitch. Where Big Z declared retirement (which he has done in the past) and then cleared out his locker...and when he didnt' show up for today's game, he was disqualified for a month. Zambrano is known as for his temper and for being over emotional, but that was very unexcusable if you ask me. He walked out on his team mates, his fans, his sports. Anyway, my favorite baseball team is the Chicago Cubs and I am sticking with my repeative statement that I seem to say every year...next year is going to be their year. Would love to see them make it post season in 2012!

Welcome to Hnet! Sounds like you're a big fan of the show as the rest of us! Awesome car collection...have several General Lee's myself; but sadly none of them big enough for me or any one of any size to fit in. HA HA. Welcome to HNET!

Well Roger...I am third out of ten in my NASCAR league on Yahoo...what does that say about me? HA HA. Sorry I couldn't resist saying that. My numbers aren't as impressive as your friend's national number or what not. But oh well. That's what I have. Last week I was fifth and not too long about I was eight, so at least I am heading in the right direction in it. Better than I can say in my baseball league. Better yet, what does it say about my knowledge of NASCAR to say that I won in my NASCAR fantasy team last year which consisted of three players...me and two other guys who (I dont' think) follow NASCAR. LOL. OK probably not very much, but I was the winner of the year. Gotta mean something!

I'm sure he does. Glad to hear he is doing so great!

You are welcome Roger...I enjoy writing about the races so thanks for allowing me to do so and for actually reading it. Not a big Brad Keselowski fan due to how he has raced Edwards in the past, but was impressed with his win...especially since he was on my fantasy NASCAR team. HA HA. Yeah I thought of you when Ragen spun out...I was happy with Gordon's sixth place finish. Would have been great if he coulda gotten a top five. But six was a good place seeing how bad his car was during the first half of the race. Just too bad he is still stuck at seventh in points. One would think he'd climb in points on how strong he has been finishing lately. Oh well I guess. That is something...that you had both Busch brothers in your county. DId you get to go see them? I hope so. Personally, I am not a fan of either brother, but am starting to like Kyle now that he has changed. But wasn't too happy with Kurt Busch yesterday...then again, my opinion is biased being a Jimmie Johnson fan. But still...it is something that they both were in your county and all. Was a good race yesterday...great seeing Jr earn a top ten finish to prove he's still having a good year after a month long slump. Hopefully he can keep it up next week at Watkins Glen where we will be going road racing!

ESPN 24 Commercial Glad to know I'm not crazy after all!

Well the race finally got over...after 140 minutes under red flag for rain, they finally got the whole race in. Very excited to get the race to an end. But I can gaurantee you that Joey Lagano was not happy that they went back under green since he had a flat and had to go into pits to change all four tires after their final pit stop to gain a poor finish instead of the win he had under the red. Well Brad Keselowski after his horrible bad accident on Wednesday, braking his left ankle, his right ankle all bruised up, and his back killing him throughout the race...went on to win the race! Must be the in thing to come and win the race after gaining an injury....Denny Hamlin last year after having knee surgery went on to win the next race. After being so dominant in the first half, Denny Hamlin went into the final pit stop only to lose a lot of positions under his pit stop and finished 16th. Jimmie Johnson at one point thought he had engine problems when he felt a vibration that went away after their green pit flag pit start. Was third for a long time when Kurt Busch passed him towards the end. One or two laps to go he went to pass Kurt Busch and they started to get into each other...Johnson was getting upset at Busch and ran into the side of him a couple of times. After the race they got into an argument and Johnson's pit crew was pulling him away. As soon as it was over, the ESPN reporters had to question him about it. And then Busch. Of course no one is taking responsability for it, but blaming the other. Here is the final top ten finish at Pocono: 1. Brad Keselowski 2. Kyle Busch 3. Kurt Busch 4. Jimmie Johnson 5. Ryan Newman 6. Jeff Gordon (OK so I was wrong on all accounts that they didn't better their positions, but at least they had an opportunity to do so...) 7. Carl Edwards 8. Greg Biffle 9. Dale Earnhardt Jr 10. Paul Menard They'll be going road racing next weekend at Watkins Glenn...

