Garrett Duke

She's a big Star - Kenny Chesney (Know I've used this one before, but one can never get enough of Kenny Chesney's music so I listed it again. My opinion of course!)

The Kansas race has just gotten over and all in all, I think it was a good race. Gordon didn't get the win he needs...and deserves (my opinion, of course!), but he did lead laps in the beginning part of the race and finished fifth - to move up from eightth in points to fifth in points. Not a win, but still a good points day for the 24 team who had great pit stops all day long. They had several cautions, several lead changes, and several different leaders throughout the race. Though to be honest with y'all, didn't see at least 40 minutes of the race due to a pet blessing at the church, though did listen to the race on the radio to and back from church. So I guess, I probably missed 20 minutes or so of it - though as I said earlier, I don't get as much out of the race as listening to it on the radio as I do watching it on TV. I am much more of a visual person when it comes to sports. So all I have to comment on the race is of what I saw and heard, so I may have missed a few things here and there. I guess the big story of the race today was that Kyle Busch (who was third in points going into the race) spun David Reutimann out who in turn came out after Kyle to shove Kyle into the wall and had spun himself out in the process. David took it behind the wall and came back 10 laps down while Busch's crew, despite Busch's complaints and insistance of taking it to the garage, kept it out and he finished a lap down and 21st over all. He droped from third to seventh in points. Tony Stewart led the most laps today, but came home fourth at the end of the race. Kevin Harvick battled all day to finish third, and Jimmie Johnson started the race 21st, went as far down as 28th, and came back to finish the race second. Since Denny Hamlin, who was the point leader coming into the race, finished twelveth today, Jim mie Johnson is now our point leader...eight points ahead of Hamlin. Greg Biffle who seemed to have a pretty good car all day ended up winning the race after two dismal finishes the last two chase races. Here is the top ten finishers to today's race at Kansas: 1. Greg Biffle 2. Jimmie Johnson 3. Kevin Harvick 4. Tony Stewart 5. Jeff Gordon 6. Carl Edwards 7. Matt Kenseth 8. Paul Menard 9. Ryan Newman 10. AJ Allmindinger We will be going to another mile and a half track next week in California which will be at three EST...

*Bo eyes the beast in anticipation of what it will do. Half sitting and watching as if watching an old action movie and half ready to jump up and run if need be. Though as Jesse jumps and yells out, it makes Bo jump up startled before the beast catches Bo's attention and he silently watches the beast return to where it had came from; squelshing all hopes of catching it easily within the next few minutes. Sighing heavily he glances over at Jesse with great concern, "What's wrong? You OK?"*

Nothing to die for - Tim McGraw

There is no such thing as a dumb question, Roger. This thread is for the individual races and all that is happens in each race...that is just the starting line up for today's race. Jr did not make it into the chase and JJ is second in points prior to today's race. JJ had a bad qualifying run it looks like and didn't do too well in practice since he spun out. Luckily he didn't do no damage to the car. All in all, it really don't mean much of anything for JJ. He can turn a bad car into a great car by the end of the race and seems to pass people easily...so he could easily have a top five day today if all goes his way and if he escapes all accidents. That is one concern for me with Gordon or Johons starting back that far is that accidents seem to occur easier back in the pack than up front. But to calm your worries and fears, Roger, that is only today's qualifying run and how he will be starting the race. Has nothing to do with points. I only went up to the top fifteen starters and thought I'd include Jimmie and Dale since they are popular drivers that I know people around here may be interested in.

When Somebody loves you -Alan Jackson

"You are the Love of My Life" - Sammy Kershaw

Congratulations Hoss! You are very deserving of this! Way to go!

Talk about talent. I mean it has to say something when a guy can touch several lives with different pieces of his work. I was a huge Renegade fan and would still love to watch the show today, MA listed a few of her favorites by him, and Roger has his own favorite. I would be interested in reading some of his books, reading what some are about, seems to be my kind of novels. He accomplished a lot in his career and was very talented at what he did. He will be missed by all.

*Bo watched the monster half in awe at it's size and shape and half in fear of all that the monster could do to them and he once again wonders if this will be the last moment of his life. If that ugly beast would be the last thing he'll be seeing before he is swallowed by blackness and taken into death. Swallowing heavily, he whispers, "Luke ain't never gonna believe this," he forces himself to breathe as his eyes remained glued on the beast, wondering what the beast will do now that he has obviously noticed the net. "what we do if he don't fall for your trap, Uncle Jesse?" he whispers again, whispering silently as to not to be heard by the monster.*

Love you - Jack Ingram

Well, the Sprint Cup Series is going to be racing at Kansas on Sunday at 1:00 EST on channel ESPN. Kansas is a 1.5 mile tri-oval track which is Clint Bowyer's home state track, so maybe he'll be able to turn his sour luck around. Jeff Gordon won the first two races at Kansas, though hasn't won since then...though has several top fives and tens there. Here is the first fifteen starting positions for Sunday's race: 1. Kasey Kahne 2. Paul Manard 3. Jeff Gordon 4. Joey Lagano 5. Greg Biffle 6. Ryan Neweman 7. Juan Pablo Montoya 8. Matt Kenseth 9. Kurt Busch 10. David Ragen 11. Bill Elliot 12. Denny Hamlin 13. Regan Smith 14. Tony Stewart 15. Elliot Sadler Jimmie Johnson starts 21...and Dale Jr starts 20th. Surprise, surprise...I am looking forward to Sunday's race. HA HA. Have to say the mile and a half tracks are my favorite type of tracks...but that is also because those are the tracks that Gordon excell at the most. Though do have to admit I do love NASCAR's shortest track - Bristol.

