Garrett Duke

But onto tonight's race, I am very excited and am hoping to watch it. We are watching my two year old niece this weekend so I guess we will see how much I will see it. It was cute. I still have a room at my parents' houe that I stay at during the weekend. Well I got a plaque at Wal-mart last month or so of Gordon/ picture on one side and stats on the other side of it. Well Peggy (my neice) was in the room with me last night and she pointed to it and said "Gordon's Picture". I guess I am teaching her something . LOL. Hopefully she will cheer him onto a win tonight.

So it saved a lot of people from not being on the road when it happened. Plus they were working on the sstadium and I guess construction had been ahead of progress...which I guess is pretty unheard of in construction...and if they hadn't gotten done what they did the stadium, the stadium would have caved in on it. As it is it did little damage to the stairs, but only two people were injured and both cases was due to heart attacks. Which is lucky for a lot of people. I don't know, something of Carl's accident and how lucky it was for everyone made me think of that for some reason.

Kinda reminds me of what I heard today on ESPN they were talking about the 1989 World Series between the Oakland A's and the San Fransisco Giants in California. It was at 5:00 their time and they had a big earthquake that lasted 15 seconds. They showed footage of bridges and roads breaking and people falling int hem and all that. Well it being rush hour, the World Series saved a lot of people from either being at the field or staying late at work to watch the game or leaving early to watch it.

Oh don't worry I ramble on and on as well. Plus I enjoy reading all that you have to say. You are very knowledgeable about NASCAR. Well I took it as official that it was due to Carl's accident, but I bet you are right about it. It probably shook them up a lot...as it did for Carl and all the other people that was there at the track that day. I am glad to hear your brother and his friends were OK especially sitting there. Everyone was very lucky that it wasn't worse than what it was. It was surprising to me to see that fence hold his car as it seemed to do. Especially taking in the weight of the car plus the velocity it took to send hte car up there as fast as he was going and all that. Very lucky that it wasn't worse.

Wow...you must be good at math and know what points are given for which position they end up on. I never knew how they did the points other than the five for a lap lead and another five for leading the most laps. You must also know some math as well...which I am bad at. (That's what I have Charlie for, right? LOL) Well I love and hate your scenerio. LOL. Love it for Gordon because that is what he needs right now, but don't like it for Martin or Johnson. And seeing how they are at "Jimmie's House" as they call it, I doubt he'll be finishing all the way in 27th spot unless he's involved in the "big one" or has some major car issues. But then again, it wouldn't hurt for him to have at least one bad race, would it? . . .

As for Edwards...sixth isn't bad at all compared to where I thought he ended up. As I said, last I saw him, he was in the twenties something. So sixth is pretty good for that. "Always Next Year" Boy does that saying sound familiar! LOL That seems to be our Cubs slogan...there's always next year. I've been saying that for years with them. LOL

Please don't hate me for saying that...lol. Like I said, I don't wish them anything bad because I do like them and am happy for them. I just wish Gordon can at least get a little closer to them and have a chance to go at the win...for his drive for five.

Your list sounds great as to Saturday night's finishes...espeically Gordon winning like that. But if Martin and Johnson finish right behind him, then I don't think it would help Gordon in points. The past couple of weeks he has finished second and point wise he is no closer to them than he was beforehand. Don't want to wish anything bad on Johnson or Martin for I do like them, but if Gordon is ito gain any ground on them, I fear they may need a LITTLE bad luck to go their way - if that makes sense. Or am I wrong in thinking that? I guess I am not exactly sure how the points go, but know that with Johnson winning and Martin close behind, Gordon's second place finish didn't put much of a dent in his points into theirs.

Are they slowign teh cars because of Edwards' crash? And yeah it was an odd thing with things hitting at the right moment. I am not pointing the finger at Edwards or anyone. It could have been anyone...I just remember Edwards saying it was his fault.

I was only joking about GOrdon not being on your list, but your reasons sound about right even though I hate thinking of him as an old timer. It is good by the standards of what you said, but what I fear when hearing that is that one day he's going to retire and then what will I do? LOL And everyone is entitled to their own opinion...though my opinion is that everyone hating Gordon is wrong. HA HA HA. Besides you'd make a perfect Gordon fan. Don't you think? HA HA HA. Just joking. I know you don't hate him otherwise you would have told me to shut up a loooonnnngggg time ago! LOL

OK I don't know if I should be grateful or take offense that you didn't includ Gordon on your list of drivers to love to love or love to hate. LOL. Always heard that about Gordon, but it has been awhile since I heard that...glad that NASCAR has finally been stepping in on people throwing beer cans at him. How disrespectful that is...even if you don't like the guy, respect his talent. My opinion of course. LOL.

How did Edwards do Sunday? Last I had seen him he was in 20th spot or so...

And yeah I don't know what I'd do if I heard them dissing Gordon and all that. Read an article on Gordon a week or so ago and people were commenting on how much of a potty mouth he has on the radio with his crew - guess they listen to him on that scanner you can subscribe. Which was bad enough to hear...I am choosing to ignore it until I hear elsewise from someone I can trust. Have you listened in on Gordon with his crew? He doesn't seem to be the kind to be cussing his crew out for doing things wrong or what not, he is so positive about them when talkign to the media. I don't know. I always get disappointed when I hear bad stuff like that about people that I really like. Odd I know. Like my mom said maybe they just heard him at a bad moment when he was really upset or something. I don't know but it still bugs me.

