Back in Black at Talladega

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will drive the #8 Chevy this weekend, just like he always does, but it won't look the same. For the first time he'll don a black paint scheme on the #8. It's in remembrance of his father Dale Earnhardt Sr. who would have turned 55 on Saturday.
Dale Jr. says it's real cool for DEI to run black paint schemes this weekend. The BUSCH car will feature black as well.
I think it's fitting to honor Dale Sr. who won 10 restrictor plate races. He was the man. And Dale Sr. was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame last night in a ceremony with all the kids and wife Teresa there to accept the honor from Earnhardt's former team owner Richard Childress!!!
Now wouldn't it be the coolest if Dale Jr. won the Aaron's 499 this Sunday at Dega. I think he will. It's only fitting since he's Back in Black, just like his dad!!!
Go get'um Dale Jr.
Have a great weekend!!!

Charging Childress

Richard Childress Racing showed the world of NASCAR they've got it going on this past weekend in Phoenix. Kevin Harvick not only won the BUSCH race but won the NEXTEL CUP race as well to put himself back in Victory Lane for the first time in a year. As a result "Cupcake" as he's affectionately known in the Triad of North Carolina is back in the Top Ten in driver points. All the while team owner Richard Childress was in Africa on Safari. When Richard gets back to the states in a couple weeks I think he'll be mighty pleased with the way his teams performed. They were definitely clicking on all cylinders. Childress driver Clint Bowyer finished fifth, his best showing so far in only his rookie season on the NEXTEL CUP circuit. Veteran Jeff Burton finished ninth.
As it stands now Kevin Harvick is eighth in points, 174 behind leader Matt Kenseth.
Clint Bowyer is 12th in points, only 38 points out of the top ten. Jeff Burton is 13th in points, 31 points behind Bowyer. Nothing better than Childress Racing chugging along at a good clip. More than anybody I wanna see all these guys do well. They deserve it.
The quote of the weekend comes from Kevin Harvick's crew chief Todd Berrier. In explaining how Kevin has calmed down some Berrier said, "It's part of getting older. In the heat of the moment you get wound up. I've done it myself but I've gotten better at it, but that's when things go wrong, instead of dwelling on it you have to realize the rest of your life is in the future and everything in front of us is what we can work on."
So true. If more of us could just realize we all make mistakes, sometimes we're too brash or too quick to judge. We have to continue to move forward, accept mistakes, learn from them and move on to the bigger and better things. Todd Berrier is brilliant. And Kevin Harvick is 30 now. And from the way he performed this past weekend, he's aging nicely just like a Childress Chardonnay at Childress Vineyards in Lexington NC. Keep on charging Childress!!!!!!

Dale Earnhardt Day is Coming Up!!!

Well it's that time of year. The annual celebration and remembrance of Dale Earnhardt's birthday at DEI in Mooresville(otherwise known as race-city USA)North Carolina. On April 29th Dale Earnhardt day will happen at the DEI facilities on the former Mooresville Hwy, now known as Hwy 3 in honor of Dale. When I was a kid I used to bicycle down that road and there was nothing out there but trees. Now it's a veritable tourist attraction and plethora of activity 365 days a year.
Serving as Grand Marshall at this year's festivities will be NBC news anchor Brian Williams. Williams will host the 3pm ceremony honoring what would have been Dale Earnhardt's 55th birthday. There's also an auction of memorabilia at 9am that morning. For details and directions go to www.daleearnhardtinc.com

Easter Break for NASCAR

Well Easter weekend is on the way and the NASCAR guys get the week off. That means it's rumor mill time.
Well first some trivia.
There are only four tracks on which Jeff Gordon has not posted a victory. Do you know which ones?
I'll make it easy. Texas is one. And the next track on the schedule is another. Phoenix. Jeff finished third at Phoenix in 2002 and 2004. That's his best there.
The other tracks where Gordon hasn't posted a victory are Chicago and Homestead. Sure would be neat to see a driver like Gordon get a win at every active track.

Rumor Morsels(unsubtantiated of course)
Is Bruton Smith making overtures at buying the Pocono track so he can secure another date for his Vegas track. The Pocono owners say no. But Bruton is gonna make a play to get a date for Vegas. It's too good a track and too fun a town not to have two races a year. Question is, how soon will it happen?

Kevin Harvick might not go to Toyota. Could it be? Harvick and Richard Childress still haven't made an announcement officially on what Kevin's future plans are. He's a winner and Richard is the best. Best of luck to them both!!!
Sure is great to see Jeff Burton finishing well. He deserves it. Childress racing is on the way to even bigger and better things. I have faith in their operation!!!

Will NASCAR make teams use smaller fuel cells so as to force pit stops at 35 to 40 laps at Charlotte in May? My guess is yes. Because the new surface is too fast and the tire wear could be a problem. Pitting sooner will allow teams to take on new tires quicker and possibly save someone from a bad wreck at a really high rate of speed!!! Charlotte is gonna be a wild ride for sure in May. Can't wait!!!