This Thing called Love -Dwight Yoakam

Thank you Daney for posting this...I didn't hear about Stephen's passing until I logged in here. I was a huge fan of his TV show "Renegade" that starred Lorenzo Lamas (in fact a couple of months ago, was excited to find the first season of Renegade on DVD at Walmart for five dollars! Though have yet to find time to watch it...) How very sad. Entertainment or TV has lost a lot of talent with his passing. Him and his family will be in my prayers. Just looked him up online and found all kinds of shows that he produced or wrote or made that I never knew about. Such as the A-Team as Hoss had mentioned. Renegade he produced the show as well as played the villan: Donald "Dutch" Dixon. He was 69 years old. Thanks Daney for the news on Stephen.

Kiss This - Aaron Tippin

*Feeling embarassed over just little deer, looks away momentarily while upetset at himself for allowing his emotions to get a hold of him. Looking back in the direction of the deer, is startled once again just as the deer are startled and begin to run. The tree branches and thicket begin to move and a loud and heavy breathing and grunting sound pierces the silence from within the darkness of the thicket. "That ain't no deer. . ." Bo whispers to his uncle, his eyes glued at where the sound is coming from.*

Wow...I'm right for once. Too bad it is at Bowyer's expense. The penalties don't get overturned often and there are people that are criticizing it...alot of fans upset with it or how things turned out. As posted, I've been going back and forth with how I feel due to my love for NASCAR and for my respect for Bowyer. I guess I feel that if his car was found illegal that he should be penalyzed for it...end of story. But don't know I agree with how big of a penalty they had given him. Never seen them dock a driver 150 points before. Childress is taking it up to a higher authority that will be heard next week...so his crew chief and car cheif will most likely be able to be at Kansas on Sunday, but wouldn't hold my breath on winning it if I were Childress or Bowyer. Sadly, I think they need to learn from it and move forward. Use the remainder eight races to focus on wins and to experiment or work towards next year. My opinion of course. I could be wrong, though about the appeal. . . (Well leave it to Darrell Waltrip to prove me wrong. Am at his page right now and he lists several other drivers that were fined big. One was fined 200 points, one 151 points. Gordon got fined twice (two different times) at 100 points...one of those times with Jimmie Johnson (plus their crew chiefs) and those were from infractions in the car. So I guess Bowyer isn't the biggest penalty NASCAR has dished out...)

LOL GLG! Can't you see Roger behind the wheel of the General Lee and jumping over 32 parked cars? I'd pay to go see it, wouldn't you? Dang Roger...looks like you plan on doing a lot of hard work once you retire. Aren't you suppose to relax and enjoy life once you retire?

Well Bowyer's and RCR's (Richard Childress Racing) appeal was over ruled this afternoon after an almost five hour appeal. So the penalty sticks. Childress is now taking his appeal to a higher court in NASCAR, but doubt that would take him far if all three people on the appeal panel overruled or denied his appeal. Childress even had a guy recreate how the tow truck could make whatever got higher, get higher. . Childress' pro reconstruction guy seemed to go all out and gave good examples of what they said happened and claim NASCAR paid no attention to it all. . .NASCAR states that there was discrepencies in his story and with what NASCAR found. Example that was given was that the man stated how it could raise the left rear end, not the right when both were up too high or something like that. If Childress' story is right, then why would they allow the tow truck bump into him like that to push him to victory lane - if the little love tap as they call it, could do damage to the car that they would take back to the shop? I don't know...though what gets me is how he passed post race inspection and then fail the one at the shop. Feel bad for Bowyer that they didn't even cut down his penalty at all, especially if their expert is right. But at the same time, if NASCAR found his car wrong, it is up to them to regulate it so that kind of stuff won't happen again. I want to believe Bowyer and Childress. They don't seem to be the types to cheat in order to win and don't remember them getting caught with something like this before. But at the other side, I still think for his penalty to be so high, that NASCAR must have found something specific that has made them so sure of the car being wrong. I could be wrong though. . . Well I have went back and forth and given y'all my two cents on the whole thing. What y'all think about it all? Would be interested to hear what you think about the whole thing, especially since y'all put up with all my ramblings about it.

My Town- Montgomery Gentry

Well Richard Childress Racing, the team Clint Bowyer races for, is appealing NASCAR's penalty that was placed on them last week, today. I was hoping to come online and see the results, but so far, nothing. I will keep you posted. Read that out of all the appeals NASCAR has had, only ten were succesfully overturned. So I guess what's that saying is that statistics are not on Clint's side for his appeal. For Clint's sake, I am hoping that NASCAR made a mistake and will fess up to it, and that nothing was wrong with the car. And that Clint will win his appeal. I like Clint. He seems to be an honest driver and an honest guy, so it is hard for me to believe that his car was wrong -especially after being warned about pressing NASCAR's tolerance the week before. But if NASCAR is not wrong and his car was wrong, then I feel the penalty should stick. He was warned and yet his car was found out of regulations which is unfair to all the other drivers. Especially since he won the race. Though I do feel for NASCAR to give him and his team such a steep penalty as they have, that they are pretty sure of the infraction and that there was little to no question about the car being wrong. That is my opinion and hopefully I am wrong. Well I'll stop my rambling. I will let y'all know whenever I find out what happens with the appeal one way or another.

*Brushing off the swamp moss and other things that had collected on his clothes from his climbing, Bo silently nods as he attempts to get comfortable in his crouching position. "Well," Bo slowly whispers back, "perhaps if he's as big as you make him sound to be, he won't be -" Bo cuts himself off as a loud rustling sound pierces through the thick silence of the swamp and Bo quickly glances around, hoping to find a big animal or an alligator. Not seeing anything, turns to Jesse, attempts to hide his emotions and whispers, "What was that? Is that him?" Silently looks around, in hope of finding the beast, if it's him, before the beast finds them.*

Love Without End, Amen - George Strait

Animal