Toyota / Save Mart 350
Road races always seem a little strange to me. The Infineon Raceway at Sonoma reminds me of some European course, and regular readers will know how I feel about all things European. But despite the look, Sonoma is a good old all-American raceway and we saw a good old all-American race.
Australian Marcos Ambrose had a solid lead going into the yellow flag caution with only a few laps to go when he seemed to just... get stuck on a hill. He just stopped (he swears he never stopped, but if he was moving it barely constituted forward...
Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400
I'm not even going to comment on the title of the Race Formerly Known As the Michigan 400. If I were, I might point out that exclamation marks in the title of a race is one of the signs of Armageddon. Good thing I'm not commenting.
How is Denny Hamlin only third in the Sprint Cup points right now? He's won twice in a row. He's won five races already this year. That's more than the two leaders - Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch - combined.
The Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 (still not commenting) was absolutely Hamlin's race...
Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500
It’s official – naming rights have run amok with our favorite sport. The Pocono 500 is no more. It’s gone the way of the full-service gas station and Burma Shave road side signs.
In its place is the Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 presented by Target. A seven word race name which the announcers are contractually obligated to use, in full, repeatedly. What’s next? Corporate sponsored catch phrases? Instead of babbling “Boogedy boogedy boogedy! Let’s go racing, boys!”, maybe Daryl Waltrip could start saying “Coca Cola is the real thing! Let’s go racing, Geico could save you 15% or more on...
Coca Cola 600 and Indianapolis 500
Memorial Day Sunday – Indianapolis 500 Race Day – the one day a year when Indy Car Racing outshines NASCAR. Since there is so much hoopla about the Indy 500, I decided I’d watch it and then provide an unbiased comparison between the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s Coca Cola 600 and by extension, Indy Car and NASCAR.
The Indy 500 was won by some milk-drinking foreign guy. Dario Franchitti – Italian Name, Scottish accent. The Coca Cola 600 was won by a hard working real American – Kurt Busch from Las Vegas, Nevada.
Indy’s thrilling finish was watching the winners roll slowly...
Sprint All Star Race
No hate for Jimmie Johnson this week. He dominated the Sprint All-Star Race this weekend, only to lose out on the final segment. A $1 million slip by his pit crew cost him a well-earned victory at the end of a masterful performance. Interesting race, 90 laps of good, clean racing followed by 10 laps of utter chaos.
I like these non-point races once in a while. A little change is good. The change in the rules and stakes makes for a fun evening’s viewing. The first three segments ran clean and fast. The final segment, however, was absolutely crazy. The...