Garrett Duke

You are welcome. I am glad to be able to fill you in on all that you missed! And you are right...it does give me time to watch NASCAR related Dukes or any Dukes episode. Am sure the drivers will enjoy the week off after the emotion packed race of Bristol. Well, am glad to see I am not the only one noticing that the driver that starts the accidents drive away with minimal damage while the other car suffers greatly. Just frustrating, especially when it happens to a favorite driver or to one that I like. It just makes me wonder why that is or how that happens that way. I know with the rear spoiler, drivers can move another driver if they get close enough to the rear spoiler of the other car and that can cause accidents. But even like Johnson's accident today with Montoya running into the back, Montoya had tire issues from it, but even that worked itself out. Sorry you missed the race, Roger. Hope you can catch the next one...two weeks away. As always, am glad to give you or anyone the race report. I look forward to doing it. Don't know what I'm going to do after Homestead when the season finishes.

Well, history was made in NASCAR tonight. Kyle Busch won the Sprint Cup race at Bristol tonight to do the Bristol sweep by winning the truck series race, Nationwide Series race, and Sprint Cup race at Bristol. Am not a fan of Kyle Busch or of his driving, but he is a talented driver and was kinda exciting to see history be made. Jeff Gordon finished eleventh after starting 26th and had moved up pretty quickly. Got as high as six or seventh at one point in the race. Wish he could have been at least in the top ten if not top five or the win, but eleventh isn't too bad. Plus he clinched his spot in the chase, which I am excited about! Dale Earnhardt Jr had a decent race. He was seventh at one point towards the end but then quickly fell backwards and ended up 13th and the last car on the lead lap. But his car was loose. They showed him driving when he was twelveth or thirteenth in the last twenty or ten laps and his car kept wiggling around - it was obviously lose so he did pretty good job to keep it on the lead lap and finishing out where he did. And for the big heartbreak for any of Jimmie Johnson fans...he led 179 laps in the first half of the race before he got passed by Kyle Busch. Johnson cleanly passed Juan Pablo Montoya and Montoya ran in the back of him and ran him into the wall! Johnson was behind the wall and came back seventy laps behind to finish 35 - the last car on the track! If the points stay as they are now, he will drop from fifth to nineth in points. I don't understand how the driver who starts the accidents, generally can drive away with minimal damage while the other drivers are the ones to suffer from it. Just frustrated about it right now. Denny Hamlin took his car behind the wall for twenty laps at the same time, but I think for something different. Which I am sure will shake the points up with him and Johnson having bad races and Kyle Busch winning and all. Don't understand how Hamlin and Johnson dominated the first half of the season with five wins each and hasn't done a thing since then. The last four years, Johnson was flawless and had all the luck on his side. The first half started out that way and now all the bad luck and bad calls have caught up to him. Not saying it is time to worry about either one of them. Once the points will be set, as long as another chase driver doesn't win both of them, Hamlin and Johnson will be the point leaders with fifty points each. Just am frustrated with Johnson's turn around for the worse at the moment. Don't know where Tony Stewart ended up at, but he started strong and fought for the lead in the first fourth of the race or so. But when David Ragan spun out, Stewart braked and Regan Smith ran into the back of Stewart. Stewart later spun out himself to give him a dismal finish. To end his good runs that he had strung together the last few races or so. Here is the top ten finishes for the Bristol night race: 1. Kyle Busch 2. David Reutimann (who suffered food poisioning a couple of days ago.) 3. Jamie McMurray 4. Clint Bowyer 5. Kasey Kahne 6. Ryan Newman 7. Juan Pablo Montoya 8. Greg Biffle 9. Kurt Busch 10. Matt Kenseth Bristol always surprises me with how fast the race goes. It is a half mile track and is known as the fastest track as well. They said it takes them only sixteen seconds to drive around the track! Without watching the lap numbers going down, was really surprised when they said it was white flag, last lap of the race. LOL...but with sixteen seconds a lap, it shouldn't be so surprising! Well, got some sad news...they have next week off. Nationwide Series will be racing in Canada, but the Sprint Cup has the weeked off. Perhaps that'll make some or all of y'all excited to hear in hopes of having a week off from me and my senseless ramblings. But as for me, am always kinda bummed when they get a weekend off to leave me with no race to watch. Oh well, I'm sure I'll survive. They'll be racing in Atlanta on September 5 for the next race...perhaps we'll see Bo and Luke there.