Well the race is not yet over but they are now red flagged for now about an hour due to rain. It is now not raining, but they said it would take two hours to dry the track. They are on lap 124 out of 200...over halfway through the race, meaning that if they don't go gree flagged again, it will be over. I hate rain come race day! And since I am anxious for the green flag to drop again, I will write my review while I listen to the driver interview that they've been doing for an hour now. Now they are talking to Dale Jr who has been pretty good today and is now sitting fifth. Could probably move up again if it does go green. Joey Lagano started from the pole today and as of right now, is sitting first. He had won his first race in the last rain shortened race...his team mate Denny Hamlin, who is known to be great at this track, led the most of the lap and is now sitting third. First part of the race, Kyle Busch spun himself out and then was penalyzed for pitting early. Went from the thirties to second within a matter of minutes. Asked his teammate Hamlin if he could pass to lead which is what Hamlin had done, but Busch didn't give him the lead back as would be expected to be done. Hamlin took the lead back after a green flag pit stop. David Ragen, who sits on the bubble of the chase and needed a great race, drove aggressive in the first several laps only to make it three wide and spun himself out into the wall. Was in the garage for fifty laps. Not the kind of race he needed. But lucky for Ragen, Tony Stewart who sat nine or tenth before the race, had tire issues and at one point was a lap down. Dropping him to eleventh. And since this year the eleventh and twelveth place is devoted for drivers in points from 11th to 20th with the most wins, it would put Stewart out of the chase for the first time if the chase started next week (which it doesn't.). David Regan has a win so he would surpass Stewart...but they still have five races left til the chase. Gordon started 31st and stgruggled with a loose race car for most of the race and they finally got the car fast and now sits sixth. Jimmie Johnson started 18th and now sits second. Well here is the first top ten of the race as of now: 1. Joey Lagano 2. Jimmie Johnson 3. Denny Hamlin 4. Kyle Busch 5. Dale Earnhardt Jr 6. Jeff Gordon 7. Clint Bowyer 8. Carl Edwards 9. Mark Martin 10. Ryan Newman They are still red flagged, but if they do go green flagged, I will add onto this post as of w hat happens until the end of the race. Hard to believe Brad Keselowski broke his ankle on Wednesday and he is out there in his race car. I am now highly hoping for no more rain despite them calling for more win. Gordon was moving up the field during the race as was Johnson and Earnhardt and they all could move up higher if the race would go green once again. RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY, COME BACK ANOTHER DAY!!! (JUST NOT RAIN DAY!)

You sound good to me. Welcome to Hnet!

Wasn't that bad? I love that song. It was Montgomery Gentry's first h it song and after all these years, still love the song. Didn't even know it was in the Dukes movie, so I guess it has a little more Duke theme in it than I realized. HA HA.

Ok I may have posted here already, but couldn't remember and am too lazy to go through all the pages to look. And since I can now post links, I will try to list the ones I can think of... This song always makes me think of the Dukes and Hazzard. Love the song...and Montgomery Gentry Another Montgomery Gentry song Last MG song...I promise. Well those are the ones I can think off the top of my head at the moment...I am sure there are others out there!

Mercy Me is my favorite Christian music group...and I love this song! I always turn it up loyud when it comes on the radio. I apologize if I posted this before, but since I couldn't remember if I did or not, had to use it!

