Kasey Kahne in Victory Lane!! (part 2)

Winning the Coca-Cola 600 is such a hard task. But it proved to be quite easy for Kasey Kahne, who won the race with more than a 5 second lead over second place Greg Biffle. The Coke 600 is the longest race of the year, 400 laps or 600 miles. Kyle Busch won the pole with Kasey Kahne starting 2nd. Kasey is still riding a huge wave of momentum from last weekend's win in the All-Star Race. when the Green flag fell, Kasey Kahne started losing positions quickly, dropping back to about 8th or 9th place. I started to get worried that this might be a long night, but then remembered that this is 600 miles, and you have to go through the transition from day to night. The race starts at 5 and ends at 10, so the track cools down alot. When you first start out, you want your car to be a bit loose, so that when it does get night time it will tighten up.

The Endurance Race

The first hundred laps looked like it was shaping up to be somewhat like the All-Star Race, but then we started to see the cautions we predicted. We saw several guys who led that looked like they could end up competing for the win. Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. all looked like they could win.

Bad Luck Strikes the Leaders

I was hoping that Brian Vickers would have a good run. He is a pretty good driver. They are just one of those teams that needs some luck on their side. He led for a while, and then was running 2nd when all of a sudden, the left rear tire just flew off. It was pretty funny the way the tire went. It rolled and bounced. I thought it was gonna hit an ambulance, but it narrowly missed it and bounced over the fence into an infield camping ground. I wonder what those people thought. Security came and took the tire to look at it to see exactly what happened.
Dale Jr. was another guy that looked very competitive. He likes to run right up against the wall every lap. He had a flat tire go down and smacked the wall. Then J.J. Yeley ran right into the back of him. Dale Jr. and his crew chief Tony Eury Jr. were smart about it though. They did not want to go a lap down, so they came onto pit road and fixed part of it. They went back on the track (this is still under caution), so they would not lose a lap. Then when they came back around, they sped on pit road in order to make sure they would have enough time to fix the car. They figured if they sped, the only penalty they would get would be to start at the back of the pack, which they were already gonna have to do. It almost came back to bite them though. NASCAR almost penalized him for endangering public safety crews, but after further review NASCAR rescinded the penalty stating that Jr. gave plenty of room. Jr. ended up finishing 5th, so it wasn't that bad.
Kurt Busch led for a while, but he also hit the wall. Kyle Busch was another guy that was having problems. Something was wrong with his battery, but they fixed that, and he was a contender there at the end. Jimmie Johnson also ran very well, but he blew an engine, so that ended his night.
At one of the restarts, Tony Stewart was 1st with Kasey Kahne 2nd. Tony for some reason slowed down a little bit, and that caused a chain reaction. When they replayed it, you could clearly see the accordion effect. They stacked up and about mid pack, they started crashing. That brought out the caution and some of the guys in the back went on to pit road to top off with fuel. The leaders stayed out though, because they had just had a caution and didn't want to give up track position. That left us to wonder if maybe some of the guys in the back would try stretch it out and make it on fuel. These would be guys like Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards, who hadn't run well all night but might end up winning this thing. Alot of the guys who were good at some point in the race, had trouble.

The Finish

When they finally did get back going, it was somewhere around 60 laps to go. We knew the leaders would have make a green flag pit stop. They would only need about 3 seconds of fuel. This made me worried. On the last green flag stop, the pit crew cannot make any mistakes. This pit stop determines whether you win the race or not. Kasey was one of the first to hit pit road. He got 6 seconds of fuel. Tony Stewart, who was still leading, got about 3 seconds, so at that point, everyone figured Kasey's night was over. I was praying for a caution or for something to happen to Tony. Kasey was about 5 seconds behind Tony. Then with two laps to go, our miracle came. They started screaming, "Tony's got problems! Tony's got problems!!" That's when I knew Kasey was gonna win. Kasey did win with a huge lead. Tony had a flat tire. As for those guys who topped off with fuel on the last lap, Carl Edwards was the only one to risk it. He ran out of fuel, but ended up 9th. This is Kasey's first points race win in 52 races. He joins a list of greats, because he is only the 6th driver ever to win both the All-Star Race and the Coke 600. This list includes Darrell Waltrip, Davey Allison, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, and Jimmie Johnson. Kasey's comment on this: "That's probably the coolest thing I've ever done if I'm on that same list as those guys." If this is any indication of Kasey's potential, he has a bright future ahead of him!