Well commercials are normally a time to take a break from the TV or something to be dreaded, though do have to admit there are a few that are cute or kinda fun to watch. Right now my two favorite commercials are one is for ESPN's NASCAR with Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski's semi truck drivers gassing up their rigs with Jerry Reed's song, "East Down and Bound" song going on in the back ground, has a Smokey and the Bandit sort of theme as well. The other one is the Pepsi Max commercial where the Pepsi Max semi truck driver goes to a truck stop where a Coke Zero truck driver was sitting there. They comment on the song that was playing...something like "Why can't we be friends?" and the Pepsi Max driver shakes hand with the other driver and sits down next to him while the Coke Zero guy gets a Pepsi Max after Pepsi Max driver comments on how it has zero calories. Then the Pepsi Max guy videos the Coke Zero guy on his phone for Utube. They end up wrestling out through the window. For some reason, I find that commercial funny every time I see it. Y'all have any favorite commercials?

Brian Vickers, who is the normal driver for the number 83 Red Bull Toyota, has been out since May when he went to the hospital with chest pains. Ends up he had blood clots in his left leg and lungs. He was put on medicine that he is not able to drive with or race on, so they've had several drivers driving his car for him. He had a conference today and said that he had two surgeries last month. Said he did have another clot in is finger that they believed came from a hole in his heart, so last month they did heart surgery to close the hole. They then found that he had May - Thurner, which is a blood clot disorder. The next day he had another surgery to put in a stent. As Rosco would say, Good news! Good News! He will be off the blood thinners by January first and will be able to drive his number 83 Toyota in February 2011 (Next year). It will be great to see him back out on the track once again! I miss seeing himout there!

What a sad post Dukefan. Sorry to hear you think your dream of owning a General Lee fading away. I can see how that would be discouraging and frustrating to see people jumping them and wrecking them like that. But I have to say, being to Dukefest four times, it is awesome to see them jumping The General like that. It is like nothing else...talking about the excitement. Kinda like being in one of the episodes and watching the boys jump The General like they do. In your view, I can see how that would be kinda frustrating, but being able to witness it, it made for a great time. Know that will probably won't help you out much and I am sure I see it way differently than you do, since I know I'll never have the money or the know how to own a General Lee of my own, but for me, it was worth it (afterall, we all know they wrecked The Generals on the show as well!). Once again, Dukefan, sorry to hear you feel that way. I hope things will change for you and that you will accomplish your dream of owning one of your very own General Lee. That would be awesome for you as well. Never give up hope or your dreams. You never know. . . Once again, am looking forward to how your day went, Roger!

Well, I will post the standings later on in the week, where they will be made official; as of now they are unofficial. Though normally, the points will stick as they are after the race. The officials have to go over every car to make sure everything is legit and all that kind of stuff. I just thought I'd post a little about what I knew about last night's Nationwide Series race. I didn't watch it, so if anyone did, feel free to write about it. I just saw the highlights of the end and the driver comments on NASCAR.com. Kyle Busch has won the truck series race at Bristol earlier this week...maybe Thursday, not sure, and he won again at Bristol in Nationwide Series last night at Bristol. If he wins today in the Sprint he will complete the sweep at a track. Though he did win it at a price last night...looks like he raced Brad Keselowski the last ten laps of the race or so and then did pass Brad, but had slid up right in front of Brad. Brad didn't back off and ran into Kyle's back bumper and set him sliding against the wall. Kyle Busch in return came back and spun Keselowski for it, ended up winning the race. Brad Keselowski is already on probation for the rest of the year for an incident in the Nationwide Series where he hit Carl Edwards on the last lap and Edwards retaliated against him, to spin him out. Which makes me wonder when Keselowski's going to realize that people are tired of him running into them like that. I personally am not a fan of either Busch or Keselowski due to their aggresive driving, I just hope that this incident doesn't spill over to tonight's race at Bristol for the Sprint Series since they both race Sprint full time as well. The last couple of sentence is only of my opinion...my two cents worth on the incident.

