The best Christmas gifts for your NASCAR Fan

I am making a list of all the gifts I as a NASCAR fan would like. If you have a NASCAR fanatic in your family this is the list to look at! You can click on the link to take you to the page where to buy it at.

5. Always a great gift for a nascar fan is their favorite driver gear. As long as you know what driver they like, you are set to go. they have EVERYTHING. From toothbushes to recliners, refrigeraters to gumball machines, socks to laptop skins, they truly have ANYTHING!

4. One game I really want is a steering wheel game. You plug it into the t.v. and choose you car, number, and everything. then you play as if you were in the real race. It is a little bit expensive at $50 at this web site, but I have seen it in Target for less.

3. NASCAR Trackpass.
This is a service only available on nascar.com. It is a really cool thing that lets you listen in on the drivers and the crew chief. It lets you track your driver, which is a must have because we all know the announcers never talk about anybody until they wreck. They have the scanner, PitCommand, and RaceView. All of them are really cool. They run from $30-$80 a year.

2. NASCAR Tickets!
What could be better than tickets to a NASCAR race? I personally would like to go the Daytona 500, but any race is fine to buy tickets at. This will sure make your fan very happy!

1. NASCAR ride along
The only thing better than tickets to a nascar race is tickets to a NASCAR race AND tickets for the Richard Petty Driving Experience. This is the best gift of all. You get to ride OR drive a real racecar! How cool is that?! You must reserve your seat. and i will warn tickets are expensive but at this time of year they are on sale. They have a sale going on now where tickets for a ride-along are only $59, so if this is what you want you better get it now! Regular prices are pretty expensive. For example at Atlanta Motor Speedway tickets range from $399-$2,599. But once they open this present up it will be something they will never forget. this will truly be the ride of a lifetime.

Johnson Secures Championship Title

Johnson Secures Championship Title

Sunday's race in Homestead started off with Jimmie Johnson having to finish 19th or better, which is not that hard for that team. They laid back most of the race. They didn't push it. All they wanted to do was finish the race to tie down the championship. They ran 6th-10th most of the day. I'm very happy for them. They finished 7th. They had pretty good pit stops. Everything was in line for them to win it. They deserved it. They earned it. Jeff Gordon finished 2nd in the points. He was out 77 points...the largest in Chase history. Jeff Gordon ran very good during the chase. Jeff Gordon and his team earned more points during the chase than any of the other chase winners when they won. Despite all this hard effort, it was his teammate who was a tad bit better and ended up walking away with the trophy. Chandra Johnson, Jimmie's wife, was crying after he crossed the finish line. Chad Knaus, Jimmie's crew chief, walked over and hugged her. It really shows they are all family. They seemed like they were all in a dream. This is the second Championship they have won in a row. Right after he crossed the finish line, he screamed over the radio, "We are gonna tear it up tonight!!", so I'm sure they had a huge party Sunday night. they are already thinking of next year and winning another championship. Chad Knaus said over the radio, "I can't wait for Daytona."

tag: NASCAR, Teammates, Hendrick Motorsports, Jimmie Johnson, Homestead, Jeff Gordon, Chad Knaus

Season Finale in Homestead

Season Finale in Homestead

Okay, let me first say I'm very sad to see the season come to an end. I'm kinda happy though. I root for Kasey Kahne, and that team needed to get the season over with. They have been running so bad the whole year. It seemed like they were on the right track there for a while, but Sunday's race was totally opposite. He finished 24th. His teammate, Elliott Sadler, finished 38th after hitting the wall. Their new teammate, open-wheeler Patrick Carpentier, finished 40th. There was some hope for Kasey early on because he did start 3rd, but then it went downhill from there.

Now for the rest of the field. Jimmie Johnson started on the pole. He made sure he lead the first lap to get the extra 5 bonus points. Then he floated back and just drove. As for Dale Earnhardt Jr., it was just another disappointing Sunday. He brought out the first caution. The drivers had to use the access road in order to go to pit road. All the sand, grit, and debris was blown onto the access road. The access road is not pit road, so they are not under mandatory speed, so they go really fast. As you can imagine, Debris + High Speeds = Trouble! As he was coming onto pit road he ran off the access road, but then got back in line. He was then tapped from behind by Kyle Busch, which made him spin. Patrick Carpentier was in this too. Dale Earnhardt Jr. drove back on the track instead of going on down pit road, so of course, NASCAR penalized him for a commitment cone violation. He had to go back down pit road because of this. But the fun wasn't over yet. Just as they got the green flag and were about to go, Jeff Burton got into the back of Dale Jr., which made him spin. It just wasn't Jr.'s day at all. He has had a ROUGH season, and I know he is ready to get to Hendrick Motorsports to start a new chapter of his career.
However, this was a huge break for most of the field, because they started in front of the leader Matt Kenseth. This gave them the chance to drive around and get at the end of the longest line. Again this week, Matt Kenseth lead a lot of the laps. He ended up winning the race.
Johnny Sauter spinned, and was out of the race. He needed to have a good race Sunday. He does not have a ride for 2008, so he needed a good race to prove to other owners what he is capable of doing.
At some point during the race, when Reed Sorenson was pitting, the jack man didn't let the jack down, so Reed drove off with the jack still under him. it stayed under him for a couple of seconds, but then went flying off. It was very fortunate that it didn't hit anybody. That could have done some major damage to somebody. It was unbelievable how fast it flew off. It is sad to see the season through with, but I know many of the drivers needed this break.

