Possibly the three most exciting words in NASCAR. Certainly three of the most anticipated. We recently suffered through Michigan and Pocono, now it's time to go racing, and determine who makes the Chase.
Southbound
There are just three races left until the playoff Chase begins. Bristol, Atlanta, and Richmond. Three of NASCAR's legacy tracks, with each having at least fifty years of hosting Cup races. These last three races of the regular season are all night races. In fact, they are the last races of the year that will actually start in the darkness. Next weekend is the last off weekend of the year for the Sprint Cup boys.
Can't You See
Some of the worst kept secrets in NASCAR were formally announced this week. Marcos Ambrose is going to drive the RPM #9 Stanley Tolls Ford next year and beyond. Budweiser has tapped Kevin Harvick and his RCR #29 Chevy to sell their suds for the near future. Look for Mobile 1 to make the change from Penske to the #14 of Tony Stewart beginning next season.
Got That Right
NASCAR debuted next year's schedule this week. Fontana loses a race, so thousands of empty seats will only be noticed once next year instead of twice. Chicagoland gets the first Chase race. It's the week before the NFL starts, and, of course, the Cubbies will have been mathematically eliminated for months by then, so no major league competition. Bet they still won't sell out. Also, Atlanta gives one of its race dates to Kentucky.
Bristol Bounce
This will be Bristol's 100th Cup race. There have been 38 different winners in those 100 races.
Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, and Elliott Sadler all will drive in all three major NASCAR series this weekend at Bristol.
Clint Bowyer is sponsored by Hamburger Helper, and Ryan Newman by Wix Filters, at Bristol.
The #4 Chevy of Morgan-McClure Motorsports attempts its first start of 2010 with Kevin Lepage driving. It was 20 years ago this month, here at Bristol when Ernie Irvan gave MMM their first win.
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You mean Morgan-McClure Motorsports is still in business? I thought they folded shortly after Regan Smith made his Cup debut with the team!
ReplyDeleteThe Bristol night race is still MUST-see TV. (In fact, it's on my bucket list of events to attend.) I look for the RCR gang to be strong, as well as the Busch Brothers.
Well...
ReplyDeleteI feel like the Obama Administration is monitoring me now... Maybe I'm the one who makes a good recluse.
Heck I use a pay-as-you-go cell phone and now I hear the government wants those all registered so they can track the desparados like me that use them... I'm thinkin' what next and my good friend Gene Haddock puts a monitoring device on one of my favorite blogs! What's next?
Got that off my chest :( ...
Let's see now... It seems like Google's taking over the world, maybe someone oughta go after 'em for a sponsorship deal on their car. We've got Go Daddy... Who would be a good Google driver/representative?
Man... Kyle sure looked good in the trucks last night. The first time a driver starting further back than 12th has won that race. If it wasn't for the demolition derby going on early I think he could have lapped the whole field. I know he was up to 17th when one of the cautions reprouped everybody. Great performance!
Thanks Gene!
Jon.... I believe I saw somewhere that MMM started this same race last year with Scott Wimmer. They had been idle for a few years until then.
ReplyDeleteDon't be surprised to see 3 of 4 HMS cars finish in the top-10. Guess which one won't.
D-man.....I switched to Boost Mobile... about half the price of Nextel, with nicer service. Flat rate. No taxes, fees, or extras.
ReplyDeleteKyle looked as good as ever... in the trucks. I didn't really think it was necessary for him to run over Jen Jo Cobb like he did. Things happen fast at Bristol though.... you either smoke, or you get smoked!
NASCAR won't let anyone lap the field... there would be debris on the track before that ever happened. lol
Glad to see Kentucky get a race, now if I can just find a way to get some press creds for the race. Any Ideas???
ReplyDeleteARGH! I forgot to change my drivers in the league ... At least I had Kurt as alternate but had to use Jr and Truex and Sammy! I am screwed! LOL
ReplyDeleteBig Bro has infiltrated everywhere Dwindy - one reason I am not on FB.
Stork - you pretty much have to know someone on a team, an official or be legit press these days to get creds...good luck!
Gene, MMM ought to sell that team to Smoke and count their money. A one-car team is proving very difficult to operate nowadays. Smoke would have a ready-made third team (perhaps he could put Dale Jr in that #4 Mountain Dew Chevrolet).
ReplyDeleteStork.... Love the racing at Kentucky! Kristen is correct about the media creds. They just don't give them to anyone. At most tracks you can buy pit and garage passes with your tickets now.
ReplyDeleteKris... I'm running out of drivers in the league. Looks like I'll be using all Roush drivers in the Chase.
ReplyDeleteFB is more like spam brother, or virus brother than big brother...LOL
Jon... it's not much of a team. 3-4 part-time, ex-employees got back together just for Bristol. The MMM shop is about 20 miles from BMS. The shop has been for sale for a couple of years now.
ReplyDeleteSad to see the one car teams get pushed out... Bud Moore, Junie Donleavy, Morgan-McClure...