2014 NASCAR Race Review and Results

[Garrett Duke]

Well y'all...it is FINALLY that time of year again! It is now NASCAR season...well the season doesn't officially start until next Sunday at the Daytona 500...but eighteen cars has just started their engines at the Sprint Unlimited (Used to be known as the Bud Shootout). Bet y 'all can't guess who is excited???? I AM!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Sprint Unlimited is on Fox Sports 1. Used to be known as the Speed Channel. Will write a summary of the pre season race once it is over.

As Rosco would say...I love it, I love it! Khee!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Garrett Duke]

Well the Sprint Unlimited definitely didn't go as I was hoping it would go...and I am convinced that I jinx all my favorite drivers that I go for. LOL.

They separated the race into three segments. The first segment Jimmie Johnson got lose and spun out into the wall. Ended his night.

Second segment, Matt Kenseth started the big one that collected Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart...and JEFF GORDON. Danica Patrick almost drove through it until her boyfriend, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, with his hood up, ran into her. (We started the race with 18 cars, after this wreck, we had 9 cars left on track.)

Then in the third segment, Dale Earnhardt Jr went up as Marcos Ambrose went up and they wrecked each other. They went to caution...only for the caution car to catch on fire and they went back to caution for the caution car.

Kyle Busch almost spun out...but was able to save himself with minor damage.

Denny Hamlin finished the race in the winner circle.

This is the beginning of Speed Weeks. Tomorrow they will qualify for first and second place at the Daytona 500. Thursday will be the Duals that will determine how the rest of the field will line up.

May not have been the race I was looking forward to...but it was NOT a point race...and it is kicking off the 2014 season. I for one am HAPPY!!!!!

[HossC]

It looks like rookie Austin Dillon will be starting Sunday's Daytona 500 on pole.

I'll be sticking with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. this year, so I was a little disappointed to see he'd only qualified in 34th place. Having said that, he was quickest in Practice 5, the most recent session for which NASCAR has posted results.

Garrett, you can't be too unhappy with Jeff Gordon starting in 6th, even if Jimmie Johnson is down in 32nd.

1 Austin Dillon #

2 Martin Truex. Jr.

3 Matt Kenseth

4 Denny Hamlin

5 Kasey Kahne

6 Jeff Gordon

7 Marcos Ambrose

8 Kurt Busch

9 Dale Earnhardt Jr.

10 Paul Menard

11 Josh Wise

12 Brian Scott (i)

13 Aric Almirola

14 Trevor Bayne (i)

15 AJ Allmendinger

16 Kyle Larson #

17 David Gilliland

18 Landon Cassill (i)

19 Ryan Newman

20 Clint Bowyer

21 Tony Stewart

22 Jamie McMurray

23 Cole Whitt #

24 Terry Labonte

25 Greg Biffle

26 Bobby Labonte

27 Danica Patrick

28 Casey Mears

29 Alex Bowman #

30 Carl Edwards

31 Brian Vickers

32 Jimmie Johnson

33 Brad Keselowski

34 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

35 Joey Logano

36 Michael Annett #

37 Kyle Busch

38 Kevin Harvick

39 Reed Sorenson

40 Justin Allgaier #

41 Parker Kligerman #

42 Michael Waltrip

43 David Ragan

# = a rookie

(i) = a driver not eligible to earn points

Eric McClure, Ryan Truex, Joe Nemechek, Morgan Shepherd and Michael McDowell all failed to qualify. Dave Blaney withdrew.

I know it's early in the season, but NASCAR seem to have improved their website this year. I won't go as far as to say it's perfect, but I think they're heading in the right direction. How have y'all found it?

Nearly forgot - the Daytona 500 starts tomorrow (Sunday) at 1:00 PM ET, and will be live on Fox.

[Garrett Duke]

Thanks Hoss for covering for me...was going to do that once I got home from church today to see you beat me to it. Though how could anyone forget the Daytona 500???? :confused:

Talking of which...pre race show is on now...driver introductions!!!!!!!!! I wish they would show the driver introductions every race...just love it! Think I am in heaven right now...LOL.

