Garrett Duke

Well the Sprint Cup Showdown (the race to get into the All Star race) will start at 7:00 EST on SPEED (not FOX) and the All star race will be starting at 9:00 EST...once again on SPEED. The All Star race will be seperated into five different segments. First four segments will be twenty laps. The fifth segment will be ten laps. The winner of the race will get a million dollars. Here is the link of the article I got it from if you want more information : All Star Race info. I pretty much summed up what Yahoo NASCAR editor Jay Hart had said during the two minute video that is half way down the screen. I love his pick to who wins tonight's race...JEFF GORDON. Here is the qualifying order of the race: 1. Kyle Busch 2. Ryan Newman 3. Denny Hamlin 4. Greg Biffle 5. Kevin Harvick 6. Jimmie Johnson 7. Paul Menard 8. Jeff Gordon 9. Tony Stewart 10. Regan Smith 11. Trevor Bayne 12. Clint Bowyer 13. Carl Edwards 14. David Ragen 15. Matt Kenseth 16. Mark Martin 17. Kurt Busch 18. Marcos Ambrose 19. Brad Keselowski 20. Kasey Kahne Those are the ones that were gauranteed a spot in the All Star race due to a win last year or one this year. A lot of new comers to the All Star race this year with the first time winners last year. 21. will go to who ever wins the Showdown race 22. will go to who ever comes in second in the Showdown race 23. will go to the fan voted driver (Most likely JR unless he comes in first or second in the Showdown race tonight. . .) Don't know about y'all, but I am excited for the Showdown and the All Star race and to see who will win and how it will shape up. Y'all surprised?

They will be racing under the lights Saturday night in Charolette where there will be NO points on the line...every driver will be going for the million dollars that the winner will recieve. IT'S THE ALL STAR RACE!!!!!!!!! So with that said, the race will be different. They got the pit crew challenge tonight. Be interesting to see which team has the fastest pit crew...if I had to guess, I'd go with Kyle Busch. He has an awesome crew working for him. (Though in my opinion, Jeff Gordon has the best crew! HA HA) Also, there will only be 20 or so cars in the race...read somewhere that the rules have changed this year so I will have to read up on that tomorrow when I have a faster computer and more time to read things. But in the past there was a certain amount of drivers that qualified...drivers who won a race the year before, perhaps a pole. Something like that. There will be a shorter race before of the drivers who are not eligable for the All Star race and the first two drivers will drive their way into the race. And then there is one driver that the fans vote in...and since Jr didn't win a race this year (as of yet) or last year, if he doesn't get first or second in the pre race...you can assume he will be the fan voted in driver as he was last year. Or at least, I am assuming he will be the fan voted driver... I don't have the list of drivers as of now...can think of a few of them that will be on the list, but don't have an actual list to type up. I will look that up and post it tomorrow. I should write this up tomorrow for you all, but felt like posting something NASCAR. So here is my pre-pre race write up. HA HA. Sorry for not more information, but as I said, will do more research and add on here tomorrow night or Saturday morning sometime when I have more time and a faster internet connection. Dial up is too slow and four am comes too early.

Well NASCAR has came back with their verdict for Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman's crew. Kurt Busch has been fined $50,000 and put on NASCAR probation until July 25. Ryan Newman's crew cheif has been put on probation until June 27 and another crew member of Newman's has been fined five thousand dollars and put on probation until June 27th (for not complying with a NASCAR official). Glad NASCAR saw Kurt Busch's part in it...no need to be throwing such tantrums on track like that. Understand Newman's crew being upset as they were, so feel like that was kinda uncalled for. But at least they got the light end of the deal...people could have gotten hurt with Kurt driving like that. My two cents worth on the whole ordeal...

I thought you use to like JJ Roger...what happened? LOL. Though would be nice for Jr, his fans, for me, and for NASCAR if Jr would win. HA

Well...some light has been shown over what the fight between Newman's and Kurt Busch's crew was about. It wasn't over what happened on track, but how Kurt had peeled through pit road and through Newman's pit stall...and hit Newman on pit road. Understand Kurt being upset and all, but really feel that was uncalled for and understand why Newman's crew was upset. Here is the latest article I had just read on the incident: Ryan Newman's crew vs. Kurt Busch. NASCAR has stated that if they feel like punishments are due they will be handing them out later this week. Personally, I really hope they will look beyond the fight if they do hand out punishments and look at why Newman's crew was upset. Not condoning them fighting with Kurt's crew, but they do have valid reason to be upset, I feel.

