In My Opinion: NASCAR Fans

    So, NASCAR is finally deciding that the drop in ratings wasn’t NBC’s fault after all. And maybe instead of trying to grab the football fans, who will watch when a football game isn’t on, they should look at the fans who are watching. I fell in love with NASCAR the first time I saw a race. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen! And it wasn’t the Daytona 500 that I was watching. It was beautiful watching them go so fast so close to each other lap after lap. Rockingham was a wonderful little track. The Southern 500, the Brickyard 400, the Daytona 500 and the Coca Cola 600 were all very special. It isn’t even the Brickyard any more. It’s the All State 400 at the Brickyard. How sad.
Rockingham was a special track, but year after year, it was run at a time when it was raining in the Carolina’s. So, instead of putting it somewhere else, NASCAR just got rid of it. The Southern 500 at the track “too tough to tame” was a special race. Now we go to California because it is a bigger market. Not a better track, not better racing, but a bigger market. Who wants to watch follow the leader? We want to see racing.
So now NASCAR wants the core fan back. And is marketing to get us back. Marketing won’t do it. Put it back. NASCAR was great before the Chase and Nextel (now Sprint). It used to be thirty-six weeks of racing, instead of twenty-six. And the driver with the most points at the end wins! What’s so great about a tenth place team winning the Championship? Matt Kenseth was the last true Champion. In my opinion.
I hope NASCAR listens to the fans. But it’s too late for this year. Too many races are already starting later. So the drivers can’t see where they are going? Takes the specialness from the Coke 600. The theme song is better. All that screaming just turned me off. You’re starting the Chase at the Daytona 500! And with the past Owner points in place, new Teams don’t stand a chance. Even the famous Wood Brothers #21 can’t get into a race! Everyone should have to try equally as hard to get into a race. Those in the top 35 shouldn’t get to qualify in race trim and go slow just because they are guaranteed a spot, while the tenth fastest car has to go home. If Tony Stewart can’t get in on speed, too bad. He should have qualified faster. And if Kyle Petty can’t get in on speed, maybe he should retire. Sorry. That’s my opinion as a core NASCAR fan.
Personally, I will watch everything that is televised. And when I go to a track, I get there on Wednesday night so I can see everything that is going on on the track. Have the commercials during the caution, not when something is about to happen. If you want to be as popular as the NFL, don’t give us a playoff, have the commercials when nothing is going on, instead of during a play. I will continue to watch NASCAR, but Brian is ruining my beloved NASCAR. It wasn’t broken. Why did he feel he had to fix it?  Not only did he not get the football fans, but he chased away the NASCAR fans. Of course that’s just my opinion.