Pizza (Thanks Roger...been hungry for french fries for the past few days. You haven't helped me any by mentioning them! HA HA)

OK...I apologize. I have done an HORRIBLE job at watching the Nationwide Series and keeping up with it on here. Shame on me! Well I watched over half of the race tonight at Iowa and it was a fun race to watch...just wish I was t here to watch in person! Carl Edwards led the most laps and Ricky Stenhouse Jr was up front for some of it...who won last time in Iowa this year. Trevor Bayne was doing a good job until he had tire problems...over rand over. He was at least seven laps behind. At one point Carl and Ricky got into each other and Ricky got upset at Carl for how he raced him. They are both team mates in the Nationwide Series. David Meyhew raced his first Nationwide Series race tonight and came home tenth! Did a great job racing his first race. But got to admit, they had a very surprising ending to the race. Stenhouse Jr was leading and Carl Edwards was second and when the white flag dropped, there was little Carl could do to pass Ricky Stenhouse Jr at the end. But just before before the finish line came into view, Stenhouse Jr's engine blew, Edward's brakes or steering or something froze and he shoved Stenhouse Jr to the finish line! Never seen anything like that before. Either Stenhouse or one of his crew thanked Edwards for pushing them to the win. HA HA. Was hoping Edwards would have won, but oh well...second isn't too bad, is it? Here is the top ten: 1. Ricky Stenhouse Jr 2. Carl Edwards 3.Elliot Sadler 4. Josh Wise 5. Aric Almorila 6. Reed Sorenson 7. Kenny Wallace 8. Steve Wallace 9. Michael McDowell 10. David Meyhew

Gordon's win at Pocono in June and his awesome and fast car he had last week gives me a lot of confidence going into Pocono tomorrow. David Ragen is good, but as you pointed out, Gordon is now forty years old. Meaning he has a lot of experience going into tomorrow's race. Experience that David does not yet have. Sorry to burst your bubble there, Roger, but I doubt a week will have any difference on Gordon's reflexes despite the fact that at Indy he was 39 years old and tomorrow he'll be racing his first race at being 40. Gordon only gets BETTER for age! HA HA Also, just read, Dale Jarrett won his first championship after a couple of days of turning 43...which means Gordon has plenty of chances to earn more championships...including this year! HA HA. My only concern for tomorrow is that in my Facebook page, I get Gordon's posts on his page, and he says he qualified 31st for the race. So he has to come from all the way from 31st to win the race tomorrow. Though he also said that it was his fault and that he had a fast car. So if anyone can do it, Gordon can do it! I saw pictures of Brad Keselowski's ankle after the accident and it looked really swollen. Very glad he is OK after that horrendous crash! He is Oked to race tomorrow and since he is on my fantasy team, hope he will do good despite the horrible accident. Sprint Cup will be racing at Pocono tomorrow at noon (central time) on ESPN. Here is the starting line up: 1. Joey Logano (20) 2. Kasey Kahne (4) 3. Martin Truex Jr. (56) 4. Carl Edwards (99) 5. Kurt Busch (22) 6. Denny Hamlin (11) 7. Paul Menard (27) 8. Jeff Burton (31) 9. Greg Biffle (16) 10. Kevin Harvick (29) Also, there is some NASCAR news this week, though it isn't as big of news as I think they are making it. Carl Edwards, who drives for Jack Rousch and Rousch Fenway racing, contract ends after this year. It has been debated all year if he'd stay or go somewhere else. Joe Gibbs Racing was mentioned once. But earlier this week he had resigned with Rousch Fenway Racing. To me, it's not surprising. Personally, I thought he'd resign with him no matter what and personally feel Edwards probably knew that too. Perhaps he was just keeping his options open, I don't know or perhaps I am wrong all together. Even though Hendrick is the top team in the Sprint Cup, Rousch is close on the list of top names. And since Kasey Kahne is taking Martin's ride next year, meaning Hendrick is full (NASCAR has a four car limit per team. Hendrick has Gordon, Johnson, Jr, and Martin/Kahne). To me, if he left Rousch, he'd be stepping down the ladder in the Sprint Cup Series. Not that he couldn't win with another team, Carl or anyone else could win with any car and equipment out there. But Hendrick and the top teams, have more money. More money gets you the better equipment within the car and more comfortable wear gear. In short, if Edwards would go somewhere else, he'd be settling for less than what he already has. Joe Gibbs racing is a big name in the Sprint Cup series, so he wouldn't have been stepping down too far from Rousch if he did sign with Gibbs, but still feel like Rousch is a bigger team than Gibbs...could be wrong about that. But don't quote me on all of that, all that is my personal opinion from what I have heard and seen before.