Well the Darlington race has just ended and JIMMIE JOHNSON has just won teamowner, Rick Hendrick, his 200th win! But boy that was a nerve wrecking finish with the caution that was brought out with Kurt Busch hitting the wall and taking Ryan Newman with him. Though I am kinda jumping ahead in this... Darlington has earned several stripes today as drivers bounced off the wall all night. Starting with Jeff Gordon. Another hard race for Jeff Gordon. He was in the top ten when his tire got cut, he got it fixed and five laps later it went flat again. He took it to the garage for 28 laps...and finished 35th. Am very disappointed with Gordon's finish, but am so happy JJ won. Rather it be Gordon, but if not Gordon, let it be JJ. (My biased opinion, of course.) Kyle Busch had a strong race as had Biffle who went back and forth. Tony Stewart finished third and was a strong threat at the end despite having a clutch issue. Though there was a few cautions, not the amount of cautions and accidents that Darlington is known for. Though that seems to be the trend as of late. As Darrell Waltrip has pointed out, thus far, everyone is playing nice. No rivalries. No fighting. Which is probably for the best though NASCAR likes it because it gains popularity with it. Here is the top ten finishes: 1. Jimmie Johnson 2. Denny Hamlin 3. Tony Stewart 4. Kyle Busch 5. Martin Truex Jr 6. Matt Kenseth 7. Carl Edwards 8. Kasey Kahne 9. Marcos Ambrose 10. Joey Lagano PS:Tony Stewart just said during his pre race interview that he ran out of gas on the last lap. Surprising since he pitted three laps closer to the finish of the race than Johnson who stayed out. Well I just posted about no fighting...well Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch are now fighting with each other. One of Ryan's crew pushed an NASCAR official! Ironicly Kurt and Ryan seemed to be in agreement with each other with what had happened on the track...guess their crew don't feel the same way. Well DW got what he want...some fighting. A year after Harvick and Kyle Busch got into it. Found it kinda interesting when during the pre race show they tried asking Harvick about Kyle and he stated that he don't talk to Kyle nor talk about Kyle. Someone still seems upset... Next race will be next Saturday night on SPEED...will be the ALL STAR race. No points are online but the winner will be taking home a million dollars. Y'all think there is any chance they'd share some of that money with me? LOL

Very small Duke connection for tonight's race. Denny Hamlin has Cale Yarborough paint scheme tonight. Cale was taking pictures with Denny during the pre race show...Cale was on two Dukes of Hazzard episodes. Not a Hamlin fan, but thought that was neat.

Jesse Duke slowly hangs up the phone to slowly walk over to the kitchen sink to turn the cold water on and for a long time he watches the water stream down the drain. His mind filled with the little info Cooter had shared over the phone and more on the troubles that has currently plagued his family. Closing his eyes he falls back onto the only line of defense he currently knows and he starts to pray heavily for his boys. For Gordon. For a solution to their problem. "Amen," he finishes as he opens his eyes before he places his hands into the now icy cold water. Sighing heavily he splashes a couple of handfuls of water over his face before turning the water off and grabbing the towel to dry his face off with. Turning around he slowly walks into the living room, feeling lost as he awaits for his nephews to return home. "Was that the boys?" Daisy asks, coming out of her room. Concern a lit in her soft eyes. Jesse slowly shakes his head. "Only Cooter," Jesse states giving Daisy a small comforting hug, "to say they are on their way home. We've waited this long for them to come home, don't know why they bothered with having him call and tell us. What's an extra few minutes to wait? Since we have to wait anyway." She flashes a small smile. "That's the boys for you. Probably Luke's idea," she states as she sits down in the chair, "I'm worried Uncle Jesse." "Worried? 'Bout what?" Jesse asks as he forces him down into the couch, "There's no need to be worried. The boys are as of yet not in trouble with the law and that is a good thing. They're just working on clearing Jeff's name." "Exactly. You know how much Bo looks up to him...he's going to be crushed if Gordon goes off to jail. Only other person he looks up to more than Jeff, is Luke," she responds, "I'm surprised Bo's been able to stay as calm as he has so far..." Jesse hears himself give a sarcastic laugh. "I doubt Bo has been very calm. Perhaps to us he has been, but I bet you ask Luke, he'd tell you something else," Jesse goes silent as he hears a car pulling up, "I assume they're here by the sound of things. Cooter wouldn't answer my questions...he says the boys will fill us in on their progress and what is going on." Daisy nods silently as they both slowly stand up to go greet Bo and Luke. "I just hope they got some good news," Daisy says, hanging her head.