Brought to you by Sheila Hawley, a core NASCAR Fan

Visit my site  http://www.ilovemynascar.com

The Daytona 500 Review

The Daytona 500

NASCAR Race Review

The Daytona 500 is the Super Bowl of NASCAR racing. It is the first race of the season and is special. Only the top two fastest drivers are in the race after qualifying. The rest of the field is set by the running of the Gatorade Duels. The first race is led by the pole sitter, 48 Jimmy Johnson. The second is led by second place 55 Michael Waltrip. 88 Dale Earnhardt won the first race, starting him in third. 11 Denny Hamlin won the second race, starting him in fourth. 2 Kurt Busch will start the race last with a past Champion Provisional.
(1)87 is Kenny Wallace. 77 is Sam Hornish, Jr. He has 2’s points. This is 44 Dale Jarrett’s last Daytona 500 as he is retiring after the first five races and the All-Star Race later this year. 34 is John Andretti, who raced his way into the Daytona 500. 18 is now Kyle Busch in a Toyota. 66 this year is Scott Riggs. 01 is Rookie Regan Smith. The famous 28 is back with Travis Kvapil behind the wheel. 70 is now Jeremy Mayfield. 96 is now J. J. Yeley. 40 is now Rookie Dario Franchitti. Those failing to qualify and race are: 84 A.J. Allmendinger, 21 Bill Elliott, 49 Ken Schrader, 60 Boris Said, 10 Patrick Carpentier, 37 Eric McClure, 09 Sterling Marlin, 27 Rookie Jacques Villeneuve, 50 Stanton Barrett, and 08 Carl Long.
Here we go with the 50th running of the Daytona 500. 26 Jamie McMurray and 40 Franchitti are in back-up cars and will start from the rear. 78 Joe Nemechek was in the Chapel for services and couldn’t get to the Driver Meeting in time, so will also start from the rear. 55 leads the first lap. 48 takes the lead. 20 Stewart pushes 11 Hamlin into the lead. 20 takes the lead with help from 24 J. Gordon. 29 Harvick is having trouble and is falling back. 55 gets into the “sucker hole” and backs up. Thirteen cars line up nose to tail. 24 takes the lead. 11 takes the lead. 18 pushes 88 past 24. Green Flag Pitting begins with 5, 77, 78 and 34. 31 Jeff Burton overshoots his pit and has to back up. The leaders are now pitting. 78 has a tire rub and goes back in. 88 has a vibration. 18 takes the lead. 11 goes under 18 for the lead.
77 has a vibration and pits. 11 takes the lead with help from 24. 18 takes the lead during the commercial. 19 Elliott Sadler gets into the wall and pits. 5 pits to start Green Flag Pitting again. 41 Reed Sorenson leads, then pits. 48 has a long pit when the jack goes down. The first caution comes out on lap 81 for debris with 41 leading. 11 is having clutch problems. 41 and 2 don’t pit. After the Green Flag, 8 Mark Martin gets a tire going down and has to pit. 83 Brian Vickers also pits. 41 goes to the outside by himself and falls back, putting 2 in the lead. 07 Clint Bowyer gets into the wall. They are four-wide for a moment.
18 takes the lead during the commercial. 48 is all the way back in 30th place, extremely loose. 18 gets way ahead of the field. “Wonder why they’re letting him do that” DW. 2 pushes 24. 2 goes down onto the apron and grass to avoid hitting 88. 17 Matt Kenseth takes the lead. 18 takes the lead. 12 Newman gets to the outside of 18. 99 Carl Edwards, 01 Smith and 1 Martin Truex, Jr. start Green Flag pitting. 2 is too fast and must come through the pits again. 12 is leading. 18 takes the lead. 11 has damage, but is back on the track. 01 gets into the wall. 87 isn’t fast enough on the track and is out of the race.
The second caution is again for debris. I guess we needed to tighten up the field. 16 Greg Biffle is out of the pits first. 55 slides through his pit and must back up. 83 Brian Vickers is the Lucky Dog and gets his lap back. 24 goes to the garage with suspension problems. Thirty-two cars are on the lead lap.
The third caution comes out when 6 David Ragan goes up into 17, into the wall. 22 Dave Blaney is out of the pits first. 9 Kasey Kahne takes the lead. 20 takes the lead. 88 gets 20 loose and sends him up the track to take the lead. 9 gets shuffled out of the deck. The fourth caution comes out during the commercial. 48 got loose by 77 and collected 1. 20 and 18 fool 88 into staying out. 88, 07, 12, 31 and 16 stay out. 07 takes the lead.
The fifth caution comes out when 07 spins after 42 Juan Pablo Montoya turns him. We restart with twelve to go. 31 takes the lead. 42 is down the middle, falling back. The sixth caution comes out when 29 bumps 22. 22 goes up into 8. 42 and 11 are collected. 38 David Gilliland is the Lucky Dog and gets his lap back. The Green Flag comes out with eight laps to go. It is a single-file restart.
The seventh caution comes out when 5 Casey Mears tries to block 20 and gets into the wall. At the restart 31 gets stuck in the middle with no help and falls back. 20 takes the lead. 12 gets pushed by his team mate, 2 on the high side and they both get by 20 for the lead. 12 Ryan Newman races to the line to win the race.

Brought to you by Sheila Hawley

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NASCAR Race Review-Gatorade Duels

The Gaterade Duels for the Daytona 500

The line-up for the Daytona 500 is decided differently than any other race. All other races line up according to speed in qualifying. The drivers in the top 35 are automatically in the race, with the fastest 6 that aren’t in the top 35 and, if needed a past Champion taking the final spot. But for the Daytona 500, you qualify to see how you line up for the Gatorade Duels. Only two cars from each race will race in the Daytona500. Qualifying determines only the first two spots. The Gatorade Duels determine the Line-up for the Daytona 500.

Those qualifying behind the leader are in the first race. That is, the odd numbers. The even numbers line up behind the second place qualifier. Each race is 150 miles. They can’t go 150 miles on a tank of gas, so there will be pitting. The 2, Kurt Busch gave his top 35 points to his team mate, 77 Sam Hornish, Jr. because he is the first Champion not in the points. So they are both automatically in. There are seven drivers in the first race that aren’t in the top 35 that must race their way in. But only two will race in the Daytona 500. In the second race there are eight drivers to take only two spots.