Refried

The boys race at Pocono on Sunday...where Jeff Gordon won earlier this year. Talking about Jeff Gordon...Jeff Gordon turned 40 years old yesterday while his pit crew cheif Alan Gustufson turned 36 today. Happy birthday Gordon and Gustafson! (Was also Kurt Busch's birthday yesterday as well, but don't know for sure how old he turned...) On a sadder note, Penske driver of the number 2 car, Brad Keselowski was in a bad accident on track in Atlanta where he walked away from the car but had to be air lifted to the hospital, but only for a precaution. Guess he injured or burned his foot. Don't know for sure. He will not be able to race Saturday at Iowa in the Nation Wide Series race...but will be OK to race at Pocono for the Sprint Cub Series.

Well the Brickyard 400 just got over and once again it all came down to gas and wondering who had enough gas and who didn't. It was an exciting race and ocne again this year, we got a first time winner. Paul Menard earned his first Sprint Cup race of his career. Gordon had the fastest car on the track most of the day and led a lot of laps. Kasey Kahne led the most until his pit crew didn't screw his lugnut ont his tire. At the end a lot of the drivers were saving gas and were going slow. Jeff Gordon had a fast car and did an awesome fast car. He was passing cars left and right at the end. After his last pit stop with thirty laps to go, he was sixteenth or so and he came back to finish second...only seconds behind first place Paul Menard. Give Gordon a lap or two, he'd have won the race. Me personally, it was disappointing to see Gordon so close. To have such a great car. And yet come home second. But second place is a great place and am happy for Gordon...and for Menard. (Sorry Roger...Ragen raced a good race, but ended up finishing 23rd. Musta had to stop for gas at the last minute or so.) Only big accident was Landon Cassill (From CR iowa...) spun out and collected Kasey Kahne. Jimmie Johnson and Brian Vickers and Jimmie Johnson bumped into each other in pit road...second pit stop or so. Jimmie finished 19th when him and others pitted with thirty laps to go... Here is the top ten finishers: 1. Paul Menard 2. Jeff Gordon 3. Regan Smith 4. Jamie McMurray 5. Matt Kenseth 6. Tony Stewart 7. Greg Biffle 8. Mark Martin 9. Brad Keselowski 10. Kyle Busch (after wrecking in pits and blowing a tire and hitting the wall)

Cold

wolves

After a long weekend off, the boys will be racing at Indy on Sunday and if you haven't guessed, I am highly looking forward to it. Not only are they back to racing, but they are at a track that Gordon has won four times at...and I am hoping to see Gordon and his crew be kissing the bricks once again come the drop of the checkered flag for his fifth win at Indy. (Gordon even won the inaugural race at Indy). Though he is not the only one good there...Tony Stewart is good at Indy as well as a few others. GO JEFF GORDON GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Sorry have to support Gordon and crew 24 any chance I get.) Anyway, the race is on Sunday, I don't have a time as of yet, but I do know that it is NOT on TNT any more. The races will be on ESPN from here on out with a few races on ABC come chase time (which is only a hand full of races away!!!!!!!!!). Just a reminder: the race is on ESPN on Sunday. Though we all had a off weekend this weekend and some of the drivers probably did have vacations...there were others that were racing in the Nationwide Series, or other types of racing, or then there's Gordon who went to Congo to do research for charity. I do have to report, Kasey Kahne was in a sprint car race driving his own sprint car and of the sounds of it had, what Rosco would call a horrendous crash! I guess his car summersaulted over the wall and flipped eight times. I have yet to see the video but read a little about it last night. Luckily he was able to walk away from the accident unhurt. Is anyone else as excited for the Sprint Cup to get back to racing as I am?