tag: NASCAR, driver, cars, Hendrick Motorsports, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne

Hendrick Domination

Hendrick the Invincible Team

Hendrick Motorsports has dominated Nascar all season. It is plain to see they know a lot more about the Car Of Tomorrow, or the COT, than the other teams. There are 36 races this season and we have completed 35. The last race is at Homestead. Of the 35 races, the Hendrick group has won 18 of the races...almost half of the races. Kyle Busch, who leaves Hendrick next year, won the first COT race, which tells us the Hendrick guys have done their homework on this new car. Of those 18 wins, Jimmie Johnson has won 10 of them. He has amazing talent. Jeff Gordon has only won 6 this year. Jeff Gordon, however, has won the most poles this season with 10 poles. He was very good early on, but lately, it has been Jimmie who has been impressing us. Jimmie has won the last four races. It seems like nothing they do could possibly go wrong. It is not surprising who is leading the championship points. Jimmie Johnson is leading with Jeff Gordon in second. It is pretty clear, though the Chase is still not over, who will win the Championship. Jimmie is ahead by 86 points. And guess who won the championship last year? Yep, you guessed it Jimmie Johnson. It is no surprise who the last driver to win back-to-back titles was...Jeff Gordon. There is a pattern here. Maybe we should go back and see how they got so good.

The Beginning

When Jimmie Johnson was first starting out in Nascar, he struggled like any rookie today does. He was driving in the Busch Series. One day he got up the nerve to walk over to Jeff Gordon and plain out asked him for advice. Gordon kept in touch with him and later offered him a driver development deal.

They are still close friends today. As we have seen many times this year, often teammates aren't close at all, so it is strange to see them both friends on and off the track. Because they are teammates and they do share information, I think that is what makes them unbeatable. They get the same cars from the same place. The difference is just that the drivers like different setups. A lot of the members on the teams work for both Jimmie and Jeff. For instance the other day on NascarNow, they said a guy works for Jeff all through the practices and everything, but when it comes Sunday, he changes tires for Jimmie. It shows they don't keep a lot of secrets from each other. They come into every race knowing what the other driver has.

The Key to Success

At a recent test in Atlanta, both Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson decided to skip it because they were in the middle of the chase, and they wanted their team to rest up. At last weekends race in Phoenix, after Jimmie Johnson won, Jeff Gordon came over and praised him and basically said that it's over. He wasn't saying that he was giving up just that Jimmie's team is so good, and it is plain to see that they, Jeff and his team, aren't keeping up. That right there is what I think makes that team so successful. They have a lot of respect for one another. They are professionals. they are mature, and this shows that this is what makes them so successful.

Jimmie had never won at Phoenix, but he did get his first win there this past weekend. He also has never won at Homestead, but in an interview this week, he said he truly feels like he can win Sunday. If he does win Sunday, that will be his 5th win in a row. He has already joined a list of greats who have the most wins in a row. His career is not yet at its peak though. He will continue to be an amazing driver along with his teammates. I feel sorry for the guys competing against him.

tag: NASCAR, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Teammates, Hendrick Motorsports

Phoenix

This weekend's race in Phoenix was crazy. It was 312 laps long, which is shorter than normal.
Carl Edwards won the pole on Friday, so he lead them down to the green flag. Carl Edwards led a lot of laps in the beginning, but then, Martin Truex Jr. took the lead when he won the race off of pit road in a caution. David Ragan was racing somebody and he got in the grass and when he did, he went up in the air. It looked like a wild ride, but surprisingly he only lost 1 or 2 positions. he did run over the camera though that was in the grass. on lap 106 Carl Edwards started having engine problems. They took it to the garage and everything. It was sad to see him have problems that early on and for him to have been running that well. 37 laps later he did get back on the track, but he didn't stay very long, because he went back to the garage.

