Nascar at Richmond

You've been waiting patiently for the race review, so here we go.

6:52 PM
Race has started. Hamlin leading. I caught a little bit of pre-race and it was interesting to see the 7-post shaker. I didn't write down anything else that interested me about pre-race.

7:05 PM
I think the crew chief swap between Kahne and Montoya was a good idea. They may or may not run better for it, but it's definitely worth a try.

7:06 PM
Speaking of Dan Lowry, he did the best GSYE of anybody who isn't named Adam Sandler. And Dan's rivaled that of Sandler.

7:18 PM
Rolling my eyes at anybody who suggests a driver is going to lead every lap at this early stage of the race.

7:19 PM
There are some commercials I really like, like the $5 foot long commercial, and there are some that I detest, like the Kahne's Groupies Dancing Fantasy commercial. If I were as young as Kasey Kahne, I'm not sure how happy I'd be that a bunch of middle-aged women were my groupies.

7:20 PM
Michael Waltrip being stalked.
"When you won your first race, I was there. When you were filling up the gas at 8:18pm, I was there."

Ha! That's hilarious.

7:25 PM
My wife put it this way in regards to Denny Hamlin's golf game: "Insert fluff here."

I put it this way in regards to the same thing: "Who gives a crap about Denny Hamlin's golf game?"

Different strategies. Same results.

7:25 PM
"Little Buddy" Mark Martin? Seriously, DW? That's what you're going with? Are you the Skipper now? Does DW hit Mark Martin with his hat a lot or something? Good grief.

7:27 PM
Jeff Gordon's a story because he won the pole for last year's race? Really? That's the reason why he's a story? Shows how much I know. I thought Jeff Gordon was a story because he's a 4-time champion and has the most wins among active drivers.

7:35 PM
I'll never understand the endless fascination Larry Mac has with pitting in the first stall and how that's such an enormous advantage. I know there's an advantage in being able to go straight out and to accelerate without worrying about going over the speed limt, but I refuse to believe that it's the huge advantage he makes it out to be.

7:38 PM
Can somebody tell me what's happened to Michael Jordan? He made that embarrassing commercial with Kevin Bacon a couple of years ago, and now he's making embarrassing commercials with Cuba Gooding Jr. I don't get what happened to him.

7:40 PM
Here's the problem with Denny dominating like this. His car is so good he won't want to change it, but he's probably going to need to.

7:45 PM
I don't understand why Larry Mac never gives credit to the pit crew. Denny Hamlin got out before Mark Martin, which suggests to me that Hamlin's crew, at the very least, matched the performance of Martin's, and since Denny got into his pit stall that much sooner than Mark, it only stands to reason that he'd get out before Mark did. But, according to Larry, it's all about pit road location and never about pit crew performance. If I remember, I'm going to try and keep track of pit road times next week at Darlington. I'm also going to do some research and find out if that sort of information is found anywhere on the 'Net. I want to know if Larry's talking out of his rear or not.

7:52 PM
The jackman having to jump over Tony's car is his own fault.

Larry: There was no room for the jackman to go around because of the car in front, so that's why he did that.

If that were true, Larry, then how come the right front tire changer didn't get flipped up like that too? How come we only saw it happen once even though the pits are crowded like that during every caution period?

7:55 PM
My wife keeps pressing her imaginary "So What" button when these guys have a "report" of something that is completely irrelevant to anything. Which is often.

7:59 PM
Every week, as they go to commercial, Fox shows whoever's leading in the movie theater talking about how good of a race it is and blah blah blah. Did they do that sort of thing for drivers like Jeremy Mayfield, David Ragan, David Reutiman, etc.? I wonder how much, if any, unused, and unusable footage they have with drivers that never lead, or if they just decide that Mayfield isn't about to be leading any race this season, so why would they bother.

8:04 PM
Do the drivers really pull the belts tighter with 75 laps to go? Aren't they tight from the beginning of the race? Wouldn't they risk cutting off circulation to some important body part?