Hamilton has had a great week. Hopefully he will keep it up...only thing better is if he'd play for the Cubs. Think Josh is a great guy and had felt incredibly bad for him last year...that had to have been hard on him. On another baseball note....the young sensation from the National's, Bryce Harper, has seemed to have learned a valuable and painful lesson as to never hit anything other than the ball with the bat. He got mad in the eightth inning and hit the dug out wall with his bat. Well the bat took vengence on him and went back to hit him in the face...left him with a big ol' lump over his eye and a bloody face...and ten stitches above the eye where he cut it open. OUCH.

NASCAR Sprint Cup is racing TONIGHT at 6:30 EST on FOX. Greg Biffle will be taking the checkered flag from the pole followed by Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne. They are racing at Darlington.

LOL Hoss. Thanks...knew someone would throw that in my face. Is that all you gained from my post? KHEE!

I think that was awesome and it couldn't happen to anyone better than him. I still feel bad for him for what had happened last year...hopefully he'll have a great year this year. Just not against the Cubs. HA HA.

I was really hoping for a win from Gordon for my birthday or at least a storng finish. And for some reason, he didn't give it to me. Nor did Johnson. Don't know what I did to upset them so much that they decided not to even finish the dang race. Very disappointing gift they brought me. As for your question, Roger, I don't know for sure but do have an opinion on it. My opinion agrees with Hoss. I think it has to do with all the popularity she has (or the popularity of her name...) and are hoping she will bring that popularity as in more viewers to NASCAR. They suspend her they are probably figuring on they would upset quite a few of them. NASCAR upsets me in that figure when it comes to punishing drivers. They seem to be so lopsided. I know they have a rule book that they quote numbers and such out of when they dish the penalties out, but I don't think they go by that. In my opinion, it goes by who the driver is whether or not they will punish them. My opinion, of course...but do have a few scenerios that kinda back it up. This kinda reminds me of several years ago... Think it was about the beginning of the new point system with the chase, when during a Busch Series (now Nationwide Series) race Tony Stewart got into an arguement with one of the drivers (want to say Kurt Busch, but not a hundred percent sure on that). Doesn't really matter. But Tony punched the other driver. NASCAR talked about parking him for the Cup race, but didn't because it would ruin his chance at getting in the chase or at the championship. Which would make his fans upset. To me, that shouldn't come into play whether or not they punished him in that matter or not. It should go as to what they did as to what punishment they hand out and not to who it is or what position in points they are. Guess I understand the fan part...if they parked Gordon, I'd be upset. But I'd also be upset that Gordon would do something to ask to be parked... As I said, I don't have any factual facts to back up what I said, but felt all along that they have declined punishment due to her namesake and her publicity. Which, as I stated, is not right. Not fair. What she did was wrong and could have hurt Sam or other drivers as well as hurt his car further than it already is. Don't know how Danica raced in Indy. I don't really know much about Indy nor followed her there, but it would be interesting to see if she is known to have such fits or if it is a one time thing. Hopefully it is a one time thing...going at the speeds they going...even in a cool down lap...there is no room for such acts. By anyone.

Hoss - Sorry you couldn't get my video. Didn't even think of that. I am glad I am not the only one to view it like that. I feel like she was way out of line. Know NASCAR had talked about handing out punishments on Monday, but it looks like they changed their mind about that. I understand nudging him back to say she didn't appreciate that, but that was more than a nudge. I have seen Cup drivers hit the other driver in the rear to show their displeasure, but wrecking like that was uncalled for. I also got that impression from her interview or thought that perhaps she was trying to fit in by her attitude. But I could be wrong about it.

Funny I just got done writing my last post when my uncle sent me this link of the incident and the interviews. Can't say I am too impressed with Danica with what I saw or her attitude during the interviews. Danica Patrick and Sam Hornish Jr. Glad I finally saw what had happened and to me it looks like, just like Sam said, his tire blew and he was sent up the track in front of Danica. At least, that is how I saw it. Understand Danica being upset, but I am willing to bet that Hornish Jr wasn't very happy his tire going out on the last lap like that either. Uncool that she would wreck him after the race for something he didn't do on purpose. Ah well, that's Talledega. Lots of emotions at going 200 MPH...(this was in the Nationwide Series race Saturday..) Interesting to see how she will do in a Cup car on Saturday night...hopefully better than her Daytona debut in February where she wrecked on the fifth lap with Jimmie Johnson...

A Christian song by a Christian artist. Love this song...great message to it. Trivia info...Jonny has a brother who plays for the Atlanta Braves. Matt Diaz. Must be an athletic family...Jonny coulda played baseball but felt pulled to be a Christain musician. Glad he did...love baseball, but he is great at what he does now.

