U Want Some Racing

  Hallelujah! Finally!

As you can tell, I’m not a fan of the “new” Bristol. I am not saying the racing is bad at Bristol now, but it ain’t what it used to be. (Yes I am. It sucks, in my opinion)

I’m old school. I want to see them move each other to pass, at Bristol. If you end up in the wall, you should have let the faster guy go!

Every track is different. We all expect to see a certain type of racing at each. Bristol did not get the nickname of  The Bullring for nothing. When we go plate racing, we expect to see drafting. When we go to the mile and a halves, we expect to see long green flag runs & green flag pit stops, but when we go to Bristol we expect to see 10 + cautions, drivers angry with each other and alot of bent cars, but NOT green flag pit stops!

Some of the most awesome memories of watching NASCAR for me have been at Bristol. Has anyone forgot Sr. & Labonte? Gordon & Wallace or Kenseth? Thats just a few. I’m not advocating the “wreck scenario”, but I love the down and dirty, in your face, balls to the wall racing that used to be Bristol. That race last week looked like a California type race on 1/4th the track. I have had enough, and apparently, so have most of the fans.

Today, Bruton Smith, through Bristol Motor Speedway, put out this statement on NASCAR.Com-

“The race fans have spoken,” Smith said in a statement released by the track. “We had input that included a wide range of opinions. But the majority we heard from said they wanted to see changes made. As a result, I have ordered the equipment and work will begin within the next two weeks to allow time to have everything ready for August.”

I’m excited! What will we get for the  August race? Don’t know, but I’ll bet that the “progressive banking” will be no more.

I can’t wait for August now. Maybe, just maybe, the changes that are going to be made will make Bristol worth watching again.

What do you think?

By Mark Young

What an amazing weekend in Daytona!! Two first-time winners in the Truck and Nationwide races, rain, prime time Monday night racing, and fire!! When it all boiled down to it NASCAR couldn’t have asked for a more amazing night.

Thankfully nobody was hurt in any of the crashes or the horrific, freakish fire involving Montoya and the jet drier. I don’t remember anything as crazy as that since someone took out the pace car a couple of years ago.

Congratulations to Matt Kenseth on winning the 500, I have a feeling he is going to play second fiddle to a bunch of the side stories this week but he had a great car and deserved the win.

Elliott Sadler didn’t make the best of his rare Cup racing opportunity, I don’t think he will be having lunch with Jimmie Johnson anytime soon either.

Brad Keselowski is officially the NASCAR God of Social Media…….he gained 55,000 followers in two hours just by tweeting a picture of the fire from inside his car. That is pretty bad ass.

You know FOX has taken this Danica thing way over the edge when they follow her with a camera as she walks to the infield to use a porta-john? Ugh.

NASCAR deserves props for how well they handled the fire and the clean-up of the track. As much as we like to give them crap for other things, they got this one right and should be commended.

Tommy Baldwin not only got paid for his 2011 points so Danica could be guaranteed a spot in the 500, he got a ton of TV time for his sponsor, hopefully he gets more sponsorship and can run full races.

I know they had to fill a bunch of time because of rain but FOX has already driven me nuts……not one but TWO Waltrips? UGH.

Onward to Phoenix where we can have real racing. No plates, no drafting, just racing.

By Mark Young

The 2012 NASCAR season has officially begun and the racing world is buzzing. “How is Jr. going to do?” “How about them Fords?” are questions I get a lot this time of year. And every February every team out there is optimistic. Is it fake? Is it real? Nobody will know for several weeks but one thing is for sure, Daytona is on Sunday!! And that means it’s time to make some predictions.

THE WINNER – Now that the 2-car tandem racing has been broken up, for the most part, that means there are no longer standing team orders as to who guys MUST race with. This is a good thing for Dale Jr. He doesn’t have to stick on Jimmie’s rear bumper riding around in the back and have no chance to win because Jimmie sucks at plate racing. With that in mind I really think Jr. has an excellent chance to break the winless streak. Other cars that I think are fast right now and cannot be forgotten in the equation are the 24, 14, 18, 16.

THE DARK HORSE – Picking a dark horse for the 500 is always a shot in the dark. Obviously I think we have to throw Kurt Busch in there because of driving for an underfunded team. Another restrictor plate dark horse would be Marcos Ambrose who raced well on Saturday night.

WRECKS – There will be a lot of them I think and it will be a matter of where in the pack they take place in order for us to know who it will effect. The only safe place is up front, unless you are the one who gets tagged.

ATTRITION – NASCAR announced changes to the pop-off valve on Wednesday meaning the cooling system won’t spit water out until another 10 degrees or so. I am not so sure this will help the situation. Guys are going to try to tandem for position often and it is going to drive these engine builders nuts.

DANICA – The media will be all over her but that is to be expected. How will she race? Well don’t let her qualifying effort fool you. Greg Zipadelli built her a car that will be very stable in the draft. I think that if she can stay out of trouble, and not cause any trouble, that a top 15 finish is not out of the question.

There you have it, my predictions for Daytona. No surprise to anyone I took Junior but I like his chances. Dark Horse is Ambrose and the tow trucks will need a full tank of gas.

Here’s to a great Daytona 500……………..U Want Some?