[HossC]

Garrett, I hope you can fill in the latter part of the race for me. With that rain delay, I only made it up to about lap 120 before I had to call it a night. I caught up with the result this morning, but did I miss much?

What happened to Ricky? He was running around 10th after the rain restart, but then fell to near the back. He was still back in 28th when I turned it off. The lap-by-lap guide puts him at 22nd with 18 to go, but then puts him in provisional 5th at the end before finally being given 7th.

Rick Hendrick must be pleased to get the win and two more drivers in the top 5.

[Garrett Duke]

Sorry everyone for my lack of a review yesterday. It was ten thirty when the race ended...and having to be up at four this morning for work, well, I turned the TV off and went right to bed. I love night races...but not when I have to work the next morning. LOL.

For the Daytona 500, it was a pretty good race. It had several big accidents that took out or affected numerous drivers, but they also went laps with no caution as well. I wish I wrote this last night...my review would be better because I am having a hard time remembering who was involved in what. It seemed like the same drivers kept getting involved in accidents. Like rookie Kyle Larson hit the wall a couple of times before the rain delay and do believe he was in a big accident right after they went back to racing. Rookie Austin Dillon who started from the pole was in at least three accidents...but think his were rookie mistakes. A lot of the times, he spent racing in the middle lane...I know I am nervous when one of the Hendrick boys gets trapped in the middle...one little mistake and it and will take cause the big one. Danica Patrick was invovled in a pretty hard accident where she hit the wall pretty hard, but she was taken out in one of the "big ones".

As for Ricky Stenhouse Jr....finishing seventh is pretty good, Hoss. He was involved in one of the big accidents towards the end...thought of you when I saw it. He must not have gotten hit too hard to go on and finish the race. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Well that is a small summary and picture of it...in the picture it doesn't look like he got much out of the accident...which is lucky for him. It took Michael Waltrip out of the race. (Sorry not much info...all I remember is thinking of you when I saw Ricky was involved...was beginning to think I imagined it because I couldn't find any info online about it until I came to this...small article on it. LOL).

As I said, seemed like drivers that were in accidents were in several...including Hendrick driver Kasey Kahne. (Confession time...I didn't see all of the race...I left to get ready for bed during some of it.) Can't remember what happened to Kahne or if he finished the race, though do know I do believe I heard him the maddest last night than I remember hearing him. And I can't say I don't blame him. Another driver spun out or was wrecking besides him (they were by the entrance to pit lane) so Kasey sped to get away from the accident...in doing so he went over one of the speed sensors in pit road. NASCAR gave him a drive through penalty for speeding in pit road! I understand the whole rule of speeding in pit road and why they penalize them the way they do...but really? Like Kasey said on the radio...his only choice was to get out of the way (which he did) or to get wrecked by the oncoming car! He wasn't speeding down pit road to get to his pit stall faster, to have a faster pit stop, or anything like that...it was to get out of the way. End of story. And he gets penalized for it. Some days you can't win for trying, I guess.

Kyle Busch had a rough night. Before the rain delay went out, he drove off with some equipment stuck to his car (maybe the air gun?) which is illegal and he was given a drive through penalty. Which he didn't serve. So NASCAR black flagged him...before giving him the flag with a white mark on it that says if he didn't stop now, they weren't recording him on the track (as Darrell Waltrip said, that isn't a pretty flag! LOL). So he got that taken care of. Got a lap down. Then raced himself back to the lead lap (or perhaps a lucky dog was given to him...not sure. Didn't see how he got his lap back.) But with on the last lap he was in the top ten going for the win when he was involved in a big accident. Though he did manage to finish the race...even if it was in pit road and driving backwards! LOL.

The end of the race was pretty crazy...with the white flag dropping and Jr having a solid lead, cars were wrecking all over behind him (inlcuding Terry Labonte who had said that this would be his last Daytona 500 race . He was doing so good up until the end.) But the race being under white flag and cars out of the way, Jr went on to win his second Daytona 500! Dale Sr. has to be smiling down on his son with that win. That is the happiest I have ever seen Dale Jr. Even the announcers were saying how Dale was like a little kid with his burn out and just how smiley and pumped up he was. Very emotional win for Dale Jr...I was very happy for for Dale to win like he did.