Very nice, Hoss! A lot of work and talent it looks like.

I am sooo excited for you Roger! I hope that you will have a GREAT time! Am looking forward to hearing all about it.

I agreed that it was frustrating about the double points thing and with the idea of the three way tie, but I never meant it to punish anyone by agreeing with it. It was my own personal opinion. Nor did I mean to cause anyone any hard feelings over by voicing it. It don't affect me one way or another if y'all do decide to go on or not.

Honest, MaryAnne, it was an accident! Rosco was chasing me and the poor baby hen ran right under my feet and I stepped on it. Blame Rosco, not me!

Well the Nationwide Series races at Bristol tonight. Sprint Cup races at Bristol tomorrow night at 7:30 EST and will be aired on ABC (not ESPN). Here is the starting grid that I got from Yahoo!'s NASCAR's page: 1. Jimmie Johnson 2. Carl Edwards 3. Joey Logano 4. Tony Stewart 5. David Reutimann 6. Ryan Newman 7. Jamie McMurray 8. Juan Pablo Montoya 9. Martin Truex Jr. 10. A J Allmendinger

I agree with Bo James. Don't know why people are taking double points, but this is why I stepped out last time, and it is frustrating. I think we should give them a three way tie as being the favorites on the board and move on to something else.

*Bo leans against the counter and listens to his uncle. His uncle's worry spreads worry through him. Jesse wasn't the one to worry easy. When Jesse finishes, Bo opens his mouth to say something, but only to close it again, not saying anything. Bo shakes his head and looks down at the floor while continually thinking that if Luke was here, he'd know what to do. But he wasn't and Bo was more good at getting into trouble and not out. Not alone to help someone else out of their own trouble they were unable or unwilling to talk about.* They're both as stubborn and strong. Obviously, something is wrong or going on with them. *Bo pauses for a long moment.* They know where we are if they need anything or when they are wanting some help with whatever it is.* Bo shrugs, thinking of how lame he must be sounding. *Or if we knew how to get around the swamp we could do some private investigating, but I'd rather not end up being some alligator. I don't know what else to say, Jesse. If Luke were here... *He lets his words trail off and falls into silence.

*Hearing the engine penetrate through the thick silence, Bo slowly makes his way to the living room window to find Jesse pulling to a halt besides The General. Sighing in relief, Bo makes his way to the kitchen to watch Jesse making his way up the porch steps before opening the kitchen steps.* Uncle Jesse* Bo says, giving him a smile before noticing the angry and worry look wrote across his beloved uncle's face. With little thought, he asks, "How'd it go? Any luck?"

Zoo starts with Z. My favorite zoo animal is the tiger and lion. Anything wrong with that, Roger?

Bo 42 Luke 33 Jesse 25

Darn right you will. Am getting ready right now...naw, I could never do that to you. Perhaps I'll just bore you with my NASCAR trvia.

So Roger, that's how you pick your friends? By their favorite color? Well then, my all time favorite color is red. Guess that makes me better than you!

*After pulling to a halt in front of the Duke farm house, Bo slowly climbs out through the open window to take a cautious look behind him before taking in the rest of the empty drive way. Jesse wasn't home yet. Sighing deeply, Bo makes his way up the porch and into the kitchen to be greeted by a thick eery silence. Only to remind him he didn't pick up a thing he had been sent to town for. No ice cream. Nothing.* Yeah Bo, you done real good today. *He says sarcastically aloud to break through the silence, his mind wondering from his run in with the law to Jesse's call about Swamp Molly and Alice. Of his short encounter with him. He never cared much about them two, especially Alice who seemed to have something for him and trying wrestle him. But he definately wouldn't want anything to go wrong for them or wish ill of them; they were just better left at the swamp and him at the farm, in his mind. And Alice not once asking him if he wanted to wrastle was a clear indication that something was wrong. But what? Bo was left with his imagination as he takes a seat and feels his heart racing from all the excitement he had with the law, only to remind himself of his own predictament and to send questions racing through his mind of how he can free himself of his own troubles.*

Yellow is one of my favorite colors.