tag: Kasey Kahne, Gillett Evernham Motorsport, Joe Gibbs Racing, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Nascar, Nascar Sprint Cup Series, Jimmie Johnson, Coca-Cola 600, 2008 Sprint All-Star Race, Tony Stewart, Brian Vickers, Kurt Busch

Kasey Kahne in Victory Lane!! (part 1)

I'm super excited!! Let me go on and say it...Kasey Kahne won the All-Star Race last week and about 30 Minutes ago he won the Coca-Cola 600!! Woo-Hoo! They are so great right now!!

All-Star Ra ce Format

The Sprint All-Star Race last weekend was at Charlotte. The format is complicated and changes about every year. This race is NOT a points race. T his is just a fun race for a million dollars. They have a short race right before the All-Star race called the Sprint Showdown. This is for the drivers who did not qualify for the All-Star Race. In order to qualify for the All-Star race, you have to have either 1) won a race in 2007 or so far in 2008 or 2)you have to have won an All-Star race. But those aren't the only ways, there are two more. You have to finish first or second in the showdown or get voted in by the fans. They don't announce the fan-vote winner until after the showdown. Once the All-Star race starts, you race 4 25-lap segments. After the 2nd segment, they give you a 10 minute break to work on the car. Then, you go back and race the last two segments.

Kasey Wins Fan vote

Now for the Showdown. I had high hopes for Elliott Sadler. He started on the pole, but at lap 7, AJ Allmendinger put him into the wall. That ended Elliott's night,which was really sad. All was well for Allmendinger, however, because he went on to win the Showdown. After the Showdown, AJ Allmendinger said, "I feel like I won the Daytona 500!" Sam Hornish Jr. finished second, which was a great run by him.
The race was alright for Kasey. He ended up finishing 5th, so his only hope for getting into the real race was the fan-vote. Kasey fans, including myself, stepped up to the task and voted Kasey in!! I think I alone voted probably a hundred times or more! What was interesting though was that Dale Earnhardt Jr. told his fans to vote for Elliot Sadler, so everybody expected him to win, but obviously they didn't vote enough. I was watching a Carl Edwards interview. And what was funny was that he said, "So Kasey got voted in by the fans...well...just goes to show you what a bunch of women can do for ya." It was quite funny.

Kasey IS an All-Star

AJ Allmendinger, Sam Hornish Jr., and Kasey Kahne transferred into the All-Star Race starting 22nd, 23rd, and 24th respectively. Kasey was very good in the All-Star race. I thought the race was interesting, but that may be because Kasey was passing people or leading. There were no cautions except for the cautions ending the segments. Nobody crashed. The final call, that proved to be the winning one, was when Kenny Francis, Kasey's crew chief, elected to take no tires, only fuel in order to get Kasey track position. Kasey and Jimmie Johnson were the only ones to do that, the rest took two tires. This didn't work so well for Jimmie, but worked great for Kasey. Kasey took the lead with about 15 laps to go, and I was praying that he could keep the lead. Greg Bifle (who took two tires) came close one time, but he decided to wait, because he thought he would have time later. That wasn't so. Kasey took the checkered flag. I was screaming. Kasey was screaming on the radio. He was so excited. I thought I might cry. It was such a great race. Everybody was in shock that no tires prevailed over two. It was a great night. Kasey didn't even make the race, gets voted in by the fans, starts last, and still wins!! Kasey is the first driver to get voted in by the fans and win the All-Star Race. It was great. In all with the Showdown winnings, Kasey Kahne won $1,047,000!! I'll be back tomorrow with a rundown of the Coke 600.

tag: Kasey Kahne, Elliott Sadler, Nascar, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Nascar Sprint Cup Series, 2008 Sprint All-Star Race, Coca-Cola 600, Kenny Francis