And I am pretty happy with Gordon's fourth place finish and JJ's fifth place finish...great finish by my top three drivers! Though am kinda disappointed with NASCAR or don't understand where NASCAR is coming from. Gordon was in third place when the race ended...I went to bed thinking he finished third. Only to read up on Facebook this morning that he was tagged fourth when the accident happened. Which I guess he could have been. But if they are going to allow them to race to the finish line would think that is what would count...I don't know. Not going to get upset over one point, but still...he should have been placed third instead of Keselowski. Just my petty opinion...LOL.

Though I have to report how FOX had replayed last year's Daytona 500 race while the race was under a four hour rain delay...well last year Jimmie Johnson won the Daytona 500. Soooo...Fox News reports that Jimmie Johnson has won his third Daytona 500 (his first being 2006 and then last year's Daytona 500) and supposedly this year's years. . .of course we were still under rain delay when they reported this. Guess JJ was getting all sorts of feedback on his win as well. LOL. (He did go to VL to congratulate Jr...does that count? LOL) They later apologized for it, but still too funny.

Here is the finishing order:

1. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

2. Denny Hamlin

3. Brad Keselowski

4. Jeff Gordon

5. Jimmie Johnson

6. Matt Kenseth

7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

8. Greg Biffle

9. Austin Dillon

10. Casey Mears

11. Joey Logano

12. Landon Cassill

13. Kevin Harvick

14. Jamie McMurray

15. Bobby Labonte

16. Reed Sorenson

17. Carl Edwards

18. Marcos Ambrose

19. Kyle Busch

20. Terry Labonte

21. Kurt Busch

22. Ryan Newman

23. Alex Bowman

24. Josh Wise

25. Brian Scott

26. AJ Allmendinger

27. Justin Allgaier

28. Cole Whitt

29. Parker Kligerman

30. Brian Vickers

31. Kasey Kahne

32. Paul Menard

33. Trevor Bayne

34. David Ragen

35. Tony Stewart

36. David Gilliland

37. Michael Annett

38. Kyle Larson

39. Aric Almirola

40. Danica Patrick

41. Michael Waltrip

42. Clint Bowyer

43. Martin Truex Jr. (His engine blew before the rain delay. Had to feel bad for him. He is having a heck of a time this week. His car caught on fire at the Duels and now this in his back up car. As he said...too bad he couldn't get a new engine in during the rain delay. Definately had enough time to that!)

Sorry this is not my best work but have the worst memory ever! LOL. I am just glad my top three drivers got a top five finish...normally they are involved in a big accident or something happens to them at Daytona. All but Kasey Kahne is off to a good year for me. Hopefully Kahne can rebound next week at Phoenix!

[HossC]

Gordon was in third place when the race ended...I went to bed thinking he finished third. Only to read up on Facebook this morning that he was tagged fourth when the accident happened.

Thanks for the race review, Garrett. Here's the last lap summary from the lap-by-lap guide that made me think Stenhouse had got fifth (and Gordon third). I guess they took the result from just before the final flag.

[Garrett Duke]

Well it wasn't only Gordon who they took spots away from...shame on NASCAR. Fourth isn't so bad, but third sounds so much better! LOL. And after the past few Daytona races for Gordon and JJ (except for JJ's win last year...) fourth and fifth feels like a win. LOL

[HossC]

I've just looked at my screengrab again. There's no way that could have been the official top five as they've listed six names .

[Garrett Duke]

I've just looked at my screengrab again. There's no way that could have been the official top five as they've listed six names .

There could be a tie, right? LOL.

[HossC]

Last year, Jeff Gordon did a test drive prank for a Pepsi MAX commercial (see Garrett's post here). Some people called the prank fake, so this year Jeff agreed to help prank one of those people: a journalist from Jalopnik.

[HossC]

I had planned to watch the qualifying yesterday as they were using the new group qualifying format for the first time. Then I completely forgot .

Sunday's race is the "The Profit on CNBC 500, Presented by Small Business Fueling America" from the Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, AZ.

