Nascar

[RogerDuke]

Thanks for the updates Garrett.....especially the points standings.

Isn't there another triangle shaped track somewhere that NASCAR uses besides Poconos?

I live in Pennsylvania but the Poconos is on the other side of the state.

[Garrett Duke]

Hmmm Roger...good question. I only know of Pocono as being triangle shaped. They do race there twice a year and it may have a different sponsor name to it ...one in the summer one in the fall. If that makes sense. Could that be what you are thinking about?

[texasdaisy09]

Never thought about tracks being in a triangle but ok....lol i'm a greenhorn....he he

[Garrett Duke]

Never thought about tracks being in a triangle but ok....lol i'm a greenhorn....he he

LOL TX Daisy...if you saw today's race, you'd have seen one.

Well I am not going to be giving one big report on the race today on account that I missed most of it...though did catch the last thirty or so laps so I did see some. I ended up staying out of town a day longer than expected.

Anyway...GLGirl is going to be happy to hear that Denny Hamlin won today and led the most laps I hear. Guess my fantasy team will do good with that. Denny Hamilin won, Kyle Busch came in second, Tony Stewart came in third....Harvick may have came in fourth, but am unsure. Harvick still has the lead by 29 or so points over Kyle Busch. That is as far as I know for points and where everyone ended up.

There was a lot of excitment at the end of the race...Kevin Harvick and Joey Lagono were racing for position when Lagono spun around. Don't think it was anyone's fault. Joey's car just kinda fell down the track where Harvick's car was and spun him out. Anyway, at the end of the race, Lagono obviously found it to be Harvick's fault because he parked his car by Harvick's and pushed his dad and crew away to get into Harvick's face about it before storming off. The two has had confrontations in the past from the Nationwide Series race.

Well they all saved the big wreck for last. AJ Allmindinger went down to collect Kasey Kahne who almost went air borne up the wall of the track which collected Mark Martin, Marcos Ambrose...(Cry ) Jeff Gordon. On the very last lap! Wasn't bad enough that Gordon was in 25th spot, but then he wasn't even able to finish the race! Well I am just glad that everyone walked out alright afterwards. It was a big hit for them all!

Well that is about all I know so far. I haven't made it to NASCAR.com yet to look at points.

[texasdaisy09]

Well Garrett I searched for the race since we have a dish now but I couldn't find it. Thanks for the info that you did post. Wish I could have seen it.

[Garrett Duke]

Sorry about that TX Daisy. The races will be on TNT (cable) through the July 10th race and then switch over to ESPN...another cable channel. Would think they would want to keep it on a noncable channel so more people could watch...At least I would.

You are very welcome...I only got to watch the last few laps.

Though I do stand to correct myself. I just watched a replay of the last accident on the last lap. AJ Almindinger went down to block Kasey which sent him into the grass and had slung him up the track and against the wall - his car almost went over the wall! Then collected everyone behind them.

Still not a hundred percent sure where drivers are in points.Harvick leads Kyle Busch by 19 points. Jeff Gordon dropped fourth in points to seven and Johnson is now sixth in points. That is about all I know in points at the moment.

[Garrett Duke]

Here are the points from after yesterday's race:

1. Kevin Harvick

2. Kyle Busch (-19 points behind Harvick)

3. Denny Hamlin

4. Matt Kenseth

5. Kurt Busch

6. Jimmie Johnson

7. Jeff Gordon

8. Jeff Burton

9. Carl Edwards

10. Greg Biffle

11. Mark Martin

12. Clint Bowyer

There is the top twelve in points...

[RogerDuke]

Thanks for the update Garrett.

How long has Clint Bowyer been racing?

[Garrett Duke]

Good question Roger...I looked it up. Looks like his first full year in the cup series was in 2006 and he ended up 17th in points that year. Raced a race in 2005 and finished 22nd in that race after starting 25th. Clint is a pretty good driver. I am happy to see him in the top twelve in points. My opinion of course...

