All Star Notes
One thing I love about Saturday night races is that when I take my nap, I don't miss any racing. Plus, I get to do more simracing, which is always a good thing. :thumbs:
Enough of that, let's get to why you clicked on this thread.
NascarTV, oh wait, SpeedTV
Big event for NascarTV, ahem, I mean, SpeedTV tonight. I saw a piece where Speed was going to devote a bunch of hours to coverage of the race, because it's the biggest Nascar event they've ever covered. How is devoting a ton of hours to Nascar different than any other day? For all the hours they waste covering the Barrett-Jackson car auctions, they could actually show other racing, such as DTM, F3, Aussie Supercars, etc. Instead we get Kenny Wallace, Jimmy Spencer and that other guy I don't particularly care for. I used to like Formula One Decade, but that show hasn't been on for a few years now. SpeedTV ruined the only show I watched regularly, Inside Nextel Cup, by replacing Allen Bestwick with Dave Despain. Not that I don't like Dave, because I watch his show Wind Tunnel every week, but Bestwick was perfect and they got rid of him.
Despite the hype, the All-Star race hasn't always delivered. They keep talking about wild it will be, which will be Krista Voda's favorite word by the end of the night, but it isn't always that way. Usually, the most entertaining race is the Open where they go all out to make the big race.
You mean there's only 1 car out there?
Who was the teenaged girl that said "Gentlemen, start your engine!" before the Open?
Open Lap 1 Wreck
I was going to say that somebody needs to tell Montoya that you can't win a race on the first turn of the first lap. Then I remembered that he came from the F1 world, where you can indeed win a race on the first turn of the first lap. :smilewinkgrin:
Boris Said Ouch
Tough break for Boris on that wreck. There's really no right or wrong decision for him. Obviously he made the wrong call, but Boris did the right thing in committing to a line expecting the 49 to have moved out of his way, but the 49 didn't move. This has happened to me in simracing many, many times. Things happen really fast and you just pick your line and hope you made the right call. Sometimes it's impossible to make the right decision. If you want to have an understanding of what happened to Boris, start simracing and that situation will happen to you eventually. Simracing is not the same as being out on the track, but you do gain a tiny bit of understanding of how difficult a call that was for Boris to make.
Nascar Day
Somebody's asleep at the switch on the Nascar Day commercial. Nascar Day was yesterday, the 18th. Today is the 19th. Doh!
Phantom Caution #1
Other than to bunch the field up, I don't know why Nascar threw this particular caution. I'm setting the over/under on "debris" cautions at 4. Here's #1.
Excitement
DW just said that the most excitement has been the starts and restarts. I'll go one better and that starts and restarts have brought the only excitement so far.
Excitement Part Deux
Great racing by Msrs. Edwards, Truex and Sauter. 3-wide coming off turn 2? Now that's what I'm talking about.
Mark Martin introduced
Uh, Mark? Hello, Mark? Anybody know where Mark is? Paging Mark Martin. Mark Martin, your party is waiting on the frontstretch at the Lowe's Motor Speedway. Mark has a look on his face of, "Do we really have to do this? Can we just get in our cars and go racing?"
Bang on my drum all day
I just polled my sons, ages 8, 5 and 4 about the drummers dressed up as crewmen swaying and banging on their drums all day. I was careful not to prompt them on their answers. My oldest said they looked stupid. My middle child said they looked dumb and stupid. My youngest thought it was cool. I don't know what this means, I just thought it was funny.
The Usual Suspects
I noticed that the usual guys got booed. Jeff Gordon, Kyle and Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson all got some boos. Did Smoke get booed? My kids were making noise, so I couldn't tell if Tony did or not. I also heard boos for Matt Kenseth of all people. Yeah, that Matt Kenseth. Being the android that he is, he probably didn't even notice.
Who won the fan vote?