8:16 PM
The Kyle Busch Fan Club, aka Mike, Darrell and Larry, would be ecstatic if he led the points after this race. They would be all "Milkshakes for everybody!" if he did that.

8:20 PM
Mike Joy (in amazement): "How did Denny get through that wreck and all the smoke?" Uh, Mike, he slammed on the brakes and stopped the car before he hit anybody. Nothing magical about that. Just watch the replay.

8:24 PM
My wife asked me why announcers say dumb things all the time. I think the problem is two-fold. #1, they seem to fall in love with the sound of their own voice. #2, they feel like they have to talk in order to justify their position. I suspect there are producers in their ear reminding them that they get paid by the word.

8:33 PM
DW: When you run as well as Denny has, you're afraid to make changes.

See my above 7:40PM post as I try not to break my arm patting myself on the back. :smilewinkgrin:

8:35 PM
This wreck with Yeley and Edwards et al. looks like a wreck I've seen in my sim racing with "Nascar Racing 2003". In N2k3, the AI cars are pretty dumb and they rarely slow down to avoid a wreck and will just keep plowing into stopped cars, just like in this wreck. Replays of a wreck like that can be funny, but it's rather maddening when you're the one who's getting plowed into. That's when you use words like, "Stupid computer drivers." It can also be the time when you hit the ESC key and click "Restart Race". No restart button for the real racing.

8:53 PM
We still need to be going to Darlington twice a year. Boo Nascar!

8:56 PM
My wife on the Speedracer discussion: Insert fluff here.

BTW, I'm not sure what to make of that movie. I suspect it will be excruciatingly bad, but the Wachowski brothers are directing, and they directed The Matrix trilogy, and I liked every one of those movies. Like I said, not sure what to make of it.

9:04 PM
Great idea, DW. Let's have a wreck at the halfway point of every race so we can have a red flag for the drivers. This wreck is just what the doctor ordered. Unless you were in it, of course.

9:11 PM
Yeah, as bad as Jeff Gordon was at the beginning, they've done a great job to get him near the front.


9:28 PM
Fox should have had something to say about DJ running his last points paying race at Bristol instead of the Digger nonsense they actually did.

9:30 PM
Well, the last time Jr won, it was after Kevin Harvick dominated the race much like Hamlin is tonight.

9:38 PM
There's really not much to say here. Hamlin's running away with it. Junior's doing well after the 22nd place start. Nobody's really saying anything dumb right now.

9:51 PM
What in the world was Casey Mears and Michael Waltrip all about?

I can see why Michael's annoyed, but I don't think driving into the back of him like that is the proper response.

9:57 PM
It could turn into something, but I doubt it. Denny's going to win.

9:59 PM
Maybe I'm just more sensitive to it because it's my guy, but do you know how often it seems this happens? Junior's just about to pass somebody and the caution comes out when he's maybe a foot to 6 inches from passing? Then, he winds up behind that guy. So aggravating. I remain convinced that nobody has worse on-track luck than Dale Earnhardt Jr.

10:03 PM
Oh come on, DW. There's no way Junior is better than Hamlin. I think one of the Fox producers told DW to pump up the drama for the end of this race.

10:06 PM
What do you know? I think it's his left rear that's going down.

10:07 PM
Once Junior passed Hamlin, I just started writing without time stamps.

goose bumps
the hair on my leg is standing up
come on junior

i really don't think Kyle cares who he's racing.. he just wants to win

almost can't watch
getting harder to breathe

no caution
please no caution
drive the wheels off it
nooooo

clean the tires dale

have a bad feeling about this
knot in my stomach
kyle spun the tires
junior went up there on purpose... that's his line

kyle's got him
*speechless*

10:22
DW, we already know you're a Kyle Busch Apologist, so I really don't care what you think.

In his post-race interview, you can see how disappointed Junior is, and you can see how this one hurts, but Junior handled himself in the best possible way.