In the first race 48, the pole sitter, Jimmy Johnson, 5 Casey Mears, 88 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 84 A.J. Allmendinger, 66 Scott Riggs, 07 Clint Bowyer and 96 J.J. Yeley all changed engines and will have to start from the rear. In the second race, 11 Denny Hamlin, 20 Tony Stewart and 24 Jeff Gordon had engine changes, and 40 Dario Franchitti missed driver introductions. They will all have to start from the rear. 55 Michael Waltrip qualified second and will lead his race.

The first four cars on the inside all will start from the rear, leaving 12 Ryan Newman on the pole to start the race. 78 Joe Nemechek leads the first lap. They are three-wide for third place! Which brings out the first caution. There wasn’t enough room for three and 60 Boris Said gets into 83 Brian Vickers, sending 83 spinning across the track and into the infield. No one hits him, so he pits and gets back out. This was on lap 3.

The Green has 12 in the lead. If 2 races his way in, 44 Dale Jarrett is next in line for the Champions provisional. 2 is slowing down. *#%&! He has no power and is done. No caution. 41 Reed Sorenson takes the lead. 88 takes the lead. 48 is real loose. 12 challenges for the lead. 19 Elliott Sadler is off the pace on the top, but no one gets into him and he pits with a tire shredding. 83 pits with a right tire going down. 77 and 60 also pitting. And Green Flag pitting begins. 66 is leading. 96 was too fast in the pits and must come back in. 48, being pushed by 88, takes the lead.

There was rain yesterday and that washed all the rubber off the track, so today there are tire issues. 88, on the bottom is falling back with no help. 12 takes the lead with 42 Juan Pablo Montoya pushing him. 88 takes the lead by himself. 48 is pitting. He’s in the race and on the pole, so he doesn’t have to risk his car in this race. He parks himself. 19 gets into the wall. The second caution comes out as a result when his tire comes off. The restart is with two to go. 88 wins the race. 87 Kenny Wallace and 83 Brian Vickers are in the Daytona 500. 84 Allmendinger, 21 Elliott, 09 Marlin and 08 Long will go home.

The second race is 55 on the pole and 00 David Reutimann starting second. 00 jumps the start and will have to go through the pits for a penalty. 55 leads when 00 pits. 31 Jeff Burton is pitting. 28 Travis Kvapil challenges for the lead. 22 Dave Blaney challenges for the lead. 17 Matt Kenseth takes the lead when 55 and 22 get together and 55 goes below the yellow line.The first caution comes out for 27 Jacques Villeneuve, 26 Jamie McMurray, 40 and 50 Stanton Barrett. 27 touches 34 and gets loose, sending him up the track into 50 and taking 26 and 40 into the wall. Everyone pits. 22 stalls in the pits.

Out of the pits, it’s 17, 9 Kasey Kahne, 55, 29 Kevin Harvick, 24, 10 Patrick Carpentier, 18 Kyle Busch and 8 Martin. 17 and 55 are side-by-side and 55 pulls up in front of 17 to take the lead. 24 comes up on top. The second caution comes out when 22 blows up on lap 25. There is a Red Flag to clean up all the oil on the track. At the restart 24 takes the lead when 55 got stuck alone in the inside and falls way back. Perhaps to find his team mate 44 Dale Jarrett. 9 gets stuck in the middle. 18 takes the lead. 20 jumps in front of 24. 49 Ken Schrader falls back. 18 races up in front of 20. 29 takes the lead, leaving 29 alone. 44 is loose. 10 gets into the wall. 20 takes the lead with 11 Denny Hamlin pushing him. 10 gets into the wall again.

The third caution comes out when 10 gets into the wall again and cuts a tire. It will be a Green, White Checker finish. 18 and 16 Greg Biffle, along with 34 John Andretti, and those behind him all pit. Their reasoning is new tires will make them faster for the last five miles.

18 goes low before the Line and has to stay there and not pass anyone. 11 takes the lead, and wins the second Gatorade Duel. 44 Jarrett and 34 Andretti (who took the tires) are in the Daytona 500. This will be Dale Jarrett’s final Daytona 500, and it’s nice the three time Daytona 500 winner will race in his final Daytona 500 and it’s 50th running.

So there you have it. The Gatorade Duels for the Daytona 500.

