Las Vegas

From the palatial Race Guy Mansion, we're at Vegas, baby, Vegas, and you're going to get more than just the race. You're also going to get advice about how to handle a job candidate and some movie coverage.

2:30 PM
I was told that the race starts at 2:30, but that means that the pre-race starts at 2:30, and you know how much I love pre-race. AMC is showing one of my favorite movies of all-time, The Matrix, so we're watching it while pre-race is on. Out of all the good scenes, my favorite has to be when Neo meets The Oracle.

Here's Neo with the kid bending spoons.

Kid: "Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth."

Neo: "What truth?"

Kid: "There is no spoon. Then, you will see that it is not the spoon that bends, only yourself."

2:36 PM
During a commercial, I switch over to Fox where DW is trying to stir up trouble with Carl Edwards and Mark Martin. DW: "I'm not trying to start anything." Right, DW.

2:40 PM
Krista Voda got in her first gambling reference of the day. I'm setting the over/under for her at 6. :smilewinkgrin:

Kyle Busch is the hottest thing on 4 wheels? After 2 races where he ran well and didn't win either of them? Whatever. Here's Chris Myers with a gambling reference. I wish I knew how long pre-race lasted so I could avoid it altogether in the future. What a waste of time.

2:41 PM
Back to the Matrix, and the Oracle says, "Well, I better have a look at you."

I laugh everytime she says that and starts looking in his mouth and at his ears. It's not like she's actually doing anything, but he expects and she does it for him. I heart The Oracle.

2:55 PM
Inteerogating? Is that how you spell that word? What does that mean?

The answer to the question of "Does Mr. Hendrick have 'sellers remorse'?" is "negative." I'm pretty sure Kyle knows the answer. Oh, and Kyle has to have his first win at Vegas before he can get another one.

According to DW, he's proven himself so far this season after 2 races. In a season where we've had just 2 races and Kyle hasn't won either one of them, DW is practically handing Kyle the championship.

DW: "He was a bad kid but a good man". Whatever, DW.

3:01 PM
Dick Berggren with his 1st and 2nd gambling references of the day.

3:07 PM
If you're scoring at home, Krista Voda makes her 2nd gambling reference.

3:10 PM
Removing 1 Fontana race for a 2nd Vegas race isn't a half bad idea. BTW, increasing the banking and running restrictor plates at Fontana isn't the worst idea I've ever heard, but I think filling it with water and stocking it with fish is a better idea.

If Junior couldn't keep DEI competitive, why would we think that Truex can?

2 races in and we're wondering if Casey Mears can make the Chase? He's had a bad start, but his problem at Daytona was that he was trying to win the race and made an ill-advised block attempt and got wrecked. His problem at Fontana was the water coming up. There's nothing wrong with Casey and it annoys me that DW is talking about a "lack of confidence".

3:11 PM
Security guard to Neo: "Could you please remove any metallic items you may be carrying, keys, loose change...

Neo shows him the guns as if to say: "How about a dozen guns?"

3:25 PM
On Fox, Lance Burton's mind-trick didn't work on me. I was thinking the 2, not the Queen.

3:30 PM
What Neo does to rescue Morpheus and then save Trinity is incredible.

Morpheus: "Do you believe it now, Trinity?"

Dude, she always believed in him. I think that when Neo fell trying his first jump, she went to her quarters and cried her heart out, because she desperately wanted him to be The One.

3:35 PM
Krista Voda sneaking in her 3rd gambling reference.

3:38 PM
The 4 famous words in racing, except there were 5 in this one. Can we make it a law that nobody uses "GSYE" as an advertisement for some product?

3:40 PM
Love Neo's fight with Agent Smith. He isn't as overmatched as Morpheus was. Well, that is, until he taunts Smith with his "Bring it on" handwave and Smith nearly kills him.

3:47 PM
BTW, did you guys ever notice that the the old exit is the place where we started this movie? Room 303 is where Trinity was to start the movie and it's why Agent Smith knew where Neo would be.

3:49 PM
Race has finally started and Junior's in the blue car, which I like better than the green car.

3:52 PM
Doesn't Kyle Busch come off every corner sideways? How is this any different from the way he always drives? Reutiman and Kahne had the flu this weekend. I heard that 1/3 of Peoria was out last week with it. 2 weeks ago, I was out of work for 4 days with it.

Which reminds me, if you're a headhunter, and you're working with a candidate who says he's sick, you should believe him. Long story short, the headhunter in question implied that I was avoiding him when I was so sick I wasn't even awake for most of the day. You can imagine how angry that would make me. Add in these headhunters not giving straight answers to pointed questions and you can understand why I'm not working with said headhunter anymore.

4:00 PM
Other than having good cars at both places, I don't see any causality between Carl winning at Fontana and running up front at Vegas.

4:06 PM
Closed centrifuge. Do not attempt, it says. Really? We needed that disclaimer so that we don't try and run our truck through a centrifuge? How stupid are we, as an American society, if we really need a disclaimer like that?

4:16 PM
If the questions on "Moment of Truth" are that bad, why do those morons want to be on the show in the first place? See 4:06 entry I guess.

4:18 PM
DW says that it's too hard for everybody to slow down that much for pit road. If that were, every driver out there would be getting a penalty. As Ken Schrader once wisely noted, "These cars don't drive themselves."