Enos would agree with you.

Bo 41 Luke 35 Jesse 24 Welcome back TX Daisy...haven't seen you around for awhile.

*Feeling all four tires hit the solid dirt ground on the other side of the gapped land, Bo lets out another rebel call before watching Enos' patrol car come to a dead halt a foot from the edge on the other side. Sighing in relief, Bo quickly presses on the accelerator on the opposite direction of where he had noticed the sheriff's car speeding off towards before he had ran into Enos. He'd be dead out of luck if the sheriff found him again.* Nice work, General. Now if only we can get home without getting caught. *After saying that, he begins to wonder if going home is the wisest choice to make. Afterall, everyone knows where he lives. But he has no where else to go. Sighing heavily, Bo races towards the dirt road that'll lead to the farm in hopes of the sheriff and deputy forgetting about the past half hour and of the legit charges that he has been caught with.*

Well things shook up a little bit in the points with the Sprint cup series. Here is the official points in the Sprint Cup (top 15): 1. Kevin Harvick 2. Jeff Gordon (-293) 3. Denny Hamlin 4. Tony Stewart 5. Jimmie Johnson 6. Carl Edwards 7. Jeff Burton 8. Kyle Busch 9. Matt Kenseth 10. Kurt Busch 11. Greg Biffle 12. Clint Bowyer 13. Mark Martin (-35 points) 14. Ryan Newman 15. Jamie McMurray Three more races until the chase starts. With Harvick's win on Sunday, he is officially locked in the chase. Though, everyone else is not locked into the chase, I think the top ten drivers will most likely be in the chase unless any of them or all have DNFs or horrible races for the last three races and someone else has three great races to take their place. (DNF -Did Not Finish). I could be wrong though... (Just FYI...I do tend to update or post on most of the NASCAR threads at the same time, so if interested, you may want to click on the NASCAR link to check the rest of the NASCAR threads as to not miss any of them. )

Well I guess I missed a little altercation that happened between Joey Lagano and Ryan Newman after the race. A person I work with at work said they did show it on the after race program, but I must have not been watching or listening at the time, because I missed it. I found it on NASCAR.com. I can't remember what lap it was on, but Lagano and Newman were racing eachother pretty hard for position, they went in the corner and when Lagano slightly lost control of his car, Lagano bumped Newman to spin Newman and flatten his tires. After the race Newman confronted Lagano about it...wasn't very happy. There was a little shoving going on between the two before they were seperated by a couple of NASCAR officials. According to Lagano, Newman races him way too hard and everyone feels that way about Newman. THat he was losing control of his car and Newman was too close and wouldn't back off. Think he also made a statement about how there was no need racing that hard that back in the field and so many laps left. (Newman didn't comment on it.) (Was said on ESPN...but read it on Yahoo! Sports' NASCAR Page.) OK perhaps I shouldn't put my two cents in here...I don't know, but here's my two cents worth on it. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't it the objective of NASCAR is to race hard to get the win? Why should it matter on how many laps are left or what position you are? As long as Newman or any other driver isn't driving aggressive when racing hard, what's the big deal? I am sorry for my venting here, I just don't see where Lagano has much room to be complaining about Newman or his driving. Newman was the one that got hit and has his tires blow out from under him...not Lagano. Also...it takes two to race, so if Newman was racing hard, then to me, it makes sense that Lagano was racing hard as well. There wouldn't be much racing to watch if they didn't race each other hard...but then again, maybe I'm wrong. What y'all think?