Brought to you by Sheila Hawley
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Race Review of the Bud Shoot Out

Race Review of the Bud Shoot out

NASCAR is back! The first race of the season is the non-points race, the Bud Shoot out. This race is all the Bud Pole winners of 2007 and past winners of the Event. Bud pole winners from last year are: David Gilliland 38, Jeff Gordon 24, Kasey Kahne 9, Ryan Newman 12, Denny Hamlin 11, Clint Bowyer 07, J. J. Yeley now in the 96, Casey Mears now in the 5, Dave Blaney 22, Jamie McMurray 26, Reed Sorenson 41, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. now in the 88, Kurt Busch 2, Jimmy Johnson 48, Michael Waltrip 55, Greg Biffle 16, and Carl Edwards 99. Past winners in the race are: Mark Martin now in the 8, Ken Schrader in the 49, Bill Elliott in the 21, and Dale Jarrett 44.
They drew starting positions on Thursday with 2 K. Busch on the pole. He and Tony Stewart got together in practice and 2 had to go to a back up car and start from the rear. That put M. Waltrip on the pole. 44 Jarrett changed an engine, 21 Elliott,12 Newman, 24 J. Gordon and 48 Johnson also are in back up cars and will start from the rear. 5 Mears was sick and didn’t go to the selection meeting, so will start from the rear.
The Bud Shoot out is two segments. The first is 20 laps and they will pit for ten minutes, after it. Then the final segment is 50 laps. They will have to make a pit stop somewhere in there because the fuel won’t last 50 laps. For 07 Bowyer, 41 Sorenson and 96 Yeley. this is their first Shoot out.
So, here we go. 8 Martin doesn’t take off very well and 55 Waltrip leads. 38 Gilliland takes the lead. 55 is back into the lead. 9 Kahne gets stuck in the middle. 88 Earnhardt, Jr. challenges for the lead. 11 Hamlin gets stuck in the middle. 88 takes the lead. 55 gets stuck in the middle and falls way back. 26 McMurray almost looses it, but saves it.
The first caution comes out when 21 Elliott gets into the wall after he cuts a tire on lap 15 of 20. They can’t get him away from the wall because of the banking, so the first segment ends in caution and they go to the pits while they remove the car. 41 Sorenson is in black this race and it is hard to see the familiar Target on the hood.
They come out of the pits as they were running at the end of the first segment with 88 in the lead. 41 moves to second. 99 Edwards takes the lead. 88 drops down low to take the lead. 26 gets into the wall and sparks are flying to bring out the second caution. 11 was on the outside and went high. 26 goes up to block and runs into 11. 26 gets into the wall ahead of 11. As a result, 07 runs into 8. In the pits, 55 misses his stall and has to go around again.
At the restart, 88 is leading with 22 beside him. 22 takes the lead. 20 pulls between 88 and 22 to get behind 88 sending 22 way back. We get a new leader during the commercial and we have to wait until we know all the sponsors before they show us who is the new leader, 20. 2 is pitting under Green with a tire rub. 88 takes the lead. 24 takes the lead. 88 zips past 24 for the lead.
The third caution comes out during the commercial. 38 got into the wall when his tire goes down, taking 9, 1, and 16 with him. 22 leads at the restart. 88 takes the lead. 07 gets nudged, but saves it. They are 4 wide for an instant. 42 scrapes the wall when 8 gets into him. 20 takes the lead. 38 got the Lucky Dog somewhere in there.
The fourth caution comes out when 2 crashes when he gets loose. 2 spins around into the infield and back onto the track and they finally throw the caution. Back to racing, they are 5 wide momentarily.88 passes 20 to take the lead and gets in front of him. 88 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. wins the Bud Shoot Out. This is the finishing order. 88-20-48-24-41-5-22-8-11-9-55-99-44-07-49-96-12-2-38-16-1-26-21.

Brought to you by Sheila Hawley

Visit my site. http://www.ilovemynascar.com

NASCAR Race Fans

Hello, Race Fans! It’s soapbox time. NASCAR has finally decided that they need to get back the long time fan. That’s a step in the right direction. In my opinion, if you weren’t a big fan back in 2003, you just aren’t a Fan. And no matter what gimmick NASCAR tries to get more fans, (ie. football fans) those fans will not stay long. They are, after all, football fans. And they aren’t football fans BECAUSE there’s a playoff. They aren’t going to stick with NASCAR just because there is a Chase.