Dale Jr. and Kasey Kahne

Dale Earnhardt Jr. did not have a good day. He got loose and hit the wall. His car was tore up pretty bad. Jacques Villeneuve brought out caution number six when he got into Kasey Kahne. Kasey was on the top on the track, and Jacques didn't know he was there and pulled up which got them wrecked. Even after that, Kasey Kahne didn't go a lap down. Eleven laps later though, Kasey Kahne had a tire go down and hit the wall really hard. When they interviewed him after the wreck, he was way out of character. I can't blame him though. To go from winning 6 races last year to doing horrible this year, you can tell he is very frustrated. He said, "I drove like an idiot all day and finally wrecked. I finally finished it off for us. We've only got one week left, so I'm happy about that."

Roush Teammates

Matt Kenseth did a very good job Sunday. he was very strong. his teammate, Greg Biffle, also did really good. Greg ended up finishing 2nd. After the race, he said if he had had a couple of laps he probably could have caught Jimmie. Matt Kenseth finished 3rd. the problem with him though is that he is peaking at the wrong time. Had he done this in the beginning of the chase, he might have had a chance.

The Win

Of course Jimmie Johnson won the race making this his 4th win in a row. I'm proud for them though. They obviously know a lot more about this new car than the others do.

tag: Kasey Kahne, NASCAR, driver, cars, Phoenix, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Carl Edwards

Best Buy

Best Buy Sponsorship

Best Buy has made an announcement today about who they will sponsor next year. They have sponsored Jeff Green in the #66, but they will not sponsor him anymore. They will now sponsor Elliott Sadler in the #19. Best Buy will be his primary sponsor for the 2008 season. The races will include the Daytona 500. I think that would be a pretty cool sponsorship to get. They played a videos instead of someone just talking. It featured some funny clips of Elliott and Ray Evernham. You can view this video by clicking here.

Phoenix Preview

This weekend's race is at Phoenix International Raceway. It is a 1 mile tri-oval. We only have one more race after this one. This weekend is the Checker Auto Parts 500. Kasey Kahne has never won at this track but he does have one top 5 and three top 10s

tag: Phoenix, Checker Auto Parts 500, Best Buy, sponsor, Elliott Sadler, Ray Evernham, Kasey Kahne

This week in NASCAR: Johnson didn't Mess Around in Texas

Dickies 500, Fort Worth, Texas

This week's race was won with a behind the fender come around in the last lap by Jimmie Johnson. Matt Kenseth's fender was still burning and perhaps his embarrassment knowing he lost it at the last moment. But that is why I LOVE NASCAR!!!!!!

The race between Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth was very close. This was Jimmie's 9th win this season, 3 more than last years Kasey Kahne who won the most with 6. They are on a roll. It seems like nothing they do is wrong. I am happy for them though. I would rather Jimmie win than Jeff.

The Race

Okay so lets start out the race. Vince Vaughn got to drive the pace truck and lead them down to the green. That must have been the experience of a life time. Most of the time the celebrities just ride along, but he got to drive, so I know that was cool.
A.J. Allmendinger did not have a good day at all. He scraped the wall one time and then brought out a caution for cutting a right side tire. Jeff Burton brought out two cautions for debris that had fallen off of his car. Some of the pit stops yesterday were made under caution so that was pretty risky.

Kasey Kahne had been running really good up until lap 151, when Johnny Sauter made contact with him . Kasey had to go to pit road under green and get it checked out which put him two laps down, which is really hard to recover from. He never could get the "Lucky Dog" to get back on the lead lap, so his day was pretty much over. He did finish 18th though. (one note: they might bring this car to Homestead, the season finale, so hopefully he'll do much better then.)

Back to the race. All the chase drivers did pretty good except Carl Edwards. A chain in the sway bar got twisted up, so they had to come in to fix that. He didn't do very well. He was two laps down.

Juan Pablo Montoya did pretty good, up until he lost a cylinder. A.J. Allmendinger brought out another caution when he lost it coming off of turn 2. He had the brakes on, but then let off a little bit and that is when he hit the inside wall. It was pretty bad. Yesterday was just not good for him.

Caution #9 was a huge wreck! Casey Mears got loose and slid into Tony Stewart. Tony only had a little bit of damage though. Man, Kevin Harvick was right in the middle of that and somehow managed to get through. It was amazing seeing him drive through it without getting hit. The cars that were involved were Casey Mears, Tony Stewart, David Gilliland, Mark Martin, Dale Jarrett, and David Ragan.

Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin were racing real hard for the lead. Denny brought out a caution. He took his self out when he started racing dirty.

