All Wet

Far be it from me to complain about NASCAR making decisions that are way above my pay grade, but yesterday was painful. Delay after delay after delay sucked every drop of momentum out of what was a wonderful Speed Weeks. Think about it. Coming out of Daytona fans had already seen 2 Jr. wins, Toyota become a solid contender, and a very exciting finish to the 50th Daytona 500.

What now?

That's easy to answer...frustration and a lack of caring. NASCAR can control everything from the camber on your tire to where you park your motorcoach, but they can't control the weather. Mother Nature decided to quite effectively rain on everyones parade. It's her right, it has to be frustrating doling out the weather to the entire world...however, it's no more frustrating than watching Fox fill time by trying to get drivers to name that gopher.

Sunday seemed to drag on forever and ever. This is coming from someone who gave up at 11:30pm and refused to set around until 2am to get the official word. It seemed like the track officials weren't ready for this and that is unacceptable. It's your track and it's your job to make the experience everything it can be. However, that's not what I'm wanting to focus on right now. My concern is with the total dissipation of momentum we've now seen.

Everything was wonderful. Ratings were up and the build was on. It was only a couple of days before the 500 that I had realized the annual (and ridiculous) week off after the 500 had vanished. I've always hated it because of the halt it puts on the excitement. Right now a week off seems like a highschool kegger compared to what California has been. Denny Hamlin, Casey Mears, and Dale Jr. were eliminated quickly due to water "weeping" into the track. Couple that with the lifetime of gopher coverage and it's a bad day. Finally throw in the fact that we cut completely away from the race for several hours while they tried to decide what to do and you've got the air let out of the casual fans collective balloon. I'm watching next week. I'm recording the race this afternoon and I'll watch the Nationwide race tonight, but I'm not the fan they're trying to attract...they had me at hello. They're trying to keep the casual fan interested and I believe this weekend was a sucker punch that may have ko'd some people.

500 thoughts

I’m not sure if I’ll have time to formulate a perfect blog entry for the 500, but I want to jump in and address a few things while they’re fresh on my mind.

The gopher cam is garbage. Shhhheeewwwww, I’ve been dying to get that off my chest. I spent my day with several family members watching the race and the gopher cam became the running joke of the day. If we were drinkers, I’m sure it would have quickly become a drinking game…and speaking of drinking…

AMP is undrinkable swill. I’m a fan, I do my part, I picked up a can, and then proceeded to attempt sips at this medicine like energy drink. I’ll admit, it does cause an increase in energy. If I were paralyzed and bed ridden, I can guarantee that this drink is enough to make me get up, walk over, and drop it in the garbage can.

On to some more positive notes.

I realize that for the most part of the race the 18 and the 11 were stinking up the show, but the rest of the field were all over each other. I thought it was a fairly enjoyable 500 and didn’t find myself bored at all. However, I had been dying for some competitive Cup racing and may have been blinded by finally getting it. We had a great finish and overall I had a great day watching it.

Congratulations to Richard Penske. I’m not a Newman fan and dislike Busch, but I am extremely happy for Penske to finally get a Daytona 500. Roger is a legend in the racing world and it would bother me if his time eventually passed without a 500 win. Just as it bothers me that Mark Martin is winding down and looks to retire without one as well.

I’m waiting for the influx of Hendrick hatred to begin. Jeff had a suspension issue, it happens. Jimmie just seemed off, but looked as though (like usual) they had worked the car to a decent finish before he was wrecked. I truly believed Casey was on his way to a top 3, if not a win, just seconds before he was turned into the wall. As for Jr., a ninth place finish after some questionable (at best) pit strategy is a fairly good save. If people want to read too much into Sunday, that’s fine, but HMS isn’t going away.

Great days for Reed Sorenson, MWR, and GEM. I also have to say that Sam Hornish Jr. really impressed me with how he paced his race out. It’s just one race, but don’t be shocked if he doesn’t walk away with rookie of the year.

Overall it was a very good start to the year and I can’t wait for California. I’m so happy that we don’t have the week off that we’ve had the previous years. Let’s get to racing and stick with it. If any break is needed I would think it would be the week prior to the Chase starting, but that’s a whole other blog all together.