4:35 PM
I don't really understand why Dale Jr was a popular fantasy choice to win today. Historically, Vegas has not been a good track for him.

I also don't get what's so confusing when cars on the tail end of the lead lap are in front of the leader on restarts.

4:39 PM
Larry Mac says, "Speaking of gambling, let's crank it up!"

Huh?

What does that have to do with gambling?

4:44 PM
Speaking of a BLT sandwich, it's time for more commercials.

4:44 PM
Speaking of giant redwoods, I despise all the texting commercials from AT&T.

4:46 PM
Speaking of broccoli, is there a more chilling scene in a movie than when Kathy Bates hobbles James Caan in Misery?

4:52 PM
Speaking of honeybees, somebody needs to help these guys with basic multiplication. We passed 100 miles 34 laps to go.

4:53 PM
Speaking of eating ice cream, I'm having cognitive dissonance seeing Kasey Kahne wearing a Budweiser suit talking about safe driving.

4:56 PM
Speaking of roast beef sandwiches, that is a very hard hit by Tony. Glad to see the Shaggy Racecar Driver wasn't seriously hurt from that hit.

5:00 PM
I think my favorite commercial right now is the Cobalt Tools commercial.

Knauss: "What are you doing, Jimmie?"

Johnson: "Welding, Chad."

:laugh:

8:01 PM
We went to church and I recorded the race. From here on, the time is the time I'm commenting on the race, not the time that things actually happened.

8:08 PM
DW assumes the Presidency of the Kyle Busch Fan Club. He talks about how Kyle Busch's attitude is so much better this year, and, frankly, I haven't seen a difference. Kyle's always been a very cocky driver, and he's still a cocky driver. If anything, I think he's gotten unfairly tarred by the fan's opinion of Kurt.

8:29 PM
It's always funny when the taters are proven wrong.

DW: "These cars just don't spin out when they're on the inside of another car."

Then, Scott Riggs spins out in exactly that way. Good call, DW!

8:30 PM
Krista Voda continues to channel Bill Webber about overusing your references of the day. That's gambling reference #4.

8:37 PM
Great audio from Fox in Jeff Burton's car. You can hear him feathering the throttle off of T2, which tells me he's tight. If he tried to hold it wide open off the corner, he wouldn't be able to turn the car, so he has to feather it to get the car to turn.

8:41 PM
That's nice that Tony Jr had to fill out a job application for Hendrick. *yawn*

8:43 PM
I think Nascar made the right call on the tire bouncing away on Carl Edwards car. Obviously, the cameraman in question didn't work for Roush.

8:46 PM
Larry says that Junior has both hands and feet on the wheel, and I think it would be better if Jr kept his foot on the accelerator. As cramped as the drivers seat is, how did he get his feet on the steering wheel anyway?

8:52 PM
The reconfiguration of this track was a great idea. This is a better race than any on the old layout.

9:06 PM
Good night, it's like somebody shot Kurt Busch's tire out. It just exploded.

9:10 PM
There we go, yet another gambling reference.

9:14 PM
I'm just glad my driver has a chance to win, even though I don't think he can beat Carl.

9:16 PM
Another example of a driver, Gordon in this case, feathering the throttle, trying desperately to get the car to turn, and it just being too tight for what he needs it to do.

9:22 PM 3/2/2008
Somewhere, Bill Webber is nodding sagely saying, "That's my girl" as Krista Voda works in 3 more gambling references. If you had the over, you win as that's her 7th gambling reference of the day.

9:24 PM
What does the phrase "All in" have to do with what Chris Myers is talking about? Oh, that's right. Nothing. He just has to say it because it's Vegas, baby, Vegas.

9:25 PM
Uh, Fox? Nobody cares what you named the gopher.

9:28 PM
These guys keep on talking and they'll talk themselves into the guy in 10th making a move to win.

9:29 PM
Another gambling reference. Awesome.

9:31 PM
Good job by Carl. It pleases me very much that Junior finished 2nd at a track where he's normally terrible.

 

There are 2 items of controversy this week I want to weigh in on.

#1, Carl Edwards' penalty for failing post-race inspection.

I think the #99 team cheated and I think they deserved the penalty they got. I don't believe for one second that a bolt failed due to vibration. In fact, there are reports, and a photo exists, that shows that the lid wasn't even there, much less that something vibrated off.

This morning, I heard a statement from Geoff Smith, Roush-Fenway president, that they were going to investigate whether the penalty and fine was excessive. And, they want the part back that supposedly failed before they decide whether they appeal.

I also heard Rusty Wallace say that the #99 team couldn't have done what they did, because leaving the lid off would have meant putting Carl at risk. I didn't get the exact reason Rusty said this, but it had to do with gases that would be present with the oil lid off and this would be very dangerous. Did anybody else catch what Rusty said and remembers it better? Frankly, I think what Rusty said is a big pile of hooey.

At the very least, Roush gets to play his favorite role, that of the martyr.

#2, Robby Gordon's penalty for having an unapproved nose on his car.

From what I understand, Dodge said that they were responsible for the part problem, not Robby. Thus, the points penalty was taken away, but the fine was increased to $150,000. I don't get why the fine was increased, but I don't have a huge problem with Robby not losing the 100 points.

What do you guys think?