Kenny Wallace? He won the fan vote? Kenny Wallace is popular? My problem with Kenny is that somebody told him one time that he was funny, so now he goes out of his way to try to be funny and falls flat. He just laughs like a hyena. That is one unfunny dude. The only thing that he'll ever really be known for is helping Dale Earnhardt win the 2000 fall Talladega race. My middle son said, "He's the one that's always slow." Now that's funny. :laugh:
Going for the record
I don't know if there's a record for the longest singing of the national anthem, but Bebe Winans sang it like he was going for the record. At the beginning, the accompaniment kept making me think he was going to break into "O Holy Night." I timed him starting at 8:09:50 and ending at 8:12:40. 3 minutes?! Are you kidding me?
She's got goosebumps
Krista Voda has goosebumps. I've got something similar but different. Eye-rolls.
Great moments in the all-star race
DW blowing up after winning in 1985. What Mike Joy neglected to say is that most people think DW had an oversized engine and he clutched it after taking the checkers.
DW getting spun by Rusty. Incredibly dirty driving by Rusty. After getting spun, DW said, "I hope he chokes on his $200,000."
Last lap of 1992. That last lap was very exciting. No question.
That's it? There are only 3 great moments? Here are some great moments they missed, in no particular order. Except for the first one.
Pass in the Grass in 1987. 'Nuff said.
Earnhardt outdueled Martin in the last 2 laps of the 93 race.
After DW and Earnhardt wrecked in the 95 event, Mike Joy said, "I hate him." I don't know if it had anything to do with it, but Mike Joy was let go after the 95 season from TNN.
Michael Waltrip slipping by Labonte and Earnhardt in '96. In Victory Lane, Michael looked like he thought he was in a dream.
Jeff Gordon running out of gas in '98.
Junior winning as a rookie in '00.
Ryan Newman saving his car after Junior almost turned him around in '02.
Kenseth outdueling Newman, which I think was '03, but I might be wrong.
Best piece
DW just said that the teams were bringing their best piece. But, during the Open, DW said that most of the teams were saving their best cars for next week's 600. Which one is it, DW?
Fast Laps
Larry Mac said that Matt Kenseth just ran his fastest lap of the race. After 4 laps. Settle down there, Larry Mac.
I'm Johnny Sauter
I think that if Johnny Sauter ever got up front and started running with Gordon, Johnson, Stewart, etc., he'd look around, say, "Wait a minute. I'm Johnny Sauter", and would fall back like everybody expects him to.
Gordon's the one to beat?
If they were driving the new car, I think Gordon would be the one to beat. I don't think he's the one to beat in this car.
What's wrong - what's right
This race is showing us everything that's wrong with the old car and everything that's been right so far about the new car. Clean air is everything for these cars, which is the problem we've had for years. Mark it down, the winner of this race is the guy who gets out in clean air.
Matt Kenseth is from where again?
Mike Joy is telling us yet again that Matt Kenseth came from Wisconsin, raced against his crew chief, blah blah blah. Why is Mike telling us this? The only people who are going to be watching anything on SpeedTV are people who already know the story. Mike has forgotten who his audience is, I think.
Clean air
In 3 segments, the guy with the clean air has won each of them. I'm just saying.
I forgot about that guy
Mike Joy just mentioned that Kenny Wallace is in the race. Who knew? Raise your hand if you remembered that Kenny Wallace was in this race.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Kyle Busch wrecks his brother. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! :laugh:
That wreck has something for all of us to love. No matter whether you hate Stewart, Earnhardt, Gordon, Johnson or somebody else, that wreck brings us all together.
This is important, why?
What difference does it make that Harvick's truck driver won at Charlotte on Friday night? What can you possibly take from that truck race that you don't already know and apply it to tonight's race? It's like applying what you know from winning a foot race to the next day's bicycle race.
It's the air
Mark Martin just ran his fastest lap of the night, but that will all end once he gets into the dirty air behind Johnson.
Yes, it really is the air
Although the Tators said nothing about it, I remain convinced that the all-star race was about who had clean air and who had dirty air. I guess that some drivers like Gordon and Stewart complained about tires, and thus, so did the Tunnelheads last night, but I believe that race was won based on who had clean air.
Best burnout in Nascar
Kevin Harvick - Best Burnout in Nascar
