After Daytona...

Well here we are, the day after the Daytona 500. First I want to say I hope everyone that was injured in the crazy wreck in the Nationwide race Saturday is ok and will be home soon with their families. That was a really scary wreck and could of been even worse had that very hot engine gotten farther past that fence and actually landed on someone, in that aspect the fence did its job. My question is this,the idea I heard from someone was "why doesn't NASCAR put up 2 fences, 1 about 6 to 8 feet inside the first fence. 1 to catch the car and one to catch the flying car parts?" Sounds like a great idea to me.

Like I said the other day, I did not get to watch the Camping World Truck Series Race because I had prior plans that sent me and my family to the Idaho Steelheads Hockey game, Idahos ECHL hockey team. which I am proud to report the Steelheads beat the San Fransisco Bulls, 4-0. I would however, like to congratulate Johnny Sauter for the win in Truck series Friday night. I have always like Johnny and always wished he could of gotten a better shot with a better team in the Cup Series.

Now on to Saturday, HOLY CRAP DID YOU SEE THAT? It was a spectacular crash and unfortunately several fans were hurt with flying debris from Kyle Larson's car after he went airborne into the catch fence. The cars front clip (from the front bumper to the firewall) totally evaporated as it ran across the fence. When the car came to a stop and Kyle climbed out, I am sure his first thought was...where is my engine? Well it was wrapped up in the catch fence along with one tire and part of the frame that the engine is mounted too and caught on fire moments after it landed. The rest of the front clip was scattered as far as 25 rows up. (remains of the car chassis pictured at the top) 28 fans were treated for injuries (5 for heat exhaustion) 14 at the track and 14 in area hospitals. Some with serious injuries, but none life threatening thankfully. They repaired the fence after the race and Sundays race went on as scheduled. No drivers were seriously hurt, minor bumps and bruises and some sore body parts. Tony Stewart went on to win his 4th Nationwide Daytona race. After the race in the winners circle Tony decided to hold the celebration in respect to the people hurt in the stands.

On to Sundays race. Can you say BORE FEST.... I knew you could. Did I call it or what? Look back in the blog, I said "single file boring race like they had when the track was repaved" hello! that's exactly what it was. The most exciting thing that happened was again a wreck that collected Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, and Brad Kesoloswski, last years NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion. Poor Carl Edwards had yet another tough couple weeks at Daytona wrecking almost everything he sat in. I am sure he hopes starting next week to turn that around. I do believe they all made it back on the track after major repairs were made to the cars. Brad K put a little 100mph tape on the car and lead a good portion of the later stages of the race. It actually looked like he could of gone on to win the race as the laps ran down. With a late race restart we actually had a chance to see a few different cars at the front of the pack, ultimately seeing Jimmie Johnson taking the lead and holding on to it (again single file racing, a few laps after a side by side restart all the cars lined up single file and stayed that way.) for his 2nd Daytona 500 win. Dale Earnhardt Jr made a last lap pass to move up a few spots bringing with him Mark Martin and a couple other cars to finish second. Matt Kenseth and teammate Kyle Busch both ended their days with car troubles which I am sure worried then race leader and teammate Denny Hamlin. 

Darrel Waltrip couldn't stop talking about his new crush, Danica Patrick. Every sentence either started or ended with her name being uttered by the man once called jaws. Yes she started on the pole and finished 8th. If you think this will be how the rest of her season goes I think you will be sadly let down. With the rest of the season ( non super speedway tracks 1 1/2 miles or less) coming up, like Phoenix (1 mile) Vegas (1 1/2 miles) and Bristol (a little over a half mile) I have a sneaky feeling we will see a less stunning result to her season take shape. I believe the chicken got counted before the egg hatched. Even my wife is getting tired of her name being spoken out loud (mostly probably because every time I hear it I have something negative to say in response to it)

So congratulations are in order for Jimmie Johnson I guess. As the laps wound down I uttered the same words I have been uttering since 2005, "anyone but Jimmie Johnson please!!!" As you might know I got excited to see Jr come up on the last lap and get behind Jimmie, I was hoping he would try the old sling shot move at the last second and inch by Jimmie, I think he waited a half a lap to long to make his move. If he could of made it in turns 1 and 2 and not waited for turn 4 to make the move maybe it would of been a little different.

On to Phoenix next weekend where we got to see a lot of exciting racing and a pretty good crash and brawl thanks to Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer in the second to last race of last season (which yours truely was lucky enough to see live and in person.) Kevin Harvick went on to win the race last year and I have a feeling he will be in contention again next week. And I dare say don't count out drivers like Carl Edwards, it is the Subway Fresh Fit 500 and they are a major sponsor of Carl's and I am sure the pressure to win there is pretty high. Also don't count out Matt Kenseth, he has been successful there also and if yesterday was any indication of what is in store for Matt this season I think great things can and will happen for him this year even with the new team, new manufacturer, new crew chief and new spotter, he looked like a contender until mechanical problems put him behind the wall. Others to watch are Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Clint Bowyer. Oh and of course never count out ol 5 time Jimmie (please not Jimmie) Johnson.

Let the season begin....until next time.........