Funniest NASCAR Commercials

I thought I'd make a post about my favorite Nascar commercials. The Daytona 500 was a couple of weeks ago, and alot of commercials premiered during that time. But many have aired since then. Nascar commercials are great. People often compare our commercials to the Super Bowl commercials. Super Bowl commercials are funny, but they are missing something.....THE PLAYERS!!! Most of the Nascar commercials star the drivers, which is good for the tv companies because it keeps the fans viewed in during the commercial breaks. They are very funny because these drivers aren't actors so seeing them act is cool. Because I'm sort of new to Nascar, I've tried to talk to some people who have been watching it for a longer time to get some of their favorites. Some of my favorite commercials are the ones starring Michael Waltrip and Kasey Kahne. The ones about Michael Waltrip spotlight his terrible season last year. On the other hand, all the Kasey Kahne/Allstate commercials spotlight his cuteness.

The best commercial I think I have EVER seen is this one. This is Kasey Kahne's brand new commercial that just aired Sunday. It is starring the Allstate girls of course.

Here are the some Michael Waltrip commercials.

This is also one of my favorites. This is a commercial of Jimmie bragging to Elliot Sadler about winning the championship.

Of course there are many more great commercials. but these are just a few of them.

tag: Kasey Kahne, commercial, Allstate, Michael Waltrip, Elliott Sadler, Jimmie Johnson

1st Victory in Two Years for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Bud Shootout

Well last Saturday was the 2008 Bud Shootout. It was filled with lots of good racing. Before I start talking about the race, I would like to talk about one of the practices that happened before the race got started. The final practice for the Bud Shootout was Friday night. It was jam packed with action. First it started off with Clint Bowyer spinning out Ryan Newman. That took out Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Ryan. So with the last practice, they had to pull out a new car which they had no driving time with. Then Tony Stewart tried to squeeze in next to the wall and Kurt Busch making it three-wide. There wasn't enough room, so they wrecked. It wasn't that bad though. Well when they were headed to pit road, Kurt started ramming into the side of Tony Stewart. They were immediately called to the "Oval Office", that's the NASCAR hauler. They were still bickering about it, and Tony allegedly threw a punch at Kurt. Anyway, they let them go and told them they would meet in the morning after everything had cooled down. The final punishment was both of them were put on a 6 week probation. And let's not forget this isn't the first ontrack confrontation they have had. Remember Bristol? lets just say that these two aren't the best of friends

Now for the actual race. It was great racing. I wasn't too pleased with Kasey Kahne. Absolutely no one would draft with him. They would shuffle him around until he was in the middle, and then no one would draft with him so he dropped to the back. It was very frustrating. I was rooting for Dale Jr. to win or Tony Stewart. Both of those would have been memorable. For Tony it would have meant that he won the Bud Shootout on his first try with Toyota. That ould have been huge for Toyota. On the other hand, for Dale Earnhardt Jr., it would have been even bigger. Dale Jr. did win. I was so excited for him. That was big. It was his first race with Hendrick Motorsports. Wow that right there says how great that team is. To be able to hire a new driver and then that driver to win "right outta the box"...that was great. He had been with the company his father founded, but left at the end of last season because of he and his stepmother, Teresa Earnhardt. I know that was tough for him, but man did it pay off. It was emotional to see him whenever he came to victory lane. Rick Hendrick was there. Everyone was there. It was cool. He was grinnin' from ear to ear. That is the first time we have seen a true smile on his face in a LONG time. They all talk about "Oh, I'm excited to be driving with this team...we're gonna have a great season.", but they say it with the dullest faces. This was amazing. I know he was happy. This was his first win since the middle of 2006. Let's not forget how he got the win Saturday night though. His teammate Jimmie Johnson bumped him twice, which was just enough to slide past Tony Stewart for the win. Hendrick Motorsports will be even better than last year.

tag: Kasey Kahne, Hendrick Motorsports, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Nascar, Rick Hendricks, Daytona, Nascar Sprint Cup Series, 2008 Bud Shootout

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

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,