More to come. Have a Fantastic Easter weekend!!!

The MASTERS vs. NASCAR

Well I have to plead ignorance of this past weekend's race in Texas. For the first time ever in my life I had a chance to go to the Masters in Augusta, Georgia. I have been a racing and golf fan my entire life. Faced with FREE tickets to a legendary event that is almost as hard to get tickets to as the Bristol races, I opted to make the drive to Augusta. What a course, what a day. Sunday I walked the storied fairways and rough(if you can call it that....it was more like carpet) that Arnold Palmer, Gene Sarazan, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and so many others have walked. It was a day like no other. Phil Mickelson was solid as a rock and deserved that second Green jacket. This was also the first time ever I've seen Tiger Woods play in person and on Hole #6 I was standing 15 feet away from him and I watched him three putt for a bogey. I never thought I'd see that. Of course I think Tiger might have been somewhat distracted because his father is not doing well and might be close to death. Here's hoping Tiger's dad gets better and kudos to Woods for still almost winning the tournament under that kind of pressure. He's a one of a kind!!!
Meanwhile in Texas Kasey Kahn was once again being a consistent performer. He has brought Dodge back to life. That's now the third win of the 2006 season for Dodge. It was a fine performance and it also proved that Dodge and Ray Evernham are on the right track. At least with Kasey. Teammate Jermey Mayfield finished 31st and dropped out of the Top 35 in owner points. Gotta go back to the drawing board for Jeremey. He's a winner, he'll recover.
More this week on rumors and happenings!!!

Odds and Ends from the Silly Season

The Winston-Salem Journal featured a story on Monday about some top sports marketing folks leaving the NEXTEL fold. Could this foreshadow NEXTEL selling the rights off of NASCAR sponsorship to some other company? I guess it's possible. Other speculation is that the Sprint folks are gonna put their own marketing folks in the NASCAR machine. For the complete article go here: http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137835111735&path=%21sports&s=1037645509200

Well today the Journal(which has excellent NASCAR coverage by the way) published a story saying the ties that bind NEXTEL/SPRINT and NASCAR are strong....for that story go here http://www.journalnow.com/scripts/isapi_srun.dll/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137835157942&path=%21sports&s=1037645509200

Odds and Ends
Carl Edwards has moved from 43rd to 19th in NEXTEL CUP point standings since Daytona. I wanna see a backflip. We need to Carl to win a race!!

Tony Stewart is the only NEXTEL CUP driver to have led at least one lap in all six races this season.

NASCAR rolls back to the superspeedway this weekend. The Texas track was where Dale Jr. scored his first ever NEXTEL CUP victory back in April of 2000. After Lil' E's performance at The Mart this past weekend I'm picking him to take the checkered flag this weekend at Texas.

Simply Stew-pendous!!!!!!

Tony Stewart wins a Stew-pendous race at the Mart!!! And does a great job climbing the fence to celebrate. I had visions of him doing a Steve Smith touchdown celebration type thing but the fence climb was cool. What a day. Tony was able to stay out of trouble and save his brakes enough for the hard fought win. Great day for Jimmie Johnson as well. He's now the only driver to have scored four top five finishes and five top ten finishes in 2006. The Lowe's team is running like a well oiled machine. Jimmie moved back to first in points after his top five finish at The Mart!
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was amazing after his wreck on the 3rd lap. I thought he'd almost be out after the damage his car sustained, but this being Martinsville, it's more about skill and track position than speed. He was able to salvage a fourth place finish and move himself to sixth in NEXTEL driver points Way to go Lil' E.!!!!! You da man!!!

I love the Mart but I get the feeling Bruton Smith will be able to secure one of the dates from the Mart and move it to his Las Vegas track for the 2007 season.
I love Vegas and the money will certainly be much greater there...and of course Bruton knows how to put on the best show in motorsports. It will be top notch!!! But still sad that another short track will be relegated to just one race. Alas money wins in the new ERA of NASCAR.

Seen in the garage at Martinsville............southern Virginia native Ward Burton. Burton hasn't driven a NEXTEL CUP race since Phoenix in late 2004. Ward says the breather was nice but he's ready to get back into a ride. And it's possible he'll make his comeback in BUSCH or CRAFTSMAN TRUCK series. It'd be nice to have him back. He's one of the great personalities of the sport.

Notes: New asphalt at Charlotte and testing last week revealed unofficial speeds topping 200 miles an hour. That's gonna be dangerous without a restrictor plate. Hopefully a new tire compound will slow those down a bit by the time the Charlotte races roll around in May. No matter what, this springs races, barring weather problems, will be the fastest ever at Charlotte.

Ken Schrader has released his autobiography.....it's called "GOTTA RACE"
Published by Coastal 181 the book includes a foreward by Rick Hendrick. With 35 + years in the business, Schrader shares plenty of stories and also gives advice on getting into the business. 320 pages packed with history, colorful antcedotes and info galore. Price is $23.95. A great Mother's Day or Father's Day gift for the race fan in the family. It's available at the website www.coastal181.com