As for Lagono and Biffle...that would be interesting to find out. Though don't think it is right for Lagono's dad go yelling at Biffle in pit road - you don't see anyone else's dad out there yelling at the other drivers when they are wronged. Don't know, my opinion I guess. He is young and it is good to see his parents supporting him, but at the same time no one else relies on dad to help bail them out out there.

Very true about what they said about Johnson being jealous. That was houw I was looking at it too, but still...LOL.

As for the last accident on Sunday's race...I really can't say what happened. One of the announcers said that someone weas trying to push Jr ahead to help him out and pushed too hard. Took out eight drivers including Jr who came from his 36th starting spot to eleventh at that time. Also took out all four Petty drivers . Felt bad for Kahne...he was involved in the accident that had happened only laps before this one only for that one to take him out for good. Can see him being upset, but I don't think it was done intentionally or anything like that.

One last thing for Lowe's Speedway this Sat. night...Mercy Me and Toby Mac will be perfomring during the pre-race (hopefully they will show it) they are both Christian rock artists. Mercy Me is my favorite Christian band and was so excited to hear them going to perform. Ever heard of them?

Love Charolette and yeah, it's the house that Jimmie Built. He is good at it, but I am really hoping that Gordon can come off with a win. I know you want Martin to win...but how many wins does he have compared to Gordon's one? LOL. Gordon needs a win and he deserves it. I feel like he has had a great season, but the points and where he is now really doesn't show it. He's had several second place finish (Sunday was his second in a row for second place). He just needs to catch the win...he was leading there with seven laps to go on Sunday until Johnson passed him right as the caution flew- yeah it was JOhnson's day SUnday. That's for sure.

As for Talledega...I understand that safety should come first, but I don't think slowing the cars and all that will be the answer they are looking for. I think you are right that it will push people away. Carl's accident was scary for everyone - there is no getting around that. I am glad he was ok as well as everyone else for the most part - but even he himself said it was his own fault. NASCAR needs to pound it into the driver's head to not drive so aggressively and to put penalties out for those who don't follow. That is the only thing I can think of to do. If it was the car's fault that caused the accident and the fact they were going so fast, then I'd say they are right in doing what they are doing. But that's not the case.

Thank-you for all your posts! I enjoyed reading them...now if I remember what I want to reply to them. I missed the Nationwide Series race though I Probably could have caught it if I wanted to or thought of it. Saw the accident that you were talking about with Hamlin. He just must be out of sorts this past weekend. I don't know because on Sunday's race he kept going for leading to falling back a few spots. Well he was leading when the caution came out so when the restart came, he chose the outside lane. (Can't recall what lap this was on, but it seemed like it was in the last half of the race at least). Once the green flag flew, he immediately went to go down on the inside lane where Juan Montoya was. Montoya got Hamlin's bumper and sent him spinning into the end wall of Pit road. Ended Hamlin's day and perhaps his championship hopes. I still don't understand. Like the announcers said, if he wanted the inside lane so bad, why didn't he take the inside lane instead of the outside lane?

Thank-you for all your posts! I enjoyed reading them...now if I remember what I want to reply to them. I missed the Nationwide Series race though I Probably could have caught it if I wanted to or thought of it. Saw the accident that you were talking about with Hamlin. He just must be out of sorts this past weekend. I don't know because on Sunday's race he kept going for leading to falling back a few spots. Well he was leading when the caution came out so when the restart came, he chose the outside lane. (Can't recall what lap this was on, but it seemed like it was in the last half of the race at least). Once the green flag flew, he immediately went to go down on the inside lane where Juan Montoya was. Montoya got Hamlin's bumper and sent him spinning into the end wall of Pit road. Ended Hamlin's day and perhaps his championship hopes. I still don't understand. Like the announcers said, if he wanted the inside lane so bad, why didn't he take the inside lane instead of the outside lane?

That is ok I know how that is

Yeah it has been awhile since I heard from you last. How's it going?

OK sorry had to vent about the comment. Just don't understand, but everyone is different and entitled to their opinion I guess. Also guess Kyle Busch has the flu and has Gilliland on stand by. Read the comments on his article out of curiosity and people can be mean. I am by no means a Kyle Busch fan - the opposite in fact - but I still don't see any need to be saying stuff like they did about him. It was kinda ironic though...it went from bad comments about him to real positive comments about him. No in between.

Well tomorrow is the race. It's not Bristol or Talledega, but it is still a race and it will be worth watching...at least if Gordon has a good race. If he's in the back all race or is out, then it is hard for me to watch the race. Even though I'd still have Johnson to root for...it's still not the same. Talking about Johnson, I guess he has a younger brother that has ran a couple truck series races and Nationwide series race...he was going to race Sat. race but qualified 44th. Jarit Johnson. Will be interesting to see if he is anything like his brother. Read about that on NASCAR.com and read the comments that fans post...there was someone that stated something about another cheater racing and he'll have Chad's brother to cheat for him. ERRR I don't see how anyone can say he or Gordon cheats. I don't see where they'd even have the opportunity to do so if they wanted to.