[Garrett Duke]

Onto Michigan this Sunday. I like Michigan...then again, it is also known as Gordon's favorite track. Hopefully he'll be able to turn his bad luck from last week into good luck this Sunday. Kasey Kahne has had a good run of bad luck all season long so hopefully his luck will turn as well...as well as Jr. Am looking forward to the Daytona race in July...I think it is the third...Saturday night race (though could be wrong and it be on the fourth which is Sunday) Anyway, Dale Jr will not be sporting his normal Amp Energy Drink 88 car. He will be driving Wrangler 3 car - his dad's old car (well am sure it is a new car made to look like Dale Sr.'s car) but it will be interesting to see it. Sure it will bring back old memories for him as well as Dale Sr's fans as well.

[RogerDuke]

Speaking of Dale Jr, I wonder if he's going to make it to the second season. What do you think Garrett? How many drivers advance after the regular season is over?.....and what place is he in, in the points standings?

[Garrett Duke]

Do you mean the chase, Roger? The chase is the last ten races of the season where the top twelve in driver points will be racing for the championship. This can be confusing...there will be 43 drivers out there racing as is the case in any regular season race. Just the top twelve in points will be able to race for the championship. The remainder 31 cars will race for either to be 35th or better in driver points as to not have to qualify with each race the following season in order to race (in other words, they are in the top 35 in points come the end of the year, they automatically qualified to be in the race. Anyone 35th or worse in points has to qualilfy to get into the race.) The rest outside of the top twelve will race to see who can be 13th to get a million dollars. Also, come chase time, NASCAR resets the points...and each win a driver gets during the season, will add ten points for each race won. For example, right now Jimmie Johnson has three wins so he will have thirty extra points...Denny Hamlin has four wins, so right now he will have forty points. (Confusing, ain't it?) I personally miss the old point system, but then again, Gordon has been robbed of at least two championships (if not three) by this "new" point system that started in 2004.

Right now, Dale Jr is 16th in points and without any wins. They say that they can tell who will be in or out after the first five or so races...though don't know how they can do that. Anyway, Dale Jr, in my opinion, is in need of some serious help and serious good luck if he wants to make it into the top twelve this year. Sadly. His season started out alright in the first couple of races, but he has seemed to fall back to how things went last year for him. A good run of bad luck if you ask me. If it's not one thing for him, then it is another. He's driving for Hendrick which means he has the best machines and engines working for him...I really hope that things will turn around for him real soon. I think I would celebrate just as big as I do when Gordon wins, if Jr won. (That is if he didn't steal the win from Gordon...HA HA)

Well Roger, I hope that helped you a bit. Hope it wasn't too confusing and made some sense. Hope I didn't make anyone in Junior Nation upset...just my opinion as of where he is in points right now and where he's been finishing up at the end of the races, that he needs a bigt share of good luck to make it into the chase. . .

[Garrett Duke]

Denny Hamlin won today's race at Michigan...to make it two in a row. Think this is his fifth win of the season - he's won five out of the last ten races. He's looking to be the man to beat this year. Perhaps it is just me, but it always seems there is one driver that is the hottest over everyone else, winning more and all that. Like Carl Edwards in '08 when he won eight or nine races and then went winless last year and so far this year. One year their hot, the next year nothing seems to come their way. Can't recall Hamlin's year last year, but don't remember him winning this much last year or hearing all that much about him. Now he's on a winning streak, it seems. I guess it's kinda like Jerry Reed's song...when you're hot, you're hot, when you're not, you're not. LOL.

The race as a whole was a pretty good race, I thought. Not a whole lot really happened that sticks out to me. Think they only had four cautions and only two were for accidents. One happened between teammates ...Scott Speed and Casey Mears (who is driving for Brian Vickers) and it sounds like Speed was pretty upset at Mears afterwards. I don't recall another year where so many team mates are getting upset at each other or wrecking each other on the field as they are this year.

Here is the top ten of the race:

1. Denny Hamlin

2. Kasey Kahne

3. Kurt Busch

4. Jeff Gordon

5. Tony Stewart

6. Jimmie Johnson

7. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (was a great finish by him! Am excited to see he got a top ten this week. Hopefully he is going in the right direction and will continue with how he drove today!)