Brad Keselowski lines up on pole, with Justin Allgaier qualifying bringing up the rear, despite hitting a wall during qualifying. An article on NASCAR.com points out that the top three drivers are from teams with IndyCar connections, so the teams have some experience with knockout qualifying.

1 Brad Keselowski

2 Joey Logano

3 Jamie McMurray

4 Jimmie Johnson

5 Dale Earnhardt Jr

6 Greg Biffle

7 Kyle Busch

8 Kyle Larson

9 Aric Almirola

10 Kurt Busch

11 Kasey Kahne

12 Denny Hamlin

13 Kevin Harvick

14 Clint Bowyer

15 Ryan Newman

16 Brian Vickers

17 Jeff Gordon

18 Casey Mears

19 Matt Kenseth

20 Tony Stewart

21 Ricky Stenhouse Jr

22 Paul Menard

23 Carl Edwards

24 Austin Dillon

25 AJ Allmendinger

26 Michael McDowell

27 Martin Truex Jr

28 David Gilliland

29 Marcos Ambrose

30 David Ragan

31 Cole Whitt

32 Brian Scott

33 Danica Patrick

34 Ryan Truex

35 Alex Bowman

36 Parker Kligerman

37 Blake Koch

38 Joe Nemechek

39 Reed Sorenson

40 Travis Kvapil

41 Michael Annett

42 Morgan Shepherd

43 Justin Allgaier

Landon Cassill, Josh Wise and Dave Blaney failed to qualify.

Tomorrow's (Sunday's) race is at 03:00 PM ET, live on FOX.

[Garrett Duke]

Thanks Hoss...thought about writing it up last night, but was too tired and wouldn't have made much sense. I am really failing at this. I got on now to write it up to see you beat me to it.

Isn't that the best video ever?! I just love it! Know I'd be freaking out if it was me in backseat...but would probably love it once I knew it was Jeff Gordon. Travis' (the guy Gordon was pulling the prank on) reaction was priceless...and great! What y'all think of it?

[Garrett Duke]

Well y'all...the Sprint Cup race at Phoenix has just finished...and maybe it is because of the super long rain delay they had at Daytona last week , but this has got to be the fastest race ever! I don't know about the drivers, but I am looking forward to Las Vegas next week!

And for a race...there isn't much to report as what happened. Other than to say they were all chasing Kevin Harvick for the win (who led the most laps) and won the race. Danica Patrick wrecked but I think her and the other drivers were able to come back out. Tony Stewart was having some sort of problems with his car...which was too bad after his problem last week as well as the fact that his hero AJ Foyt was at the race watching. His other driver, Kurt Busch had his car (engine) blow towards the end of the race. Well at least one of four Stewart-Haas Racing had a good race today and he won!

After his win last week, Dale followed it with another great and solid race...with a second place finish. Gordon backed his fourth place finish of last race with fifth...JJ came in sixth after finishing fifth at Daytona.

The race may not have been action packed, but it was a great race all together. Here is the finishing line up at Phoenix:

1. Kevin Harvick

2. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

3. Brad Keselowski

4. Joey Logano

5. Jeff Gordon

6. Jimmie Johnson

7. Ryan Newman

8. Carl Edwards

9. Kyle Busch

10. Jamie McMurray

11. Kasey Kahne

12. Matt Kenseth

13. Clint Bowyer

14. Casey Mears

15. Aric Almirola

16. Tony Stewart

17. Greg Biffle

18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

19. Denny Hamlin

20. Kyle Larson

21. Marcos Ambrose

22. Martin Truex Jr.

23. Paul Menard

24. Austin Dillion

25. Brian Vickers

26. AJ Allmendinger

27. Cole Whitt

28. David Ragen

29. David Gilliland

30. Justin Allgaier

31. Reed Sorenson

32. Brian Scott

33. Michael McDowell

34. Michael Annett

35. Ryan Truex

36. Danica Patrick

37. Blake Koch

38. Travis Kvapil

39. Kurt Busch

40. Joe Nemechek

41. Alex Bowman

42. Parker Kligerman

43. Morgan Shepard

We are in Las Vegas next Sunday and I will do my best to do better at writing the qualifying up than I did this week. I will make a new thread sometime this week (will try tomorrow if I have the time...) to write up the points or would it be best to write the points here? Either way will post them once they become official.