NASCAR Scene asked the question of it’s fans when they prefer watching a race. 64% said they prefer 1:00 ET. Now, the poll was all fans. And those subscribing to Scene are long time fans. These are the fans NASCAR should be listening to. But they announced the schedule for 2008 and very few races start at 1:00 ET. NASCAR isn’t listening. They have a contract with the Networks and make the schedule according to what the Networks want. Instead of what the fans want.

It’s no wonder there is poor attendance and poor ratings. Fans have to drive home in the dark, or find a place to spend the night. That means more time off of work. So, fans just don’t show up at the tracks. And when the race starts later, fans have already found something else to do. I, myself will watch the race whenever it’s on, but I will not travel to go to a track if it means taking an extra day off.

I live in Upstate New York. I could go to Pocono, or Watkins Glenn, but I can see things better if I stay home. I could go to Lauden, New Hampshire, but it’s only a 300 mile race. A Busch (Nationwide, if you will) race. So, why bother? I go to Dover. They polled the fans and decided we wanted races to start at 1:00, so that’s when they start the race. And I can get back home by midnight. And be back to work on Monday. Tired, maybe, but I don’t have to spend another night in Dover. Because Dover listened to the fans.

In my opinion, the Bill France’s knew what they were doing. Racing was great while they were in charge. Bill, Jr. got R. J. Reynolds into racing and started the Winston Cup. The trophy was a cup. And RJR got the fans to NASCAR. I, myself watched a race in 1996 and was hooked forever. I may not have been watching since forever, but I can see the (needless) changes that are taking place. Winston Cup got us hooked. And it hasn’t been the same since Brian France took over.

In 2003 Matt Kenseth won the Championship by being consistent throughout the whole year, despite having only one win. So Brian decided it would be better if there was a Chase for the Championship. NASCAR decided to have a playoff of sorts to get the football fans to be NASCAR fans. I repeat. Fans don’t watch football BECAUSE there is a playoff. And they won’t watch NASCAR just because there is a playoff. When it was first announced, I thought it was a poor idea and couldn’t see how it could be implemented. A playoff starts within Divisions. The top Teams within the Divisions play each other to determine the Division winner. And the Division winners go to the Super Bowl to determine the Champion. There are no Divisions in NASCAR. So, how was that supposed to work?

Unfortunately, I found out. The season was shortened to 26 races. And the last ten races are now the Chase. That way, 10 Teams have a chance to be the Champion. Why that is exciting, I’m not really sure. Before Brian, it was exciting to see who was going to make it into the top ten, and who would drop out. Now there are twelve (started out with ten) drivers going for the Championship. The big problem, in my opinion, is there are still 43 drivers out there. So, how is that a playoff? Those not in the top 12 are just in the way, and aren’t allowed to do good because one of the Chasers will be affected. And, of course, the media only talks about those in the top 12. Therefore the older fans with drivers not in the top 12 just don’t want to watch. They will never see their driver, even if they are doing well.

I remember when ESPN2 did the coverage. With Bob Jenkins and Eli Gold and Ned Jarrett doing the announcing. That was good coverage. And that’s why I loved to watch. Jenkins covered everything that was happening. Jarrett knew what was going on and why teams were doing what they were doing because he was a former driver. And Gold went through the field, telling us something about every car and driver on the track as he got to them. Whether they were in tenth place or twelve laps down. These days when they go through the field, they only talk about the top ten or twenty and skip over the others on the track. Who wants to watch that?

And Nextel comes along in 2004, along with the beginning of the Chase. Now it is Nextel Cup. Even though the trophy is no longer a Cup. They signed a ten year contract to sponsor NASCAR, but it is now the Sprint Cup. What’s with that? The media was so confused about it all, they made everyone Nextel Cup Champions, even when they had never won a Nextel Cup race! So now it’s just Cup racing, even though the Trophy is no longer a cup. And they wonder why they are loosing their fans! I say cut out the crap and let them race. Show us racing. Show us all the cars. I want to know how every driver is doing. I don’t want to see on the ticker at the top where someone is. And not know how they got there. I want to be shown what happened.

And commercials are a problem. If they want to be like football, they should do the commercials like football does. You wouldn’t go to a commercial during a play. So, why do they go to a commercial while green flag racing is going on? Wait for a yellow flag and commercial away during cleanup. Don’t tell me what happened while we were away. Why did you leave when something was going on?

Ok, enough of the soapbox. NASCAR, are you listening? This was the greatest Sport, ever. If it aint broke, quit trying to fix it.

Brought to you by Sheila Hawley

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http://www.ilovemynascar.com