8. Jeff Burton

9. Greg Biffle

10. Joey Lagono

Here is the unofficial top twelve standings after the race:

1. Kevin Harvick

2. Kyle Busch (-22 points)

3. Denny Hamlin

4. Kurt Busch

5. Matt Kennseth

6. Jimmie Johnson

7. Jeff Gordon

8. Jeff Burton

9. Greg Biffle

10. Carl Edwards

11. Tony Stewart

12. Mark Martin

Hope you all got to catch at least part of the race. It all went pretty quick this week with so few cautions and all that. At least, I thought it did.

Next week they go to California for Sonoma...which is a road race! I am excited for it...they only have two road races on thier schedule so it is something different. They get to turn left and right! They don't really get to go all that fast there and it is difficult to pass people which I guess makes it a challenge. Jeff Gordon is pretty good at road races while Jimmie Johnson has yet to win one. They have a few road racers that will probably join them...most popular being Boris Said. It'll be fun to watch. . .

[RogerDuke]

Thanks for all the updates Garrett.....and yes I did mean the "Chase". I just couldn't think of what it was called.

Hey, did you ever watch the season 1 DVD "Special Features" where NASCAR drivers talk about how the Dukes influenced them? They all agree that sliding in the dirt is fun compared to paved tracks. I think that's why I like the local dirt track so much. I'm an old "fishtailer" from way back....YEEHHAAWWW!!!

I wonder if Jeff will move ahead of Jimmie at Sonoma since he's better at road races.

[GeneralLeeGirl]

YAY Hamlin! haha

[Garrett Duke]

General Lee Girl...I thought you may like it that your boy Hamlin won. Can't say I was too happy about it, but at least someone was. LOL. Glad he won for ya.

Roger - I don't believe I have watched that special feature...I'll have to find the time or make the time to do so. That would be interesting to hear and to see. Interesting to hear they like sliding in the dirt over concrete, wonder what the current drivers feel about that. Know a lot of them have dirt track history and what not.

I am looking forward to Sonoma this weekend...just read an article on NASCAR.com on how Gordon and Stewart has gained the most points at this track and how Gordon has led the most laps here. Am hoping that he will lead the most laps come Sunday as well. Know you like Johnson, Roger, but I am really hoping Gordon can slide on by him. I like Johnson as well, but am getting tired of getting beat by him year in and year out. It's about time Gordon gets a win and another championship...you know the year his daughter, Ella was born, Gordon won six races. His wife is about to have a son in August here...he needs to start his winning streak going again. LOL. (Then again, Johnson's wife is going to have a baby in July as well...)

Hope you all get to watch the race this Sunday...road races aren't as fast as the normal races so they don't tend to be as exciting or what not, but I like them just because they are different and the fact Gordon is good at 'em helps as well.

[RogerDuke]

I have to work on Sunday.

What time is the race? I should be getting home around 7:00 EST. Since it's in California time, I assume I'll be a be able to see the end at least.....unless it starts real early.

[Garrett Duke]

I think they said it will be at 3:15 or so EST...don't know how long it will last. Hope you'll be able to catch the highlights if not the end of the race. I'm sure you'll be able to get caught up on it from the TV or the internet...or I'll be glad to fill you up if I get to watch it. You know I enjoy talking about the races! LOL Hope work is well for you, Roger...that's a bummer you have to do it on a Sunday!

[Garrett Duke]

Well Sonoma is tomorrow...am hoping to catch it. Am hoping for a good and exciting race. And of course hoping that Gordon can get that elusive win that he has yet to get. Though I am sure all of you are hoping your driver will get the win. For your sake, I hope they do. It would be interesting to know or to find out just how different they have to make their car for road races since they turn both left and right and all that. Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart are both known for being good at road races and has earned the most points at this track. You have drivers like Boris Said who is part time Sprint drivers who specialize in road coarses (he even has his own following...they call themselves the "Said Heads" and come wearing brown afro wigs. LOL) And then you have the Australian Marcos Ambrose who is a good road racer...think that may have been what he raced before coming into NASCAR a couple of years ago. I am hoping his luck will turn around to have a great finish tomorrow. Ambrose has had a heck of a time this year getting a good finish, it's one thing after another for him. I like Ambrose...he is always so positive and always has a smile on his face no matter what.