[HossC]

18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

I suppose I should be happy with 18th today. It's three places better than he started, and about ten places better than where he spent most of the race. I was hoping for a storming finish when Ricky got back on the lead lap with about 26 laps to go, but this circuit obviously doesn't suit him as much as last week.

[RogerDuke]

So far so good for Junior!

[Garrett Duke]

So far so good for Junior!

Sorry about that Hoss that Stenhouse finsihed worse than expected...but at least he finished ahead of his girlfriend. And for once, he didn't wreck her. LOL. (Sorry I couldn't help myself. It seems like those two have a way of finding each other on the track.)

Yeah Roger, I got to admit, first and second place in the two races isn't so bad for ol' Junebug. Off to a great start...hope can keep it up. Am happy to see him doing so well so far.

Though on a side note, Gordon does have two top five finishes in the first two races of this season as well. Not too bad either. Last time he was able to do that was back in 1997.

[Garrett Duke]

NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying at Las Vegas will be at 6:40 (I assume EST) ... I won't be able to post the line up until late tonight or tomorrow. But have not forgotten about it. Carl Edwards will be the lead of the qualifying as he was the fastest at practice.

[HossC]

Well, I got to see a bit of the new qualifying format today. It would've been better if the "live" TV coverage had been live, because the leaderboard on the NASCAR site was way ahead and kinda spoiled the surprise. I think the new format beats them all going out one at a time, but I'm sure it needs some tweaking. For one thing, there seems to be a lot of concern about the drivers slowing down on the apron. They use a similar qualifying system in Formula 1 (with much longer tracks), and you sometimes get half a dozen changes to pole position in the final 30 seconds. I can't see that happening in NASCAR unless they make a few changes. For the record, most of the comments I saw on the NASCAR site had negative views on the new format.

I'm more hopeful that Ricky Stenhouse will get a good result this week. He starts sixth, and was also sixth in the second qualifying session. Joey Logano reversed last week's top two starting positions by swapping places with his team mate Brad Keselowski. Logano was also fastest in the second qualifying session. Here's how they all line up:

1 Joey Logano

2 Brad Keselowski

3 Clint Bowyer

4 Austin Dillon

5 Jimmie Johnson

6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr

7 Jamie McMurray

8 Aric Almirola

9 Brian Vickers

10 Ryan Newman

11 Carl Edwards

12 Martin Truex Jr

13 Kasey Kahne

14 Dale Earnhardt Jr

15 Jeff Gordon

16 Kevin Harvick

17 Kyle Larson

18 AJ Allmendinger

19 Jeff Burton

20 Kyle Busch

21 Paul Menard

22 Danica Patrick

23 Kurt Busch

24 Tony Stewart

25 Greg Biffle

26 David Ragan

27 Denny Hamlin

28 Cole Whitt

29 Matt Kenseth

30 Casey Mears

31 Josh Wise

32 Parker Kligerman

33 David Gilliland

34 Trevor Bayne

35 Michael McDowell

36 Alex Bowman

37 Justin Allgaier

38 Michael Annett

39 Ryan Truex

40 Reed Sorenson

41 Timmy Hill

42 Travis Kvapil

43 Marcos Ambrose

Blake Koch, Landon Cassill, J.J. Yeley, Dave Blaney and Joe Nemechek failed to qualify.

The KOBALT 400 from the Las Vegas Motor Speedway is on this Sunday at 3:00 PM ET live on Fox.

[Garrett Duke]

Thanks Hoss for coming to my rescue...came on last night but you already posted it. You probably do a better job at it than I do anyway and to throw on top of it I now have a bad head cold, so I probably wouldn't have made much sense at it.

Second race where the Penske cars started one two...with Keslowski at pole and Logano at second.

I went to check it out after work yesterday and it said Carl Edwards was first, got excited...until I realized that was only practice and that was the qualifying order. Seeing on how I got Edwards on my Yahoo (free) fantasy NASCAR league and my paid fantasy league, I liked what I saw first than what you reported. LOL. No offense to you. . .ah well, it counts more as to where they finish than where they start, but still...something excited to see your driver start up front. (Carl Edwards is my favorite non-Hendrick driver. If that makes sense...LOL).