Greg Biffle didn't do real good. He brought out two cautions. On the first one, he just spun. On the second one, he spun and had to completely stop, because fire and smoke was in the cockpit. That must have been really hard trying to get out fast and breathing all that smoke. He said that He couldn't get out fast enough because the hose was stuck. He was wanting the Emergency worker to cut the hose. However, this was a sigh of relief for the other cars, because they were going to be running close on fuel if a caution did not come out. Then that is when the racing with Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson happened. It was really good, clean racing. I like both of them. They are good drivers. I would have liked to have seen Matt win, because Jimmie already has enough wins. I'm happy with how the race turned out. It is so hard to believe there are only 2 more races left.
tag: NASCAR, Kasey Kahne, driver, cars, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle,

Atlanta Race

Atlanta

This past weekend's race in Atlanta was very good. There was a lot of racing going on.

Pre-Race Activities

Greg Biffle won the pole on Friday, with Kasey Kahne starting 4th. John Schneider (Bo Duke) sang the national anthem. Jeff Gordon gave the command from his car. Richard Petty waved the green flag. It was pretty funny when his baseball cap fell off. I didn't think I would ever see that happen to him! It was a good thing that wasn't his cowboy hat.

The Race

Greg Biffle led the first lap, but on lap 2, Kurt Busch took the lead away. Kasey Kahne started dropping to the back at the beginning. Tony Stewart was very strong. He started 30th, but by lap 33, he was in the 12th position. Juan Pablo Montoya had a lot of problems. He caused 2 of the first 3 cautions by blowing out right front tires.
Caution came out for the 4th time on lap 65. This was a horrible wreck. It all started when David Gilliland spun and started moving to the bottom of the race track. Mark Martin followed another car by going on the bottom of the race track and unfortunately he didn't get by quick enough, and that sent the both of them spinning...hard. David Gilliland hit Mark Martin in the right front area of the car. Fortunately both of the drivers were okay. NASCAR brought out the red flag in order for them to clean up the track.
When they restarted, the DEI cars (Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Martin Truex Jr.) were real strong. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was in the top 5 and Martin Truex Jr. led alot of laps. Tony Stewart started having problems, putting him laps down. Dale Jr. had a flat tire going down, which put him a lap down, but he then made it all the way back up to eighth. On lap 202, Tony Stewart was in 35th place, 5 laps down. Joe Nemecheck cut a tire which brought out another caution. When all the leaders pitted Kasey Kahne won the race off pit road. He only led a lap, but, hey, a lap is a lap.
Ryan Newman set the record of cautions at Atlanta Motor Speedway by bringing out caution #11 when he blew an engine. All the teams started worrying about fuel and whether they should pit or not. Johnny Sauter brought out the next caution, which was a relief for many of the teams. Denny Hamlin stayed out. Kyle Busch took 4 tires, but the jack man didn't get the car up high enough for the front tire changer to get the tire off. That automatically put him out of contention for the win. Kasey Kahne took 4 tires and fuel, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. took two tires. Since Jimmie Johnson had his pit near the end of pit road, they could see how many tires the other teams were taking so they decided to take two. That put him in 2nd behind Denny Hamlin. All of a sudden when the green flag waves, Denny Hamlin doesn't get going and that is when all the wrecking started. All of the cars started speeding up, but there was no where to go. A lot of the cars got by, but unfortunately Martin Truex Jr. got the worst of it. He had been running good all day, and for this to happen to him was so sad. He rear-ended Denny Hamlin, which put him out of the race. All the other cars started going on the top side of the track and the bottom of the track because Denny Hamlin stayed in the Middle. Kyle Busch spun in the same incident.
This caution put Jimmie Johnson in 1st. He led them down to the Green-White Checkered. On the last lap, when Dale Jr. was running 3rd, his wheel came off, and he hit the wall hard. He collected Jamie McMurray on the way, who was running 5th. The race ended there. The one time he is running in the top-5 without blowing an engine, and he crashes. Jimmie Johnson won...whoop di do. Big Surprise there!
As for Kasey Kahne, he took 4 tires on one of the pit stops, but because of all the cautions, he never got to use them, so he finished 9th. He was extremely happy after the race. After the race he said, " I'm happy. It was fun to drive a car like that again. You could drive it sideways if you wanted." It sounds like he had a good time. When you are happy, you produce great results, so maybe this is a sign of things to come!
They were only supposed to run 325 laps, they ran 329, and had a record 14 cautions.

Points

Come on lets get real, unless both Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon get lost and don't show up for the last 3 races, Clint Bowyer is out of it. Jimmie and Jeff are running great. Clint Bowyer is 111 points behind Jeff Gordon. Don't get me wrong, Clint is an amazing driver and has done very well, but I believe it is between the top two Hendrick guys. They have been on top of the COT this whole year. But there is that saying that all good things must come to an end, so who knows.

Jeff is leading Jimmie by 9 points. With this close of a lead, Homestead will be so exciting. I read an interesting fact that supports this: The points for Jeff Gordon in the last 3 races are 511. The points for Jimmie Johnson in the last 3 races are 511. That is pretty scary.