Then you have Kasey Kahne (also has a good run of bad luck this year) who won last year's race at Sonoma. But if you go by history, he normally finishes in the back of the pack in Sonoma. Like in the thirties and twenties. Except last year where he won. He holds the pole for tomorrow's race with Jimmie Johnson (who has yet to win a road coarse) starting second. I have said for the past couple of years that if they want the chase to be more challenging for Johnson and more even for everyone else, they should put a road coarse in the chase (the last ten races of the season). The tracks in there now, are tracks that Johnson is statistically really good at. At least for the most part. Throw a road coarse in there and Bristol (of which he also hasn't won at) into the chase, it may make it a little more challenging to JJ. Don't get me wrong, I like JJ...he's my second favorite driver after all. It probably wouldn't matter one way or another if they had a road coarse or Bristol in there it would shake it all up a bit. So to speak.

Carl Edwards won the Nationwide Series race today.

Well there is a little tid bit of information for y'all...

[RogerDuke]

Well the best part of the race is usually the last half hour so hopefully I'll get home in time.

[Garrett Duke]

I hope you get to watch the end of the race as well, Roger. I am hoping that I will get to see it as well, there is something else that is going on at the same time in town that I may go to. Am not sure right now. Am hoping for a good race for all our drivers tomorrow!

[Garrett Duke]

Well the race at Sonoma has just finished and I think it had as many twists to it as it had turns. I hope you all got to at least watch part of it and that your driver had a great race. Jimmie Johnson won his first road race today, am sure he is excited about that. Am glad for him, though was hoping for Marcos Ambrose to win just because it would have been his first win in the cup series for him. Plus he's had some horrible luck this year. Ambrose lead a lot of laps and was leading with ten to go on the final restart...but during the caution, while going up a hill he coasted or something. His car came to a halt which it is against NASCAR rules...you have to keep pace car speed. So instead of starting first as he would have if he didn't do that, he started seventh. Can't imagine how upset he must have been at himself. He took time out in the hauler before coming out to talk to the media about it to calm himself down. Which was big of him...most of those guys would either refuse to talk to the reporters or if they did talk, would be upset and all that. Ambrose finished sixth, which is pretty good, except when you know you could have had the win. All in all, am happy with the race, happy with Johnson winning.

As for Gordon...he had a pretty good race, though think he made a few other drivers upset with some contact he had with them. Martin Truex Jr being one of them who has said he'll get back at him in Loudon next week...which I hope by then they'll have it worked out. Gordon felt bad for it. He had contact with Kurt Busch and Clint Bowyer as well throughout the race to spin them out. Which is surprising coming from Gordon, but he apologized for it all after the race, said some of it was hard racing and so forth.

There was a lot of accidents and spin outs through the whole thing. They even had to back flag it after they all got into each other on one of the restarts.

Here is the top ten:

1. Jimmie Johnson

2. Robby Gordon

3. Kevin Harvick

4. Kasey Kahne

5. Jeff Gordon

6. Marcos Ambrose

7. Greg Biffle

8. Boris Said

9. Tony Stewart

10. Juan Pablo Montoya

11. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Here is the unofficial standings:

1. Kevin Harvick

2. Jimmie Johnson (-140)

3. Kyle Busch

4. Denny Hamlin

5. Jeff Gordon

6. Kurt Busch

7. Matt Kenseth

8. Jeff Burton

9. Greg Biffle

10. Tony Stewart

11. Mark Martin

12. Carl Edwards

13. Dale Earnhardt Jr (-57 out of the top twelve)

The race today had really shook up the points. Jimmie climbed four spots with his win while Kyle and Denny both lost position due to a bad race. Gordon climbed two positions as well and now Dale Jr has found new hope of getting back into the top twelve...if only he can continue to have strong finishes as he has had in the last two races.