You are welcome Sissy Duke and Roger. I am a normally quiet person, but when it comes to NASCAR, baseball, and the Dukes I can talk forever. HA. Love talking NASCAR and love writing my reviews...especially if I can say Gordon and Johnson had good races. HA. LOL. Haven't been able to do that lately, but that time is comin'...they are both too good to be down for too long. Of course t hat is all of my biased opinion. LOL. Was thinkin' last night if anyone was interested we could put a Q&A thread up...may not know all the answers but may know some. HA. Let me know if you are interested..if not, I won't do it and it won't hurt my feelings any. Danica "Daisy Duke" Patrick? Well I don't know if I should say anything since I missed the Nationwide Series race last week, but it sounds like she got herself in trouble due to her driving style. I heard both ways. But it sounds like she wrecked Sam Hornish Jr during a cool down lap (I assume they meant caution) after they bumped. Though they have talked, Hornish said he bumped her due to his tire going out...still retaliation during a yellow? Not cool. But perhaps other than that her driving skills are similar? LOL Just a reminder...next race is Saturday night. You tune in on Sunday to watch Darlington, unless they get rained out (Fingers crossed that they don't...) you'll be missing the race.

Not a stupid question...had to go look it up. Says it is in SC...so I figure that has to mean South Carolina? LOL. Thought of you, Roger, when I saw Ragen with a top ten. At least someone I knew had a driver that had a good race. Guess I know a couple Jr fans and he finished nineth, so two drivers. Last year at Darlington was when Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch got into it after Harvick knocked Busch a couple times on the last lap. Kyle got tired of it and turned Harvick. Harvick then blocked Kyle in pit road and got out of his car to punch Kyle. Kyle in turn hit Harvick's car and drove away. Both were fined and put on probation...and Regan Smith went on to win his first race. Darlington is also know to collect it's fair share of stripes on the wall with the drivers banging on the wall. See how many stripes she collects Saturday night...hopefully none from Gordon. Danica Patrick will also make her second appearance in Sprint Cup. For her sake, hopefully she has a better race than her first race at Daytona...

Well the Sprint Cup race at Talledega has just gotten over and Brad Keselowski has held on to win his second 'Dega race. His second win of the season. THere was four or five cautions or something like that today. Not as much as normal, but enough. Jimmie Johnson suffered through some sort of engine problem. Think they said some sort of pump broke in half and he was sat out for the rest of the race. Jeff Gordon complained about his water temp. being too hot. But at the end it didn't matter. Halfway through or so Dave Blaney was having gas issues and went up to collect another driver, sent Truex Jr down who hit Gordon who went down the track to miss the wreck. He was then sent up to hit the wall hard. To end his day as well. My top two driver's with DNF's today. Another sad racing day for this 24 fan...and 48 fan. The wreck also took out Carl Edwards. Casey Mears who had led some laps had spun out and bumped Trevor Bayne, but not too hard. There was another multi car accident that collected Michael Waltrip and other drivers..then during the restart after that, AJ Allmindinger went to block Denny Hamlin only to cause another big wreck that collected Tony Stewart as well. Hamlin's tire blew up to shred his car on the track. Matt Kenseth led the most laps only to pull too far ahead at the end of his team mate Greg Biffle and Kyle Busch pushed Brad Keselowski past to the win. They just said there was 19 cars that was taken out of the race due to accidents. Most this season thus far. Here is the top ten finishing spots: 1. Brad Keselowski 2. Kyle Busch 3. Matt Kenseth 4. Kasey Kahne 5. Greg Biffle 6. Clint Bowyer 7. David Ragen (You should be proud Roger!) 8. Trevor Bayne 9. Dale Earnhardt Jr 10. Jeff Burton Next race will be next SATURDAY night at Darlington.

Well they had a great extended pre race show today on FOX. Michael Waltrip is in the race so he wore his fire suit under his suit...too funny. Shown a lot of bad wrecks at Talledega...too scary. Hope we don't see any today and that all our favorite drivers will have a great race today and avoid the big one. But the pre race show is about over and it is about go time for all who are wanting to watch the race. Can't wait to hear Darrell Waltrip say his trade mark "Boogity, boogity, boogity!"

Another one of my favorite Country artist. Great song by a great artist.

"Somebody Like You" Keith Urban LOVE THIS SONG!!!!!!! Well OK, know I say that about most of my songs I pick out, but really, do love this song. Love this whole CD of Keith Urban's that this song is on. Keith Urban is one of my favorite Country artist and this entire album is so upbeat and helps pull me out of a bad mood or a bad day. Saw him twice in concert and would love to see him again. Perhaps one day...LOL