Great job as always...I read that Jimmie Johnson has won the most races at Las Vegas than any other active driver with four...but think his last win here was in 2010. Interesting to see if he can come back for his fifth. Both Kurt and Kyle Busch are from Las Vegas so this is their home track...know Kyle likes coming here. Don't know about Kurt...would assume so, but don't know.

We are already going into the third race of the season...where has the time gone? How does these three weeks go by so quickly and the off season go by sooooo slow? Or is that just me? I really wish it was the other way around....

Ah talking about time, for all you that need to turn your clock ahead...don't forget to turn your clock ahead an hour before going to bed tonight. Love spring, but really hate losing that hour of sleep.

GO JEFF GORDON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[HossC]

Thanks Hoss for coming to my rescue...came on last night but you already posted it.

Well you did make a post yesterday saying that you wouldn't be posting the line-up last night or today, so since I watched some of the qualifying, I thought I might as well post it myself.

Ah talking about time, for all you that need to turn your clock ahead...don't forget to turn your clock ahead an hour before going to bed tonight.

You had me worried there, until I realized that British Summer Time doesn't start for another three weeks. Until then, you'll have to make do with the American version .

[Garrett Duke]

The race at Las Vegas has just gotten over and o nce again, there isn't much to write about. I think there was four cautions...all for debris. After winning last week's race at Phoenix and leading some laps to day, Kevin Harvick had some break issue go on and had to take it to the garage. They said he was planning on coming back out on the track, but never saw him again to know if he did or not. I think all of Stewart-Haas Racing cars had some issues going on. Stewart and Kurt Busch ran in the back all day. Almirola got into Danica Patrick at some point in the race.

The most exciting (and disappointing for me...LOL) part of the race came right to the end where Dale Earnhardt Jr was leading the race and had for some time with the knowledge he may be a bit short on fuel at the end. This was a fuel strategy race (have I ever said how much I don't like that? LOL). Well they were right...half a lap to the checkered flag, Brad Keselowski caught up with him as Jr ran out of gas. Brad Keselowski won the race at Las Vegas...but Jr was able to hold on to get a second place finish. His third top second finish in a row. Best start of a season for him (I think...lol.).

Jr was oh so close to getting his second win of the season...and honestly, I am not a big Keselowski fan. I was rooting pretty hard for Jr to win at the end. But came up short. Congrats to Keselowski. It is the crew cheif's job to gamble on the gas calls like that (Jr didn't go into pits in the last caution...) and you win a few that way and lose a few that way.

Here is the official results:

1. Brad Keselowski

2. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

3. Paul Menard

4. Joey Logano

5. Carl Edwards

6. Jimmie Johnson

7. Ryan Newman

8. Kasey Kahne

9. Jeff Gordon

10. Matt Kenseth

11. Kyle Busch

12. Denny Hamlin

13. Brian Vickers

14. Martin Truex Jr.

15. Jamie McMurray

16. Austin Dillion

17. Jeff Burton

18. AJ Almendinger

19. Kyle Larson

20. Trevor Bayne

21. Danica Patrick

22. Greg Biffle

23. Clint Bowyer

24. Marcos Ambrose

25. Aric Almirola

26. Kurt Busch

27. Ricky Stenhouse Jr

28. Casey Mears

29. Michael Annett

30. David Gilliland

31. Justin Allgaier

32. David Ragen

33. Tony Stewart

34. Reed Sorenson

35. Ryan Truex

36. Cole Whitt

37. Alex Bowman

38. Timmy Hill

39. Travis Kvapil

40. Parker Kligerman

41. Kevin Harvick

42. Josh Wise

43. Michael McDowell

Is it just me or does these races keep going by faster and faster? Know the drivers feel differently, but would really appreciate it if NASCAR would add on another hundred or two hundred more laps. I'm not asking very much at all. It seems like it starts and a few minutes later it is over...just like that.