[RogerDuke]

The NASCAR "expert" who I work with, thinks that there is a conspiracy theory in NASCAR to get certain people to win. At first I just thought he was being a sore loser (since he's a Dale Jr fan) but he actually makes a pretty compelling case that involves the ratings, advertising money and how the caution flags are thrown at the races, especially some of the incidents at Sonoma.

I don't know enough about NASCAR to know if he knows what he's talking about but he's one of the smartest guys I've ever met so I really respect his opinion and his idea makes a lot of sense to me. I sure wish he could run his thoughts by you Garrett to get your input.

I've been trying to get him on the HazzardNet but haven't had any luck yet.

[Garrett Duke]

Well Roger, if you ever get him to come aboard, I'd be glad to hear what he has to say and where he is coming from with it all. I've heard it all from other fans online, but never paid them no attention. I guess I like NASCAR too much to think that it is all rigged and that NASCAR has their hand in with who wins and so forth. It'd ruin it a hundred percent for me to know that. But they do have a way of throwing those "phatom debris" cautions out as Denny Hamlin called it last week. And they do tend to be more lenient on some drivers than they are on other drivers. Some of their calls are questionable. But would hate to think that they have their hand in it all like I said...think they would lose a lot of fans of that kind of stuff would get around.

Can't think of what NASCAR could do at Sonoma exept maybe their call to penelize Marcos Ambrose at the end there that gave JJ the win. At first I thought it was bogus too. But Marcos' car came to a stop. They said there is a rule that regulates that they have to keep up with the pace car's speed to keep their position, and no matter how much I wanted Ambrose to win it, he didn't keep up to speed. He made a mistake and hopefully will learn from it. Other than that, everything else that seemed to go on was a lot of binging and banging amongst the drivers.

As I said, Roger, I would like to hear what your "expert" has to say to back all that up with. As I said, heard other fans online talk like that too and all. Can see where they can get that at times. For my sake, I am really hoping that they are wrong...would think it would take a lot out of the race for me to know that NASCAR has the say as to who wins and so forth and that it isn't all up to the drivers, their talent, and work along with the competition that comes up with the win or the loss or the accidents.

[Garrett Duke]

Well they are racing at Loudon on Sunday. Enjoyed the road course because it is something different and something they don't race on that often, but am glad to be back on track again. LOL. But perhaps some of the reason being is from all the drivers that had left upset and all the negative attention that had been directed at Gordon. One would have thought they were racing at Bristol by how they were racing each other and how high their emotions was after the race. Not a road race. A typical road race is kinda slow compared to a regular race because the cars can't go as fast as they do on track and it is harder for them to pass one another. They may not have been going as fast and may not have passed that often on Sunday, but there was a lot of drivers that left upset at each other and then you have the whole incident with Ambrose. Glad Johnson got his first road race win though (got to correct myself...Johnson won Bristol in the spring to win his first Bristol race. My post before Sunday's race said Johnson didn't win at Bristol yet, when he did this year.)

After talk of retaliation and all that at Sonoma, am hoping that the drivers has patched up their hard feelings with one another and that there will be no retaliation at Loudon. Then again, the incident I am talking about is of Martin Truex Jr threatening to retaliate against Gordon; so that may have a lot to do with it. Gordon's having enough trouble on his own getting a win, he doesn't need any help by any other upset drivers he got mad at him last Sunday. Anyway, as always, am looking forward to the race on Sunday. It should be a good one. Gordon is good at tracks like Loudon. As is Ryan Newman it sounds like. Tony Stewart starts getting better and winning more in the summer so he should be getting better as it gets warmer.

OK now that I have succeeding in boring y'all, I'll shut up now. Just had to throw a little tid bit in here after not posting anything here for a couple of days.

Roger - would be interested in hearing your "expert's" reasons behind thinking the races are fixed and to hear how NASCAR has it's way of controling who wins and all that. All I can think of is by them throwing un-neccessary cautions towards the end of the race. (which is killing Gordon right now BTW. Not un-neccessary cautions per say, just the restarts in general.) As I said, I've heard other people upset online accusing NASCAR of the same thing and had a few thoughts of it here and there, but have thus far refused to think too much into it. Does your "expert" ramble on as much as I do about NASCAR? LOL