As I said, congrats to Brad Keselowski on his win...read a title on Yahoo sports where this was the second time of using the knockout qualifying and both times both Penske cars (Logano and Keselowski) got the front row at the start of the race. Guess it suits their style.

Personally, I am excited to see all four of my Hendrick boys with a top ten finish today. Sorry Hoss to see Stenhouse Jr didn't fare too well at the end. He had a great starting position. I think he may have gotten caught speeding in the pits and that may have costed him. Not sure what went wrong with the 17 team. They said 19 drivers were tagged with speeding penalities at the Las Vegas Nationwide race yesterday...I think there was just a few of them today. Nothing like that of the Nationwide....know Gilliland and Larson got tagged speeding. Think there were a couple more...Stenhouse Jr may have been one. Seemes like I remember them saying his name with it. Don't quote me on that.

Race number three is in the books...will start a new thread for points when they become official since we are not getting a little deeper into the season.

Guess what y'all...we are going to my all time favorite race next Sunday!!!!!!!!!! We go from a mile and a half track at Las Vegas to the shortest track on the circuit...we are going to thunder valley! Bristol Tennesee! I am not a huge fan of short tracks, but I love Bristol! Especially the night race in August...but will definately be excited to see Bristol next Sunday! Though on a downfall to Bristol...I think today's race went by fast? Well Bristol goes by faster...or at least they go faster! LOL. And where I didn't have much to write about these past couple of races, well Bristol brings out a few wrecks here and there as well as a lot of tempers being thrown into the mix. Will give plenty to write about. Personally, I can live without the wrecks....always gets me worried about whether or not my drivers are in it or if everyone is OK. But put wrecks aside...I do love Bristol. I never been to a race before, but I have been to Bristol a couple of times as well as to Chicagoland once. Have to admit that helps rank the track up on my favorite list.

[HossC]

Thanks for the race review, Garrett. I only got to see some of the race, and the live leaderboard wasn't working today, but I didn't feel I missed much.

After winning last week's race at Phoenix and leading some laps to day, Kevin Harvick had some break issue go on and had to take it to the garage. They said he was planning on coming back out on the track, but never saw him again to know if he did or not.

The lap-by-lap guide says that he had brake issues at lap 194 and headed for the garage at lap 198, but then came back on track at lap 225.

Sorry Hoss to see Stenhouse Jr didn't fare too well at the end. He had a great starting position. I think he may have gotten caught speeding in the pits and that may have costed him. Not sure what went wrong with the 17 team.

I was hoping for a better result after qualifying. He was hanging in the teens for a while, but went a lap down and almost immediately got caught entering the pits too fast, so that was that.

Is it just me or does these races keep going by faster and faster? Know the drivers feel differently, but would really appreciate it if NASCAR would add on another hundred or two hundred more laps. I'm not asking very much at all. It seems like it starts and a few minutes later it is over...just like that.

When your driver goes a couple of laps down and doesn't look like they'll ever get back on the lead lap, the last thing you want is a couple of hundred extra laps! It's crashes that we need more of this season.

At least there's only seven days left until the proper motorsport of 2014 gets started next week in Australia .

[Garrett Duke]

I get where you are coming from with two hundred more laps added on and your driver having a bad race, but need more accidents? Really? Nope. I refuse to hope for more accidents. I refuse to be the fan who watches for the accidents. Not in me to hope for the bad for anyone. No matter how I feel about a certain driver. It is easy to sit back and think more accidents mean more excitement and for the most part they all walk away just fine from them...but not all the time. Accidents do put in more drama or excitement into the race, but that's not what I want more of this season. Or any season.

Besides...I know my luck. My luck is now that you are WANTING more accidents...it will involve Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson or Dale Earnhard Jr or Kasey Kahne . And when/if it does....I am going to blame you Hoss! Remember that.

Go ahead, wish for more accidents for your race...just leave NASCAR alone with wishing more accidents upon. I will take two hundred more laps any day over more accidents. Even if Gordon is having a bad day. But yeah...it does make for a long race when your driver is having a bad day...

[RogerDuke]

Thanks for the update.

I was at a basketball tournament and I got home just in time see BK in the winners circle.

I was hoping I'd get to see the last few laps.